"Time Trax" (1993) TV series 1993-1994

Creators:

Harve Bennett
Jeffrey M. Hayes
Grant Rosenberg

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

20 January 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Crime

Plot:

A cop from the future is sent back to contemporary times to track down fugitives hiding in the past.

Plot Keywords:

Time Travel

Cast

Dale Midkiff	...	Darien Lambert (44 episodes, 1993-1994)
Elizabeth Alexander	...	Selma (44 episodes, 1993-1994)

Runtime:

45 min (44 episodes) | Germany:88 min (pilot episode) | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Gary Nardino Productions

Trivia:

The patch on the back of Lambert's A-2 jacket is the Flying Tigers blood chit. These patches were issued to US pilots flying in China during WWII so they could be returned safely by Chinese people (most of whom didn't speak English) back to US air bases in China, thus saving many lives. The flag on the chit is the Nationalist Chinese flag (now Taiwan). The chit reads: "This man is an American fighting for China. Please save and protect him as a fellow soldier". Known as the Flying Tigers, these men were a group of maverick pilots flying for Chiang-Kai-Shek. In a period of 7 months, they shot down over 1000 Japanese planes in the air and ground suffering only a few casualties. The reason Lambert wears it is probably to signify that he's a maverick cop who goes back in time to capture fugitives and bring them back to the future. The jacket is government issue and doesn't include side-entry pockets.

Quotes:

Darien Lambert: Visual mode, Selma

Pulp, yes, but watchable pulp.

"These are the journals of Darien Lambert, Captain, Fugitive Retrieval Section, AD 2193..."

One of the first shows made for what would eventually become the WB, "Time Trax" does bear similarities to "Quantum Leap," but this formulaic SF/action show also owed more than a little to the minor classic "Trancers" (criminals time travelling with drugs, etc). Too bad it was never really as witty or as interesting, though - though it's not like that movie's writers Paul De Meo and Danny Bilson are strangers to TV shows that, though entertaining, never really flourish (witness "The Flash" and "The Sentinel").

While our hero was hardly a superman, he did have more endurance than most 20th century people (an indication of how stronger people get as time goes by), and the feature-length pilot also proposed that Lambert was something of a prejudiced-against minority in his own time, a notion that, since the series never went back to the 22nd century, was never seriously brought up again... but if it had been set back there the show might have ended before it did.

Creators (and writers) Harve Bennett, Jeffrey Hayes and Grant Rosenberg were straitjacketed somewhat by their premise - note that the villain who Darien caught and sent back in the pilot was brought back (deformed of course; the series set up the rule that it's not safe for anyone to travel through time more than twice) to give him a recurring nemesis that he could actually fight, since the head villain Mordecai Sahmbi was hardly a physical threat; and the three-person rule about Darien's holographic partner Selma (activating Selma when another person is around, making it three people in that area, isn't allowed) also got broken, though they did acknowledge it.

With Australia standing in for the entire world (even Australia in one episode), it certainly looked nice - except for the episode where Darien went to a foggy London - but the show never had what it took to be a real contender, in spite of OK acting; blame the scripts. I've always enjoyed time travel movies and TV shows (though strangely enough I never got into "Doctor Who"), but it's impossible to think this'll really develop a cult following the way "The Time Tunnel" did. But then, that show didn't have a gratuitous plug for Continental Airlines in its opening credits.