![]() ![]() Yes, Lucy, because her familiarity with American history will help them blend in. The team will consist of a blue-eyed square-jawed Government Type with the rough-and-tumble name Wyatt Logan, a coder named Rufus from the billionaire’s coterie of technicians who will pilot the time machine (and who is justifiably nervous about traveling to any earlier point in America’s past while wearing a black skin), and Lucy. Their solution stretches credulity a bit: they want to send a crack team back in time in a second egg to chase the terrorist, foil whatever he has planned, and maybe retrieve the mothership. He didn’t tell anyone about it, of course, until it was stolen, at which point he turned to the Government Types for help. I’ll try to sum up quickly: the debonair villain, named Flynn, stole a time machine (the egg, which the science guys call ‘the mothership’) invented by a Musk/Branson stand-in billionaire character. The backup ship looks like a creepy eyeball. The three parts are unconnected at first, until the Government Types show up at Lucy’s door. ![]() The egg comes alive with whirling lights and whining engine sounds, and vanishes. Finally we see a debonair criminal portrayed by Goran Vijnic storm a (poorly guarded) compound with a small army, grab a scientist by the scruff (Matt Frewer!) and climb into a big sci-fi-looking egg thingy in a lab full of startled technicians. Lucy and her sister care for their dying, bedridden mother, also a history professor and in whose footsteps Lucy is struggling to follow. In the present day, we are introduced to Lucy Preston, a history professor with a ribald sense of humor and a professional interest in getting inside the minds of historical figures. First, we watch a half-decent recreation of the events surrounding the Hindenburg disaster, though the “oh, the humanity!” guy is less than convincing. Timeless begins with a three-part cold open. But, of course, this is not the 1980’s, this is the 21st Century, baby, and that means multi-episode and full-season plot arcs. The initial premise of Timeless is not too far off from Voyagers!, but with that crucial antagonist element included. Where was the dastardly villain responsible for messing up history? The show only lasted one full season, and I think one important reason for that is the show lacked an antagonist. Our hero traveled with a 12-year-old orphan sidekick, which helped establish the show as a learning adventure, a pre- Quantum LeapTT series for kids who think history class is boring. I think we need to start in the early 1980s, when I was a devotee of a short-lived series called Voyagers!The show’s hero was a time-travelling adventurer-a member of a supposed league of TT adventurers-with a pocket-watch style time machine that would flash a red light if history needed “fixing” to get back on the correct track. But maybe I had terrible taste when I was 12. A lot about the show bugged me, but I’m excited for episode 2. It’s a bit messy, but there is definite potential for future episodes. So, does the Timeless pilot episode meet these standards? No. make the story better or more interesting, or reveal something important about the characters The use of time travel as a device should enhance the narrative, i.e. it should be self-contained, consistent, and not subject to arbitrary “rules.”Ģ. The explanation of how time travel works must have integrity, i.e. I recommend checking out my older posts to see how this works.ġ. ![]() I enjoy those flicks, but the TT stuff in them is kind of a mess. The classic example is Back to the Future and its sequels. If you’ve read any of my previous posts here at GGA, you know that I’m a little funny about this issue: I have rules about how time-travel (TT) needs to be portrayed, but I might really enjoy fare that fails to follow those rules. I just watched the pilot episode of NBC’s new series Timeless, and… well, we need to talk. Hi, remember me? I’m the one a bit obsessed with time-travel stories, especially in film and on TV. ![]()
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