“Chime Travelers” is a time-traveling, Saint-learning adventure for children

Reel Rating: 3 out of 5 reels

Time traveling is a well-established tradition in animated Christian programming. It began with the Hanna-Barbara classic The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible (1985-1991) and continued with modern productions like Superbook.

Now comes a new series, Chime Travelers, based on the book series by Lisa Hendley that uses a similar narrative device but with the lives of the saints rather than biblical characters. It is a step above shows such as Brother Francis or Leo & Layla, though it doesn’t rise to the sophistication of mainstream productions like Light of the World.

Still, it is probably the best Catholic saint show for kids right now, and it shows a great deal of potential.

Patrick comes from a solid Catholic family, but like many kids in the early teens, has a host of problems. In the pilot episode, he causes a mess in his local Catholic parish. While cleaning up, he enters a strange bell, which causes an interdimensional portal to open and send him back in time to meet St. Patrick. Here, he observes the difficulties that Patrick encounters bring Christ to the pagan peoples of Ireland (in perfect English, of course).

This experience mirrors his own spiritual state; when he returns, Patrick can face his faults and responsibilities anew and respond with courage and conviction. Every episode follows this basic pattern: there’s a problem in the present, Patrick visits a saint in the past, he provides wisdom to address problems in the present, and Patrick returns with the insight to solve the difficulty.

While this may sound formulaic, it is a key reason for the communion of saints. They are both our model and intercessors. For people struggling with family dynamics, there’s St. Rita, who was abused for years by her husband and had her children involved in a blood feud. For teens who fret over video game use (certainly not ones in my household!) there is St. Carlo Acutis, who recognized his disordered attachment and limited himself to one hour of Pokémon on Saturdays to devote the rest of his time to spiritual matters.

There’s a saint for every profession, situation, joy, and trauma. None of us must go through this life feeling we are alone in our experiences.

The series does a good job of being entertaining for the whole family while also acknowledging the more sordid details of the fallen world, which includes the lives of the saints.

In the episode on Kateri Tekakwitha, she explains her scarred face as the result of a smallpox outbreak that killed many of her people and left her disfigured. The filmmakers also include the famous scene in which Francis of Assisi publicly strips himself to renounce everything in this world, though it is largely seen through crowd reaction.

Children understand that we live in a broken world, while the saints demonstrate that it is possible to still be holy and happy in this context.

This is a classic example of a series that is still finding its feet. The animation is decent, especially considering the budget constraints, but falls below what is often expected. The stories play out nicely, though the dialogue often feels forced.

I am reminded of the early episodes of Tuttle Twins (another time-traveling adventure), which stuck closely to the books and restrained their creative impulses. That’s good news because now Tuttle Twins is one of the most intelligent streaming shows on television for children, and Chime Travelers has similar potential.

A good push would be to add more characters, subplots, and saints who aren’t quite as famous. There’s already evidence that this is happening as Patrick’s twin sister joined him in a recent episode. Despite some attempts, there’s never been a great hagiographical television series. Chime Travelers isn’t quite there yet, but we’ll see what the future holds.

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