TVSquad

Here's my little secret. Remember Data from The Goonies? The little Asian kid with the spring loaded teeth up his sleeves? He was my first mad scientist/inventor hero. I tried to build a few of my own wearable gadgets after watching that movie. I actually cut up a pair of converse sneakers so I could build secret gadgets into them.

Eureka attempts to answer a question. What could possibly go wrong if you give a bunch of scientists nearly unlimited funding to develop cutting edge technologies. Well, lets just say that little things like the laws of physics might get a little bent out of shape.

The pilot introduces us to the small town of Eureka through the eyes of U.S. Marshall Jack Carter (played by Colin Ferguson). If you've watched Keen Eddie, you'll probably get a sense of deja vu. The rest of the cast has a surprising number of familiar actors. There is one appearance that just sort of messes with me; Jim Taggart, an overzealous Australian hunter is played by none other than Matt Frewer. He does a great job, but for some reason I can't get over seeing Max Headroom running around with major Australian accent and a giant tranquilizer gun.

Whether you're a geek or not, you'll probably enjoy watching the pilot; even my anti-Star Wars wife enjoyed watching it (just in case you think I'm not worthy, I own the original trilogy on laser disc.) The version of the show that I viewed still had a few unfinished effects, but it looks nicely polished. The show is loaded with details, sub plots and likes to smack you upside the head when you aren't looking. It might have been because of the unfinished effects, but there are a few times that the show jumps around so quickly that you'll wonder if you missed something.

The pilot ends with a bang that left me laughing. Hopefully it'll stick around for a season or two.

Eureka premieres Tuesday, July 18th at 9pm ET on SciFi.