Friday 9 May 2008

Journeyman


Journeyman is a 2007 U.S. science fiction television drama created by Kevin Falls for 20th Century Fox Television which aired on the NBC television network. It stars Kevin McKidd as Dan Vasser, a San Francisco reporter who involuntarily travels through time. Alex Graves, who directed the pilot, and Falls served as executive producers.

The show premiered on September 24, 2007, airing Mondays at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The initial order from the network was for 13 episodes, all of which were produced prior to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike by screenwriters. However, the series suffered from low ratings, and NBC allowed its option for a full season order to lapse by the Decembe 11, 2007 deadline for renewal. According to trade reports, such an action effectively means the series has been cancelled. As of April 2, 2008 the show has officially been canceled by NBC. The final episode of Journeyman aired on Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Dan's "shifts" through time occur seemingly at random. The only indication he has to an oncoming jump is a feeling in his head which varies from right before he jumps to several seconds of warning. Dan appears to have no control over the shifts. The first jump is typically several decades into the past; through a series of jumps, he jumps nearer to the present, usually years at a time.

The jumps manifest themselves with a small blue flash and a ripple as Dan appears to vanish from the present, and appear instantly in the past. He is missing from the present for a period of time unrelated to the period he spends in the past. His disappearances and reappearances are rarely witnessed by anyone else; it is unclear if this is a factor in his jumps, or merely coincidence. Dan does not arrive in the same location he departed, but instead arrives near the person who he is supposed to help. His jumps are typically restricted to the area he leaves from, usually keeping him in the San Francisco area. Dan is also trying to figure out the mechanics of his travels. He has questioned a physicist who seems to have known his father in the past, and has discussed the possibility of tachyon particles being able to cause time jumps. It is now clear that the scientist is aware of Dan's travels, as well as those of others like him. It has also been discovered that those born around the time of a rare passing comet have this ability.

Dan's journeys appear to each have an innate purpose, which is not always apparent to him, but involves positively changing the destiny of a certain person. Likewise, fate seems to conspire against him if he tries to alter other events beyond his current charge. Alterations Dan makes to the timeline affect the present and the memories of everyone in it. His own memories, however, are unaltered, and he recalls events as they originally occurred before his interference.

Dan is not alone in his tendency to time-travel. His ex-fiancée Livia, thought to have been killed in a plane crash, actually traveled back to her "home time", currently living in 1948 from where she jumps forward in time. Dan meets Livia on his jumps into the past, as she jumps into her future to offer her experience and assistance with Dan's missions. As revealed in the episode “Perfidia”, there is at least one other person who also jumps through time.

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