text: sanctuary ( season 1 ) the first season of the canadian science fiction – fantasy television series sanctuary premiered on the sci fi channel in the united states on october 3 , 2008 , and concluded on itv4 in the united kingdom on january 5 , 2009 , after 13 episodes . it follows the actions of a secret organization known as the sanctuary , who track down a series of creatures known as abnormals , and then bring them to the sanctuary for refuge . the main story arc of the season involves the sanctuary working against the cabal , an organization who seek to control all abnormals for their own gain . amanda tapping , robin dunne , emilie ullerup , and christopher heyerdahl are billed in the opening credits as the main cast . initially an eight - part web series , sanctuary was successful enough for sci fi to commission a television series . series creator and head writer damian kindler hired sam egan , and the two wrote all the episodes and composed the season - long storyline . many episodes had been written throughout the 2007 christmas season before the season was green - lit . principal photography started in may 2008 . it was the first instance in north american television where red cameras were used . most of the season was filmed using green screen in a warehouse in burnaby , british columbia , though there are instances throughout that were filmed on location , including the riverview hospital in coquitlam and the north shore mountains outside vancouver . anthem visual effects produced the season 's visual effects . the virtual sets meant that they produced around 400 visual effects per episode . other forms of special effects , including prosthetics , were used to present the abnormals . the first season was budgeted at an estimated $ 21 million . sanctuary 's first season aired in over 50 countries worldwide . the season premiere drew the largest audience with 2 . 7 million viewers , the highest rated sci fi premiere since eureka in july 2006 . including time - shifted viewing , the season was seen by an average of 2 . 35 million viewers per episode ; the ratings success allowed sci fi to renew sanctuary for a second season . critical reactions of the season were mixed . some reviewers noted that , although the first six episodes were " hit and miss " , they liked the later episodes . in total , it won five awards : one gemini and four leos . the first season was released on a four - disc set on dvd and blu - ray disc on september 9 , 2009 , in region 4 , september 15 in region 1 , and october 15 in region 2 . episodes in this table , the number in the first column refers to the episode 's number within the entire series , whereas the number in the second column indicates the episode 's number within this particular season . " u.s. viewers in millions " refers to how many americans watched the episode live or on the day of broadcast . cast regular cast the first season consists of four principal cast members . amanda tapping plays series protagonist helen magnus , a 157 - year - old english scientist who runs the sanctuary network . tapping darkened her hair color for the role . robin dunne plays will zimmerman , a former forensic psychiatrist and then magnus ' protégé since the pilot . damian kindler noted that dunne 's portrayal as zimmerman differed vastly between the webisodes and the first season , often joking that zimmerman was played by two different dunnes . emilie ullerup plays ashley , magnus ' daughter . ullerup enjoyed working with the cast during the first season . she felt that tapping was " such a teacher " to her , and that it had been " such a treat " working with tapping as a young and new actress . christopher heyerdahl plays two characters : bigfoot , an abnormal who works in the sanctuary , and john druitt , magnus ' former fiancé and father to ashley . as bigfoot , heyerdahl had to wear prosthetics . tapping believed that heyerdahl " has this incredible gift wearing prosthetics and acting through them and creating real humanity , and he does it with bigfoot . " ullerup also felt nervous , yet excited playing every scene with heyerdahl when he plays druitt . recurring cast and guest appearances ryan robbins plays henry foss , who runs the sanctuary 's computer and security systems . the producers wanted henry to set a lighter tone to the series and add " goofy and fun " humor , including in somewhat dire situations . the producers cast robbins , and were pleased with his performance . chuck campbell plays " two - faced guy " , a character with another face at the back of his head . the back face was accomplished using visual effects . plays , an associate of ashley 's . the character was originally named ernie and was played by director peter deluise in the webisodes , but he was unavailable to reshoot his scenes for the season premiere . jonathon young stars as nikola tesla . heyerdahl suggested young to the producers , who ended up being highly impressed by his performance . young also played tesla in a one - man show before appearing in the series . whilst filming the second part of " revelations " , young 's scenes in the underground city were filmed first , as he was scheduled for another play while the episode was shot . at the time of filming " the five " , the actors who played watson and griffin had not been cast yet . the producers would later cast peter wingfield as watson . according to amanda tapping , casting wingfield was " so easy " as " he has this sensibility about him , much like [ christopher heyerdahl ] does . " while filming his scenes , wingfield did not want his exoskeleton prop to be removed between takes , as he wanted to stay in character . when the producers conceived clara griffin , the granddaughter of nigel griffin , they were looking for a young local actress to play the part who would look like a potential love interest to will zimmerman . christine chatelain would later play the part after she was recommended by dunne , as they had worked together before . when adrien dorval auditioned for his part on " kush " , kindler did not like his performance , but wood did , as he believed the actor 's performance was perfect for a character who was stranded on a plane . for the same episode , sarah strange and thai - hoa lee had to learn how to speak standard tibetan phonetically a week in advance of filming . katharine isabelle guest starred in " nubbins " as sophie . while filming her scenes , isabelle complained of a dry eye problem , which kept making her almost tear up . however , it ended up being beneficial for her portrayal of her character . canadian actor daryl shuttleworth guest stars as a fight promoter in " warriors " . during a of the script , shuttleworth decided his character should speak with a british accent like in the film lock , stock and two smoking barrels . the producers wanted to cast rekha sharma in " instinct " as she appeared in several other vancouver - based productions , including battlestar galactica . the producers felt she " rocked " her audition , as she brought a lot of energy to her character . production development series creator damian kindler conceived the pilot in 2001 . when he became a stargate sg - 1 writer , he later asked martin wood , a director from the same show , if there was potential for a series , which wood believed there was . a few years later , kindler asked amanda tapping to take part in the project , and she accepted . sanctuary originally started as an eight - part bi - weekly web series in 2007 , produced by vancouver - based stage 3 media . the producers of the series were looking to expand the series on other mediums , including television . due to the success of the web series , in january 2008 , the sci fi channel announced the commissioning of a first season of 13 episodes . the move to television has allowed the producers to widen the scope for the season . according to actress and executive producer amanda tapping , the season " is very different from what you 've seen on the web " . however , her character , helen magnus , would still be a " crazy character ; [ ... ] very eccentric and very sexy and very unapologetic " . the season was given an estimated budget of $ 21 million . writing all episodes of the first season were written by sam egan and kindler ; kindler hired egan to assist in writing the first season , as he believed egan to be creative , passionate , and talented . several episodes of the first season were written throughout the christmas season in 2007 . after the series was given the green - light , they were rewritten to establish a season - long storyline . some of the episodes finished their writing stage as little as two and a half weeks before filming commenced . at times after the scripts were written , sci fi executive mark stern fed back to the writers , asking for certain elements to be explained so the audience could understand . kindler wrote both parts of " sanctuary for all " , as well " fata morgana " , " kush " , " the five " , " requiem " , " instinct " , and the second part of " revelations " . he penned his scripts quickly , with " kush " being written in three and a half days . wood contributed to the story of " fata morgana " by bringing up the idea of incorporating the morrígan from irish mythology , which would start giving the season an ancient and mythological feel . " kush " introduces a series of episodes involving the working relationship between will and magnus . " the five " became a significant part of the series mythology , revealing the five , which magnus is a part of , how magnus got her longevity , and that henry foss is actually part werewolf . tapping believed that introducing the five was a " cool concept " . kindler introduced vampires in the episode , and felt it would be best to introduce them as a dead species . he also felt that including real - life historic figures such as tesla was a " very ballsy thing " . in " requiem " , kindler wanted a scenario in which will has to make a difficult decision to deal with magnus when she becomes the threat of the episode . though kindler at first believed it was not a good episode , it ended up as a highlight of the season according to the producers . in writing " instinct " , kindler , inspired by cloverfield , wanted to show the audience the protagonists hunting an abnormal in real - time , where it does not always go according to plan . egan meanwhile , wrote " folding man " , " nubbins " , " edward " , " warriors " , and the first part of " revelations " . he also co - wrote " sanctuary for all " with kindler . egan liked to include the rashomon effect in some of his scripts , a plot device which interprets scenes from different points of view . after writing " folding man " , egan realized that he inadvertently based it on an episode of the x - files . " nubbins " was inspired by the star trek original series episode " the trouble with tribbles " . " edward " was inspired by egan hearing of a young english man with savant syndrome , who flew over a city he had not visited before , and was able to accurately draw the city on a mural some 20 feet wide . because the episode involved an abnormal , egan wanted the boy to draw much faster . in writing " warriors " , egan wanted to reintroduce magnus ' father gregory magnus from the webisodes ; there were plans to introduce him in " fata morgana " , but the idea did not make it to the final episode . gregory was written not to have the longevity of his daughter . egan decided not to include a full explanation of how he survived a hundred years without aging , but wanted to hint to the audience that he was in fact cryogenically frozen by the cabal . the intention behind " revelations " was to tie some of the previous episodes together , particularly involving the cabal , and then set them up for the second season . the main issue with writing the finale was showing ashley being interrogated , where in fact she was experimented on to turn her to the cabal . because kindler wrote his script quickly , he believed that the misdirect did not turn out the way he hoped . differences from the webisodes differences were made between the original webisodes and the first episodes of the season . one example is the introduction of druitt . in the webisodes , druitt murders a prostitute after arriving in old city , but in the pilot , writer damian kindler included dialogue between the two characters before druitt murders her , as a way of proving to the audience how evil he is . another is the ending of " fata morgana " , where the morrígan leave the sanctuary with the cabal mercenaries ; in the webisodes , the sisters escape . druitt directly tells ashley in one of the first webisodes that he is her father . in the first season , the producers decided that she would not be aware of this until midway through , and even then , they did not want druitt to tell her directly , but rather hint it to her , so that ashley can pick up the pieces herself . filming initial photography started in may 2008 , and took place mostly in a warehouse in burnaby , british columbia . each episode took around seven days to film , though some were completed in as little as five and a half . the first three episodes of the season were reshot from the original eight webisodes ; the two - part premiere " sanctuary for all " was reshot from the first four webisodes , while the third episode , " fata morgana " , was reshot from the final four . eighteen months passed between shooting the web series and the first three episodes . difficulties with this included the fact that wiebe , who portrays alexi , grew taller , and the actors consciously played the characters to be more open to each other . it was filmed using red one cameras , the first series in north america to use them . the red camera system does away with tape and film and records straight to a hard drive , allowing anthem visual effects and the series ' post production team immediate access to the day 's footage , and is capable of recording at 4k resolution — four times the resolution of current high - definition . the season was filmed using five directors . wood directed eight of the thirteen episodes ; he spent 17 days preparing to film the premiere . he found that " requiem " was his favorite episode to direct , while " the five " was his least favorite , as he had to keep reorganizing six styrofoam sets . among the remaining five episodes , james head directed " folding man " , peter deluise directed " nubbins " , brenton spencer directed " edward " and " warriors " , and steven a. adelson directed " instinct " ; adelson filmed the episode with 40 long takes to accomplish a real - time perspective . deluise was approached by wood to direct " nubbins " as it was considered a lighter episode , which deluise preferred over a dramatic episode . in the past deluise would make cameo appearances in his works , but broke tradition in directing this episode . according to head , about 70 % of the season was filmed using green screen in the burnaby warehouse . unlike many other shows , elaborate sets were not built for the scenes to be filmed ; instead , they are created using cgi technology . because of the virtual sets , the actors had to visualise what the rooms they were in looked like . to aid them , practical props were placed . the production crew also used rain and wind machines to film scenes set outdoors . however , practical sets were also used throughout the season . the first 20 minutes of " sanctuary for all " was filmed at the partially decommissioned riverview hospital , described by kindler as a " swiss army knife of locations " . elsewhere , the studio parking lot and alleyways of the bridge studios provided a surrogate for several different types of locations , like city streets . a volvo warehouse provided the filming location for " instinct " . the final filming days were spent on the north shore mountains outside vancouver . the fifth episode , " kush " , was filmed on a damaged fuselage set , which was built by production designer bridget mcguire . the episode 's cast disliked the episode the most because they had to act as if they were in freezing temperatures , where in fact it was around 40 degrees celsius . because it was an expensive set , the producers wanted to reuse it . it was later redesigned to look like the inside of a submarine for " requiem " . it was redressed again for " revelations " . although released third , " fata morgana " was filmed as the fourth episode , and was considered to be aired after " folding man " . however , tapping felt strongly that it would make a great stand alone episode after " sanctuary for all " , and the characters appeared more comfortable with each other in " folding man " . swapping the episodes caused a major continuity issue , in which ashley appears to show scratches on her neck from " sanctuary for all " in " folding man " , but not in between . effects the season 's visual effects were produced by anthem visual effects , with the company 's lee wilson serving as co - producer and visual effects supervisor . because it was filmed in green screen , each episode contains an estimated 400 visual effect shots . in contrast , an average episode of stargate sg - 1 , which tapping starred in , contained only 12 . one of the larger visual effects sequences was the opening sequence of the premiere , which took three months to produce . each visual effect produced in the original webisodes was remastered . among the characters , the movement of two - faced guy 's rear face were made with computer - generated imagery ( cgi ) , though it was a difficult effect to produce . a prosthetic application was added to the back of campbell 's head when the second face is not talking . the mermaid character , sally , was entirely a visual effect , with the face of mandy may , wife of director steven a. adelson , rendered onto it . creating the eponymous abnormals in " nubbins " and their predator was what sam egan described as " a proper budget - driven issue " because rendering several cgi creatures at once and having them move would be difficult . it was decided to have them camouflaged in an attempt to make work easier for the visual effects team , but it did not work out as well as the producers hoped . to achieve interaction with the cast , guide versions , nicknamed oompa - loompas , were made for them to carry . in designing tesla 's transition to a vampire , the producers , realizing vampires were included in several other works in the past , wanted to make them look unique . wilson based the vampire look to the 2007 film 30 days of night . because of the hard work by anthem , the producers made " kush " and " requiem " into bottle episodes , to give the visual effects team a break . instead , other forms of special effects were used . to create the himalayan feel of " kush " , the production crew used wind machines and paper snow . however , the fake snow became a problem for the cast , as they suffered from bloodshot eyes and scratchy throats when exposed to it . aquariums were placed outside each port hole of the set in " requiem " . to complete the effects where druitt teleports , heyerdahl would walk out of the shot while every other cast member has to stay still , until the directors signal them to react ; the shot of heyerdahl walking out of frame would later be cut . another effect involving heyerdahl is a scene between both his characters , bigfoot and druitt , in " revelations " . to complete the shot , heyerdahl had to film two different shots : one with him as druitt talking to nothing , and another with him as bigfoot talking to nothing . when both characters can be seen walking together , a stand - in would replace heyerdahl as bigfoot . another form of special effects are prosthetics used to create abnormals . they were composed by a team of make - up artists . todd masters stated that his team tried to make them interesting and unique every week . the abnormal shown at the end of " kush " was a stand - in who wore a full prosthetic suit ; the costume took a long time to apply . among the prosthetics used in " warriors " , dunne wore a muscle suit that was previously worn by vinnie jones during the 2006 film x - men : the last stand . the corpses used in the beginning of " sanctuary for all " were mannequins the props department had in their possession , with holes added in the foreheads . using mannequins was easier than using actors . the drawings in " edward " were produced by sanctuary 's art department . the season 's stunts were coordinated by marshall virtue . to develop the fight club scenes in " warriors " , fight coordinator rob hader helped with choreographing the stunts . while filming the scenes , hader played one of the fighters . he replaced an actor who broke a knee after filming for six seconds . broadcast and reception broadcast originally airing on the sci fi channel in the united states , the first season was broadcast in over 50 countries worldwide . tapping believed the channel was a " good home base " , because she had worked with the network for several years before , adding " they understand the genre . they understand the fans . " the season commenced with both parts of " sanctuary for all " on october 3 , 2008 . the following episodes aired almost every friday during the 10 to 11 pm time slot from october 10 , 2008 , until january 9 , 2009 . in canada , it aired on movie channel one of the movie network . in the united kingdom , the season was picked up for broadcast by itv4 . the first episode was broadcast on october 6 , 2008 , only three days after the release on the sci fi channel . in australia , the season debuted on abc2 on march 1 , 2010 . ratings " sanctuary for all " started off the season with over 2 . 7 million viewers and a household rating of 2 . 2 after its original broadcast . it became sci fi channel 's highest rated series premiere since the pilot episode of eureka in july 2006 . it was the number one prime time cable entertainment program among adults aged 25 through 54 years , and fourth among adults aged 18 through 49 years . because of the high ratings , views of sci fi 's sanctuary page rose to 1 . 2 million , as well as 287 , 000 video streams the day it was broadcast . viewing figures for the following episodes were somewhat under 2 million , but the finale drew its biggest audience since the premiere ; " revelations ( part 2 ) " was seen by 2 million viewers and received a 1 . 6 household rating . including timeshifted viewings , the first season averaged 2 . 35 million viewers , and a 1 . 8 rating . the first season of sanctuary beat the fifth season of its lead in stargate atlantis by two tenths of a point . because of the success , sci fi ordered a second season on november 2008 . in the united kingdom , the first part of " sanctuary for all " was seen by 565 , 000 viewers . the second part received 608 , 000 viewers the following week . since then , ratings have steadily declined to 398 , 000 by the season finale . the penultimate episode received the lowest ratings of the season , with only 279 , 000 viewers . critical reception the season received generally mixed reviews from critics . metacritic gave the season a normalized rating of 56 out of 100 based on seven reviews , indicating " mixed or average reviews " . linda stasi of the new york post stated " the monsters are first rate , the virtual sets are very cool , the acting is excellent . why i was fighting fatigue while watching , i can 't say . it was either the martinis from steve dunleavy 's farewell party – or the plot . " maureen ryan of the chicago tribune felt the pace was " a little on the stately side " , and was unclear why tapping " speaks with an iffy english accent " , but believed the " low - key , low - budget but well - intentioned sci - fi / action hybrid might be of interest to fans of tapping 's earlier work as samantha carter on stargate sg - 1 " . robert lloyd of the los angeles times felt that " much of it feels dreadfully slow , not so much moody as stretched for time . hard - to - sell dialogue such as ' such imperfect children are often adopted by well - meaning immigrant families ' doesn 't make it flow any faster " , but still stated " it looks great " . brian lowry of variety called the first two episodes " competent but uninspiring " , and said it " suffers by comparison with any number of similarly themed dramas , most recently bbc america 's fun - loving torchwood " . lowry also believes that " it 's hard to imagine this series doing much more than satisfying some of the odd humanoids still pining for ( and emailing on behalf of ) stargate " . mike hale of the new york times felt that sanctuary " sits at about the same level of writing and performance as the stargate shows , which means it doesn 't have the narrative force of battlestar galactica or the wit and creativity of sci fi 's best original series , eureka " , adding that " it 's not an embarrassment for the channel , but it doesn 't raise the stakes either " . hale also noted that there is a connection with stargate , which is " in its 12th year and still going strong " . david blackwell of enterline media thought that sanctuary was an " interesting concept " , but felt the first six episodes were " hit - or - miss " . of the series ' use of green screen for sets , blackwell stated " sometimes it really works and sometimes the cgi sets could use improvement " . he also felt that amanda tapping was convincing as a british scientist . in conclusion , blackwell stated " sanctuary does take a while to kick in , but it is a very good series once the writers actually write something with depth . " alex walker of den of geek rated the first season three stars out of five , stating " the acting and scripting is good , but sanctuary lacks the wit and charm of the genre 's top shows like doctor who and battlestar galactica . also , the way some episodes alternate between fighting and exposition gives the impression of watching someone else play a videogame . " walker also dubbed it a " poor man 's buffy the vampire slayer , but said that it " makes for " agreeable early - evening viewing " . walker also believed that the dvd of the first season should really be for " die - hard fans only " . paul simpson of total sci - fi rated the season 7 out of 10 , and summed it up as " although frequently predictable , sanctuary usually provides an entertaining hour . " john sinnott of dvd talk , being a fan of tapping 's earlier work of stargate sg - 1 , believes the first season is " highly recommended " . sinnott also noticed that while " the first six shows are so - so [ ... ] the last seven are great " . awards and nominations the season won a total of five awards . the pilot episode " sanctuary for all " won a 2009 gemini award for best visual effects . the other four were leo awards . " warriors " won " best make - up in a dramatic series " . actor ryan robbins won " best guest performance by a male in a dramatic series " for his role as henry foss in " edward " , beating co - star jonathan young . gabrielle rose won " best guest performance by a female in a dramatic series " for the same episode . amanda tapping won " best lead performance by a female in a dramatic series " for her role as helen magnus in " requiem " . the most prestigious nomination for the season was for a primetime emmy award for outstanding special visual effects for " sanctuary for all " , but it lost the award to heroes . home video releases a dvd box set of the first season , published by e1 entertainment , was first released in region 1 on september 15 , 2009 , in region 2 on october 12 , 2009 , and in region 4 on september 9 , 2009 . the season was later released on blu - ray disc in the united states on june 15 , 2010 , and in australia on june 9 , 2010 . the four - disc set consists of all 13 episodes , each with audio commentaries from cast and crew , as well as the original webisodes in two installments . the set also includes three behind the scenes featurettes : welcome to the sanctuary , the sanctuary residents , and sanctuary visual effects , as well as a blooper reel , photo gallery , and sneak preview of season two . john sinnott of dvd talk reacted positively to the number of extras , rating it four and a half stars out of five ; sinnott was also " very pleased " to see the original webisodes included in the set .