8 time-travel television shows that time forgot

One of them only lasted four episodes!

Image: Everett Collection

Time travel has been shown so many different ways in movies and television. It can work just as well in serious dramas as it can in outrageous comedies. It is often used as a way to learn from our past or explore different futuristic scenarios.

Here are eight different shows that all featured time travel in some capacity and are now trapped in the dark void of forgotten TV history. Or maybe they just haven’t been thought about in a while.

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1. Captain Z-Ro (1951-1956)

 

Image: Everett Collection

“Somewhere in a remote, uncharted region of the planet called Earth stands the laboratory of Captain Z-Ro.” The title flashes onscreen and we know we’re in for an entertaining yet educational retro-futuristic adventure. Captain Z-Ro was a children’s program that originally aired on KRON-TV in San Francisco and KTTV in Los Angeles from 1951 to 1953. The show went national from 1955 to 1956. It was created by and starred Roy Steffens who later worked as an art director on shows like The Bionic Woman and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. The plot of each episode revolved around Captain Z-Ro and his teenage sidekick, Jet, going back in time to learn something about history or to fix something that had gone wrong. They met everyone from Leonardo da Vinci to Blackbeard to Genghis Khan. However, the real highlight of the show were the sets and costumes. Look at that helmet!

2. It’s About Time (1966-1967)

 

Image: Everett Collection

This science fiction comedy series was about two astronauts who travel faster than the speed of light and land back on earth thousands of years in the past. It was created by Sherwood Schwartz, known for Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch. Unlike his other successes, however, It’s About Time only lasted one season. The astronauts (played by Frank Aletter and Jack Mullaney) meet a cave-family and try to adapt to their new pre-historic life. The show steadily lost viewers as it went on and was retooled in January of 1967. The second half of the season saw the cave-family traveling with the astronauts back to the 1960s. While more familiar to the audience, the new setting didn’t help viewership and the show was not renewed for a second season.

3. The Lost Saucer (1975-1976)

 

Sid and Marty Krofft are known for their many outlandish and creative TV shows. The Lost Saucer is no exception. It involves two androids (including Jim Nabors!) from another planet (and also the year 2369) who take along a young boy and his babysitter after briefly landing on Earth. While trying to repair the damaged ship, the foursome encounters many different times both in the future and the past. The episodes usually had some sort of social commentary, like one where a future society has grown lazy because robots do all the work or another where people’s names have been replaced with numbers. Oh, and there’s also a Dorse, a half-dog, half-horse hybrid that’s really just a man in a furry dog suit with a fake horse head.

4. The Fantastic Journey (1977)

 

Image: Everett Collection

Considering it ran for only ten of a planned thirteen episodes in February 1977, you’d be forgiven for not remembering The Fantastic Journey. The show follows passengers on a ship that get transported to a mysterious island after sailing into the Bermuda triangle. On the island, they encounter, Varian, a man from the 23rd century who teaches them about their surroundings. He explains that people from the past, present and future get trapped on the island in different "time zones" which can only be explored via invisible gateways that teleport characters from one zone to the next. Sound a bit convoluted? Viewers thought so, too. The series was canceled before the last few episodes were even filmed.

5. Time Express (1979)

 

Image: Everett Collection

This extremely short-lived CBS series followed the format of popular shows The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Each episode followed guest stars as they boarded a train that could take them back in time. Their hosts for this journey were Jason and Margaret Winters played by real life couple Vincent Price and Carol Browne. The rest of the train crew rounded out the main cast. The show was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who previously had a hand in creating Charlie’s Angels and Mannix. The success of those previous efforts was not replicated, however. Time Express only aired four episodes.

6. The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980-1981)

 

Did you know Henry Winkler, Ron Howard and Donny Most all starred in a time-traveling Happy Days spin-off? If that doesn’t ring any bells, it’s probably because the show was a Saturday morning Hannah-Barbera cartoon. In it, Fonzie and the gang, including an anthropomorphic dog named Mr. Cool, meet a girl from the future. After fixing her time machine, the group gets trapped jumping between different time periods. The opening sequence for the show was narrated by Wolfman Jack, the famous gravely-voiced radio DJ. The series ran for two seasons with a total of 24 episodes. 

7. Voyagers! (1982-1983)

 

This early-Eighties fantasy series followed the adventures of Phineas Bogg and his kid sidekick, Jeffrey. Phineas used a wrist-watched sized device called an Omni to travel through history, making sure everything unfolded as it should. Phineas Bogg was played by Jon-Erik Hexum, who later died in a tragic accident on the set of his show Cover Up. Each episode of Voyagers! ended with a voice-over of Jeffrey encouraging kids to learn more about history by visiting their local library. Though well received, Voyagers! was canceled by NBC and replaced by a news program to compete with 60 Minutes.

8. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures (1992)

 

This seven-episode series was based on the 1989 movie starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, but it was also a replacement for an animated Bill and Ted television show originally produced by Hannah-Barbera. Fox ended the animated version in 1991 and recast the lead roles for a live-action series that aired in the summer of 1992. The premise of the show was the same as the movies: two slackers use a phone booth to travel through time and learn about history. Unfortunately, the show didn’t see the same success as the movies and was canceled after two months.

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65 Comments

EdwardTressel 9 months ago
THERE WERE ALSO NUMEROUS FEATURE FILMS ABOUT THE SUBJECT OF TIME TRAVEL PLUS QUITE A FEW USES OF A TIME TRAVEL PLOT IN THE STORY LINES OF SEVERAL OTHER TELEVISION SERIES SUCH AS IN "STAR TREK", "STARGATE: SG-1" etc!!!
I HAVE NEVER FORGOT WATCHING FIRST TGE PILOT EPISODE IN "TIME TUNNEL" AND ALL THE FOLLOWING EPISODES DURING 1965-196- IN MY EARLY TEENAGE YEARS SPARKING MY LONGTIME HALF-CENTURY OF LOVING HISTORY / GEOGRAPHY / ASTRONOMY & SCIENCE FICTION!! INCLUDING BEING A LONGTIME"TREKKIE" / "TREKKER" SINCE THE BEGINNINGS OF "STAR TREK" AS A DISCIPLE / FOLLOWER OF THE PHILOSOPHIES OF SCREEN WRITER & TV PRODUCER GENE RODDENBERRY!!!
= Duane E. Tressler
(Morrell Park - southwest Baltimore /// Saturday afternoon - February 16th, 2024)
BenSobeleone 15 months ago
The only two I've seen are It's About Time and The Fantastic Journey.
JerryWithers 30 months ago
Re: Time Express... Ms. Browne's first name was Coral, not Carol!
tootsieg 43 months ago
I liked It’s About Time as well. Does anyone remember the Second Hundred Years? Kind of a time travel show that was on for one season. 1967-68.
RedSamRackham tootsieg 29 months ago
* Imogene Coca revealed that she hated working with Joe E. Ross on IT'S ABOUT TIME. * THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS was what was called a "high-concept" show—one which was based on circumstances which were extremely unlikely to occur in real life. The concept here was that one Lucius "Luke" Carpenter (Monte Markham) had left for Alaska in 1900 as part of a gold rush, but soon after his arrival was buried in a glacial avalanche. His burial was evidently so complete and so rapid that he survived in a state of suspended animation for 67 years. He was then thawed out and soon brought to the home of his now-elderly son, Edwin (Arthur O'Connell), a land developer in Woodland Oaks, California. In the pilot episode, a heavily bandaged Luke awakens in Edwin's house and thinks Edwin is a gold robber. After removing his bandages, a bearded Luke dons his prospector's outfit and grabs his rifle in an attempt to find the sheriff to report the robber, but accidentally turns on a TV, which is playing a western. Luke comments "There's a midget in a box challenging me to a duel" and attacks the TV set. Outdoors, Luke, thinking he is in turn-of-the-century Fairbanks, is confused and scared by automobiles, as well as people's strange fashions. Accidentally pointing a rifle at a woman gets the attention of the police, who return him to Edwin. Starting to grasp what has happened, Luke decides to assimilate to 1967 California by shaving off his beard and wearing more modern clothes, which makes him look very much like his grandson Ken (also played by Markham). After some confusion, Luke decides it is best not to burden his family and strikes out on his own by taking a train to San Francisco, but is stopped by Edwin, who convinces his father to live with him and they will take a flight to San Francisco in order to help show that Luke has been given a unique gift, a chance to see the fruits of his generation's sacrifices through the advances of the latter 20th Century. The Army officer who oversaw Luke's unfreezing holds Luke, Edwin and Ken to a state secrecy act, as the Army does not wish for this to be public until the medical corps can fully comprehend why Luke survived. When told the order came from the top, Luke responds "if President McKinley says so it is good enough for me!"
tootsieg RedSamRackham 29 months ago
Thanks for clearing up that The Second Hundred Years was not about time travel. Your synopsis brought back the memory of watching the show.
JoeSHill 43 months ago
"THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY" (NBC, 1977) was, if anything, a unique concept of time travel. created by Executive Producer, Bruce Lansbury, former producer of "THE WILD, WILD, WEST", the plot involves shipwrecked passengers sailing into The Bermuda Triangle in an effort to study its mysterious history, their ship is engulfed by a green, glowing fog that overwhelms them, and they find themselves marooned on an unknown island, where time zones of past, present, and future, all co-exist on the island. the short-lived series was produced by Bruce Lansbury Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television, and its concept was still original and fresh, despite its inferior ratings. Columbia Pictures Television, now SONY Pictures Television today (extremely stupid idea) had also taken to another concept, which, through Leonard Goldberg and Aaron Spelling, resulted in ABC's long-running "FANTASY ISLAND" (1978-1986) But "THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY" still had some bright points-Jared Martin as "Varian", a 23rd-century musician, appears in the pilot episode "Atlantium", disguised as an Arawak Indian, introduces himself to young "Scott Jordan" (Ike Eisenman) while "Fred" (played by Carl Franklin)-both from 1977, eventually meet the stranded 23rd-century human, while the story eventually moves them all into "Atlantium", a futuristic variant of Atlantis, where guest stars Gary Collins ("THE SIXTH SENSE") and Mary Ann Mobley play the futuristic servants to "The Source" (voiced by Mike Road, the "JONNY QUEST" voice of "Race Bannon") a growing brain mass, with sinister intentions, and the introduction of "Lianna", played by Katie Saylor-her charecter, the daughter of an extra terristial mother and an Atlantian father, gets involved with the travelers. In the following episode, "Beyond The Mountain", viewers are introduced to "Dr. Jonathan Willoway", played by Roddy McDowell, who ruled a colony of aliens marooned in a swampy area of the island, Willoway was a rebel scientist who disappeared in the 1960s by the same green fog that stranded all these people on this unique island. Willoway took over the androids who he programmed to serve only him, but, in the end, the aliens regained their health after suffering from an illness, and banishes Willoway from their colony, while the mysterious time vortex advances the travelers into another zone, ruled by mistrusting adolescents ("Children Of The Gods") and eventual encounters with other civilizations and other marooned persons, like the ones that they encounter in the series finale, "Innocent Prey" (which borrowed the UFO footage from Quinn Martin's "THE INVADERS") where a space shuttle crashes, and later realizing that this is a futuristic prison ship, transporting convicted prisoners "York and Tye"-played by Richard Jaeckel and Nicholas Hammond. (look for "SIMON & SIMON" and "MAJOR DAD"s Gerald McRaney, who played the ship pilot, and soon to be "CHARLIE'S ANGELS" star, Cheryl Ladd) and that's how "THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY" concluded its NBC run. "STAR TREK" story editor, DC Fontana also worked on this series, and actor Jared Martin later starred on "WAR OF THE WORLDS" (1988-1990) a syndicated TV series shot in Canada and released in Fall 1988. Bruce Lansbury, the brother of Angela Lansbury, had later moved to the "WONDER WOMAN" series as supervising producer in Fall 1977, but "FANTASTIC JOURNEY" and WOMAN WOMAN" were both filmed at The Burbank Studios, back when Warner Bros. and Columbia had shared the studio lot. Bruce Lansbury later worked on NBC's "BUCK RODGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY" with Universal and Glen A. Larson in Fall 1979.
gmccarthy 52 months ago
Please mention James Reynolds in Time Express. He is one of the stars on the soap Days of Our Lives. So excited to see him in that picture!
dojife 57 months ago
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DavidBartholomew 57 months ago
There are 4 writer theories about Time Travel

1) You cannot touch it. This is basic Voyagers.

2) If you touch it, you change YOUR time. Think about Star Trek, City on the Edge of Forever.

3) If you change time, you can't tell because that's what you will remember (Quantum Leap)

4) Doctor Who, You can change at will, except the Fixed Points
RogerClyneIsAGod 57 months ago
Now I need to see Time Express for the Vincent Price factor!

Also Voyagers was pretty good & I'd totally watch Fantastic Journey now. I remember seeing It's About Time on some channel if not on MeTV, maybe Antennae or another "oldies show" channel like that.
TCKirkham 58 months ago
"Fantastic Journey" was an awesome show, made me a lifelong fan of Jared Martin, continued my fan love of Ike Eisenmann, and I was sad to see it fail in just 13 weeks. And "The Lost Saucer" was silly but fun, and kind of had elements of other sci fi shows, most notably "Doctor Who", in it. The original 1970s version of the UK classic "The Tomorrow People" also had a time travel cycle which was awesome. And although not time travel, Nickelodeon made an attempt to launch a kidfriendly sci-fi show (long before the gawdawful "Marvin Marvin") in the 1980s, "UFO Kidnapped", which was done by TP creator Roger Price and populated by the cast of Price's hugely successful series "You Can't Do That on Television", in particular Klea Scott, Kevin Kubucheskie, and Alasdair Gillis, along with Les Lye. It never got past the one off pilot however, which Nickelodeon ran into the ground with multiple airings in 1983 and 1984...
Dwight 58 months ago
I remember seeing some of these, and thought they were good/enjoyable.

It would be nice to see some of them turn up on MeTV on Super Sci-Fi Saturday Night. Possibly on a rotating basis, given the short runs some of them had.
MrsP58 58 months ago
It's about time
It's about space
About two people
In the strangest place....

Really only one season?
Pacificsun MrsP58 57 months ago
Not quite, but here it is: https://youtu.be/r61HINDycZA
The song was better than the show.
Chloe MrsP58 48 months ago
The thing about one of the actors who played one of the astronauts, is that he was virtually a carbon copy of Gilligan.
Utzaake 58 months ago
3. The Lost Saucer was a Saturday morning program on ABC that also starred Laugh-In's Ruth Buzzi as the other android and Alice Playten as the babysitter. As for the Dorse, the writers obviously knew not to use the reverse (hog) for it was way too real to be fictional.
7. "Smart kids give me a pain." Besides going up against the monolithic 60 Minutes, Voyagers! also had some episodes start late because of long late-afternoon American Football Conference games spilling over into prime time. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/10/02/vivacious-voyagers/8389058f-2d9e-48ef-8285-0b0c5012a312/
DavidBartholomew 58 months ago
Time Express, with Vincent Price, was not a Love Boat style show! It was more Twilight Zone. A guest star would be taken back to a turning point in their life....high school prom, a parent's death, a missed bus. Given a chance to fix it, they would find that the other path might have been better, or worse, or just different. Then they would choose which life they wanted.
QazWiz DavidBartholomew 58 months ago
definitely 10% of Twilight Zone episodes did some "wish i could" variant ... Burgess Meredith breaking his glasses and Carol Burnett asking to return to the broke, unemployed but fun and klutzy life.... very memorable
DavidBartholomew 58 months ago
Voyagers was a favorite of mine. Bogg, the adult, was a slacker in Voyager Training, distracted by a cute blonde. So, he carries a text book with him so he can look up history as he tries to fix it. In the pilot, Jeffery 's dog takes the book, and jumps out the 3rd story window! Jeffery jumps out after the dog, Phineas after Jeffery, and as Phineas touches the other 2, he activates his OMNI, the time travel device. But the book is gone.

Jerry's parents were both History professors, and so he is a child history prodigy. Jeffery replaced the book, teaching Phineas about history.

The last 2 episodes were mind blowing. Phineas is on trial for screwing up the timeline, by taking Jeffery through time. Turns out Jeffery is actually destined to be a Voyager in the future!
Ric 58 months ago
Greetings. Yes, those shows were great. Time Travel interests me. Please don't forget: The Time Tunnel and Quantum Leap. This Site is Great!
djw1120 Ric 58 months ago
Quantum Leap was on some time ago - although, I wouldn't mind seeing it again.
I might even DVR it.
The Time Tunnel (made by the "Master of Disaster" Irwin Allen) is on Saturday nights at 4:00AM on MeTV - and I saved all 30 episodes on DVR.
dth1971 58 months ago
Not mentioned: For the final season of The Smurfs cartoon series on NBC in 1989-1990 it was a time travel theme.
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