Otherworld Series 1 Created by Roderick Taylor. Written and directed by a bunch of people. The 8 episode series aired on CBS January 26 to March 16 1985.
A family of five visit the Great Pyramid of Giza, on a tour they get magically transported to an Earth like planet with humans. The planet is divided into different city territories, each with their own customs and ways of life. The Zone Troopers are the police force that's used to manage travel between the cities. In his first encounter with a Zone Trooper, the father manages to steal a hand held access Crystal from a Zone Trooper. The family escapes in the Trooper's car. The Crystal gives the family access to all the cities. The family moves between the cities in search of a portal back to Earth. The Zone Troopers have somewhat fascist uniforms and attitude. All through the series the family is being chased by Kommander Kroll. He's always one step behind. He's played by Jonathan Banks, some might remember him from Breaking Bad.
The family gets into trouble in each city but manage to escape. There's a city that's very strict, another bit of bother then a lucky escape. Another city is like Earth in the 50s, the son and daughter introduce rock n roll. They really stir things up and have to escape the mess that creates. In another city the son runs afoul of the law and has to join the Zone Troopers for life. Despite that stipulation the son makes a friend of sorts , he get help escaping so he can escape with his family. The last episode has the daughter being mistaken for a long lost princess. She's now the ruler of that city.
There's no ending, just the promise of another city that never gets visited. I didn't mind that so much as I did some of the repetitive scripts, dumb plot devices and mediocre actors. The main cast were mostly alright. Sam Groom is the father, Gretchen Corbett is the mother, Tony O'Dell, Jonna Lee and Chris Hebert are the children. Occasionally there were decent people in the small parts. Vincent Schiavelli, Wayne Alexander, Barbara Stock, Elaine Giftos and Michael Callan.
Still, it's not enough for me to give it more than a 4 on the IMDb. The score on that is a 7.4 and it's nothing like that to me. Maybe it's 80s nostalgia. I don't remember seeing this when it first aired. I might have and lost that memory. Who knows.
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