Paid to protect. The rest is just for fun.

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama
Episode(s): 1.01 “Pilot”
Role: Stephanie Dobbs (guest appearance)
Status: Original airdate January 15 2010 (U.S.)
Series Creator(s): Jonathan E. Steinberg
Cast: Mark Valley, Chi McBride, Jackie Earle Haley, Adrian Hough (guest), Mark Moses (guest), David Meunier (guest)
Network: FOX

• Overview
• Memorable Stephanie Quotations
• Said of Human Target
• Human Target Episode Trivia
• Reception: Awards & Personal Thoughts
• Human Target Online

More Human Target images of Tricia in our Human Target Photo Gallery

Series and episode overview by Tricia Helfer Fan:

FOX’s Human Target follows Winston security firm agent Christopher Chance (Valley), an adventurous, adrenaline-powered but ultimately troubled man whose job is to serve as a “human target” to unknown enemies of his clients. Using his exceptional abilities and various guises, Chance infiltrates the sphere of acquaintances of his client to flush out the “threat” and then eliminate it.

In the pilot episode, after a gig nearly goes wrong because of Chance’s unpredictable behavior, he’s hired next by Stephanie Dobbs and her husband. Stephanie is the chief engineer of the new 80-billion-dollar California bullet train whose life has unexpectedly come under threat. The train’s maiden voyage only days away, Stephanie hires Chance as her lifeguard and investigator, and posing as Stephanie’s new Japanese translator, Chance joins Stephanie on the train’s debut ride, anticipating everything will unravel on the voyage. While the assassin starts to make one move after another to kill Stephanie, Chance soon realizes Stephanie has secrets of her own as well, but when the killer finally makes one dire mistake and accidentally blows out the brakes of the train, everyone’s life is suddenly in danger when the train becomes a high-speed death trap. Even the killer is now at risk, but while Chance is able to take down his key operator, as the train races towards its destruction the question remains, who’s really trying to kill Stephanie and why?

* * * *

Tricia Helfer portrays Stephanie Dobbs, a beautiful and highly intelligent mechanical engineer behind California’s newly finished, first ever bullet train.

“It was about a week ago. I get in the car to go to work, and it won’t start. Two hours later, I’m at the dealership and the mechanic comes out with this look on his face. He says, ‘Good news is, your battery’s dead.’ Bad news is, he found eight ounces of Prima C explosive under the hood.”

“I don’t know why anyone would want me dead. I’ve never got threats, don’t have any enemies. I don’t know what this is, that’s why I need your help.”

“I was told that you provided unique service, that you’re the people that I need.”

“I don’t wanna live my life in fear. Whoever’s behind this shouldn’t have that kind of power over me.”

[cell phone rings in Chance's pocket]
“Funny, my phone has the same ring…”
[Chance talks on the phone with Winston]
“Strange, don’t you think? That we should both have the same… Wait a second. That is my phone. You stole my phone!”

“Uh… About a year ago, he wrote a piece exposing corner-cutting within the project. Hoffer got this information from an anonymous source within the company.”
[Chance: "Any chance that anonymous source is sitting at the table with me right now?"]
[pauses] “The cost-cutting was jeopardizing safety measures. I kept telling them that a train this big and this fast had to be flawless, but they stopped listening to me. I had to do something!… After that McNamara got scared, he gave me everything I wanted.”

“Are you telling me I deserve this?”

“The killer thinks you identified him, right? He’s afraid he’s caught, so he wants to get off the train. He pulls one emergency brake, it doesn’t work, so then he pulls them all.”
[Chance: "Well, that's what we want. He's panicking, he's getting that much closer to making a mistake."]
“He already did. I think he blew out our brakes.”
[Chance: "Come again?"]

“A vest?… You wore a vest? Where’s my vest?!”
[Chance: "I'm your vest."]

“I know the guts of this thing better than anyone.”

[Chance: "What are you afraid of?"]
“Dying?!”

“You were wrong. Maybe I did deserve what was coming to me. I’m responsible for this. You risked your life for me, and I lied to you about who I was.”

“Can you at least tell me your name?”
[Chance: "Christopher Chance."]
“Is that true?”
[Chance smiles and walks away]

Select quotations regarding the show from Tricia Helfer and her co-workers:

On what it was like working on the episode:
“I had a really good time, because most of my scenes are with Mark [Valley]. I only worked with Chi [McBride] once and Jackie [Earle Haley] once, but everybody was really great to work with. It was fun to do. You say fun, but then you go, ‘Wait a second, I had a really hard time doing that show!’ [laughs] But those are the circumstances. It’s cold and rainy in Vancouver and I had the flu. Working with the flu is always a mission! But aside from that kind of stuff, I had a great time shooting it. I think the pilot turned out really well. I think they’ve got a great premise there for further episodes. I think the show’s going to do really well.”
- IGN interview, July 7 2009

On her character Stephanie:
“It was so funny, because she is a tough character. She’s incredibly smart. She’ll stand up to anyone. But then I had to keep reminding myself that you are the damsel in distress to some extent. You’re not the one who’s going to start taking on the assassin, which I’m kind of used to. It’s like, ‘Wait… I’m not the one throwing the punch! You’re running away from the gun!’ [laughs] I like playing strong characters and I think Stephanie would, if push comes to shove, [fight]. She’s not one to go, ‘Ah! I’m sorry!’ She’s certainly not the damsel in distress in the traditional sense. But I did have to remind myself a couple of times that no, she doesn’t know how to fight. [...] She did hire somebody, knowing that she was essentially putting out a hit on the hitman. She’s a tough chick in that respect and in all respects, really, except physically, she’s not a fighter. She’s an intellectual.”
- IGN interview, July 7 2009

Trivia coming soon/not available.

Human Target episode 1.01 “Pilot” has not received any awards or nominations.

Personal Thoughts

Sandra: Human Target was a really pleasant surprise as a show. The pilot episode rolls along pretty nicely overall and the special effects are impressive (and expensive-looking, for a TV show), and although Mark Valley may at first feel a little wooden in his role, it ultimately actually suits the character rather well. The title design is amazing (something I, as an amateur graphic designer, always pay attention to, haha), and even though the pilot is not a complete homerun, it shows a lot of promise for a great series. FOX tends to kill off its new shows pretty quickly if they turn out unsuccessful, so even though I haven’t been able to follow the show regularly, the fact that it’s been renewed for a second season sounds promising.

As Stephanie Dobbs, Tricia is absolutely terrific, even if her “damsel in distress” character isn’t particularly multi-dimensioned. She does have a couple of great moments as Stephanie, however, particularly one early scene in which Valley’s Christopher Chance surprises her with his extensive Japanese skills, and another in which she just realizes Chance has stolen her phone. Valley and the main cast get all the best lines of course, but Tricia still pulls out a great performance. Fans should be happy to know she also appears in the episode almost throughout.

Below are some Human Target related links that may be of interest to you.

• Human Target official site
• Human Target TFL-approved fanlisting
• Human Target TFL-approved Stephanie character fanlisting
• Human Target on IMDb.com
• Human Target on MetaCritic.com
• Human Target on Wikipedia.org

• Mark Valley on Mark-Valley.com