Our ongoing look back at sci fi / fantasy TV shows that were cancelled way too soon or pilots that never made it to series.
This series follows a scientific expedition that gets lost in the Bermuda Triangle which turns out to be a mysterious land comprised of multiple “timezones” that travelers can pass through via hidden gateways. Several survivors from the expedition team up with a traveler from the future named Varian in search of “Evoland” where they can finally find the portal back to their own timelines. The Fantastic Journey series debuted at a time when interest in the Bermuda Triangle, U.F.O.’s and other paranormal phenomena was at a high point in America. But the show did not explore those themes too well and instead adopted the “Earth Trek” format that Gene Roddenberry had previously attempted with his failed pilots Genesis II and Planet Earth. Those took the core premise of Star Trek–visiting different societies each week–and grounded the travelers on Earth rather than having them flying through the cosmos (more on those at this link). And The Fantastic Journey‘s showrunner D.C. Fontana was familiar enough with the basic premise as she had previously worked with Roddenberry on Trek (as a story editor and writer, penning the scripts “The Ultimate Computer”, “The Enterprise Incident” and more). Unfortunately, the show was rushed into production and suffered from the dreaded network tinkering. It never rose to the quality level of Fontana’s previous series, but it had some potential if it could have overcome its 70’s cheesiness and preponderance for genre cliches.
>Buy The Fantastic Journey on DVD from Amazon.com
The show did have a decent cast with the underappreciated Jarred Martin taking on the series lead while the always-fun Roddy McDowall had a great time chewing up the scenery. And the beautiful Katie Saylor fought through some poor scripts to show signs that she could step up as a strong female lead. It never found much of an audience as it arrived at mid-season and was pitted against popular shows Welcome Back Kotter on ABC and The Waltons on CBS and while also subjected to frequent preemptions. It ended up getting cancelled after only ten episodes (a script for an eleventh was completed but never produced), though sci fi fans from the 70’s still have fond memories of it as one of the few true science fiction entries on Prime Time at that time. The following season would bring the Logan’s Run TV series which carried over much of the same creative team and continued with the Earth Trek theme. Neither of the shows can be counted as sci fi classics, though The Fantastic Journey probably had more long-term potential if given a chance. The show just recently got its DVD release, and it’s worth checking out for some fun 70’s cheese that could have developed into a decent show if it had received the proper support from its network.
Aired: NBC, 1977, 1 Season Totaling 10 Episodes
Starring: Jared Martin, Ike Eisenmann, Carl Franklin, Katie Saylor, Roddy McDowall
