Spoilers Timeless: Season 1 on NBC
- Thread starter Aragorn
- Start date
I wonder if CBS will sue. 
That was rather weak.
In the first five minutes we see a time machine that doesn't have so much as activation codes and can just be walked into and stolen. At this point I'm thinking, okay, for this kind of suspension of disbelief the individual stories would have to be really great. Then they pluck a historian off the street and send her back in time with no training and a five minute debrief. I'm thinking (In a Scotty voice) "The suspension of disbelief is about to blow Captain, it can't take any more!"
Then the whole thing is by the numbers Back To The Future tropes and referencism. They establish a rather uninteresting male lead with an obvious motive to change the past which should really immediately disqualify him for even being considered for a time travel job. Yet everyone insists they are 'The best people for the job'. And things are apparently simultaneously happening in the future and in the past, hearkening to the scene in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me where his mojo is stolen in the past and 'Meanwhile, in 1999', he yells "MY MOJO!"
They drop a couple hints that characters have knowledge of the future which is the one semi-interesting thing that happened in the show.
Then they make it all a plot to destroy America, making it obvious a lot of drum beating nationalist celebration of the high school textbook version of American history is going to happen. And my suspension of disbelief, much like the Hindenburg, goes down in flames.
In the first five minutes we see a time machine that doesn't have so much as activation codes and can just be walked into and stolen. At this point I'm thinking, okay, for this kind of suspension of disbelief the individual stories would have to be really great. Then they pluck a historian off the street and send her back in time with no training and a five minute debrief. I'm thinking (In a Scotty voice) "The suspension of disbelief is about to blow Captain, it can't take any more!"
Then the whole thing is by the numbers Back To The Future tropes and referencism. They establish a rather uninteresting male lead with an obvious motive to change the past which should really immediately disqualify him for even being considered for a time travel job. Yet everyone insists they are 'The best people for the job'. And things are apparently simultaneously happening in the future and in the past, hearkening to the scene in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me where his mojo is stolen in the past and 'Meanwhile, in 1999', he yells "MY MOJO!"
They drop a couple hints that characters have knowledge of the future which is the one semi-interesting thing that happened in the show.
Then they make it all a plot to destroy America, making it obvious a lot of drum beating nationalist celebration of the high school textbook version of American history is going to happen. And my suspension of disbelief, much like the Hindenburg, goes down in flames.
It was also very reminiscent of "City on the Edge of Forever".
It's a standard generic time travel pilot.
I hope they address the cascade.
What happened to the Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus indigenous to the new time line where Lucy is an only child?
I hope they address the cascade.
What happened to the Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus indigenous to the new time line where Lucy is an only child?
Not bad so far. It handled the spectacle of the Hindenburg well, though I'm not fully sold on the arc yet, and I'm tired of the standard "rewriting history" cliches -- although if the protagonists continue to not quite prevent history from being altered, it might be interesting to explore how the timeline continues to evolve. The cast is pretty good. It's got promise.
The best parts were when Rufus acknowledged the racism of the past and when he stood up to the racist cop. It's good that they didn't try to gloss over that aspect of American history, and I hope they continue to use time travel as a vehicle for social commentary. So many shows today are so obsessed with their plot arcs and soap opera that they overlook being about much of anything else.
It was an experimental prototype in the lab where it was being developed, and the lab was surrounded by guards and fences. Under normal circumstances, nobody unauthorized would've been expected to get close to it.
Also, Flynn forced Matt Frewer to get into the time machine with him. Frewer's character appeared to be the machine's inventor, so maybe Flynn made him operate it -- or maybe they were in on it together.
It was clear that she wasn't just plucked off the street -- as Flynn showed her, the book he's using as a guide is in her handwriting. Clearly it's a chronicle of the adventures she hasn't had yet, and he came into possession of it through time travel. And Rufus and his boss were colluding to spy on her and Wyatt. I think they also know that these two people are destined to be part of the project, and that's why they were recruited.
Although it is a bit muddled to base the premise on "these events are predestined due to time travel" and "anything can be changed due to time travel" at the same time. True, I'm the one who always points out that there's no reason every time-travel event has to have the same kind of outcome, that some time travels could change things while others would not, depending on the specific circumstances. But in a context where it's known that history can be changed, it would be inconsistent for the characters to assume that Lucy and Wyatt's future must unfold the way the book shows. At most, they know that it might.
Also known as San Dimas Time. It's not an uncommon device in time travel stories, and it would answer your earlier question about why they were in such a rush.
I guess you missed all the parts talking about how rotten American history was if you weren't white.
The best parts were when Rufus acknowledged the racism of the past and when he stood up to the racist cop. It's good that they didn't try to gloss over that aspect of American history, and I hope they continue to use time travel as a vehicle for social commentary. So many shows today are so obsessed with their plot arcs and soap opera that they overlook being about much of anything else.
It was an experimental prototype in the lab where it was being developed, and the lab was surrounded by guards and fences. Under normal circumstances, nobody unauthorized would've been expected to get close to it.
Also, Flynn forced Matt Frewer to get into the time machine with him. Frewer's character appeared to be the machine's inventor, so maybe Flynn made him operate it -- or maybe they were in on it together.
It was clear that she wasn't just plucked off the street -- as Flynn showed her, the book he's using as a guide is in her handwriting. Clearly it's a chronicle of the adventures she hasn't had yet, and he came into possession of it through time travel. And Rufus and his boss were colluding to spy on her and Wyatt. I think they also know that these two people are destined to be part of the project, and that's why they were recruited.
Although it is a bit muddled to base the premise on "these events are predestined due to time travel" and "anything can be changed due to time travel" at the same time. True, I'm the one who always points out that there's no reason every time-travel event has to have the same kind of outcome, that some time travels could change things while others would not, depending on the specific circumstances. But in a context where it's known that history can be changed, it would be inconsistent for the characters to assume that Lucy and Wyatt's future must unfold the way the book shows. At most, they know that it might.
Also known as San Dimas Time. It's not an uncommon device in time travel stories, and it would answer your earlier question about why they were in such a rush.
I guess you missed all the parts talking about how rotten American history was if you weren't white.
That was pretty bad to be honest. A bland, generic time travel story that checks off virtually every time travel trope and cliché out there, combined with a team of very generic leads. The handsome white guy, the pretty girl (with sexual tension between the two) and the black guy who has to point out every five minutes that there's racism in the past. Then again, if he wasn't doing that we'd just complain they're whitewashing the past and trying to pretend racism doesn't exist, so I guess there was no way to win. Could have done without the sitting at the back of the bus line all the same though. I do kind of like Patterson Joseph's character for how enigmatic he is, though I'm sure once we find out his deal it'll make him a lot less interesting.
I don't know. For the most part, it's basically Doctor Who and Stargate combined, but with none of the quality of those two shows.
I don't know. For the most part, it's basically Doctor Who and Stargate combined, but with none of the quality of those two shows.
The Borg Fucking Queen.
Of course, it's the other one that had all the time travel adventures, so Susanna is just making up for missed ground.
Of course, it's the other one that had all the time travel adventures, so Susanna is just making up for missed ground.
They find the bomb. There's a window looking down over the world from the kitchen. Instead of alerting anyone and causing the panic they did they could have waited till the bomb was at about a five count and drop it out the window. Boom! some pretty fireworks for the passengers and everyone lives.
Bonus points for using Pink Floyd though.
Hated that they used the old "can't meet yourself" excuse for not going back to certain points in time again.
Bonus points for using Pink Floyd though.
Hated that they used the old "can't meet yourself" excuse for not going back to certain points in time again.
It was pretty ridiculous. Where to begin? How about sending a hero team that disorganized to do something so important, who didn't all appreciate the ramifications of altering the past? Or, how about no one thinking to ask how the heroes even have an opportunity lasting more than an instant to go back after the bad guys had already gone? This show is on my bubble. If I happen to think to set it to record next week, I'll watch it. If I forget, no big deal.
Cross-posting my thoughts from another forum:
Just finished watching, and while I enjoyed most of the premiere, there were a few things right at the end of the episode that I'm a bit iffy on:
1) I love Susanna Thompson, but casting her as Lucy's mother does not forecast good things happening and struck me as kind of cliche
2) What was the point of Colin Mason ordering Rufus to record Wyatt and Lucy's conversation? It seems like such a random-*** thing to do and made no sense at all
3) Lucy's sister ceasing to exist just because Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus changed history made less sense than Point #2, and was super cliched besides
The show gave me a very Sliders/Seven Days-esque vibe on the whole, and I like the idea of these characters having to travel to different time periods and "play dress-up", so I'll be tuning in for the rest of the season.
Just finished watching, and while I enjoyed most of the premiere, there were a few things right at the end of the episode that I'm a bit iffy on:
1) I love Susanna Thompson, but casting her as Lucy's mother does not forecast good things happening and struck me as kind of cliche
2) What was the point of Colin Mason ordering Rufus to record Wyatt and Lucy's conversation? It seems like such a random-*** thing to do and made no sense at all
3) Lucy's sister ceasing to exist just because Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus changed history made less sense than Point #2, and was super cliched besides
The show gave me a very Sliders/Seven Days-esque vibe on the whole, and I like the idea of these characters having to travel to different time periods and "play dress-up", so I'll be tuning in for the rest of the season.
By the way, even though I was the one who made the Bill and Ted allusion in last night's post, it took me until this morning to realize the in-joke in the fact that one of the three lead time travelers is named Rufus. Perhaps because I kept hearing it as "Griffiths."
Obviously that's part of the season-long mystery arc and we're not supposed to know the answer yet. Although, as I said last night, I think it's pretty easy to figure out: Flynn has a book that Lucy hasn't written yet, so he has foreknowledge of her adventures yet to come, and I bet Mason has the same knowledge. So they know that she and Wyatt are going to do something important in their personal future, and so they're keeping an eye on them.
Why wouldn't it make sense? They explained it earlier -- if people lived who originally died, then their actions would send ripples through history that could change countless things in the decades to follow. Maybe, say, the grandchild of one of the survivors caught a cab that Lucy's father's boss would've caught originally, so the boss missed an important meeting and had to reschedule, and so Lucy's father had to miss the dinner date that would've led to Lucy's sister being conceived. And that's one of the simpler possibilities. If anything, the implausibility was that so few things had actually changed.
I admit, so far the historical spectacle is more impressive to me than the plot or characters. And I'm bound to get tired of Lucy being the kind of TV historian who's an expert in every part of history at once instead of having a particular specialization. It's not a brilliant show, but I don't think it's as bad as some people appear to find it.
Obviously that's part of the season-long mystery arc and we're not supposed to know the answer yet. Although, as I said last night, I think it's pretty easy to figure out: Flynn has a book that Lucy hasn't written yet, so he has foreknowledge of her adventures yet to come, and I bet Mason has the same knowledge. So they know that she and Wyatt are going to do something important in their personal future, and so they're keeping an eye on them.
Why wouldn't it make sense? They explained it earlier -- if people lived who originally died, then their actions would send ripples through history that could change countless things in the decades to follow. Maybe, say, the grandchild of one of the survivors caught a cab that Lucy's father's boss would've caught originally, so the boss missed an important meeting and had to reschedule, and so Lucy's father had to miss the dinner date that would've led to Lucy's sister being conceived. And that's one of the simpler possibilities. If anything, the implausibility was that so few things had actually changed.
I admit, so far the historical spectacle is more impressive to me than the plot or characters. And I'm bound to get tired of Lucy being the kind of TV historian who's an expert in every part of history at once instead of having a particular specialization. It's not a brilliant show, but I don't think it's as bad as some people appear to find it.
I enjoyed it too. We will see after more episodes how involving the plots and characters are. Whether it will keep me interested long term. But we have never had the scale achieved by modern effects for a time travel show on prime time before. So for now at least the historical spectacle has me hooked.
Yeah... They won't have to rely on stock footage from movies like The Time Tunnel did.
Me, I'm wondering how long it'll be before they break that rule.
Pretty much everything on TV needs an element of conspiracy in it these days, it seems. Unfortunately.
I doubt they will, since it serves a useful story function -- it keeps them from using time travel as an easy way to undo mistakes. Whatever actions they take, whatever failures they experience, they're stuck with them, and that's clearly preferable from a dramatic standpoint. There'd be no stakes to the story if they could have do-overs every time they failed.
Besides, the less money they have to spend on split-screen shots, the more money they have to spend on historical spectacle, and I'm cool with that.
Given this show is basically just raiding the closet on time travel tropes, I'd be very surprised if we go the first season without something involving the team meeting up with themselves in some manner. Whether it's them on a mission and they accidently bump into themselves, a second time capsule mysteriously shows up at base with their corpses, or one/all of them unconscious and so on. Hell, we've already established Flynn has a journal Lucy will write in the future, so that's potentially setting something up right there.
I mostly enjoyed it, it's certainly got some weak spots I hope they address, the 3dfx and there use could be better, wasn't really believable them standing that close to the Hindenburg as she burned.
The thing I'm suprised no one noticed is the guy that played berlinghoff Rasmussen in TNGs A Matter of Time made a very noticeable appearance of getting kidnapped into the main time machine.... I wonder if that was a purposefull Easter Egg, or just a happy accident.
The thing I'm suprised no one noticed is the guy that played berlinghoff Rasmussen in TNGs A Matter of Time made a very noticeable appearance of getting kidnapped into the main time machine.... I wonder if that was a purposefull Easter Egg, or just a happy accident.
