An American Sci-Fi series that has a group of travelers (Ike Eisenmann, Carl Franklin, and Roddy McDowall) being trapped in the Bermuda Triangle and meeting two people (Jared Martin and Katie Saylor) while they try to get back home.
The show aired from February 3, 1977 to June 16, 1977 on NBC.
Tropes for the series:
- Action Girl: Although it doesn't happen as much in later episodes, Liana is shown in the first two episodes to be a capable fighter and is implied to use her psychic abilities in combat.
- Arc Villain: The Source, an orange brain that feeds off of energy from human sacrifices, is the Big Bad for the show's opening two-parter.
- Badass Pacifist: Varian was a musician in his own time and abhors violence. However, if he has to, he will use his atomic energizer to fight, and is not above destroying inhuman entities like The Source. Fred and Liana also have shades of this, since they're both anti-violent but willing to fight in self defense.
- The Bermuda Triangle: Where the group first start their time traveling escapades.
- Bond Creatures: Liana shares a telepathic connection with her cat Sil-El. This usually results in Sil-El observing something in secret and then communicating with Liana about it.
- Combat Medic: Fred is a doctor but he will fight if necessary. Varian, who has healing powers but was primarily a musician in his own time, is a downplayed version of this.
- Evil Is Hammy: In the episode "Funhouse," Apollonius, once he's in the body of Willoway, speaks in a loud and echoing voice.Apollonius: (in Willoway's body) "HEEEEEEEEEE'S MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!"
- Five-Man Band:
- The Leader: Varian. He makes the team's decisions and is usually the most reliable and stable.
- The Lancer: Fred works together with Varian but can also handle things on his own. Since the two of them are both healers, they form a supportive friendship.
- Team Kid: Scott, the child of the group.
- The Heart: Liana, who is telepathic and sensitive to the needs and suffering of others.
- The Smart Guy: Willoway, a Smug Snake but brilliant scientist whose knowledge of technology, languages, and history comes in handy,
- Team Pet: Sil-El, Liana's pet cat who communicates with her telepathically and accompanies the team on their travels.
- The Homeward Journey: The group use portals from one dimension to the next hoping to find the one that leads home. With only 10 episodes, they never got home.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: The climax of the episode "Funhouse" has Varian doing this with a possessed Willoway.
- Jive Turkey: Fred, a Black man from 1977, drops slang words like "dynamite," even calling Willoway a "turkey" at one point. There's also this exchange from the beginning of "Children of the Gods" (justified since Willoway is from the 60's):Willoway: "Now I remember a '37 pommeau. Robust! But not overpowering."Fred: "It's alright. It's alright if it's chill."Willoway: "Chilled? You don't chi-"(Beat)Willoway: "Gotcha."Fred: (laughing) "I got you."
- Karma Houdini: Willoway goes from being the main villain of the third episode to joining the regular cast. Fred brings this up but Varian makes it clear that Willoway has no chance of surviving on his own, and Liana quickly forgives him for trying to abduct her and force her to marry him.
- Lost World: The various places encountered in the Bermuda Triangle by the main cast.
- Patchwork World: An island in the Bermuda Triangle has a series of timezones, each with trapped groups of people from the past, present, and future.
- Put on a Bus: Two examples:
- Three of the travelers on the boat carrying Scott and Fred, including Scott's parents, were going to be part of the main cast, but they ended up going home ahead of their son.
- Liana disappears after Episode 8. In-universe this is because she's helping the residents of one of the zones they've passed through rebuild, but in Real Life actor Katie Saylor was unavailable due to illness.
- Raise Him Right This Time: In one episode, a murderer steals an object that has the power to warp matter, create food, and other such things from a peaceful community. The orb reacts to him and regresses him into an infant. The community scoop him up and promise to raise him well; his life will replace the one he took.
- The Smurfette Principle: Liana is the sole female member of the group. The initial two episodes featured a larger central cast with two female characters, including Scott's mother, but these were Put on a Bus for the series proper, having returned home.
