Quick! Name a sci-fi show that was on NBC in the '80s that featured a pair of time travelers correcting history as they come across it. If you said Quantum Leap, you’re not exactly wrong. But that’s not the show I’m talking about.
Years before Quantum Leap was a glimmer in NBC’s fall lineup, Voyagers! blazed the trail with a format so similar, it has actually been called the predecessor to Quantum Leap.
Phineas Bogg (Jon-Erik Hexum) is a member of the secret society of Voyagers, a mysterious organization of time travelers charged with keeping history on the right track. In Voyagers! while there is only one timeline, it's a flexible one. It wobbles and jitters at key points, and runs the risk of "jumping the track." The purpose of the Voyagers themselves is to travel to these weak spots, identify the point of divergence, and restore the timeline to its previous course — “give it a push where it's needed.” When history diverges from the ideal, the Omni’s light turns red, indicating a problem. When history and the timeline match, it lights green.
Due to a malfunction, Bogg ends up in 1982 and crashes into the bedroom of 11-year-old orphan Jeffrey Jones (Meeno Peluce). Bogg is an inept history person and relies on a guidebook given to him by the Voyagers to help him along the way. Jones’ dog steals the book and attacks Bogg, thinking he’s an intruder. In the struggle, Jeffrey falls through the open window and Bogg dives after him to save him. Bogg wasn’t supposed to be able to travel beyond 1970, but the Omni’s circuits are malfunctioning. The guidebook would have told him how to fix the Omni, but without it, Bogg thinks he’s sunk. Jones’ dad was a history professor and he picked up a lot of his dad’s knowledge; Bogg reluctantly takes Jones with him as his guide. So while Boggs lost a book, he gained a sidekick/companion who’s able to tell him things that a book never could have.
Article comments
1 - Ginger DeLosRios
I enjoyed reading your DVD review, and would like to post it on my Voyagers! website. Take a visit, I think you would like it. I totally agree with you on the extras. I have taken it upon myself to post an interview on youtube and I have created alot of tributes to Jon-Erik and Voyagers. My user name is GDLR. You can watch them from the site as well on the fan-video page. Take care!
2 - adriano
¿this series is speak in spanish?
reali im like much, but, y dont stend a english.
3 - Ginger
I posted 2 years ago and had many changes, my website link is different and I have my own Youtube channel called 'Voyagersguidebook' Just found this blog again and decided to update it. I really liked this review and I'm still mad that there are no extras to be seen. They just released the German version and it has a whole booklet and episode guide and pictures..there is even a mention of my website! That's crazy! Too bad the USA can't take care of it's own in this way. A tribute to Hexum would have been really sweet. I heard Meeno didn't even know they released Voyagers when it first came out...so much for that. Still, it's great to finally have it clear and uncut.