Worlds will collide today for science-fiction fans in this country.
Long ostracized for their eclectic tastes or ridiculed because they still live in their parents' basements, Canadian sci-fi fans are no doubt acutely aware of tonight's debut of Forbidden Science (Space, 11:30 p.m.). At long last, sci-fi and soft-core porn have been conveniently merged into one series. There's always been a faint hint of sex in the sci-fi genre. Remember how Star Trek's Mr. Spock went through "pon farr" - sort of the Vulcan version of going into heat - every seven years? Prepare yourself for the furthest evolution, and don't let the kids watch.
Described as a "sexy genre series," Forbidden Science is a rare import from the HBO-owned cable outlet known as Cinemax. Although Cinemax has been in existence since 1980, few of the channel's original programs have previously aired on Canadian television - quite possibly because those series have titles like Co-Ed Confidential, Lingerie and Zane's Sex Chronicles. It's not by accident that the channel is often referred to as Skinemax.
And there's no shortage of on-screen skin in Forbidden Science, albeit from the sci-fi perspective. The 13-part series was filmed in Hamilton, Ont., in late 2008, with a cast composed largely of unknowns. The show was created by Hollywood veteran Doug Brode, who worked as a conceptual artist on the first Iron Man movie and last year's Star Trek feature film.
Low-budget but slick-looking, the show is set in the near future at a company called 4Ever Innovations, a high-tech corporation that enables clients to fulfill their erotic desires with androids and clones. All the 4Ever staff are painfully attractive, of course, particularly doctors Philip Wise (Austin Ball) and Penny Serling (Toronto native Noelle DuBois).
"Penny is very similar to me, but more outgoing," said DuBois, a former model. "She's kind of the girl I always wanted to be, but kept it hidden outside. I was kind of allowed to build the character from scratch."
The sci-fi element is more prevalent in the running storyline of Julia White (Vanessa Broze), the clone of a scientist secretly murdered by her philandering husband in order to steal her discoveries. The first episode includes a rather unsettling scene in which the husband gets it on with his latest conquest - right beside the sleeping Julia (clones appear to be very heavy sleepers).
Based on the pilot, Forbidden Science touches on themes regarding the perils of technology and the moral implications of artificial intelligence, but most of those scenes are breathers between the steamy sex scenes - sex with clones, sex with androids, sex in virtual reality and, on occasion, sex between living humans. DuBois promises the character exposition expands with each new episode.
"As the story develops, everybody grows and becomes their own person," she said. "And there are some very funny, funny scenes in the show."
Even with all the nudity and sexual scenarios, Forbidden Science is still technically a sci-fi series and earned an immediate following when it aired on Cinemax early last year. DuBois received her personal baptism into the sci-fi realm when she and two other female cast members appeared to promote the series at the last New York Comic Con event.
"We couldn't even move for three days!" she says incredulously. "It was crazy, but very flattering. They were so happy and so kind. Some had tears in their eyes!"
Pon farr perhaps?
Also airing
Almost There (CBC, 8 p.m.) Think of it as The Ron James Show: Holiday Edition. Spinning off routines from James' standup act, the special follows the pint-sized monologist in various misadventures with a fictional TV family. Playing his role of the all-Canadian everyman, James is bereft when his daughter Carrie joins a movement called "Clowns for Peace." Elsewhere, his wife Nancy gets grumpy as she struggles to quit smoking.
Forensic Factor (Discovery, 10 p.m.) Back for a sixth season, this series chronicles famous criminal cases solved by crime-lab superstars. As before, the concept is heightened by the use of gripping reenactments and interviews with eyewitnesses to the crime in question. The first new show reopens the case of a multi-millionaire brutally slain at his swank Texas mansion. The victim was popular with most everyone, but he was murdered in particularly sadistic fashion. The investigation takes forensic investigators into a sub-culture of fellow millionaires, along with celebrities and strippers. The real baffler is the discovery of a vital clue deep inside the victim's body.
Check local listings.