I have lost count of the number of people to whom I have recommended the 1983 S.F.novel "Millenium",written by John Varley.Nineteen of the twenty chapters are named after classic time travel stories and the name of each is relevant to the context,which,on the face of it might seem like a contrivance,but if it is a contrivance it's one that works very well.It's not a quick read,neither is it a book to be taken on a plane as the plot revolves around air disasters in which there are no survivors(a surprising amount - worryingly). It's structure is quite complex and several of the scenes are recounted from two different viewpoints(a recurring complaint from reviewers). There are two prologues,the second one placed after the epilogue,so if you want a book to read on the beach keep on with Dan Brown. A favourite hobby -horse of mine is that comparisons between novels and filmed novels are pointless because the two media are completely antithetical.A novelist makes certain assumptions about the reader's intelligence and imagination,the filmmaker makes no such assumptions and lays everything out in front of the viewer whose only contribution to the cinema-going experience is to stay awake for the length of the picture.The movie "Millennium" makes even this small effort a chore. I wanted it to be good,I didn't want them to have screwed it up;sadly I was disappointed on both counts.It's a Bb run - of - the - mill hack job.I doubt if either of the leads gave much thought to their roles,about the best you could say was that they avoided bumping into the scenery.Mr Daniel J.Travanti never repeated his success as Lt Frank Furillo in "Hill St Blues" and is woefully miscast here.He should have sued his agent.There are extraneous scenes that do nothing to help the story(one involving the Air Crash Investigator hero Bill Smith as a child involved in a plane crash makes nonsense of the whole story) and all the subtlety of the novel is replaced by noise and flashy lighting. It's not even camp - well not intentionally.I fear it's makers took "Millennium" entirely seriously and snafu-ed it.