Acclaimed film and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean, CSI) is back again in the nick of time with...ELEVENTH HOUR.
Starring Rufus Seewell as Dr. Jacob Hood, a brilliant biophysicist and special science advisor to the government, the series follows the enigmatic doctor as he investigates scientific crises and oddities everything from cloning to cryogenics. With absolute jurisdiction and a resolute pursuit of those who would abuse and misuse scientific discoveries and breakthroughs for their own gain, hes called in at the eleventh hour as the last line of defense.
Marley Shelton co-stars as Special Agent Rachel Young, the decorated FBI protection officer assigned to watch his back. Based on the British miniseries by acclaimed writer Stephen Gallagher, the series follows this unlikely pair as they crusade to protect the substance of science from those with nefarious motives.
Rufus Seewell (
Dark City, The Legend of Zorro) takes the Patrick Stewart role from
the original U.K. version in Jerry Bruckheimer's USA incarnation of
Eleventh Hour, which aired on CBS this past year. The show was a joint production of Bruckheimer's company, of Granada America (the local division of the studio behind the original 4-episode British mini-series) and Warner Brothers Television. The series ran for 18 episodes, from October 2008 to early April 2009. In mid-may the network announced that it had been canceled.
Warner has apparently decided to release the show on DVD, but not through traditional means. Rather than put it in stores, they will sell it online-only as a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) set via their
Warner Archive program. This makes it the second TV-related MOD release from Warner, following their
recently available collection of
Our Gang shorts (which later aired on TV as "
The Little Rascals).
Despite the show's cancellation, ensuring that there won't be a second season, the
pre-order listing at the Warner Archives site shows the title will be "
Eleventh Hour - The Complete 1st Season". Running 775 minutes long (which sounds about right for 18 episodes), it will be available for $34.95, and only ships to U.S. destinations (per a note at the site). The only other info related to specs is that the screen format is "16x9 Full Frame", which sounds like a contradiction in terms. In our experience with Warner products, the key is that it says this is 16x9, which usually means it will be widescreen...no matter about the rest of the phrase. We suppose, though, than on a widescreen television a 16x9 picture takes up the "full frame", eh?
No other details are available so far, nor do they show any picture of a standard Warner Archives-style package for this title. There is a square icon of the show's two main stars and logo, but that's all. Pre-orders of the set will begin to ship on
October 20th. If you want the show on DVD, our advice is to get it through this listing...all previous indications we've had from Warner is that items sold through their Archive program are only available there, with no plans to be in your local stores. On many of the film titles previously made available through this service, we will later notice that the titles (including pictures of the Warner Archive packaging) will appear as listings at other online sellers, including Amazon...but at a mark-up of at least five dollars, sometimes more. That's been our experience, in any case. Our thanks to reader Sheryl Aumack, for e-mailing in and making sure we had seen this listing (we had, but we appreciate the effort in any case!).
