- Stars ~ is for shows that only the uber fans of the genre in general. If finding a zombie film or television series is difficult then these shows are for you.
- Stars ~ is for shows that are good examples of a genre and most people will probably enjoy it. This is for people who are able to enjoy most movies and overlook most errors in various parts of the script, acting, emersion, or continuity.
- Stars ~ is for shows that are exceptional examples outside of the genre itself. They are innovative, authentically original, and should be able to compel even most of those who are unable to stop nitpicking movies to death.
Just a guess, but the writer/producers chose the title simply because there are already so many zombie apocalypse survivor shows out there that are infinitely better, think do I. Absolutely the "vampires" act more like zombies with the intelligence of an ape instead of human. As one of the lines in the first episode says "they drink blood..." but that is the only thing vampirsh about them. They dress and act like zombies.
Nomadic Pictures seems to have done a lot of documentary films, with Van Helsing being their first foray into producing a television series; And this lack of experience shows. Maybe they thought producing this show in a rising niche would help them make enough money to fuel more growth. If that is the case then they failed utterly, believe do I.
The writing and directing seems to be the problem. The actors and actresses can only do so much with the material they are given, and to often people mistakenly blame them for poor performances. When the entire cast is subpar, it is highly more probable that the acting is fine.
Specifically what is wrong is none of the characters behave like they are survivors of a world that went crazy 'three years in the past'. The show seems centered around the lone marine left to guard the head scientist {doctor} turn zombie, and a Sleeping 13eauty laid out on a medical examination table.
A few 'survivors' get brought into a supposedly "secure" medical facility except they all of them display alpha type personalities. They immediately start whining and complaining about the setup the marine has been maintaining for three years.
Right off the bat, four of the 'survivors' demand to know the who and what is the sleeping beauty. Right then the marine should have shot one in the head and told the rest the line he ended up saying. The reason is simple, in a post-apocalypse scenario there fails to be 'any' margin of error. If only one survivor failed to get the message and tried to cause trouble, they all would be toast. However, this fails to be the only example of the marine failing to do his job.
Sleeping Beauty, assume she is the 'Van Helsing' despite the absolute lack of any connection to the mythos, displays and intelligence that is only marginally better than the zombies. Seemingly they are going the mysticism angle with the preternatural creatures, because Van Helsing's mortal coil is supposedly technically dead.
The show implies that Van Helsing has some sort of miracle gene that allows her to be immune to whatever the nature is of the zombie virus. Logic and reason suggest that the Goddess would compel the soul to manifest as a male instead of female. If the 'producers' had a desperate desire to show equity with the sexes, then they could have two souls manifest mortal coils that will 'save' humanity.
Prejudice against the female sex, or sexism, fails to be the motivation for that statement. A male would be able to impregnate multiple females and thus create offspring with his immunity far more quickly than would a female. In a dystopia post-apocalypse realm numbers of 'humans' are of cardinal importance to survival of the species.
Afterall the zombies lack the intelligence or wisdom capable of figuring out that if they kill off all the humans, then they will starve to death. Quiet appalling is how lacking in any sense, are these "vampires".
All of that is metaphysical theory-crafting though, and so it could be abundantly disharmonious with the actual mythos of the show. As said previously, the third act is as far as the show was able to hold my attention. That is saying something because normally exceptionally forgiving am I. Friends commonly disregard my recommendations of good shows or movies because of how much I can suspend my disbelief.
My nickname for Van Helsing, Sleeping Beauty, is more appropriate as she does 'awaken' with a kiss but it fails to be on her lips. The first name for her fails to even be a female derivation of Abraham, instead its Vanessa. The character literally fails to have any connection with the kryptology of Van Helsing. There fails to be any governing body in charge of the 'brand' but an iota of common sense suggests this is imperative.
However, if some better eye-candy {attractive actors/actresses} had been chosen for the characters then that may have compelled me to stomach through the first few episodes, maybe more. That is simply honest the reader and myself, being me.
Thank you for sharing your time and Force; May you ask the Goddess to eternally alight your path. Please understand that far from perfect am I. That realization too is far from new to me; Therefore, with the goal of helping are the critics made by me. If the show does well enough for SyFy to order the rest of the season, hopefully the makers of the show can use what is written by others and/or I, to help turn around the quality of the show.
