Otherworld

Of all the shows to come and go during the 80's, Otherworld established itself as a series that needed better. Perhaps time and the powers that be could'nt save this show, but it definately had a storyline that could have really been spectacular. Filled with alternate universe strangeness, tinges of cultural mirroring and a 80's futuristic feel and look that permeates it right down to the pseudo Tangerine Dream soundwork of Sylvester Levay, the series progressivly reached highs and lows with some of its stories, however that was not totally unexpected. Audiences back then were not very tollerant of sci-fi programming like they are now, and the world created by Mr. Taylor was definately in need of more time and a better litmus test before it could fully become a hit. At last, it was not to be, but it still lives in the hearts and minds as one of the more interesting series to come about during the rocky road of sci-fi programming.

For those unfamiliar with the series, it was the on-going saga of the Sterling family who find themselves trapped in a alternate universe during a visit to Egypt during a planetary conjunction. The world they now wander has many provinces each with their own unique twist. Sarlax: with its population completely comprised of androids. Adore: where society is based upon female control or Metraplex: A society controlled the MacroElite with MicroWorkers being the underclass. Futuristic sights and sounds pervade this strange world as they seek the province of Imar and a way to get back to Earth but its not an easy task as every place they go has an unexpected danger, as well, hot on their heels is a commander in this worlds armed forces known as Zone Troopers who will stop at nothing to capture the Sterlings and restore his honor that they took from him.

The series is currently owned by SciFi/USA networks so it will undoubtedly show up from time to time on possibly both channels. If you are fortunate to catch it, view with an open mind and an unassuming heart and you might just be surprised.

While the show is now only a fuzzy memory to me, I can vividly remember loving it. It had an interesting concept. It is unfortunate it was not given time to make at least some type of a mark in TV history.

We should start a letter writing campaign to CBS to get the show back on the air. If we succeed, I am sure we can make also make it into the Guiness Book Of World records.

If Otherworld had gone into production 5-7 years later, it might have enjoyed a long run and been regarded as a classic of the genre.

The series revolved around the Sterling family, Hal, his wife June and their children, Trace, Gina and Smith, who while touring the pyramids of Egypt, found themselves whisked to the "otherworld," a parallel world with pockets of civilization or provinces, separated by a forbidden zone where only the "Zone Troopers" are allowed to travel. All this is ruled from the capitol province of Ymar (e-mar) where a portal back to Earth was said to exist.

What follows in the 8 filmed episodes are the adventures of the family as they travel from province to province, on a journey to Ymar, always hounded by Kommander Nuveen Kroll, the sadistic Zone Trooper leader the Sterlings ran afoul of upon their arrival.

Created by Roderick Taylor, a musician, Otherworld always maintained a surreal quality with music and effects, where everything is just off kilter, maintaining the feeling of another reality. Each province had it's own character, from a colony of androids to a repressed 50s style city, ripe for the introduction of Rock n' Roll.

There was no resolution to the series which disappeared after the last (and best) episode, "Princess Metra" faded out with the Sterlings continuing their journey home. This was a surprise, since Taylor had said in newspaper interviews, the network had commissioned 13 episodes, even describing a couple of upcoming episodes (the Sterlings encounter duplicates of themselves was one), but the series was apparently canceled before the full production run.

Still, there are rumors of several lost episodes that were never broadcast. So, who knows?

Too bad CBS never gave the series a fighting chance, choosing to bury it on Saturday nights. Stories were always, well written, entertaining and pro-family. Repeated often was the refrain that family was always the Sterlings main strength. Otherworld might have found a bigger audience with more promotion and a better time slot, but, in my opinion would have found great success in the kinder, gentler television of the 90s.

One part Sliders and one part Lost in Space, this show was too hard to understand and too brief on TV. Creativity unleashed, the series was wild and fantastic with a knock-out babe of a daughter, a Ken doll perfect son and an annoying little brother who with their parents found themselves trapped in a quantum reality which our world could have been - separated even more by social, political and religous boundaries. Maybe it could have survived as a Saturday morning show, but like the castaways and the Robinsons, we had to leave them left behind.

Although the characters and the plot was different, the premise is very similar: a group of people (a family this time) are on a parallel world trying to get back to their own. Instead of sliding from one universe to the next, they travel extensively on the world they originally entered. Each "province" they travel to is as different as the worlds that the Sliders visited.