I tried out a couple of different shows on netflix last night. One of them was called Travelers, it was created by Brad Wright (creator of Stargate SG1) so I thought it would be good. It was alright, I’m not sold on it yet. There’s a dynamic that I hope that they will investigate further, and not just brush under the rug as being ‘too tough’ to deal with.

As always I got to thinking how it could be Rumbelled because apparently my brain is hardwired to do that. *rolls eyes at self*

To summarize the show. Something bad happened in the future, and time travelers have been sent back to change the shape of history. How do they do that? Well basically somebody was destined to die but before they do, this traveler from the future takes over their body but it doesn’t stop there. They take over their life as well, they step into their shoes and wear their skin but they aren’t them. The person they’ve taken over is dead and gone, and nobody that cares about them knows that.

I mean the travelers didn’t kill their ‘hosts’ for lack of a better term, but there’s still ethical considerations. Those people are dead but nobody knows to mourn them. I find that quite sad. Imagine learning that the person you loved, is no longer that person, it’s somebody else inhabiting their body. “Well where’s person X?” “They are gone.” but the friends/family still have to look at them, and it seems like they are there but they aren’t. The fact that the travelers perpetuate the deception, by pretending to be the people whose bodies they are controlling, just makes it worse.

Anyway, I do have a point besides the ethical dilemma. These travelers are aided in taking over these strangers lives, by whatever was left of public records and social media profiles. There’s still so much they don’t know. For example in the episode I watched last night, this traveler went home to his ‘hosts’ wife and called her by her name, only to learn that his host never called her that, but always a nickname.

So if this was Rumbelled, imagine Gold is unhappily married. In public he’s Mr Gold, rich and ruthless and powerful, but in private he’s constantly brow-beaten and called worthless etc. Then one day there’s an accident and his wife gets taken over by traveler Belle, who is doing her best to save the world and be a hero. She’s studied the available info on the Gold’s and to public appearances they are the perfect couple, she thinks that they are happy and so she’s nice and loving and very Belle like. Gold is confused and suspicious because it’s like night and day. 

Then a couple of options come to mind:
– He follows her, assuming she’s up to something, but never guessing it’s what it is. He discovers her doing some secret agent type mission but there are protocols and Belle can’t explain, so she tries to lie but eventually truth will out.
– Belle’s team contained her boyfriend (this is a dynamic on the show actually) and he wants to continue their relationship, but Belle obviously has to spend a lot of time with Gold and winds up falling for him, even though he has no idea who she really is.
– Or Gold’s historical date of death was just a couple of months after his wifes and so Belle’s boyfriend was due to join her, by taking Gold over then, but by then Belle can’t bear the idea of Gold dying so she saves him. Belle’s boyfriend takes the next host and comes to find out what the hell went wrong.

I haven’t watched the show enough to determine what happens with the travelers in the end, whether it was a one-way trip or they can go back to the future etc. so I’m not sure how it would end. I don’t know if I’ll watch the rest of the show, it’s not really grabbed me. The concept is interesting enough but I don’t care about any of the characters, and it’s characters that keep me watching. I might give it another episode or two and see.