|
|
Post by olegrand on Dec 19, 2016 21:28:41 GMT
A very interesting time-travel TV series from Spain, "El Ministerio del Tiempo" - essentially a "Time Patrol" based in today's Spain. Plenty of ideas to plunder - especially for campaigns featuring Time Agents! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_ministerio_del_tiempo |
|
Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,749 
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
Member is Online
|
Post by Catsmate on Dec 19, 2016 22:21:05 GMT
Rather similar premise to Timeless, so much so that a lawsuit is ongoing...
|
|
|
|
Post by olegrand on Dec 20, 2016 7:05:08 GMT
Rather similar premise to Timeless, so much so that a lawsuit is ongoing... Aww... I hadn't checked Timeless yet... but unless I'm mistaken "El Ministerio..." is the older of the two, right? |
|
Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,749
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
Member is Online
|
Post by Catsmate on Dec 20, 2016 7:14:25 GMT
Rather similar premise to Timeless, so much so that a lawsuit is ongoing... Aww... I hadn't checked Timeless yet... but unless I'm mistaken "El Ministerio..." is the older of the two, right? Yep, hence the Spanish are suing. |
|
|
|
Post by olegrand on Dec 20, 2016 7:37:54 GMT
Aww... I hadn't checked Timeless yet... but unless I'm mistaken "El Ministerio..." is the older of the two, right? Yep, hence the Spanish are suing. I've just checked the Timeless wikipedia page - and indeed there seems to be some very strong similarities. That being said, these similarities also take us back to Poul Anderson's seminal "Time Patrol" series of stories, i.e. the concept of a time-travel secret agency working against potential "temporal disruptors / terrorists / history-jackers"... perhaps the same basic ideas tend to produce similar results... Anyway, one of the aspects I found really interesting in "El Ministerio..." is its distinctively Spanish / European feel (just like "Torchwood" and "Doctor Who" have an unmistakable Britishness) - including the "bureaucratic" feel of the Ministerio and the idea of Spanish history as some sort of 'temporal battlefield'. The whole thing is also very 'RPG-esque', with a trio of well-rounded "player-characters". |
|
Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,749
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
Member is Online
|
Post by Catsmate on Dec 20, 2016 10:47:33 GMT
Yep, hence the Spanish are suing. I've just checked the Timeless wikipedia page - and indeed there seems to be some very strong similarities. That being said, these similarities also take us back to Poul Anderson's seminal "Time Patrol" series of stories, i.e. the concept of a time-travel secret agency working against potential "temporal disruptors / terrorists / history-jackers"... perhaps the same basic ideas tend to produce similar results...
Or even further back to Williamson's The Legion of Time, which introduced the idea of the Jonbar Hinge.
You're absolutely right, IMO, about similar basic ideas around time travel tending to create similar background for fiction or RPGs. Look at White's Jason Thanou series (OK they're not that good) or Drake's ARC Riders. Very similar ideas.
Anyway, one of the aspects I found really interesting in "El Ministerio..." is its distinctively Spanish / European feel (just like "Torchwood" and "Doctor Who" have an unmistakable Britishness) - including the "bureaucratic" feel of the Ministerio and the idea of Spanish history as some sort of 'temporal battlefield'. The whole thing is also very 'RPG-esque', with a trio of well-rounded "player-characters".
|
|
|
|
Post by olegrand on Dec 20, 2016 11:22:36 GMT
Or to Leibner's Changewar which inspired Anderson's other time travel background, The Corridors of Time. Both featured basically binary factions struggling to control the future via altering the past.
Or even further back to Williamson's The Legion of Time, which introduced the idea of the Jonbar Hinge.
Indeed. Anderson's "Time Patrol", Fritz Leiber's "The Big Time" and Williamson's "Legion..." are what we might call the "building blocks" of the "time agency" subgenre - one that also pops up in the Whoniverse through the "time agents" mentioned by Magnus Greel and is developed further through Jack Harkness' time agency background... branches of the same tree, so to speak. And you're also right about "inspiration" being the keyword here - that being said, it would be interesting to compare "Ministerio" and "Timeless" in a more detailed way, to see if there are similarities that go beyond common inspiration or creative synchronicity. |
|
