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Time travel. It’s a classic fantasy adventure theme. I was a little girl when Doctor Who aired in 1963 and I was absolutely transfixed. Wouldn’t you know, the idea of a show about a regenerating, all-knowing character traveling through time and space putting out fires was so good and so flexible it is still running today.
I think there are any number of time travel shows on at this time. Outlander comes to mind. I have not seen that show, only read some of the books, so I won’t write about it here. What I want to tell you about is a new guilty pleasure of mine, El ministerio del tiempo (The Ministry of Time), a show from Spain that you can find on Netflix. There are three seasons now and I hope there will be more.
The premise is that, centuries ago, a Spanish Rabbi discovered a series of shifting doors to different eras and created a “Book of Doors” detailing them all. He gives this precious secret book to Queen Isabella. From this, a secret Ministry was developed, it’s mission being to safeguard history from being changed by outside parties. The future is not included in this time travel and the doors are limited to Spanish territory — but there is still plenty of opportunity for all kinds of disasters — and yes, paradoxes, too.
The show follows a team of three agents: a modern era paramedic named Julián Martínez, a nineteenth century scholarly woman named Amelia Folch, and a sixteenth century soldier named Alonso de Entrerríos (my favorite of the bunch). In the second and third seasons, Julián is replaced by a new team member, an undercover cop from 1981 who goes by the moniker “Pacino” because he fancies himself as a kind of Serpico. Later, there is also Lola Mendieta from the twentieth century, but her character is very complicated by a sort of time paradox (and I don’t want to give a spoiler). Anyway. Together, this motley crew manages to keep history from being changed by other groups of time travelers with bad intentions. Don Quixote doesn’t disappear from existence, Spain retains ownership of Picasso’s Guernica, and much more.
Much of the past depicted in the show isn’t good and it isn’t pretty — including but not limited to the terrible colonial brutality toward indigenous people, the Inquisition, war through the ages, and even the Spanish flu. But the mandate of the Ministry is to preserve history as it happened, not to fix things or to make Spain come out on top when, historically, it did not. The Armada still sinks, colonies still get their independence in due course. And life goes on.
It is interesting to see something of history through the lens of a formerly dominant nation whose empire went through decline, wars, foreign occupation, Civil War, and Fascism — and came out the other side. In a way, that gives one hope.
I haven’t found a decent trailer for this show but you can see a visual list of the episodes on the Netflix site. Also of interest is this Decider, review, ‘The Ministry of Time’ Might Just Be The Best Time Travel Show Ever. The show is quite a ride — and it has moments of great humor too. It’s a good soap, as well. I like it. I hope you will, too!
Do you have a favorite time travel story? Do tell! And please share your day, your weekend plans, your menus with friends. This is an open thread.