First let me say that yes I did see the film version back in 1979 and yes it was very enjoyable and it still holds up well some 28 years later. As for this new television series that took 28 years for a brave producer to stick their neck out and have faith that there will be an audience for it, well I say congratulations to you!
What I fail to understand by the previous reviewers is why there is so much hate in their reviews? I just watched the two hour pilot and I found this series to contain adventure, romance, mystery, danger and a darn good cast of characters. I can only surmise that some of the other reviewers are either professional saboteurs working for competing broadcast stations who wish to retain their share of the Nielsen ratings, or they are less than impressive actors who did not make the cut and lost the part to some of this casts current performers who in my opinion succeeded where they failed and there is a hate on for them which is totally undeserved.
Freddie Stroma plays H.G. Wells and his nemesis Jack the Ripper is played by Josh Bowman. H.G. Wells unplanned travel to the year 2017 in pursuit of Dr. John Stevenson finds him falling head over heels for a Miss Jane Parker played by Genesis Rodriguez who is the assistant curator of the New York museum which has Mr. Wells time machine on exhibit.
During the second hour of the pilot H.G. Wells is introduced to his great, great grand daughter Vanessa Anders (played by Nicole Ari Parker). What was interesting about this particular reveal was how Vanessa explained to H.G. Wells how they first met several years earlier and how she convinced H.G. Wells that they did in fact meet previously, albeit several years ago which was the reason Vanessa kept waiting for Mr. Wells to re-enter not only into her life, but re- enter into her world over 100 years later.
I noticed in the series credits that none of the aforementioned characters appear in any more than 3 episodes so I can only surmise that the series will take some unsuspected twists and turns and maybe the spoils are rewarded to whom holds the key to the time machine? I quite enjoyed this television version which also included a cameo appearance by the great English actress Juliet Mills.
So to all you naysayers, I say try and close your eyes and consider that maybe this team of writers have a much more developed creative genius than the negative comments you attributed to the pilot episode. I for one will keep my eyes opened and I look forward to where this time machine will next takes us....time after time.
I give the series a perfect 10 out of 10 rating. Bravo!
