Mercy Point
Mercy Point is an American science fiction medical drama, created by Trey Callaway, David Simkins, and Milo Frank, which originally aired for one season on UPN from October 6, 1998, to July 15, 1999. With an ensemble cast led by Joe Morton, Maria del Mar, Alexandra Wilson, Brian McNamara, Salli Richardson, Julia Pennington, Gay Thomas, Jordan Lund, and Joe Spano, the series focuses on the doctors and nurses in a 23rd-century hospital space station located in deep space. The executive producers were Trey Callaway, Michael Katleman, Lee David Zlotoff, Joe Voci, and Scott Sanders.
Callaway adapted Mercy Point from his original screenplay, "Nightingale One". It was picked up by Mandalay Television, and the concept was eventually revised as a television project and renamed Mercy Point; production on the film project had ended due to the poor commercial performance of the 1997 film Starship Troopers. The television show was part of a three-million-dollar deal between Mandalay and Columbia TriStar Television to produce 200 hours of material. It was filmed in Vancouver to reduce production costs, the hospital sets being constructed on a series of sound stages. Director Joe Napolitano has praised the show for its use of a complete set to allow for more intricate directing. Despite Callaway envisioning Mercy Point as a companion to Star Trek: Voyager, it was paired with Moesha and Clueless as its lead-in on Tuesday nights. Initially focused on ethical and medical cases, the show's storylines gradually shifted toward relating the characters' personal relationships, to better fit UPN's primarily teen viewership.
Mercy Point was placed on hiatus after only three episodes were aired, and was replaced by the reality television series America's Greatest Pets and the sitcom Reunited. The show suffered from low ratings, with an average of two million viewers. The final four episodes of the series were broadcast in two 2-hour blocks on Thursday nights in July 1999. It has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray, but was made available to stream on Crackle. Critical response to Mercy Point was mixed; some commentators praised its characterization and use of science-fiction elements, while others found it to be uninteresting and unoriginal. Callaway stated that he had the potential story arcs for the full first season already planned before the show's cancellation.
Premise
Set in the year 2249, Mercy Point revolves around doctors and nurses working in a hospital space station in deep space. The "state-of-the-art hospital" is described as "the last stop for anything going out, the first stop for anything coming back" by one of the show's characters. It is noted for existing on the "fringes of the galaxy", on a colony called Jericho. The facility includes advanced medical equipment, such as "artificial wombs, holographic three-dimensional X-ray projections zero-gravity operating tables". A talking computer known as Hippocrates, voiced by series co-creator Trey Callaway, is shown as the primary method to monitor a patient's status.The doctors and nurses work on both human and extraterrestrial patients over the course of the series. In the series, the medical staff is referred to as "med-nauts". Despite the futuristic setting, the characters' clothing and hairstyles adhere to 1990s fashion trends. In Frank Garcia and Mark Phillips' book Science Fiction Television Series, 1990–2004, they compared the concept behind the show to James White's Sector General series, Murray Leinster's stories about a doctor who travels to different planets, and G. Harry Stine's book Space Doctor. Mercy Point
Characters
According to a press release from UPN, the series features the characters' attempts to "balanc complicated personal lives with the demands of working in a cutting-edge hospital". Each episode includes story arcs involving personal and professional problems, the staff's relationships gaining more prominence as the series progressed. Alien physiologist Grote Maxwell works as the facility's lead doctor and surgeon. Senior surgeon Haylen Breslauer directs Maxwell's actions as his boss and best friend. Dru Breslaur begins working at the hospital in the pilot episode, creating tension because of her strained relationship with her older sister Haylen, and her past romance with Dr. C. J. Jurado. Jurado is characterized through his high libido, with his story arc involving a love triangle with Dru and his current girlfriend Lieutenant Kim Salisaw. While working as a doctor, Rema Cooke grows more concerned about her patients' rights.The android head nurse ANI and the alien surgeon Dr. Batung also help to combat the frequent medical emergencies at the hospital. ANI is represented as "extremely efficient and attractive", the facility's other nurses disliking her as they feel that she sets an impossible standard for them to match. Throughout the series, ANI develops more emotions, such as crying and laughing, and tries to learn more about them. Batung, who is part of the slug-like species the Shenn, is portrayed as lacking bedside manners by acting insensitively toward his patients. His negative behavior is attributed to his lack of experience working with human co-workers and patients. The hospital is run by the Chief of Staff Harris DeMilla, who is often tasked to handle its ethical issues.
Production
Concept and development
Created by Trey Callaway, David Simkins, and Milo Frank, Mercy Point was originally developed as a concept for a feature film. Callaway drew his primary inspiration for the original screenplay from a concept by Frank, entitled "Nightingale One". And while pitching the idea to film executives, Callaway said in his closing comments that he could also envision it as the framework for a successful television series."Nightingale One" was eventually purchased by Mandalay Entertainment, a production company headed by Peter Guber, but the film's production was stalled after the poor commercial performance of the 1997 film Starship Troopers. Callaway said that following Starship Troopers, producers had "lost their appetite at that moment for any big-budgeted science fiction". However, a producer who saw Callaway's original pitch to Mandalay Entertainment's executives decided to reformat "Nightingale One" as a television series based on Callaway's final remarks in the meeting. After the concept's approval for television, "Nightingale One" was renamed Mercy Point.
During production, Callaway imagined the series as a "companion piece" to Star Trek: Voyager, with the hope that it would have a shared viewership. Even though elements of "Nightingale One" were kept, Callaway said that " really started over again and reconceived it completely as a series from the ground up". Prior to the series being officially green-lit, Callaway collaborated with writer David Simkins to prepare a presentation of a "low-budgeted 30 minute" pilot. Simkins did not work on the series after his pilot, but his contributions earned him a credit as one of its co-creators. John de Lancie, who was noted for acting as Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation, had essayed the role of DeMilla, and Steve Johnson designed the non-humanoid aliens. The pilot presentation was filmed in Los Angeles, but the sets were completely renovated for the series' episodes. Three non-humanoid characters, including ANI and Batung, were added to the show following this presentation.
UPN executives responded positively to the presentation, and ordered thirteen episodes of the series, which was considered a "half-season's worth". Mercy Point was one of four shows produced by Mandalay Television that appeared in the 1998–99 United States television schedule, alongside Cupid, Rude Awakening, and Oh Baby. The show's production was part of a three-million-dollar deal with Columbia TriStar Television to produce 200 hours of material; a majority of the content created from this agreement was commercially unsuccessful.
Casting and filming
Callaway carefully chose actors when casting each role. He focused on maintaining the series as a "character-driven plot", to always make "what is going on with people's hearts and minds" more important than special effects. Despite auditioning other actors to voice Hippocrates, Callway reprised the role from the pilot; he would later say that he had difficulty with the medical and technical vocabulary required for the character. Like The X-Files and Stargate SG-1, the show was filmed in Vancouver to take advantage of lower production costs. A majority of the crew had worked on The X-Files. The executive producers were: Trey Callaway, Michael Katleman, Lee David Zlotoff, Joe Voci, and Scott Sanders. Jon Ehrlich composed the show's theme.The entire series was shot on sound stages. Production designers Greg Loewen and Graemay Murray designed the medical facility as a "circular hub with offices and rooms radiating outward", and included a second floor in which DeMilla could oversee the entire hospital's operations. Director Joe Napolitano praised the sets while filming the episode "Last Resort", calling the show "a good candy store for a director" due to the functionality and size of the hospital. He explained that the set enabled him to direct long takes and walk and talk sequences without much difficulty.
The series required extensive prosthetic work for Dr. Batung and the non-human patients. The application of Lund's prosthetic makeup required several hours each day that he was filmed. Napolitano said that he found this to be a challenge to the production schedule, explaining that there would be discussions about the amount of prosthetics necessary for Batung depending on the scene. Batung's prosthetic work included a tail that wrapped around his neck and shoulders; Lund was pushed around the set on a sled to mimic the character's movements as a slug. Napolitano also specified that the patients required a similar amount of time and work for their prosthetic makeup, such as a man who has gills under his chin.