THE GREAT DOCTOR was a Korean series in which General Choi, a warrior fighting for his beleaguered king, jumps into the future to find a doctor who can save the queen from a poisoner’s attack. Modern-day physician Eun Soo is the unlucky kidnappee dragged back to the past where she becomes involved in palace intrigues and of course falls for Choi. Due to Netflix yanking several Korean dramas, I had to cut from the first episode to the last couple, but I can’t say I felt I missed anything. “If this fails tonight, there is nothing I can do for you, not even make you smile.”
BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES was a spin-off of the hit movie, and the premise adapts well to series: Bill and Ted get into trouble, realize someone in time can help them out and off they go. In “A Most Excellent Roman Holiday,” for instance, they wind up in Latin class and realize the only way to pass is if they can translate a particular ancient inscription … An uneven series, but a lot of fun when it was on point. “Perhaps this Samuel Clemens knows that writer Mark Twain?”
THIS IS NOT MY LIFE isn’t actually a qualifier for the book, but by the time I was sure of that, I was too interested to stop watching. Alec Ross (Charles Mesure) wakes up in the idyllic New Zealand town of Waimanoa (it’s a New Zealand series) surrounded by his loving family … except he’s never seen any of them before. It’s not a parallel world set-up though, but I won’t go into more detail in case anyone gets the urge to catch it. As it only made one season, I didn’t learn everything I’d have liked to (just what is so terrible about the outside world?) but the ending is adequate—probably better than if they tried to resolve everything. “You’ll have to live the rest of your life knowing you were one step short of paradise.”
As I have fond memories of the animated LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES I only felt the need to watch one DVD of episodes to refresh them. The premise is that when the Legion (DC’s super-hero team of the 30th—now 31st—century) finds itself overwhelmed, it travels back in time to enlist Superman’s help. Instead they wind up with a “new adult” Clark just heading off to Metropolis, and completely unaware of his heroic destiny. After he visits the 31st century’s Superman Museum, he begins to see what he can do—and, of course, he can return to the moment he left, so why not stick around? A good series, though relatively light on the number of team members it used. “It’s not what you’ve done, Superman, it’s what you’re going to do.”
