Executive Producer:
James D. Parriott
Cast:
Jon-Erik Hexum….Phineas Bogg
Meeno Peluce….Jeffrey Jones
Universal Home Video presents Voyagers! The Complete Series. Twenty episodes on 4 DVDs. Episodes aired from Oct. 3, 1982 to July 10, 1983. DVD released July 17, 2007.
The Show
Nearly 25 years ago, NBC debuted a show that featured a grown man busting into the bedroom of a teenage boy. If this episode aired this week on the Peacock Network, it’d be called, “A Very Special episode of To Catch A Predator.” But a quarter of a century ago, Dateline‘s Chris Hansen didn’t step out from behind a blind to spoil the encounter. Instead Jeffrey Jones, a young boy, joined the older Phineas Bogg in time traveling adventures for almost complete season.
A Voyager is a guy with a magic watch that allows him to bounce around time. He doesn’t just go any where he wants. Instead he arrives at a moment in time when events aren’t going according to the history books. “Our job is to get everything back on track!” Bogg announces in the show’s opening. The watch is red when things are out of wack. When he’s able to make things happen properly, the watch turns green. Then its off on another adventure. He’s kind of like Dr. Who if the Doctor went to a party college and got his time traveling certificate through family connections and pretty boy looks. Bogg is a serious C minus student of history. It’s a good thing he hooked up with Jeffrey. The kid is a history book fiend. He has plenty of time to read since he’s an orphan. The relatives taking care of him don’t want the burden anymore. The early episodes has Bogg attempting to return Jeffrey to his proper time. But his watch isn’t allowed to take him to the mid-80s.
Most of the episodes don’t just deal with the duo traveling to one historic moment to set it right. They have to figure out what went event went wrong in a pervious event that set things wrong. In “The Pilot,” the boys arrive in the middle of World War I. The allied forces are at the mercy of the German’s flying war machines. Why? Because the allies don’t have an air force. The duo have to go further back in time to discover why Orville and Wilbur Wright didn’t go to Kitty Hawk to launch their plane. Turns out the Wright Brothers (played by Ed Begley Jr. and Donald Petrie, director of Grumpy Old Men and Miss Congeniality) were both hung up on the same woman. They let romance get in the way of man’s progress. Bogg helps restore the timeline by being a stud with the love interest. Hexum’s hairy chest should have been given a co-star credit. There’s no resistance from it. After they get the Wrights on the right path, they hop back to World War I to help put the Germans back on their heels.
“Created Equal” has Dan Pastorini playing Spartacus. He doesn’t quite cut the same figure as Kirk Douglas. But the former Houston Oiler quarterback doesn’t look too bad sporting the sword and sandals look. “Cleo and the Babe” asks what would happen if the hottest woman from Egypt got rocked by the Sultan of Swat. This is much better than Steve Allen’s Meeting of the Minds. If they ever revive Voyagers!, they can have an episode with Barry Bonds matching science with Madame Curie. “Voyagers of the Titanic” puts the duo on the ill-fated cruise. They have to save the “Mona Lisa” from joining the “The Heart of the Ocean.” The show cut budget corners by using footage from A Night to Remember and Raise the Titanic. “Merry Christmas, Bogg” is the very special holiday episode where the duo realize that they have become family.
Bogg does have an enemy among his fellow Voyagers. His old classmate Drake is jealous and drags him into court for “The Trial of Phineas Bogg.” Drake doesn’t like the fact that Bogg has a kid tagging along with him. After losing the case, Drake goes extra evil in “Jack’s Back.” He’s decided to take over the role of Jack the Ripper. It’s up to Bogg, Jeffrey, Nellie Bly and Arthur Conan Doyle to stop the slaughter in White Chapel. There’s nothing too scary in this episode except the intense fog might have given Bogg split ends. Bly is played by Julia Duffy, the future supporting actress on Newhart and Designing Women.
There aren’t too many freakish guest roles by future superstars. “Agents of Satan” has Shannen Doherty. “All Fall Down” features L.Q. Jones. “The Day the Rebs Took Lincoln” lets Nicky Katt pop up. Jonathan Frakes (pre-Star Trek: The Next Generation) soars as Charles Lindburgh in “An Arrow Pointing East.”
Back in 1983, Late Night With David Letterman had an After School Special sketch about the end of the series. “They Took My Show Away” had Letterman telling Jimmy, a young kid, that Voyagers! has been canceled. Jimmy is heartbroken. He swears he’ll never watch TV again. Letterman promotes the “fine” upcoming programming from NBC. Jimmy overcomes his shock and sadness when Dave tells him about Manimal. After 25 years, Voyagers is still a fun show. Meeno Peluce and Jon-Erik Hexum had a great on screen chemistry. You can believe the kid knows more than the hunky guy. This was a good show for junior high kids who needed an excuse to visit the library after watching TV. If you’re like Jimmy, you finally have a reason to watch TV once more. Now when is the Manimal boxset coming out?
The Episodes
“Pilot,” “Created Equal,” “Bully and Billy,” “Agents of Satan,” “Worlds Apart,” “Cleo and the Babe,” “The Day the Rebs Took Lincoln,” “Old Hickory and the Pirate,” “The Travels of Marco Polo… and Friends,” “An Arrow Pointing East,” “Merry Christmas, Bogg,” “Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley Play the Palace,” “The Trial of Phineas Bogg,” “Sneak Attack,” “Voyagers of the Titanic.” “Pursuit,” “Destiny’s Choice,” “All Fall Down,” “Barriers of Sound” and “Jack’s Back.”
The DVD
VIDEO:
The picture is 1.33:1 full frame. The transfers show a lot of grain. The fog scenes really show off the film grain in “Jack’s Back.”
AUDIO:
The soundtrack is Dolby Digital Mono. The levels show off the calm bass tones of Hexum’s voice. The subtitles are in English.
EXTRAS:
None.
The Inside Pulse
Voyagers! reminds us what’s missing from today’s TV dramas; the ability to have a grown stranger take off with a young boy without the fear of an Amber Alert. This show reflects a simple time when people didn’t always see things as a crime in progress. For those who remember watching this series 25 years ago, Voyagers! is fun entertainment after a few drinks. Remember to not use the “historical facts” in the series as footnotes in a term paper.
