Time Trax is an American/Australian co-produced science fiction television series that first aired in 1993. A police officer, sent through time into the past, has to track down and return convicted criminals who have escaped prison in the future. This was the last new production from Lorimar Television.
Production
Time Trax was created by veteran Hollywood producers Harve Bennett, Jeffrey M. Hayes and Grant Rosenberg. Rosenberg came up with the original idea, which Bennet and Hayes helped craft into the final premise.
It was one of the first three original programming of the Prime Time Entertainment Network, alongside Kung Fu: The Legend Continues and Babylon 5, and it ran between January 20, 1993 and December 3, 1994. Despite being well-received by viewers, the network cancelled the show because they wanted to go in a different direction to increase their viewer base.
Despite its Washington D.C. setting, the series was shot in Queensland, Australia, near the Warner/Roadshow Studios. It was the last series to premiere under the Lorimar Productions name.
Premise
In the year 2193, over a hundred criminals become fugitives of law enforcement by traveling back in time two hundred years, using a time machine called Trax. Darien Lambert (Dale Midkiff) is a police detective of that period who is sent back to 1993 in order to apprehend as many of the fugitives as possible. He is assisted by the Specified Encapsulated Limitless Memory Archive, or SELMA (Elizabeth Alexander), an extremely small but very powerful computer (described as equivalent to a mainframe) disguised for the mission as a credit card and communicated through a holographic interface which takes the visual form of a prim young woman. Lambert is also equipped with an MPPT (Micro-Pellet Projection Tube) disguised as a keyless car alarm remote, which can stun targets or engulf them in an energy field, rendering them transportable to the future. This process, executed by SELMA, incorporates a transmission sequence to send the criminal on his way. Dr. Mordecai Sahmbi (Peter Donat), who was responsible for sending the fugitives to 1993, tries several times to kill Lambert.
Captain Lambert, fearing the possible consequences of altering the timeline, does not actively attempt to interfere with the natural flow of history, although he frequently leaves messages for his colleagues in 2193 (via the 'personals' sections of assorted newspapers). However, the series makes occasional allusions to a theory of parallel timelines, implying that time travelers go into an alternate past so that their actions there have no effect on the 2193 "present".
Cast
- Dale Midkiff as Captain Darien Lambert, Fugitive Retrieval Section. A police officer from the 22nd century. Born in 2160 and abandoned by his parents, he was raised in Enclave I-6 Middle City, the area formerly known as Chicago Land. As a child of his time, he had a superior abilities that 20th century humans: IQ 204, a speed memorization rate 1.2 pages per second, a best speed of 8.6 sec. for 100 m, a heartbeat of 35 beats per minute and a life expectancy of 120 years, as well as mind control capabilities from beta wave training, including the ability to slow down the speed of visual images reaching the brain. He attended the International Police Academy at West Point, from which he graduated first in his class. In 2193, after over a hundred criminals scapped back to 1993, he's sent back to 1993 to retrieve them.
- Elizabeth Alexander as SELMA (Specified Encapsulated Limitless Memory Archive), an advanced computer AI disguised as Darien's credit card. Selma communicated with both a voice and a holographic interface based on a picture of Darien's mother. Selma can place phone calls, perform medical and scientific testing as well as interface with virtually any computer including those belonging to law enforcement agencies, as well as having a vast amount of information in her database.
Recurring
- Peter Donat as Dr. Mordecai Sahmbi, a MIT professor and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics for his theoretical work in the teletransportation of particle mass. Creator of the TRAX time machine he used to send criminals to the past, before travelling through himself, becoming one of the fugitives Lambert has to find.
- Mia Sara as Annie Knox and her possible descendant Elyssa Channing-Knox:
- Elyssa Channing-Knox was a young prodigy. Accepted to MIT at age nine by seventeen he was Sahmbi's most gifted student and Darien's love interest.
- Annie Knox: A Secret Service Agent in the 20th century which Darien encounters after his arrival.
Timeline
- 1993 June 15 - Darien Lambert arrives in the past
- 2129 The "Just War"
- 2142 First Contact - transmission received from the Procardians.
- 2160 August 17 - Darien Lambert is born
- 2164 The "War of the Hemispheres"
- abt. 2169 - Elyssa Channing-Knox is born
- abt. 2178 - Darien is admitted to the International Police Academy at West Point.
- abt. 2178 - Dr. Mordicai Sahmbi of MIT wins Nobel Prize for Physics for his theoretical work in the teletransportation of particle mass.
- 2193 Lambert jumps to the past
Episode list
Season 1
Season 2
DVD release
On October 9, 2012, Warner Bros. released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release. The second and final season was released by Warner Archive on July 9, 2013.
International broadcasters
- Â Bangladesh - Bangladesh Television
- Â India - Doordarshan
- Â UK - ITV, Sci Fi Channel
- Â Pakistan - PTV
- Â Sri Lanka - MTV (Now known as Sirasa TV)
- Â Germany - Sat.1
- Â Hungary - RTL Klub
- Â Israel - Channel 2 (Telad)
- Â Russia - CTC
- Â Indonesia - RCTI
- Â Korea - SBS
- Â Ukraine - ICTV
- Â Chile - Canal 13
- Â Sweden - SVT
Video game
A video game for the Super NES console based on the series was released on the U.S. market by Malibu Games in April 1994 (although some sources list December 1993). A Sega Genesis version was also developed and completed, and was reviewed in major gaming publications, but it was never released by the publisher. A prototype of the Mega Drive/Genesis version in fully finished state was leaked in 2013.
References
External links
- Time Trax on IMDb
- Time Trax at TV.com
- Time Trax at epguides.com