S01.E01: Pilot / S01.E02: I Will Catch You

[Tara Ariano]

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A young H.G. Wells travels in the time machine he created to modern day New York City in the pursuit of the charismatic (yet secretly psychopathic) Dr. John Stevenson, better known as "Jack the Ripper," in the first half of this series premiere. In the second half, he faces the real possibility that Vanessa Anders is his great granddaughter.

[Primetimer]

Or will ABC's time travel drama confirm that things from the past are best left there?

View the full article

[Latverian Diplomat]

Haven't seen it yet, but I'm already reminded of Frequency, where a tightly constructed story that worked well as a single movie didn't end up being a very successful show.

And like Frequency, chasing the same serial killer villain week after week, could get tedious quickly, at least for me.

Edited March 3, 2017 by Latverian Diplomat

[NeenerNeener]

I'll give this a try, but if it becomes as relentlessly depressing as Twelve Monkeys I won't stay to the bitter end.

[Suzysite]

Gee, Chris Huff, America was far from great pre-November 2016. Stick to TV. On topic, though, I might check out this show. Timeless was fairly good once it founds its legs.

[pancake bacon]

I love the movie version! In the commentary track in the DVD, Mary Steenburgen and Malcolm McDowell tell their kids that Time After Time is the home movie where Mum and Dad fell in love. (They're divorced now, but they seem to like each other still.)

It'll be hard to top David Warner though…

[nara]

Interesting premise, but I am underwhelmed by the execution.  

There were a couple of moments in the pilot that I couldn't buy.  First, the "girl from Texas" gave up her gun to a man 1) she barely knows and 2) she doesn't know is a decent shot?  If she had kept the gun, she could have shot John, instead of letting non-violent HG miss the opportunity to take him out.   Then, Jane leaves John's weapon in his grasp after knocking him out, enabling him to recapture her an the other lady.  Third, HG opens the time machine, knowing that John is inside with a weapon?  Why not wait for Vanessa and her people? Or at least be cautious when opening the door? I'll give him a pass because he's not had the benefit of decades of movies and television, but what's Jane's excuse?

The guy in the baseball cap and Vanessa's husband intrigue me, so I'll watch at least one more episode.  However, the charm of the two leading men may not be enough to overcome this poorly written story.

[MisterGlass]

I second that - no way would she have given him the gun.  And she would have at least given John a second hit to the head.  Jane's character felt inconsistent, at times naive and flighty, at times competent.  Oddly the original movie felt more progressive on her character; this didn't feel like it moved the needle from that era.

It was a decent opener.  I thought it fared best where it stuck to the movie.  I'm not sure how the multiple overlapping conspiracies will play out.  Casting was decent, and perhaps most successful with the Ripper.

I'll give it another couple episodes.

[Bort]

I liked it, but I'm a sucker for the time travel genre. I think the only time I was really exasperated was when Jane had knocked John out and I was all, "Keep bashing until you open his skull, dammit!"

I definitely appreciated the shot of Josh Bowman in a towel. Thank you, show.

[TiffanyNichelle]

I enjoyed it. I don't know how long they can keep up the whole "give me the key or I'll kill someone" storyline but I like the inclusion of the mysterious redhead that was following the both of them. The thing that sold me on the show was Freddie Stroma's just general sweetness behind his version of H.G. Wells. When he was crying over the news I just wanted to put somewhere safe. Aw.

A sweet Wells, a smoking hot Ripper, (I'm weak yes) and Nicole Ari Parker (I always wear her GymWrap when I work out), I'm there.

[legaleagle53]

I haven't watched the show yet (since I'll have to wait to watch it online sometime later this week), but just out of curiosity -- do I get to hear Josh Bowman speak in his native British accent?  He does American so well that I've always wondered what his natural accent sounds like.

[Commando Cody]

This was pretty bad. Poorly written, badly acted. The lead is no Malcolm McDowell. 

The guy who plays Jack the Ripper is a good actor. I started thinking that the show would have been more interesting if the story was mainly about him - with Wells chasing after him. 

[formerlyfreedom]

I really liked this. I love Freddie Stroma, and it's nice to see Josh Bowman (John Stevenson) play a character that's nothing like his Revenge character (he was so lame, and it did no favors for him in terms of his acting). They'll keep me coming back to this for awhile, even through the dumb parts (yes, BASH HIS HEAD, JANE, FFS!).

@legaleagle53, yes, he does it in what I'm assuming is his native accent. So dreamy, those accents...

[alias1]

I really liked it too.  Josh Bowman is good here (he was wasted in Revenge).  And it's nice that he actually gets to be British.  I like the actor who plays H.G.Wells, too.  I've never seen him before.  The only cast member I'm not sure I like is Vanessa.  I kept thinking she isn't who she says she is.  

[madhacker]

24 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

 

I definitely appreciated the shot of Josh Bowman in a towel. Thank you, show.

Indeed! but Freddie is certainly just as pretty to look (and drool) over.  Is it just me or did Wells get way hotter when Jane shaved off the mustache?

[Artsda]

I was a bit iffy on watching this because of it being a time travel show, but I think I liked it. I need to try out the 2nd episode to see about it keeping my interest long term. However the pilot wasn't bad.

[HeyThere83]

I liked what I saw. I'll keep watching. And Josh Bowman is looking fabulous. Doing a good job with the role, too. Completely different than on Revenge.

Edited March 6, 2017 by HeyThere83

[zxy556575]

After watching my recording for a while, I started wondering just how long this danged episode was. Two hours, what? It dragged a bit for me since, as others mentioned, it was one fuckup after another letting Stevenson escape, escape, escape, escape.

I'd be sufficiently entertained watching 19th century visitors gawp at/adjust to modern times, but the writers were determined to throw them immediately into a crime thriller. I don't have a lot of confidence about where they're are going to take it. I cannot watch an entire season of everyone chasing Stevenson and trying to prevent his crimes.

What was the point of Stevenson not killing the female hostage? Why pretend to stab her, and for whose benefit?

I don't trust Vanessa or her husband. We're not supposed to trust the "I'm just walking here" baseball hat guy, so probably he'll turn out to be an ally.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Lord Donia

[BooBear]

6 hours ago, Commando Cody said:

This was pretty bad. Poorly written, badly acted. The lead is no Malcolm McDowell. 

The guy who plays Jack the Ripper is a good actor. I started thinking that the show would have been more interesting if the story was mainly about him - with Wells chasing after him. 

I thought it was bad too. First it dragged. It should not have been two hours especially since they raced though the 1890s part of it. Freddy Stroma is a poor actor. 

- It followed the rules of having a serial killer on ABC, said killer kills in a uncompelling way, apparently cannot be stopped by any mere mortal, no mere mortal, knowing he is the most famous serial killer of all time will not just bash his head in (or shoot him) when they have the opportunity.  Said serial killer will not use the serial killer's greatest weapon, anonymity and stealth.. no he will just keep loudly announcing himself every 10 ten minutes for a goal (getting the key) which really doesn't seem to be important to Serial Killer 101. Plus, in a day and age of CSI and cameras on every street block in new york, the actual police don't even enter the equation? Right!

- I actually thought they were going to turn a bit of a twist on us and have it be that Jack, not wanting to go down in history as the most famous serial killer of all time... who never got credit for it... would turn his life around when faced with this new world and other better things to do.  But nope. Now I am expected to come back to watch boring old Jack the Ripper killing women who (you got to think) would probably eventually would get the drop on him. In 1893 girls (prostitutes) were easy pickings but today, most people are experts on serial killers. Heck even Dexter had to drop people with a fast acting drug that they never saw coming because they never met him until he stuck the needle in their neck. 

- I will presume that the rich people going after and following wells are there to add intrigue to the plot but I was bored by it. I am unclear on any of their motivations and it seems a great way to make the plot needlessly complex. 

[angel1008]

I liked it, loved the time travel aspect of it.  However, in 21st century NYC, you mean to tell me that Jack the Ripper cannot be completely overpowered by anyone?  And the guard was kind of stupid after he stunned him.  Get that blade AWAY from him!  Still, I will stick it out, for now.

[nara]

5 hours ago, Lord Donia said:

I'd be sufficiently entertained watching 19th century visitors gawp at/adjust to modern times, but the writers were determined to throw them immediately into a crime thriller. 

What was the point of Stevenson not killing the female hostage? Why pretend to stab her, and for whose benefit?

I agree. They got used to modern times awfully quickly. That could have used more explanation.

My assumption was that the fashion designer hostage was stabbed by John and that someone went back in time and changed things...but I could be wrong.

2 hours ago, BooBear said:

I thought it was bad too. First it dragged. It should not have been two hours especially since they raced though the 1890s part of it. Freddy Stroma is a poor actor. 

They either should have had a 1 hour or 90 min episode or spent 30 to 40 min in the 1890s with a slower reveal of John as Jack.

[Yokosmom]

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What was the point of Stevenson not killing the female hostage? Why pretend to stab her, and for whose benefit?

I think that he did kill her and that Vanessa (or someone) went back and changed the outcome.  She had a weird look on her face whilst explaining that.  It seems pretty obvious that she is not saying all that she knows. 

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I agree. They got used to modern times awfully quickly. That could have used more explanation.

Way, way, way too quickly for the both of them. They should both be much more disoriented. Hell, people from other parts of the country get disoriented by New York and they already know the technology. I call foul on the Ripper immediately knowing how to work a cell phone, if only just for calls.  And how the hell did he know enough about technology to realize that he needed a burner phone?  

Things that they did do right:  The Ripper's face when the hotel clerk mentioned the airline losing his luggage; his astonishment at being told that he's the most famous killer of all time; Wells having to constantly ask where/how far any location in New York is from his present position.

[reggiejax]

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 I actually thought they were going to turn a bit of a twist on us and have it be that Jack, not wanting to go down in history as the most famous serial killer of all time... who never got credit for it... would turn his life around when faced with this new world and other better things to do.  But nope. Now I am expected to come back to watch boring old Jack the Ripper killing women who (you got to think) would probably eventually would get the drop on him. In 1893 girls (prostitutes) were easy pickings but today, most people are experts on serial killers. Heck even Dexter had to drop people with a fast acting drug that they never saw coming because they never met him until he stuck the needle in their neck. 

People have more knowledge and information about serial killers than they did in 1893, hell even more than they did in 1993. But I would hardly go so far as to say most people are "experts". And even if they were, that clearly hasn't stopped serial killers from claiming victims, as they do to this day. Granted, there are no doubt fewer serial killers active and on the loose now than in days past, but I would credit that far more to the technology and science (DNA being first and foremost) that H.G. Wells, both real and fictional, put so much stock in, rather than an increase in knowledge by the general public.

But that is real life, and we are talking about a piece of fiction here. On that note, I am curious, I missed the first hour of the show and came in when the action was settled in New York.  Was it shown how the police in 1893 London came to suspect John as Jack the Ripper? By 1893, the killer had been inactive for 5 years, and the case was cold as hell (though I am sure it still held interest). Was Wells integral to identifying his friend as The Ripper? I have always been interested in the case (I imagine most true crime buffs are), and while I am no expert, I do know a thing or two. So I was curious how it came about that they identified Jack the Ripper.

And this leads to a bit of a plot hole. I did catch when John had Jane captive, and she informed him that Jack the Ripper was never identified. But how can this be if the whole story hinges on the Ripper being identified and escaping via the time machine?

[Arnella]

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And this leads to a bit of a plot hole. I did catch when John had Jane captive, and she informed him that Jack the Ripper was never identified. But how can this be if the whole story hinges on the Ripper being identified and escaping via the time machine?

That is a really good point.  However if he never made it back to 1893, he could only be listed as a suspect (of which, there were MANY) that could never be tried since he disappeared.  Also, the Metropolitan Police wouldn't spread it around or even record that they identified the Ripper but let him slip through their fingers.

[LoneHaranguer]

14 hours ago, nara said:

Third, HG opens the time machine, knowing that John is inside with a weapon?  Why not wait for Vanessa and her people? Or at least be cautious when opening the door?

Maybe he figured that the existence of Vanessa and the books he hadn't written yet meant that he was in no real danger. Although, if things in this series work as they did in Back to the Future, they would continue to exist until it became certain that he wouldn't be going home.

[Free]

12 hours ago, Lord Donia said:

After watching my recording for a while, I started wondering just how long this danged episode was. Two hours, what? It dragged a bit for me since, as others mentioned, it was one fuckup after another letting Stevenson escape, escape, escape, escape.

It reminded me of Timeless and how the main villain would constantly escape episode after episode.

[shantown]

I'm confused how The Ripper seemed to immediately acclimate to present-day. He got a hip haircut, picked up some trendy clothes, got a cell phone, figured out the tourist spots in NYC to arrange meetings... And then you had HG, running around with muttonchops confused about everything. I get that they had to make Ripper capable and HG a bit bumbling to not end the story immediately, but it was a bit unbelievable.

[tennisgurl]

I thought this was pretty decent, and I liked the movie it was based on quite a bit, but I have no clue how they're going to turn this into a weekly series. It has some elements of Sleepy Hallow (sexy version of a famous guy from the past comes to the present to fight evil force with sassy sexy modern woman), but with SH, they had an overarching villain, but they also had a whole mythology to pull from, and lots of minor villains and minions to fight week to week, saving the Big Bad for the finale. This show just has one bad guy. How long can they almost catch Jack the Ripper, than miss him, then have Jack kill another woman, then miss him again, over and over before it gets old? Its not like the guy has minions or underlings, he's just a serial killer who stabs women. He would be caught by the end of any episode of Criminal Minds or Law and Order SVU. They need to come up with some new stuff or villains if they want to make a whole show happen. Also, they seemed to have given up on the Fish Out of Water stuff about instantly, which is a real waste. You can mine a lot of humor and drama out of a character from the past coming to the present, and they seemed to have given up on that instantly.

The actors are pretty solid though, so I will give it another couple episodes to see where they're going with it, but I have so many shows right now, its hard to say I`ll commit to this.

Edited March 6, 2017 by tennisgurl

[BooBear]

2 hours ago, shantown said:

I'm confused how The Ripper seemed to immediately acclimate to present-day. He got a hip haircut, picked up some trendy clothes, got a cell phone, figured out the tourist spots in NYC to arrange meetings... And then you had HG, running around with muttonchops confused about everything. I get that they had to make Ripper capable and HG a bit bumbling to not end the story immediately, but it was a bit unbelievable.

I am confused as to how he knew about burner phones. I have been living here for 40+ years and I have no clue.  Though I suppose on a better show we could learn later that some nefarious time traveller travelled here to tell the Ripper all this stuff for whatever purposes. 

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But I would hardly go so far as to say most people are "experts".

Ok that was a bit much but a lot of people watched Dexter and are now on Netflix and so many mystery novels try to one up each other with serial killers never mind TV shows.  I just think a lot of people are very weary and could have a gun in their purse and such. I could easily see him thinking a woman would never have a gun and then, boom. 

But over all it wasn't compelling enough to have me come back. Just so very vanilla.  

[fourPLUSseven]

20 hours ago, kariyaki said:

I liked it, but I'm a sucker for the time travel genre. I think the only time I was really exasperated was when Jane had knocked John out and I was all, "Keep bashing until you open his skull, dammit!"

I definitely appreciated the shot of Josh Bowman in a towel. Thank you, show.

Now we're talkin' some great tv.

S'Okay, the pilot plot had more holes than Swiss cheese, but it was fun. Better than most schlock premieres of new shows. Fingers crossed that ABC gives it a decent run. 

Go Kevin Williamson. 

Edited March 7, 2017 by fourPLUSseven
spelling

[MzLiz]

21 hours ago, madhacker said:

Indeed! but Freddie is certainly just as pretty to look (and drool) over.  Is it just me or did Wells get way hotter when Jane shaved off the mustache?

It is not just you. I thought he was kinda cute to start with but holy moly after the shave I was like "wow" and "please don't grow it back" He and Jane have a lot of chemistry which is always key in a show.

Nice eye candy all around. 

I'm a sucker for time travel shows so it would have to really suck for me not to like it. But I thought it was great. The previews for the next episode seems like it gets more interesting and exciting. 

[KaveDweller]

3 hours ago, BooBear said:

I am confused as to how he knew about burner phones. I have been living here for 40+ years and I have no clue.  Though I suppose on a better show we could learn later that some nefarious time traveller travelled here to tell the Ripper all this stuff for whatever purposes. 

Maybe the burner phone was luck? He picked up that there were phones and people could contact each other from observation. He tried to buy one and since he didn't have an address or credit card, the store sold him a pre paid one? It's kind of a stretch. They seemed to be saying it was his "evilness" that made him able to adapt so well, while Wells's "goodness" made it harder.

[MisterGlass]

Actually I thought that's exactly how he ended up with a burner phone.

I would like to see more awe and wonder at the things that they encounter, but I can handwave a lot (and may need to).  They were on the verge of the modern world in 1893.  Telephones had existed for a while, primitive cars were around, and movies and radio were on the cusp.  Computers would be the hardest thing to get used to.  Introducing Jack the Ripper to Google may not have been the best idea.

[Dowel Jones]

6 hours ago, BooBear said:

I just think a lot of people are very weary and could have a gun in their purse and such.

Wells:  "Do you mean to tell me that nearly everyone in this era carries a firearm?"

Guard:  "Yeah, pretty much."

14 hours ago, reggiejax said:

Was it shown how the police in 1893 London came to suspect John as Jack the Ripper?

They didn't initially suspect him.  They showed up at Wells' house, doing a house to house search, as the victim was murdered a short distance away.  Everyone noticed Stevenson was gone and one of the detectives, over the objection of Wells, opened up the doctor's bag.  Inside were bloodied butcher knives.  Everyone else went outside to search for him, but Wells went to the time machine in the basement, and the plot shifted into high gear.

It would seem the simple solution to the problem at hand would be for Wells to make a copy key with just enough error to fit but not function.  Hand it off to Jack, except that this time have some competent personnel at scene at the museum to take him down.  Then again, that wastes 11 out of the 13 episodes they might get.

[jhlipton]

16 hours ago, reggiejax said:

Was it shown how the police in 1893 London came to suspect John as Jack the Ripper? By 1893, the killer had been inactive for 5 years, and the case was cold as hell (though I am sure it still held interest). Was Wells integral to identifying his friend as The Ripper? I have always been interested in the case (I imagine most true crime buffs are), and while I am no expert, I do know a thing or two. So I was curious how it came about that they identified Jack the Ripper.

Stevenson is the History Illustrated version of :Jack the Ripper', not the real one.  The prostitutes he killed -- poor, out-of-luck women who had nothing in common with the women at Utopia -- weren't violently stabbed, they were sliced open and their organs removed (some placed by their side, some removed altogether.  One of the reasons that the Ripper is thought to be a doctor was the skill of th incisions.

 

Wells is a flat-out idiot.  Why go to one hour later than Stevenson?  Why not go a week earlier, and set a trap for him?  Or take the assistant curator three days into the past so she can set security on high alert for when Stevenson arrives.

[waving feather]

The show started strong in the 1800s but went down hill when they reached 2017. The actor playing HG Wells isn't very good and the Ripper poses no real threat in the 21st century, especially since about half a dozen of people already identified him and know he's the serial killer. With the current technology and his lack of knowledge of it, the police would catch him in no time.

Out of all the time travel shows that premiered recently, this is the worst one because it doesn't even have the fun aspect of Timeless. It's tedious to watch almost 2 hours of Wells chasing after John without anything substantial happening.

[SWLinPHX]

Yes, I wonder how they can stretch this out to a whole series unless they have an entirely different angle they're planning.

The problem is, there is no effective way to make a time travel film without huge plot holes or a vicious causal-effect cycle that drives you mad.

[Arnella]

16 hours ago, shantown said:

And then you had HG, running around with muttonchops confused about everything. I get that they had to make Ripper capable and HG a bit bumbling to not end the story immediately, but it was a bit unbelievable.

A little insulting as well especially since HG Wells was actually a visionary genius. 

As for Stevenson, I suppose they were just trying to recreate the scene from the movie with the first murder but at least the movie conveyed (in its 1979 way) that more happened that just a stab and walk away.  Are they going to portray Jack the Ripper as a tidy murderer who is satisfied with a just a quick and bloodless stab here and there?  I get that he is in a hurry and has a particular goal in 2017 but if they are keeping him here for a few episodes, there has to be some organs coming out...

[peachmangosteen]

I thought this was really fun and I liked all the actors and considering quality means less to me in tv than being entertained I will definitely continue watching.

But I also have no idea how they are going to make this a series. A mini-series maybe, but I can't fathom how they think they can get multiple seasons out of this.

[LoneHaranguer]

54 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

But I also have no idea how they are going to make this a series. A mini-series maybe, but I can't fathom how they think they can get multiple seasons out of this.

At least running before 10 o'clock on a broadcast network.

[iMonrey]

I enjoyed it but I, too, fear it will have the same problem as Timeless: week after week of one character chasing after another. That gets real old real fast. But I adored the movie this show is based on so I'll be curious to see where they go with it. Not sure why they had to change the female lead character from a banker to a museum curator, I guess it was just more expedient to the plot to have their paths cross that way. I also preferred them using H.G. Wells' real wife's name but I guess they're going in a different direction here.

I had some different nitpicks about the pilot - first, that John Stevenson managed to escape from the basement so quickly when the machine seemed to take forever to warm up when H.G. got into it. Also that the pawn shop owner would offer fifteen grand for a pocket watch or that John would have the wherewithal at that point to grasp modern currency values. (The ten grand the guy initially offered would have seemed like a million bucks to a guy from 1893.)

[Dowel Jones]

One thing the show got right, as a surprise to me, was that Wells was only 30 (as is the actor who plays him) when he wrote The Time Machine.  I have always seen photos of him looking much older. 

[blackwing]

I enjoyed this a lot, although if they knew they were going to have a 2 hour premiere, I wish they would have spent the first hour in 1893 introducing us to HG and John.  Women keep getting murdered and nobody knows who is doing it.  Establish a real relationship between the two and how they were buddies or something.  Then near the end of the first hour, have John use the time machine.  In 2017 John kept calling HG "my friend" and HG said "we are not friends".  Well, why not?  From what we saw, HG regularly hosted some kind of meeting with drinks and discussion in his house, and John appeared to be a regular attendee.  Seems like they should be friends.

I too found it jarring how quickly John adjusted to 2017.   One moment he lands in 2017, the next he pawns his pocketwatch for $15,000 and goes on a spending spree.   Then he's at the Renaissance Hotel in Times Square, with his purchases laid out in the bed, making phone calls.  How?  A scene of him exploring the hotel room, amazed by the modern technology, would have been nice.  Electric lights were around in 1893 but maybe a scene of him amazed with the brightness of them.  Or him discovering the modern bathroom.  The cell phone to me is the most jarring.  How would he even get the numbers of hospitals to call?  There was no phone book in the room and he wouldn't have known how to use the internet.  Would have been nice to have gotten a scene of someone explaining all these things to him.  But I get it, the whole point was simply to needlessly put the actor in a towel and to try to advance the plot a little bit while showing him in the towel.

I've never seen any of these actors in anything, although from the comments here, it sounds like they are familiar to many.  I thought the actor playing HG Wells was fine, he's playing him as an earnest fish out of water.  However, I think the actress who plays Vanessa is the pits.  She is such a bad actor, she seems to be overacting a lot.  The way she plays Vanessa, I'm not sure if Vanessa is supposed to be secretly evil or if she's just a bad actor.

I'm curious to see how the direction of this show unfolds.  With "Timeless", it was week after week of the heroes failing to catch the bad guy, and it looks like if the show gets a season 2, the bad guy will become a good guy and help them catch a new bad guy.  Kind of the same with this one.  If the hero catches the bad guy then the show is over.  It's like the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoons.  Each week we had the false hope that the kids would finally get home, but if they got home and stayed there then the show would be over.

[peachmangosteen]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

However, I think the actress who plays Vanessa is the pits.  She is such a bad actor, she seems to be overacting a lot.  The way she plays Vanessa, I'm not sure if Vanessa is supposed to be secretly evil or if she's just a bad actor.

If Vanessa is the woman claiming to be HG's great granddaughter then I so agree. I couldn't tell if she was coming off shady as hell because she was supposed to or just because the actress sucked. 

[AuntiePam]

On 3/6/2017 at 1:46 AM, Lord Donia said:

I'd be sufficiently entertained watching 19th century visitors gawp at/adjust to modern times, but the writers were determined to throw them immediately into a crime thriller.

Me too.  Half the fun of fish-out-of-water shows is watching the travelers gawp and adjust.  Starman, Sleepy Hollow (the TV version),  A Connecticut Yankee, etc. etc. 

I'll echo everyone else's sentiments -- if this series is going to be all about chasing Jack, it will get boring fast.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I enjoyed this a lot, although if they knew they were going to have a 2 hour premiere, I wish they would have spent the first hour in 1893 introducing us to HG and John.  Women keep getting murdered and nobody knows who is doing it. 

It's probably a safe bet that when they were making the pilot they did not know it would be aired back-to-back with Episode 2 as a 2-hour premier. Most pilots have a lot of premise to establish - thus the rush to get from 1893 to 2017 and fast-forward through most of the character moments where our time travelers marvel at the wonders of modern technology. In fact the first two episodes are more or less a re-make of the movie this show is based on. So where it goes from here is all fresh material.

I suppose they could have spent the entire first season re-hashing the plot of the movie by dragging a 2-hour story out into 13 hours. The danger there is that people lose interest because they've seen the movie and they know where the story is going. And ultimately, you'd still have thirteen episodes of H.G. chasing John around. So hopefully whatever they plan to do with the rest of the season will be fresh and not repetitive. 

I tend to think casting a "name" actress like Juliet Mills as Wells' housekeeper means we'll be seeing more of her in future episodes, if only in flashbacks.

[KaveDweller]

15 hours ago, jhlipton said:

Wells is a flat-out idiot.  Why go to one hour later than Stevenson?  Why not go a week earlier, and set a trap for him?  Or take the assistant curator three days into the past so she can set security on high alert for when Stevenson arrives.

With the idea that Wells meets Vanessa in his future/her past, suggests that they are in a universe where you can't go back and change things, because you would have already seen the impact. If present-Vanessa already has seen what future-Wells has done, future-Wells can't do anything that will change what we've already seen.

Of course, having the newspaper say Jane dies and then her not dying sort of contradicts that.

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

I enjoyed this a lot, although if they knew they were going to have a 2 hour premiere, I wish they would have spent the first hour in 1893 introducing us to HG and John.  Women keep getting murdered and nobody knows who is doing it.  Establish a real relationship between the two and how they were buddies or something.  Then near the end of the first hour, have John use the time machine.  In 2017 John kept calling HG "my friend" and HG said "we are not friends".  Well, why not?  From what we saw, HG regularly hosted some kind of meeting with drinks and discussion in his house, and John appeared to be a regular attendee.  Seems like they should be friends.

I took it as they WERE friends, but then Wells found out the guy was a serial killer and considered enough to essentially break them up as friends. Anything that was true in the past was no longer valid after that realization.

12 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I suppose they could have spent the entire first season re-hashing the plot of the movie by dragging a 2-hour story out into 13 hours. The danger there is that people lose interest because they've seen the movie and they know where the story is going. And ultimately, you'd still have thirteen episodes of H.G. chasing John around. So hopefully whatever they plan to do with the rest of the season will be fresh and not repetitive. 

That's what Frequency tried to do, and it got really boring, really fast. Yet another show where the heroes were failing to catch the bad guy every week, when the movie characters did it in two hours.

I think a time travel show needs to have more procedural structure, kind of like Quantum Leap, where he succeeded each week before leaping to a new time/situation to solve a new problem.

Edited March 8, 2017 by KaveDweller

[BooBear]

27 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I tend to think casting a "name" actress like Juliet Mills as Wells' housekeeper means we'll be seeing more of her in future episodes, if only in flashbacks.

Thank you. I knew I knew her but honestly I thought the actress must have been dead like 20 years ago so I thought I was imagining it. 

[blackwing]

23 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I suppose they could have spent the entire first season re-hashing the plot of the movie by dragging a 2-hour story out into 13 hours. The danger there is that people lose interest because they've seen the movie and they know where the story is going. And ultimately, you'd still have thirteen episodes of H.G. chasing John around. So hopefully whatever they plan to do with the rest of the season will be fresh and not repetitive. 

Possibly.  But how many people have seen the movie?  Isn't the movie almost 40 years old?  I had never heard of it.  I would think it's more likely that a majority of viewers have never seen it.  

It seems obviously telegraphed that Jane is Vanessa's great great grandmother.  At some point, HG and Jane go back to 1893, where she gives birth to a child, and then she returns to 2017.  The actress who plays Jane looks vaguely Hispanic, the actress who plays Vanessa looks vaguely mixed race.  It's possible.  

[psychoticstate]

I am a sucker for the time travel genre so I like this show based on premise alone.  I also own the DVD of the Malcolm McDowell/David Warner flick so I'm all in.  I figured that I would not like either actor portraying Wells or Stevenson but I'm happy to say that I'm wrong.  Neither are McDowell and Warner but they do justice to their parts. 

That said, I was comparing the movie to the show almost nonstop.  I was disappointed that so little time was spent in 1893.  Heck, more time was spent there in the movie version and that one only had 2 hours.   In the film, Wells prepared for his trip to "Utopia" by gathering all the money in the house, including what his housekeeper had, and jewels.  This Wells did not do that.  I also liked how in the film, Wells' glasses were broken during his first trip in the time machine and he went to his own desk on display at the museum and pulled a second pair from a drawer.  I'm sorry that the show did not do the same.

I do agree with other posters who referenced things moving too quickly.  Wells caught up with Stevenson almost immediately, which made Stevenson's remarks about being an amateur in our time seem a bit forced.  If he had a day or two to be in modern day New York, yes, he would have time to realize our society is violent.  But after a couple of hours, he's not going to be an expert on life in 2017.    

I dislike the plot devices  used here and in other shows of the bad guy consistently getting away because of people doing stupid things; i.e., not taking the knife away, not knocking someone the eff out and/or the male and female lead staring at each other romantically instead of making sure the bad guy is the eff down. 

I wondered how the show would keep Stevenson from fleeing and we got our answer.  It does look like, however, the time machine will be up and running again at some point, which should keep things interesting.  After all, how long can the show have Wells and Jane searching NY for Stevenson?  Especially if he's killing at least one person per day? 

That said, I'll keep watching for the time travel aspect and for the two male leads.