Seven Days : season 1 review

1999

SF elements

Review

part I

The Backstep team have been investigating Roswell technology, and used it to build a ship that can take a single chrononaut back in time -- but only by seven days. They are called on to fix major disasters.

Most of this is well-thought out -- the semi-plausible time restriction allows some tension, because the team need to notice the problem soon enough, and find out the cause. The Backstepper Parker has a contact code, and the team take notice of what he says when he arrives back in time. But, since he changes the time-line to one where he doesn't need to go back, surely the current line will soon be full of Parkers and time travel spheres? There is some mumble about Parker disappearing, but no satisfactory explanation. However, if one swallows this single necessary plot device, there are not too many other obvious inconsistencies (nothing as egregious as the late unlamented Crime Traveller , which had one scene with the time traveller driving to the location of the time machine, going back in time, then getting into the same car and driving off, for example).

On the whole, the disasters are each individually plausible -- but given their frequency, one wonders why the world had not disintegrated into chaos before the Backstep project came on line! Still, they are sufficiently varied to be interesting, and the writers have not run out of ideas so that the episode ends up Backstepping to stop a minor milk spillage. And there are some nice little interactions, especially the way Parker each week manages to get Olga to show some interest in him, only to Backstep to a time before that happened.

part II

Six years later, the BBC finally show the second half of the first season. ( Did they pull it in 2001 because of 9/11?) Anyhow, my opinion of the second half is similar to that the first: good mind candy with (semi-)plausible scenarios -- although there are here a couple of less important backsteps, and a bit of shamanistic nonsense, but finished off with a fun Roswell alien episode -- love the teeth!

Rating: 4