Of all the science-fiction sub-genres that have existed over the years, time travel has remained one of the most persistent across all media, especially TV. Doctor Who, arguably the most famous time travel series of all, is now the jewel in the BBC’s dramatic crown on both sides of the Atlantic, and dozens of imitators have followed suit. Outlander, returning for its third season this week, is among the collection of series which have blended escapades across time with a dramatic, often romantic sensibility.
Set The Tape takes a look at some of the inspirations for Outlander, and the shows which inhabit the same time encompassing landscape as Ronald D. Moore’s historical romantic drama.
Quantum Leap (1989-1993)
The time travel element in some ways felt incidental to Quantum Leap, which starred Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist from the near future who in his attempts to prove the existence of time travel ends up ‘leaping’, week on week, into the lives of historical people and well known figures. Aided with information by Al, the holographic appearance of a colleague from the future (played memorably by Dean Stockwell), Sam would have to ‘become’ whoever he had inhabited that week and complete a pivotal moment in their lives so he could leap again, with every leap Sam hoping would be the one that gets him home.
Cue a premise in which Donald P. Bellisario and his writers could explore a new time and place every week, though largely due to budget restraints Sam wouldn’t travel much further than the 1950’s and no later than the mid-1980’s. These restrictions led Quantum Leap, which was extremely episodic, to sometimes feel a little repetitive, but on a good day this was about as enjoyably well-written, well-performed, wholesome, accessible science-fiction as TV has ever seen.
Goodnight Sweetheart (1993-1999 (2016))
In some respects, Goodnight Sweetheart is perhaps the closest to Outlander in terms of a romantic aspect being pivotal to the concept, even if they’re a world away in tone. Airing on the BBC across the 1990’s, Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran’s original premise starred Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, a dry witted TV repairman in 1993 who stumbles into a time portal which deposits him into the 1940’s, where he embarks upon a romance with Phoebe (Dervla Kirwan, then Elizabeth Carling), a barmaid unaware of his time travelling ability, or indeed Yvonne (Michelle Holmes, then Emma Amos), his wife back in the future. Cue TV’s unlikeliest situation comedy all about bigamy with a sci-fi slant.
Honestly, Goodnight Sweetheart was, and remains, a real oddity. Lyndhurst, forever known as dippy Rodney Trotter in Only Fools and Horses, is surprisingly good as the somewhat amoral Gary, who enjoys the wartime glamour of being considered a mysterious spy, but its hard to watch it and fully embrace the fact we’re rooting for a cheater. It played with the time travel concept in interesting ways across its run and returned for a one-off, 2016 special set in both the present and the 1960’s which went down well. Who knows? We may well get more.
Life on Mars (2006-2007) / Ashes to Ashes (2008-2010)
One of the British TV phenomenon’s of the 2000’s, Life on Mars was about as high concept TV as you could find: Sam Tyler, a Manchester police officer, suffers a car accident in the present and wakes up in 1973, working for a predecessor unit with a group of eclectically of their time coppers led by the towering DCI Gene Hunt, played with scenery-chewing, alpha male brio by Philip Glenister. What was interesting about Matthew Graham, Ashley Pharaoh & Tony Jordan’s series was the ambiguity; even in the credits, John Simm’s Sam questions whether he’s mad, in a coma, or back in time. A police procedural shot through with strange imagery and ongoing mystery, Sam’s two season journey captivated a nation.
So much so, even when Life on Mars had ended in as ambiguous fashion as it began, the writers couldn’t resist a sequel series – Ashes to Ashes. Revolving around Keeley Hawes’ London-based officer Alex Drake, the premise moved from 70’s glam rock to 1981 and New Romantic fashion, swopping Ziggy Stardust for Duran Duran, but keeping Gene Hunt and a few of the stronger characters from 1970’s Manchester. Running again for two seasons, both almost on a par with Life on Mars and again tapping a police procedural format, Ashes to Ashes resolved the mystery of both Alex and Sam. Were they mad, in a coma or really back in time? You’d best watch and find out.
11.22.63 (2016)
Oddly enough, this adaptation of Stephen King’s enormous time travel historical romance 11.22.63 shares some DNA with the aforementioned Goodnight Sweetheart, if again tonally they are poles apart. Produced by JJ Abrams through his Bad Robot stable, and developed by Bridget Carpenter, 11.22.63 tells the story of Jake Epping, played by a sizeable film star name in James Franco, an English teacher from Maine (where else?), recently divorced, who finds himself given the opportunity to travel back in time to Dallas 1960 by Chris Cooper’s kindly old friend Al Templeton (Al again…). What’s coming up in three short years? The assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which Jake sees it as his mission to prevent.
To a degree this edges 11.22.63 toward the arena of alternate history, much like The Man in the High Castle on Amazon, but certainly King’s vast tome is as concerned with the life Jake attempts to make in somewhat of a halcyon American era, and the woman he meets who begins to convince him he doesn’t have anything worth going back to in the modern era. King himself has expressed a desire to see a follow up to what is, rarely thanks to Hulu, a one-shot story, so maybe Jake’s time travelling escapade will continue on screen.
Timeless (2016-present)
If you’re a fan of time travel series, you can’t get more on the money, conceptually, than Timeless. Reminiscent of the kind of 1960’s TV shows which would gleefully send characters to pivotal moments in history, Eric Kripke & Shawn Ryan’s series updates such an idea as history professor Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer), along with scientist Rufus Carlin (Malcolm Barrett) and soldier Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter) embark on a mission to stop villainous Garcia Flynn (Goran Visnjic) from travelling across time to change the very fabric of American history. Cue episodes set anywhere from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln to the World’s Fair of 1893.
The reaction wasn’t nearly as stellar to Timeless as you might expect, however, certainly from the pedigree of Supernatural’s Kripke & The Shield’s Ryan – so much so that NBC cancelled the series in May this year, only to just three days later after extra negotiations to pick it back up for a 10 episode second season set to air in 2018. Timeless has been yanked from the jaws of cancellation, now it needs to really deliver on the premise and take its place as, potentially, one of the great time travel series. Time will tell.
What are your favourite time travel series? Which ones did we miss? Let us know in comments or via social media.