The list of articles is getting long, and so it might be useful to include a quick list of the most recent additions to the site, with links to the sections in which they are described and linked on this page.

1. Blackadder Back & Forth part 12:  divergence
2. Blackadder Back & Forth part 11:  king
3. Blackadder Back & Forth part 10:  repairs
4. Blackadder Back & Forth part 9:  home?
5. Blackadder Back & Forth part 8:  legions
6. Blackadder Back & Forth part 7:  Wellingtons
7. Blackadder Back & Forth part 6:  Sherwood
8. Blackadder Back & Forth part 5:  space
9. Blackadder Back & Forth part 4:  Elizabeth
10. Blackadder Back & Forth part 3:  long

The analysis of Primer was a vexing problem for many reasons.  The opportunity to break the analysis into individual bits and deal with each in its own space was a welcome one.  Here are the sections, as they appear at The Examiner:

1. The Right Question with the Wrong Answer:  Right from the beginning, the efforts to protect history are done completely incorrectly.
2. Answering the Phone:  The mistake related to how to protect history comes into stark relief when there is a call to a cell phone, and no one knows whether or not it should be answered.
3. Shot Gun Party:  The time travelers make the very dangerous decision to change history, and then decide to change it again--and again, and again, and again.
4. The Wrong Aaron:  We watch one partner explaining his discoveries to the other, but what we are seeing is already not exactly how it originally happened.
5. The Punch That Never Was:  The question is raised, what would happen if you did something and then tried to erase it?  They never get the answer, but maybe we do.
6. The Inexplicable Traveler:  On the way to deliver that punch, the time travelers are interrupted by the appearance of another time traveler.  They never figure out how this happened, but there is a reasonably plausible explanation.
7. The End Beyond the End:  The time travelers manage to make the biggest mistake of all by attempting to fix their mistakes.

1. The Disappearing Abe:  Tim E. Sham, author of The Primer Universe, asked what happens to the Abe seen by Abe and Aaron entering the storage facility; the answer is simple enough.
2. Aaron's Future Plans:  It appears that Aaron may be building a larger version of the time machine somewhere in Latin America, and the curious want to ask why.
3. Multiple Dimension Theory 1:  Several people suggested that Primer works under either parallel or divergent dimension theory; I say it does not.  This is where I address the problems faced under divergent dimension theory.
4. Multiple Dimension Theory 2:  In the second part of the consideration of multiple dimension theory and Primer, I address the problems faced by pure parallel dimension theory.
5. Fixed time theory:  Whether fixed time might be the theory behind Primer is considered, with particular attention paid to the phone call.

Beginning in July 2009, all Examiners were asked to contribute articles to the Info 101 project, an effort to provide answers to common questions in our fields.  Thus a series of Temporal Theory 101 articles were written, covering in brief various terms and concepts used in connection with time travel in movies:

1. How does time work in time travel?:  An overview of the major theories of time travel is given, with mention of a few alternatives.
2. What is fixed time theory?:  This is a presentation of the theory that the past cannot be changed, so if you were to travel to the past you would do, do, do what you've done, done, done, before, before, before.
3. What is parallel dimension theory?:  Consideration is given to the idea that there are many other universes parallel to our own, and that time travel actually takes you to one of them rather than to our own past.
4. What is divergent dimension theory?:  The view similar to and related to parallel dimension theory, this theory holds that such universes are created by the time travel event itself, and so diverge from the universe at the point of arrival.
5. What is replacement theory?:  The theory favored by and defended on this web site holds that a time traveler can travel to his own past and alter it, with consequences which may affect his own existence and more.
6. What is a temporal anomaly or paradox?:  It may be the obvious question, but it needed to be answered.
7. What is an infinity loop?:  It seemed reasonable to include an article describing this most dangerous of all temporal anomalies.
8. What is a sawtooth snap or cycling causality?:  The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably to refer to the phenomenon in which each history is the cause of a different history, but sometimes distinguished based on their ultimate outcome.
9. What is an N-jump?:  The only desireable outcome for a time travel event is explained.
10. What is sideways time?:  This notion, common to the theories of parallel and divergent universes and of supertime and two-dimensional time, suggests that one can travel across time to various universes.
11. What is a predestination paradox?:  also known as a causal loop or uncaused cause, this popular trope of fixed time stories is explored.
12. What is a grandfather paradox?:  the two distinct problems referenced by this term are distinguished and defined.
13. What happens if I become my own grandfather?:  the particular versions of the predestination paradox in which the existence of an object is dependent upon its own appearance in the past is considered.
14. What happens if I kill my grandfather before he has children?:  the problem created by a time traveler undoing his own existence is examined.
15. What is a temporal duplicate or doppelganger?:  various ways in which a person can become temporally duplicated are considered.
16. What is Niven's Law?:  the specific law proposed by science fiction author Larry Niven concerning time travel, that the discovery of the ability to change the past would lead ultimately to the elimination of such a discovery, is presented, explained, and discussed.
17. A Problem with Divergent Dimensions:  examines divergent dimension theory more closely to show the complication that arises when the traveler does or does not make the same trip as his counterpart.
18. What is the Butterfly Effect?:  looks at the meaning of this principle of Chaos Theory and how it is involved in time travel.

Not unexpectedly, the theory articles also brought questions and comments.  Many of these were answered in the comments sections of the articles, but there was one respondent who raised several points requiring a clarifying article.

1. Temporal theory questions from Waggs:  A reader posted several challenges in comments to the articles on parallel and divergent dimension theories, including that the number of parallel dimensions need not be infinite, that conservation of matter and energy need not be absolute in a multiverse, and that under quantum theory it is possible for irreconcilable histories both to be true.  Most of those arguments are correct within their own contexts, but still need to be limited and contextualized.
2. Temporal theory questions from Jeff:  Another reader posted several variants of replacement theory, in which specific types of results are guaranteed.  Whether the guarantee is that things will be essentially unchanged, or that they will be worse, or that they will be better, the concepts all seem to invoke providence, as the article explains.
3. Temporal theory and theology question from Hubert:  A reader posted objections to replacement theory which appeared to be theological.  The objections were a bit unclear, and the answer is thus a bit lengthy, but it is an interesting area where the two fields meet.
4. Temporal theory question:  How can I change the past?:  In response to the perennial question, a system is suggested that might work to change history in intended ways and provide safe outcomes.

In 2009 the Star Trek franchise decided to confuse all search engines by releasing a new movie with nothing more than the core name, Star Trek.  They also decided to confuse all the fans by going back to the beginning with a new cast in the old roles, and using time travel to erase everything that happened in all the stories to date and start a new history of the universe.  I will be tackling the film in parts.

1. Introduction to the 2009 movie:  gives an overview of the plot and sets up the discussion ahead.
2. Mister Scott's transwarp teleportation formula:  when Spock gives Scotty the formula Scotty has not yet invented, does that change the world at all?
3. The death of Vulcan:  the destruction of Vulcan will have a significant impact on the future of the Star Trek crew, as Vulcans have become an endangered species; that is one of several changes to consider.
4. Spock, know thyself:  what problems might arise from the fact that the older and younger versions of Spock ultimately meet.
5. The final answer:  what happens to time one hundred twenty-nine years hence when Spock is faced with saving Romulus?

It is worth mentioning that three previous Star Trek movies have been analyzed on this site, Star Trek IV:  The Voyage Home, Star Trek Generations, and Star Trek:  First Contact.  Thanks to Jim Denaxas for providing the copy we saw.

A couple of Futurama fans have been pressing for an analysis of this direct-to-video animated feature, and I have objected that there are more time travel theatrical releases than I can cover; if I open the field beyond that, I will be completely overwhelmed.  However, they are insistent that fans of the show will flock to the discussion, and since this is now going to The Examiner rather than here, I have decided to turn my attention to Bender's Big Score.

1. Introduction to the Futurama Movie:  a brief overview providing a glance at the plot and some of the problems.
2. Beginning at the End:  it appears that the temporally last departure is the sequentially first, or at least that is the best conclusion we can reach.
3. Futurama doppelgangers:  the first time trip reveals how the "self-correcting" code handles temporal duplicates, and we consider whether this is a plausible solution.
4. Mona Lisa Men Have Called You:  as Bender begins his pillaging of the treasures of history, his first theft raises questions about all of them.
5. Tut, Tut, Tut:  As Bender steals an Egyptian sarcophagus, we have opportunity to consider the process of thievery.
6. Hermes ain't got nobody:  In a fatal move, Hermes loses his head and has his own body stolen from his past self.
7. Cut to the Chase:  the convoluted paths of multiple Fry and Bender copies form the most challenging parts of the time travel story.
8. Leela, Leelu, Lars:  continuing the chase, Fry's duplicate becomes Lars--but how does he know this?
9. The Gorey Details:  there is an upset in the Presidential race thanks to Bender's pursuit of Fry, and that will change things.
10. What have you undone?:  in the end, Bender manages to replace nearly all of the previous sawtooth snaps with infinity loops, undoing everything many times over.
11. That's unwrapped:  an attempt is made to summarize the entire package.

This was another provided by Jim Denaxas, who as an animator himself was especially interested in seeing the film included here.

Christmas caught my attention as I realized the new 2009 version of A Christmas Carol was in fact a time travel film, and that there was at least one other well-known Christmas movie with a temporal element.  Thus as Thanksgiving loomed I prepared a few installments on Time for the Holidays.

1. It's a Wonderful Time-Travel Christmas Carol Life:  provides an overview of those movies which connect some type of temporal anomaly to a Christmas story.
2. A Christmas Carol:  focuses on the newly-released Disney version with Jim Carrey, but also on the time travel elements of the story that are consistent through most tellings.
3. It's a Wonderful Life:  looks at the Capra classic, and the temporal elements involved in erasing someone's past and then restoring it.

A series has been drafted examining Butterfly Effect, which I anticipate running right after the holiday series concludes.  I've learned that there were sequels, and have captured Butterfly Effect III on my home recorder.  That, though, implies that there is also a Butterfly Effect II, and I have never heard mention of it anywhere, so it may be hard to find.  Still, we can do the first and see where it gets us.

1. A Brief Overview:  gives a very quick summary of the essentials of the film.
2. The Blackouts Problem:  suggests that the blackouts and the time travel have the same cause, but are not otherwise related.
3. Evan at Seven:  recreates the original history up to the death of Evan's father.
4. Four at Thirteen:  recreates the original history beginning with the mailbox and ending with leaving Kayleigh behind.
5. Sophomoric Antics:  discusses the first two time travel events and the minimal changes they make to history, including the problem of the burn appearing.
6. Joining the Fraternity:  covers the timeline that begins with seven year old Evan threatening Mr. Miller and ends with the miracle.
7. It's a Miracle:  examines the trick of making the scars appear in his hands.
8. The Wrong Fix:  in which Lenny kills Tommy to save the dog, and then Evan visits his father.
9. Time and Time Again:  considers the problem created when Evan relives the same events again again.
10. Having a Blast:  in which he is a quadriplegic but his friends are all happy.
11. On the Edge:  in which he goes back for the knife but changes nothing.
12. Out With a Bang:  in which he kills Kayleigh with the dynamite.
13. Grandfather Paradox:  considering whether Evan had intended to kill himself
14. Changing the Changes:  looking again at the problem of making two trips to the same point in the past, this time when both travelers have an agenda.
15. How to Lose a Girl in Ten Seconds:  covering the final timeline.
16. Relying on Niven:  in which the problem of whether changes to history are or are not permanent is considered.
17. The Other Evans:  asking what happens to the versions of the central character who must have existed in the other histories.
18. Where It Fails:  recapping the parts that do not work.

With the release of Terminator Salvation, commenters suggested that the entire Terminator series should be presented afresh to incorporate the new data.  Thus all of Terminator, the first two films having the honor of being the subject of the first page published on this site and the third also analyzed a while back, is re-examined:

1. A Starting Point:  taking the information about The Autonomous Weapons Division of the Cyber Research Systems branch of the United States Airforce from the third film, the original history is reconstructed sufficiently to give us an original SkyNet launch in 2004.
2. Sarah Conner's Child:  the timelines created within the first movie are briefly recounted as Kyle Reese becomes the father of John Conner.
3. History Repeats Itself Yet Again:  the complications created by the second film are considered, leading to the point where Sarah ought to create an infinity loop by destroying Cyberdyne Systems.
4. Sidestepping Infinity:  explains how John Conner can save the universe by lying to his mother.
5. Square One Squared:  the transition from the second to the third film is considered, addressing such details as the development of the futuristic weapons in a 2004 setting.
6. John and Kate:  considers how the couple connect in that history of the world in which no terminator is trying to kill her.
7. The Kate Escape:  how John and Kate could escape from a terminator without the aid of another terminator is considered, with an unexpected explanation.
8. A Few Dead Men:  solutions are found for the anomaly created when the T-X appears to kill people on its hit list, which in bumping them off also bumps them off the list.
9. Salvation Cometh:  a foundation is laid for the consideration of the fourth film, Terminator Salvation.
10. Resequencing:  the sequential order of events is discussed, taking into account that SkyNet has not yet attempted to kill John Conner in the past when it tries to kill Kyle Reese in the future.
11. Wrong or Wright?:  the peculiar conversation between SkyNet and Marcus Wright, in which the computer suggests that it has attempted to kill John Conner before, is examined.
12. Paternity Test?:  why SkyNet believes that Kyle Reese is John Conner's father is another problem the film presents, and there are several possible answers that work within the film.
13. Killing Niven's Grandfather:  it is admittedly possible that SkyNet does not know whether Niven's Law means that John Conner would still survive even if his father were killed in the future.
14. Fixed or Replaced?:  the question of whether this movie might be explainable under fixed time theory is addressed.
15. Bad Dates:  when Kyle Reese is born becomes a problem, because it appears to fall between the two SkyNet launch dates, which means he has to be born at roughly the same time despite the upheaval of the war.
16. Half a Man:  the birth of Kyle Reese is made more probable by recognizing that there is some wiggle room as to whether this is the right Kyle Reese.
17. Inconclusion, Temporarily Terminated:  the series is wrapped up and reviewed, with a few comments about the possible future of the series.

Again we have questions:

1. Terminator Question 1:  When Does Kate Matter?:  the issue is raised as to whether John and Kate would have had to stay together following their basement tryst in 1997 if the T-1000 had not arrived, and the answer is complicated.

John "A-1 Nut" Cross called my attention to this family film which is also a time travel story, in which some scientist in the future is sending toy rabbits to the past in an attempt to gather some pure human DNA with which to restore humanity to the human race of the future.  The thinly-veiled environmentalist polemic makes for an entertaining story, but has serious problems as a time travel movie.  Our analysis of The Last Mimzy uncovers most of them:

1. Time Travel for Kids:  introduces the film's premise and some of the challenges facing any analysis.
2. The Lost Mimzys:  considers the problem created by the statement that "many" were sent to the past, but we can account for at most three.
3. The Order of Mimzys:  examines the question of in what sense or senses the one in the film is the "last", and what that means to history.
4. The Mandala Mimzy:  resolves the issues raised by the implication that a Mimzy in twelfth century Tibet impacted the development of Buddhism.
5. The Alice Mimzy:  considers the problems which arise if Charles Dodgson does not become the famous Lewis Carroll by publishing stories inspired by a white rabbit trying to get through a looking glass back into a rabbit hole on time.
6. What's in a Name?:  faces the particular problem of the use of the word "mimzy" in the Jabberwocky poem, and the loop that creates if Lewis Carroll got it from the doll and the doll got it from Lewis Carroll.
7. Intelligence:  recognizes that Intel gets a boost to its technology which, as with Terminator, escalates in a sawtooth snap as each advance in Intel's technology improves the Mimzy which in turn advances Intel's technology.
8. Numbers:  addresses the lottery problem, and the impact that the redistribution of wealth will have if Larry White and Naomi are multimillionaires in the altered timeline.
9. Bridge Building:  tackles advances to civil engineering, the the potential change in future science that will endanger the existence of the scientist sending back the Mimzys.
10. Parlor Tricks:  recognizes that entymology will also advance, and the basic research here will have unpredictable consequences.
11. Precocious Prodigies:  concludes the series with a consideration of the impact two psionically capable children will have on the history of the world, ultimately very likely undoing all of future history.

A question was raised along the way:

1. Probability of Analysis:  It was more a statement than a question in response to The Last Mimzy part 5:  the Alice Mimzy, but it challenged the likelihood of some aspect of the analysis being correct.  This discussion addresses how such analyses work, and in what senses they are likely.

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves have been romantically involved on screen before, and this time they attempt to make the sparks fly by correspondence.  Like that other Kate who fell in love with Leopold, this Kate is in the future and her Alex in the past, but in this case both of them lived at The Lake House at different times.

Here are the articles in the series:

1. A Romantic Fantasy:  introduces the basic premise and the time travel element.
2. How It Begins:  identifies the critical event which launches the magic that gives us the time travel.
3. The Bitch is Magic:  examines the complication created by the presence or absence of the dog Jackie in the magic and the time travel.
4. Reconstruction:  attempts to formulate the original history that existed before there was any time travel.
5. An Accidental Meeting:  wrestles with the problem of why Alex was killed at Daley Plaza if he was not there looking for Kate, who in the original history he could not have known.
6. They Got a Dog:  the initial changes made to history by the arrival of Jack the Dog are considered.
7. The Flag Trick:  the magic that causes the mailbox flag to rise and fall is examined.
8. Before You Ask:  the question is why Alex' letters don't leap to the future the same way Kate's leap to the past, and the answer has to do with the form of the future.
9. Ratcheting:  covers the little things that happen along the way, as time keeps being revised.
10. Instant Graffiti:  looks at the walking tour, but most particularly the problem of the grafitti suddenly appearing at the end.
11. A Tree Grows:  considers a similar but more complicated problem with the appearance of the tree in front of Kate's apartment.
12. Happy Birthdays:  looks at the revisions of time in the changing interactions at the party Morgan throws for Kate.
13. No Call No Show:  brings up the problem of Alex' failure to call at the time Kate suggested and to appear at the restaurant at which he'd made reservations.
14. Real Estate:  considers the complications involved in people moving to the correct addresses at the right times.
15. Persuaded By a Book:  finally deals with the delivery of Kate's copy of Persuasion by hiding it in her apartment somewhere where it wouldn't be found for a couple years.
16. The Other Book:  examines what happens when Kate sense Alex a book that has not yet been published when he receives it.
17. Visionary Coincidence:  brings Kate to the architect brother of the architect she knew, which at least raises eyebrows.
18. This Changes Everything:  finally reaches the conclusion of the movie, which rewrites all of history to one final form completely incompatible with every previous form.

Our copy was another gift from Jim Denaxas.  Again there were questions from readers:

1. Assorted Questions from Fred & Doc:  apparently the answer given in The Lake House part 8:  before you ask did not adequately answer all the questions, because two readers challenged some of the statements made.  This article was promised as an answer to those questions.

It is easy to see why this film has such appeal.  As a time travel story, it is highly challenging, with many interesting ideas and insights and more expressed and implied trips through time than any other film in recent memory.  Meanwhile, it remains a love story, a story of two people overcoming the problems posed by what is treated as a medical condition, that one of them periodically and unexpectedly vanishes from time and space, spends time elsewhen, and as unpredictably returns.

Its perturbations made The Time Traveler's Wife one of the most challenging to analyze in a long time, as the sheer number of relevant articles attests.

1. A Fixed Time Gem:  opens the series with the recognition that the film could work under fixed time, if we are comfortable with a few informational predestination paradoxes.
2. A Fixed Time Heartbreak:  suggests that the film is less romantic as a fixed time story, in part because the central romantic notion is probably not true.
3. The First Time is the First Time:  pulls together as much of the timeline as possible from such clues as the film gives.
4. The First Time is the Worst Time:  considers what the first trip would have been like before there were any other trips to alter it.
5. The Artist and the Librarian:  considers this as their first meeting in the original history.
6. A Future Problem:  explains what happens when Henry makes trips to the future.
7. Just Say "No":  explores the nature of freedom when history literally repeats itself.
8. Altared:  reconstructs the original history of the wedding, and how that might have been resolved.
9. The Second First Meeting:  looks at the early meadow meetings and how each changes the others.
10. Make Your Own Luck:  considers the use of time travel to win the lottery.
11. Millions:  looks at how much money Clare really won.
12. Housing Problem:  examines the odd approach to house hunting which evidently relies on Henry's knowledge of where they are going to live.
13. Tell Gomez:  recognizes that Gomez learns about Henry's problem at different times in different timelines.
14. A Doctor In the House:  unravels a plausible original cause for the involvement of Dr. Kendrick, who in the film is persuaded to help by someone who already knows he will.
15. Cutting Off the Future:  finishes those time travel considerations related to Henry's vasectomy, and particularly the impact of Clare's first kiss.
16. She Tells You Her Name:  discovers that Alba's name points strongly to this as a replacement theory story, as it explores her meeting with her father at the zoo after his death.
17. Melodic Break:  looks at Henry's trip to say goodbye in the meadow, and catches a discontinuity in the story.
18. Death Foreseen:  Considers the rather complicated interaction of anomalies that enable Henry to see himself dying.
19. A Question of Stability:  considers the ramifications of the question of whether Henry and/or Alba have any control over their travels.
20. Not Quite the End:  reaches the point at which Henry is shot, leaving Clare as the time traveler's widow.
21. Alba, Know Thyself:  tries to resolve the confusion created when ten-year-old Alba visits five-year-old Alba, twice.
22. The Truth Will Out:  reaches the final trip of the story, in which Alba learns what happened to her father, and so knows the entire tale.

It is a long series; I anticipate that there may be questions along the way.  It has been a fascinating movie that left me grasping for clues for a long time, but an enjoyable one all the same.

Intended as a comedy, the bawdy R-Rated film raises some interesting problems in time travel.  A number of people don't like it, but there were requests for Hot Tub Time Machine, and so it has been added to the list.

1. Not As Expected, or Warming Up:  a brief background sets the stage for the analysis of the film.
2. The Big Issue, or Theory?  What Theory?:  fixed time is considered and discarded in connection with the analysis of this film, and replacement theory introduced.
3. Memory Problems, or What Do You Know?:  looks at the unanswered questions concerning who remembers what when.
4. The Fundamental Problem, or Dying to Go:  recognizes that the entire reason for the trip is erased by the trip, creating a major anomaly.
5. Adam and Jenny, or Fork You:  examines why Adam gets stabbed both when he breaks up with Jenny and when she breaks up with him, and more fundamentally why he was unable to save that relationship.
6. Adam and April, or Planned Spontaneity:  looks at the meeting that happened only in the second history, and considers what would happen in the other histories.
7. Chocolate Lipstick, or Sing It, Nick:  considers the change Nick makes to his music career.
8. Calling Courtney, or Mrs. Webber-Agnew:  hits the problem created by Nick's phone call to his then nine-year-old future wife.
9. Lou and Kelly, or Don't, Stop:  hits the problem with Jacob's misconception.
10. Motley Lou, or Sing It, Dorchen:  deflates the notion that Lou could steal the career of a successful band by taking their music.
11. Lougle, or Search Me:  the flaw in trying to steal the success of Google.
12. A Squirrely Butterfly, or Pass On This:  studies the interaction between the squirrel and the bet and chaos theory.
13. Operation Chernobly, or Inconceivable:  recognizes the complication that if Jacob is conceived because Lou encounters Kelly while searching for the Chernobly, Jacob would not have existed in the original history.
14. Disarming Phil, or Left Right:  hits a snag in unraveling the problem with the loss and restoration of Phil's arm.
15. Staying, or Loopy Memories:  asks what happens when Lou stays in the past, and realizes that that there is a problem inherent in the entire story that prevents a happy ending under replacement theory.
16. An Alternative, or Side-By-Side:  finds a potential resolution to the story in parallel dimension theory, while admitting that it makes quite a mess in several universes but does provide the story we observe in one of them.

In the end, the story works, but not as a time travel story.

Stephen Farrar not only encouraged me to do this analysis, he forwarded his own helpful notes on the subject.  With this incentive and a copy provided by Jim Denaxas, I tackled the complicated time travel tale that is Premonition.  It was daunting enough that I wrote a sixteen-part series, realized that due to one mistake in detail it was completely wrong, then scrapped it and wrote a replacement series, as follows:

1. An Outline:  which gives the essence of the story as presented on the screen.
2. The Problems:  which identifies the major temporal issues that must be resolved.
3. The Glass Door:  which looks at the accident which happens in some timelines but not others.
4. Crashing Cars:  which presents the fundamental problem of the film's core event, and starts to resolve it.
5. An Original History:  which attempts to reconstruct the week in which no one arrived from the future.
6. The First Change:  which reconstructs a proposed lost original anomaly and shows how Linda causes the accident before she knows about it.
7. Memory:  which addresses the peculiar memory issues in this particular story.
8. The Second Trip:  which considers what appears as the first trip in the film, from Thursday to Monday, and the history it creates.
9. Leaving Saturday:  which deals with the problem of two separate trips originating from the same departure point.
10. The Third Trip:  which reconstructs the changes caused by the trip from Saturday to Tuesday, and the history it creates.
11. Niggling Details:  which covers those less important but annoying points that arise in the film.
12. Displacement:  which considers the trip from Friday to Sunday, and the problem of two distinct traveling spirits arriving at the same temporal destination.
13. History:  which constructs the week that will be remembered once everything resolves.
14. Obliviated:  which answers the oft-asked question of what happens to the time traveler who departed from a previous version of history and then returns to the future.

Several readers encouraged the analysis of Los Chronocrimines, a Spanish film released to English-speaking audiences under the name Timecrimes.  Thanks go to Gary "Gazza" Sturgess for making a copy available (along with several other films).  It proves to be a fascinating multi-layered predestination paradox, but also unravels with a very few assumptions.

1. The Gist:  briefly presents the concept of the film.
2. Harmonization Begun:  stacks the three repetitions of the time traveler's action into a single timeline, through a critical midpoint in the story.
3. Harmonization Completed:  finishes the single timeline presentation of the story.
4. A Naked Problem:  presents the problem of why the girl would be in the woods absent the time traveler's interference.
5. An Intentional Problem:  presents the problem that all the critical actions of the first version of the traveler are intentionally induced by the actions of the second.
6. An Accidental Problem:  presents the problem that the actions of the second version of the traveler are largely induced by those of the third.
7. A Third Person Problem:  examines the actions of the third version of the traveler, and how they are geared to control those of the second.
8. The Naked Girl:  proposes one possible explanation for the presence of the girl in the woods.
9. An Original Stalker:  rejects the previously proposed explanation in favor of one which assumes the presence of an outside party in the original history.
10. A First Change:  attempts to reconstruct the actions of the time traveler after his first trip back before the existence of the version of himself who makes the second trip.
11. Who Fell?:  raises and answers the question of why the time traveler believed it was his wife who fell from the attic when the later version of himself had not interfered.
12. Third Acts:  reconstructs the actions and motivations of the third version of the time traveler.
13. Stabilizing:  explains how the actions of all versions of the time traveler ultimately form a stable history.

There is slated to be a 2012 release of another movie under this title, of which details are not yet available.

Michael Crichton is known for being able to take the latest ideas in science and turn them into thrilling novels which become exciting movies.  Timeline takes the basic story from one such Crichton novel and does a decent job of keeping the tension high.  The question, though, is whether the time travel elements work.

1. Complications Overview:  introduces the film with a look at some of the problems which make analysis more difficult, including the multiple unreported trips to the past.  (It includes a brief explanation of the nature of the time machine.)
2. The Unchanged:  gives consideration to those aspects of history which either could not or must not have changed in all the previous trips to the past, as part of determining the original history.
3. Decker:  considers the trip which left Decker in the past, and attempts to clarify the difference between the movement of time in parallel at each end of the wormhole and the fact that all of history has happened between those points before anyone can reach the future end from the past.
4. Taub:  works toward establishing the original history following the last trip prior to that made by Professor Johnston.
5. Professor Johnston:  considers the hazards of a scientist interfering in history, and whether the professor's interference could have ruined time.
6. The Sarcophagus:  looks at perhaps the most confusing piece of the film, the question of what would be written on Marek's sarcophagus when Marek unearths it.
7. Glasses:  considers whether the glasses could have been discovered where they were, and what is required for that.
8. Smashing:  looks at the information predestination paradox that occurs when Kate determines where to smash the wall to find the tunnel based on the fact that she remembers seeing where the wall had been smashed.
9. Captive Claire:  contradicts the suggestion made by the professor that the reason the Lady Claire was recaptured after having been rescued is that it was inevitable that she would die on the battlements.
10. The Dead and the Living:  explains why the question of who lives and who dies is more important than merely whether the war is fought.
11. Hidden Tunnel:  addresses the awkward question of why the use of the tunnel in capturing the fort is not mentioned in the history books.
12. Multiple Dimensions:  rules out parallel dimension theory as a viable explanation of the events of the film.
13. The Last Original History:  determines the original shape of history at the moment of the departure of the team we follow.
14. The Recall Problem:  uncovers a serious problem with the recall devices which becomes apparent due to Bill Baretto's grenade.
15. The Baretto Anomaly:  looks at the anomaly created when the time machine pulls Baretto out of history.
16. A Blast:  reconstructs other aspects of the overlapping anomalies involved in Baretto's return.
17. Recalling:  looks in more detail at the recall device problem and the nature of the anomalies it creates.
18. Resolution:  reaches the final outcome of the final history, with caveats.

A nineteen fifties Ray Bradbury short story about a drastic change in history resulting from a time traveler stepping on a butterfly became the basis for a 2005 feature-length film of the same title, A Sound of Thunder.  The reference to thunder in the short story is both to the footsteps of a tyrannosaurus and to the explosion of a rifle; in the movie it is an allosaurus, and possibly the shaking of history as it changes.  There is a lot to cover in the film, another gift from Gary Sturgess.

1. A Story:  gives the background and overview of events.
2. Precautions:  praises the film's insights into the dangers of time travel, but also covers the changes they overlook.
3. Butterfly Effect:  considers whether the death of this particular butterfly could have had a significant impact on the future.
4. Allosaurus:  finds a problem in the concept of taking several people back from different times to kill the same dinosaur at the same time and place.
5. Wave Goodbye:  tries to make sense of a wave of change moving through time and space by considering how fast it moves in both dimensions.
6. Climate:  questions whether any alterations arising from the death of any creature in the cretacious era could impact the climate of the temperate latitudes in our time.
7. Missteps:  wonders how a tree could suddenly appear full-grown without having first appeared as a sapling someone could have trimmed.
8. Undone:  points out that if Dr. Rand will eventually cease to be human, so will those who made the trip that changed history, in which case they will never have made such a trip.
9. Scouting:  considers the problems faced by the scout, who ultimately cannot give the report he apparently gave.
10. Late Arrivals:  returns to the waves, trying to understand what is preventing time travelers from reaching the right point in history.
11. Interference Waves:  continues to explore how the waves prevent travelers from reaching the past, and looks for an explanation that fits with the solution the movie offers.
12. Meaningful:  tries to understand why every trip to the past does not create destructive waves of change in the future.
13. Ubiquity:  recognizes that if a timewave passes through every moment of time, then it exists in every place at every instant and cannot be recognized as something abnormal.
14. The Mechanism:  considers comments made about energy in the last trip to the past, in an effort to make sense of the time travel process.
15. Boomerang:  looks at that last trip in some detail, trying to grasp why that trip is completely different from the others.
16. Unendings:  puts the final nail in the coffin, in that by undoing the disaster that prompted all the efforts to fix it, the heroes undo their own efforts and so restore the disaster.

It is an interesting film that raises a lot of important issues, but it creates too many problems and inconsistencies.

Some people dislike Nicholas Cage for what they see as his wooden acting, his flat lack of emotion.  Whether that is a fair criticism, it serves him well in Next, in which he plays a man who always knows what is about to happen and so is never surprised when it does.  Does that make it a time travel film?  The point could be argued, and in the series we argue it.

1. The Setup:  gives an overview of the story with some preliminary considerations about the temporal elements.
2. Information:  contrasts information time travel against prediction by probabilities, citing movies for each.
3. Dodging:  considers how the ability relates to the avoidance of physical objects including bullets and blows.
4. Avoidance:  goes beyond avoiding impacts to consider evading pursuit and capture.
5. Shoot:  grapples with the one moment in the story in which it seems the character did not expect what happened.
6. Meetings:  considers the problems related to the use of the skill for previewing social interactions, and whether it means he can see impossible futures.
7. Divergence:  addresses whether some type of multiple dimension theory might explain the film as a time travel story.

In the end, it seems that this story has more in common with Minority Report than with Frequency:  a story in which precognitive prediction of probable future events creates the illusion of time travel without providing real knowledge of the future.  Thanks to Jim Denaxas for our copy of this one.

It was a very fun film to watch, but a very challenging film to analyze, but finally this British comedy Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel is here, in fourteen parts:

1. A Movie:  gives an overview of the story as we see it.
2. Delay:  shows how a trip from the future changes one little thing which launches the entire story.
3. Sequence:  works out the order of the first few time trips.
4. Edit:  looks at the intentional effort to alter history.
5. Apocalypse:  follows the primary characters to their distant future.
6. American:  finds an odd explanation for the juxtaposition of a near-term apocalypse against upscale time travelers familiar with modern events.
7. Frustrated:  returns to the editor, as she discovers that the people she wanted to kill weren't there.
8. Petering:  considers the impact of the temporal wandering of one member of the party.
9. Overlap:  considers a few more seemingly minor events in the time travels.
10. Partying:  takes them to the fan party thrown for them, and considers how it changes.
11. Rewrite:  tries to track how various trips interact to change each other.
12. Cassie:  fills in some of the gaps in her time travels.
13. Climax:  looks at the big moment, and how it resolves given various assumptions.
14. Denoument:  considers what is and is not possible in the bits of nonsense they present at the end of the film.

Interestingly, although it was a very difficult film all the way around, much more of it proved workable than anticipated, and it winds up highly recommended even though wildly improbable.  Gary Sturgess provided a copy of the British-release version; there does not appear to be one released with American DVD encoding.

We saw this one coming, and previously announced when it was going to be opening in theaters; but in another sense, we did not see Source Code coming.  It was an excellent movie on several levels, with only a few very minor issues.  Our analysis gives it high marks.

1. Spoilers:  gives the basic plot of the film and introduces most of the major players.
2. Memory:  looks at what Dr. Rutledge claims the machine is doing, in sending Colter Stevens into the memories of the dead Sean Fentress.
3. Divergence:  leaps ahead to what is actually happening, as each trip creates a divergent universe based on what Stevens has Fentress do.
4. Quantum Leap:  examines the mode of travel, in which one mind takes over another body, and raises the unasked question of what happens to the other mind.
5. First Divergence:  starts constructing what happens in the new universes, and showing how the expand toward infinity.
6. First Clue:  shows that what at first looks like a mistake on the part of the filmmakers turns out to be the first evidence that what Rutledge is telling Stevens is not what is really happening.
7. Base:  considers events happening in the original world in which Stevens' body lies and in the imagined world of the capsule he creates to make sense of his experience.
8. Information:  moves into those trips in which he starts using what he knows to learn more.
9. Boom:  reveals that there might after all be universes in which the nuclear bomb explodes, because of a phone call.
10. Completion:  brings us to the completion of the mission, as Stevens identifies the bomber and enables Rutledge to prevent the second bomb.
11. Future:  follows Stevens back into the past, and extrapolates some of what happens in the last world he creates, in which he remains.

Overall, it was an excellent movie.  Kudos to the creators for getting most things right.

It looks so simple at first:  a demon grabs a warlock out of a colonial Boston prison and transports him to modern California, pursued by a witchhunter who hitches a ride.  The hunter, assisted by a modern girl, defeats the warlock, and returns to his own time.  Yet there are some serious complications when it is scrutinized, and so Warlock is worthy of consideration.

1. Not So Easy:  gives the basic story, with particular attention to the problem areas and the quest to gather the three parts of the Grimoire.
2. Cough, Cough:  focuses on why it is a problem for Redferne to discover his own coffin with part of the book buried with him.
3. Unburied:  considers how the demon Zamiel would chnage history if he prevented Redferne from being buried.
4. When:  examines the problems that arise on the theory that the pages not buried with Redferne but in another place to be found at another time.
5. Concurrence:  resolves the problem created by the pages moving from one location to another.
6. Foreknowledge:  seeks and finds a way to simplify the complications somewhat by reconsidering the time travel element itself, in terms of how it might have worked.
7. Return:  considers the complications created when Redferne is restored to his own time, and determines whether the movie can work as a time travel story.
8. Fixed:  reconsiders the film as a fixed time story, and explores the problems which arise on that interpretation.

In the end, the film proves to be a possible story, given certain assumptions.  Thanks again to Gary Sturgess for providing a copy for our consideration.

Another gift from fan Gary Sturgess, this film bills itself as the entire fifth and final series of the famed Rowan Atkinson British television comedy Blackadder, but was shot on film and theatrically released in England.  As with most comedy time travel stories, it raises interesting questions about time travel by poking fun at the concept.  Thus Blackadder Back & Forth finds a place in our time travel work.

1. What It Is:  argues whether it is validly included as a time travel movie, introducing the cast and the background.
2. The Bet:  tells us how the story starts, and how a time machine becomes involved.
3. Long:  examines the first hop to the past, which takes us farther than any other time travel story to this point.
4. Elizabeth:  comes to the court of the first Queen of that name and introduces William Shakespeare (sometime author of additional dialogue in previous series credits).
5. Space:  tries to put a date on the starship battle the traveling duo next encounter, and fit it into the time travel events.
6. Sherwood:  hops back to the time of Richard I and Blackadder's defeat of Robin Hood.
7. Wellingtons:  is about the boots, the man who wore them, and the battle which made him famous.
8. Legions:  looks at events around Hadrian's Wall when the Scots attack.
9. Home?:  brings the travelers back to their temporal starting point, and considers the changes they encounter there.
10. Repairs:  asks whether it would be possible to fix what he broke, and whether it can be done the way he does it.
11. King:  considers the complications involved in bringing about the final scene of the story, in terms of manipulating the politics of the nation over centuries without altering the gene pool.
12. Divergence:  asks whether the story might work under a divergent dimension theory, and finds a major problem in connection with the film not following its own established rules.
13. Simultaneity:  concludes the consideration of the problem of whether a time traveler can replace himself by traveling to the same moment he previously visited.

Clearly a fun film worth watching, but it was not expected to be a possible time travel story, and it several times proved it was not.

Gary Sturgess again wondered about the temporal elements in another film, the screen version of Watchmen, so he sent a copy.  Although it is the director's cut (we do our analyses from theatrical release versions as a rule), the minimal involvement of the temporal elements suggests that the impact of the additional "non-canonical" footage will have little impact on what we know.  It is again a story in which information travels from the future to the present, which opens several possibilities.  The viewer is cautioned that the film earns its "R" rating with more than just foul language and comic book violence.

1. Possibilities:  a quick overview of the relevant aspects of the film shows hints of both fixed time and parallel dimension theory, leading to confusion at the outset.
2. Consciousness:  the mind of the critical character is considered, seeking an explanation for how he can not know in the present what he knows he will know in the future.
3. Evolution:  the question is addressed as to whether such a consciousness would be a possible trait in evolutionary terms, that is, whether it could come into existence as it appears to work in the film and whether it would become part of the racial genome.
4. Parallels:  the mention of parallel universes is explored, with reference to possible meanings, seeking one that fits the skill as we see it.
5. Unrealities:  completes the consideration of possible meanings of the reference to parallel universes, considering the absurdity expressed by Schroedinger's Cat, and the impossibility of such a world.

Although on the surface the film seems to suggest concepts from Next or Minority Report or Frequency, it is something else again, but not something that appears to fit our reality.

It happens that being Time Travel Movies Examiner is going to point me in other directions from time to time, and with the announcement of the anniversary showing--well, that's getting ahead of myself.  These are articles that are part of The Examiner work that are not directly related to another topic.

• Back to the Future nationwide theatrical showing this evening:  announces the October 25th, 2010 showing of the famed film.
• People Magazine's Woman of the Year Sandra Bullock featured in time travel films:  is pretty much self-explanatory, as the actress who appears in both Premonition and The Lake House is recognized by the celebrity news magazine for her outstanding if somewhat mixed year.
• Source Code opens April 1, 2011:  comments briefly on the film and its tropes.
• Future Time Travel Film Analyses--2011:  provides a look ahead at films to be covered later in the year and beyond.
• Why not analyze time travel televison shows?:  answers an oft-asked question with some of the reasons why time travel in a television series is a more difficult and in some ways less interesting problem.
• Men in Black III remakes history:  anticipates the release of the first time travel movie in the comedy science fiction franchise.

I expect there will be more such articles in the future; we'll see what comes.

I have started work on Black Adder Back and Forth, which is a complicated bit of comedy.  Someone sent a copy of Watchmen, which might be next on the list of nothing else arises.  I have been asked about the new Darko film, but have not seen it available anywhere.  I have been asked about Triangle, which from the brief explanations I've been given sounds like a temporal disaster wrapped in a horror flick, but I do not yet have a copy.  Also, someone called my attention to Turtles in Time, which I'm sure is lying around here somewhere and I have seen a couple times casually already (thanks to my kids), so that might wind up on the list.

If you would like to see a movie analyzed, the first step is to check here, and particularly also on the other films page for whether anything has been said about it already.  The second step is to drop me a note by e-mail or Examiner site comment asking about it.  If you're really serious, send me a copy of it care of Valdron Inc, and it will be added to the pile with preference.