Time Travel discussion
Time Travel TV Shows
>
Non Time-Travel TV shows with Time-Travel episodes
If you're into more wacky humor, I have to say "The Late Philip J. Fry" from the show Futurama is one of my favorites. It's a couple of years old but it's available on Netflix (streaming too). The show deals with a lot of time travel already, but this one I thought was pretty special, and it even won an Emmy!
Mod
I watched a mini series made in 2007 called Lost Room. Really good sci fi and in a way involves a little time travel because the story is about a portal in the form of a motel room that's in the past. A set of special keys accesses this room from any door in the world and enables you to emerge where ever you want. Not strictly time travel but it involves an element of it.
Tej wrote: "OK I thought we have a new thread to talk about any shows you have seen recently with a TT theme thats worth mentioning, rating or reviewing.I'll start off with an episode Twilight Zone that
D..."
Sorry about that, Tej. I was not even thinking about my comment being a spoiler--I have edited the post.
Mod
Alcatrez premiered last night on FOX. It has a time travel theme. I enjoyed it. But I was also a huge fan of LOST!
Mod
Mod
Oh thats good to hear! I've been anticipating Alcatrax for a long while since I saw the trailer earlier in the year. We'll be getting it in UK in March. Oh I too love Lost, one of the best TV shows ever :)
Debbie wrote: "Alcatrez premiered last night on FOX. It has a time travel theme. I enjoyed it. But I was also a huge fan of LOST!"I was a big fan of LOST too, and I think the 5th season was the best. They could have ended the series there.
Mod
Even though the time travel occurs just the once, this causes interest TT repurcussions in different ways for everyone. The mystery of what happened to them is an intriguing story arc and other interesting stuff seems to have happened to them.
Its a fantastic premise and I enjoyed the first 2 episodes which nicely develops the main characters and their attempt to reconnected with loved ones from the past, etc. This series got cancelled after 4 seasons.
Anyone else see this series?
Mod
1st book
http://www.amazon.com/The-4400-Welcom...
Final book
http://www.amazon.com/4400-Promises-B...
Mod
Favorites of mine:-- The "Blink" episode of Dr. Who.
-- From the original Star Trek, "City on the Edge of Forever".
-- Although technically not time travel, I loved the ST:TNG episode of "Inner Light".
The whole 4th season of Syfy's "Eureka" dealt with time travel, and the after-effects of going to the past and coming back (of course, after having made some changes of various degrees).Awesome how they tied the episodes together (kinda like a friendlier, funnier, less creepy version of "Fringe").
Tej wrote: "I'll keep note of that one, thanks! I also recall a Simpsons TT episode, involving a fridge, it was hilarious but I cant for the life of remember the plot."It was a mini-episode in the "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episode from season 6. Homer tries to fix a toaster and ends up creating a time machine that takes him to the Jurassic period for just a few seconds (long enough for Homer to do some damage) and then zips back to the present.
An awesome episode that even features a cameo by Mr. Peabody & Sherman (who used "The Way-Back Machine" on the Bullwinkle cartoons).
"Don't touch anything... Don't touch anything... Stupid bug! You go squish now!"
Adam wrote: "If you're into more wacky humor, I have to say "The Late Philip J. Fry" from the show Futurama is one of my favorites. It's a couple of years old but it's available on Netflix (streaming too). The ..."If anyone's interested, new Futurama episodes have started up again here on the East Coast of the USA. I am sure there will be some time travel themed episodes this season. :)
John wrote: "I just read about Alcatraz. Sounds like an interesting concept. I will have to add it to my ever growing DVR list."I just saw Alcatraz and I found it a very good and interesting series. But you must know, that there will be no second season. After thirteen episodes it is over and so many questions are unanswered. It is sad, because the idea and the making of this series was a good thing.
Mod
Unfortunately, time travel seems to be a tough sell for a television show. One of my favorite series was "Journeyman" which also ended after just one season. However, it may have fallen victim to the writer's strike that occured at that time. That show also left many unanswered questions at a time that things were just getting interesting.
John wrote: "Unfortunately, time travel seems to be a tough sell for a television show. One of my favorite series was "Journey..."I watched Journeyman too. Another good one. And, yes, it ended too soon. And like Alcatraz after thirteen episodes. Coincidence or just a bad omen because of the "13"? Another one is Terra Nova. Just thirteen episodes. We can only hope that the great TV networks bring out a series, that will last a little bit longer.
Enrico wrote: "Another one is Terra Nova. Just thirteen episodes."I think the problem with Terra Nova was the premise itself.
A: "The world is running out of resources. We must go back in time to when the world was plentiful."
B: "I know! Let's go WAAAY back in time to when we weren't the top of the food chain and our fossil fuels were still the dominant species!"
A: "Excellent idea!"
I think this is just ultimately another example of Hollywood writers (blame executive meddling too) really having no clue how to write time travel effectively.
I still contend that the best, most well-thought-out portrayal of time travel is "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure". (Even then, they didn't have good follow-through in the sequel.)
Mod
Be excellent to each other. Party on, dudes!
'E. T.' was on the tube last weekend, on the local old movie channel, what a great movie.The scene at the end, when everyone who had been snatched through the years returned, was what made the story for me.
Time travel is one thing, but this was the first instance of it in a major production that I recall that was as a consequence of abduction.
But keeping on the TV theme, does anyone remember 'The Time Tunnel' from back in the day?
This might be the first TV series about TT that caught on.
Howard wrote: "'E. T.' was on the tube last weekend, ... The scene at the end, when everyone who had been snatched through the years returned, was what made the story for me.""E.T."? Don't you mean "Close Encounters"?
Jamie, duh, yes.I guess I was in another Timeframe there, sorry.
But I was right about 'The Time Tunnel' title, a cheaply made Irwin Allen thing, but a cult, off the wall classic w/ Bobby Darin & Lee Merriweather, a former Miss America.
The storylines are a hoot, with interactions that are historically ridiculous & all kinds of ramifications that are never resolved or even acknowledged & all acted badly but with a straight face.
It's like slapstick but it wasn't, so it's ironic as well, still entertaining if you want to laugh at something that wasn't meant to be funny.
I heard they made a newer pilot that didn't make it.
Stuck in another Timeframe, I guess, just like me.
Howard, I remember "The Time Tunnel". Do you remember "It's About Time"? The theme song (which is about all I remember of the show) started with "It's about time, it's about space, about two men in the strangest place."
Dan, of course, it starred Imogene Coca (who was on 'Your show of Shows' with Sid Caesar) & Joe E Ross (who was in 'Car 54 where are you?').He always said 'OOO, OOO' before each line but this was not written for him, rather he needed a second to remember what to say next & he did this in Car 54 also.
Apparently he always did it & it became his trademark.
Unlike 'The Time Tunnel' the show was meant to be off the wall & if you look closely you may recognise props & settings from "Gilligan's Island' as both shows were created by Sherwood Schultz.
It didn't last long but Coca was a comic genius & Ross was always funny.
I think the astronauts, who had gone back in time, eventually fixed their space ship & took this crazy pair back to the present.
But you're right, the most memorable thing was the theme song so thanks a lot as now I'll be hearing it in my head all day.
Mod
Btw Howard, it was James Darren, not Bobby Darren, another 60s singer! He's the Holodeck crooner in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the cop in TJ Hooker.
This was only just released on DVD last year and includes the 2002 failed pilot.
Thanks for reminding us about this series, fellas, I just added the disk with last 4 episodes and the 2002 pilot to my Lovefilm DVD rental queue. Will post up thoughts on that failed pilot when I've seen it
Dan, I never heard of Its About Time, apart from the theme tune tune was it a funny series? I was curious about the theme tune, here is a youtube clip of it, I'm almost expecting to hear yabbadabbadoo, lol. Bizarrely, the credits list Richard Donner as director! (ie Superman, The Omen, Lethal Weapon etc).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1G-Ts...
Tej, thanks for the Darren correction, obvious my memory was in another Timeframe there.About the 'It's About Time' clip, I checked it out & thanks but it jogged another memory & it has a strange UK connection I think you might like.
In the clip it lists Coca's character as 'Shag' but they quickly changed it, for the show was shown in the UK and, as anyone who's seen the Austin Power movies knows, 'shag' has quite another definition in Britain.
OOO, OOO, as Joe E. Ross would say.
Howard wrote: "Dan, of course, it starred Imogene Coca (who was on 'Your show of Shows' with Sid Caesar) & Joe E Ross (who was in 'Car 54 where are you?').He always said 'OOO, OOO' before each line but this was..."
Me too. It is now stuck in my head.... :(, I seem to remember Imogen Coca as a wacky cave woman in this show, but it's a very cloudy memory...
Mod
The Doug character was the main attention, an ex secret service member, shown to have a wife and kid but pulled back into duty because of an "incident". A time tunnel was built (unlike original Doug, he had no involvement and awareness of its existence until now) but a phenomenon called a Time Storm occurs in different time zones, causing ripples in history which the scientist can detect. The way it causes ripples is that it throws someone from one time period to another! Stupid concept.
Now, this time tunnel is buried underground and is in some sort of bubble that protects the scientists and staff from the effects of the ripples thus they remember history how it was before the changes. The incident for which Doug was brought in to assist was that this time storm has caused ripples in from 1944 France during WW2. DOug has specialist knowledge of the time and place for some reason unexplained. So he is made a member of the team of soldiers to find the person responsible for the changes who would be from a different time. Tony is a woman soldier in this re-incarnation and also has no scientific background, again unlike the original character.
The episode has interesting ideas but sloppily exectuted. The time bubble idea reminds me of Alex Scarrow's Timeriders series but of Scarrows books are infinitely better thought out.
The episode lacks charisma and has the dull vibe of Terra Nova. Its not bad, I was engaged enough but overall its flat and I can see why this failed to get a series. Also, the complete changes to Doug and Tony's characters is a turn off because they are extraordinarily dull. There was a nice little twist at the end, and there would have been potential if it had more spark to it. Just doesnt seem to have a great dynamic to sustain a long term interest.
The disk I borrowed also had the last 2 episodes of Time Tunnel and an original unaired pilot featuring all of the original cast. So I watched this too and boy is it still great fun to watch. The 2002 pilot may have the modern production values but it just cant hold a finger to the charm of the original, tacky effects n'all! The episode itself was basically how I remembered the first episode to be, based on the Titanic. So I am not sure what the difference is between this unaired pilot and the official one as it all looked familiar. This unaired pilot was a great introduction to the time tunnel team. Will borrow the first disk now to compare the episodes and if I find myself getting hooked into the whole series again, I may buy the boxset which I see going for £15.
Mod
Ha, yeah if this was a British forum, that word would have been censored!
Tej, an excellent review, many thanks.It's easy to see that 'the powers that be' agreed with you, hence the pilot didn't make it & I agree that added effects alone can carry you only so far & without good acting, script or overall direction.
So, the episode you mentioned about the Titanic, this was the one with Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth stood still) as the captain?
Mod
Tej, I know you live in London & I'm been meaning to ask you something, but perhaps you're too young.The Blackadder series, aside from 4 years of episodes, had many specials.
One was about time travel (Blackadder: Back & Forth) & it was very funny.
Strangely, unlike the other pieces, it had no laugh track.
Of course, I suppose if you hadn't seen the other programs first you wouldn't get the whole joke, but have you ever seen it & what was your impression?
I take it that the series was a phenomenon in the UK & has since passed into the social folklore, etc.
But also good twist on Time Travel, yes?
Mod
Just to be clear to everyone, Black Adder series was not about time travel at all but a comedy period piece set in 3 different zones of history, Elizabethean times, 17th century and one series set during WW2 all featuring the same cast but playing their own roles' descendants.
A quick look at the IMDB entry for the one off special you mention, has me putting the disk straight onto my Lovefilm rental queue! Yet another one you got me renting, lol. The time travel concept sounds brilliant and hilarious, do I need to have watched the early seasons to enjoy it though? Like i said I did see a few episodes of those earlier seasons, I hope its enough.
Oh and yes Blackadder is considered to be one of our all time British comedy classics, the humour is very British and I would imagine much of it would be perplexing to rest of the world! Although you seem to find the British humour palatable but it is an acquired taste for Americans isnt it? I see some of our hits had been remade for an American audience, most notable in recent times is The Office and I can understand why.
Regards to laughter track, I would say we have a 50/50 mixture of sitcoms with and without. Blackadder however, always had a laughter tracks from what I remember? I do notice we use it much less liberally than American sitcoms, would you agree? I mean many of our sitcoms just have chuckles in the laughter track, not sure what that says about our sense of humour...
Tej, not to correct you, but the series ran four seasons not three, plus the specials, etc.You forgot the first year which had Brian Blessed, another of my favorites & I believe another huge British phenom('Gordon Lives').
Blackadder: Back and Forth (the one about Time Travel) was the last special in 2000 & I remember this because Hugh Lorrie of 'House' fame, who started appearing in the 3rd series, makes a toast at dinner to the new miliumum, which starts them talking about the past & then about Time Travel.
But yes, I'm a big fan of everything British & this started long ago as I love history & I don't need another language to enjoy English history.
And there's nothing wrong with British humor, just a different tilt & that's what it's all about, yes?
Tej, here's the link to the Time Travel Blackadder:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwKvtd...
Very funny I think, even minus the laugh track.
Forgot to add that I'm Timetraveling over the holiday & won't be back in your Timeframe until next week.Happy Birthday America.
Mod
Happy time travelling Howard, if its not too much trouble, please bring back a Mattel Hoverboard for me, secondhand though, i dont think I can afford to pay you back for a new one :)
Wrong direction Tej, I'm heading to the past, in fact I'm late.Of course, once I'm gone it won't be an issue.
Tally ho.
Mod
Mod
Its an enjoyable half hour of a quintessentially English version of Bill and Ted's excellent adventure. As Blackadder and Bodrick races through time dropping off at several time periods to pick up pieces of history but inadvertently changing it as they do so. Jokes are hit and miss and in all honesty, the comedy is sometimes crude low brow stuff, which is not my cup of tea as we say in England ;) The absent laughter track is a bit unnerving actually because the way comedy is delivered, you expect it. There are distinct differences in the way comedy is delivered between shows with laughter tracks and those without. Office (UK) for instance, uses no laughter track as the comedy is more subtle and paced out. But Blackadder comedy has canon shot delivery with pauses for the laughter to die down, so the laughter track should be in there!
Anyway the actual time travel stuff was rather good with appropriate (and funny) repercussions occurring with every time meddle.
Its just half hour, folks, give it shot from Howard's youtube link.
Mod
Great fun. The time travel rules are well defined and the cause and effects of time travel are gleefully orchestrated in its complexity. Its a little tongue in cheek with its humour but the stars are likeable.
There are only 8 episodes and I will watch them all as I receive each disk and summarise my thoughts at the end.
I also watched the one single video extra on the disk which was an interview with the creator/writer of the show. To my surprise, it was Andrew Horroritz, a very successful British author/poet who wrote the the popular Alex Rider series. His thoughts on the series is extemely candid, he's proud of it but he also has regrets and misgivings about certain elements of it. Well I'll see what he means when I have watched the rest of it.
Oh and thanks Randy for letting us know about this series.
One thing that always bothered me about the rules of Crime Travellers -- one rule says you can't meet yourself, while another says you need to get back to the machine by the time you left.That seems like a way too easy way to meet yourself -- needing to go back to the physical spot where you started the trip.
I enjoyed it though, and wish there had been more episodes.
Mod
That se..."
I've watched 4 episodes now and so far the rules are holding quite firmly. Loving the twists, cause and effects that loop around. Its very entertaining so far. The stars are likeable.
I am also revisiting all of the Twilight Zone episodes but this time in its remastered Blu Ray release form. I kicked off with a time travel episode called Walking Distance about an overworked city worker who pulls up at a petrol station near his old childhood hometown. As he strolls around the town, everything looks exactly as he remembered it...too exact! I remember this one well but its a nice episode to see again. On the Blu Ray there are a few lectures by a much older Rod Serling 10-20 odd years after the show, lecturing to students about screen writing by criticising his own early works such as this very episode. He is very funny but he really lays it thick on the flaws of this episode's witing that the flaws now stick out like a sore thumb! I see what he means though, mainly its the unrealistic reaction of the main character finding himself gone back in time and when he meets his parents but its still a great episode imo.
I then watched one of my favourite episodes, the awesome one with William Shatner (no not the gremlin one), where he and his fiance stops by a diner and Shatner becomes obsessed with a fortune telling machine. Not strictly time travel but the power of this episode plays on Shatner's believing in the machine fortune telling and matching its seemingly vague predictions with the events that soon unfold, which could potentially ruin his life and his relationship with his fiance. Its still psychologically frightening and brillant.
I know there are few more TT episodes to come, inlcuding the one with Buster Keaton which Howard mentioned a while back. Will cover all of them in due course :)
Quite a few TV shows have an episode based on A Christmas Carol. All of those could be classified as time travel, since they go to past and future Christmases to observe events.
Mod
I think we have classified A Christmas Carol a strand of time travel so any tv series with similar them would be too. What TV series are you thinking about?
Mod
So is the The Time Element any good? Oh my, it is a brilliant little time travel tale! Full of humour, fantastic dialogue, terrific performances and totally engaging. What a gem. Its start with a man walking into a psychiatrist office. "Doctor, I keep having these re-occuring dreams where I find myself travelling back in time. It feels so real". That's all I'll give about the episode but I think you get the gist from that.
I cant believe such a great episode has had such little exposure. There is a caveat though. I really dont like the ending, made no logical sense within its own rules and feels sloppy to what's gone before. Such a shame it falls at the very final hurdle. But in terms of entertainment, this is one of the best and being a rarely seen episode makes this even more special.
The only way you can see this episode is to buy/borrow the Blu Ray. Its not on the DVD box set released years ago, I have that and it definitely was not in that set. Its only on the last year release Blu Ray. Borrow it from your video rental service. Fifth disk, first season (assuming the US layout is the same as UK)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0745802/
Edit: Well I see its on Youtube but very poor picture quality and I suspect not legally. The Blu Ray very version is clean and sharp, I do recommend you give it a rental treatment.
Tej wrote: "Well I received the Time Tunnel DVD (just the last disk in the box set) from my LoveFilm library and watched the failed 2002 pilot.The Doug character was the main attention, an ex secret service ..."
None of these stories are ANYthing like the original TT novel...which is more like the first episode of Doctor Who...complete with old Professor and grand children.
I'll start off with an episode Twilight Zone that
Dan, on the book competition thread mentioned, featuring baby Hitler. Now I have seen every single black and white episode and some of the 80s revival but this episode is part of the the 2nd revival in 2002/3. I did not know of this newer series so, intrigued with this episode I searched for a UK DVD release. We dont have any. However, I found that some episodes are on youtube. I dont like watch anything in less than broadcast quality but I have no choice, so I watched it on youtube. Quality is not too bad but of course is worse than a standard def broadcast.
This is a great episode. Good performances and a great twist but unfortunately Dan spoiled the ending for me! Dan, can you edit your original post slightly by not mentioning the ending ;)
You guys in the states might have it available in Netflix or DVD/BR rental libraries. Otherwise here is it on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q27q6E...