Title: Odyssey 5: Showtime Original
Series Premiere
Stars: Peter Weller, Sebastian Roche,
Christopher Gorham, Leslie Silva, Tamara Craig Thomas, Gina Clayton, and Sir
John Neville
Writer: Manny Coto
Director: David Carson
Executive Producer: Manny Coto
Running Time: 95 minutes
Media: Showtime Cable Network Original
Television Series (NTSC VHS Screener)
World Premiere: Friday, June 21, 2002,
at 10pm (ET/PT)
Network: Showtime Cable Television
Network (Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: 14
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
Five year from now the Earth as we know
it ended in a global blaze that consumed the entire planet until there was
nothing left but fragments. The only survivors are the crew of the NASA Space
Shuttle “Odyssey 5.” Nine hours later the crew awake within a white brightly
lit artificial environment where they are greeted by a kindly old man who calls
himself The Seeker (Sir John Neville.) The Seeker has been on a quest to find
intelligent life forms for 300 years since his own world was mysteriously
destroyed, but he has always arrived too late to make contact. This is the first
time he has ever encountered any survivors and he is as perplexed as they are as
to why these mass destructions have occurred, except to say that he believes it
is from invaders within the alien societies that were destroyed. He offers the
crew a chance to change history and halt this disturbing chain of events by
projecting their consciousness back in time within their bodies five years
before Earth’s obliteration.
Accepting the offer, our crew soon
finds themselves exactly five years ago from where they were with their memories
of the future intact, though in certain cases they are somewhat nervous or
jilted to a point where they are not even sure what happened was real at all. Of
course once they make contact with each other they soon discover that they’ve
all either shared a unique form of the collective unconscious or have traveled
back into their bodies of the past. Regardless they must now find out who or
what is behind the doomsday to come and if they can prevent it. However, their
knowledge of events soon proves fallible too as their investigation attempts
have called attention to themselves and now things that happened in the past are
no longer happening as they had remembered. Thus now they have no map from which
to act except for their own instincts.
“Odyssey 5” is an intriguing
premise that combines elements of other sci-fi paranoia and doomsday scenarios
that call to mind certain 1960s television classics to say the least. The cast,
which stars Peter Weller, Sebastian Roche, Christopher Gorham, Tamara Craig
Thomas, and Gina Clayton are all very good in their respective roles and the
special effects are of high quality. The premiere episode was directed by David
Carson, who is best known for his excellent work on the “Star Trek: Deep Space
9” pilot as well as the feature film “Star Trek: Generations.”
The concept is intriguing and the
premiere leaves the viewer with the strong desire to learn what will happen
next. I did have few questions like if their consciousness can be projected back
in time then what happens to their physical selves in the future? How has
consciousness been defined and are they really themselves or constructs
operating within their bodies of the past? How could a space shuttle survive the
destruction of an entire planet?
Well a car did and that scene is
probably one of the eeriest sites to be seen in sci-fi TV history. Overall
“Odyssey 5” shows promise and will premiere on the Showtime Cable Network on
Friday, June 21, 2002, at 10pm (ET/PT) with a feature length premiere that will
be followed by another episode of “Jeremiah.”
There after “Odyssey 5” will air on Fridays at 10pm (ET/PT) on Showtime and
followed by “Jeremiah” at 10:45pm
(ET/PT) as Showtime’s own Sci-Fi Friday lineup. HDTV subscribers can watch a
high definition widescreen transmission of the show while analogue TV viewers
can see the show in a letterboxed format.
This
makes for an excellent block of sci-fi programming on Friday nights. At 9pm
viewers can catch first run season 6 episodes of “Stargate SG-1” on Sci-Fi
and then switch to Showtime for “Odyssey 5” and “Jeremiah”
and then return to Sci-Fi in time to catch the latest fourth season episode of
“Farscape.” Collectively I think one could call this “Ultimate Sci-Friday.”
Also
it is very important to note the “Odyssey 5” premieres as a part of
Showtime’s Free Preview Weekend so give the show a chance, tune in, and get
hooked!
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.