For as long as there’s been a concept of time, people have wondered about traveling backward and forward through it.
But it wasn’t until H.G. Wells dreamed up the idea of a time machine that time travel became a pop cultural sensation. It definitely makes sense – wouldn’t you want the opportunity to change your past for the better, or see how your future shakes out?
A new Ryan Reynolds vehicle is the latest to tackle those ideas, but we wanted to highlight some of our favorite time travel stories from the past as well.
Where do we start? Well, there’s no time like the present.
It’s not unusual for children to wonder what life will be like for them as adults, and what kind of adult they’ll be. But what would happen if you saw that life up close? How would you react if you had to team up with the adult version of yourself?
That’s the thrust of “The Adam Project,” Netflix’s latest science fiction blockbuster. Walker Scobell plays a kid named Adam, whose scientist father (Mark Ruffalo) recently died in an accident.
But one night, his future literally drops into his present, when adult Adam (Ryan Reynolds) crash-lands from the year 2050. Adult Adam has come back in time to find his wife (Zoe Saldana), but the two Adams end up joining forces to overcome their shared traumas and set the future right.
Critics and fans have compared “The Adam Project” to ‘80s time travel adventures like “Flight of the Navigator” and “Back to the Future.” It’s high praise, but Reynolds and “Free Guy” director Shawn Levy certainly show up for the task.
“The Adam Project” is currently streaming on Netflix.
Of course, no list of time travel recommendations would be complete without “Back to the Future.”
“Back to the Future” is the story of an average teenager (Michael J. Fox) who accidentally shoots 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean built by his mad scientist best friend, Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Once there, he accidentally interferes with the moment his parents met, thereby jeopardizing his own existence.
But “Back to the Future” is about more than temporal hijinks. It’s about the ties that unite generations, about how teenagers will always be teenagers no matter the decade, and about how kids and their parents can find common ground.
The first, of an eventual three films in the series, is also one of the best written and acted comedies of all time, with Fox and Lloyd as a supreme comic duo. As Fox’s parents, Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson excel at playing multiple versions of themselves, from awkward teenagers to jaded adults. And Philly native Thomas F. Wilson is truly a villain you love to hate, as high school bully Biff.
The rest of the trilogy, however, is totally about temporal hijinks. “Part II” is a cross-time caper that sees Fox’s Marty McFly travel to the future of 2015, and then back to 1955 in an effort to save his future from a meddling Biff.
“Part III,” on the other hand, trades the timeline complexity for a more straight-forward Western tale, as Marty and Lloyd’s Doc Brown find themselves in 1885.
As a piece of ‘80s nostalgia, “Back to the Future” is great, but the saga’s real strength is the timelessness of its narrative. Show the first movie to any kids now, and they’ll more than likely be able to relate. After all, who isn’t curious about who their parents used to be? And who doesn’t wonder about the future?
“Back to the Future,” “Part II” and “Part III” are all available for rent or purchase.
A deadly virus ravages humankind, leaving the survivors in underground bunkers. The only hope is to send one man back to find the virus so scientists can find a cure.
So begins Terry Gilliam’s “12 Monkeys,” starring Bruce Willis as a prisoner shuttling back and forth from post-apocalyptic Philadelphia to contemporary Baltimore to save the future. Brad Pitt plays a mental patient with a crucial role to play in the adventure, while Madeleine Stowe plays a psychiatrist who finds herself drawn into Willis’ quest.
The movie was shot in Philly and Baltimore, with Eastern State Penitentiary, Girard College, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center playing host to filming. Come for the sights, stay for the grimy, off-kilter story and Pitt’s much-lauded performance.
“12 Monkeys” is currently streaming on Peacock.
It’s Christmas, 2022, and a small band of soldiers from 30 years ahead arrive in the present to appeal for help. Earth has been overrun by alien creatures, and the only way to hold off extinction is to bring people forward from the past to fight for the future.
Thus begins “The Tomorrow War,” a big-budget adventure that casts Chris Pratt as a soldier-turned-science teacher who gets drafted into the conflict. There, he finds himself teamed up with a fast-talking tech executive (Sam Richardson), an intense draftee with nothing to lose (Edwin Hodge), and a by-the-book commanding officer with a secret (Yvonne Strahovski).
Despite its forward-looking title, “The Tomorrow War” feels like a throwback to splashy, star-driven science fiction movies from the ‘90s. Pratt, who also executive produced, is every bit the focus of the movie, with no shortage of moments to shine.
That said, Richardson, of “Detroiters” and “I Think You Should Leave” fame, steals the show with an easy, charming comic performance. You’ll end up wishing there were more of him in the movie, but like the time-traveling protagonists, you can always go back and relive his scenes.
“The Tomorrow War” is currently streaming on Prime Video.
Jean-Claude Van Damme was a budding action star in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s with a number of low-budget hits under his belt. But “Timecop” was his first blockbuster showcase, and with a talented crew and supporting cast behind him, he couldn’t fail.
Loosely based on a Dark Horse comic (and adapted by the comic’s creators, Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden), “Timecop” features Van Damme as Max Walker, the titular cop whose job is to stop criminals from exploiting time travel for their own ends. His latest assignment ends up pitting him against a corrupt senator (Ron Silver) out to pillage the past in order to fund his presidential campaign.
Director Peter Hyams draws Van Damme’s best performance up to that point, and surrounds him with a crackerjack cast including Bruce McGill as his boss, Mia Sara as his wife, and Gloria Reuben as his partner. There’s plenty of well-choreographed butt-kicking and a twisty plot that thankfully doesn’t get needlessly complicated.
As a Van Damme showcase, “Timecop” is among his best, but it’s a pretty great time travel adventure on its own.
“Timecop” is available for rent or purchase.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Trilogy
Sometimes, two high school burnouts might actually save the world... as long as they pass history class. “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” kicks off the Gen X time travel adventure trilogy, with best friends Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) having trouble with their history homework. Enter: Rufus (George Carlin) from the future.
Rufus has traveled back in time to ensure that Bill and Ted stay friends so their band, Wyld Stallyns, stays together. You see, without the Wyld Stallyns’ music (stay with us, here), the utopian society that Rufus comes from would cease to exist.
Rufus provides the dim-witted duo with a phone booth time machine (how very “Doctor Who” of them!) so they can interact with the historical figures they have to write an essay on, and thus pass the class.
The rest of the trilogy follows the boys on their quest to write the song that inspires the future Utopia, and all the hijinks that ensue. We know, it sounds ridiculous, but that’s why it’s awesome.
“Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey” are currently streaming on HBO Max. “Bill and Ted Face the Music” is currently streaming on Hulu.
As of 2022, the “Terminator” franchise is wrapped up in all sorts of tangled time travel nonsense (and very real legal red tape). But in 1984, it was simply one of the most invigorating movies in theaters.
Even now, “The Terminator” holds up as a lean, brutal thriller. Its quick but amazing future war prologue sets up a simple conflict. An evil cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back in time to murder the mother (Linda Hamilton) of the future savior of the human race. The humans send a dogged soldier (Michael Biehn) back to save her.
The road to get there was not as straightforward. Cameron conceived the title role as an average-looking person who could fit in anywhere, specifically for his friend Lance Henriksen (who he would later cast as an android in “Aliens”). The studio, meanwhile, wanted O.J. Simpson. Cameron balked, thinking the ex-football player and smiling Hertz pitchman could never be believable as a killer robot.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger was courted by studio bosses to play heroic Kyle Reese. But he was more interested in what the Terminator could and should do, and Cameron could see a guy like him as a menacing villain.
The rest became film history. Schwarzenegger embodied one of cinema’s most feared villains (and later one of its most oddly endearing heroes) while Biehn and Hamilton’s chemistry more than held the screen when the Terminator wasn’t around.
And even Henriksen got in on the action as an ill-fated detective. Everybody won, especially moviegoers.
“The Terminator” is currently streaming on Prime Video.
“Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished…”
Thus began the cult TV series “Quantum Leap,” starring Scott Bakula as a scientist buffeted back and forth through time, leaping into the bodies of others and working to change history for the better, one life at a time.
Baby boomer nostalgia was baked into the core concept. Bakula’s Sam was restricted to leaping to any time before 1953, allowing the writers to quickly discard more fantastical scenarios and focus more on small-scale heroics.
Aiding Sam was Al, the government observer of the project, who appeared to Sam as a hologram. Played memorably by the late Dean Stockwell, Al gave the show its bite. Often outrageously dressed and smoking an ever-present cigar, Al playfully needled Sam while giving him crucial information.
After five seasons, the leaps stopped and the show ended. But a new series in the works at NBC will continue the story.
No matter what happens though, the original series is well worth watching. Maybe viewers will finally learn what happened to Sam in the end. Maybe his next leap will be the leap home.
“Quantum Leap” is streaming free on Roku Channel.
Doctor Who
It makes sense that a TV show about time travel would have longevity. After all, if your characters can go to any time period, the storytelling possibilities are almost limitless.
We shouldn’t be surprised, then, that television’s longest-running sci-fi show features time travel. But “Doctor Who” is about even more than that.
Since 1963, British audiences have enjoyed the adventures of the Doctor, a renegade scientist from an alien race of Time Lords. Bored with Time Lord society, the Doctor steals a ship called the TARDIS (which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) and heads off to combat injustice wherever it may be.
But the TARDIS isn’t just a time machine. It can go anywhere in time and space, leading the Doctor anywhere and everywhere from the dawn of time to the edge of the galaxy. And the Doctor is rarely alone, often traveling with one or more capable companions.
The key to the show’s long life, even more so than its premise, is the concept that allows it to easily change lead actors. Time Lords can regenerate whenever they are mortally wounded, causing them to not only change form but also personality – and even gender, with the addition of current star Jodie Whittaker to the show’s legacy.
One thing has never changed, and that's the core idea underpinning the Doctor. They’re often eccentric, always kind, and never cruel or cowardly. Wherever or whenever there’s evil to be stopped, the Doctor will always be there.
Doctor Who (1963) is streaming on demand on Britbox and free with ads on Pluto TV’s live Classic Doctor Who channel. Doctor Who (2005) is streaming on HBO Max.
Variations on “Groundhog Day” are almost as plentiful as variations of “Die Hard.” There’s “Groundhog Day” on a train (“Source Code”), “Groundhog Day” at a wedding (“Naked” and “Palm Springs”) and even “Groundhog Day” as a slasher movie (“Happy Death Day”).
Then there’s “Edge of Tomorrow,” also known as “Groundhog Day” at war.
Based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel “All You Need is Kill,” “Edge of Tomorrow” sees Earth caught in a war against alien invaders. Tom Cruise plays a PR officer forced onto the front lines where he quickly dies.
And dies. And dies again.
If you love Tom Cruise, then you’ll love “Edge of Tomorrow.” If you hate Tom Cruise, well, you might love to watch his repeated on-screen death. There’s something for everyone.
“Edge of Tomorrow” is available for rent or purchase.
What if time travel could be used to commit the perfect untraceable crime?
The 2012 thriller “Looper,” from director Rian Johnson ("Star Wars: The Last Jedi," "Knives Out") is all about what could happen if time travel was harnessed by the wrong people. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis play 2044 and 2074 versions of Joe, an assassin called a Looper. Loopers are responsible for killing people sent back in time by a crime syndicate who want to get rid of their victims without a trace.
If Loopers live long enough, they’re sent back in time for their younger selves to execute. But what if an old Looper survives? Chaos ensues. Young and Old Joe get caught in a mind-bending chase through time, trying to unravel the secrets of the crime syndicate that employed them, and could ultimately destroy them, too.
“Looper” is currently streaming on Netflix.
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