Time Trax 

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

Creators:

Harve Bennett, Jeffrey M. Hayes, Grant Rosenberg

Stars:

Dale Midkiff, Elizabeth Alexander, Peter Donat

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Dale Midkiff	...	Darien Lambert 43 episodes, 1993-1994
Elizabeth Alexander	...	Selma / ... 43 episodes, 1993-1994

Storyline

Darien Lambert, Captain of the Fugitive Retrieval Section in the 22nd century, time-travels to the 20th century to capture 22nd century criminals who have escaped by time-traveling. He is armed with a PPT, a 3-button weapon that can render a man unconscious or send a man to the 22nd century. He has a computer named Selma, disguised as a credit card. Selma helps him to capture the fugitives, for she has access to various databases, and can make logical conclusions. She has also many other functions. The main criminal is Mo Sahmbi, who invented the time machine (TRAX) and helped the criminals to get away. Lambert cannot go to the 22nd century until he has captured all the fugitives.

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Plot Keywords:

police | time travel | policeman | hologram | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 January 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Anametrisi sto mellon

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gary Nardino Productions, Lorimar Television, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min (44 episodes) 88 min (pilot episode)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Darien's PPT has three setting or colors. Blue pellets stun for five minutes, green pellets stun for up to three hours, and red pellets administer a dose of TXP which prepares the subject for teleportation to the future.

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Quotes

Darien Lambert: Visual mode, Selma

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Connections

Featured in Troldspejlet: Wayne's World (1993)

User Reviews

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.