Timeless - the Finale

[Umbran]

I just re-watched the last few episodes of Timeless, in preparation for the finale that airs tomorrow...

The show's history is remarkable. Its first season of 16 episodes aired in 2016-17. The season ended in February, and we were a bit up i the air as to whether there would be a second season. In May, 2017, NBC announced the show's cancellation. The fan reaction hardly had time to get organized when, three days later, NBC announced they had un-cancelled it. Apparently, Sony, which had a major hand in the production, had faith in the show, and went to bat for it in negotiations, resurrecting it.

The second season was 10 episodes, and after that, again, it was cancelled. Fan reaction was well organized, including things like hiring airplanes to fly banners outside San Diego Comic Con to show how devoted they were. It was enough to get NBC and Sony to work out financing for a two-hour finale to wrap up a few things more neatly, which airs tomorrow night.

There's been a fan theory that if there's enough word of mouth, and enough people watch this finale... well, maybe NBC will continue it, or some other network will pick it up. I don't know how realistic that it, but it would make a heck of an X-mas present.

The show, IMHO, is one of the better genre shows available these days, and pretty clearly the best time travel show made (with the possible exception for Quantum Leap that I won't argue over). It is available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and probably streaming from your cable provider. You'd have to down a lot of caffeine and stay up all night to get caught up at this point, but it is well worth your time, even if it ends tomorrow.

 

[vpuigdoller]

I havn't seen it but learned about it due to the legal battle with the creators of "El Ministerio del Tiempo" who claimed Timeless is a copy of their show. I watched the latter on Netflix (it ended last year) and liked it so I been wanting to watch Timeless since then. By your description it sounds very good now I cant wait.

 

[Nutation]

Timeless was unusual with the concept for its pilot episode, which was to make sure the Hindenburg explodes. Most of these time-travel shows have the characters working to keep good events from being changed, not bad. When a show like Dr. Who or Star Trek (City on the Edge of Forever) has characters working to preserve a catastrophe, it's usually a fictional event, not historical.
Sadly, the show diverged from this daring concept later, especially with the Salem episode where they did the trite thing and rescued the "witches". We saw at the end of that episode that the protagonists indeed changed history, but the consequences of that were not explored.

 

[Umbran]

Sadly, the show diverged from this daring concept later, especially with the Salem episode where they did the trite thing and rescued the "witches".

Um, not so simple.

[sblock]In the Salem Witch Hunt episode, the Bad Guys have arranged for Abiah Franklin to be caught up in the trials and killed. If Abiah died, Benjamin Franklin would never be born, and that's a problem for history, what with him being a Founding Father and all. Yes, in their efforts, they save several other women from death. [/sblock]

Saving the witches was merely a side effect. And while "make sure the horrible thing happens" did show up in the initial episode, that didn't become the general format of the show - the team generally acted to preserve history, and sometimes that's complicated.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Timeless was unusual with the concept for its pilot episode, which was to make sure the Hindenburg explodes. Most of these time-travel shows have the characters working to keep good events from being changed, not bad. When a show like Dr. Who or Star Trek (City on the Edge of Forever) has characters working to preserve a catastrophe, it's usually a fictional event, not historical.

Side note: as I recall, Quantum Leap had one where Sam saved Jackie Kennedy from being killed by LHO, resulting in JFK’s death.

Side note to side note: and of course, the crew in Red Dwarf had to re-assassinate JFK themselves...

 

[Umbran]

Side note: as I recall, Quantum Leap had one where Sam saved Jackie Kennedy from being killed by LHO, resulting in JFK’s death.

Episode synopsis says that, for that episode, the original timeline has Jackie and JFK both died, and Sam saves Jackie. JFK dies either way.

Side note to side note: and of course, the crew in Red Dwarf had to re-assassinate JFK themselves...

And, of course, Timeless touches on the assassination of Lincoln. They *really* want to save Lincoln.. but don't.

In the Timeless episode about JFK...

[sblock]They save his life when he's much younger. They warn him of the assassination attempt in Dallas, which he avoids. But, he's killed in Austin shortly thereafter. [/sblock]

 

[Umbran]

Okay, that may have been the best "early cancelled show wrapup" ever. Well done, indeed.

And we can add a link to the end theme they used...

[video=youtube_share;4yeaOGtODqE]https://youtu.be/4yeaOGtODqE[/video]