One of my all time favorites.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

A group of boat castaways get lost in time or lost in vortex on a mysterious island. Strong shades of Irwin Allen's Time Tunnel (1966), Irwin Allen's Lost In Space (1965) and classic Star Trek (1966) in this production.The theme music gets 10 out of 10. The pilot is well done. Note the music when the boat is sucked into the mysterious sea cloud. Note the photography in this opening scene. If only this level of film-like production remained for the whole ten episodes. This series shined in the episode titled, Beyond The Mountain, this is the one where Roddy McDowall was introduced and he was a horrible guy at the start. He became nicer after this hour. Too bad the writers did not spend more time "beyond the mountain" as this setting was just so powerful, all thanks to the acting talents of McDowall.Another episode about children making trouble for adults was well done as well.Go on this journey for McDowall's acting and shades of 1960s Irwin Allen.

I have seen this in reruns in the 1980's and it wasn't too bad. Let me fill you in with more of what I remember.Spoilers. Valerian (I don't remember him being "Varian") had a super crystal tuning fork that could do just about anything. But he wasn't an alien. He was from Atlantis. He was healthy, wise, handsome, took his vitamins, had a clean aura, probably a vegetarian, and he never abused that aardvark in the back yard. Your basic all-around 1970's hero guy. And the tuning fork was really an amplifier that tapped into his spiritual essence to effect change.In the Bermuda triangle, people would get sucked in from various times throughout history. I believe it was the pilot when they ran into pirates. One of them asked if Elizabeth was still Queen of England. Clearly, they meant a previous Elizabeth. They answered yes, which only prolonged their delay in realizing they were in a time vortex.Roddy McDowall was a late-comer, probably to boost sagging ratings. He was from the future but I don't remember from when exactly. I think it was the 2100's.It turned out there were some bad guys running the island from a shiny silver cylindrical tower that looks remarkably like one of the buildings in downtown Los Angeles. They were agents working either for or with "The Source". Valerian defeated The Source, leaving the show with no direction at all. They quickly slapped together a new threat – "The Power". It some kind of artifact gun. The reruns didn't get that far in the 80's so my memory gets hit and miss at that point. I remember them beating The Power also. I think they knew the clock was running out so they were kind enough not to leave the audience hanging.It was a bit simplistic at times, and some of the plots were a bit too obvious, but it was good clean escapist fun. There was a family on the island with Valerian so it was easy enough to identify with someone and pretend you were there also on a wild adventure. I would watch it again if it was on at a convenient hour.

This was the only series set in the Bermuda Triangle. Interesting concept really. The Fantastic Journey was about a scientific expedition that was lost in the Bermuda Triangle. It consisted of two scientists, their son, and a doctor. They have to take a trip across Atlantis in order to get home. The scientists are sent home in the second episode. It's then the doctor, Varian, a man from the year 2230, he can read minds, Liana, the daughter of an Atlantean princess and alien, she can also read minds. She always carried a cat, and Jonathan Willaway, a renegade scientist from the 1960s, played superbly by the late Roddy McDowell. After a few episodes, Liana stayed in a city run by women to help them treat men as equals. In the last episode, a prison transport became trapped and crashed two dangerous convicts escaped. They killed the pilot played by Gerald McRaney of Simon & Simon and Promised Land, was killed. One of the convicts killed the son of peaceful aliens and was turned into a baby to get a second chance.

Fantastic Journey was a great show and was one of the original 'Sci-Fi Collection' tv shows aired during the Sci-Fi Channel's(USA) original beginning. Jared Martin did a great job in this show. Roddy McDowell was a nice addition after his introduction episode. It paved the way for shows like 'The Otherworld' and 'The Bermuda Triangle'. Fantastic Journey was an entertaining show. They had a great looking female actress too.