Travelers (TV series)
Travelers is a science fiction television series created by Brad Wright, starring Eric McCormack, Mackenzie Porter, Jared Abrahamson, Nesta Cooper, Reilly Dolman, and Patrick Gilmore. The series was an international co-production between streaming service Netflix and Canadian specialty channel Showcase for its first two seasons, after which Netflix took over as its sole commissioning broadcaster and worldwide distributor. The show premiered in Canada on October 17, 2016, and worldwide on December 23, 2016. A second season followed in 2017, and a third season was released on December 14, 2018. In February 2019, McCormack said that the  series had been cancelled. Premise. In a post-apocalyptic future, thousands of special operatives are tasked with preventing the collapse of society. These operatives, known as "travelers", have their consciousnesses sent back in time and transferred into the "host" body of present-day individuals who would otherwise be moments from death, to minimize unexpected impact on the timeline. The transfer requires the exact location of the target, made possible by 21st-century smartphones and GPS, providing time, elevation, latitude, and longitude (TELL) coordinates that are archived for use in the future. Due to the large number of years between the  point of origin and the 21st century, no transfer can be safely made to a time prior to one already performed. Trained using social media and public records concerning their hosts, each traveler must maintain the host's pre-existing life as cover for the rest of their lives, while carrying out missions in teams of five. These missions are dictated by the Director (an artificial intelligence) in the future who monitors the timeline. Travelers aim to save the world from a series of catastrophic events. One method by which the Director communicates with travelers is via prepubescent children used  as messengers; unlike adults, any child can safely be animated for a few minutes by the Director and then released from control without risk of killing them. The Travelers have an expression they sometimes say when things take an unexpected turn: "No plan survives contact with the past." In one episode ("Helios 685"), when getting ready to undertake what is expected to be the mission that will positively rewrite the future, the team recites a short Traveler's oath: "We, the last unbroken remnants, vow to undo the errors of our ascendants, to make the Earth whole, the lost unlost , at peril of our own birth." Protocols. Travelers are required to behave according to certain protocols to protect the timeline, and these are referred to frequently in the series: In addition, the team historians are trained to follow an additional protocol, a subset of Protocol 2, kept secret from others, involving the periodic updates they receive concerning "historic information relative to [their] team's role in the Grand Plan": Also, the Director can invoke three other protocols in special situations: Episodes. Season 1 (2016–17). The first season premiered on Netflix on December 23, 2016, before its final two episodes aired  on Showcase. Critical reception. The first season of "Travelers" received a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on nine reviews with an average rating of 8.0/10. Neil Genzlinger, writing for "The New York Times", described the first season as "tasty", and "enjoyable science fiction", with "some attention-grabbing flourishes and fine acting". Hanh Nguyen, writing for IndieWire, described the series as "fun and freaky", finding the series' appeal "in how the core group of five travelers adjust to life in our present", noting the "human nature in the travelers". Lawrence Devoe, of TheaterByte.com, called the series "tautly paced and  suspenseful" with "well-developed characters", declaring that "Brad Wright has a real knack for creating futuristic series". Evan Narcisse, reviewing the first five episodes of the first season for io9, appreciated the moral dilemmas offered by the series premise and the awkwardness presented by the characters' interactions with their hosts' friends, colleagues, lovers, or caretakers: "This is a superhero show in double disguise, offering up clever explorations of the secret identity concept that touch on the guilt and contortions that come with living a double life." Netflix announced that the series was one of its "most devoured" series in 2017 . Writing in "Forbes", Merrill Barr said of the second season: "There's a lot to love about what "Travelers" brings to the table this season. The show has truly come into its own." In reviewing the first two episodes of the second season, Nguyen of Indiewire called "Travelers" "an exploration of the human condition in all of its messy glory, [with] depictions of the most ingenious, yet disturbing means of time travel on screen". Barr of "Forbes" said the third season brought "a mixed approach as the show returns to its mission-of-the-week roots of season one, but  this time while remixing the format with episodes of different substance from chapter to chapter. ... What we get this year from the show is the best example of what a television series should be." Netflix was heavily criticized for allegedly using real footage from the Lac-Megantic rail disaster in the third season. The use of such footage was considered by many to be inappropriate for fictional content, and many sought to have the footage removed. Carrie Mudd, president of Peacock Alley, said they were not aware of the origin of the footage and the affected episode would be re -edited. The stock film company that provided the clip also apologized, pledging to review how images can be repurposed by Hollywood clients.