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Entry updated 19 November 2023. Tagged: TV.

US tv series (2005-2006). Rock Fish Productions/NBC Universal Television for NBC-TV. Created by Jonas and Josh Pate. Produced by Ed Milkovich, Joy Beattie, Dan Dworkin and Darcy Meyers. Directors included Jeffrey Reiner, John Behring and Bill Eagles. Writers included Beattie, Dworkin and Chip Johannessen. Cast includes Lake Bell, Jay R Ferguson, Eddie Hassell, Carter Jenkins, Leighton Meester and Rade Šerbedžija. 14 43-minute episodes. Colour.

Oceanographer Laura Daughtery (Bell) is attacked by a strange aquatic creature Under the Sea while investigating mysterious craters or holes in the seabed near the coast of Northern California; she escapes unharmed, but is intrigued by her experience. Teenager Miles Bennett (Jenkins), who lives near the coastline of North Carolina, comes face to face with one of the same creatures during a nighttime surfboard outing with friends, but is uninjured. Off the coast of Louisiana, insurance salesman Richard "Rich" Connelly (Ferguson) is diving with his brother when they encounter the same creatures; his brother is somehow entangled in a net or line around one of the beings' fins, and is dragged into the depths. Mysterious phenomena are being reported from around the world, not all of which may be related to these encounters; apparent meteorites fall into the Caribbean Sea and a lighthouse is destroyed by a large, unseen Monster in South Africa. The carcass of a dead sea being, supposedly a whale, washes up on a South Carolina beach in the US: Daughtery tries to investigate but is forbidden from doing so by government officials. The creatures are now being reported frequently near South Carolina: Rich travels there trying to come to terms with the death of his brother, and meets Dr Daughtery. Miles finds what appears to be an unidentified egg along the shore and takes it home, where it shortly hatches in his swimming pool. His best friend Phil (Hassell) names it Nimrod, or "Nim" for short. This new species may be a form of pliosaur, an extinct aquatic Dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period, considered to be a type of plesiosaur. A mysterious Croatian scientist, Dr Alexander Cirko (Šerbedžija), is also investigating the pliosaurs but is very secretive about his work. He learns their origin but is murdered before he can tell anyone; his assistant gives his research notes to Laura. Like electric eels, the reptiles can generate bio-electricity as a weapon. Miles is attacked by several young specimens, and Nim somehow heals him by licking his wounds. Either from the wounds or Nim's saliva, Miles obtains the same ability to generate electrical surges, as well as a need for additional salt. In the final episode aired, the creatures' activities on the ocean floor somehow cause a tremendous undersea earthquake which generates a huge tsunami. This destroys Puerto Rico and engulfs much of the eastern US seaboard; Laura, Rich, Miles, and his sister Caitlin survive in a tall church steeple as Wilmington, North Carolina, is submerged.

Although most storylines were left unresolved when the series was cancelled, it was indicated that the reappearance of the pliosaurs resulted from experiments with ancient DNA by an unnamed, secret biotechnology company. The reason for this project was left unexplained; the company had previously succeeded in recreating the ancient bird Archaeopteryx. In an unusual move, the series was syndicated to the Sci Fi Channel at the same time it ran on NBC. Like several programmes of this period, it emulated the series Lost (2004-2010) in following multiple characters and storylines, with mixed success. [GSt]

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