1 post tagged “sci-fi channel”
The Lost Room is a Sci-Fi Channel mini-series, which usually doesn't bode well, but my mother, who's here to visit for the week, saw the first part of it and said it was good, and Strix picked up a copy cheap on Black Friday.
After watching all several hours of it, I'll say that it's not only good, but very good, but ultimately dissatisfying. It seems clear by how nothing is tied together at the end of the miniseries that this was meant to be a pilot for a TV series. The loose ends are too purposeful and conspicuous. Still, it's worth watching, I think.
The idea is that something supernatural happened in a hotel room in 1961 that caused all of the objects in the room to take on magical properties. Some of these magical properties are highly useful, and some are not. Combining the objects causes new properties to emerge.
A sizable but secretive number of individuals are seeking the objects, which have become scattered across the U.S. and presumably around the world, to some extent. Two distinct factions exist. One faction wishes to destroy the objects, thinking that they are too dangerous to allow to exist. Considering that the objects are indestructable, it is never explained how they plan on accomplishing this. Another thinks that if they collect all the objects and restore the room, they will be able to communicate with God. There's no explanation as to why they believe this, except that the objects all have mystical powers.
The main character is a police detective, who inadvertantly comes across one of the 100 or so objects, the key to the motel room. The power of the key is that no matter what door you use it to open, it takes you into an alternate-universe version of the motel room, mostly devoid of the objects. Then, willing to be anywhere in the world, opening the door again will lead you to that location, so long as there's a doorway there. The implications are interesting and well explored in the mini-series, which is well-written, well-directed, imaginative, and displays some admirable acting.
My only complaint is that the story isn't complete, and apparently Sci-Fi Channel, in their usual display of stupidity, chose not to pick it up as an ongoing series. Thanks again, Sci-Fi.
