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Otherworld (1985)

 
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:36 pm    Post subject: Otherworld (1985) Reply with quote



"Other Worlds lie outside our seeing;beyond the beyond;on the edge of within.

The Great Pyramids : erected by the Ancient Ones as a barricade at the portal between two dimensions;two seperate realities.

This is the story of one family drawn through a mysterious vortex into the other world and their perilous trek homeward."

Thus began the opening narration for this short lived sf television show.

Otherworld ran on the CBS Network from January 26,1985 to March 16,1985 for a total of 8 episodes.

The Sterling family is made up of Hal (father), June (mother) Trace (teenage son), Gina (teen daughter) and Smith (10 years old).

American citizens on vacation in Egypt, the Sterlings take tour inside the Great Pyramid of Giza at the exact same moment as a once in ten thousand years conjunction of the planets in our solar system.

Abandoned by their tour guide, the Sterlings enter a blue swirling vortex as they desperately attempt to find their way out of the darkened pyramid.

They suddenly find themselves under water and surface into a new and unusual world.

Thel is divided into 77 provinces or zones which are strictly monitored by Zone Troopers.
Zone Troopers are composed of militant and brutal soldiers that make certain that none of the populations in one province travel to a different province.

Hal and his family trudge through a desert until they locate single road.

There they flag down a futuristic looking vehicle driven by Zone Trooper Kommander Nuveen Kroll.

Hal asks Kroll for help explaining that the family is lost and confused as to exactly where they are now?

Kroll responds with anger and impatience not believing Hal, and orders them into his car as he roughly grabs young Smith.

A fight breaks out and Kroll is rendered unconscious with his own ''Bioruptor" weapon which has both a stun and kill setting.

Hal now knows their lives are in danger and tells his family to quickly get in the vehicle.
Before Hal gets in he notices a strange looking device next to Kroll's body.

It turns out to be an "Access Crystal" and Hal surmises it just might be important and takes the crystal with him.

In time, the family realizes they are indeed on some other world and not Earth.

They learn that the planet is called Thel and that Imar is the center of government. The Book of Imar chronicles the history of the planet and the Sterlings obtain the book and now utilize it as a resource in order to learn about the civilizations on Thel.

Additionally: the Access Crystal allows the family to obtain information from high level databanks, travel between districts safely, and enter into high security areas.

They learn that Thel has the Church of Artificial Intelligence and it rules over all the provinces.
It is a rigid computer based ideology that has the power of censorship, as well as rendering a sentence of death for those who do not worship the church.

The family begins to search for their way home via a series of ancient obelisks that can direct them to the capital of Imar, from which legend has it that people could journey back and forth between worlds.

The family resolves to follow the obelisks to Imar in the hopes of returning to Earth.
In frantic pursuit of the Sterlings is Kommander Kroll. More than just being fugitives traveling between provinces, they have personally humiliated the arrogant and ruthless soldier in front of his superiors.

Each week would have the family enter a new province. Each province was different from the others, so the family never knew just what they were going to discover that would be alien and dangerous to them.

Would they be able to cope and blend in? They knew Kroll was after them, so could they always stay a step ahead and elude him? What if the tales of traveling between worlds at Imar were indeed only fables?

I wasn't overly impressed impressed watching Otherworld when I first saw it back in 1995 when it premiered.

The cast was likable, there were some terrific matte paintings used to depict Thel, and there were interesting sf props & set pieces along the way.

As I recently checked out some episodes on YT, I've found it a more compelling show than I originally did first time around.

Seeing a family oriented show is different since that can be an exception regarding TV sf shows.

Lost In Space (both old and new versions), No Ordinary Family, Battlestar Galactica (again, old and new versions) are some examples of sf shows based around families.

However, generally speaking the majority of sf TV series are about unrelated individuals working together in some form of sf environment.

Now watching Otherworld & being older, I can only think of the fear and desperation that this entire family must be feeling as they face an unknown world with potential jeopardy and threats to them.

The parents living in fear for one another, as well as their sons and daughter would have to be a terrible daily burden.

The kids must grow up faster than they should have had to in order for them all to survive.

And none of it is the fault of the Sterlings. They simply went on a vacation and took a routine tour of a pyramid and were thrust into this desperate situation against their will.

As the family would cross over into a brand new (for them) district it reminded me of Harlan Ellison's "The Starlost" sf TV series from years ago.

On that show we watched our leads of Devon, Rachel and Garth travel from biosphere-to-biosphere on board the enormous Earth ship Ark which contained numerous such domes. Each with its own individualistic culture.

On both shows you had the exciting premise of the lead characters traveling into new and different realms where they (and the audience) never knew what they would encounter...good or bad.

The trope of having the Sterlings being chased after by an authority is one that is popular in many genres.

It was wonderfully done on the classic TV show "The Fugitive." Innocent Dr. Richard Kimble is on the run after being sentenced to death by a court for the murder of his wife. A murder he did not commit.
Inspector Gerrard is on the trail of Kimble both professionally & personally since it was Gerrard that Kimble escaped from during a train crash.

SF TV shows would employ this plot device on many series.

Land of the Giants, Planet of the Apes, The Phoenix, Battlestar Galactica, Dead at 21, and Logan's Run would all see our heroes being pursued by some draconian authority hellbent on capturing and, or, killing the heroes.

Sometimes it works well as part of a show's premise. Other times it can be a tired old cliche.

"Otherworld" itself only survived for 8 episodes. Not every episode was an award winner to be sure.

Some did have intriguing stories & characterizations to 'em.

The show did what many sf series do by placing contemporary hot button issues within a sf context. Reflecting the problems & challenges that human have back at us through the lens of sf.

A show I once dismissed years ago, that I now believe had tremendous potential to entertain viewers. And pose interesting questions about not just Thel but Earth's populations and how we deal with things for good or ill.


Last edited by Pow on Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat May 02, 2020 7:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was sure I'd read that Otherworld had a release on DVD a few years back but I've never been able to prove it!!!
JB
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Eadie
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PostPosted: Sat May 02, 2020 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All 8 episodes start at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqepZMzXWvE&list=PLzovi87vDfzIHuqJB6VRYnRC9BoHwCeXs

The DVD is available at https://www.mediacollectibles.com/tv-shows/300-otherworld-complete-tv-series-from-1985-.html

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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In 1995, we'd see the debut of the terrific Sliders sf TV series. On that series we had our group of lead characters journeying to parallel earths that existed in alternate dimensions. Each earth was different from one another, and from earth prime, our Sliders home world.

Otherworlds was doing a similar concept ten years earlier. The primary difference being that, while Sliders took our heroes to different earths, Otherworlds took place on an alien world where the 77 zones were all different from one another.

The other similarity being that our Sliders & the Sterlings were all desperately seeking their way back home.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2024 1:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Thanks for the great post, Mike!

Here's a real treat, a blast-from-the-past in the form of a good recording of Otherworld's first episode — complete with the commercials for Ford, Raisin Brand, and other sponsors of the broadcast!

I love the peppy commercial for Wriggles Spearmint gum at the 28:00 mark, a clever sales pitch. This was back when commercials had happy jingles. Very Happy

The link below the one for the first episode is a YouTube site which has the first eight episodes . . . but no peppy commercials with jingles. Sad


_Otherworld (1985) Episode 1 "Rules of Attraction"


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Otherworld (Full/Complete Episodes) TV Series 1985 Sci-Fi Alternate Dimension


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