Time flies through open wormholes. Syfy‘s quirky Eureka TV series premiered on July 18, 2006, when the NBC-Universal cable channel was still known as “Sci-Fi.” Created by Andrew Cosby and Jaime Paglia, the comedy-drama starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Erica Cerra, Neil Grayston, Joe Morton, and Chris Gauthier is set in the top secret Pacific Northwest town of Eureka.

A company town, Eureka is dedicated to scientific achievement and plagued by experiments gone awry. The Eureka TV show was cancelled after five seasons. Its TV series finale episode 5.13, “Just Another Day,” aired four years and two days ago, on July 16, 2012.

The Eureka TV show cast also includes: Jordan Hinson, Niall Matter, Ed Quinn, Debrah Farentino, Tembi Locke, Christopher Jacot, Kavan Smith, Felicia Day, Matt Frewer, Trevor Jackson, Jaime Ray Newman, and Vanya Asher.

Among Eureka‘s notable guest stars are: Wil Wheaton, James Callis, Stan Lee, Alan Ruck, Frances Fisher, Ever Carradine, Olivia d’Abo, Ming-Na Wen, Greg Germann, Chris Parnell, Aaron Douglas, Edward James Olmos, and Jim Parsons.

When Deputy US Marshal Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) is returning a fugitive — his daughter Zoe (Jordan Hinson) — to her mother’s Los Angeles home, he crashes into Eureka, which is cloaked by an electro-magnetic shield. The town was established by Present Harry S. Truman, with the help of Albert Einstein, to protect and develop America’s geniuses.

The town of Eureka is owned by Global Dynamics. Syfy says, “Most of the quantum leaps in science and technology during the past 50 years were produced by Eureka’s elite researchers, but years of experiments gone awry have yielded some peculiar by-products.”

In the Eureka TV series pilot, when an out-of-control experiment cripples Sheriff Major William Cobb (Maury Chaykin) Carter stays on and assumes his office. There he repairs his relationship with Zoe, who eventually flourishes away from the bright lights of L.A.

While he is not a not world-class scientist, this fish out of water possesses common sense. His logical approach to his job frequently lead Carter to save Eureka and the world.

During its run, Eureka was one of Syfy’s more successful series, but was expensive to make. At turns whimsical and poignant, the show cultivated a loyal fanbase. Syfy originally renewed Eureka for a sixth shortened final season of six episodes. By then though, Comcast owned 51% of NBC-U and nixed the deal for financial reasons, leaving Eureka cancelled.

This all happened in the summer of 2011, while the second half of Eureka‘s fourth season was airing and the fifth season was already too far into production for the creative team to write a satisfying conclusion. Syfy added an extra episode, to allow the writers to craft a proper finale.

Although “Just Another Day,” was unable to wrap up all the threads left hanging through Eureka‘s five season run, it was well-received by fans for providing closure, while leaving the doors open for Eureka to return someday.

After the town — which was going to be shut down — gets a reprieve, Jack is driving Zoe to the airport so she can return to Harvard and graduate summa cum laude. As they cross the town line, they drive past younger alternate-universe versions of themselves just arriving in Eureka. Jack tells Zoe, “I’ll deal with that, tomorrow.”

Ferguson would go on to recur as Tripp Cooke, on The Vampire Diaries on The CW. He joined the Cedar Cove TV series for its third and final season on Hallmark Channel. He also recurred as William in the fourth and fifth seasons of Haven, which was cancelled by Syfy (after season five).  You may also recognize this comedic actor in a leading man’s body as the latest Maytag Man.

Eureka‘s Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston) crossed over to Syfy’s Warehouse 13, which — in-universe — is also owned by Global Dynamics. Likewise, Warehouse 13 character Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) visited Eureka.

Watch Eureka stars Colin Ferguson and Neil Grayston as they look back on the series, prior to the Eureka TV series finale.

Watch Ferguson discuss the fifth and final season of Eureka on Syfy, with Toronto Star‘s Rob Salem.

Ferguson talks about what he hopes fans take away from the Eureka TV series finale.

Only the fifth and final season of Eureka is available on Netflix. Amazon streams the complete Eureka TV series, but it is not free for Amazon Prime subscribers.

What do you think? Are you a fan of the Eureka TV show? Would you watch a Eureka reunion special or movie?