Die Zeitreisenden

I didn't get the chance to watch that show as a child, since it was only aired once here in 1989. However, I recently found out this show exists (I love time travelling shows) and it's still a great pleasure to watch it. It's kind of obvious that the show must have had quite a small budget, but they still managed to put a lot of details into the episodes. They even travel to Austria (where I live) once and I'm surprised at how accurate the whole scenery was (although it was doubtlessly filmed in the states). street names, signs, accents, German words. Everything perfectly right. I also love the moral values that the show brought to its viewers. Phineas Bogg - although he's a hopeless womanizer and knows practically nothing about history - repeatedly claims he doesn't drink alcohol and he doesn't want Jeffrey to play with weapons. The interaction between Jeff and Phineas is one aspect I truly love about the show. He's the perfect father (or rather big brother) figure any kid could have.

Sure, the special effects are really funny for modern viewers - but we have to admit we are spoiled by cgi effects, so it's no big deal. Let's just hope they release the show on DVD sometime. That one is really worth remembering.

I remember this show clearly from when I was in 4th grade and was quite devastated when it was cancelled. This show helped spawn a love-affair with History and learning. I so greatly wish that more shows like it were to be made....but instead we must be flooded with cr*p like, "Making the Band" and "Full House". If anyone knows when the Sci-Fi Channel plays these episodes -- please let me know!!

There are several things to note about "Voyagers!" The first is that this was a part of a master plan by NBC Program chief Brandon Tartikoff to merge entertainment with education, and to provide kids with intelligent programming, not the usual dreck that seemed so prevalent in the 1980s.

The concept of the show was deceptively simple. There are a team of men and women who keep track of "history." These "voyagers" each have a hand-held device called an "Omni" which gives them their location, the date and a signal if history is "wrong." They all go back and forward through time to correct any "mistakes" that may have occurred in time and keep the world on track.

One voyager is named Phineas Bogg (an obvious play on Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg from "Around The World In 80 Days"). However this particular voyager didn't pass his history exam and landed on the windowsill of Jeffrey, who just happened to be a whiz kid in history. Together, they became "Voyagers!"

The serious problem the program had was in its construction. In one episode, Germany had somehow won World War I. The voyagers traveled back in time and discovered that famed flying ace Eddie Rickenbacher had nothing to do. That's because the Wright Brothers hadn't invented the airplane. So they had to travel again and discovered Orville and Wilbur were arguing over a girl in their bicycle shop instead of working on their flying machine. So the Voyagers had to set them back on track.

It had to have been extremely difficult to write such elaborate plots that both were well known enough for an audience to relate to and yet capable of making sense in the plot of the show. As brilliant as some of these episodes were, the question is how many related subplots could there be for any moment in history, before you get into material that isn't in the library? With such a limitation, with production costs being what they were for an early 1980s s/f program and with ratings being lower than desired, "Voyagers!" was not viable for more than a year. Looking at the series now, it would have made for a brilliant "Harry Potter" style string of films, since there really aren't enough historic events to have made it to the famed 100 episode level.

Voyagers! was an excellent show that could have gone far and taken us on many historical adventures, it was appealing both to children and adults. The teaming of late actor Jon-Erik Hexum and Meeno Peluce was wonderful, they had great chemistry and timing in their roles as Voyagers Phineas Bogg and Jeffrey Jones. Most of the plot lines were so fun to watch and follow, you really did learn some interesting facts along the way. This show is a great addition to the time travel genre and it even inspired another excellent show, 'Quantum Leap.' Jon-Erik was strikingly handsome, funny and charming as the confused pirate/Voyager and Meeno Peluce had a rare natural talent that only children could have, the ability to be lovable and a pain all at once! I highly recommend finding and watching this show to any sci-fi/time travel buffs!

What a pity this show only lasted for one season and twenty episodes. What a tragedy that the freak death of Jon-Erik Hexum a couple of years later precluded any revival of this show.

This was the real fantasy for any young person. Metaphysically we are shown here that history goes off course than how the books we read have it. So whoever is running the Universe sends out certain guides to put it back on track. In this case that was the hunky Jon-Erik Hexum who time travels with a stop watch and stops at various points. The watch was called the Omni and if it had a red glow something was wrong. Green meant history was flowing as it should. Red meant he had to stop and fix things.

But Hexum loses his guidebook and he has no clue what to fix. That's where young Meeno Peluce comes in. Peluce was a 12 year ol history genius. What better than a reference book that walks and is charming in youthful innocence.

The two made a great team for 20 episodes righting all the things that go wrong in earth's time and space. Hexum and Peluce had a nice chemistry between them.

Such a pity Voyagers was not carried into a second season. In his brief time left Hexum was doing more adult type material. Who knows, he might still be with us if Voyagers wasn't cancelled.

Can someone with an Omni fix that?