''Welcome to Paradox'' was a Canadian

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

television series aired on the

Sci Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

in the U.S. and subsequently on

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in Canada. It was first broadcast on August 17, 1998, ran for one season, with the final episode being released November 9, 1998. As this was part of a crop of new shows produced in 1998 by Sci Fi Channel and it was not successful beyond the first season, it was never placed in syndication. ''Betaville'' was the original title for the series. The series is an anthology hybrid. The stories all took place in the fictional future city of "Betaville", a nod to Jean-Luc Godard's '' Alphaville''. However, the majority of the stories were adapted from short stories that were originally unconnected with that fictional city. The stories were adapted from older works by famous science fiction authors which explored the impact of certain technologies on the human body and psyche, and the theme of humanity being overwhelmed by hostile technologies. Each episode had a host—originally to be named "Paradox" until the concept was dropped—that served as a narrator, adding a prologue and epilogue to the show as with ''

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'' and '' The Outer Limits''. The

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was chosen to be the transportation of Betaville; one was used whenever a car was needed in a story. Guest stars in the series include Steven Bauer,

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, Ice-T,

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, Rodney Rowland, Justine Priestley,

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Lochlyn Munro Lochlyn Munro (born February 12, 1966) is a Canadian actor. His most notable film roles include ''A Night at the Roxbury'' (1998), ''Scary Movie'' (2000), ''Freddy vs. Jason'' (2003), ''White Chicks'' (2004), '' The Predator'' (2018) and ''Cosm ...

, Channon Roe,

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Alice Krige Alice Maud Krige (; born 28 June 1954) is a South African actress and producer. Her first feature film role was in '' Chariots of Fire'' (1981) as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon. She played the dual role of Eva Galli/Alma Mobley i ...

, Justin Lazard,

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, and

Dana Ashbrook Dana Vernon Ashbrook (born May 24, 1967) is an American actor, best known for playing Bobby Briggs on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) and its 1992 prequel film '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me''. Early life Ashbrook was ...

Setting

Betaville, a fictional utopian city existing at an unspecified future point in time, is the setting for stories in ''Welcome to Paradox''. Societal problems such as crime, violence, and disease have been resolved, but there is a dark undercurrent in Betaville that impacts some citizens directly. Episode plots highlight issues such as technology has invaded daily life to the point that simulated reality is preferred to actual reality, perfect machines wresting control from wealthy and pampered owners, and humanity being challenged by genetic and social engineering programs that push the limits of arrogance and sanity.

Episodes

Home media

Though an Australian PAL (Region 4) boxed set of the entire series exists, the series was never released in any format in North America or Europe. The series can be viewed in those areas through some web sites and streaming services. In Canada it is currently streaming on the Roku channel 471-sci-fi.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Welcome To Paradox 1990s Canadian science fiction television series 1990s Canadian drama television series 1998 Canadian television series debuts 1998 Canadian television series endings 1990s Canadian anthology television series Television series by Alliance Atlantis Showcase (Canadian TV channel) original programming Science fiction anthology television series