''Tidsrejsen'' (literally ''The Time Travel'' or ''The Voyage through Time'' in Danish) is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

television series in the form of a

Nordic Christmas calendar A Christmas calendar ( da, julekalender, sv, julkalender, no, julekalender, fi, joulukalenteri, is, jóladagatal, fo, jólakalendari), is a form of Nordic episodic radio or television advent calendar focused on Christmas. It was first intro ...

that was shown over the Christmas period by the

Danish Broadcasting Corporation DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterp ...

in 2014. As per tradition for Nordic Christmas calendars, the series premiered on 1 December 2014 and ran for 24 episodes. It was written by Poul Berg and directed by Kaspar Munk. ''Tidsrejsen'' was filmed mostly in the town of

Dragør Dragør () is the main town of Dragør Municipality, (Denmark), which includes the village of Store Magleby. The city hall and seat of the municipal council lies on Kirkevej 7 (postal code 2791 Dragør) in Store Magleby, which has enough space f ...

Amager Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...

, south of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. The series has science fiction elements, such as a

time machine Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

, and has themes of young love and general love, as well as family, the idea that actions have consequences and the idea that people decide their own fate in life. The Danish Broadcasting Corporation described the Christmas calendar series as "''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...

'' meets the romantic comedy", and there are indeed many references to the popular film trilogy, among other time travel films. The series was rewritten into a novel by the main writer Poul Berg, and was released the same year in 2014. It follows the script for the TV series faithfully but with some added details.

Plot

The Christmas calendar is about the 13-year-old girl Sofie (Bebiane Ivalo Kreutzmann). Her greatest desire is that her parents, who had divorced after last year's Christmas, get back together so they can celebrate Christmas as a family. On 1 December, Sofie's paternal grandfather gives Sofie a "calendar present" (''kalendergave'', a Nordic tradition) – an invention called a "gyro", which he wants her to finish building, and which under the right conditions can warp space and time, I.E. be used as a time machine. The same day Sofie is visited by the new boy in her class, Dixie (Hannibal Harbo Rasmussen). He seems to be unusually interested in the gyro, knows many things about Sofie that he can't possibly know, and is furthermore being chased by two secret agents. One night, where Sofie wants to find out who Dixie is and what he wants with her, the secret agents follow after her to the shack where Dixie is staying, after which he has to escape. Sofie travels back to 1984 with him, where he tells her that he is from the future, and that the secrets agents are chasing him because time-travelling is illegal in the future. Furthermore, Sofie invented the time machine that people use in the future. In 1984, Sofie takes the opportunity to change her parents' past, so that they will remain together in the present. However, this action ends up having dire consequences.

Cast

* Bebiane Ivalo Kreutzmann as Sofie Villadsen * Hannibal Harbo Rasmussen as Dixie *

Lars Knutzon Lars Knutzon (born 1 October 1941) is a Danish actor and director, best known to international audiences for his role in the Danish TV drama '' Borgen''. He is the son of actor, director and theatre director Per Knutzon and cabaret singer Lulu Z ...

as Sofie's paternal grandfather (Alfred Villadsen) * Paw Henriksen as Grandfather Alfred from 1984 *

Patricia Schumann Patricia Schumann (born 4 June 1975) is a Danish actress. She graduated from the Danish National School of Theatre and Contemporary Dance The Danish National School of Performing Arts (Danish: Den Danske Scenekunstskole) is an artistic educational ...

as Camilla (Sofie's mother) * Amanda Rostgaard Phillipsen as Camilla from 1984 * Rolf Hansen as Henrik Villadsen (Sofie's father) * Arto Louis Eriksen as Henrik from 1984 * Jasper Møller Friis as Birk Villadsen (Sofie's little brother) * Karen-Lise Mynster as Sofie's paternal grandmother (Ruth Villadsen) * Signe Skov as Ruth from 1984 * Kurt Ravn as Agent Grå (Agent Grey in English) * Sigurd Holmen le Dous as Agent Rød (Agent Red in English) *

Stine Stengade Stine Stengade (born 1 June 1972) is a Danish actress best known for her leading role in the 2001 Dogme 95 film '' Kira's Reason: A Love Story'' (Original title: '' En Kærlighedshistorie''). Biography Stine Stengade was born in Copenhagen on 1 ...

as Agent Sort (alternative future Sofie, Agent Black in English) *

Søren Pilmark Søren Louis Pilmark (born 16 October 1955) is a Danish actor. Pilmark has worked as a film and theatrical actor, a director, and as an author. Career Theater Pilmark graduated from the School of Acting at Aarhus Theater in 1977, where he ...

as Sølvræven (the Silverfox in English) * Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen as Oliver * Niels-Martin Eriksen as Ragnar (Sofie's school teacher and fanatical Christian) * William Rudbeck Lindhardt as Ragnar from 1984 * Liv Ingeborg Berg as Sofie og Dixie's daughter in 2044 * Fie London as Anna from 1984 * Signe Vaupel as Anna (Henrik's new girlfriend) * Thomas Kirk as School clerk * Robert Reinhold as Guldtand (Gold Tooth in English) *

Robin Koch Robin Koch (; born 17 July 1996) is a German professional footballer who plays as a defender for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt, on loan from club Leeds United, and the Germany national team. Koch made his first-team debut for 1. FC Kai ...

as Robin * Sonny Lahey as Computer voice * Jonas Kriegbaum as Agent Brun (Agent Brown in English) * Susanne Storm as Esther (Sofie's maternal grandmother, also called Måneskin or Moonshine in English) * Lucas Munk Billing as Christmas tree salesman * Gry Guldager Jensen as School teacher * Johanne Bie as Emilie (Sofie's schoolmate)

Production

''Tidsrejsen'' is written by Poul Berg and directed by Kaspar Munk and is based on a concept developed by Nordisk Film TV A/S by Peter Hansen, Adam Neutzsky-Wulff,

Philip LaZebnik Philip LaZebnik (born 1953 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is an American screenwriter and producer. LaZebnik has written screenplays for films including ''Pocahontas'', ''Mulan'', ''The Prince of Egypt'', ''The Road to El Dorado'', ''The Lost Treasure ...

and Lars Feilberg. When the main characters travel back in time to 1984, several things appear and/or are referenced from Danish 80's culture, including the use of the song Dig og mig by Dieters Lieder and references to the disk jockey Kim Schumacher. The sound designer, Peter Albrechtsen, helped to create most of the sound for the series from scratch. For the technology that came from the future of 2044 he used many bird calls, warping them to sound like computerized sounds, and many sounds from NASA's archive on SoundCloud was also used. Almost all foaly was created by Finnish Heikki Kossi. The series is primarily filmed in

over the course of seven months. The theme song of the Christmas calendar is sung by Caroline Castell.

Episodes

Reception

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been independe ...

'' gave ''Tidsrejsen'' 5 out of six hearts, writing that the series is suspenseful and have a good plot. ''Politiken'' believes that it is alright for a children and young adult's TV series to seriously deal with present time culture in regards to divorce and how children view them in divorced families. On average, 1.02 million people watched ''Tidsrejsen'', and had a viewership of about 47%, which made it the most successful Nordic Christmas calendar in Danish television in 11 years. ''Tidsrejsen'' was criticised for its portrayal of the school teacher Ragnar, the only apparently Christian character, as a nasty and condescending type of person, and a fanatic, who wants to prevent scientific progression. Some people did not believe Christianity was taken seriously by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. This view was shared by both Pernille Vigsø Bagge from the Socialist People's Party and Charlotte Dyremose, church spokesperson of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. However, DR producer Piv Bernth commented that the character was obviously a caricature in a series that is already fantastical, and that he develops from a fraud into a kind man throughout the series.Andersen, Thilde Thordahl
Kristendemokraterne: Julekalender diskriminerer frikirkekristne
''

Kristeligt Dagblad ''Kristeligt Dagblad'' is a Danish newspaper in Copenhagen, Denmark. History and profile ''Kristeligt Dagblad'' was established in 1896. It was an initiative of the Lutheran Inner Mission created to oppose radicalism and atheism. The paper is ow ...

''. 8 December 2014.

Awards

''Tidsrejsen'' won the prize for "Best short format television series" at the

Robert Awards The Robert Award ( da, Robert prisen) is a Danish film prize awarded each year by the Danish Film Academy. It is the Danish equivalent of the American Oscars, British BAFTAs for films and Australian AACTA Awards. The award—voted only by aca ...

in 2015. ('Tidsrejsen' wins "Best short format television series" at the Robert Awards 2015)

References

External links

Official website
(Wayback Machine)
Jul i Dragør – kom bag om Tidsrejsen
(Danish behind the scenes) * {{IMDb title, 3981388, Tidsrejsen DR TV original programming DR television dramas Danish drama television series Danish science fiction television series Danish time travel television series Television series set in 1984 Television series set in 2014 Television series set in 2044 Danish children's television series 2014 Danish television series debuts Christmas television series