VOYAGERS! GUIDEBOOK

THE ULTIMATE PICTURE FANSITE!

                                  


In Manhattan, 1982, seemingly clueless Voyager Phineas Bogg crash lands into the room of lonely orphan Jeffrey Jones. Phineas loses his guidebook in a tug of war with Jeffrey's faithful dog Ralph and has to rescue Jeffrey from a fall out the window. After a few cosmic trips full of bickering and bonding, Jeffrey becomes the 'history book in pants' and proves to be an invaluable companion to Bogg. As they travel through the ages keeping history on track, Phineas uses a brass device known as the 'omni'. It tells him locations and dates. Bogg's omni only went up to the year 1970, however a glitch had sent him to Jeffrey's time-zone.  It is later learned that Jeffrey was chosen to be a Voyager, and it wasn't a mistake he landed there. When the omni light is red, it means history has hit a snag and it's a Voyager's job to correct it. A green light means success and they can move on to the next assignment.
The omni usually lands them in the midst of their future or current assignment. Along they way they forge memorable friendships and experience exciting, dangerous and humorous encounters with notable historical figures.

In Bogg's case, a number of escapades leads to a little innocent romance, as per his 'reputation.' The Voyagers help inspire the creation of the airplane with the Wright Brothers and save Abraham Lincoln from abduction. They attempt to solve the case of Jack the Ripper with Nellie Bly and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and rescue Harriet Tubman from hanging so she could start the underground railroad. Jeffrey gives Thomas Edison a push to create the light bulb, and Babe Ruth the confidence to play the game. These voyages, along with many other escapades, is all in a day's work for this tireless duo.



   

Voyagers! Opening credits:



 Tell us Bogg, what is a Voyager?



The ending theme of Voyagers!




WHAT IS THE OMNI? 
The omni is the tool all Voyagers use to travel through time.
The omni-or omnichron (as some call it) comes in other state of the art models, but Phineas is content with his standard brass one. However, he often curses the omni for getting, "stuck in the automatic mode" with it's red and green lights flashing back and forth. When that happens they are unable to leave the time zone until it is field stripped.                                                                                                                        
 
In the episode, 'World's Apart' inventor Thomas Edison was so enthralled with the device he took it apart right down to the last dirty gear and cleaned it up.
 
Voyagers!: Worlds Apart
 Poor Jeffrey had a fit and thought he ruined history and his chance to see Bogg again forever.
Edison fortunately had the genius to put it all back in perfect working order.

 

 

 

When Jeffrey admitted to it being a Voyagers!: Worlds Aparttime machine, Edison laughed heartily, "Now that would be an invention!"

 

 

 

 

The omni is the most elegant time travel prop ever created for television or movies. It is fairly reminiscent of the giant time machine designed in the original movie version of 'The Time Machine' based on H.G Wells' famous novel.


The Time Machine movie model. Notice the red and green lights and the backing is like a brass fan-reminiscent of the omni's lid.

The Guidebook
 

The Guidebook is just that-a textbook designed specifically for Voyagers.  Phineas and Jeffrey fumble through history without it and do pretty well...for now! However, the Guidebook is the necessary tool that all Voyagers must carry on their assignments.  It gives them vital information- names, places and dates- in order for them to bring history back to a green-light state. We never see the inside of the Guidebook on the series, so we'll have to take their word for it.  The pictures here are from Guidebook replicas that are made online.  Here is a link to purchase one! Guidebooks
 
Guidebook Replicas
 

 
Facts Contained within the Guidebook Replica
info provided by: Jake Crepeau
The section on the Voyager Code  an overview; there exists at VHQ a full Code book.  The Guidebook replica contains a real world history book (World History, compact 4th edition, Thomson-Wadsworth, an actual college-level textbook). It has a complete bibliography after each chapter, and a website that's supposed to have supplemental material, including exercises and links for further information.  The fact that it's an actual college textbook explains the high price---in addition to the real leather cover and real gold embossing on it. 
 According to the Guidebook replica, the 'real' Guidebook automatically updates itself.  It's printed by the same mysterious people that manufacture the Omni, and is actually written in their language, but each Voyager can read it in his own language, which, I think, tends to support the hypothesis that the Omni has a translation function. I would posit that there is a "Planet Voyager," and that there is also a race of people indigenous to that planet who have solved the problem of time-travel.  They produce the Omni and the Guidebook, and pluck people out of the time-stream to become Voyagers.
In 'Billy and Bully,' when Jeffrey tells Bogg the Code says "No romance while the Omni's red."  Well, we know there's no such actual Code, but there is one that says no Voyager is to become romantically involved with another Voyager.  (I imagine that applies mainly to field workers, though it doesn't specify in the Guidebook.)  So much for anything serious ever developing between Phineas and Olivia, and quite possibly, the reason why Phineas only admired Susan from a distance.
On Field Stripping the Omni,  it says that for an experienced professional, it takes a minimum of three hours on a model 316-50; for a novice on a 313 (the one Bogg has), it can take up to eight hours.
Information about Omnis in general:  All Omnis of model 313 go from 1450 BC to 1970.  That's pretty interesting, consider Bogg's first voyage with Jeffrey starts during the time of Moses' infancy, 1450 BC. The gold one that Isaac Wolfstein had was a model 310, which had a variable range, though 1925 AD was the latest any of them could go.  There was also a model 305, which was pewter and went from 1450 BC to 0 AD.  The earliest Omni, the 314, was platinum and went from 0 AD to 1500 AD.  The 316-50's "Open time calibration" apparently means that it has no territorial parameters, but can go anywhere in time.
The book
also mentions a "field office." That sounds similar to my 'Voyager's Aide' series and other series on Fanfiction.

Who is Voyager Drake?

 Drake is  Phineas' class rival since their days at the Voyager Academy. Even then, Drake was a cheater and harbors a lifelong grudge against Phineas for confronting him about it. He is an extremely pompous and jealous man. Drake went on to become a harsh lawyer for the Voyager Tribunal as a Code Violation Prosecutor. Drake rigidly adhere to the Voyager code. He applies the philosophy, "The means justify the ends," claiming to be Machiavelli's best pupil. He believes in discipline and order above all else and has had strong influence falsely accusing Voyagers of every rank, and sending them into banishment.

 Drake's career ended in humiliation after trying to convict Phineas Bogg on false charges. Phineas was cleared with the help of his old crush, Susan, the famous 'blonde from his class' that he bragged about in the Pilot episode.

Drake is ultimately exposed as a fraud. He made a career out of tampering with evidence and the omni memory banks of innocent Voyagers.


Phineas gets Zapped! Bogg tried to take back his omni in order to clear his name, with shocking consequences!

Because conviction means banishment, Drake is now a fugitive at large and Phineas' arch-enemy. It is up to Phineas and Jeffrey to bring him back and prevent him from ruining history!

 
 Drake escapes, but returns in London to ruin the history of intrepid, American Reporter, Nellie Bly and 'Sherlock Holmes' author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  He poses as the infamous 'Jack the Ripper' to lure Nellie from taking her famous trip.  She was trying to beat the record of a literary character named, Phileas Fogg. He is the hero of the novel, 'Around the world in 80 Days.'  We also learn that Phineas helped the author, Jules Verne in his youth and thus became the inspiration for the daring hero in the novel.  After some confusion over who the real Ripper is, Drake's plot is foiled by Phineas and Jeffrey and he gets away...AGAIN!
 
No wonder he continues to make so many appearances in Fan-Fiction!

Drake's Omni



VERSION 316-50 OPEN-TIME CALIBRATION AND STATE OF THE ART

Bogg stops Billy the Kid from a showdown with Teddy Roosevelt and strikes a pose with Jeffrey the Wright Brothers.
    



 





WHERE WILL THEY WIND UP NEXT?

At this point...anywhere your heart desires them. I always wanted the Voyagers to get involved in the French Revolution. Phineas could have assumed the role of  the Scarlet Pimpernel and thus inspire the later famous novel.  There are so many key points in history and prominent figures to meet it would be impossible to list them all. I often look for the 'lesser known' or underdog figures, whose contributions have made an invaluable impact on society and history itself.  However, I would have wanted them to meet Susan B. Anthony, nurses Florence Nightingale & Mary Seacole.  A fun episode could revolve around the Circus and the boys meeting Phineas T. Barnum...and gave Jon-Erik more chances to display his acrobatic skills. The Gold Rush was also a fascinating time in history.
It would have been interesting to see the boys go to the fifties, perhaps meeting Elvis and helping Rock and Roll. VOYAGERS! could have showcased Jon-Erik's great talent for the piano by having them meet Mozart or Beethoven or other classic composers.  I always love at the end of every adventure how Jeffrey would advise all the viewers,

"Take a Voyage down to your public library, it's all in books!"