- A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1921)
A young man read Mark Twain's novel of the same name, then dreamed that
he lived the adventure himself. (See note #1)
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)
A mechanic received a head injury and found himself in Arthurian Britain.
He used his technical knowledge to increase his status. (See note #1)
(Time Model: Implied that the past/present can be changed.)
- The Undead (1957)
Two pyschic researchers hyponotized a woman and sent her into a past life.
When they were unable to bring her out of the trance, one of the
researchers "entered" her trance to see what was the matter. He managed
to free her, but became stuck in the past himself, not just mentally, but
physically.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- The Time Machine (1960)
A Victorian-era scientist constructed a machine that could travel through
time. He used it to explore the future, which he found to be full
of horrors.
This adaptation of Wells' book featured Rod Taylor. Unlike the book, the
hero of the movie found beautiful Yvette Mimieux in the future.
(See note #1)
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- The Yesterday Machine (1963)
A Nazi scientist planned to go back and change the outcome of World War II.
(Time Model: Unknown.) (Thanks to Robert J. Holland)
- The Time Travellers (1964)
Scientists trying to develop a time window created a doorway
instead. They went through and found themselves trapped in a deadly future.
(Time Model: Unknown.) (Thanks to Jim Mc Tavish)
- Dr.Who and the Daleks (1965)
An eccentric inventor built a space and time travel machine which looked
like a London police box. One of his first voyages took him to a strange
planet whose inhabitants had suffered horrible mutations and spent their
lives in armored mobile machines.
Although the characters were only loosely based on the television show
Doctor Who, the script was almost identical to one of the
early episodes.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966)
This was the sequel to Dr.Who and the Daleks. Doctor Who travelled
to the future and found that the Daleks had conquered Earth.
Again, although the characters were only loosely based on the television show
Doctor Who, the script was almost identical to one of the
early episodes.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Journey to the Center of Time (1967)
An industrialist forced his research scientists to test their
prototype time machine before it was ready. The results were predictable.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
Intelligent talking apes landed on Earth. They were welcomed by the
government, press, and population until it was learned they were from
the future, where apes ruled and humans were dumb animals.
(Note: This was the third of five Planet of the Apes
movies, but the only one I considered to use time travel. The first
two movies involved human astronauts going into the future, but in both
cases it was stated that the astronauts were simply in suspended
animation for a very long time. The notion of some sort of anomally
in space which allowed time travel was not introduced until the third
movie. There was no movement in time by any means in the fourth and
fifth movies.)
(Time Model: Unknown, but hinted that the past/present could be changed.)
- Slaughterhouse Five (1972)
Billy Pilgrim had a tendency to get unstuck in time and travelled into
his own past and future. He met some aliens (Tralfamadorans) who did
much the same thing, but could control the process.
(Time Model: Time is immutable.)
- The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan (1978)
Housewife Jennie Logan found that if she wore an old dress she found in the
attic, she could travel back to the previous century.
(Time Model: Unknown.) (Thanks to anonymous contributor "A")
- Superman (1978)
Superman used his incredible powers to travel to the past and prevent the
death of Lois Lane. It was unclear whether he actually travelled in time
himself or caused time to stop and reverse for the entire planet. In
either case, he violated his father's edict against changing
history. (See note #3)
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Time After Time (1979)
This was another varient of H.G.Wells' The Time Machine.
Malcom McDowell finally played a good guy (H.G. Wells himself), who pursued
David Warner (playing Jack the Ripper) into the future. Mary Steenburgen
played the love interest (as she did in Back to the Future
III).
(Time Model: Unknown, hinted that time is immutable.)
- Sengoku Jieitai (1979)
also known as G.I. Samurai and
Time Slip
Members of a Japanese Defense Force platoon out on maneuvers found themselves
transported back in time to feudal Japan. They used modern weapons to
fight off waves of samurai warriors.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Time Bandits (1980)
This delightful comedy featured a group of rogue employees of The
Almighty running amock through time.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Somewhere In Time (1980)
Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve starred in just about the most romantic time
travel story I've ever seen. Reeve, a young man, briefly met a much older
woman, who gave him a pocket watch and a cryptic message. Intrigued by
the mysterious woman, Reeve concocted a way
to go back through time (self-hypnosis) and meet her.
(Time Model: Unknown, hinted that the past/present might be changed.)
Visit the
INSITE: International Network
of Somewhere in Time Enthusiasts Web site.
- The Final Countdown (1980)
A modern U.S.Navy aircraft carrier was caught in some sort of temporal
rift and transported back to just before the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Tut and Tuttle (aka "Through the Magic Pyramid") (1981)
A lad went back to ancient Egypt and helped a young King Tut stop
nefarious plots.
(Time Model: Unknown.)(Thanks to WillyF)
- Timerider (1982)
A motorcyclist travelling through the Baja desert was accidentally transported
back into the past, but didn't realize it for quite some time.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
A computer intelligence all but wiped out mankind. A small
group of survivors managed to engineer the slow but unstoppable demise of
the computer. The computer sent a robot killer (a "terminator") back
through time to kill the mother of the leader of the human militia
before he was born, thus preventing its own demise.
Although time travel was clearly secondary in these Arnold Schwarznegger
action movies, some interesting time paradoxes were brought up.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)
A 1943 U.S.Navy experiment in radar-foiling technology caused two crewmen of
the warship Philadelphia to be transported forward in time.
Philadelphia Experiment II (1993)
A modern day scientist sent a stealth bomber back in time. It was retrieved
by the Nazis in World War II and caused the outcome of the war to change.
Good guys and bad guys both went back to try to change history even further.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Back to the Future (1985)
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Okay, I'm a Christopher Lloyd fan. But he was
perfectly cast as "Doc Brown", a mad scientist who built a time machine out
of a Delorean sports car. Michael J. Fox performed excellently as
"Marty", the teenager who was constantly perplexed and usually stranded
in time. The antics of this unlikely pair wreaked
havoc on the time lines, which they valiantly tried to repair. All three
movies were highly entertaining.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- The Blue Yonder (aka "Time Flyer") (1985)
A boy went back in time in an effort to save his great-grandfather's life
and help him achieve a trans-Atlantic flight. Made for TV movie.
(Time Model: Unknown.) (Thanks to Matt O.)
- Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Peggy Sue attended her high school reunion, fainted, and woke up to find
herself transported back in time to when she was a teenager.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Kirk and his loyal crew decided to end their exile on Vulcan and return
to Earth to face court martial. Upon nearing Earth, they found that the
planet was being decimated by an all-powerful alien probe which was trying
to communicate with humpback whales, extinct in that time period. Kirk
decided he must go back to the 20th century to retrieve a live humpback
whale. Unfortunately, all he had with which to perform this miracle was a
stolen Klingon warship.
(Time Model: The present can be changed.)
- Flight of the Navigator (1986)
A young boy was picked up by a spaceship and used as a backup to the
navigation computer. The spaceship returned him several years later,
but he had not aged. After the boy had bad experiences with the government,
the spaceship retrieved him and returned him to his original time.
(See note #3)
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986)
A man in 1986 New York found himself jumping back and forth in time
to World War I Europe.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Timestalkers (1987)
A scientist from the future decided to travel to the Old West so he
could change history. He was pursued by a second traveller from the future
intent on stopping him.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to Thorsten Wieking)
- Waxwork (1988)
Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992)
I'm dubious about whether these two movies really involved time travel.
However....
Waxwork was
about teenagers who visited a wax museum, then found themselves transported to
the reality portrayed by the displays.
Waxwork II: Lost in Time
purported to be about teenagers travelling through time, but in
actuality it seemed that they were travelling through horror movies.
Lots of fun, though.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
A pair of teenagers were loaned a time-travelling phone booth (shades of
Doctor Who!) which they used to joy-ride through time,
picking up notable characters from history as they went.
It seemed the pair was destined to form the model for future society
(eek!).
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Millennium (1989)
An airplane crash investigator found mysterious objects in the debris. He
eventually learned that a squad of time travellers from the future had
visited many airliners in flight and spirited away the passengers before the
planes crashed. The travellers were trying to repopulate a polluted
future Earth by raiding the past for people who were about to die in
airline accidents.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to Thorsten Wieking)
- A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1989)
A young black girl received a head injury and found herself in Arthurian
Britain. She was arrested and accused of being a demon, but used her
knowledge of the future to establish herself as a powerful sorceress in
this made-for-TV movie. (See note #1)
(Time Model: Implied that the past/present can be changed.)
- Warlock (1989)
A warlock standing trial in 17th century Boston escaped to the present
day. His quest was to find a book that would allow him to undo creation.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Running Against Time (1990)
A college professor invented a time machine, then sent someone back to
prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Made-for-TV movie.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed, but not major events.)
(Thanks to Ted Whitten)
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
Time travellers from the 23rd century came back to warn that Godzilla
will cause a major catastrophe (something bigger than his
usual catastrophes).
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to Thorsten Wieking)
- Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991)
Barbarian Dar followed his evil brother through a time portal to
modern day Los Angeles. It was unclear whether this was actual time
travel or dimension travel.
(Time Model: Unknown.) (Thanks to Robert J. Holland)
- The Girl From Tomorrow (1992)
A teenaged girl from the future was accidentally transported into the
present.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Grand Tour: Disaster in Time (1992)
Owners of a run-down victorian mansion hoped to fix it up and rent the
spare rooms. They found that their eager first guests
were actually time travellers who had come back to witness a
major disaster. Made-for-TV movie.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
(Thanks to Ted Whitten)
- Freejack (1992)
An auto racer who was about to die was transported to the future, where
his healthy body was to be used by an aging industrialist.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Groundhog Day (1993)
Bill Murray portrayed a weatherman who re-lived Groundhog Day over and
over again. He was the only person aware that time was repeating. He
eventually broke the loop by using his increasing knowledge of the
people and events around him to improve himself and win the affections
of Andie MacDowell. An interesting treatment, more reminiscent of
trapped-in-Hell stories than time-travel stories.
(Time Model: The present can be repeated and changed.)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
The teenage amphibians went back through time to 17th century Japan, where
they were mistaken for mythical demons (or were they there before?). They
ended a fued which pitted a warlord against a local village. Love and ninja
skill conquered all.
(Time Model: Unknown, hinted that the present can be repeated and changed.)
(Thanks to anonymous contributor "B")
- Army of Darkness (1993)
This was part of the Evil Dead series, apparently the only
one involving time travel. The hero, Ash, was transported (by magic) from
modern times to medieval times, where he battled evil creatures
resurrected from cemetaries. As a horror tale it was weird, but as
a comedy it was quite amusing.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Les Visiteurs (1993)
Couloirs du temps: Les Visiteurs (1998)
Just Visiting (2001)
A medieval knight and his servant were magically transported to modern
times in this French comedy. Much the same thing happened in the sequel
and in the American version.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Timecop (1994)
The government found that time travel was possible and set up
a police force to make sure it wasn't used for criminal purposes.
Unfortunately, some of the worst crimes were being committed by the
people in charge.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to Thorsten Wieking)
- A.P.E.X. (1994)
A scientist from the future found that his time-travelling experiment
had gone seriously wrong and that his probes were ravaging the past.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to "Jamie")
- 12 Monkeys (1995)
A plague wiped out all but 1% of the earth's human population. Scientists
from the future sent a convict back in time to get an unmutated specimen of
the plague, but miscalculated the target date.
(Time Model: Unknown, implies time is immutable.)
(Thanks to anonymous contributor "B")
- Mirror, Mirror (1995)
A woman found that an antique mirror reflected the past rather than the
present, and that she could exchange places with someone on the other side.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- The Langoliers (1995)
This made-for-TV movie was based on a Stephen King book. A commercial
airliner flew through a strange light show in the sky. All of the
passengers and crew disappeared, except those who were asleep. The
survivors, upon waking, thought they were the last people left on Earth. They
eventually realized that they were slightly displaced in time and that
everyone else had "moved on". The world of the past was dull, flat, and
"used up". Worse, it was being dismantled by buzz-saw
toothed pacman-like creatures called Langoliers.
(Time Model: Unknown, but people can get out of sync with time.)
- Timemaster (1995)
A young boy moved back and forth through time with the help of an alien.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Jumanji (1995)
A mysterious board game caused disasters when played. Unfortunately, once
the game started, the players had to continue until someone won, even if
it took a lifetime. There was a brief time travel segment at the end.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995)
A boy was drawn into King Arthur's court by Merlin in order to save Camelot.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
(Thanks to ________)
- Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Star Fleet managed to destroy a Borg vessel attacking Earth, but not
before it deployed a small time-travelling craft. Picard and the crew
of the Enterprise (NCC-1701E) pursued the Borg craft back to the
moment when humans first tested warp drive and met other species. Picard's
mission was to stop the Borg and prevent them from altering history.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Doctor Who (1996)
The Doctor tried to stop the Master from stealing the rest of his
lives, and also from destroying the earth in the process.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Retroactive (1997)
A woman found a laboratory where time travel experiments were being
performed. She traveled back through time to prevent a murder, but
despite repeated attempts was unable to do so.
(Time Model: Implies that minor events can be changed but major events
are immutable.)
- When Time Expires (1997)
A washed-up alien agent appeared in a small Texas town to watch a parking
meter as part of a time-calibration exercise. He began to suspect that
there was more to his mission when his ex-partner and a bunch of alien
assassins also showed up in town.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Sphere (1998)
The U.S.Navy discovered ancient derelict space ship at the bottom of the ocean.
Scientists investigated and found that it was actually a U.S. space
ship from the future.
(Time Model: Implied that time is immutable.)
(Thanks to Thorsten Wieking)
- Lost in Space (1998)
A scientist and his family set off to colonize another planet, but their
ship was sabotaged and they became lost in space. They encountered
a time rift which transported them into the future.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Clockmaker (1998)
Teenagers found that a clockmaker was really controlling time. They were
accidentally transported into the past, where they messed up history.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- The Excalibur Kid (1998)
A teenager was transported back to the days of King Arthur, where he
helped Merlin battle an evil witch.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Teen Knight (1998)
Five teenagers staying at a high-tech re-creation of a medieval castle found
themselves, and the castle, transported back to the real Middles Ages.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- The Love Letter (1998)
The owner of an antique desk found a Civil War era love letter in it, to which
he responded. He discovered that he and the woman of the past could pass
letters back and forth through time. Made-for-TV movie.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
(Thanks to Ted Whitten)
- Practical Magic (1998)
A witch "warped time" to shorten the drive home so she could help her sister.
(I'm unsure whether this really qualifies as time travel, but will include
it just in case. - GRH)
(Time Model: Unknown.)
(Thanks to "Leo Star Dragon 1")
- Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
The nefarious Doctor Evil used a time machine to go back to 1969 and
steal Austin Powers's "mojo" while he was still in cryogenic freeze.
(You'll have to watch the movie if you want a better explanation.)
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- The Devil's Arithmetic (1999)
A teenaged girl cared little about her Jewish heritage until she was
transported back through time to a Nazi death camp.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Search for the Jewel of Polaris: Mysterious Museum
(1999)
Kids discovered that a painting was actually a portal to the 17th
century. They travelled back through time and battled an evil sorcerer.
(Time Model: Implied that the past/present can be changed.)
- Thrill Seekers
also known as The Time Shifters (1999)
A reporter discovered that the likeness of the same man appeared in news photos
of the most catastrophic disasters in history. Individuals from the future
travelled back in time to witness past events. (See note #1)
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to Brian Novak)
- Frequency (2000)
Unusual solar activity allowed a police detective to contact his long-dead
father via ham radio. They set about trying to stop a serial killer
while communicating across time. Gripping action and a great scene involving
morphing furniture.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Aliens in the Wild, Wild West (2000)
Two teens visiting a ghost town found themselves transported back to 1880,
where they discovered UFOs and aliens.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- For All Time (2000)
A rail commuter found that the train he rode sometimes made a stop in the
idyllic past. The commuter found love in the past, but could he bring
himself to stay there? (Made for TV. Loosely based on Twilight Zone episode
"A Stop in Willoughby".)
(Time Model: Unknown.) (Thanks to "Hope")
- The Kid (2000)
An eight year old kid stumbled into the life of an image consultant. The
consultant later discovered that the kid was a younger version of himself.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to John Braungart)
- Planet of the Apes (2001)
An astronaut accidentally entered a wormhole through time and landed on
a planet ruled by talking apes.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Black Knight (2001)
A worker at a medieval-style theme park found himself transport back to
real medieval times.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Kate and Leopold (2001)
A 19th century inventor went through a time warp (no, he didn't invent it)
and wound up in the 21st century, where he fell in love.
(Time Model: Unknown, with hints that past/resent can be changed.)
(Thanks to "John")
- The Tomorrow Man (2001)
also known as Time Shifters
A young boy was kidnapped by his future self. His perpetually confused
father and a time agent tried to rescue him. Nice ending. (See note #1)
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Donnie Darko (2001)
A brilliant but troubled teen was visited by a six-foot rabbit who told
him that the world would end in twenty-eight days. This was a strange
and disturbing movie. It definitely had elements of time travel in it,
but the focus was on the teen's mental problems and his attempts to cope
with a society that appeared to be less sane than he was.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to Jonas Johansen)
- The Time Machine (2002)
A Victorian-era scientist constructed a machine that could travel through
time. Finding that he could not change the past, he travelled to the
future to find out why not. (See note #1)
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed to some degree, but paradoxes
cannot be created.)
- Clockstoppers (2002)
Not preceisely a time travel story, it was about a teenager who obtained
a watch that allowed him to live and move at greatly accelerated speeds.
(Time Model: Unknown.)
- Hypercube: Cube 2 (2002)
A group of strangers were trapped inside a devious gigantic puzzle. Among
its various features were rooms that showed the past, showed the future, and
distorted time.
(Time Model: Unknown.) (Thanks to "rvo")
- Timeline (2003)
An experiment in sending 3D faxes was successful, but everything wound
up in 14th century France.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- Paycheck (2003)
A man built a machine that could see into the future, then took steps
to control his own destiny.
(Time Model: Unknown.) (Thanks to "Keith")
- The Butterfly Effect (2004)
- The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006)
A man found that he was able to travel back through time into younger
versions of himself. Trying to correct past mistakes only resulted in
making worse ones. The title is noteworthy in that "The Butterfly Effect"
refers to the theory that tiny events in the past (such as the beating of
a butterfly's wings) have a major impact on how the future is formed.
The same theme was revisited in the sequel.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to "Kevin" for The Butterfly Effect)
and to "TTMG" for The Butterfly Effect 2)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Distraught over the impending execution of an innocent man, Harry Potter
and Hermione Granger illegally used a time turner to go back and try
to change the past.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)(Thanks to "Keith")
- Slipstream (2005)
A scientist invented a time machine that worked through a PDA and cell
phone towers. As soon as he took it out for a "trial run" he ran afoul
of the FBI and some bank robbers.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- A Sound of Thunder (2005)
A careless time travelling adventurer stepped on a butterfly, causing
massive changes in history.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
- The Jacket (2005)
A man wrongly accused of murder was put in an asylum and treated by a quack
doctor. His bizarre 'treatment' caused him to travel into the future.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to "Nate The Moviefiend")
- Bewitched (2005)
A witch used a spell ("Rewind") to go back in time and undo events she
felt she had done wrong.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to "Leo Star Dragon 1")
- The Lake House (2006)
A man and a woman corresponded with each other by leaving letters in
the mailbox of a house by a lake. Then they discovered that one of
them was living in 2004 and the other in 2006.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to "Nate The Moviefiend")
- Deja Vu (2006)
An ATF agent used advanced technology to look back in time to determine
who caused an explosion on a ferry boat. He became enamoured of a
soon-to-be-killed woman and tried to alter the past to save her.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to "Nate The Moviefiend")
- Premonition (2007)
A woman was informed that her husband died in a car accident. The following
day, however, he was back. She lived through the same time over and over,
trying to understand what was happening and prevent the tragedy.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to "Leo Star Dragon 1")
- Next (2007)
A man who was able to see two minutes into the future was sought by FBI
agents trying to stop a terrorist attack.
(Time Model: Knowing the future, you can change it.)
- The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007)
A boy discovered that he was the last of a group of warriors. He travelled
through time looking for clues on how to battle the forces of evil.
(Time Model: The past/present can be changed.)
(Thanks to "Leo Star Dragon 1")
Notes:
- Same and similar titles:
- A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1921)
A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)
A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1989)
Young Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1995)
- The Time Machine (1960)
The Time Machine (2002)
- The Time Shifters aka Thrill Seekers
(1999)
Time Shifters aka The Tomorrow
Man (2001)
- I have not included 'Rip Van Winkle' type stories in which people
awake or are revived some time in the future as they do not actually
involved time travel.
- Yes! If you know of a time travel movie or movies not
listed here, I would be happy to hear from you. I know of about
half a dozen more which I've not listed due to lack of data. Perhaps
you can fill in details for:
- Berkeley Square (1933)
- I'll Never Forget You (1951)
- The Drivetime (1995)
- Young Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1995) (See note #1)
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