The character, "Olga". She was the psychiatrist, right? Why was she in mission control when the sphere launched? Was her only duty in mission control to say "engage!"?

Yes. And look good doing it. Eye candy you know.

A bigger question is why isn't there a paradox when he goes back in time? Clearly, there should be two or more of Parkers due to the fact that his going back in time eliminates the need for the first Parker to have to go back.

Sample scenario:

1) President is killed
2) Parker goes back in time to stop it.
3) Going back to the past creates 2 Parkers, one at the base from 7 days ago and the one who steps out of the time capsule.
4) With the President's life saved, Parker doesn't have to go back in time, hence 2 Parkers. How are the Parker's "re-integrated"?

They had some thing about the sphere being gone and Parker as well during the return to the past. They would know that he was on a mission and expecting his call.

They had some thing about the sphere being gone and Parker as well during the return to the past. They would know that he was on a mission and expecting his call.

Nope, he'd still be there in the past twice. Here's what I mean.

1) Let's say that on Jan. 15, 2009, the President is shot and killed.

2) Parker goes back 5 days to Jan. 11, 2009 to find and stop the killer and is successful.

3) On Jan. 11, 2009 thru Jan. 15 2009, there are two Parkers and Spheres since the first Parker didn't go back until Jan 15, 2009

4) Since the President is saved on Jan. 15, 2009, then the trip back in time becomes unnecessary, hence you have two Parkers. The first one that was there all week and the second one who came from the 15th of Jan. in the original timeline.

Hence, the paradox. How can there be 2 Parkers since the trip never was necessary due to the actions of the second Parker saving the President?

Each time Parker goes back, he is in the past just as he was there before. If you went back a week in time, you would "re-live" the week along with yourself living it for the first time.

My question to all is: Did the show ever deal or explain how they get around the paradox of Parker appearing in the past where he and the sphere already are there?

Ok.....but, they specifically mentioned that they knew he was on a mission because the sphere in the past (everybody else's present) was gone. So, no sphere, no Parker. Maybe the sphere had a self correcting feature. But, it was how they explained the paradox problem. You don't have to accept their way around it. And, by the way, I do know what a time paradox is. I'm just telling you how they explained it. Take it or leave it.

I've only seen a handful of episodes, but it sounds like whatever time travel method they were using was itself "self-correcting". As I recall, when they send Parker back in time Seven Days, the Parker in that timeline is "erased" from the point that "our" Parker enters that timeline. That in itself seems to me to be a form of paradox, albiet of a self-correcting nature.

My question is this - have they dealt with parallel timelines? I ask because I saw part of an episode one time and was totally lost. I the episode, Parker is fighting Parker and they make it out that he's from an alternate timeline, IIRC. There was also an episode where Olga(?) was from an alternate timeline, I think - maybe it was the same episode as above?

Anyhow, I liked the premise, but until I know that I'm catching it from the first episode, I don't want to get to watching it and ruin some of the surprises - which is why I've seen maybe three full episodes.

The only thing I remember from the pilot as far as explanations go is that the power source for the sphere is alien. Using max power, the Sphere can only go back a maximum of 7 days.

As far as the self correction goes, I'm not sure I'd want to be parker if I knew I'd be "erased" when my future self came to my present. The series is over but I wished the writers had given us an episode explaning what happens to the sphere and Parker of the past when the "present" parker disappears into the past.

I'd also like to know how they determine and execute a "landing point". Seems like the Sphere is always crashing somewhere.

Griff: The Alt Olga (and others) was not an Alt time line, but a Parrallelelele (SP?) universe. The Sphere glitched, and "our" Parker crossed over. A mirror universe ep.

And when Parker was fighter with Parker... That was a split-body ep. Good verses evil kinda thing. Can't remember the TOS Trek ep where Kirk was split in two. Same thing.

Old McDonald: The Sphere is piloted, by Parker. Sorta. The tech is almost all alien, but it was smashed pretty badly in the crash of '47. They have jerry-rigged it together. Parker is the pilot, and he guides it as it travels back in time. If he is lucky, or good, it should land back where it started. Should. But it doesn't. For when it is activated, the Sphere wants to stay in place. But, the Earth, and the rest of the universe moves. So, he has to fly back to the place where he wants to be. In the opening credits, you can see a Sphere in orbit with a dean chrononaut. He didn't make landfall when piloting it. Oops!!

As for Parker being erased, he is, and isn't. The Parker that goes back remembers everything as it happened before he went back. The Parker that is in the past gets erased when the future Parker lands. In many epidesodes they are all upset that Parker has gone walkabout again. Thinking that he has just gone off base for drinking, gambling and so on. Then they get the call: "This is conundrum". Nd yes, that creates a paradox. If he went back and fixed it, he would have had to go back and fix it, but if he doesn't go back, it doesn't get fixed, therefore he has to go back and fix it.

Believe it or not, I follow everything you said but I still can't help believing that where this is all heading, Parker should be dead.

If the past Parker is erased when the Parker arrives, then there was no Parker who is living in the future 7 days to make the trip back in time.

I have to think that even the Trek writers did a better job avoiding and explaining the paradoxes.

In Parker's case, he couldn't commit suicide by going back time and shooting his earlier self.

I am a Time Travel fanatic...its all i read, its all I wish for in every SciFi show I see! lol....
Seven days was one of my favorites.

but like every time travel story...there are so many inconsistencies that if you try to analyze and rationalize, you will destroy the essence and the entertainment of it.

I am sure, in one episode, that they touched on part of an explanation of what happens when Parker goes "back" seven days...the fact that the present timeline just ceases to be, and the timeline he returns to becomes his "new" timeline.
But I still don't think they ever explained what happens to the Parker thats already there. I think we are supposed to assume that past Parker just ceases to be and is replaced by future (back jumping) Parker...which is a simple assumption based on the idea that two Parkers can't co-exist.

What really got me, was...that no-one was ever bothered by the fact that whenever Parker leaves (on a back jump) everyone's existance would suddenly cease to be!? All lives and the present timeline just ends?! I think I would be bothered if I knew that...?!!!!!! and yet they all sit there calmly as he climbs into that sphere and powers up!! If it was my last few minutes on the earth, I think I would be hittin' up Olga for a goodbye snog!!

I guarantee one show that will not be re-aired is the one where he prevented an airplane from flying into the Twin Towers. It was a Middle Eastern terrorist based plot and I have not seen it since it aired the first time.

I think you are thinking of the pilot. In that one, a small plane is flown into the White House, and kills most of the senior staff, as well as the President.

I've never watched Seven Days, but the Jean-Claude Van Damme flick Timecop and an episode of the Gerry Anderson series Space Precinct dealt with similar time-paradox issues.. . . And when Parker was fighter with Parker... That was a split-body ep. Good verses evil kinda thing. Can't remember the TOS Trek ep where Kirk was split in two. Same thing.That was the first-season episode "The Enemy Within."Parker is the pilot, and he guides it as it travels back in time. If he is lucky, or good, it should land back where it started. Should. But it doesn't. For when it is activated, the Sphere wants to stay in place. But, the Earth, and the rest of the universe moves.That brings up another conundrum inherent in time travel stories. The Sphere wants to stay in place relative to WHAT? In the universe, EVERYTHING is always moving. In H.G. Wells' The Time Machine and in the 1960 film version, the machine supposedly moved in time but not in space. But, of course, every time the machine travels forward or backward in time, it also moves with the rotation of the Earth on its axis, the movement of the Earth in its orbit around the sun, and the entire solar system as the galaxy rotates. The machine only stands "still" relative to the patch of the Earth's surface it happens to be sitting on, which is really a rather arbitrary rule.

I think you are thinking of the pilot. In that one, a small plane is flown into the White House, and kills most of the senior staff, as well as the President.

Nope, it was an episode that had him aboard a jet liner taking out middle eastern hijackers and averting the plane from being flown into the twin towers.

There are so many arguments about how Time Travel can and can't work, we could start a whole new forum! lol

One thing that improved with the "Seven Days" concept, was the fact that the sphere moved its location on Earth when it backjumped.

This has always been a controversial issue with fans...the fact that HG Wells Time machine sat in that one exact spot while it travelled through time, even though the Earth rotated and changed position within the Universe!

The alternate time line/universe theories usually explain every paradox and complication with time travel stories...its not that hard to come up with a far fetched explanation to explain the already far fetched story!

When you look back at some of the horrendous shows produced in the 80s and 90s, Seven days was overall a well produced and thought out show...no Sci-Fi story can be perfect, thats why its Sci...FICTION...

The last Stargate special (Continuum) turned out to be one of the best "episodes" of Stargate and a very good Time Travel story.

If you want to see a really good Time Travel movie, try "Retroactive", with james Belushi...one of my faves!

If you want to see a really good Time Travel movie, try "Retroactive", with james Belushi...one of my faves!

[IMG-LEFT]http://www.fillies.com/freepix/g/travis_kylie/zzzkylie001.jpg[/IMG-LEFT]
And with the always watchable Australian hottie Kylie Travis.

That was a fun little sci-fi/action thriller that didn't take itself too seriously.