EPISODE
Klondike - Season 1
The lives of two childhood best friends, Bill and Epstein, in the late 1890s as they flock to the gold rush capital in the untamed Yukon Territory. This man-versus-nature tale places our heroes in a land full of undiscovered wealth, but ravaged by harsh conditions, unpredictable weather and desperate, dangerous characters including greedy businessmen, seductive courtesans and native tribes witnessing the destruction of their people and land by opportunistic entrepreneurs.
2 August 1985, Lumsden, Saskatchewan, Canada
7 July 1977, Greenwich, London, England, UK
18 June 1986, Elderslie, Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK
27 December 1957, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
4 June 1967, Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada
17 September 1987
January 22, 2014
It takes some time to get used to writer Paul Scheuring's period-specific dialogue, but once you stop chuckling and just go with it, you'll be fine. It only adds to the authenticity of the production.
January 22, 2014
It comes across almost like a musical without any songs, and before long, you're swept up in its crisp visuals and steady pace.
January 22, 2014
There's violence - it was a violent time - but it isn't excessive or gratuitous, which is a welcome relief. Dig in.
January 24, 2014
Klondike delivers its dramatic bounty more effectively and compactly, capitalizing on some of Discovery's favorite obsessions: dangerous vocations, gold prospecting and harsh Alaska-adjacent terrain, in a fictionalized account of the 1897 gold rush.
January 22, 2014
It helps that so much of Klondike was shot on location and without CGI. That makes the series feel especially real and lived, which is key in making a project like this one work.
January 27, 2014
That everyone is concerned with one particular killing when murder appears to be common doesn't make much sense, and the dialogue sometimes sounds too 21st century, but the exploration of what greed and deprivation do to people holds your attention.
January 24, 2014
The miniseries illuminates the many ways that writers' imagination can fail them.
January 27, 2014
Klondike was wrapped in a picturesque grandeur, but inside there wasn't a nugget of gold to be found, just a few sparkly platitudes and the message that hope is far too simplistic of a notion to hang an entire miniseries on.
January 22, 2014
While Klondike does play a bit like "Deadwood Lite" at times, it's best to avoid comparisons with the late great HBO drama and take the miniseries on its own terms as sturdy epic storytelling populated by a memorable collection of characters.
January 22, 2014
Yet in a miniseries full of wonders-among them all those lead actors from the U.K. or the former British Empire-Discovery has now staked its own claim.
January 22, 2014
Discovery Channel overall gets a passing grade for mounting a drama that effectively captures its period visually if not always verbally.
January 22, 2014
If you're just asking for an entertaining adventure story with impressive visuals and a solid cast, it does the job, and represents a promising first foray into scripted drama for Discovery.