The FANTASTIC JOURNEY

   US tv series (1977). Bruce Lansbury Productions/Columbia Pictures TV/NBC. Prod Leonard Katzman. Writers included Michael Michaelian, Kathryn Michaelian Powers and the story editor, D.C. FONTANA. Dirs included Andrew V. McLaglen (pilot episode), Vincent McEveety. Starring Carl Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Jared Martin. One season, pilot episode of 75 mins plus 9 50min episodes. Colour.

   The pilot episode has explorers entering the Bermuda Triangle, an ocean area in which planes and ships are reputed to disappear; but, after an effectively eerie opening in which their boat is consumed by a pulsating green cloud, it becomes evident that they are still within the borders of tv-formula-land. Reaching an island that "isn't on the map", they meet a 23rd-century human, Varian (Martin), and discover that the landscape consists of segments of past and future time and space, an idea perhaps inspired by Fred HOYLE's October the First is Too Late (1966). This concept allows the protagonists to encounter a new (stereotyped) culture every week, each within walking distance. Silly and somewhat repetitive adventures take place. The series was quickly dropped.

   JB/PN