1977’s Fantastic Journey had a good premise and a capable creative team, but it disappeared all too quickly against heavy Prime Time competition.
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What Is It?
This series follows a scientific expedition that gets lost in the Bermuda Triangle which turns out to be a mysterious land comprised of multiple “timezones” that travelers can pass through via hidden gateways. Several survivors from the expedition team up with a traveler from the future named Varian in search of “Evoland” where they can find the portal that will take them back to their own timelines.
Aired: NBC, 1977, 1 Season Totaling 10 Episodes
Starring: Jared Martin, Ike Eisenmann, Carl Franklin, Katie Saylor, Roddy McDowall
Created By: Bruce Lansbury
Why Was It Cancelled?
The Fantastic Journey debuted at a time when interest in the Bermuda Triangle, U.F.O.’s, and other paranormal phenomena was at a high point in America. But the show actually did not explore those themes too well, instead adopted the “Land Trek” format that Gene Roddenberry had previously attempted with his failed pilots Genesis II and Planet Earth. Those took the core premise of Star Trek–visiting different societies each week–and grounded the travelers on Earth rather than having them flying through the cosmos (more on that at at this link). And The Fantastic Journey‘s showrunner D.C. Fontana was familiar enough with the basic premise as she had previously worked with Roddenberry on Trek (as a story editor and writer, penning the scripts “The Ultimate Computer”, “The Enterprise Incident” and more). Unfortunately, the show was rushed into production and suffered from the dreaded network tinkering. It never rose to the quality level of Fontana’s previous works, but it had some potential if it could have overcome its 70’s cheesiness and preponderance for genre cliches.
The show did have a decent cast with the underappreciated Jarred Martin taking on the lead role while the always-fun Roddy McDowall had a great time chewing up the scenery. And the beautiful Katie Saylor fought through some poor scripts to prove that she could step up as a strong female lead. Sadly, though, The Fantastic Journey never found much of an audience as it arrived at mid-season and was pitted against popular shows Welcome Back Kotter on ABC and The Waltons on CBS while also being subjected to frequent preemptions. It ended up getting cancelled after only ten episodes (a script for an eleventh was completed but never produced), leaving the group of travelers forever stranded in the Bermuda Triangle. Some sci fi fans from the ’70s still have fond memories of it (myself included) as one of the few true science fiction entries on Prime Time at that time (you can read more about the show at this link). And interestingly, the following season would bring the Logan’s Run TV series which carried over much of the same creative team and continued with the Land Trek theme. But that one disappeared pretty quickly from Prime Time as well (read more about that one at this link).
Should It Be Rebooted?
The Fantastic Journey certainly had an interesting premise and the potential to turn into a decent sci fi entry if given a chance. A revival would certainly work and could deliver society-of-the-week episodes while possibly also building an arc that delves into the mysterious land consisting of multiple “timezones”. Most of the original cast have passed away or retired from acting, so it would be difficult to tie a new show directly to the ’70s series. But a reboot would be perfectly fine seeing as the original barely had time to develop its universe. Since this one never developed much of a following, though, it seems unlikely that the property will be revisited.
Where Can You Watch It?
The complete series has been released on DVD, though it has not received the Blu-ray treatment. It is not currently streaming on any of the major services, but you can find episodes on YouTube.
Read about more Sci Fi TV shows cancelled too soon at this link.
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