Sci Fi TV Obscurities: A look at sci fi and fantasy TV shows that made it to the air only briefly before getting cast to the television wasteland.
What Is It? Troubled teen Nikko Zond has been in and out of boarding schools since seeing his mother kidnapped when he was younger. But after his latest expulsion, he reunites with his estranged, archaeologist father whom he discovers has been investigating an ancient, highly advanced civilization that existed on the earth several thousand years ago. But they find themselves at odds with others who want to keep this information secret and set off on a dangerous adventure to uncover the truths of this discovery.
Aired: ABC, 2003, 1 Season Totaling 13 Episodes
Starring: Ryan Merriman, Alex Carter, Arnold Vosloo, Cobie Smulders, Eric Balfour
Created By: Patrick Massett, John Zinman
Is It Must Watch Sci Fi? No, but this was a fun show with some potential and it is worth a look for those who are curious.
The Skinny: This series appeared briefly on ABC’s schedule at the beginning of 2003 and delivered equal parts Jonny Quest, X-Files, Indiana Jones, and Mission Impossible while managing to mesh together all of those elements into an decent little sci fi adventure. At first glance, it looks very much like a modern day take on Jonny Quest with Nikko Zond (Ryan Merriman) as Jonny and his professor/archaeologist father Solomon (Alex Carter) as Dr. Quest. Vincent (Arnold Vosloo) provides a stand-in for Race Bannon and a young Eric Balfour acts as a non-ethnic Hadji. This team has a female addition with Nikko’s tutor Juliet (Cobie Smulders), but she holds her own quite well next to her male co-stars. The show doesn’t stick to the straight adventures tales of Jonny Quest, though, as the team searches for the secrets of a long-lost civilization that a worldwide conspiracy wants to keep hidden. This provides the ongoing story arc for the show and it was just starting to get really interesting by the time the first season ended.
The writing was quite good and managed to deliver some unique enough stories or decent twists on familiar territory. The series had some misfires as well and could be somewhat cheesy at times, but it succeeded more often than not and it was definitely building up a promising base to work from. Sadly, this show debuted at a time when sci fi was mostly anathema on the the broadcast networks (before Lost led to a revival for the genre). It disappeared quickly from the schedule and has since been mostly forgotten. But the show had potential and could have turned into a sleeper sci fi series if given the chance.
Cancelled Too Soon? Yes. ABC actually promoted this series pretty heavily before its debut, but then gave up on it almost immediately after it bowed to mediocre ratings. It also started airing right before the outbreak of the Iraq War and that worked against it as well. The fifth episode was preempted for news coverage of the war, and the series never resumed after that. Had this show debuted after the networks were scrambling for sci fi entries following the Lost boom over a year later, it might have been able to stay on the air longer.
Should It Be Rebooted? Perhaps. The show had a good premise that could have carried it for multiple seasons. It also had a good cast, but it seems unlikely that they would return to their roles after such a long time. A complete reboot with a new cast could work, but it’s doubtful it would happen since the show lacks the name recognition that networks are usually looking for.
Interesting Fact: This is the first series in which Colbie Smulders had a regular role. She plays Nikko’s older tutor even though she was only barely a year older than Ryan Merriman.
Where Can You Watch It? This series never received a DVD release, nor is it available on any of the streaming services that I am aware of. All thirteen episodes were broadcast internationally and some bootleg DVDs are floating around. You can also catch episodes on YouTube from time to time.
Read More About the Show: Wikipedia | IMDb.com
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