KINDLY ALIENS BAIL OUT HUMAN RACE AGAIN - BUT JUST FOR NOW.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

SHOWTIME'S new sci-fi series ``Odyssey 5'' may eventually shake out as an interesting trip, but tonight's first episode moves in fits and starts as it tries to set up a complicated back story.

Peter Weller stars as Chuck Taggart, the commander of the space shuttle Odyssey 5. He and his crew are on a fairly routine mission - except for the addition of a journalist, Sarah Forbes (Leslie Silva) - when the Earth suddenly implodes, leaving nothing but scattered debris. Battered by the turbulence, the shuttle is damaged, depleting the supply of oxygen.

Already stunned by the realization that their world is gone, the crew falls into a sleep brought on by the lack of air. They awake to find their craft resting inside an alien vessel that is meant to look a bit like heaven. The crew is met by an alien called ``The Seeker,'' who has taken the form of an elderly English gentleman (Sir John Neville). ``Oh, great,'' Sarah, an African-American, sighs, ``God's an old white man.''

The Seeker tells them he is on the track of some force that is destroying planets, and they are the only survivors he has ever found. He then gives them a chance to go back in time to try to stop whatever force it is that will destroy the Earth.

The five members of the crew take him up on the offer and wake up five years before with the knowledge of what will happen. Of course, that's bizarre; Sarah, for instance, finds herself back with her first husband, before her young son dies of cancer.

``Odyssey 5'' essentially then tries to work on two levels - as a thriller/conspiracy and a philosophic musing on what one would do if it were possible to fix the mistakes of the past.

Nothing, though, quite meshes in this opening episode. The cast - particularly Weller - is engaging enough, but the characters' story lines are a little too pat. (Taggart's son just happens to be on the mission.) As for the conspiracy, the plot hints at lots of nebulous things, and you get the feeling you're heading into ``X-Files'' land here. That means you'll have to find the crew and its quest a lot more engaging in future episodes to want to stick around.

ODYSSEY 5 - Two and one half stars

What: Sci-fi series about astronauts who go back in time to save the world, starring Peter Weller.

Where: Showtime.

When: 10 p.m. Fridays, starting tonight.