2002’s Odyssey 5 did time travel right and could have turned into a classic sci fi series if it was not cut short by Showtime.
What Is It?
The space shuttle Odyssey is on a routine mission when the crew sees a blinding light followed by the destruction of Earth. The doomed ship is saved at the last minute by a mysterious alien known as The Seeker who has witnessed fifty other worlds destroyed in the same manner. He then sends the consciousnesses of the five surviving crew members back in time five years to determine what caused the catastrophe and try to stop it from happening again.
Aired: Showtime, 2002, One Season Totaling 19 Episodes
Created By: Manny Coto
Starring: Peter Weller, Christopher Gorham, Sebastian Roché, Leslie Silva, Tamara Craig Thomas
Legacy:
This is one of the few great time-travel television series, exploring the implications of altering the past while also introducing many hard sci fi elements to its stories. It had a fascinating premise and an excellent cast and could have turned into a true sci fi classic if given more of a chance.
A Closer Look:
Back in the early 00’s, it looked like the Premium Cable channels were taking the lead in serious sci fi/fantasy programming with Odyssey 5 as well as Carnivale (HBO) and Jeremiah (Showtime). These shows took advantage of the lack of network censorship by upping the sex, violence, and bad language, but they also delivered strong writing, excellent casts, and some damn good genre entries. Odyssey 5 was heaviest on the science fiction elements and actually delivered a rare hard sci fi TV show. It explored the implications and consequences of time travel as the five leads quickly learn that “history can turn on a dime”. It also veered into cyberpunk and some interesting AI themes with the cyber aliens known as Sentients who are apparently responsible for the destruction of the Earth (no spoiler, we learn that in the first episode). The show mixed plenty of science with its fiction, but never at the expense of the story as it delivered good drama as well along with some interesting moral quandaries.
Peter Weller and Sebastian Roché emerge as the dominant roles in the central cast as they chew up the scenery while also playing quite well off of each other’s performance. But the other three leads were more than up to the task of holding their own next to the competing pair of alpha males. The show did start to feel like it was treading water a bit as the season progressed and would have benefited from the modern format of shorter, more focused seasons of tens eps or so. And it did have a few leaps of logic in its story-telling, but nothing that grinds it down too much. Sadly, Odyssey 5 ends with little in the way of resolution as the final episode leaves the audience on a cliffhanger and no sense of closure. But even knowing that, this one is worth the watch as an excellent science fiction series with a ton of potential and one of the best small-screen entries dealing with time travel.
Cancelled Too Soon?
Yes, tragically so. The network was apparently unhappy with the show’s viewership numbers and pulled it from the schedule after only fourteen of the nineteen produced episodes had aired. According to Wikipedia, there was also a change in upper management at Showtime that resulted in a decision to move away from original science fiction shows. The network later ran the last five installments as “lost” episodes in 2004, but that left the series ending on a cliffhanger. Jeremiah and Carnivale were also cancelled, but both of those received two seasons and a chance to provide some sort of resolution.
Should It Be Rebooted?
This is a hard call because the show had so much unrealized potential but it also had a cast that was so perfect for their parts and it would be difficult to replace them. A revival is not an option seeing as so much time has passed since the original. Perhaps if some of the original creative team came back together they could produce an acceptable reboot, but it would be much better if The Seeker would send someone back in time to convince Showtime not to cancel the series. Creator Manny Coto had mentioned that he would like to return to Odyssey 5 at some point or at least give it a proper conclusion, but sadly he passed away in July 2023. A comic book continuation of the series might actually work, and maybe Coto’s passing will bring more attention to this well-regarded show and finally result in some sort of conclusion to the storyline.
Interesting Fact:
The episode “The Trouble with Harry” has a reference to the cult-favorite film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in the 8th Dimension which starred Peter Weller. The friendly Sentient Harry (played by fan-favorite Ted Raimi) tells Chuck Taggart (played by Weller) “as a rock-n-roll physicist once said: wherever you go, there you are”.
Where Can You Watch It?
The entire series has been released on DVD, though it has not received the Blu-ray treatment yet. It is available for streaming with a subscription to Fubo.
This show has completely passed me by, I had never even heard of it. Out of curiosity, I watched the first episode last night. Although it is in some regards corny with some sci-fi tropes in evidence, I have to say, I enjoyed it. I am not sure how they will keep up the interest over the longer term, but I will be giving the rest of it a go.
It goes on plenty of twists and turns and handles time travel pretty well. Let us know your thoughts once you have finished watching the first season.