IT'S ALL IN THE GENES! 'ALPHAS' SEASON TWO RETURNS TO UK HD

The Super Seven are back. ALPHAS Season Two. Image: SYFY CHANNEL.

Making a final farewell on the UK's SYFY Channel HD this week, from Thursday evenings, the second thirteen episode season of the supercharged, superhuman character drama ALPHAS, originally created by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow, proves a hit and miss affair after a previous, generally positive debut in 2011. Last season's well developed, escalating civil war between the our Alpha heroes (helped by their vulnerable human security back-up) against the wannabe world-changers, Red Flag, ended in tragedy, but critically saw in the emergence of a new enemy power player: Stanton Parish (a creepy but engaging performance from Jon Pyper-Ferguson), the mysterious, long living leader of a far more dangerous terror cell with a grudge against humanity. In the midst of this, kindly non-powered leader of the Alphas, Doctor Lee Rosen (the always excellent David Strathairn), breaks his silence about the existence of Alphas to a shocked world, and has suffer the consequences of his actions. So far so, so good, right? Follow on events in the second season opener prove interesting, as our broken up heroes have to reassemble, in not the best of personal circumstances, to rescue two of their own from a Guantanamo Bay-esque prison for people with unique skills. But from there, it strangely takes a while for the show to get back up to speed, slightly bogged down by several additional new characters and secondary plot developments that ultimately prove unnecessary (yes, Azita Ghanizada (playing senses charged Rachel, rapidly becoming less insecure about herself and her abilities) is lovely and looks terrific in lingerie, but her slightly comedic romance with non-Alpha security officer John Bennett (Steve Byers) is pretty time wasting), whilst other characters deserving of more screen time and development have little to do, like the intriguing "pusher" Nina (Laura Mennell) and weighty Bill (Malik Yoba), who, at the start of the season, has an addiction linked to a kind of underground fight club for Alphas- a clumsy plot strand that ultimately goes nowhere and soon disappears.

Trailer: Alphas season 2 New Trailer - YouTube

Emerging characters Danielle Rosen (Kathleen Munroe) and the vengeful Stanton Parish (Jon Pyper-Ferguson)

Behind the scenes, I think the loss/disappearance of Season One producer Ira Steven Behr and series co-creator Zak Penn, both of whom have a strong ability to write and fuse character drama and action, were keenly felt this year, and I think too many new behind the scenes cooks were trying to make their mark on an evolving series that really didn't need to have the rug pulled form under it just as it was finding its feet with audiences...

Fortunately, the antagonism between Rosen and Parish, with the latter's daughter Danielle (played by Kathleen Munroe) caught in the emotional crossfire, helps pick the the story and series up half way through, making it worth staying the course, backed up with some solid guest stars like Sean Astin and genre favourite Summer Glau. Events then lead to a genuinely enjoyable cliffhanger finale set in New York, now never to be resolved, which makes you wonder why the hell SYFY axed the damn show, and whether there are any real life Alphas out there capable of making them change their minds!

Season One of ALPHAS is now available on UK DVD: Alphas - Season 1 [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Laura Mennell, Malik Yoba, Erin Way: Film & TV

IT'S IN THE GENES... 'ALPHAS' SEASON TWO

A brave new world continues for the ALPHAS. Images: SY FY CHANNEL.

The cat was spectacularly out of the bag in the closing moments of the premiere season finale of the popular SYFY channel's original superhuman/human drama series, ALPHAS, as our small band of diverse and complicated characters watched in shock and awe as their non-powered leader, Doctor Lee Rosen (the kindly looking character actor David Strathairn), revealed the once secret existence of the next stage of biological development to a surprised world of homo sapiens in a bid to try and stop a long gestating, quickly escalating war against humanity by their sworn ideologically opposite enemies, Red Flag, led by the mysterious long-lived Stanton Parish (John Pyper-Ferguson), of which a prior opening salvo between man and super-man had led to tragic consequences...

Dr. Rosen (David Strathairn), Bill (Malik Yorba) and Gary (Ryan Cartwright) are hostages in the opening episode Wake Up Call.

Now, as the 13 episode Season Two continues its run in the US (though no UK airdate yet-presumably September 2012 on the 5* channel), its a time of dangerous instability for our separated and fragile, emotionally pulled back team (comprising strength enhanced FBI agent Bill (Malik Yorba), voice controlling "pusher" Nina (Laura Mennell), agile hyperkenetic Cameron (Warren Christie), super senses linguist Rachel (Azita Ghanizada) and young autistic telecommunications tracker/transductor Gary (Ryan Cartwright), who quickly reform when two of their own are captured in the opening episode, and continue their on/off pursuit of Red Flag, along the way helping save the lives of innocent and incredibly powered Alphans whose latent talents are only just emerging, and whom soon prove themselves vulnerable to manipulation or exposure without their help. Upcoming episodes include the team discovering a FIGHT-CLUB like environment for young Alphans, an individual possessing incredible super-speed, and another capable of causing hallucinations. There's the discovery of an intriguing device capable of enhancing Alphan powers ever further, whilst, on a personal level, Rosen's complex relationship with his wayward but gifted, empathic daughter, Dani (Kathleen Munroe), takes a turn for the worse when she dates Cameron, whilst her allegiance to the new "vision" of Red Flag under the Svengali-like Stanton Parish grows. Meanwhile, Gary tries to shake the pain of guilt and loss felt by his friend Anna's death-and their once shared bond in unique power- from the end of Season One, in a mourning process ultimately leading him into discovering a new part of his humanity and individualism...

Season Two trailer: Alphas - Season 2 Trailer - YouTube

Spunky new heroine Kat (Erin Way).

A welcome addition to the group and the series comes in the fast and loose young form of partial amnesiac Kat, as played by Erin Way: a soon kick-ass and vital recruit possessing the ability to absorb any skills she can see or read, whilst other great guest stars for this season include THE LORD OF THE RINGS Sean Astin as an Alpha with incredible brain power, SOUTHLAND's C. Thomas Howell, and NCIS's Lauren Holly as a shady politician with ties to our heroes. Season One guest star, and cult TV and film favourite, pixie-like Summer Glau, also returns for three episodes as the quirky Alphan scientist/tech wizard on the run, Skylar Adams. In the critical behind the scenes area of the show, previous season producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe returns, working with new producer Ben Miller, to keep the series travelling the right road, along with co-creator Michael Kernow; the trio deepening the character relationships, spicing up the action and delivering an all-round better produced new run that forges its identity away from early Stateside criticisms that the show was just another version of HEROES.

Long may the super powered TV adventures continue for these particularly intriguing and likably developing heroes...

HIGH DEFINITION HEROISM! 'HUMAN TARGET' AND 'ALPHAS' RETURN!

Motorway madness! Mark Valley returns in HUMAN TARGET. Image: FOX

Good action heroes never go out of style, and especially not Christopher Chance, played with dependable charm and physicality by the likable Mark Valley in the popular US adventure/light comedy hybrid HUMAN TARGET. The shows unnecessary second season revamp may have ultimately killed it off with viewers, but this first season, back in HD reruns on the UK SYFY Channel from tonight, was a promising debut that's often great fun.

A new breed of heroes: Season One of ALPHAS. Image: SYFY.

Finally being shown in HD after some very iffy picture quality in its premiere digital run on the FIVE USA channel last year, tonight SYFY also welcomes its first season screening of the humans with superpowers series, ALPHAS, an intriguing new variant on the kind of ideas seen in the X-MEN films (if a little more realistic, and without the leathers), which will be a nice primer for the upcoming second season later in the year.

If anyone out there reading this hasn't seen either of these shows, they're well worth a look-in...