Friday 26 April 2019

Voyagers!

When people are young, they tend to discover at least one movie or TV show that inspires their interest in a particular concept or subject.  Voyagers! was one of several shows during the 1980s that sparked my enthusiasm for the concept of time travel (and ultimately led me to my long-time fandom for Doctor Who).

In the far future, the Voyager Academy educates people in the many eras of Earth's history.  Upon graduating, a Voyager is issued a guidebook and a watch-like device known as an Omni, which enables its bearer to time-travel to a certain range of dates.  Their job is to monitor history and ensure that events unfold as they should.

One such Voyager, a charming but ignorant man named Phineas Bogg (played by Jon-Erik Hexum) accidentally lands in 1982 when his Omni malfunctions.  He appears in the high-rise apartment of twelve-year-old Jeffrey Jones (played by Meeno Peluce), the orphaned son of a history professor.  Jeffrey's dog grabs the Omni after mistaking it for a toy.  During the ensuing struggle to get it back, Jeffrey falls from a window, forcing Bogg to jump out and use the Omni to save him, leaving his Guidebook behind.  Thus begins their adventures of bouncing through time, with Bogg's charisma and Jeffrey's encyclopedic historical knowledge helping them to become a formidable team.

Each episode features two distinct storylines based on events in different parts of the world, the situation sometimes requiring one or both travelers to hop between the two.  Once in a while they would meet other Voyagers whose mission happened to intersect with their own.

NBC ran Voyagers! from October 1982 until July 1983 for a total of 20 episodes.  Given its good ratings it seemed likely to be renewed for a second season, but instead the network chose to cancel it and replace it with a news program.  The following year however it was rerun on Saturday mornings as part of a children's programming lineup.

In 1985 following the accidental death of star Jon-Erik Hexum, the pilot and episode 15 "Voyagers of the Titanic" were edited into a commemorative television film, with new effects and voice-overs.  This film was released to VHS but has long been out of print.  The series in its entirety was released on DVD in 2007 and all episodes are currently available on Amazon Video.

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