Mercy Point
Entry updated 13 November 2023. Tagged: TV.
US tv series (1998-1999). Columbia TriStar Television/Mandalay Television for UPN Network. Created by Trey Callaway, Milo Frank and David Simkins. Produced by Brent V Friedman, Scott Sanders, Deborah Starr Siebel and others. Directors include Lee Bonner, Michael Katleman and Joe Napolitano. Writers include Gary Glasberg, Jonathan Robert Kaplan and Simkins. Cast includes Trey Callaway, Maria del Mar, Jordan Lund, Brian McNamara, Joe Morton, Julia Pennington and Alexandra Wilson. Eight 60-minute episodes. Colour.
Set aboard the hospital Space Station Mercy Point in 2249 CE, this series featured the regular staff treating both human and Alien patients for various diseases and injuries (see Medicine). The station orbits Earth's colony world Jericho Colony (see Colonization of Other Worlds); beyond lies a mysterious, unstable region of space called the Sahartic Divide from which few Spaceships ever return. The lead doctor is Dr Grote Maxwell (Morton), the facility director is Dr Haylen Breslauer (del Mar); nonhuman characters include the lizard-like Dr Batung (Lund) from a planet called Shenn, Hippocrates the station AI (Callaway) and the resident Android physician ANI or Android Nursing Interface (Pennington). Further familiar themes include Suspended Animation, here termed "Cryostasis", plus such threats as hostile Aliens and a Computer virus capable of infecting humans. A less usual procedure is the downloading of Memory as "Mem-prints" from dying patients to others (see also Memory Edit). Despite its interesting premise, Mercy Point had very low ratings from the outset; the final episodes were aired after a pause to fulfil contractual obligations before a quiet cancellation. [GSt/DRL]
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