Yes, H.G. Wells as a plot line is overdone. But classics are not bad, if done well.
Yes, Jack the Ripper is a plot that is overused, but again, a classic is fine if well done.
Time travel - is popular these days as TV genre. Again, not a problem if well done.
Here's one of the really big problems with Time After Time: the writers have made time travel very central to the whole story line. It's not just a device to set up a comedy (as in the also-new series Making History), but is part of the discussion within the dialogue. This means time travel is important to the ongoing story.
Yet the script writers have made, in episodes 1 and 2 of Time After Time, the character of H.G. Wells, who wrote the cornerstone work of fiction in the genre, and in this story also the inventor of a time machine, into a rather stupid character. And by that I mean he's not very bright. He has a time machine. He has the key. He already demonstrated that he could take the assistant curator 3 days into the future.
So why, upon discovering this same curator is kidnapped, does he not just go back a bit in time and set out warnings for her, or himself, or somebody, to prevent the kidnapping/killings in the first place?
Herein is the problem with writing time travel stories - it takes some thought to keep it from being silly.
And the scriptwriters here just didn't bother.
Regarding the movie by the same name - it was long ago and I don't mind if ideas and titles are reused, as there aren't really very many novel ideas in plots or characters in all of television.
After the first two episodes, my recommendation is to watch this only if you have some spare time and are not too picky about time travel stories. There are plenty of better works in the genre if you're interested.
Yes, Jack the Ripper is a plot that is overused, but again, a classic is fine if well done.
Time travel - is popular these days as TV genre. Again, not a problem if well done.
Here's one of the really big problems with Time After Time: the writers have made time travel very central to the whole story line. It's not just a device to set up a comedy (as in the also-new series Making History), but is part of the discussion within the dialogue. This means time travel is important to the ongoing story.
Yet the script writers have made, in episodes 1 and 2 of Time After Time, the character of H.G. Wells, who wrote the cornerstone work of fiction in the genre, and in this story also the inventor of a time machine, into a rather stupid character. And by that I mean he's not very bright. He has a time machine. He has the key. He already demonstrated that he could take the assistant curator 3 days into the future.
So why, upon discovering this same curator is kidnapped, does he not just go back a bit in time and set out warnings for her, or himself, or somebody, to prevent the kidnapping/killings in the first place?
Herein is the problem with writing time travel stories - it takes some thought to keep it from being silly.
And the scriptwriters here just didn't bother.
Regarding the movie by the same name - it was long ago and I don't mind if ideas and titles are reused, as there aren't really very many novel ideas in plots or characters in all of television.
After the first two episodes, my recommendation is to watch this only if you have some spare time and are not too picky about time travel stories. There are plenty of better works in the genre if you're interested.