Can you change history? (Journeyman)

Member Name: FairyG

Product:	Journeyman
Date:	10/11/08 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining and interesting plots.

Disadvantages: Series cancelled after 13 episodes.

Journeyman was written and produced by Kevin Falls, producer of quality series such as Shark and West Wing. The initial order was for thirteen episodes, which were completed before the 2007 writers strike, so it isn't one of those series that suffered from a sudden unrealistic cramming of plot resolutions into the final episodes (as in Heroes). It simply suffered from low ratings and the series was cancelled, which is a disappointment because I thought it was quite good.

The opening titles show San Francisco in reverse. Birds fly backwards, clocks go back in time and traffic goes backwards. Even the title music has a jerky sound to it, like a record being played backwards. It all gives an intriguing indication of what the series is about.

Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd) is a San Francisco reporter who disappears from a taxi in a flash of blue light. He materialises in the past, where he sees his ex-fiance Livia (Moon Bloodgood), who had died 10 years ago in a plane crash. But this is before her death. He is then flung back to his own time, wondering what has just happened.

Later that day it happens again and Dan arrives twenty years in the past just in time to save a man from being killed by a bus. He finds he has to try and explain his sudden absences to his wife Katie (Gretchen Egolf) and his police detective brother Jack (Reed Diamond). The amount of time he is missing does not correspond with the time in the past, meaning only a few minutes for him can amount to days in his own time.

This is followed by further jumps in time, where he follows the consequences of his actions on previous jumps and has to try to create changes to help make sure things go right. He begins to realize that he is on a kind of mission and is meant to change the destiny of the person he keeps encountering.

Dan also finds that sometimes his actions change the timeline and can have a devastating effect on his own present. Meanwhile, things become complicated as his brother begins to suspect his strange absences are due to a lapse into a previous vice, gambling.

Livia also keeps cropping up, and Dan finds out that she is also travelling in time, although her time of origin is different to his. However both of them were born at the moment of a rare passing comet, which has given them and others this ability. Each episode deals with a different situation Dan has to resolve, in a different time, although never more than a few decades in the past.

He has no control over when he might jump, although fortunately he gets a headache as a warning a few moments in advance. It's a useful plot device which enables him to grab his shoes or trousers in time, otherwise he could easily jump when in a very compromising situation.

Overall it's an interesting premise if you like time travel stories, which I do. It's fascinating to spot small details that are thrown in such as padded shoulders, someone carrying a huge boombox, or a calendar with Reagan on.

The series explores different scenarios of the effects and consequences of interfering with the past, and manages to avoid becoming repetitive, although I'm not sure whether this would have stretched to a second series. The relationships between the characters are interesting and the characters are attractive and engaging. It's worth watching if you like science fiction.

I haven't found it on dvd yet, but repeats of Journeyman begin on Sky 2, Wednesday November 19th

Summary: Enjoyable science fiction.