The first nine minutes of Syfy’s 12 Monkeys pilot are here, more than a week ahead of the series premiere, and things look stressful. In the preview, time traveler Cole (Aaron Stanford) tracks down a virologist (Amanda Schull) to warn of a man named Leland Frost and a deadly plague (understatement) that’s going to obliterate the human race in a few decades. If you’ve seen the source material, a.k.a. Terry Gilliam’s 1995 film of the same name, you might notice some enticing parallels and differences. If you haven’t but are interested in science fiction and recovering from Interstellar, these first few scenes are similar to the watch scene at the end of the movie — just much more straightforward. Yay, fake Hollywood science. You can catch the rest of the episode Friday, January 16, at 9 p.m — which means you still have time to invest in these nifty lights if you want things to get extra weird.
