Movies about time/dimension travel
02-27-03, 04:49 AM
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Movies about time/dimension travel
A little about my past, I didn't have cable until '99 so I have missed many B movies. 
I love movies of this genre since they raise many theories and such. I'm assuming Sci-Fi showed many flicks of this genre so it got me curious.
What movies would you recommend that are in genre. I just ran across a somewhat recent flick The Tomorrow Man (2001). Looks interesting.
I love movies of this genre since they raise many theories and such. I'm assuming Sci-Fi showed many flicks of this genre so it got me curious.What movies would you recommend that are in genre. I just ran across a somewhat recent flick The Tomorrow Man (2001). Looks interesting.
02-27-03, 08:04 AM
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The Back To The Future trilogy is easily the best-known. Lots of details show the parallelism / history moves in cycles / some things never change themes over the four eras visited (1885, 1955, 1985 "present", and 2015).
The Terminator series involves time travel as a plot device, though the bulk of both movies takes place in the present. The Terminator 3D short film used in the Universal Studio park ride was mostly in the future.
Timecop, not great, but one of the best comeuppances I can remember.
Timerider. Forgettable.
Time After Time. Pretty well done, wonderful cast, but a mostly linear story. No agonizing time paradoxes here.
12 Monkeys. If you like Bruce Willis and Terry Gilliam, and I do, this is a treat.
I'm forgetting the title, but a fairly neat film wherein a modern-day US aircraft carrier ends up in Hawaiian waters just prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. Obviously this could tip the outcome, and even the length, of WWII, both through firepower and foreknowledge (one of the officers is a WWII history expert)... good cast.
The Terminator series involves time travel as a plot device, though the bulk of both movies takes place in the present. The Terminator 3D short film used in the Universal Studio park ride was mostly in the future.
Timecop, not great, but one of the best comeuppances I can remember.
Timerider. Forgettable.
Time After Time. Pretty well done, wonderful cast, but a mostly linear story. No agonizing time paradoxes here.
12 Monkeys. If you like Bruce Willis and Terry Gilliam, and I do, this is a treat.
I'm forgetting the title, but a fairly neat film wherein a modern-day US aircraft carrier ends up in Hawaiian waters just prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. Obviously this could tip the outcome, and even the length, of WWII, both through firepower and foreknowledge (one of the officers is a WWII history expert)... good cast.
02-27-03, 09:02 AM
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Chipmaker, could that be The Final Countdown? Which reminded me of The Philadelphia Experiment. FWIW, Art Bell once remarked that his theory of time travel was closest to that of Somewhere in Time - I've tried it many times, no luck 
Last edited by Strafe; 02-27-03 at 09:05 AM.
02-27-03, 09:14 AM
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Originally posted by Strafe
Chipmaker, could that be The Final Countdown? Which reminded me of The Philadelphia Experiment. FWIW, Art Bell once remarked that his theory of time travel was closest to that of Somewhere in Time - I've tried it many times, no luck
Chipmaker, could that be The Final Countdown? Which reminded me of The Philadelphia Experiment. FWIW, Art Bell once remarked that his theory of time travel was closest to that of Somewhere in Time - I've tried it many times, no luck
02-27-03, 10:34 AM
#14
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JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN - intriguing film from the UK - one of the best!
MILLENIUM - one of my "guilty pleasure" movies. Yeah, I know it's cheesy, but a fun cast and some mind-bending time paradoxes will keep you guessing.
DISASTER IN TIME - a gem from 1992 directed by David Twohy (Pitch Black, The Arrival) about a strange tour group that shows up at a country inn. Highly reccommended!
MILLENIUM - one of my "guilty pleasure" movies. Yeah, I know it's cheesy, but a fun cast and some mind-bending time paradoxes will keep you guessing.
DISASTER IN TIME - a gem from 1992 directed by David Twohy (Pitch Black, The Arrival) about a strange tour group that shows up at a country inn. Highly reccommended!
02-27-03, 01:17 PM
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Echo 12 Monkeys, Donnie Darko, and Time After Time. One I enjoy that has not been mentioned yet is Slaughter House Five.
BTW: if you haven’t read it, Asimov’s End of Eternity presents an interesting view of time travel.
BTW: if you haven’t read it, Asimov’s End of Eternity presents an interesting view of time travel.
03-02-03, 04:47 PM
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Time Travel is one of my favorite genres (or is it a sub-genre?) to be sure! So please excuse my runoff if you will.
My favorite of all of these, is still the original "The Time Machine" (1960) as mentioned earlier in the thread. It's done in such a way that it almost seems possible. And the start up setting in Victorian England just gives it a certain unique charm.
The recent remake (2002) is just OK IMHO. I would argue that the original is still better especially in character development (although the special effects in the newer one are obviously more advanced).
Star Trek as also mentioned earlier has several TV episodes and films where Time Travel is an important part of the story.
One particularly good relatively recent example is the episode "The Year Of Living Hell" from "Star Trek: Voyager" which deals with a man who repeatedly alters the timeline to save his dead wife. Each interference makes things worse than before!
One of the most popular from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series is "Yesterday's Enterprise" which presents several time paradoxes. There is also another one where the crew and ship is a time loop where the Enterprise is destroyed then reappears only to be destroyed again. (Don't remember the name of that one). In this one the Deja Vu is real!
Of course, "Doctor Who" is another popular example in both film and TV episodes who travels through time in his Tardis as part of(or close to) every episode.
And as also mentioned earlier another well known Time Travel example is Planet of the Apes in both the original (1974) and remake (2001) forms.
In the original story 1974 and beyond arc through several sequels the time paradoxes play an ever greater role. With each succeeding film we learn how the apes became intelligent and assumed dominant control over humans. Although, the time travel mechanism is never really explained as I recall.
Two other TV based Time Travel related series were the popular "Quantum Leap" (1989) and the much older "Time Tunnel" (1966). There are also time travel TV episodes in both "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits" (1963).
True, these are not feature films. But with the increasing availability of classic TV shows on DVD (without commericials), the line blurs somewhat with standard film offerings.
Time travel also comes into some play in the recent spy spoof "Austin Powers" films but not in any serious way.
There are also serious time travel discussions in science documentaries such as Cosmos.
The classic grandfather paradox is "If you travel back in time and kill your grandfather as a youth, then what happens to you?" If you stop existing then how could you travel back in time in the first place? (I never figured out why anyone would want to kill their grandfather anyway).
This has been a fascinating subject for both scientists and everyone else for who knows how long?
My favorite of all of these, is still the original "The Time Machine" (1960) as mentioned earlier in the thread. It's done in such a way that it almost seems possible. And the start up setting in Victorian England just gives it a certain unique charm.
The recent remake (2002) is just OK IMHO. I would argue that the original is still better especially in character development (although the special effects in the newer one are obviously more advanced).
Star Trek as also mentioned earlier has several TV episodes and films where Time Travel is an important part of the story.
One particularly good relatively recent example is the episode "The Year Of Living Hell" from "Star Trek: Voyager" which deals with a man who repeatedly alters the timeline to save his dead wife. Each interference makes things worse than before!
One of the most popular from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series is "Yesterday's Enterprise" which presents several time paradoxes. There is also another one where the crew and ship is a time loop where the Enterprise is destroyed then reappears only to be destroyed again. (Don't remember the name of that one). In this one the Deja Vu is real!
Of course, "Doctor Who" is another popular example in both film and TV episodes who travels through time in his Tardis as part of(or close to) every episode.
And as also mentioned earlier another well known Time Travel example is Planet of the Apes in both the original (1974) and remake (2001) forms.
In the original story 1974 and beyond arc through several sequels the time paradoxes play an ever greater role. With each succeeding film we learn how the apes became intelligent and assumed dominant control over humans. Although, the time travel mechanism is never really explained as I recall.
Two other TV based Time Travel related series were the popular "Quantum Leap" (1989) and the much older "Time Tunnel" (1966). There are also time travel TV episodes in both "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits" (1963).
True, these are not feature films. But with the increasing availability of classic TV shows on DVD (without commericials), the line blurs somewhat with standard film offerings.
Time travel also comes into some play in the recent spy spoof "Austin Powers" films but not in any serious way.
There are also serious time travel discussions in science documentaries such as Cosmos.
The classic grandfather paradox is "If you travel back in time and kill your grandfather as a youth, then what happens to you?" If you stop existing then how could you travel back in time in the first place? (I never figured out why anyone would want to kill their grandfather anyway).
This has been a fascinating subject for both scientists and everyone else for who knows how long?
Last edited by 3Js; 03-02-03 at 05:43 PM.
03-02-03, 07:26 PM
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Will have to check out Donnie Darko - I'm a fan of this genre, and familiar with just about everything mentioned except that.
03-03-03, 08:21 AM
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03-03-03, 09:19 AM
#23
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Originally posted by 3Js
...
The classic grandfather paradox is "If you travel back in time and kill your grandfather as a youth, then what happens to you?" If you stop existing then how could you travel back in time in the first place? (I never figured out why anyone would want to kill their grandfather anyway).
...
...
The classic grandfather paradox is "If you travel back in time and kill your grandfather as a youth, then what happens to you?" If you stop existing then how could you travel back in time in the first place? (I never figured out why anyone would want to kill their grandfather anyway).
...
