Time Trax – The Complete Second Season (1994/Warner
Archives DVD Set)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
PLEASE NOTE: Time Trax is only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Time Trax is a cult classic television series that only lasted a mere two (2)
seasons, but left a big impact on the sci-fi world.
The story follows police officer Darien
Lambert (Dale Midkiff) from the year 2193 who is sent back in time to track
down criminals who escaped a future prison.
Lambert is assisted on his journey by a host of futuristic devices,
including but not limited to the time machine called Trax. Lambert also holds a Specified Encapsulated
Limitless Memory Archive [SELMA for short], which is disguised as an AT&T
MasterCard that projects holographic images and holds the all the worlds
knowledge. The main villain of the
series is Dr Mordecai Sahmbi (Peter Donat) who is responsible for the release
and transportation of the over 100 criminals.
Lambert has come close to capturing Sahmbi, but has always narrowly
escaped.
Season 2 is a slight upgrade from the first season in terms of quality, but
essentially follows the same premise of criminal of the week track down. There are a host of guest star appearances
like that of Vanessa Angel, Jeri Ryan, Ronny Cox, and many more. The series never had enough time to delve
into the issues and complexities it had intended (Seasons 1 & 2 merely
laying the ground work), but touches on things like parallel timelines and
consequences for altering history. We
even see Lambert leaving messages in personal ads for his people back in 2193.
The series is very interesting, though a
bit dated in styling. If it had more
time perhaps a more elaborate, detailed time travel premise could have been
explored (like that of Sliders).
Oddly enough, some faith in Time Trax existed as a Super
Nintendo game was made based on the series…it was horrible.
The technical features on this release
feel like those of a somewhat upgraded VHS transfer. The picture is adequate in a 1.37 X 1 full
screen that has bright colors, but some clarity issues. The crispness isn’t there and gets muddied
down by a less than stellar transfer.
The sound is a basic, lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo that gets the job
done, but comes heavily from the from; not utilizing the surrounds. This is a shame as the series could have used
the upgrade, as it does host a degree of fast paced action.
No extras exist for the Second and
final Season.
To order Time Trax, go to this
link for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Michael P. Dougherty II
