# Movies that got time travel right.



## Chris Blount

After watching Men in Black III, I started thinking about how bad time travel is portrayed in the movies. There are very few that get it right or come close.

For me, there is only one movie that got if fully correct. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Those that have seen it know what I'm talking about. 

What movies would you consider good time travel movies with few paradoxes/plot holes?


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## SayWhat?

The Final Countdown

_
'Alert One, this is Eagle One. You are cleared to fire. splash the Zeroes, I say again splash the Zeroes'_


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## Herdfan

Back to the Future 1 & 2. 3 was just stupid.


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## spartanstew

Time after Time


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## Chris Blount

Herdfan said:


> Back to the Future 1 & 2. 3 was just stupid.


 I agree. I think Carl Sagan said that those movies nailed time travel. I guess he saw something we didn't.

I still enjoy the BTTF trilogy however. Fun to watch.


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## machavez00

Certainly not _Timecop_.


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## Alan Gordon

To me, the only movies that have ever truly remained completely scientific, involved two guys... one named Bill and the other named Ted.

I can't believe nobody's mentioned it yet... :scratch:

~Alan


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## yosoyellobo

The Time Traveler's Wife got it mostly right.


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## lugnutathome

Most of the movies got it all creative licensed up but the book (I know how quaint) Thrice Upon a Time by James P Hogan. . .Also from the same author "The Proteus Operation" But these ain't movies so sorry.

Back to the future 2 was the one with the best of the time continuity of the three.

Don "where is the Time Tunnel now when NBC needs it?" Bolton


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## wahooq

i liked "The BUtterfly Effect"


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## punchguy

Timecrimes is probably in the same vein as Prisoner of Azkaban in regards to time travel.

Primer is just mind-blowing.


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## BobaBird

The best one I know of came out in 2034.


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## Alan Gordon

BobaBird said:


> The best one I know of came out in 2034.


The 2057 remake is _FAR_ superior...

~Alan


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## Chris Blount

punchguy said:


> Primer is just mind-blowing.


 I agree. Primer did pretty well with Time Travel. The science was almost believable.


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## dmspen

Alan Gordon said:


> The 2057 remake is _FAR_ superior...


Sure was. I saw it last year.


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## dpeters11

It's kind of like space movies. For every movie that is accurate scientifically (and even the best of them like 2001 or Contact have some inaccuracies), you have ones that get it very wrong. Same for time travel movies.


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## Inkosaurus

I wonder which movies you think got it terribly wrong?

I feel Terminator has to many over sites and plot holes myself.

Its not out yet but I get the feeling the movie "Looper" might get time travel right


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## Church AV Guy

Chris Blount said:


> ...What movies would you consider good time travel movies...


Well, not a movie, but...

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/23

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/24

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/25

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/26

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/28

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/29

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/30

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/31

and the story will contine...


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## Chris Blount

Church AV Guy said:


> Well, not a movie, but...
> 
> http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/23
> 
> http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/24
> 
> http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/25
> 
> http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/26
> 
> http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/28
> 
> http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/29
> 
> http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/30
> 
> http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/31
> 
> and the story will contine...


That is great!


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## Carl Spock

I miss Calvin and Hobbes. :lovenote:


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## Wire Nut

wahooq said:


> i liked "The Butterfly Effect"


Me too! Great underrated flick.


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## fluffybear

Inkosaurus said:


> I wonder which movies you think got it terribly wrong?


All of them! When I see a movie which deals with time travel, I see think of it on the same scale as a Willie E. Coyote & Roadrunner cartoon and watch it for nothing more than enjoyment.


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## Nick

"Emmanuelle Through Time" -- the perfect time-travel movie, made better by an invasion of highly-sexed humanoid clones. Best line of the film: _"It's a little cramped in there."_


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## mnelsonx

One of my favorites that I stumbled on is an indie movie called Primer. Very thoughtful, even mindbending at some points. As with many indie movies, you have to be engaged to follow it, maybe watch it twice. If you're into that type of movie, it's definitely one worth finding.

...although I see now that *punchguy* already mentioned this one, so I'll just give it a big +1!

On the other end of the spectrum, I can't believe there's not been one mention of Hot Tub Time Machine?!


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## elaclair

While not time-travel per-se, the original Planet of The Apes got the time-dilation effect...traveling at near light speed, "local" time passes much more slowly...mostly correct.


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## Jimmy 440

Star Trek IV,The Voyage Home


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## Shades228

Technically none of them can do it wrong until someone has done it. Well ok maybe Superman did it wrong.


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## dpeters11

Many scientists have said that time travel to the past does not follow the rules of physics, though to the future is possible.


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## MysteryMan

dpeters11 said:


> Many scientists have said that time travel to the past does not follow the rules of physics, though to the future is possible.


As a fictional scientist once said "there are always possibilities". The methods used today to detect planets orbiting distant stars were once considered a impossibility by many scientists.


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## SayWhat?

Since the rules or laws of physics were written by humans, it is reasonable to believe that they are at best incomplete, if not inherently flawed.


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## Church AV Guy

Here is the whole story. Time travel done right! ...and fun, too.

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/23
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/24
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/25
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/26
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/28
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/29
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/30
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/31
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/06/01
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/06/02
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/06/04
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/06/05
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/06/06
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/06/07
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/06/08
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/06/09


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## Chris Blount

punchguy said:


> Timecrimes is probably in the same vein as Prisoner of Azkaban in regards to time travel.


I finally got a chance to see Timecrimes. Not bad! It followes the single timeline theory. The only problem I had with it is that Hector was acting things out to keep the timeline intact. In Harry Potter, they didn't do that which makes more sense to me.

Timecrimes is on Netflix if anyone wants to take a look. It's subtitled and low budget but a nice exercise in one type of time travel theory.


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## turnbjr

Timecrimes
Primer
=====
+1

Also (not that they got it "right"):
Somewhere in Time
Groundhog Day
Timeline (awful)
The Jacket
The Terminator 1 & 2
Idiocracy
Deja Vu
Frequency
Millennium
Donnie Darko
12 Monkeys
Army of Darkness


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## Inkosaurus

MysteryMan said:


> As a fictional scientist once said "there are always possibilities". The methods used today to detect planets orbiting distant stars were once considered a impossibility by many scientists.


Well I think the theory has something to do with the idea that the technology needed to time travel cant go back past the time it was created because then it would cease to exist due to not having existed in that time.

There is also the theory that "debunks" time travel to the past based on the Idea that we havent run into "time travel tourists" yet lol.

@Turnbjr, good list but I feel like T1 and T2 shouldnt be there. There were far to many over sights to be listed as good time travel movies (I.e. John would never be born if the machines never sent back a Terminator causing John to send back Reese/His father).


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