Surfacelasted one season on NBC before cancellation, but
Surface: The Complete Serieson DVD will keep the show's exciting, Spielbergian suspense around for a long while. The primetime drama, involving several characters--in different parts of the world--all having similar brushes with fantastic creatures, instantly draws comparisons to Spielberg's
Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Add a government conspiracy (complete with a cover story to force one community's evacuation) to prevent the public from learning of the existence of a previously unknown life form, and the parallels with
Close Encountersgrow thick. But it's not a problem: the many twists and turns in
Surface's far-ranging storyline, and the nature of the species that slowly becomes a factor in the survival of the human race, are compelling on their own terms.
Created by twin brothers and television writers-producers-directors Josh and Jonas Pate (L.A. Dragnet), Surface stars rangy beauty Lake Bell as oceanographer and single mom Dr. Laura "Dee" Daughtery. While doing some research in a submersible at the bottom of the sea, Dee discovers a seemingly bottomless pit leading to astonishing depths in the Earth. But she also bumps into a sea monster that emanates electrical charges strong enough to wreak havoc with her vessel. Meanwhile, a Louisiana-based insurance salesman, Rich (Jay R. Ferguson), is traumatized when he sees his brother dragged away by a similar creature, and a 14-year-old boy, Miles (Carter Jenkins), ...
