The Fantastic Journey

Fantastic Journey was an exceptional fantasy about a group of disparate characters who were trying to return to their own dimension after being lost in the Bermuda Triangle. They encountered a new dimension in nearly every episode. In one of the earliest episodes they picked up an ill-tempered scientist, wonderfully played by Roddy McDowell, who walked a line between villain and hero. School teachers and television critics hailed the show, and Roddy McDowell appeared on talk shows trying to get people interested, but the show was cancelled for poor ratings.

A group of boat castaways get lost in time or lost in vortex on a mysterious island.

The disco theme music gets ten out of ten. The pilot is well done. Note the music when the boat is sucked into the mysterious sea cloud. Note the photography in this opening scene. If only this level of film-like production remained for the whole ten episodes.

This series shined in the episode titled, Beyond The Mountain, this is the one where Roddy McDowall was introduced and he was a horrible guy at the start. He became nicer after this hour. Too bad the writers did not spend more time "beyond the mountain" as this setting was just so powerful, all thanks to the acting talents of McDowall.

Another episode about children making trouble for adults (Children of the Gods) was well done as well.

Towards the end the premise of a group of people appearing in some oddball zone (amusement park, weird house, etc) was starting to repeat itself too much. Go on this journey for McDowall's acting and shades of 60s Irwin Allen/60s Star Trek.

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!

I was a major fan of this show in the '70s, as an 11 yr. old. After only catching a few episodes, suddenly the series disappeared, obviously cancelled. Luckily, I was able to trade for the complete series on VHS. After watching the whole series, and finally getting to see all the episodes. I can see why I was such a fan as a kid. Even though a lot of the look and style of the show is very dated and '70s looking, this series had the potential to be a good one. As an older viewer, some of the episodes are a little weak, but this series, had they spend a little more money on art direction and writing, had potential. Anyone thats a fan of '70s Sci-fi television, I think would enjoy this series.

Fantastic Journey was a great show and was one of the original 'Sci-Fi Collection' tv shows aired during the Sci-Fi Channel's(USA) original beginning. Jared Martin did a great job in this show. Roddy McDowell was a nice addition after his introduction episode. It paved the way for shows like 'The Otherworld' and 'The Bermuda Triangle'. Fantastic Journey was an entertaining show. They had a great looking female actress too.