Series Description

The Otherworld TV show was a 60 minute sci-fi series on CBS about a family who went on a vacation to Egypt and fell through a portal and onto an alternate Earth called "Thel". This parallel Earth is a land comprised of many totally different provinces, each with its own way of life. For example; one of the societies killed strangers to use their life force to obtain eternal youth. In another, women are the dominant sex and men are treated as inferiors. They roamed from society to society looking for the capital city of Imar. The Supreme Governors of Otherworld were located there and had the power to return them to our universe. Of course, there had to be a villian. Kommander Kroll and his "Zone Troopers" were constantly trying to hunt them down during their journeys.

Otherworld Cast

Sam Groom .... Hal Sterling
Gretchen Corbett .... June Sterling
Tony O'Dell .... Trace Sterling
Jonna Lee .... Gina Sterling
Brandon Crane / Chris Hebert .... Smith Sterling
Jonathan Banks .... Kommander Nuveen Kroll
Wayne Alexander .... Lieutenant
Peter Bromilow .... Praetor

Opening Narrative

Other worlds lie outside our seeing.
Beyond the beyond. At the edge... of within.
The Great Pyramid, erected by the ancient ones as a barricade.
At the portal between two dimensions, two separate realities.
This is the story of one family, drawn through a mysterious vortex into the other world
and of their perilous trek homeward.

Otherworld Trivia

The portal that took the Sterling family to Otherworld was located at the Great Pyramid of Cheops. It was created due to an alignment of the planets which only occured once every many thousands of years.

Trace Sterling was 18 years old, Gina was 17 and Smith was 11.

Kommander Kroll was mainly upset with the Sterlings because they had stolen his "access crystal" upon their arrival in Otherworld.

The "access crystal" allowed the Sterlings to gain access to computer information about "Otherworld" to help them find the city of Imar. This was very important as maps were outlawed in "Otherworld".

The idea for the Otherworld TV show came about when the President of Universal said to series creator, "Rod Taylor", "If only there was a way to do 'Lost In Space' on Earth". Rod replied that he knew a way it could be done.

Censors had a few problems with the show. Being aired at 8pm, CBS wanted it very family-acceptable. One problem was with using the name, "Church of Artificial Intelligence" but they finally did allow that.

The first episode of Otherworld was originally planned to be two hours long but it was ultimately divided into two episodes. Episode #1, "Rules of Attraction" and episode #5, "Village of the Motorpigs".

Episodes List With Original Air Dates

The First And Only Season

1. Rules Of Attraction (1/26/1985)
2. The Zone Troopers Build Men (2/2/1985)
3. Paradise Lost (2/9/1985)
4. Rock And Roll Suicide (2/16/1985)
5. Village Of The Motorpigs (2/23/1985)
6. I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar (3/2/1985)
7. Mansion Of The Beast (3/9/1985)
8. Princess Metra (3/16/1985)