What Are Your Favorite Time Travel Movies?

[Moviefan2k4]

I didn't see this listed, so I decided to start it. Here's some of mine, to start things off:

Back to the Future
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Blast From the Past
Field of Dreams
Flight of the Navigator
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek: First Contact
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
Terminator 2: Judgment Day

[Mr. Lost]

Back to the Future

[Rblu-Dblu]

Timecop!

[Tony208]

Not really a favorite of mine but, no one mentioned it so far so I'll toss it out there.

The Time Machine - Guy Pearce

My favorites are

12 Monkeys
Terminator series

[octagon]

Back to the Future
Timecrimes
12 Monkeys (good call)
Star Trek: First Contact
The Butterfly Effect (not the best of movies but a great premise)
Terminator/T2
Austin Powers (lol, can't remember if I liked all of them or not)
The Final Countdown (how did I forget this, it's a terrible movie and yet there was something...)

Honorable TV Mentions
Dr. Who
Life on Mars (BBC)
ST:TOS:City on the Edge of Forever
ST:TNG:Yesterday's Enterprise
Journeyman (really wish this could have survived the writers strike)

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by Rblu-Dblu

Timecop!

I forgot about that one; I like it, too.

[Al_The_Strange]

"Terminator 2: Judgment Day" tops my list. It's a fine story with lots of swell action.

I love all three parts of "Back to the Future" pretty equally.
A lot of my other favorites have already been mentioned.

In order, from most liked to least, it'd look like this:

"T2"
"Back to the Future" Trilogy
"Planet of the Apes" 1968
"Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"
"Donnie Darko"
"Army of Darkness"
"The Terminator"
"Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me"
"Timecrimes"
"The Butterfly Effect"
"Star Trek: First Contact"
"Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery"
"The Time Machine" 1960
"12 Monkeys"
"Demolition Man" (sorta)
"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"
"Blast from the Past" (one of very few romcoms I actually liked)
"Bill and Ted" Duology
"GI Samurai" (aka "The Time Slip")
"Hot Tub Time Machine"
"Austin Powers: Goldmember"
"The Time Machine" 2002 (consider it a guilty pleasure; the film kinda does suck)
"Timecop"

As a kid, I remember seeing "The Philadelphia Experiment" one or two times, and thought it was alright. I also remember seeing a sequel that was kinda interesting. As it is though, I barely remember them.

"Slaughterhouse Five" is also worthwhile sci-fi, but I found it extremely weird.

"Primer" was interesting too, but I wouldn't call it a favorite.

[ElliesDad]

No love for Kate and Leopold?

+1 The Time Machine (1960)~ Rod Taylor, T2

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

I didn't see this listed, so I decided to start it. Here's some of mine, to start things off:

Back to the Future
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Blast From the Past
Field of Dreams
Flight of the Navigator
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek: First Contact
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
Terminator 2: Judgment Day

While I like Blast From the Past a lot (and it's one of my wife's favorites), I wouldn't count it as a "Time Travel" movie. Nobody actually travels through time in it. They just live in a fallout shelter for over 30 years and just miss out on the changes in their local town and society in general. Nobody actually goes forward or back in time. It's more of a 'fish out of water' story than anything.

Otherwise I agree with most of your list (and would extend Back to the Future to include the entire Trilogy, and with that by far being at the top of my list). I don't know if I would include Turtles III, though. I don't hate it quite as much as many other people do, but it's still not that great (but that's just me).

Hot Tub Time Machine was fun. And I liked the Austin Powers sequels, so I guess that kind of counts, though I don't focus on them as "time travel movies" per say (even though time travel is part of their plots).



As for another film that a few people have listed, Timecop.... Bah! I hated that movie. I only saw it all the way through once, and that was many years ago, so I don't have a fresh memory of movie. But I recall it basically being one big plothole after another. I know that it's difficult to make a time travel movie without at least some amount of contradiction or arguable plotholes, but that movie takes the cake! I actually had a running jokes years ago with a couple of friends of mine... whenever we would see it on the shelf at a store, we would joke that it has so many plotholes that it's also sucking in the plots of the movies sitting next to it on the shelf.

And don't get me started on the whole "the same matter can't occupy the same space at the same time" thing. DIFFERENT matter can't occupy the same space at the same time. If I touch my own 2 hands together, technically one hand is occupying the space immediately next to the other one, and NOT the same space. Not to mention that if I recall correctly, on the few occasions where they had 2 of the same person together (and the one case where we see the supposed 'consequence' of 'the same matter occupying the same space') one version of the person is many years older than the other. Given things like how we shed skin cells and they reproduce, etc, the person wouldn't technically be made up of the "same matter" as his duplicate anyway. The same DNA, sure, but not the same matter. If it was the same person from like an hour in the future, I could maybe see the argument for it (but even then it would be stupid), but this is even more absurd. I know some people will argue that I'm "over thinking" things, but IMO this is basic common knowledge, and stuff like this just pops out at me and bugs me when it's clear that they are writing this stuff for the lowest common denominator of viewers.

I also laughed hard at an episode of South Park where the kids were shopping at Wall-Mart (the change in spelling intentional from the show), and Cartman was going to buy a pack of 3 copies of Timecop for something like $10 (a joke off of multiple crappy movies being packed together for cheap, only in this case, the same movie), and Kyle questions the logic in it and says, "I'm going to buy 1 copy for $5..... wait a minute, I don't even like Timecop!"

[chetripley80]

"Back To The Future" is a classic, with one of the best scripts of all time.

"Primer" is the only movie to make me think time travel could be a possibility one day.

[Foggy]

Does Source Code count?

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

While I like Blast From the Past a lot (and it's one of my wife's favorites), I wouldn't count it as a "Time Travel" movie. Nobody actually travels through time in it. They just live in a fallout shelter for over 30 years and just miss out on the changes in their local town and society in general. Nobody actually goes forward or back in time. It's more of a 'fish out of water' story than anything.

I know, but the time shift is so notable, I thought it qualified.

Otherwise I agree with most of your list (and would extend Back to the Future to include the entire Trilogy, and with that by far being at the top of my list).

Since the events of the trilogy take place so close together in the narrative (even though it wasn't planned that way), I tend to think of the series as one film. The first is still my personal fave, though.

I don't know if I would include Turtles III, though. I don't hate it quite as much as many other people do, but it's still not that great (but that's just me).

Well, I like all of them, although I agree the second is a little too restrained in the weaponry department. I love when Michaelangelo tries to cook a pizza in the past, but winds up throwing it like a Frisbee.

As for another film that a few people have listed, Timecop.... Bah! I hated that movie. I only saw it all the way through once, and that was many years ago, so I don't have a fresh memory of movie. But I recall it basically being one big plot hole after another. I know that it's difficult to make a time travel movie without at least some amount of contradiction or arguable plot holes, but that movie takes the cake!

I've seen that one several times, and I didn't notice a large amount of plot holes. Its a little cheesy (and has some issues I don't like), but I mostly get a kick out of it. I'd probably buy it on Blu-Ray, if it was given a solo release.

And don't get me started on the whole "the same matter can't occupy the same space at the same time" thing. DIFFERENT matter can't occupy the same space at the same time. If I touch my own 2 hands together, technically one hand is occupying the space immediately next to the other one, and NOT the same space. Not to mention that if I recall correctly, on the few occasions where they had 2 of the same person together (and the one case where we see the supposed 'consequence' of 'the same matter occupying the same space') one version of the person is many years older than the other. Given things like how we shed skin cells and they reproduce, etc, the person wouldn't technically be made up of the "same matter" as his duplicate anyway. The same DNA, sure, but not the same matter. If it was the same person from like an hour in the future, I could maybe see the argument for it (but even then it would be stupid), but this is even more absurd. I know some people will argue that I'm "over thinking" things, but IMO this is basic common knowledge, and stuff like this just pops out at me and bugs me when it's clear that they are writing this stuff for the lowest common denominator of viewers.

You are making my head hurt, and I'm usually pretty good at getting my mind around this stuff.

[Blu Ian]

Back to the future.
Timecop.
Bill and Ted.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Does Source Code count?

I wondered that too. Technically, it's just one

[Show spoiler]cloned

guy reliving the same moment in a slice of alternate reality. In that respect, I'd say it's not time travel, just screwing around with the space/time continuum.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

And don't get me started on the whole "the same matter can't occupy the same space at the same time" thing. DIFFERENT matter can't occupy the same space at the same time. If I touch my own 2 hands together, technically one hand is occupying the space immediately next to the other one, and NOT the same space. Not to mention that if I recall correctly, on the few occasions where they had 2 of the same person together (and the one case where we see the supposed 'consequence' of 'the same matter occupying the same space') one version of the person is many years older than the other. Given things like how we shed skin cells and they reproduce, etc, the person wouldn't technically be made up of the "same matter" as his duplicate anyway. The same DNA, sure, but not the same matter. If it was the same person from like an hour in the future, I could maybe see the argument for it (but even then it would be stupid), but this is even more absurd. I know some people will argue that I'm "over thinking" things, but IMO this is basic common knowledge, and stuff like this just pops out at me and bugs me when it's clear that they are writing this stuff for the lowest common denominator of viewers.

I'm assuming you're talking about those issues in these movies where the characters always fret about meeting their other selves when time travelling (ala "BTTF II," when the doc exclaims that Marty meeting himself could rip apart the space/time continuum; come to think of it, Biff did it to himself, and everything turned out okay, so I don't see what the problem was ). Yeah, I'm never sure what to think about this.

I can certainly understand the paradox of changing history so that the future changes (and ultimately, displacing the time traveller), but even then nobody's really sure what would happen. Would the traveller exist on a parallell universe of events, or will the universe indeed be destroyed?

Thinking about this just further affirms my belief that time travel is literally impossible anyway (at least for travelling backwards; you could technically move forward all you want via time dilation (ala "POTA"), as long as you have a faster-than-light vehicle).

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I'm assuming you're talking about those issues in these movies where the characters always fret about meeting their other selves when time traveling (ala "BTTF II," when the doc exclaims that Marty meeting himself could rip apart the space/time continuum; come to think of it, Biff did it to himself, and everything turned out okay, so I don't see what the problem was ). Yeah, I'm never sure what to think about this.

Robert Zemeckis tried explaining that, by saying that the young Biff's attitude and the 60-year age difference meant he didn't recognize his older self. It's a little sketchy, but still plausible.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

Robert Zemeckis tried explaining that, by saying that the young Biff's attitude and the 60-year age difference meant he didn't recognize his older self. It's a little sketchy, but still plausible.

I did forget all about that; the younger self really didn't recognize his older self. Yeah, it would work in that case.

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

Back to the Future movies
The Butterfly Effect
Terminator movies
Quantum Leap series
The Time Machine (Remake)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

[Al_The_Strange]

I just remembered: "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" was pretty decent.

[rkolinski]

The Time Machine (1960)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Brigadoon
Forever Young
Midnight in Paris
Somewhere in Time
Time After Time
Triangle
Terminator movies
Back to the Future movies