The Fantastic Journey

Watched entire series during the first week of Sept/2022.

Loved it! Good stories, serious tone (in a 1970s family drama way). I think it stands the test of time and viewable today. I found it interesting that a few episodes had a Star Trek: TOS feel to them (maybe this was D. C. Fontana's influence).

If you decide to watch and find you enjoyed this, I highly recommend Otherworld (1985). The thematic setting, serious tone and character styles are similar enough... with 'Otherworld' feeling more modern (1977 vs 1985).

Sometimes you watch an older series and think... these guys really seemed to want to produce something good. Today... sometimes it feels like - these guys were in a hurry to make some money and to move on to their next project as quickly as possible.

'The Fantastic Journey' is old school. They were focused on creating the best series they could.

Tip: The entire 10-episode series is available on YouTube for free.

But probably a little dated now. I only just remember a few details about this show. Jared Martin playing what I assume was an alien with some kind of glowing tuning fork that could do just about anything - except get him out of the predicament he was in.

I was surprised to see how short a run this show had. When you're a kid these things seem to go on and on for ever. In reality there were only 10 episodes, including the pilot.

I've also never seen this in re-runs, which is a shame, because I'd like to do the nostalgia trip once more. I'd probably laugh through much of it now, but despite its short run, the memory of it has stayed with me all these years, so it must have done something right at the time.

A previous reviewer compared The Fantastic Journey to shows like Stargate SG-1 and Sliders. He listed 8 similarities between the shows. He should have listed a 9th. Which show, you ask? What about Lost? You have a doctor, (Fred in TFJ, Jack in Lost), a psychic, (Liana in TFJ, Desmond in Lost,) a man of faith, (Varian in TFJ, and Locke, in Lost,) see the similarities? If you don't, I do. In TFJ, you have a scientific expedition lost in the Bermuda Triangle. In Lost, you have 48 survivors from a plane crash on an island somewhere in the South Pacific. In TFJ, our little group of travelers is trying to get back to their times. In Lost, that's not so clear. Jack wants to go home in the first three seasons. Locke doesn't. When you consider the similarities between the two shows, you can't help but recognize the fact that this '70s show was an influence on Lost. J.J. Abrams and Co., say that the game Myst, was one of the influences. Did I leave someone out? I did? Well, my bad. You also have another man of science, in Jonathan Willaway. Did I leave anyone else out? I don't think so. If I did, too late to change it now.

This show has some striking similarities to other television shows, which did become successful series, Stargate SG-1 & Sliders. Moreover, the formats are quite similar as well: 1. The viewer "travels" with the hosts to different worlds.

2. All involve scientific experiments which produce danger.

3. Both Sliders and Fantastic Journey are about travel to parallel universes.

4. All three involve different planets accessible only to a select team.

5. Both Sliders and Fantastic Journey are about people trying to find their way home.

6. Both Fantastic Journey & Stargate SG-1 have an alien in the cast.

7. Both Fantastic Journey and Stargate SG-1 are scripted by Katharyn Powers.

8. All three shows have a movie actor in the cast who played a supporting role in a big picture but was never an outright "star".

So for those who would like to see Fantastic Journey on TV again, don't fret! Technically, it did come back, just in a different skin!

THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY found some after-life as an edited and syndicated TV film called LOST IN TIME,dated (1980). I saw this once, on a UHF channel in the early to mid-90's on a Sunday afternoon. What they did was edit the first 90 minute pilot, and second hour long show into something like an hour and 45 minute movie to play in two-hour time slots in syndication and thus have a complete movie. It also had a narration of sort at the end, as the group walked off to the usual "time zone" beam-out effect, and as I recall that said something like "And so their quest to find their rightful place in time, is just beginning" or something like that. It was a terrific show in it's day and for the fact we had almost no SF shows at all on TV aside from the re-runs of STAR TREK and SPACE:1999.