''Voyagers!'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

television series about

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from October 3, 1982, to July 10, 1983, during the 1982–1983 season. The series starred

Jon-Erik Hexum Jon-Erik Hexum (; November 5, 1957 – October 18, 1984) was an American actor and model, known for his lead roles in the TV series '' Voyagers!'' and '' Cover Up'', and his supporting role as Pat Trammell in the biopic '' The Bear''. He died by a ...

and

Meeno Peluce Miro Fiore "Meeno" Peluce (born February 26, 1970) is a Dutch-born American photographer and actor. Life and career Peluce was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the son of Sondra Londy, a Jewish-American personal manager and caterer, and Floyd P ...

Opening narration

Plot

Phineas Bogg (

) was one of a society of time travelers called Voyagers who, with the help of a young boy named Jeffrey Jones (played by

) from 1982, used a hand-held device called an Omni (which looked much like a large

pocket watch A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwa ...

that flashes red when history is wrong and green when the timeline is corrected) to travel in time and ensured that history unfolded as we know it. Bogg and Jeffrey first met when Bogg's Omni malfunctioned and took him to 1982 (the device was not supposed to reach any later than 1970), landing him in the skyscraper apartment of Jeffrey's aunt and uncle, who were caring for him after his parents' deaths. Bogg's Guidebook, which contained a detailed description of how history was supposed to unfold, was grabbed by Jeffrey's dog Ralph, and in the struggle to retrieve it Jeffrey accidentally fell out his bedroom window and Bogg jumped out to rescue him by activating the Omni. With his Guidebook stuck in 1982, Bogg (who, being more interested in girls than in history, apparently never paid much attention in his Voyager training/history classes) had to rely on Jeffrey, whose father had been a history professor, to help him. Jeffrey's knowledge proved invaluable; for example, in the first episode, Jeffrey ensured that baby

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...

' basket traveled down the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...

where it was met by the Pharaoh's daughter. Phineas was a great womanizer and managed to fall for a beautiful woman in almost every episode. Whenever Jeffrey's wisdom was paired up against Bogg's stubbornness, Jeffrey usually won out, to which Bogg would always mutter, "Smart kids give me a pain!" Another

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

used by Bogg as an expletive was "Bat's breath!" They developed a strong relationship and became a formidable team. In the course of their adventures together, they sometimes encountered other Voyagers whose missions happened to overlap with theirs. It was revealed later in the series that despite Jeffrey's age, and the accidental circumstances of his first encounter with Phineas, he was always destined to become a Voyager. Over the

closing credits Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a ...

of each episode, regular cast member Meeno Peluce said in

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...

: "If you want to learn more about istorical element from the episode take a voyage down to your public library. It's all in books!"

Cast

as Phineas Bogg *

as Jeffrey Jones

Reception

Tom Shales Thomas William Shales (born November 3, 1944) is an American writer and retired critic of television programming and operations. He was a television critic for ''The Washington Post'' from 1977 to 2010, for which Shales received the Pulitzer Pr ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' praised the series as "a live-action version of the Mr. Peabody and Sherman cartoons on the delightful old ' Bullwinkle' show" and "largely a joy ride from start to finish." ''Voyagers!'' ran for one season of 20 episodes, broadcast opposite the top-rated ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...

''. The series averaged a 17 share. ''Voyagers!'' seemed likely to be renewed for a second season, but controversies in ''60 Minutes'' reporting led executives to believe that ''60 Minutes'' might successfully be challenged by a competing news program instead.Snauffer and Thurm, p. 83 NBC canceled ''Voyagers!'' and replaced it with the news magazine program ''

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...

,'' which averaged only a 7 share.

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

poked fun at NBC's cancellation of the series by airing a sketch on his '' Late Night'' program titled "They Took My Show Away", a parody of the

after school special The American Broadcasting Company coined the term Afterschool Special in 1972 with a series of television films, usually dealing with controversial or socially relevant issues, that were generally broadcast in the late afternoon and meant to be ...

in which the host comforts a boy who was a ''Voyagers!'' fan.

US television ratings

Home media

Television film

In 1985, following the death of series lead Jon-Erik Hexum, Universal re-edited several episodes of the show into a

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

. Entitled ''Voyager from the Unknown'', the story combined the pilot episode and "Voyagers of the Titanic" into one feature-length film. This version incorporates new video special effects, some voice-over dubbing for Hexum and Peluce's characters that changed, and added dialogue and new footage to include a super-computer directing Voyager missions. The opening begins with a narration and painted illustrations of Bogg receiving his Guidebook on "Planet Voyager" by artist Jerry Gebr. "Far out in the cosmos there exists a planet known as Voyager, where the mystery of travel into space and through time has been solved. It is inhabited by a race who call themselves Voyagers. Their purpose is to keep constant surveillance on history. These people have a time machine device, the Omni, which will take them into the past, present or future. As each Voyager graduates he is given an omni and a guidebook. One such graduate Phineas Bogg, who was assigned as a field worker to operate in certain time zones."

VHS release

The re-edited telefilm was issued on VHS by MCA Home Video in 1985. It would be the only official release of ''Voyagers!'' on home video in the US until the DVD release in 2007.

DVD release

On July 17, 2007,

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

released all 20 episodes of ''Voyagers!'' on DVD in Region 1.Voyagers! - "Complete Series" Cover Art Changes the Look of the Omni
, ''TV Shows on DVD'', April 19, 2007 It was released in Region 2 on October 29, 2007.

Streaming

All 20 episodes are also available in the United States by streaming through

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

Episodes

References

Bibliography

External links