Journeyman is the new time-travel series running on NBC in the US and on Sky One here in the UK. I Sky Plus-ed a couple of episodes during the week and watched them last night.

What’s It About?

All the action in Journeyman centers around San Francisco journalist Dan Vasser. Dan is married to Katie, and they have a son called Zack.

In the pilot episode, Dan suddenly starts zoning out, but soon discovers that the ‘dreams’ he’s having are reality and he’s unconsciously traveling in time. His ability to time travel is completely involuntary and his only indication that he’s about to disappear is a sharp headache just before it happens.

Part of the problem with Dan’s extraordinary ability is that he can disappear for a couple of days at a time, without warning. This causes problems with his family and at work, and initially his wife thinks he’s having an affair. He only manages to convince her otherwise by burying her wedding ring under the patio of their house when he goes back in time.

Romantic Subplots

There are a number of romantic subplots in Journeyman. Although Dan is married to Katie, he was previously engaged to Livia Beale - until she was involved in a plane crash.

However, during his travels in time he discovers that Livia is still alive. Even more intriguing, Livia seems to have the same abilities he does. It’s clear that Dan still has feelings for her.

To complicate matters further, Dan’s brother Jack was romantically involved with Katie in the past. Jack still bears a grudge about their relationship. There are also hints that Dan and Katie’s marriage has been under some strain, that Dan has also (possibly) got gambling problems and has hung out with some shady people in the recent past.

Comparisons To Other Time Travel Fiction

Hmmm. This guy can travel in time, but his travels seem linked to the fate of an individual in each episode. It seems his ‘mission’ is to ‘fix’ time in order to change that person’s life for the better. Well, throw in an oversexed bald man called Al and a hyperintelligent computer called Ziggy and you’ve basically got the premise of Quantum Leap. Well, without much of the humour.

Dan’s involuntary time shifting is quite similar to the main character in Audrey Niggenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. In that novel, Henry DeTamble has a similar ability, but cannot control it. However, Henry manages to overcome the ability by working out the points where he crosses his own lifetime. The other similarity is that both stories look at the impact of a potentially cool power in real life. Good book, and well worth the read by the way.

Finally

It’s nice to see this airing almost in parallel in the UK and the USA. Unlike Heroes, which is already in Season 2 in the States while we’re only halfway through Season 1 in the UK.

We love time travel here at Unreality Primetime, so we’ll be watching Journeyman throughout the series. Even if it’s only to find out what’s going on with Dan’s presumed-dead fiance Livia…

Stay tuned!