It took me an episode or two to realize that this show ("Timeless") is not
an adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel ("Timeline"). Timeline is
lesser Crichton, and also a lesser example of good alt-history fiction, but
still it is an attempt at a form of serious science fiction (there is a
debate about the relationship of alt history to sci-fi but will skip that
here). "Timeless" is not an attempt at seriously sci-fi, and any attempt to
watch it that way will be frustrating when not infuriating. One small
illustration is yet another problem with the 1754 episode: the characters
worry that only one of them speaks French, but have no worry that their
English is so different from what the English-speakers in either the Old
World or the New speak that they wou;d immediately be pegged as alien. This
is the kind of detail that in any halfway serious attempt to work in the
genre not only would be addressed, but would be celebrated, because
identifying and solving these kinds of technical problems is more than half
the fun.Timeless clearly is Quantum Leap, and nothing more. In that sense, we should be grateful they did not call it a remake of QL, but then add a woman and a black guy, like they have done to other recent so-called remakes. The scientific, historical and cultural problems involved in any hypothetical time travel are of no interest, and appear and disappear purely as melodramatic devices. The show can not really be intellectually satisfying, only entertaining to the extent we find the characters interesting or appealing. I have little interest in the two male leads, but I am kind of in on one of Don Draper's old girl friends, and I was always a sucker for QL, so I keep watching, and am enjoying it more as I have lowered my expectations. I was a big Time Tunnel fan as a kid, and about a decade ago or so rewatched the entire series, which does not hold up so well. But thee are 4 or 5 shows in TV history that have a similar structure, and Timeless is squarely n that group. I just think QL was the best of those. On Tue, Nov 22, 2016 at 7:15 PM stannc <[email protected]> wrote: > I recently watched the "Time Tunnel" reboot pilot on YouTube, and > "Timeless" seems like an almost direct ripoff. > > The main complaint that I have is that with sub 40 minute run times, > there's really not enough time for all of the plot points to be serviced. > There's the missing sister arc, the Rittenhouse present day story, and then > that week's time travel story and escape from peril. > > There's also been very little mention of how they travel to different > locations in addition to time and how no one in the past notices a large > eyeball hiding in the bushes. > > -Stan > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
