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Parents' Guide to

Charlie Jade

By Will Wade, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Parallel universe sci-fi is too intense for kids.

TV Syfy Science Fiction 2005
Charlie Jade Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

Private investigator CHARLIE JADE is a man trapped between worlds. While trying to solve the murder of a young woman whose name doesn't appear in any known database, Jade (Jeffrey Pierce) discovers that the powerful Vexcor Corporation has developed a way to steal natural resources from parallel universes. Jade realizes that people can also move between these alternate worlds, and he teams up with Reena (Patricia McKenzie), a woman from one of them, to stop Vexcor. Their investigation is hampered by the rigid caste structure in Jade's home world, the Alpha Verse, where everyone is born into a designated social class. Vexcor's wealthy corporate masters sit at the very top and are seemingly above the law -- especially Boxer (Michael Filipowich), the son of Vexcor's founder, who's not above kidnapping women from the neighboring Beta Verse.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

The series does an admirable job of developing its three similar-but-distinct worlds, though all of them seem very familiar. Jade's home in the Alpha Verse -- a chaotic, dystopian future in which wealth trumps law and everyone can be electronically tracked at any time -- feels a lot like the visions of the future famously created in Blade Runner and Minority Report. The slightly-less-advanced Beta Verse -- well, that's got to be Earth, today. And the lush and beautiful Gamma Verse is clearly an undeveloped paradise, unspoiled by technology and ready to be pillaged by Vexcor.

Charlie Jade deserves credit for starting with a unique premise, but the execution of the parallel-universe concept makes it seem like so many other sci-fi movies and TV shows, complete with a roguish-but-caring hero, a nefarious corporate villain, and a host of assorted supporting characters straight from central casting. It's not all that original, but it's entertaining.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about class structure. In the show's world, people are born with a specific ratings classification that's very hard to change. Do you think such a caste system is common in other science fiction or fantasy TV shows or movies? Are they usually defined this explicitly, or do the class divisions exist below the surface? Do you think a similar structure exists in our own world? Why or why not?

TV Details

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