Odyssey 5 is a US science-fiction series that initially ran for 14 of the 20 episodes on the premium cable TV channel Showtime in 2002 (in 2004 Showtime finally ran the 6 "missing" episodes). The series made a full run of all 20 episodes in the United Kingdom on Sky One and in Canada, showing the final 6 episodes that were initially unaired in the US.

The story revolves around a set of people on a routine spaceflight in the year 2007: three astronauts, a scientist, and a television news reporter. However, during the course of the flight, the Earth suddenly dissolves into a fiery ball, and explodes. The crew of the spaceship, which is called the Odyssey, resign themselves to death, but a being called the Seeker rescues them. He tells them that he has been attempting to make contact with "alien races" for most of his existence, but every time he tries, he is always too late. However, this is the first time he has met some of the victims of such a tragedy. He offers to send them back in time 5 years, so that they can prevent the disaster. They only know the name of the thing that did this: Leviathan.

The villain turns out to be a race of nanorobots developed by humanity. It sets about to learn about humanity through surrogates, called "Synthetics". In the course of their "learning" they apparently destroy the Earth.

The series is very different from most science fiction, firstly because it is set in the present day (in a fashion similar to Stargate SG-1 and Sliders) but secondly because the team of five is not a group of friends who always get along; the humanity of the team is shown through arguments, jokes, and their attempts to maintain social lives and help the world with their limited knowledge of the future.

The series is the brainchild of Manny Coto, who serves as a script-writer and executive producer.

Cast

• Peter Weller — Chuck Taggart
• Sebastian Roché — Kurt Mendel
• Christopher Gorham — Neil Taggart
• Leslie Silva — Sarah Forbes
• Tamara Craig Thomas — Angela Perry

External links