The 32 Best TV Shows About Time Travel

time travel TV shows

Time traveling is a popular topic when it comes to all types of entertainment from books to films. But in recent years time travel has also become a popular theme in TV.

So let’s take a look at this list of the best time traveling TV shows and find out how each of them handles time travel and all the history that comes with it.

Doctor Who, BBC One (1963 – 1989, 2005 – present)

BBC One Doctor Who

When it comes to time traveling and TV, probably the most notable name in this niche is Doctor Who  because this time travel series has been around for 39 seasons and is still going strong.

Hailing from British television channel BBC One, Doctor Who tells the tale of the Time Lord aka The Doctor, and his companions as they travel to different times and try to prevent evil forces from changing history and hurting innocent lives.

Once the Time Lord gets hurt beyond healing, he can transform into a new body and continue saving the world. Hence why at this point 13 (soon to be 14) different actors have played The Doctor.

Doctor Who is not only a huge part of the fabric of British popular culture but by now this time travel show has found its way into the hearts of many people all over the world.

It has inspired many spin-offs in the form of TV shows, comic books, movies, novels, you name it. But more than that, by now it has become an industry standard both when it comes to science-fiction television series and shows about time travel.

No wonder that Doctor Who continues to be successful after countless actor changes and plot twists.

Where to watch Doctor Who:

Timeless, nbc (2016 – 2018).

NBC Timeless

Another time travel TV series that has already become a cult classic and is adored by fans all over the world is NBC’s Timeless . And despite the turmoil that this show has gone through, it still is time traveling at its best.

Starring Malcolm Barrett, Matt Lanter, and Abigail Spencer as Rufus, Wyatt, and Lucy, Timeless  details the trio traveling to different times in an effort to stop their adversaries from rewriting history.

But as it later turns out, the conspiracy goes deeper than them just changing history. Since the people who our trio is chasing are traveling through time to take down a dangerous and all-powerful organization. The same one that helped build the time machine that Rufus, Wyatt, and Lucy are using.

And although Timeless went on for just two seasons (and a two-hour wrap-up movie), you should still check out the show because it’s not only entertaining but will make you think and want to know more about the events that each episode is exploring.

Where to watch Timeless:

Dc’s legends of tomorrow, the cw (2016 – present).

DC's Legends of Tomorrow

If you are a fan of superhero TV shows, then you will probably have heard about DC’s Legends of Tomorrow . It is a show that is a huge part of The CW’s Arrowverse. And has crossed over with shows like Arrow , The Flash , and Supergirl multiple times now.

And even if you don’t like the rest of the superhero series but do enjoy a good old time travel TV show, then I suggest you still give Legends of Tomorrow a watch.

The plot of this show is based around a team of superheroes that are traveling through time in their time machine christened the Waverider to prevent different catastrophes from happening. Both ones made by others and those created by the team’s previous adventures.

At the forefront, there are well-known DC heroes like Rip Hunter, Firestorm, The Atom, Kid Flash, Steel, and Vixen. Joined by some original characters like Caity Lotz’s White Canary among others.

One of the defining characteristics of Legends of Tomorrow is how fun it is. Because adjectives like unapologetic, witty, and entertaining are frequently used to describe this time travel series.

However, more than that, it adds an interesting layer to the whole Arrowverse universe. And above all, it is just a hoot to watch.

Where to watch Legends of Tomorrow:

12 monkeys, syfy (2015 – 2018).

SyFy 12 Monkeys

Then there also is SyFy’s 12 Monkeys , which is a little darker take on time traveling. One that comes with mystery, drama, and apocalyptic stakes. But that doesn’t lessen how good this time travel TV series is.

Split between two timelines, 12 Monkeys centers on Aaron Stanford’s James Cole, who is tasked to travel back in time and stop the distribution of a virus that has the ability to end the human race as we know it.

In Cole’s real timeline, the year is 2043 and people are struggling to survive because of the terrible mutations caused by the virus. So Cole travels back to 2015 to find virologist Cassie Railly, played by Amanda Schull, that can help him stop the release of the virus and the organization that is behind it called The Army of the 12 Monkeys.

If you think about it, the post-apocalyptic setting and time travel really do go hand in hand. Because if you can go back in time to stop history from being changed, why not go back to change it if it prevents something terrible from happening?

And that is what this show explores. Beautifully combining elements of mystery, drama, and science fiction, to form a great TV show.

Where to watch 12 Monkeys:

Outlander, starz (2014 – present).

time travel 2017

Want another show that mixes time travel with historical events and does it flawlessly? Then you should put Outlander on your must-watch TV show list!

The show starts in the 1940s when a combat nurse Claire Randall visits Inverness, Scotland as part of her second honeymoon with her husband Frank. Claire accidentally happens upon the standing stones at Craigh na Dun which transport her back in time to 1743.

To return to her own time she first has to survive 18th-century Scotland. And she does so by joining a group of rebel Highlanders from Clan MacKenzie and marrying one of the Highlanders, Jamie Fraser. But eventually, she falls in love with her new husband and aids the clan in evading British redcoats that are pursuing them.

Over the five seasons of Outlander that are currently out (with the sixth coming soon), we see Claire jump back and forth between the 20th and 18th centuries and her two families as she faces two pregnancies, wars, and much more. But eventually, Claire finds her way back to Jamie.

Where to watch Outlander:

Travelers, showcase (2016 – 2018).

Netflix Travelers

Then we have Travelers , a joint venture between Netflix and Canada’s Showcase that will tick all of your time travel TV show boxes.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world , this show depicts the adventures of travelers – operatives who go back in time to prevent the collapse of society.

These travelers are transferred into the bodies of our current-day humans, who otherwise would die, to blend in with twenty-first-century people. And with the help of their artificial intelligence boss from the future, travelers carry out missions in order to stop many catastrophic events from happening.

Travelers is a great mix of sci-fi and drama, featuring a great cast and spine-tingling storylines. So if you love all that and love a good time-travel series, then look no further than Travelers .

Where to watch Travelers:

Dark, netflix (2017 – 2020).

time travel 2017

Netflix’s first German original series was the science fiction series Dark , which mixes in some mystery drama with sci-fi: time travel, the apocalypse, wormholes, and parallel worlds.

Dark takes place in Winden, a fictional German town, and begins in 2019 after children begin to disappear from the town. As the show progresses, however, timelines jump drastically between as early as 1921 to as late as 2053.

As four families in Winden investigate the disappearances to reunite with their lost loved ones, they discover a wormhole beneath the local powerplant that allows them to travel between timelines, thus uncovering a generations-long conspiracy involving the town and their families.

Where to watch Dark:

The umbrella academy, netflix (2019 – present).

time travel 2017

Netflix brings another to the list with The Umbrella Academy .

On October 1, 1989, 43 infants were suddenly born from unsuspecting women despite them not even being pregnant the day before.

7 of them were raised together as the Hargreeve siblings and trained in their respective abilities until their relationship became strained as teenagers and they drifted apart.

Now, as adults, they’re brought back together by the death of their adoptive father – and the threat of the end of the world, of course.

They’re forced to travel back in time but end up in different times and places, and must find each other again to stop the nuclear apocalypse.

Where to watch The Umbrella Academy:

Seven days, upn (1998 – 2001).

time travel 2017

We know that the National Security Agency has its share of secrets, but what if one of those secrets was a time-traveling machine?

In UPN’s Seven Days , the plot centers on one such device made from alien technology found at Roswell.

The Chronosphere, as it’s called, can only be used in times when national security is at risk – the limited capacity of the device allows for just one human to go back in time by seven days in order to avert disasters.

Thus, when the White House is attacked, the NSA employs former Navy SEAL and CIA operative Frank Parker to go back and prevent it from happening.

Where to watch Seven Days:

Loki, disney+ (2021 – present).

time travel 2017

Yes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the greatest gifts to the cinema of our time. Now, the MCU has expanded even further into the television medium and we’ve got a few series to accompany it!

One of those is Loki , which of course, centers on the God of Thunder’s mischievous adopted brother.

After the events in Avengers: Endgame , particularly his stealing of the Tesseract, Loki inadvertently creates another timeline that began in 2012, making him a “time variant” version of himself.

When confronted by the authorities, Loki is given two choices: face punishment and cease to exist, or travel through time to fix his own mess and the threat that has emerged.

Where to watch Loki:

Making history, fox (2017).

time travel 2017

The thing about traveling back in time is, you have to be very careful that your actions in the past won’t affect the future (which is essentially your actual present).

Most of the time, that’s something you wouldn’t know until you go back to your time. In Making History , however, Dan Chambers travels back in time to right before the American Revolution and sets off a series of events that seriously mess up the future.

Being able to constantly travel between time periods, Dan recruits the help of history professor Chis Parrish to travel with him and ensure that the American Revolution still takes place.

Where to watch Making History:

Quantum leap, nbc (1989 – 1993).

time travel 2017

The title of NBC’s sci-fi comedy-drama Quantum Leap is also the name of the time travel machine that accidentally sends its creator, physicist Dr. Sam Beckett, back into the past.

Now, he’s stuck – and not as himself, either!

Sam discovers that he jumped into the body of a stranger and because he’s still himself, doesn’t know all the details of his current identity.

With the help of his friend Al, who appears as a hologram only he can see, he must fix something that went wrong so he can jump in time again and eventually get back to his own body.

Where to watch Quantum Leap:

Quantum leap, nbc (2022 – present).

time travel 2017

Speaking of Quantum Leap , in 2022 NBC revived the 1989 series into a more modern take on the cult classic.

In this new Quantum Leap , thirty years have passed since Dr. Sam Beckett vanished into the Quantum Leap accelerator, and the Quantum Leap project was put to rest.

Now the project is restarted with a new team, who tries to puzzle together the mysteries behind Beckett and his time-traveling machine.

So, we follow Ben Song, the lead physicist of the Quantum Leap time travel project, who gets lost in the past after leaping back in time.

As he tries to return to the present he is helped by his fiancée Addison Augustine, who appears to him as a hologram during each leap, and the team back in the present time.

Where to watch Quantum Leap reboot:

The way home, hallmark channel (2023 – present).

time travel 2017

Among the newest time travel shows on this list is Hallmark’s The Way Home which has already been renewed for a second season.

The Way Home follows three generations of Landry women who learn that they can time travel after discovering a magic pond on their family’s farm in Port Haven.

When Kat and her daughter Alice return to Port Haven and are forced to move in with Alice’s estranged mother Del, the three women use time travel to uncover their family history, including what really happened to Kat’s little brother Jacob and whether they can prevent his disappearance.

Where to watch The Way Home:

Russian doll, netflix (2019 – 2022).

time travel 2017

Netflix’s Russian Doll deviates from the traditional time travel theme of a willing traveler in one specific timeline because Russian Doll’s protagonist Nadia Vulvokov not only has absolutely no choice or control over her so-called time traveling, but hers is also a time loop.

She wakes up every day having to relive the day of her 36th birthday party in New York City; every time, she dies and comes back to the exact same moment.

Every time, Nadia scrambles to figure out what happens to her and tries to prevent her death, leading her to find Alan, a man who is experiencing the same time loop.

Where to watch Russian Doll:

Undone, prime video (2019 – present).

time travel 2017

Undone may be an animated series, but it certainly isn’t geared toward younger audiences; though there is a touch of comedy, the series leans more towards the psychological drama genre and “explores the elastic nature of reality”.

The series follows Alma Winograd-Diaz right after she gets into a near-fatal car accident.

Right before the crash, she has a strange vision of her dead father, and right after it, she finds that she now has the ability to manipulate and move through time.

Using this newfound power, she travels between time periods to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her father’s death.

Where to watch Undone:

Voyagers, nbc (1982 – 1983).

time travel 2017

Premiering back in the early 1980s, NBC’s Voyagers! Is set in a world where time travel already exists.

In fact, there’s already a secret society in place that trains its members, called Voyagers, to go back in time and make sure that historical events happen exactly the way they’re supposed to – otherwise it could affect the present in unexpected ways.

One such Voyager is Phineas Bogg, although he isn’t exactly the best at the job.

During an accidental trip to 1982, he meets the young Jeffrey Jones and ends up bringing him along on one of his missions.

Having lost his Guidebook, Phineas now needs to rely on the extremely smart Jeffrey to get history right.

Where to watch Voyagers!:

Fringe, fox (2008 – 2013).

time travel 2017

Fox’s Fringe is a series that was well into the science fiction genre, with parallel universes, supernatural abilities, biotechnology, doomsday predictions, and of course, time travel.

The title is taken from fringe science, which is a branch that deals with scientific theories riddled with skepticism or even having been disproven already.

In Fringe , Special Agent Olivia Dunham is assigned to oversee the FBI ’s Fringe Division, which is run by Peter Bishop and his father Walter.

Together, the team uses both fringe science and Olivia’s knowledge in investigative techniques to explore the unexplained.

In the process, they discover a larger mystery involving parallel universes and alternate timelines .

Where to watch Fringe:

Time after time, abc (2017).

time travel 2017

ABC’s Time After Time is based on the novel of the same name written by Kevin Williamson in 1979.

In addition to that, each episode takes its title from a line in Cyndi Lauper’s song, which was inspired by the film (and subsequently, the same book!).

In Time After Time , we are taken to H.G. Wells’ home in 1893.

During a dinner party, he reveals his time machine – right before his guest John Stevenson is arrested for actually being Jack the Ripper .

John escapes through the time machine and Wells follows him straight into the present: 2017. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game as John attempts to gain control of the machine.

Where to watch Time After Time:

11.22.63, hulu (2016).

time travel 2017

When you have anything with Stephen King involved, you know it’s going to be great.

Hulu’s eight-episode miniseries 11.22.63 is based on King’s novel 11/22/63 and is a science fiction thriller like no other.

Starring James Franco in the lead role, 11.22.63 follows Jake Epping, an English teacher from Maine .

His best friend Al reveals a time travel machine and asks him to take over the mission he’s been working on: to travel to the 60s and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Will Jake be successful in changing a past that simply refuses to be changed?

Where to watch 11.22.63:

The 4400, usa network/sky one (2004 – 2007).

time travel 2017

The 4400 is yet another slightly different take on the idea of time travel, in that there has been just one (fairly significant) shift forward in time, to the present.

Beginning in 1946, individuals who were easily overlooked or marginalized by society slowly began disappearing through beams of green light.

Now, all 4400 of them (hence the title) have been returned to the present day – without having aged a day and in some cases, even manifesting supernatural abilities like telekinesis, healing, and telepathy.

Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris are assigned to investigate the phenomenon and find out why the 4400 have returned.

NOTE: For a fresher take on the show, you can also check out the reboot of the original series which is currently airing on The CW.

Where to watch The 4400:

Somewhere between, abc (2017).

time travel 2017

When tragedy strikes our lives, we always wish there was something we could’ve done to prevent it.

In ABC’s Somewhere Between we meet Laura Price, a successful news producer with a great career, a loving husband who’s a district attorney, and a beautiful daughter named Serena.

However, her life changes when the serial killer she is helping the cops to catch kills Serena.

Distraught with grief , Laura attempts to complete suicide but is unsuccessful, instead waking up having time-traveled to a week before Serena’s death.

She teams up with Nico, a former SFPD detective who experienced the same reset and wants to find the real killer to change his brother’s fate as well.

Where to watch Somewhere Between:

Terra nova, fox (2011).

time travel 2017

Terra Nova takes its viewers to both extremes of the time-traveling timeline.

The present-day is 2149, where overpopulation has threatened to deplete the Earth’s resources.

In an attempt to save Earth and mankind, scientists have found a way to travel back in time, sending groups of humans back to the Cretaceous Period to set up colonies.

Terra Nova focuses primarily on Elisabeth and Jim Shannon, and their three children, who have joined the 10th pilgrimage to Terra Nova.

They offer their expertise as a trauma surgeon and former narcotics detective and help those in charge with stopping those whose intentions go against the greater good.

Where to watch Terra Nova:

Frequency, the cw (2016 – 2017).

time travel 2017

One concept in time travel is known as “the butterfly effect”, wherein one small change in time may have great effects elsewhere.

Frequency demonstrates this concept perfectly.

Raimy Sullivan is an NYPD detective who, after a strange weather phenomenon, discovers that she can communicate with her dead father through his old ham radio.

Believing he was a corrupt cop, she learns the truth and warns him of his murder, thus saving his life.

However, this has profound effects on the future – Raimy’s present.

Now, they must work together across time to save her father and preserve the present.

Where to watch Frequency:

Life on mars, bbc one (2006).

time travel 2017

In many of the shows on the list so far, the protagonists experience a time loop that’s triggered at the point of their death.

It’s no different for Sam Tyler, the main character in the British series Life on Mars .

Sam is a Detective Chief Inspector with the Greater Manchester Police, but one day he accidentally gets hit by a car.

When he awakens, he’s in 1973 and working at one rank lower than he was: Detective Inspector.

The selling point of Life on Mars , however, is that we’re left unsure if Sam’s predicament is due to his actual death, a comatose, or time travel.

Where to watch Life on Mars:

Always a witch, netflix (2019 – 2020).

time travel 2017

Always A Witch (or Siempre Bruja in its original Spanish title) is a Colombian series that is set in both present-day Colombia and the 17th century .

The series follows Carmen Eguiliuz, a young 19-year-old witch who, after committing the crime of falling in love with a white man in 1646 colonial Colombia, is scheduled to be burned at the stake.

She gets a chance to escape to a new life when the mysterious wizard Aldemar makes a deal with her: he will save the man she loves if she travels into the future to find the woman who can break his curse.

Where to watch Always a Witch:

Beforeigners, hbo (2019 – present).

time travel 2017

HBO’s Beforeigners is a Norwegian sci-fi crime drama series and the first Norwegian original from HBO Europe.

The title is a clever play on words centered on the general plot: a group of “foreigners” has suddenly shown up at a neighborhood in Oslo, and they are all from “before” times, or several different time periods in history.

Whether from the Viking period , the Stone Age, or the more recent 19th century , each of these ‘Beforeigners’ tries to integrate in modern-day Norwegian society.

One of them even partners with a detective to investigate first a murdered Stone Age woman, then a series of murderers tied to Jack the Ripper.

Where to watch Beforeigners:

Alice, sbs tv (2020).

time travel 2017

Alice was a South Korean sci-fi series that aired in late 2020.

In the lead-up to the main plot, the show’s background is explained to its viewers.

Set in 2050, time travel is monitored by an agency called Alice, which sends its clients to the past to help find closure with deceased loved ones.

Alice one day sends two agents to 1992 in order to find the Book of Prophecy, but one of them disappears with the book and her unborn child.

In 2020, the child becomes a detective and in his investigation into his mother’s death in 2010, discovers the existence of Alice and time travel.

Where to watch Alice:

Live up to your name, tvn (2017).

time travel 2017

Yet another South Korean time travel series , Live Up to Your Name initially takes its viewers some 400 years into the past, right in the middle of the Joseon dynasty.

There we meet Heo Im, a doctor of traditional Korean medicine who also specializes in acupuncture.

On one of his treatments of the king’s migraines, he made a mistake and was charged with treason.

Chased by the king’s soldiers, he’s shot with an arrow and presumed dead when he falls into the river – except he ends up waking up in present-day Seoul instead, where he meets cardiothoracic surgeon Choi Yeon-kyung.

Where to watch Live Up to Your Name:

My only love song, netflix (2017).

time travel 2017

Our third South Korean series is Netflix’s My Only Love Song , which aired in 2017.

We start off in modern-day Korea where we meet Soo-jung, a talented and top-level actress.

However, it seems that the fame may have gotten to her head as she’s arrogant, and believes fame and money make the world go round.

When things don’t go her way on her new show, she winds up in a time-traveling van that takes her to the 6th century.

There, she meets a man much like herself in terms of arrogance, but his hidden soft spot and generosity towards the poor changes her perspective on her own life and self.

Where to watch My Only Love Song:

Signal, tvn (2016).

time travel 2017

Signal is based on the 2000 American film Frequency , but another thing that sets this South Korean series apart from others is that the cases investigated in the series are also based on real-life crimes in the country.

Signal follows a cold case profiler from 2015 and a detective from 1989 simultaneously; they discover they’re able to communicate with each other through an old walkie-talkie.

Using this unique ability to provide much-needed foresight in investigations, they team up to both solve and in some cases, even prevent these horrific crimes.

Where to watch Signal:

Rooftop prince, sbs (2012).

time travel 2017

Last but not least, South Korea brings its last time-traveling series to the table with Rooftop Prince , a comedy-drama filled with intrigue, mixed identities, and possible reincarnations.

Crown Prince Lee Gak from the Joseon dynasty accidentally time travels to 2012 with three others from his entourage, and their lives are thrown into a whirlwind.

He crosses paths with Se-na, who looks exactly like his recently deceased wife.

In the hopes of getting answers about his wife’s mysterious drowning, he assumes the identity of another man who he also looks exactly like and attempts to marry Se-na in this timeline as well.

Where to watch Rooftop Prince:

11 comments.

Tomorrow people cw

You forgot The Time Tunnel, an Irwin Allen sci-fi show (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost In Space, Land of The Giants), all classic 60s sci-fi

Journeyman should also be on this list. It was only half a season on NBC but it wraps up to a satisfying conclusion.

Fantastic acting and interesting characters.

Glad someone else watched Journeyman. I thought I’d was a great spiritual successor to Quantum Leap.

Journeyman is one of the good shows u can watch but qunatum leap i watched and didnt like

Where is The Time Tunnel?????

Another show for your list is “Being Erica” (CBC, 2009-2011). Excellent writing, and very unique.

i was looking for this comment. such an underrated show

I concur. This was definitely a great one. It certainly provides a lot of food for thought.

Some of the information in the Doctor Who one is wrong. It started in 1963, it was only revived in 2005 (you put 2006), and it’s been going for 39 seasons, as of June 2022

Thanks for letting me know! I updated the article accordingly.

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  • Entertainment
  • 11 Time-Travel Movies to Watch After Netflix’s <i>The Adam Project</i>

11 Time-Travel Movies to Watch After Netflix’s The Adam Project

I n Netflix’s The Adam Project , Ryan Reynolds plays Adam Reed, a fighter pilot from 2050 who heads back in time to stop the development of time travel. His mission only gets harder after he crash-lands in his childhood backyard in the year 2022 and is forced to team up with his video game-loving 12-year-old self (portrayed by Walker Scobell).

This isn’t Back to the Future : There are no DeLoreans or high-flux capacitors in sight. (Though Mark Ruffalo , as Adam’s inventor dad, does make for a worthy Doc Brown surrogate.) Instead, Adam hops into a wormhole and traverses the space-time continuum to let his preteen self know that the ability to time-hop is a privilege, not a right. It’s a rather heady concept for a family film, but most time-travel movies are about more than just joyriding through history. Whether it’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing a time-jumping hitman in Looper or Jennifer Garner aging 17 years with help from magic fairy dust in 13 Going on 30 , movies featuring transtemporal travel often show why we should err on the side of caution when spanning time and space.

If you’re craving more time travel, here’s a list of 11 movies to watch after The Adam Project . A couple quick notes: Since Back to the Future is undeniably the greatest time-travel movie of all time , it’s omitted from this list to make room for lesser-known choices. The prototypical time-loop film Groundhog’s Day was also passed over in lieu of a more recent selection.

You won’t need a science degree to enjoy any of the movies included here. But you might walk away from your viewing experience feeling as if the future is coming sooner than you think.

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Jennifer Garner gives Tom Hanks a run for his money in this Big -esque coming-of-age dramedy about a girl who wakes up from her traumatic 13th birthday party to find she’s 30, flirty, and thriving. She quickly learns growing up is hard to do, especially when you do it overnight.

Rent it on Amazon Prime Video

Donnie Darko (2001)

After Jake Gyllenhaal ’s titular sad boy narrowly survives a freak accident, he’s left with disturbing visions of a 6-foot-tall rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days. If you don’t totally understand this time-bending film, don’t worry: its stars don’t either . Donnie Darko ’s perplexing final moments are part of its charm.

Watch it on HBO Max

Looper (2012)

Rian Johnson ’s sci-fi action thriller takes place in a not-so-distant future where mobsters punish those they don’t like by sending them back in time to be killed by a futuristic assassin known as a “looper.” When one of those hired guns (a prosthetic nose-wearing Joseph Gordon-Levitt) comes face-to-face with his older self ( Bruce Willis ), he ends up on a wild goose chase to save his future without unraveling his past.

Watch it on Netflix

About Time (2013)

When Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) learns he has the power to travel back in time, he can’t resist making a few tiny tweaks to his past. He soon discovers that even the smallest changes have big consequences in this weepy Brit rom-com directed by Love Actually helmer Richard Curtis .

Happy Death Day (2017)

In this slasher film, often described as “ Groundhog’s Day meets Scream ,” a college student, played by Jessica Rothe, must solve her own murder if she wants to live to see the next day.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted ( Keanu Reeves ) hurtle through time and space in a cosmic phone booth, meeting historical dudes who can help them ace their high school history paper. The best part is that when you’re done with this one, you can keep the adventure going with its sequels: 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey and 2020’s Bill & Ted Face the Music . Pretty excellent, right?

Run Lola Run (1998)

Lola (Franka Potente) —who stands out with fire engine-red hair—only has 20 minutes to secure enough money to save her boyfriend from a Berlin crime boss. This German experimental thriller isn’t your typical time-loop film, but Lola’s ability to learn from her past mistakes to save her love will make you happy that she’s running a marathon, not a sprint.

See You Yesterday (2019)

In this Spike Lee -produced film, high schooler C.J. Walker (Eden Duncan-Smith) uses a backpack time machine to save her brother from being killed by a police officer. But altering the events of the past have consequences that not even a science prodigy can anticipate.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

This sweet sci-fi rom-com starts with a classified ad from Kenneth (Mark Duplass), a grocery-store worker looking for a partner to travel back in time with. “Safety not guaranteed,” he warns. While some write him off as crazy or paranoid, disillusioned college grad-turned-alt weekly intern Darius ( Aubrey Plaza ) might be willing to risk it all for a chance to roam the universe with him.

Arrival (2016)

Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi drama , which stars Amy Adams as a celebrated linguist trying to communicate with an intelligent alien race, plays with time in ways we won’t dare spoil here. Suffice to say that the film’s twist ending will make you rethink the entire movie.

Watch it on Hulu

Palm Springs (2020)

Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) found love in a hopeless place: a Palm Springs wedding that they’ve been forced to relive over and over again after getting stuck in a time loop. Both darkly hilarious and sweetly nihilistic, Palm Springs is a unique rom-com for those who don’t want to admit they like rom-coms.

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You need to watch the most underrated time-travel movie on Netflix ASAP

This low-budget gem has huge ambitions.

time travel 2017

There are scads of low-budget movies on Netflix , but that's no indication of quality. Sure, you can find plenty of awful B-movies and amateur debuts, but there are also plenty of gems. Take, for example, The Florida Project , a critically acclaimed indie film with an ending shot on an iPhone. Good low-budget sci-fi films are a bit harder to find, but this 2017 thriller delivers what it promises and more.

At first glance, Time Trap looks like a cheap knockoff of The Descent . Just like The Descent , it starts with a strange, cold open and then introduces the main characters as they prepare for a cave exploration adventure. But while the cave in The Descent contained merely nothing but monsters, the cave in Time Trap holds something far more terrifying.

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The film opens with Professor Hopper, played by Andrew Wilson (elder brother to Owen and Luke), as he explores the mouth of a cave, seeing a mysterious figure that looks to be ... not of this time. He then ventures in further, encountering what looks like an ethereal wall.

After Hopper goes missing, his grad students Taylor and Jackie decide to go into the cave he was researching, bringing along their friend, Cara, along with her kid sister, Veeves, and Veeves' best friend, Furby. As everyone except for Furby rappels down into the cave, they realize something is up with the way the Sun looks.

time travel 2017

Professor Hopper approaches the cave.

Suddenly, they realize: time moves slower inside the cave. So while they've been down below the surface for only an hour, whole weeks have passed by for everyone else. What follows incorporates many different legends, from the search for the Fountain of Youth to the Islamic legend of the Seven Sleepers . There's action, there's intrigue, and there's actually some decent-looking special effects.

Often in time travel movies that use time dilation, it can be difficult to understand the complex physics behind it. Time Trap doesn't bother explaining its premise, and because of this, it's much easier to buy into sci-fi. Why does time run slower in the cave? It doesn't matter; they just have to get out.

time travel 2017

Professor Hopper's rescue crew before they venture into the cave.

Eventually, they discover they're not alone, and visitors from the far off future clash with people who have been in the cave for thousands of years — at least, thousands of years above the surface. It all seems quite hopeless. After all, it's not the kind of time travel where it's easy to return to the way things were, but the ambitious storyline pays itself off with an ending that does feel rushed, but that's just because of the time dilation.

Time Trap is the perfect indie gem to see storytelling in its most simple form. The exposition takes a found-footage angle, making it feel all the more real, even when the footage is found in the suit of an 8-foot-tall spaceman. Yes, it's cheesy, but it strikes the perfect balance of mindless fun and thought-provoking concepts.

Time Trap is now streaming on Netflix.

Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly stated that The Florida Project was filmed entirely an iPhone, rather than just the final scene. We regret the error. Thanks Kyle!

This article was originally published on Sep. 10, 2020

  • Science Fiction

time travel 2017

'The Adam Project' & 9 Best Time Travel Movies on Netflix

For more mind-bending time travel adventures.

Read update

No matter the time period, time travel movies have always been popular. Whether it is the latest Ryan Reynolds and Netflix collaboration The Adam Project or the sci-fi action masterpiece The Terminator , time travel fans are spoiled for choice. Netflix in particular has plenty of great movies in the genre worth visiting, and some of the best time travel movies on Netflix will have you watching them over and over again.

In Netflix time travel movie The Adam Project , Ryan Reynolds plays a fighter pilot from the future, who crash lands in the present and meets his 12-year-old self. Together they must save the world in a journey that harkens back to Amblin classics from the 1980s while featuring some great needle drops.

Time travel stories have always been a popular narrative choice, with the highest-grossing film of all time, Avengers: Endgame , fitting in the genre. Videogames such as Mortal Kombat 11 also use time travel to great effect. But with The Adam Project being a Netflix original, there are more time travel movies on Netflix to watch after seeing Reynolds quip his way through another memorable performance.

Updated on May 28, 2023, by Ty Weinert:

10 'naked' (2017).

Marlon Wayans being thrown out of his wedding by Dennis Haysbert in Naked

Rob ( Marlon Wayans ) is about to marry the girl of his dreams, Megan ( Regina Hall ). But after a night out with his best friend results in Rob waking up naked in an elevator, he must race to the altar to make it in time. Failing that, Rob wakes up again in the elevator, realizing he is trapped in a time loop and must relive the hour over and over again.

Working like a mix of The Hangover and Groundhog Day , Naked will appeal to anyone who enjoyed those screwball comedies. While it is not one of the best time loop movies , it still offers some laughs and is a good enough way to kill an afternoon on the couch.

Watch on Netflix

9 'Captain Nova' (2021)

Kika Van De Vijver and a drone in Captain Nova

Like The Adam Project , Captain Nova follows a fighter pilot who is sent back in time to stop a catastrophe. Nova ( Kika Van De Vijver ) finds herself transformed into her younger self due to her journey through time, however, making it hard for adults to take her seriously as she warns them of the dangers to come.

Hailing from the Netherlands, Captain Nova makes for a nice change from the American movies that dominate the time travel genre on Netflix. Due to its protagonist's youthful transformation, Captain Nova is a kid-friendly take on the formula and can be enjoyed by the whole family.

8 'See You Yesterday' (2019)

Eden Duncan-Smith and Danté Crichlow in See You Yesterday

Produced by legendary director Spike Lee , See You Yesterday follows two teenage scientists, who are attempting to create a time machine. After one of their older brothers is killed in a police shooting, the pair activate their machine to travel to the past and save him.

While still following the conventions of time travel movies, See You Yesterday stands out with a plot that focuses on relevant social issues. By bringing light to matters that are still plaguing society four years after release, the film is a unique choice within the time travel Netflix catalog.

7 'In the Shadow of the Moon' (2019)

Boyd Holbrook standing closely behind Michael C. Hall In the Shadow of the Moon

Beginning in 1988, In the Shadow of the Moon follows Thomas Lockhart ( Boyd Holbrook ), a police officer determined to become a detective. When his city is plagued by a serial killer, Lockhart begins investigating, eventually discovering the killer comes back every nine years. As the case deepens, time travel eventually becomes a factor.

In the Shadow of the Moon feels like a callback to the detective thrillers of the '90s, like Se7en . While it does tend to lose focus as more outrageous plot points are introduced, In the Shadow of the Moon remains a solid choice for anyone looking to discover their next crime obsession.

6 'Synchronic' (2019)

Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie in Synchronic

Another quality entry in acclaimed duo Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson 's trippy shared universe , Synchronic stars Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan as paramedics and lifelong friends. After a new drug sweeps their city, resulting in the deaths of its users, the pair investigates after Dornan's daughter goes missing.

The film delves into time travel in ways that will not be spoiled here, but needless to say Synchronic is a trippy film with a central mystery that unravels over time. Both leads excel in their roles and share great chemistry, with Mackie, in particular, delivering a fantastic performance that shows what he can offer when given more meaty roles outside the MCU.

5 'ARQ' (2016)

Robbie Amell in ARQ

Waking up to intruders breaking into his home, an engineer ( Robbie Amell ) finds himself trapped within a time loop. With each death sending him back to the start of the invasion, he works to defeat his pursuers and escape with his lover ( Rachael Taylor ).

ARQ works as a sci-fi spin on films such as Happy Death Day , with the audience learning new information alongside the protagonist with each subsequent loop and eventual death. While not as charming as Happy Death Day , ARQ still offers an enjoyable take on the genre.

4 'When We First Met' (2018)

Adam DeVine in When We First Met

When We First Met follows Adam DeVine , of Workaholics fame, as he repeatedly goes back in time to try and win over the girl of his dreams ( Alexandra Daddario ). Being a romantic comedy, the film stands apart from other time travel movies that focus on more serious consequences.

While We First Met does not offer much new to the genre, though DeVine gives an admirable performance to help carry the film. Fans of his stand-up or the aforementioned Workaholics should have a good time watching his numerous attempts to escape the hellish nightmare called "the friend zone."

3 'Long Story Short' (2021)

Zahra Newman, Rafe Spall, and Ronny Chieng in Long Story Short

Waking up the morning after his wedding to discover that his life is jumping forward in time every few minutes, Teddy ( Rafe Spall ) is forced to use his dwindling time to stay with the woman he loves. With every jump causing them to drift further apart, time is running out for the bumbling lead.

Like When We First Met , Long Story Short uses time travel in a romantic comedy , albeit in a more urgent way. The Australian film was directed by Josh Lawson , known to audiences as Kano, the best part of the recent Mortal Kombat film.

2 'The Adam Project' (2022)

Ryan Reynolds and Zoe Saldana in The Adam Project

When fighter pilot Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) travels from 2050 to 2012, he is forced to work together with his 12-year-old self in order to get back home and save his deceased wife Laura ( Zoe Saldana ). The two Adams end up going on a journey full of heart and humor as they travel through time.

The latest in the long line of big-budget blockbusters on Netflix, The Adam Project is one of the best free movies you can access on the service. Reynolds is always a charming lead, and along with Saldana, they are supported by a winning cast that includes Mark Ruffalo , Jennifer Garner , and Catherine Keener .

1 'Mirage' (2018)

A poster for Mirage

When Vera ( Adriana Ugarte ) and her family move into a new home, they discover that a boy died there thirty years ago. Finding a way to communicate with the boy in the past, Vera warns him of his death and saves his life, only to change the flow of time in the process.

As the best time travel movie Netflix has to offer, Mirage is a compelling mystery thriller from Spain. As more circumstances of the boy's death emerge, greater narrative threads are pulled into this time-bending journey, with Ugarte delivering a great performance as the central character.

NEXT: The Best Time Travel Movies Ever Made, Ranked

time travel 2017

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When Are We Now: 24 TV Shows About Time Travel

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Time travel fans are in for a treat this Sunday, March 5 when two premiering shows tackle the temporal topic: ABC’s H.G. Wells-inspired Time After Time , and FOX’s comedy Making History . The repetitious format of TV has always lent itself well to history jumping stories, as we’ll see with these 24 shows featuring some major time travel antics.

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Time Travel

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Time travel.

2017 Directed by Lawrence Jordan

The film, an animation, unfolds in three acts: Act I, "Cyrano", wherein Cyrano makes all manner of boasts and compares his lady-love to the marvels of the universe; Act II, " Prometheus", in which pagan forces are compared with the supposed genteel nature of the 19th century; Act III, "Time Travel", wherein there is a hop-scotch of Time Travel! In which the viewer moves among various 'times', partially drawn entirely from imagination, partially from allusion to specific visual historic and pre-historic periods. It is not a straight-line progression, rather a flipping back and forth through glimpses of various ages, carried along by the surreal antics of its objects and characters.

Director Director

Lawrence Jordan

No spoken language

Releases by Date

01 jan 2017, releases by country.

10 mins   More at TMDb Report this page

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Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.

Time Travel

TIME TRAVEL

The film, an animation, unfolds in three acts: Act I, “Cyrano”; Act II, “Prometheus”; Act III, “Time Travel”. It is not a straight-line progression, rather a flipping back and forth through glimpses of various ages, carried along by the surreal antics of its objects and characters.

Screen Rant

10 best movies & shows about time travel, ranked.

Time travel has been a part of fiction for a long time now and is a popular theme in cinema and TV. Here are the best time travel movies and TV shows.

Time travel is a topic popularized by works of fiction and is used as a plot device for exploring the impermanence of life, the impossibility of second chances, and the inevitability of events. It's also used to increase the stakes in a story and as a way of expanding the field on which characters may adventure.

RELATED: The One Problem Sci-Fi Time Travel Movies NEVER Resolve

There are a few different kinds of time travel that have been portrayed in movies and television, with varying levels of agency given to the characters. In some stories, events in the past can be changed, but not in others. Here is a list of 10 of the best movies about time travel.

About Time (2013)

A man and woman embrace on a sidewalk from About Time

Domhnall Gleeson plays a young man who discovers that he has the ability to travel back in time. He is a hopeless romantic and uses his ability to attempt to improve his love life.

When he meets the woman he will marry, he finds from this point on that time travel can be a blessing and a curse. It's a sweet, touching movie about living in the present with the ones that you love.

Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

Edge Of Tomorrow

The Edge of Tomorrow   plays out like  Groundhog Day   in a futuristic war zone. Tom Cruise plays a man who keeps reliving the same day, which results in his death and resurrection that restarts the loop over and over.

It's an exciting sci-fi, action-adventure movie that manages to make a relatively dated trope feel fresh again.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

Beast aka Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult), Charles Xavier aka Professor X (James McAvoy) and Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman)

This entry in the  X-Men   franchise begins in a future where mutants are being hunted down by robots. Logan (Hugh Jackman) is sent back in time to prevent the invention of these killing machines.

The film jumps back and forth between Logan's mission and the present, where the older mutants desperately try to survive until the damage can be undone. Logan succeeds in his quest and wakes up back in a better future.

The Terminator (1984)

Kyle tries to protect Sarah Connor in The Terminator.

The Terminator   is not only one of the most iconic time travel movies of all time, but widely considered to be one of the most influential films ever made. The Terminator is sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor before she can give birth to the future leader of the fight against the robots.

RELATED: 10 Best Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies According to IMDb

Another man is sent back to protect Sarah from the Terminator, and the two fall in love. It turns out that this man, Kyle, is the father of Sarah's son. It's an interesting twist on the genre, in that audiences first believe that changing the past is possible, until the end shows that these events always had to happen.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

time travel 2017

Here is an example of a sequel that just might be better than the original. The audience returns to characters they're familiar with, but nothing is as it seems at first.

The Terminator returns, but has been reprogrammed to protect John, and Sarah Connor is being held in a mental hospital, even though the audience knows she is telling the truth about the cyborgs trying to kill her son. The Terminator successfully completes his mission to protect John, before terminating himself. It's a surprisingly sweet return to a violent, action-packed story.

Back To The Future (1985)

A shocked Doc Brown and Marty McFly

Back to the Future   tells the story of a kid coming to appreciate his parents through time travel. Marty McFly travels back in time to when his parents were his age, and struggles not to change the future irrevocably.

He struggles to return to the future, only to quickly embark on his next time-traveling adventure, to be seen in the next installment of the franchise.

Looper (2012)

time travel 2017

Rian Johnson possesses the extraordinary gift of elevating whatever genre he chooses to work in.  Looper takes place in a universe where contracted killers murder people sent back in time. Their contract is complete when they have "closed the loop" by killing their future selves.

Time travel is used as a means of changing the past in order to change the future, and the protagonist, Joe, of fights to find and kill his future self, who has returned with the intention of killing a young boy who will grow up to be responsible for the death of his wife. Joe meets and becomes close to the young boy and his mother, and makes a powerful decision that changes the future for everyone.

Arrival (2016)

Alien language in Arrival

Arrival   is a powerful sci-fi drama about love and grief. The film explores the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, with the protagonist having strange dreams while learning an alien language that turns out to be memories of her future.

It's beautifully written, scored, and acted and it leaves the audience with heartbreaking and thought-provoking questions that stay with everyone long after viewing.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)

Harry holds Hermione in Prisoner of Azkaban

The third installment in the  Harry Potter   film series marked a tonal shift from the previous two entries. Though still children, Harry, Hermione, and Ron had been through enough traumatizing experiences that a sense of danger and sadness hung over their heads, even as the story remained one of adventure and friendship.

The Prisoner of Azkaban   is not overtly a story about time travel, but time travel is woven intricately and inextricably into the tale in a way that pays off wonderfully in the last act.

Dark (2017 - 2020)

time travel 2017

Dark 's three-season run is an excellent example of a concisely told story in an episodic format. It all begins with the disappearance of a young boy in the German town of Winden.

As characters search for answers, more questions are raised and the nature of time travel becomes more and more complicated and intricate. This makes for a truly masterful series finale that closes every loop and unravels every thread the show has introduced.

NEXT: Our 10 Favorite Time Travel Movies

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The 25 Greatest Time-Travel Movies Ever Made

time travel 2017

It must say something, surely, about humans, how often time-travel movies are about returning to the past rather than jumping to the future. As Mark Duplass’s forlorn character says in Safety Not Guaranteed , “The mission has to do with regret.” With all the potential to explore the unknown world of the future, so often when our minds conspire to bend the rules of time it’s instead to rehash the old. It’s compelling to watch a character in a movie do what we cannot — right past wrongs or uncover the reason for or meaning behind the events in their lives, whether they be emotionally catastrophic or merely geopolitically motivated.

So absent is the future from the canon, in fact, that when it is involved, typically future dwellers are leaving their own time to come back to the present. Back to the Future Part II aside, it seems as if there’s something about going forward in time that just doesn’t track for humans. (Of course, you could argue that this is because the present-day concept of bidirectional time travel would infinitely multiply or change beyond recognition any future that may occur, but that’s a knot for another article.)

In any case, the time-travel stories deemed worthy of Hollywood budgets aren’t always straightforward in their mechanics. Some films on this list barely qualify as time-travel movies at all; others could hardly qualify as anything else. There are movies about trips through time but also ones about the bending and fracturing and muddying thereof; then there are those about, as Andy Samberg aptly puts it in Palm Springs , “one of those infinite time-loop situations you might have heard about.” There’s even a movie in which we get only 13 seconds’ worth of time travel, when it functions more like a joke whose punch line hits at the film’s climax.

What these films all do have in common is a fascination with changing the way time works. That being said, the list leaves out movies in larger, more extended franchises in which time meddling is a one-off dalliance thrown into a sequel with little by way of foreshadowing: think Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Avengers: Endgame , and Men in Black III . (It also leaves off perhaps the Ur-time-travel movie, Primer , and the quite good Midnight in Paris because their directors don’t deserve the column inches.) We’re looking at self-contained stories using time mechanics from the start, with preference given to those that involve themselves more intently with the ins and outs of time travel; that ask questions about time, aging, memory and so forth; and that try to succeed at it in new and interesting ways. So let’s get to it.

25. Galaxy Quest (1999)

Does Galaxy Quest really count as a time-travel movie? Some compelling reasons argue that it doesn’t: Time travel isn’t a major factor in the plot, and the time traveling that does occur is, yes, only a 13-second jump. But its use of time travel is meaningful insofar as the movie itself is a loving spoof of Star Trek , which makes use of time travel in three films ( one of which made this list ), not to mention dozens of episodes across its various TV iterations. Tacking on time travel as a deus ex machina for the actors in a Star Trek– like show pressed into service as an actual space crew by an endangered alien race is the exact right amount of ribbing in a movie that’s as on point as it is hilarious.

Galaxy Quest is available to rent on Amazon .

24. Happy Death Day (2017)

Pick away at the surface of a time-loop movie and you find a horror movie. Most of the entries on this list are covered in enough feel-good spin to land as comedies, but Happy Death Day stares the horror of the time-loop phenomenon right in the face. (It’s also quite funny.) Reliving the same day over and over is an unimaginably potent form of psychological torture, and adding murder to the equation does little to dull that edge. The film follows a college-age protagonist struggling to escape from a masked slasher hell-bent on killing her again and again while she tries to solve the mystery of how she got stuck in a time loop.

Happy Death Day is available to rent on Amazon .

23. Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Seriously, this may be the only good movie in which the film’s whole focus is using a time machine to travel into the future. The fact that it’s a sequel is telling — the characters already traveled into the past in the first movie , and the filmmakers decided to save “traveling even further into the past“ for the third film in the trilogy. Still, Back to the Future Part II is a fun time that makes great use of sight gags and references, recasting scenes from the first film in the distant future year of 2015 with all its hoverboards and self-lacing Nikes.

Back to the Future Part II is available to rent on Amazon .

22. See You Yesterday (2019)

It’s a dirty little secret of time-travel movies that they tend to be, well, pretty white. Tenet ’s Protagonist aside, if Hollywood’s sending someone through time, they’re almost certainly not a Black person, and for obvious reasons: Most of post-contact North American history is deeply unfriendly to people of color, and the problems a person running around out of time and place is going to encounter are deeply compounded if they’ll likely be the target of racist abuse or violence — which makes See You Yesterday all the more compelling. Produced by Spike Lee and featuring one of filmdom’s most famous time travelers in a cameo role, it follows a Black teenage science prodigy who uses a time machine to try to save her brother from being killed by a police officer.

See You Yesterday is streaming on Netflix .

21. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

No offense to the Back to the Future franchise, but time travel never looks more fun on film than it does in the first Bill & Ted movie. It’s a concept that feels distinctly of a different era, so pure is its zaniness, that it’s hard to imagine anyone concocting it today. The titular duo, Californian high-school students in the ’80s, travel through the past looking for historical figures in order to ace a history project, then bring them all back to the present. High jinks ensue! We get Genghis Khan in a sporting-goods store and Mozart on an electric keyboard. What more could you want?

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is streaming on HBO Max .

20. Source Code (2011)

Time-travel-film aficionados know this won’t be Jake Gyllenhaal’s only stop on this list, but no matter. Source Code finds him repeating the same eight minutes over and over as he struggles to find the culprit in a train bombing — with each replay ending in his own death by explosion. For some reason, a romantic subplot is shoehorned into this, along with a bunch of frankly unnecessary technical mumbo-jumbo, but the core idea is a compelling mix of the time-loop movie and the train whodunit that Gyllenhaal is a perfect fit for.

Source Code is available to rent on Amazon .

19. 12 Monkeys (1995)

Some sort of law of nature dictates that every genuinely good idea and/or piece of true art has to at some point be turned into a Hollywood movie. Thank God La Jetée was adapted into something that can stand on its own feet artistically. 12 Monkeys may not retain its source material’s black-and-white look or stripped-down, static-image presentation, but it is a rollicking good time nonetheless. That’s in no small part due to director Terry Gilliam getting the best out of Bruce Willis and a young Brad Pitt, and recasting World War III as a planet-decimating virus. Which, like at least one other movie on this list , “speaks to the present moment,” or whatever.

12 Monkeys is available to rent on Amazon .

18. Run Lola Run (1998)

Unlike almost all of the other films on this list, the terms time travel and time machine don’t show up anywhere in Run Lola Run . Rather, it’s a sort of de facto time-loop scenario in which the protagonist tries repeatedly to pay a ransom to save her boyfriend’s life. In fact, if not for a few key details, it could easily be characterized (and often has been) as an alternate-endings movie rather than a time-travel film. But the fact that Lola seems to be learning from her past attempts with each successive one suggests that she is, indeed, using knowledge gained from previous loops to bring a satisfactory end to this situation.

Run Lola Run is available to rent on Amazon .

17. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

One of the most striking things about Groundhog Day is the mutability and replicability of its core conceit. Perhaps the best case in point is Edge of Tomorrow , sometimes known as Live. Die. Repeat. after its original tagline. It’s the kind of physically grueling movie only an actor as genuinely unhinged as Tom Cruise could pull off. A noncombatant thrust into a war against invading aliens, Cruise’s character finds himself reliving day one of combat over and over, slowly but surely refining his techniques in order to survive the extraterrestrial onslaught. Like the central twosome in the much less violent Palm Springs , he winds up with a partner in (war) crime, teaming up with the similarly time-trapped Emily Blunt, and the explanation for the replay glitch here is actually pretty satisfying.

Edge of Tomorrow is streaming on Fubo TV .

16. Star Trek (2009)

If you could create some sort of an advanced stat to measure controversy generated per unit of interesting filmmaking decisions, J.J. Abrams would have to be near the top in terms of his ability to rig up movie drama from almost nothing. This is a guy whose filmography is like Godzilla rip-off, Spielberg homage, safe reboot of cherished IP, repeat. Star Trek may be his best film, though, a sure-footed reinvention of a dorky sci-fi franchise that made it, well, cool. Somehow, the beauty of Spock and Kirk’s bromance being woven through chance encounters with future selves kind of … works?

Star Trek is available to rent on Amazon .

15. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

There’s a relative dearth of time travel in animated film, which perhaps is a function simply of the fact that it’s less impressive to stage in a world that’s already unreal. If you can Looney Tunes your way through physics, what’s so special about grabbing the flow of time and tying it into a bow? Still, the original Girl Who Leapt Through Time deserves mention here. It’s a beautiful story that interlaces the complexity of time leaping with the intensity of teenage emotion and the thorny process of growing up where the opportunity to redo things leads, over time, to growth — a less shitty Groundhog Day , in a way.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is available to rent on Amazon .

14. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

She may not be the most famous, decorated, or emulated actress of her generation, but Aubrey Plaza is someone whose personality spoke to the irony-soaked 2010s in a way that simply could not be denied. Her character on Parks and Recreation , April Ludgate, was, by all accounts, created specifically to channel Plaza’s real-life personality to the screen, and she plays essentially the same character in Safety Not Guaranteed . Here, she’s a sarcastic intern at a magazine working on a story about a would-be time traveler and using her feminine wiles to slowly gain his trust. The chemistry between Plaza and Mark Duplass is probably the film’s high point; the subplot about the FBI feels like it was clipped out of a bad X-Files episode.

Safety Not Guaranteed is streaming on Tubi .

13. La Jetée (1962)

At only a 28-minute run time, La Jetée is arguably too short to merit inclusion on this list. However, what it lacks in content (and in, well, moving images; it’s almost exclusively a collection of static black-and-white shots set to voice-over), it more than makes up for in inventiveness and influence, and it would be a travesty to leave it out in favor of more recent by-the-book fare. Tracing the tale of a man held prisoner in post-WWIII Paris being used in time-travel experiments as his captors seek to remedy the postapocalyptic state of the world, he’s sent into both the future and the past and ends up unraveling a lifelong personal mystery while he’s at it.

La Jetée is streaming on the Criterion Channel .

12. Planet of the Apes (1968)

Unlike the worse but more straightforwardly time-traveling Tim Burton remake, the relationship between the original Planet of the Apes and time travel is inexact — technically, the astronaut crew that lands on the titular planet does travel forward 2,000 years, but it’s not done via a time machine. The travel isn’t instantaneous: It literally does take them 2,000 years to get there; they’re just unconscious and on life support. Still, the way the film’s ending handles the iconic reveal is exactly in line with the best of the time-travel canon, the telescoping, mise en abyme feeling of the world shifting in front of your very eyes without your moving an inch.

Planet of the Apes is available to rent on Amazon .

11. Groundhog Day (1993)

The famous Bill Murray vehicle essentially invented the infinite-time-loop genre (and it’s hardly a movie that succeeds on the strength of its concept alone), but the idea at its core is so steeped in the casual misogyny of late-’80s and early-’90s cinema that it’s hard to watch today without cringing. Murray’s character employing what amounts to PUA-style techniques over and over and over in a desperate bid to fuck his hapless co-worker just doesn’t hit the way it did back then. If the story arc didn’t present a guy detoxifying himself of the worst aspects of masculinity in order to be worthy of a woman’s love as the primary way for a 20th-century white man to achieve full personhood, this would be much higher on the list.

Groundhog Day is streaming on Starz .

10. Predestination (2014)

This is probably the most complicated film on the list. Following a “temporal agent” (played by Ethan Hawke) who’s trying to prevent a bombing in 1970s New York, it’s based on a Robert A. Heinlein short story and features Shiv Roy herself, Sarah Snook, in a star-making turn as someone with a complicated backstory and a secret. Like the best sci-fi, the film’s premise raises all kinds of fascinating questions about the titular concept and throws in some interesting musings on sex, gender, and the self in the process.

Predestination is streaming on Tubi .

9. Looper (2012)

Wes Anderson gets a lot of flak for his overwrought twee visuals, but Rian Johnson has a knack for making movies that feel and function like dioramas even if they don’t look it. Narratively speaking, everything here is constructed just so — and there’s a certain beauty in that — but who ever had a profound experience of art by looking at a diorama? Looper was probably Johnson’s least precious pre– Star Wars film, which is nice because the temptation to drastically overmaneuver the mechanics of a time-travel story can lead to disaster. The tech used to Bruce Willis–ify Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s face is distracting, and the third act’s retreat from the postapocalyptic city of the future to the postapocalyptic corn farm of the future is a brave choice that the film struggles to land. Still, Johnson’s vision of a future in which organized crime runs time travel is compelling and well worth a watch.

Looper is streaming on Netflix .

8. Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko is a bit of a genre mash-up. Part high-school movie, part sci-fi flick, part bleak meditation on the soullessness of late-’80s America, it’s nevertheless a weirdly successful piece of filmmaking that makes fantastic use of a young Jake Gyllenhaal, a great supporting cast (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, and Patrick Swayze among others), and an absolutely iconic haunting cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World.” Watching high schoolers navigate parallel universes, wormholes, and time travel is a dicey proposition, but director Richard Kelly makes it work, somehow.

Donnie Darko is streaming on HBO Max .

7. Back to the Future (1984)

While it’s clearly superior to the sequel (and leagues ahead of the final film in the trilogy), the original Back to the Future is a bit of a mess (John Mulaney was right , to be honest). Its racial and gender politics are cringey, and the incest subplot is weird (“It’s your cousin Marvin. Marvin Pornhub . You know that new plot element you’ve been looking for?”), but there’s a clear interest in time travel beyond its shimmering surface: the very real addressing of the “grandfather problem” in time travel via the slow disappearance of Marty from his family photo, the accidental invention of rock music, and a genuine curiosity about the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of time machines. Ahh, what the hell. It’s a romp.

Back to the Future is available to rent on Amazon .

6. Palm Springs (2020)

No offense to Gen-Xers and boomers, but the best time-loop movie of all time is Palm Springs . The film isn’t without its missteps, but it’s much more curious about life than Groundhog Day was through the eyes of Murray’s misanthrope. Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg‘s characters, stuck in the loop together, are a perfect comedic match, and their shared humanity makes for a beautiful arc. The film raises questions about what’s worth doing in life when nothing lasts and how to stay sane when every day is the same. Of course, as a sort of polar opposite of Tenet , it benefited from coming out during the pandemic by speaking, as it does, to the experience of lockdown.

Palm Springs is streaming on Hulu .

5. Tenet (2020)

Interstellar wasn’t enough for Chris Nolan, apparently. Tenet ’s legacy may end up being little more than that of the COVID action movie no one saw — a bloated thriller that Nolan fought to get into theaters and bar from home viewing reportedly to swell the size of his own pockets. It really did suffer from bad timing, though, because this is genuinely a quintessential big-screen popcorn movie whose absurdity is all the more palatable when it’s given the audiovisual bombast it deserves. Ambitious in scope as it traces a war on the past by the future (yes, you read that right), Tenet is as enamored of action tropes as it is in bucking them, and its investment in rendering visible the brain-bendingly knotty mechanics of moving through time is laudable, even when the movie itself remains opaque — as impenetrable as the future, as hazy as the past.

Tenet is streaming on HBO Max .

4. The Terminator (1984)

A partner to Blade Runner in the mid-’80s invention of sci-fi noir, The Terminator is a stunning film in many ways, despite the third act’s now-iffy visual effects. While it’s not James Cameron’s debut, and it would go on to be bested by its sequel , it functions as an incredible showcase for an emerging young director who would exclusively make big stories for the rest of his career. Arnold Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast as the relentless, unemotional killer cyborg sent back from the future to terminate the mother of the eventual resistance leader, and the film’s romantic subplot has just the perfect amount of time-travel-induced cheesiness for it to work.

The Terminator is streaming on Amazon Prime Video .

3. Interstellar (2014)

It’s not inaccurate to say Christopher Nolan is a director who’s more interested in scale and scope than in expressing the minutiae of the human experience in its purest form. But in Interstellar, a Nolan movie in its titular ambitions, there’s a core element of time travel wrought not as sci-fi fireworks but as a paean to the sheer force and will of the power of love. It both does and doesn’t work, depending on your capacity for cheese in space, but even besides that, Nolan’s use of time as story arc — the way Miller’s planet functions, in particular — is conceptually masterful in the best kind of time-travel-movie way.

Interstellar is streaming on Paramount+ .

2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Whereas the franchise’s first movie spends more time on the question of time travel, in the second it takes a bit of a back seat to the action itself. It’s hard to fault director James Cameron for this decision; T2 remains one of the best action movies of the ’90s and — along with Jurassic Park and The Matrix — one of the decade’s best when for special effects. The groundbreaking T-1000 would honestly be enough to get this movie on the list; a tween John Connor grappling with questions of predestination and the fact that he is vicariously responsible for his own conception feel almost like icing on the time-travel cake. Much as in 12 Monkeys , time travel here is mistaken for delusion, as valiant Sarah Connor, in a Cassandra-esque nightmare, has to battle against the future only she knows is coming. Of course, Cassandra never had access to any firepower stored in underground desert arsenals.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is streaming on Netflix .

1. Arrival (2016)

It’s fair to wonder whether Arrival really is, in fact, a time-travel movie. The Ted Chiang short story it’s based on isn’t about time travel per se; rather, it’s an exploration of alternate forms of temporal understanding. The linguist protagonist, played by Amy Adams, doesn’t travel through time so much as come to experience it differently. Still, the plot ends up hinging on foreknowledge that she is granted not via visions but by actually experiencing her future simultaneously with her present and past. For our purposes, though, that’s time fuckery enough to merit inclusion, and boy howdy does the film deliver in overall quality. Partly, that’s simply a question of the source material. Chiang is arguably the most talented (and possibly the most decorated) American sci-fi writer of his generation. But the source story is not especially Hollywood friendly, and director Denis Villeneuve has adopted it lovingly, borrowing a plot device from another of Chiang’s stories, the more straightforwardly time-travel-based “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate,” in order to add some third-act blockbuster flavor. The result is a beautiful meditation on love, choice, and courage that packs art-film ethos into a genuine sci-fi blockbuster.

Arrival is streaming on Hulu and Paramount+ .

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The Cinemaholic

Time Trap’s Time Travel and Timeline, Explained

Aahana Swrup of Time Trap’s Time Travel and Timeline, Explained

‘Time Trap’ is a 2017 sci-fi adventure film directed by Mark Dennis and Ben Foster. The movie revolves around a professor, Jason Hopper, who goes missing after embarking on a solo investigation regarding missing hippies from the 70s and a mythical “Fountain of Youth.” A group of kids, Taylor, Jackie, Cara, Veeves, and Furby, go on a search for Hopper and come across an unimaginable mystery of the universe that changes their lives forever. ‘Time Trap’ pitches a thrilling concept by utilizing interesting time travel ideas to put its characters in an actual ticking clock situation. With a basis in complex scientific notions of time dilation, this movie invites plenty of curiosity when it comes to the Time Cave’s mechanics and implications. If you’re interested in delving deeper into these concepts, here are the time travel and timeline in ‘Time Trap’ explained.

Time Travel in Time Trap

The center of conflict in ‘Time Trap’ lies in the fact that Taylor and his friends are losing years of Earth-time every second they spend in the Time Cave. When Hopper first encounters the cave, he notices an old-timey cowboy frozen in place halfway through the opening. Once Hopper tries to enter the cave himself, he feels an invisible wall of moisture around, and once he presses through it, time drastically changes in the world beyond the cave opening. The same happens to Jackie and the others when they climb down the cave cliffs. Moreover, after a while, the ropes they used for their harnesses detach after being severed in half.

time travel 2017

Taylor hypothesizes the reason behind this to be the effect of friction on these ropes over a long period of time. Due to the ropes being attached above the cave’s moist separation layer, half of them are experiencing time much faster than the other. The people inside and outside of the cave follow this same logic. People that have entered the time dilation chamber of the Time Cave are experiencing time much slower than those above the surface. When put in action, technically, one could travel in time through this phenomenon. When Taylor and his friends enter the cave, they are able to travel thousands of years into the future in just a matter of minutes.

However, the cave’s time-traveling capabilities are limited to only traveling forward in time. Instead of acting like a time machine, the Time Cave acts only as a time capsule. Someone can experience the past in the form of the relics left behind in the cave, like the cavemen or the Spanish conquistadors, but they can’t go back in time themselves. The second layer of the Time Cave further doubles down on this idea. Essentially, there are two layers to the Time Cave: the outer layer and the inner layer. The inner layer is closer to the cave’s center, where a waterfall exists.

This waterfall is the fantastical “Fountain of Youth” many people have been searching for. The water from the cave possesses extraordinary healing abilities and can even bring people back from the dead. Several of the characters even use this magical water to heal themselves. Therefore, an army of Spaniards and cavemen are battling each other for control over the waterfall in the cave’s center. However, to people outside of the inner layer, it appears as if they are frozen in time because the rate of time dilation is even higher in the inner layer.

The film doesn’t necessarily provide an explanation for the weird way that time behaves inside the Time Cave. It is possible that the center of the waterfall acts as a sort of controlled black hole that causes this time-dilation effect throughout the cave. On the other more fantastical side of things, the Fountain of Youth simply expels this phenomenon as a layer of protection for its magical powers.

Time Trap Timeline

Like any time-traveling piece of media worth its salt, ‘Time Trap’ also features a convoluted timeline of events. The movie showcases elements from time periods like the prehistoric Paleoamerican era (the cavemen) to the imagined future where humanoid Earth beings are colonizing Mars. For convenience’s sake, let’s categorize ‘Time Trap’s’ timeline into three easy sections: past, present, and future.

This period of time includes everything that happens before the series of events that occur once Jason Hopper enters the Time Cave.

time travel 2017

Because the Time Cave is a fixed singularity, people have been stumbling across it for a long time. The earliest of them were the cavemen. Several of them are present in the Time Cave, and for them, only a few hours, days at most, have passed since they entered the cave.

Next comes the Spanish conquistadors. Somewhere between the 15th and 16th centuries, a Queen’s husband gets sick, and she sends dozens of expeditions to search for a cave believed to contain a “Fountain of Youth” by the Natives . All the expedition teams come back empty-handed or dead, except for one. This group of Spaniards finds the Time Cave and travels to its center, where the waterfall lies. There they get into a battle with the cavemen. However, the increased time dilation effect freezes them in time to the point where centuries pass before many of them can even finish landing a punch upon their enemies.

Lastly, in the 1970s , when Jason’s little sister gets sick, his parents search for the same fountain of youth. The Hoppers never make it past the cave’s first layer after a group of cavemen attack them. On the other hand, Jason’s sister passes into the second layer, where she gets stuck between the Spaniards and the cavemen.

This period of time includes the series of events that occur once Jason Hopper enters the cave up to the point when Cara escapes.

time travel 2017

Jason Hopper searches for his parents and finds his way to the Time Cave. Though he only spends a few minutes inside the cave, days pass for the outside world, and his students come looking for him. Taylor, Jackie, Veeves, and Cara enter the cave and explore its tunnels. Meanwhile, their friend Furby spends days alone in the remote forest and eventually enters the cave. Furby dies, and Cara climbs out of the cave encountering an apocalyptic world outside.

After her return, a seven-foot-tall man from the future enters the cave in search of a sample of the cave’s healing waters. The man dies, and the group uses his retractable ladder to escape the cave. After being pulled out by another being through a portal situated on the cave’s opening, Cara makes it out.

This period of time includes the movie’s epilogue, where Jason Hopper and the others have escaped the cave and entered a new human civilization.

time travel 2017

Cara returns for her friends after her escape. Though a few days pass for her, it is only a matter of seconds for her friends inside the time dilation chamber. With the help of futuristic mechanical cables, Cara’s friends and the Hopper Family are pulled out of the cave through a portal. The portal transports them to a spaceship in space . Thousands and thousands of years have passed, and the descendants of the human species are on their way to colonizing Mars.

Read More: Movies Like Time Trap You Must See

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Time travel: Is it possible?

Science says time travel is possible, but probably not in the way you're thinking.

time travel graphic illustration of a tunnel with a clock face swirling through the tunnel.

Albert Einstein's theory

  • General relativity and GPS
  • Wormhole travel
  • Alternate theories

Science fiction

Is time travel possible? Short answer: Yes, and you're doing it right now — hurtling into the future at the impressive rate of one second per second. 

You're pretty much always moving through time at the same speed, whether you're watching paint dry or wishing you had more hours to visit with a friend from out of town. 

But this isn't the kind of time travel that's captivated countless science fiction writers, or spurred a genre so extensive that Wikipedia lists over 400 titles in the category "Movies about Time Travel." In franchises like " Doctor Who ," " Star Trek ," and "Back to the Future" characters climb into some wild vehicle to blast into the past or spin into the future. Once the characters have traveled through time, they grapple with what happens if you change the past or present based on information from the future (which is where time travel stories intersect with the idea of parallel universes or alternate timelines). 

Related: The best sci-fi time machines ever

Although many people are fascinated by the idea of changing the past or seeing the future before it's due, no person has ever demonstrated the kind of back-and-forth time travel seen in science fiction or proposed a method of sending a person through significant periods of time that wouldn't destroy them on the way. And, as physicist Stephen Hawking pointed out in his book " Black Holes and Baby Universes" (Bantam, 1994), "The best evidence we have that time travel is not possible, and never will be, is that we have not been invaded by hordes of tourists from the future."

Science does support some amount of time-bending, though. For example, physicist Albert Einstein 's theory of special relativity proposes that time is an illusion that moves relative to an observer. An observer traveling near the speed of light will experience time, with all its aftereffects (boredom, aging, etc.) much more slowly than an observer at rest. That's why astronaut Scott Kelly aged ever so slightly less over the course of a year in orbit than his twin brother who stayed here on Earth. 

Related: Controversially, physicist argues that time is real

There are other scientific theories about time travel, including some weird physics that arise around wormholes , black holes and string theory . For the most part, though, time travel remains the domain of an ever-growing array of science fiction books, movies, television shows, comics, video games and more. 

Einstein developed his theory of special relativity in 1905. Along with his later expansion, the theory of general relativity , it has become one of the foundational tenets of modern physics. Special relativity describes the relationship between space and time for objects moving at constant speeds in a straight line. 

The short version of the theory is deceptively simple. First, all things are measured in relation to something else — that is to say, there is no "absolute" frame of reference. Second, the speed of light is constant. It stays the same no matter what, and no matter where it's measured from. And third, nothing can go faster than the speed of light.

From those simple tenets unfolds actual, real-life time travel. An observer traveling at high velocity will experience time at a slower rate than an observer who isn't speeding through space. 

While we don't accelerate humans to near-light-speed, we do send them swinging around the planet at 17,500 mph (28,160 km/h) aboard the International Space Station . Astronaut Scott Kelly was born after his twin brother, and fellow astronaut, Mark Kelly . Scott Kelly spent 520 days in orbit, while Mark logged 54 days in space. The difference in the speed at which they experienced time over the course of their lifetimes has actually widened the age gap between the two men.

"So, where[as] I used to be just 6 minutes older, now I am 6 minutes and 5 milliseconds older," Mark Kelly said in a panel discussion on July 12, 2020, Space.com previously reported . "Now I've got that over his head."

General relativity and GPS time travel

The difference that low earth orbit makes in an astronaut's life span may be negligible — better suited for jokes among siblings than actual life extension or visiting the distant future — but the dilation in time between people on Earth and GPS satellites flying through space does make a difference. 

Read more: Can we stop time?

The Global Positioning System , or GPS, helps us know exactly where we are by communicating with a network of a few dozen satellites positioned in a high Earth orbit. The satellites circle the planet from 12,500 miles (20,100 kilometers) away, moving at 8,700 mph (14,000 km/h). 

According to special relativity, the faster an object moves relative to another object, the slower that first object experiences time. For GPS satellites with atomic clocks, this effect cuts 7 microseconds, or 7 millionths of a second, off each day, according to the American Physical Society publication Physics Central .  

Read more: Could Star Trek's faster-than-light warp drive actually work?

Then, according to general relativity, clocks closer to the center of a large gravitational mass like Earth tick more slowly than those farther away. So, because the GPS satellites are much farther from the center of Earth compared to clocks on the surface, Physics Central added, that adds another 45 microseconds onto the GPS satellite clocks each day. Combined with the negative 7 microseconds from the special relativity calculation, the net result is an added 38 microseconds. 

This means that in order to maintain the accuracy needed to pinpoint your car or phone — or, since the system is run by the U.S. Department of Defense, a military drone — engineers must account for an extra 38 microseconds in each satellite's day. The atomic clocks onboard don’t tick over to the next day until they have run 38 microseconds longer than comparable clocks on Earth.

Given those numbers, it would take more than seven years for the atomic clock in a GPS satellite to un-sync itself from an Earth clock by more than a blink of an eye. (We did the math: If you estimate a blink to last at least 100,000 microseconds, as the Harvard Database of Useful Biological Numbers does, it would take thousands of days for those 38 microsecond shifts to add up.) 

This kind of time travel may seem as negligible as the Kelly brothers' age gap, but given the hyper-accuracy of modern GPS technology, it actually does matter. If it can communicate with the satellites whizzing overhead, your phone can nail down your location in space and time with incredible accuracy. 

Can wormholes take us back in time?

General relativity might also provide scenarios that could allow travelers to go back in time, according to NASA . But the physical reality of those time-travel methods is no piece of cake. 

Wormholes are theoretical "tunnels" through the fabric of space-time that could connect different moments or locations in reality to others. Also known as Einstein-Rosen bridges or white holes, as opposed to black holes, speculation about wormholes abounds. But despite taking up a lot of space (or space-time) in science fiction, no wormholes of any kind have been identified in real life. 

Related: Best time travel movies

"The whole thing is very hypothetical at this point," Stephen Hsu, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oregon, told Space.com sister site Live Science . "No one thinks we're going to find a wormhole anytime soon."

Primordial wormholes are predicted to be just 10^-34 inches (10^-33 centimeters) at the tunnel's "mouth". Previously, they were expected to be too unstable for anything to be able to travel through them. However, a study claims that this is not the case, Live Science reported . 

The theory, which suggests that wormholes could work as viable space-time shortcuts, was described by physicist Pascal Koiran. As part of the study, Koiran used the Eddington-Finkelstein metric, as opposed to the Schwarzschild metric which has been used in the majority of previous analyses.

In the past, the path of a particle could not be traced through a hypothetical wormhole. However, using the Eddington-Finkelstein metric, the physicist was able to achieve just that.

Koiran's paper was described in October 2021, in the preprint database arXiv , before being published in the Journal of Modern Physics D.

Alternate time travel theories

While Einstein's theories appear to make time travel difficult, some researchers have proposed other solutions that could allow jumps back and forth in time. These alternate theories share one major flaw: As far as scientists can tell, there's no way a person could survive the kind of gravitational pulling and pushing that each solution requires.

Infinite cylinder theory

Astronomer Frank Tipler proposed a mechanism (sometimes known as a Tipler Cylinder ) where one could take matter that is 10 times the sun's mass, then roll it into a very long, but very dense cylinder. The Anderson Institute , a time travel research organization, described the cylinder as "a black hole that has passed through a spaghetti factory."

After spinning this black hole spaghetti a few billion revolutions per minute, a spaceship nearby — following a very precise spiral around the cylinder — could travel backward in time on a "closed, time-like curve," according to the Anderson Institute. 

The major problem is that in order for the Tipler Cylinder to become reality, the cylinder would need to be infinitely long or be made of some unknown kind of matter. At least for the foreseeable future, endless interstellar pasta is beyond our reach.

Time donuts

Theoretical physicist Amos Ori at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, proposed a model for a time machine made out of curved space-time — a donut-shaped vacuum surrounded by a sphere of normal matter.

"The machine is space-time itself," Ori told Live Science . "If we were to create an area with a warp like this in space that would enable time lines to close on themselves, it might enable future generations to return to visit our time."

Amos Ori is a theoretical physicist at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. His research interests and publications span the fields of general relativity, black holes, gravitational waves and closed time lines.

There are a few caveats to Ori's time machine. First, visitors to the past wouldn't be able to travel to times earlier than the invention and construction of the time donut. Second, and more importantly, the invention and construction of this machine would depend on our ability to manipulate gravitational fields at will — a feat that may be theoretically possible but is certainly beyond our immediate reach.

Time travel has long occupied a significant place in fiction. Since as early as the "Mahabharata," an ancient Sanskrit epic poem compiled around 400 B.C., humans have dreamed of warping time, Lisa Yaszek, a professor of science fiction studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, told Live Science .  

Every work of time-travel fiction creates its own version of space-time, glossing over one or more scientific hurdles and paradoxes to achieve its plot requirements. 

Some make a nod to research and physics, like " Interstellar ," a 2014 film directed by Christopher Nolan. In the movie, a character played by Matthew McConaughey spends a few hours on a planet orbiting a supermassive black hole, but because of time dilation, observers on Earth experience those hours as a matter of decades. 

Others take a more whimsical approach, like the "Doctor Who" television series. The series features the Doctor, an extraterrestrial "Time Lord" who travels in a spaceship resembling a blue British police box. "People assume," the Doctor explained in the show, "that time is a strict progression from cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff." 

Long-standing franchises like the "Star Trek" movies and television series, as well as comic universes like DC and Marvel Comics, revisit the idea of time travel over and over. 

Related: Marvel movies in order: chronological & release order

Here is an incomplete (and deeply subjective) list of some influential or notable works of time travel fiction:

Books about time travel:

  • Rip Van Winkle (Cornelius S. Van Winkle, 1819) by Washington Irving
  • A Christmas Carol (Chapman & Hall, 1843) by Charles Dickens
  • The Time Machine (William Heinemann, 1895) by H. G. Wells
  • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Charles L. Webster and Co., 1889) by Mark Twain
  • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Pan Books, 1980) by Douglas Adams
  • A Tale of Time City (Methuen, 1987) by Diana Wynn Jones
  • The Outlander series (Delacorte Press, 1991-present) by Diana Gabaldon
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Bloomsbury/Scholastic, 1999) by J. K. Rowling
  • Thief of Time (Doubleday, 2001) by Terry Pratchett
  • The Time Traveler's Wife (MacAdam/Cage, 2003) by Audrey Niffenegger
  • All You Need is Kill (Shueisha, 2004) by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Movies about time travel:

  • Planet of the Apes (1968)
  • Superman (1978)
  • Time Bandits (1981)
  • The Terminator (1984)
  • Back to the Future series (1985, 1989, 1990)
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
  • Groundhog Day (1993)
  • Galaxy Quest (1999)
  • The Butterfly Effect (2004)
  • 13 Going on 30 (2004)
  • The Lake House (2006)
  • Meet the Robinsons (2007)
  • Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
  • Midnight in Paris (2011)
  • Looper (2012)
  • X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
  • Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
  • Interstellar (2014)
  • Doctor Strange (2016)
  • A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
  • The Last Sharknado: It's About Time (2018)
  • Avengers: Endgame (2019)
  • Tenet (2020)
  • Palm Springs (2020)
  • Zach Snyder's Justice League (2021)
  • The Tomorrow War (2021)

Television about time travel:

  • Doctor Who (1963-present)
  • The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) (multiple episodes)
  • Star Trek (multiple series, multiple episodes)
  • Samurai Jack (2001-2004)
  • Lost (2004-2010)
  • Phil of the Future (2004-2006)
  • Steins;Gate (2011)
  • Outlander (2014-2023)
  • Loki (2021-present)

Games about time travel:

  • Chrono Trigger (1995)
  • TimeSplitters (2000-2005)
  • Kingdom Hearts (2002-2019)
  • Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2003)
  • God of War II (2007)
  • Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack In Time (2009)
  • Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (2013)
  • Dishonored 2 (2016)
  • Titanfall 2 (2016)
  • Outer Wilds (2019)

Additional resources

Explore physicist Peter Millington's thoughts about Stephen Hawking's time travel theories at The Conversation . Check out a kid-friendly explanation of real-world time travel from NASA's Space Place . For an overview of time travel in fiction and the collective consciousness, read " Time Travel: A History " (Pantheon, 2016) by James Gleik. 

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Ailsa Harvey

Ailsa is a staff writer for How It Works magazine, where she writes science, technology, space, history and environment features. Based in the U.K., she graduated from the University of Stirling with a BA (Hons) journalism degree. Previously, Ailsa has written for Cardiff Times magazine, Psychology Now and numerous science bookazines. 

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Lord of the fourth dimension: David Tennant as Doctor Who.

Time Travel: A History by James Gleick review – from mechanical to mental

This roving study of our enduring fascination with time travel covers well trodden ground but finds the concept constantly evolving

A re we trapped in the present, free to move in space yet unable to travel in the fourth dimension? Or is there a chance, a glimmer of a possibility, that the past and future could unfurl to our physical experience at will? Despite the punchline being apparent from the off – lest we forget, such journeys are impossible – James Gleick’s latest offering sets out to question the questions, probing how the idea of time travel emerged, gripped our imaginations and shaped our society.

From the start it is apparent who’s the hero of this journey. “One way or another, the inventions of HG Wells colour every time-travel story that followed,” writes Gleick, pointing out that while a smattering of earlier stories explored utopian futures, it was Wells who, with his 1895 work, got to the nuts and bolts of the matter in knocking up a time machine.

It’s easy to forget that time travel is a relatively recent notion. As Gleick points out, for most of human history, change was incremental – yesterday looked much like today, today much like tomorrow. “Before futurism could be born, people had to believe in progress,” he writes. The development of technology, culminating in the industrial revolution, made that possible. As change abounded, the future, and what it might look like, became a subject for speculation. And as archaeology burgeoned, writers like E Nesbit began flights of fancy to the past, too.

Embraced by novelists, wrestled with by philosophers and informed by science – not least Hermann Minkowski ’s revelation, following Einstein’s breakthrough, of four-dimensional spacetime – the possibility that the arrow of time could be tinkered with became a meme. From pulp fiction writers such as Robert Heinlein , to F Scott Fitzgerald and his The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , from Terminator to Dr Who , science fiction blossomed.

As Gleick reveals, problems and paradoxes immediately spewed forth. Is our future governed by fate, or free will? Does time travel always mean ending up naked, your clothes left in the present? What would happen if a time traveller killed his or her grandfather when he was a child? “All the paradoxes are time loops,” writes Gleick as he canvasses the myriad responses to such conundrums. “They all force us to think about causality.”

Among those doing the thinking are philosophers and scientists. Attempting to tackle the idea that wormholes – tunnels in spacetime – could be turned into time machines allowing journeys into the past, even Stephen Hawking has entered the fray, concluding in his “chronology protection conjecture” that the laws of physics prevent it.

Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt in the 2008 film version of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on Scott Fitzgerald’s short story about time travel

The consummate temporal tour guide, Gleick deftly navigates the twists and turns of our fascination with time travel, investigating its evolution in literature, exploring scientific principles that have hinted at or scotched the idea, and teasing apart the curious spell it cast across society with its suggestion of immortality.

But, as he notes, not every product of this obsession with time was profound. “The time capsule is a characteristically 20th-century invention: a tragicomic time machine. It lacks an engine, goes nowhere, sits and waits,” he writes, surveying various attempts to send snapshots of civilisation into the future. Indeed, it’s hard to know whether disappointment, amusement or simply bafflement will be the dominant emotion when the Crypt of Civilisation time capsule at Oglethorpe in Atlanta is opened in 8113 AD. Created in 1936, its contents, Gleick reveals, include a movie magazine, an electric toaster and a “lady’s breast form”.

Not every idea of time travel is rooted in the physical, and Gleick explores how in the act of storytelling we mess with chronology. “We don’t have enough tenses. Or rather, we don’t have enough names for all the tenses we create,” he writes of the complexity unleashed in literature by the concept. Readers, too, become time travellers, able to move at will backwards and forwards through a story. More than that, Gleick argues, books cannot be detached from time. “Even if you know a book well – even if you can recite it entire, like the Homeric poet – you cannot experience it as a timeless object,” he writes.

In probing the role of imagination and memory, Gleick also gives space to the concept of mental time travel, the phenomenon which allows us to immerse ourselves in our past and muse upon what the future might hold. But there, too, Gleick, drawing on Proust, uncovers complexity. “Our intelligence writes and rewrites again the story it is trying to recall,” he warns.

Time Travel is intoxicating, but that is only in part down to Gleick’s execution. Much of this is well trodden ground, our enduring fascination with the notion sown long ago by many adroit hands. At times, Gleick seems to get lost in his own, sometimes opaque, musings. Parts of the book are frustratingly repetitive, while his practice of paraphrasing obscure time travel stories before analysing their finer points too often feels like the dinner party anecdote that rather feebly concludes “Well, you had to be there really”.

Exasperations aside, Time Travel reminds us that our relationship with the slippery concept of time is far from static: technology continues to shape our view, even now. “With persistent connectedness time gets tangled,” Gleick notes. With the internet, it seems, time ahead and time past are both brought into the present.

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time travel 2017

Do you believe in time travel? I’m a skeptic myself — but if these people’s stories about time travel are to be believed, then I am apparently wrong. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll have to eat my words. In all honesty, that might not be so bad — because the tradeoff for being wrong in that case would be that time travel is real . That would be pretty rad if it were true.

Technically speaking time travel does exist right now — just not in the sci fi kind of way you’re probably thinking. According to a TED-Ed video by Colin Stuart, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev actually traveled 0.02 seconds into his own future due to time dilation during the time he spent on the International Space Station. For the curious, Krikalev has spent a total of 803 days, nine hours, and 39 minutes in space over the course of his career.

That said, though, many are convinced that time dilation isn’t the only kind of time travel that’s possible; some folks do also believe in time travel as depicted by everything from H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine to Back to the Future . It’s difficult to find stories online that are actual accounts from real people — many of them are either urban legends ( hi there, Philadelphia Experiment ) or stories that center around people that I’ve been unable to verify actually exist — but if you dig hard enough, sincere accounts can be found.

Are the stories true? Are they false? Are they examples of people who believe with all their heart that they’re true, even if they might not actually be? You be the judge. These seven tales are all excellent yarns, at any rate.

The Moberly–Jourdain Incident

Paris, France- April 10, 2010: Paris is the center of French economy, politics and cultures and the ...

In 1901, two Englishwomen, Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain , took a vacation to France. While they were there, they visited the Palace of Versailles (because, y’know, that’s what one does when one visits France ). And while they were at Versailles, they visited what’s known as the Petit Trianon — a little chateau on the palace grounds that Louis XVI gave to Marie Antoinette as a private space for her to hang out and do whatever it was that a teenaged queen did when she was relaxing back then.

But while they were there, they claimed, they saw some… odd occurrences. They said they spotted people wearing anachronistic clothing, heard mysterious voices, and saw buildings and other structures that were no longer present — and, indeed, hadn’t existed since the late 1700s. Finally, they said, they caught sight of Marie Antoinette herself , drawing in a sketchbook.

They claimed to have fallen into a “time slip” and been briefly transported back more than 100 years before being jolted back to the present by a tour guide.

Did they really travel back in time? Probably not; various explanations include everything from a folie a deux (basically a joint delusion) to a simple misinterpretation of what they actually saw. But for what it’s worth, in 1911 — roughly 10 years after what they said they had experienced occurred — the two women published a book about the whole thing under the names Elizabeth Morison and Frances Lamont simply called An Adventure. These days, it’s available as The Ghosts of Trianon ; check it out, if you like.

The Mystery Of John Titor

Old electronic waste ready to recycle

John Titor is perhaps the most famous person who claims he’s time traveled; trouble is, no one has heard from him for almost 17 years. Also, he claimed he came from the future.

The story is long and involved, but the short version is this: In a thread begun in the fall of 2000 about time travel paradoxes on the online forum the Time Travel Institute — now known as Curious Cosmos — a user responded to a comment about how a time machine could theoretically be built with the following message:

“Wow! Paul is right on the money. I was just about to give up hope on anyone knowing who Tipler or Kerr was on this worldline.
“By the way, #2 is the correct answer and the basics for time travel start at CERN in about a year and end in 2034 with the first ‘time machine’ built by GE. Too bad we can’t post pictures or I’d show it to you.”

The implication, of course, was that the user, who was going by the name TimeTravel_0, came from a point in the future during which such a machine had already been invented.

Over the course of many messages spanning from that first thread all the way through the early spring of 2001, the user, who became known as John Titor, told his story. He said that he had been sent back to 1975 in order to bring an IBM 5100 computer to his own time; he was just stopping in 2000 for a brief rest on his way back home. The computer, he said, was needed to debug “various legacy computer programs in 2036” in order to combat a known problem similar to Y2K called the Year 2038 Problem . (John didn’t refer to it as such, but he said that UNIX was going to have an issue in 2038 — which is what we thought was going to happen back when the calendar ticked over from 1999 to 2000.)

Opinions are divided on whether John Titor was real ; some folks think he was the only real example of time travel we’ve ever seen, while others think it’s one of the most enduring hoaxes we’ve ever seen. I fall on the side of hoax, but that’s just me.

Project Pegasus And The Chrononauts

Close up of golden pocket watch lean on pile of book.

In 2011, Andrew D. Basiago and William Stillings stepped forward, claiming that they were former “chrononauts” who had worked with an alleged DARPA program called Project Pegasus. Project Pegasus, they said, had been developed in the 1970s; in 1980, they were taking a “Mars training class” at a community college in California (the college presumably functioning as a cover for the alleged program) when they were picked to go to Mars. The mode of transport? Teleportation.

It gets better, too. Basiago and Stillings also said that the then- 19-year-old Barack Obama , whom they claimed was going by the name “Barry Soetero” at the time, was also one of the students chosen to go to Mars. They said the teleportation occurred via something called a “jump room.”

The White House has denied that Obama has ever been to Mars . “Only if you count watching Marvin the Martian,” Tommy Vietor, then the spokesman for the National Security Council, told Wired’s Danger Room in 2012.

Victor Goddard’s Airfield Time Slip

World War II P-51 Mustang Fighter Airplane

Like Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, senior Royal Air Force commander Sir Robert Victor Goddard — widely known as Victor Goddard — claimed to have experienced a time slip.

In 1935, Goddard flew over what had been the RAF station Drem in Scotland on his way from Edinburgh to Andover, England. The Drem station was no longer in use; after demobilization efforts following WWI, it had mostly been left to its own devices. And, indeed, that’s what Goddard said he saw as he flew over it: A largely abandoned airfield.

On his return trip, though, things got… weird. He followed the same route he had on the way there, but during the flight, he got waylaid by a storm. As he struggled to regain control of his plane, however, he spotted the Drem airfield through a break in the clouds — and when he got closer to it, the bad weather suddenly dissipated. But the airfield… wasn’t abandoned this time. It was busy, with several planes on the runway and mechanics scurrying about.

Within seconds, though, the storm reappeared, and Goddard had to fight to keep his plane aloft again. He made it home just fine, and went on to live another 50 years — but the incident stuck with him; indeed, in 1975, he wrote a book called Flight Towards Reality which included discussion of the whole thing.

Here’s the really weird bit: In 1939, the Drem airfield was brought back to life. Did Goddard see a peek into the airfield's future via a time slip back in 1935? Who knows.

Space Barbie

time travel 2017

I’ll be honest: I’m not totally sure what to do with thisone — but I’ll present it to you here, and then you can decide for yourself what you think about it. Here it is:

Valeria Lukyanova has made a name for herself as a “human Barbie doll” (who also has kind of scary opinions about some things ) — but a 2012 short documentary for Vice’s My Life Online series also posits that she believes she’s a time traveling space alien whose purpose on Earth is to aid us in moving “from the role of the ‘human consumer’ to the role of ‘human demi-god.’”

What I can’t quite figure out is whether this whole time traveling space alien thing is, like a piece of performance art created specifically for this Vice doc, or whether it’s what she actually thinks. I don’t believe she’s referenced it in many (or maybe even any) other interviews she’s given; the items I’ve found discussing Lukyanova and time travel specifically all point back to this video.

But, well… do with it all as you will. That’s the documentary up there; give it a watch and see what you think.

The Hipster Time Traveler

time travel 2017

In the early 2010s, a photograph depicting the 1941 reopening of the South Fork Bridge in Gold Bridge, British Columbia in Canada went viral for seemingly depicting a man that looked… just a bit too modern to have been photographed in 1941. He looks, in fact, like a time traveling hipster : Graphic t-shirt, textured sweater, sunglasses, the works. The photo hadn’t been manipulated; the original can be seen here . So what the heck was going on?

Well, Snopes has plenty of reasonable explanations for the man’s appearance; each item he’s wearing, for example, could very easily have been acquired in 1941. Others have also backed up those facts. But the bottom line is that it’s never been definitively debunked, so the idea that this photograph could depict a man from our time who had traveled back to 1941 persists. What do you think?

Father Ernetti’s Chronovisor

time travel 2017

According to two at least two books — Catholic priest Father Francois Brune’s 2002 book Le nouveau mystère du Vatican (in English, The Vatican’s New Mystery ) and Peter Krassa’s 2000 book Father Ernetti's Chronovisor : The Creation and Disappearance of the World's First Time Machine — Father Pellegrino Ernetti, who was a Catholic priest like Brune, invented a machine called a “chronovisor” that allowed him to view the past. Ernetti was real; however, the existence of the machine, or even whether he actually claimed to have invented it, has never been proven. Alas, he died in 1994, so we can’t ask him, either. I mean, if we were ever able to find his chronovisor, maybe we could… but at that point, wouldn’t we already have the information we need?

(I’m extremely skeptical of this story, by the way, but both Brune’s and Krassa’s books swear up, down, left, and right that it’s true, so…you be the judge.)

Although I'm fairly certain that these accounts and stories are either misinterpreted information or straight-up falsehoods, they're still entertaining to read about; after all, if you had access to a time machine, wouldn't you at least want to take it for a spin? Here's hoping that one day, science takes the idea from theory to reality. It's a big ol' universe out there.

time travel 2017

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Where will you be for the April 8 total solar eclipse? There’s still time to grab a spot

On April 8, a total solar eclipse will cross North America. It will be the last one visible from the contiguous United States until 2044. Here’s what viewers should expect to see during each stage of the eclipse. (Feb. 16) (AP video: Christine Nguyen)

time travel 2017

A total solar eclipse will cross North America in April. This animated map shows the path of totality across parts of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. (Feb. 29) (AP Animation: Panagiotis Mouzakis and Marshall Ritzel)

FILE - Blake Davis, 10, of Coral Springs, Fla., looks through solar glasses as he watches the eclipse, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Fla. After April 8, 2024, there won’t be another U.S. eclipse, spanning coast to coast, until 2045. That one will stretch from Northern California all the way to Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Sunglasses won’t cut it during the April 8 eclipse. Special eclipse glasses are crucial for safely observing the sun as the moon marches across the late morning and afternoon sky on April 8, covering more and more and then less and less of our star. (AP Video/Shelby Lum)

FILE - People gather near Redmond, Ore., to view the sun as it nears a total eclipse by the moon, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. The April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse in North America first hits land at Mexico’s Pacific coast, cuts diagonally across the U.S. from Texas to Maine and exits in eastern Canada. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

FILE - People gather near Redmond, Ore., to view the sun as it nears a total eclipse by the moon, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. The April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse in North America first hits land at Mexico’s Pacific coast, cuts diagonally across the U.S. from Texas to Maine and exits in eastern Canada. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

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FILE - Heavy traffic moves slowly along Interstate 80 in Cheyenne, Wyo., on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. Wyoming was one of the states in the path of the total eclipse, and thousands of people poured into the state for the view, causing massive traffic jams that are normally seen in major metropolitan areas. (Blaine McCartney/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle via AP, File)

FILE - Tyler Hanson, of Fort Rucker, Ala., watches the sun moments before the total eclipse, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. The April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse in North America first hits land at Mexico’s Pacific coast, cuts diagonally across the U.S. from Texas to Maine and exits in eastern Canada. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

FILE - A model of the planet Saturn stands near Route 1 in Westfield, Maine, Friday, May 9, 2003. The nation’s largest three-dimensional scale model of the solar system is positioned along a 40-mile stretch of highway between Presque Isle, Maine, and Houlton, Maine. The April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse in North America first hits land at Mexico’s Pacific coast, cuts diagonally across the U.S. from Texas to Maine and exits in eastern Canada. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Where will you be watching the April 8 total solar eclipse ? There are just a few weeks left to pick your spot to see the skies darken along a strip of North America, whether by land, sea or air.

For those who live inside the 115-mile-wide (185-kilometer-wide) path of total darkness , it may be a matter of just stepping outside and donning special eclipse glasses to watch the spectacle unfold. For the millions outside the path, or those who just want to improve their chances of clear skies, it could mean hitting the road with a game plan.

The eclipse reaches Mexico’s Pacific coast in the morning, cuts diagonally across the U.S. from Texas to Maine and exits in eastern Canada by late afternoon. Most of the rest of the continent will see a partial eclipse.

WHERE TO WATCH THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

FILE - Eclipse watchers squint through protective filters as they view an eclipse of the sun from the top deck of New York's Empire State Building in New York on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 1932. Full solar eclipses occur every year or two or three, often in the middle of nowhere like the South Pacific or Antarctic. (AP Photo/File, File)

The weather will be key, and spring weather along the path can be dicey. Mexico and Texas offer the best odds of sunny skies, said retired Canadian meteorologist Jay Anderson .

“There’s no guarantee of sunshine anywhere — just better chances,” he said.

Anderson studies satellite data for the previous 20 years to calculate how often a location has cloudy weather on any eclipse day. Besides Mexico and Texas, he said there are other promising spots on the path of totality, particularly along the Great Lakes.

The advice: If you’re flexible, start paying attention to local weather about 10 days out, and make your plans on the three-day forecast. Die-hard eclipse chasers often line up more than one location and make last-minute decisions based on the best forecast, he said.

HOW TO PREPARE LIKE AN ECLIPSE CHASER

One veteran eclipse chaser recommends picking a location and make it a vacation so that the eclipse is “the cherry on top” and not the only highlight — just in case things don’t work out.

Tom Schultz will be traveling from his retirement home in Costa Rica to watch the eclipse from his mother-in-law’s house in Rochester, New York, along with other relatives.

“If we get rained out, we’ll get this great family reunion,” said Schultz.

Veteran Anne Marie Adkins could drive across town in San Antonio to see the total eclipse, but opted to join an astronomer-led tour to Mazatlán, Mexico, betting on clear skies there. She’s been thwarted by clouds on other trips. For the 2017 U.S. eclipse, she went to Nebraska and had to scramble that day to find better skies.

“It’s a gamble. You never know what you are going to get,” said Adkins.

Post-eclipse traffic is a particular worry, especially in more rural areas like the Texas Hill Country. Patricia Moore, of the Bandera visitors center , said last year’s “ring of fire” eclipse provided a dress rehearsal for police and other first responders. Tiny Bandera — the “Cowboy Capital of the World” — expects crowds from nearby weekend music festivals.

“After the eclipse will be a challenge,” she said.

WHERE ARE THE ECLIPSE WATCH PARTIES?

With the eclipse falling on a Monday, cities and towns along the path have lined up a weekend full of activities and watch parties to attract visitors. There are a multitude of music festivals and gatherings planned at museums, parks, wineries and other businesses hoping to capitalize on the buzz.

Niagara Falls has a slate of events for days and is expecting July Fourth-sized crowds for the eclipse, said Sara Harvey, spokeswoman for Destination Niagara USA.

There are multiple vantage points to watch the show from Niagara Falls State Park, and the famous Maid of the Mist tourist boats may be running, weather permitting, she said. Even if it’s cloudy, visitors will get “a beautiful view of the falls,” Harvey said.

In Waco, Texas, festivities will culminate on eclipse day with science-themed activities outside Baylor’s McClane stadium , along what’s called Touchdown Alley.

It may be too late to snag a cabin on a cruise ship positioned off the Mexico coast for the eclipse, but there are other watery options including a ride on the paddle-wheeler Victorian Princess on Lake Erie from Erie, Pennsylvania.

If the sky beckons, Southwest and Delta have identified flights that will fly along or near the eclipse path. A special Delta flight from Austin to Detroit quickly sold out, prompting the airline to add another from Dallas.

Looking for an different kind of place to watch the sun, moon and Earth align? The Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host NASA astronauts and other guests. Cedar Point amusement park on Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio, is opening for the day. And the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas is throwing a tailgate fundraising party and inviting visitors to watch the zoo’s residents react to the midday darkness.

You can also spend the day visiting the planets. In northern Maine, a scale model of the solar system is displayed along nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) of U.S. Route 1. Retired geology professor Kevin McCartney expects to unveil a new 23- foot-tall (7-meters-tall) roadside sun at the University of Maine at Presque Isle on eclipse day. “You won’t be able to miss it,” he said.

Anderson, the weather expert, said it’s well worth the travel to see the “special magical moment” of a total eclipse: “It’s the Taylor Swift of natural events.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

time travel 2017

The next total solar eclipse is in April and people already have travel plans

After april 8, the next cosmic super show in the continental 48 won’t be until 2045, and then only areas of the dakotas and montana will experience daytime darkness..

time travel 2017

Next month, Rick Kupfer will travel to Texas Hill Country for the first time. He’ll set up some lawn chairs about an hour northwest of Austin near a place where the Buchanan Dam holds back the Colorado River and where for more than four minutes on April 8 the afternoon sun will turn coal black .

It’s the second trip for the Boynton Beach resident into the shadow of a total solar eclipse after a 2017 experience near Casper, Wyoming where the daytime twinkle of stars and pearly corona behind Earth’s only natural satellite were on display for two and a half minutes.  

“It looks like there is a big hole in the sky, like a big black hole in the sky,” Kupfer said. “We are so lucky that this is happening in our lifetime. It’s so rare, it’s exhilarating.”

Before 2017, the last total solar eclipse to be seen by a portion of the United States was a cloud-plagued event in 1979. After April 8, the next cosmic super show in the continental 48 won’t be until 2045, and then only areas of the Dakotas and Montana will experience daytime darkness.

Reserving a spot to watch solar eclipse a tricky business, and expensive one

In Palm Beach County, which is more than 1,000 miles from the eastern edge of the April 8th path of totality, about 50% of the sun will be covered by the moon.

That’s why for so-called “shadow chasers,” plans to reach next month’s 115-mile-wide path of totality from the sandy beaches of Mazatlan through the valleys of Newfoundland have been months, even years, in the making.

Where were you?: Pilgrims flock to path of totality for Great American Eclipse of 2017

Kupfer, 71, said he made reservations nearly a year in advance at a short-term rental in Austin, only to have the owner cancel several months ago because, he believes, they realized they could charge more for a stay during the eclipse. Kupfer booked a second rental for a “very good price,” then was canceled again.

“The one we’re in now is priced more toward what it should probably be for the eclipse,” Kupfer said.

The area in the Texas Hill Country where Kupfer and his wife are headed was strategically chosen. It will experience four minutes and 25 seconds of totality and has low chances of rain and clouds in early April, according to Astronomy.com.

Meteorologist Orlando Bermudez with the National Weather Service in New Braunfels, Texas, said many people are traveling west of Austin to Kerrville where NASA is hosting an eclipse festival on April 8. Although rainy season begins in April, Bermudez said it doesn’t ramp up until May, and while prevailing southerly winds can increase morning clouds in spring, they usually clear by afternoon.

The website Eclipsophile.com considered this year’s El Niño in making weather predictions for April 8, looking at satellite measurements of cloud cover and focusing on Aprils that follow an El Niño winter.

It found Texas was the most likely to benefit from the current El Niño with clearer April skies than other areas in the eclipse path.

“It would be a real bummer to get clouded out,” Kupfer said.  

Then something amazing happened: “Dear God, go away!” someone yelled at the cloud covering the eclipse

Kerrville is where Boynton Beach resident and retired astronomy professor Sam Storch, 75, is headed with a group of fellow shadow chasers. In 2017, he went to Driggs, Idaho, west of Grand Teton National Park, to watch the eclipse, which was the first in 100 years to cross the entire country.

“I can think of only one other experience that was personally as intense as seeing totality and that would be actually seeing my first child literally emerge from the womb and be placed in my arms,” Storch said. “That was the only thing as intense as totality.”

North of Austin in Bell County, Texas, officials issued a state of emergency in February to prepare for a crush of eclipse seekers that could double the county’s population of 400,000. The issuance, in part, requires landowners who plan to lease space or host parties of 50 or more people to register the event with the county and provide site plans and designate routes for emergency vehicles.

Florida's last full solar eclipse and forecast for the one to come

Total solar eclipse of 1918: What was Palm Beach County like then?

Florida's closest recent recorded brush with a full solar eclipse occurred in 1970 when North Florida fell within the moon's shadow.

Next month, Pensacola will see about 76% of the sun covered by the moon.

The coverage decreases the farther south you go so that West Palm Beach will see about half of the sun covered beginning at 1:48 p.m. Maximum coverage will occur at 3:03 p.m.

Several South Florida observatories will be open for the eclipse, including the Marmot Observatory at the Cox Science Center and Aquarium in West Palm Beach, Florida Atlantic University’s observatory in Boca Raton and the Fox Astronomical Observatory in Sunrise.

Save your eyes: Take precautions when watching solar eclipse

There will be a limited amount of solar eclipse glasses available at each event. It is important never to look at the sun during an eclipse without appropriate eye protection except during the few moments of totality when the moon completely blocks the sun's face. Normal sunglasses — even those with the darkest lenses — aren’t enough to protect your eyes from damaging rays.

It’s not that the sun is any stronger during an eclipse, but where you would squint, blink and turn away from the full sun, it can be more comfortable to look at the sun as the moon moves over the bright disk.

The next total solar eclipse that crosses the entire continental United States is Aug. 12, 2045. Its path will go from Northern California through Florida with most of the Sunshine State in the path of totality.

“Nowhere else in our solar system has anything like this,” said FAU astronomer Eric Vandernoot, noting the unique sun, moon and Earth configuration that allows for a total solar eclipse. “We have so much perfection set up for us.”

Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to [email protected].   Help support our local journalism: Subscribe today.

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10 Best Anime Movies For Children, Ranked

  • Anime movies captivate children with vibrant animation, imaginative plots, and memorable characters.
  • These movies entertain and impart valuable life lessons about friendship, courage, and perseverance.
  • Some of the best anime movies for children include Mary and the Witch's Flower, Mirai, and Lu Over the Wall.

Anime movies offer a unique world of storytelling that captivates children's attention with vibrant animation, imaginative plots, and memorable characters. From the enchanting forests of My Neighbor Totoro to the magical adventures of Kiki's Delivery Service, these films open up a universe of wonder and excitement.

10 Best Whimsical Anime, Ranked

These movies entertain and impart valuable life lessons about friendship, courage, and perseverance with diverse themes, ranging from whimsical tales in fantastical settings to heartwarming stories. In this list of the best anime movies for children, we explore films that have won the hearts of young audiences worldwide and are well-known for their artistic merit and storytelling brilliance.

Mary And The Witch's Flower (2017)

My anime list (mal) score - 7.26, mary and the witch's flower.

Release Date 2017-06-08

Runtime 103 minutes

Genres Family, Animation, Adventure

Why Watch Mary And The Witch's Flower?

  • Engaging a mix of fantasy and reality
  • Promotes self-discovery and confidence

Mary and the Witch's Flower is a captivating children's anime movie about Mary Smith, a young girl who moves to the English countryside to live with her Great-Aunt Charlotte. Feeling bored and restless, Mary follows a mysterious cat into the forest, where she discovers a strange, glowing flower known as the Fly-by-Night, which only blooms once every seven years.

Upon touching the flower, Mary gains temporary magical powers and finds herself whisked away to Endor College, a school for witches in the sky. The film combines elements of magic, mystery, and self-discovery, creating a story that is not only engaging but also thrilling for children.

Mirai (2018)

My anime list (mal) score - 7.28.

Release Date 2018-07-20

Runtime 98 minutes

Genres Drama, Animation, Adventure

Why Watch Mirai?

  • Time-travel adventure
  • Teaches children about loving family

Mirai is a delightful and imaginative anime movie for children that revolves around Kun, a young boy who feels neglected by the arrival of his baby sister, Mirai. His life takes a magical turn when he discovers a mysterious garden in his house that serves as a gateway to time travel.

9 Best Time Travel Anime

Kun meets various family members at different points in their lives, including a teenage version of his sister Mirai, his mother as a little girl, and his great-grandfather as a young man. These encounters offer Kun new perspectives on his family. The film subtly teaches important life lessons about family and understanding others' perspectives, making it enjoyable and educational.

Lu Over The Wall (2017)

My anime list (mal) score - 7.39, lu over the wall.

Release Date 2017-05-19

Runtime 112 minutes

Genres Animation, Adventure, Fantasy

Why Watch Lu Over The Wall?

  • Fun-filled experience for children
  • Upbeat and catchy music

Lu Over the Wall is a vibrant and unconventional anime movie about Kai, a gloomy high school student, and Lu, a cheerful mermaid with a love for music. Kai's life changes when he joins a band with his classmates and discovers his passion for music. During a band practice session by the sea, the music attracts a peculiar and energetic Lu.

What makes this film particularly appealing to children is its colorful and dynamic animation style, which brings the underwater world and its quirky, playful characters to life. The music is another highlight, featuring catchy and upbeat tunes that kids can enjoy and sing along.

Okko's Inn (2018)

My anime list (mal) score - 7.50.

Release Date 2018-06-11

Runtime 94 minutes

Why Watch Okko's Inn?

  • Imparts valuable life lessons
  • Relatable character experiences

Okko's Inn is a heartwarming anime movie that centers around Okko, a young girl who goes to live with her grandmother at a traditional Japanese inn after a family tragedy. What makes this movie particularly appealing to children is its unique blend of real-life issues and supernatural elements.

Okko's encounters with friendly spirits who guide her in running the inn add an element of magical adventure. The bright and colorful animation captures the charm of traditional Japanese settings. The film teaches valuable life lessons about kindness, understanding, and overcoming challenges, making it a relatable and enjoyable experience for young audiences.

Penguin Highway (2018)

My anime list (mal) score - 7.55, penguin highway.

Release Date 2018-08-07

Runtime 117 minutes

Why Watch Penguin Highway?

  • Playful penguins bring joy
  • Educational and fun for children

Penguin Highway is a whimsical and imaginative anime movie for children. The story revolves around Aoyama, a bright and curious fourth-grader who investigates the sudden appearance of penguins in his suburban town. This unusual phenomenon will spark children's imagination as the penguins bring a touch of the Antarctic into a familiar, everyday setting.

This film is appealing to children because of its portrayal of the world through the eyes of a child scientist. Aoyama's methodical approach to solving the mystery is entertaining and educational, encouraging young viewers to question and explore their surroundings. The animation is colorful and lively, with the playful penguins providing comic relief and visual delight.

A Letter To Momo (2012)

My anime list (mal) score - 7.58, a letter to momo.

Release Date 2012-04-21

Runtime 120 minutes

Genres Animation, Comedy, Adventure

Why Watch A Letter To Momo?

  • Heartwarming tale of coping with loss
  • Mischievous goblins add playful charm

A Letter to Momo is a touching story about a young girl named Momo who is struggling to cope with her father's sudden death. After his passing, Momo finds an unfinished letter addressed to her, with only the words Dear Momo written on it. The story takes a magical turn when Momo and her mother move from Tokyo to a remote island.

What captivates children most are the three mischievous and comical goblins that Momo encounters on this island, bringing a blend of fun and whimsy to the story. These goblins, with their quirky personalities and humorous antics, provide laughter and lighten the film's more serious moments.

The Cat Returns (2002)

My anime list (mal) score - 7.72, the cat returns.

Release Date 2002-06-20

Runtime 75 minutes

Why Watch The Cat Returns?

  • Whimsical magical kingdom of cats
  • Charming and humorous characters

The Cat Returns starts as a fanciful tale with Haru, a high school student, who rescues a cat from an oncoming truck. Unbeknownst to her, the cat she saves is Prince Lune, the heir to the throne of the Cat Kingdom. As a token of gratitude, the cats shower Haru with gifts and then unexpectedly offer her Prince Lune's hand in marriage.

Haru's sudden engagement to a cat and her journey to the Cat Kingdom lead to a series of whimsical adventures. The movie is filled with adventure and light-hearted humor, keeping children engaged and entertained. The characters, especially the elegant and dapper cat Baron, are memorable and add to the film's charm.

The Secret World Of Arrietty (2010)

My anime list (mal) score - 7.89, the secret world of arrietty.

Release Date 2010-07-17

Why Watch The Secret World Of Arrietty?

  • Enthralling miniature world
  • Beautiful animation of lush, vibrant scenes

The Secret World of Arrietty by Studio Ghibli is a charming tale about a family of tiny people known as Borrowers. These Borrowers live secretly in the walls and floors of a human household. The story revolves around Arrietty, a spirited and adventurous young Borrower whose peaceful life changes when Arrietty is discovered by a human boy, Shawn.

The intricate details of how the Borrowers navigate and utilize everyday objects as part of their miniature lives will spark a child's curiosity and wonder. For instance, borrowers repurpose tissue paper for various needs, including bedding. Overall, The Secret World of Arrietty is a visually stunning film that offers a glimpse into a hidden world of wonder.

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

My anime list (mal) score - 8.22, kiki's delivery service.

Release Date 1989-07-29

Genres Family, Animation, Fantasy

Why Watch Kiki's Delivery Service?

  • Inspiring tale of independence
  • Picturesque European settings

Kiki's Delivery Service tells the adventures of Kiki, a young witch. Based on witch tradition, at the age of 13, Kiki must leave home for a year to live independently and hone her witchcraft. With her talking black cat, Jiji, Kiki flies to a far-off city on her broomstick. Settling in a beautiful seaside town , Kiki starts a flying delivery service, using her broomstick to deliver goods.

9 Best Witches in Anime

The film's bright and inviting animation portrays the picturesque seaside town and charming European-style settings. Kiki, as a young witch-in-training, is an inspiring character for children. Her journey is filled with challenges and triumphs, offering valuable lessons about perseverance and confidence.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

My anime list (mal) score - 8.25, my neighbor totoro.

Release Date 1988-04-16

Runtime 86 minutes

Genres Family, Animation, Comedy

Why Watch My Neighbor Totoro?

  • Enchanting to all ages
  • Captures childhood wonder beautifully

My Neighbor Totoro is ranked #1 on the list because it's a timeless and beloved anime movie for children. The story follows Satsuki and Mei, two young girls who, along with their father, relocate to a rural area to be closer to their sick mother. The girls quickly adapt to their new surroundings, full of lush landscapes and intriguing wildlife.

In their explorations, they encounter Totoro, a large, friendly forest spirit who can only be seen by children. Totoro, with his large, cuddly appearance and playful nature, has quickly become a favorite among young viewers. Additionally, the movie captures the innocence and wonder of childhood, where the boundaries between reality and fantasy.

10 Best 90s Anime Movies

10 Best Anime Movies For Children, Ranked

time travel 2017

A total solar eclipse will cross the US in April: Here's where and when to see it

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A stunning solar eclipse is almost here. Without a doubt, the full eclipse in the U.S. in 2017 was one of the most remarkable of our time. And now we get to experience another celestial event, this one will cross all three countries within North America.

Before entering the U.S., the zone of totality will travel over a portion of northern Mexico, then pass into Texas, cross portions of the Midwest and East Coast, touch southeast Canada, then proceed out to sea, according to NASA.

Here's what to know about this amazing event as it passes over North America:

Where can the total solar eclipse be viewed?

On April 8, NASA says, the total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing through Texas around 1:27 p.m. CDT and ending in Maine about 3:35 p.m. EDT. Anywhere along the eclipse path, the longest period of totality will be 4 minutes and 28 seconds , nearly double that of the 2017 solar eclipse.

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All contiguous states will see portions of the eclipse

Most Americans will be able to see a portion of the eclipse. The percentage of the sun that will eclipsed by the moon is shown on the map below.

The total eclipse will enter through Texas and travel into Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will also be seen in small areas of Michigan and Tennessee.

More: What happens if you look at a solar eclipse? A viewing guide for this year's sky show.

What is a solar eclipse?

Any celestial object like a moon or a planet that passes between two other bodies can create  an eclipse  by obscuring the view of objects like the sun.

A total eclipse occurs when the moon appears as the same size as the sun and blocks the entire disk, leading to a period of darkness lasting several minutes. The resulting "totality," when observers can see the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere, known as the corona, confuses animals – nocturnal creatures stir and bird and insects fall silent.

The day before the eclipse, the moon will come closest to Earth this month. On eclipse day, that means the moon is only 223,000 miles away. That proximity will make the moon appear larger in the sky, resulting in an exceptionally extended duration of sun-blocked darkness. The Earth and moon will be 93 million miles from the sun on the day of eclipse.

Dig deeper: Where are the best places to view?

Follow the path of totality

Several major cities will be in the direct line of darkness, including Dallas, Indianapolis, Little Rock, Arkansas, Cleveland, and Buffalo, New York.

The 115-mile-wide line of totality, which will stretch from Mazatlán, Mexico to Newfoundland, is home to an estimated 44 million people, and of those, about 32 million are in the United States.

The solar eclipse will be the last of its kind that will be visible for people in the U.S. until Aug. 23, 2044, according to NASA .

SOURCE  NASA ,  GreatAmericanEclipse.com , The Associated Press and EclipseWise.com

CONTRIBUTING Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY

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The 50 All-Time Best Time-Travel Films

The ability to travel through time is by far my favorite movie storyline. Who hasn't, at least once in their lifetime, wished they could turn back the hands of time to buy a winning lottery ticket or to set something right that once went wrong? The movies listed below have a wide range of inventive ways on how the subjects are moved across time. Many of these films use either a mental ability, magical device or a time machine, some seem to have help from a higher power and sometimes the person just wakes up in a different time. If you love TV shows like Outlander, Timeless, Doctor Who or Quantum Leap, then this list of the best time-traveling films is for you.

  • Movies or TV
  • IMDb Rating
  • In Theaters
  • Release Year

1. The Time Machine (1960)

G | 103 min | Adventure, Romance, Sci-Fi

A man's vision for a utopian society is disillusioned when travelling forward into time reveals a dark and dangerous society.

Director: George Pal | Stars: Rod Taylor , Alan Young , Yvette Mimieux , Sebastian Cabot

Votes: 44,517

2. Back to the Future (1985)

PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox , Christopher Lloyd , Lea Thompson , Crispin Glover

Votes: 1,296,360 | Gross: $210.61M

Also included are Part II and Part III, all three as one film.

3. The Terminator (1984)

R | 107 min | Action, Sci-Fi

A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger , Linda Hamilton , Michael Biehn , Paul Winfield

Votes: 917,992 | Gross: $38.40M

4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

R | 137 min | Action, Sci-Fi

A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger , Linda Hamilton , Edward Furlong , Robert Patrick

Votes: 1,166,137 | Gross: $204.84M

5. Time After Time (1979)

PG | 112 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period.

Director: Nicholas Meyer | Stars: Malcolm McDowell , Mary Steenburgen , David Warner , Charles Cioffi

Votes: 20,510

6. Donnie Darko (2001)

R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal , Jena Malone , Mary McDonnell , Holmes Osborne

Votes: 845,120 | Gross: $1.48M

7. Planet of the Apes (1968)

G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi

An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston , Roddy McDowall , Kim Hunter , Maurice Evans

Votes: 191,563 | Gross: $33.40M

8. Groundhog Day (1993)

PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.

Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Bill Murray , Andie MacDowell , Chris Elliott , Stephen Tobolowsky

Votes: 680,358 | Gross: $70.91M

Living the same day over and over again for maybe a hundred or more years.

9. Run Lola Run (1998)

R | 80 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

After a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.

Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Franka Potente , Moritz Bleibtreu , Herbert Knaup , Nina Petri

Votes: 206,212 | Gross: $7.27M

10. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

R | 86 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified advertisement seeking a companion for time travel.

Director: Colin Trevorrow | Stars: Aubrey Plaza , Mark Duplass , Jake Johnson , Karan Soni

Votes: 130,585 | Gross: $4.01M

11. Doctor Strange (2016)

PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

While on a journey of physical and spiritual healing, a brilliant neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts.

Director: Scott Derrickson | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch , Chiwetel Ejiofor , Rachel McAdams , Benedict Wong

Votes: 798,665 | Gross: $232.64M

12. Arrival (II) (2016)

PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world.

Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Amy Adams , Jeremy Renner , Forest Whitaker , Michael Stuhlbarg

Votes: 759,009 | Gross: $100.55M

13. Primer (2004)

PG-13 | 77 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.

Director: Shane Carruth | Stars: Shane Carruth , David Sullivan , Casey Gooden , Anand Upadhyaya

Votes: 113,572 | Gross: $0.42M

14. Interstellar (2014)

PG-13 | 169 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans.

Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Matthew McConaughey , Anne Hathaway , Jessica Chastain , Mackenzie Foy

Votes: 2,068,594 | Gross: $188.02M

There are all kinds of time-travel in Interstellar.

15. 12 Monkeys (1995)

R | 129 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Bruce Willis , Madeleine Stowe , Brad Pitt , Joseph Melito

Votes: 643,867 | Gross: $57.14M

Brad Pitt is so freaky crazy in this film and I love it!

16. La Jetée (1962)

Not Rated | 28 min | Short, Drama, Romance

The story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.

Director: Chris Marker | Stars: Étienne Becker , Jean Négroni , Hélène Chatelain , Davos Hanich

Votes: 36,841

This short film inspired 12 Monkeys.

17. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

TV-PG | 98 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

A high-school girl named Makoto acquires the power to travel back in time, and decides to use it for her own personal benefits. Little does she know that she is affecting the lives of others just as much as she is her own.

Director: Mamoru Hosoda | Stars: Riisa Naka , Takuya Ishida , Mitsutaka Itakura , Ayami Kakiuchi

Votes: 70,464

18. Frequency (2000)

PG-13 | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

An accidental cross-time radio link connects father and son across 30 years. The son tries to save his father's life, but then must fix the consequences.

Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Dennis Quaid , Jim Caviezel , Shawn Doyle , Elizabeth Mitchell

Votes: 115,176 | Gross: $45.01M

No humans travel in time in Frequency but thanks to a ham radio and a phenomenon that opens up a channel, John is able to communicate with his father, 30 years in the past.

19. Timecrimes (2007)

R | 92 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.

Director: Nacho Vigalondo | Stars: Karra Elejalde , Candela Fernández , Bárbara Goenaga , Nacho Vigalondo

Votes: 68,391 | Gross: $0.04M

20. Deja Vu (2006)

PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

After a ferry is bombed in New Orleans, an A.T.F. agent joins a unique investigation using experimental surveillance technology to find the bomber, but soon finds himself becoming obsessed with one of the victims.

Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Denzel Washington , Paula Patton , Jim Caviezel , Val Kilmer

Votes: 326,168 | Gross: $64.04M

The second film on this list with actor Jim Caviezel, who is also in Frequency.

21. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.

Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Patrick Stewart , Ian McKellen , Hugh Jackman , James McAvoy

Votes: 741,602 | Gross: $233.92M

22. Pleasantville (1998)

PG-13 | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Two 1990s teenage siblings find themselves transported to a 1950s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that colorless, complacent world.

Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Tobey Maguire , Jeff Daniels , Joan Allen , William H. Macy

Votes: 135,762 | Gross: $40.57M

23. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

PG-13 | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.

Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Tom Cruise , Emily Blunt , Bill Paxton , Brendan Gleeson

Votes: 730,724 | Gross: $100.21M

Live. Die. Repeat.

24. The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)

PG | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

A United States Navy destroyer escort participates in a Navy "invisibility" experiment that inadvertently sends two sailors forty years into the future.

Director: Stewart Raffill | Stars: Michael Paré , Nancy Allen , Eric Christmas , Bobby Di Cicco

Votes: 16,640 | Gross: $8.10M

25. About Time (I) (2013)

R | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.

Director: Richard Curtis | Stars: Domhnall Gleeson , Rachel McAdams , Bill Nighy , Lydia Wilson

Votes: 382,784 | Gross: $15.32M

26. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

PG-13 | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Henry DeTamble, a librarian, possesses a unique gene that lets him involuntarily travel through time. His wife, Claire Abshire, finds it difficult to cope with it.

Director: Robert Schwentke | Stars: Eric Bana , Rachel McAdams , Ron Livingston , Michelle Nolden

Votes: 157,361 | Gross: $63.41M

Rachel McAdams must love time-travel because she has been in 4 of them but she is never a time traveler in any of them. She was also in Doctor Strange and Midnight in Paris.

27. Somewhere in Time (1980)

PG | 103 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

A Chicago playwright uses self-hypnosis to travel back in time and meet the actress whose vintage portrait hangs in a grand hotel.

Director: Jeannot Szwarc | Stars: Christopher Reeve , Jane Seymour , Christopher Plummer , Teresa Wright

Votes: 32,260 | Gross: $9.71M

The most romantic film on the list.

28. Happy Accidents (2000)

R | 110 min | Comedy, Romance

New Yorker Ruby Weaver believes she has found the man of her dreams in Sam Deed, who is her best catch in some time--except that he assures her that he came from the future.

Director: Brad Anderson | Stars: Marisa Tomei , Vincent D'Onofrio , Holland Taylor , Mick Weber

Votes: 10,192 | Gross: $0.69M

An underrated film.

29. Time Bandits (1981)

PG | 110 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

A young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.

Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Sean Connery , Shelley Duvall , John Cleese , Katherine Helmond

Votes: 67,916 | Gross: $42.37M

30. Lucy (I) (2014)

R | 89 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.

Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Scarlett Johansson , Morgan Freeman , Choi Min-sik , Amr Waked

Votes: 531,192 | Gross: $126.66M

31. Sleeper (1973)

PG | 89 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi

A nerdish store owner is revived out of cryostasis into a future world to fight an oppressive government.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen , Diane Keaton , John Beck , Mary Gregory

Votes: 44,668 | Gross: $2.91M

32. Midnight in Paris (2011)

PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Owen Wilson , Rachel McAdams , Kathy Bates , Kurt Fuller

Votes: 447,956 | Gross: $56.82M

33. Looper (2012)

R | 119 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits - someone like Joe - who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by sending back Joe's future self for assassination.

Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Bruce Willis , Emily Blunt , Paul Dano

Votes: 600,459 | Gross: $66.49M

34. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

R | 99 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi

A malfunctioning time machine at a ski resort takes a man back to 1986 with his two friends and nephew, where they must relive a fateful night and not change anything to make sure the nephew is born.

Director: Steve Pink | Stars: John Cusack , Rob Corddry , Craig Robinson , Clark Duke

Votes: 185,555 | Gross: $50.29M

35. 13 Going on 30 (2004)

PG-13 | 98 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Unpopular schoolgirl Jenna Rink makes an unusual wish on her birthday. Miraculously, her wish comes true and the 13-year-old Jenna wakes up the next day as a 30-year-old woman.

Director: Gary Winick | Stars: Jennifer Garner , Mark Ruffalo , Judy Greer , Andy Serkis

Votes: 214,548 | Gross: $57.23M

13 Going on 30 is a fun and funny film.

36. The Time Machine (2002)

PG-13 | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds humankind divided into two warring races.

Director: Simon Wells | Stars: Guy Pearce , Yancey Arias , Mark Addy , Phyllida Law

Votes: 129,882 | Gross: $56.68M

A really good remake of the original 1960 film and the coolest time-machine in any movie.

37. Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Peggy Sue faints at a high school reunion. When she wakes up, she finds herself in her own past, just before she finished school.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Kathleen Turner , Nicolas Cage , Barry Miller , Catherine Hicks

Votes: 40,556 | Gross: $41.38M

38. Next (2007)

PG-13 | 96 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A Las Vegas magician who can see into the future is pursued by FBI agents seeking to use his abilities to prevent a nuclear terrorist attack.

Director: Lee Tamahori | Stars: Nicolas Cage , Julianne Moore , Jessica Biel , Thomas Kretschmann

Votes: 165,612 | Gross: $18.21M

Nicolas Cage was also in Peggy Sue Got Married.

39. Predestination (I) (2014)

R | 97 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

As his last assignment, a temporal agent is tasked to travel back in time and prevent a bomb attack in New York in 1975. The hunt, however, turns out to be beyond the bounds of possibility.

Directors: Michael Spierig , Peter Spierig | Stars: Ethan Hawke , Sarah Snook , Noah Taylor , Madeleine West

Votes: 302,721 | Gross: $0.07M

This movie is trippy, no pun intended. Just when you think you have figured out the twist, the ending blows your mind.

40. The Lake House (2006)

PG | 99 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

A lonely doctor who once occupied an unusual lakeside house begins to exchange love letters with its former resident, a frustrated architect. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.

Director: Alejandro Agresti | Stars: Keanu Reeves , Sandra Bullock , Christopher Plummer , Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Votes: 157,096 | Gross: $52.33M

Keanu has been in 3 time-travel movies.

41. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

PG | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Music

Two rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.

Director: Stephen Herek | Stars: Keanu Reeves , Alex Winter , George Carlin , Terry Camilleri

Votes: 140,930 | Gross: $40.49M

42. Source Code (2011)

PG-13 | 93 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

A soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.

Director: Duncan Jones | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal , Michelle Monaghan , Vera Farmiga , Jeffrey Wright

Votes: 546,934 | Gross: $54.71M

Jake Gyllenhaal has been in three time-travel films, including Prince of Persia (not listed).

43. The Jacket (2005)

R | 103 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

A Gulf war veteran is wrongly sent to a mental institution for insane criminals, where he becomes the object of a doctor's experiments, and his life is completely affected by them.

Director: John Maybury | Stars: Adrien Brody , Keira Knightley , Daniel Craig , Kris Kristofferson

Votes: 118,902 | Gross: $6.30M

44. The Final Countdown (1980)

PG | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Director: Don Taylor | Stars: Kirk Douglas , Martin Sheen , Katharine Ross , James Farentino

Votes: 26,704 | Gross: $16.65M

45. Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

R | 85 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

The ultimate weapon which was meant to be safe for the mankind produces global side effects including time slides and disappearances.The scientist behind the project and his car are zapped from the year 2031 to 1817's Switzerland.

Director: Roger Corman | Stars: John Hurt , Raul Julia , Nick Brimble , Bridget Fonda

Votes: 4,089 | Gross: $0.33M

46. Freejack (1992)

R | 110 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

Bounty hunters from the future transport a doomed race car driver to New York City in 2009, where his mind will be replaced with that of a dead billionaire.

Director: Geoff Murphy | Stars: Emilio Estevez , Mick Jagger , Rene Russo , Anthony Hopkins

Votes: 17,357 | Gross: $17.13M

47. The Butterfly Effect (2004)

R | 113 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Evan Treborn suffers blackouts during significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life by reading his journal.

Directors: Eric Bress , J. Mackye Gruber | Stars: Ashton Kutcher , Amy Smart , Melora Walters , Elden Henson

Votes: 518,456 | Gross: $57.94M

Changing one thing in the past can cause chaos in the future.

48. Idiocracy (2006)

R | 84 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Corporal Joe Bauers, a decisively average American, is selected as a guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program. He is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.

Director: Mike Judge | Stars: Luke Wilson , Maya Rudolph , Dax Shepard , Terry Crews

Votes: 180,178 | Gross: $0.44M

49. Army of Darkness (1992)

R | 81 min | Comedy, Horror

When Ash Williams is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead in order to return home.

Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell , Embeth Davidtz , Marcus Gilbert , Ian Abercrombie

Votes: 193,361 | Gross: $11.50M

50. Timecop (1994)

R | 99 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

Max Walker, an officer for a security agency that regulates time travel, must fend for his life against a shady politician who's intent on changing the past to control the future.

Director: Peter Hyams | Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme , Mia Sara , Ron Silver , Bruce McGill

Votes: 63,797 | Gross: $44.85M

Timecop 2 is not very good.

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  1. The 32 Best TV Shows About Time Travel

    Dark, Netflix (2017 - 2020) Netflix's first German original series was the science fiction series Dark, which mixes in some mystery drama with sci-fi: time travel, the apocalypse, wormholes, and parallel worlds.. Dark takes place in Winden, a fictional German town, and begins in 2019 after children begin to disappear from the town. As the show progresses, however, timelines jump ...

  2. Time Trap (2017)

    Time Trap: Directed by Mark Dennis, Ben Foster. With Reiley McClendon, Cassidy Gifford, Brianne Howey, Olivia Draguicevich. A professor enters a cave and goes missing. Some of his students come looking for him and get trapped in the cave as well.

  3. Time-Travel TV Shows Ranked by Tomatometer

    (Photo by NBC) Time travel has been on television since the The Twilight Zone 's 1958 original pilot episode, "The Time Element," visited Pearl Harbor in 1941 (airing under Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse) and the Enterprise was hurled back to 1960s Earth in 1967 Star Trek episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday." Many shows devoted their entire premise to time travel, one of the best of which ...

  4. 11 Time-Travel Movies to Watch After 'The Adam Project'

    March 11, 2022 10:12 AM EST. I n Netflix's The Adam Project, Ryan Reynolds plays Adam Reed, a fighter pilot from 2050 who heads back in time to stop the development of time travel. His mission ...

  5. Timeless (TV Series 2016-2018)

    Timeless: Created by Eric Kripke, Shawn Ryan. With Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Malcolm Barrett, Paterson Joseph. An unlikely trio travels through time to battle unknown criminals and protect history as we know it.

  6. You need to watch the most underrated time-travel movie on ...

    Time travel is a tricky genre to get right, especially with limited resources, but this movie nails it. ... Good low-budget sci-fi films are a bit harder to find, but this 2017 thriller delivers ...

  7. 10 Best Time Travel Movies on Netflix

    10 'Naked' (2017) Image Via Netflix. Rob ( Marlon Wayans) is about to marry the girl of his dreams, Megan ( Regina Hall ). But after a night out with his best friend results in Rob waking up naked ...

  8. When Are We Now: 24 TV Shows About Time Travel

    Time travel fans are in for a treat this Sunday, March 5 when two premiering shows tackle the temporal topic: ABC's H.G. Wells-inspired Time After Time, and FOX's comedy Making History. The repetitious format of TV has always lent itself well to history jumping stories, as we'll see with these 24 shows featuring some major time travel ...

  9. ‎Time Travel (2017) directed by Lawrence Jordan

    Time Travel. 2017 Directed by Lawrence Jordan. Synopsis. The film, an animation, unfolds in three acts: Act I, "Cyrano", wherein Cyrano makes all manner of boasts and compares his lady-love to the marvels of the universe; Act II, " Prometheus", in which pagan forces are compared with the supposed genteel nature of the 19th century; Act III ...

  10. Time Travel (2017)

    United States, 2017. Short, Animation. 10. Synopsis. The film, an animation, unfolds in three acts: Act I, "Cyrano"; Act II, "Prometheus"; Act III, "Time Travel". It is not a straight-line progression, rather a flipping back and forth through glimpses of various ages, carried along by the surreal antics of its objects and characters.

  11. 10 Best Movies & Shows About Time Travel, Ranked

    Here are the best time travel movies and TV shows. Time travel has been a part of fiction for a long time now and is a popular theme in cinema and TV. Here are the best time travel movies and TV shows. ... Dark (2017 - 2020) Dark's three-season run is an excellent example of a concisely told story in an episodic format.

  12. Movies Featuring Time Loops & Time Travel

    Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, generally using a theoretical invention known as a "time machine". ... (2017). Notable mentions: Travelers (2016) and Timeless (2016). Tags: Time Loop, Time Travel, Day Repetition, Time Traveler, Leaping ...

  13. Time Trap (film)

    Time Trap is a 2017 science fiction action adventure film, directed by Ben Foster and Mark Dennis.Starring Brianne Howey, Cassidy Gifford, Olivia Draguicevich, Reiley McClendon, and Andrew Wilson, it tells the story of a group of students in a remote area of Texas searching for their missing professor.They then discover a mysterious cave by accident. While exploring the cave, the group ...

  14. Watch Time Trap

    Time Trap. 2017 | Maturity Rating: TV-14 | 1h 27m | Sci-Fi. To find their missing professor, a group of students ventures into the cave where he disappeared and uncover a bizarre mystery that alters their reality. Starring: Reiley McClendon, Cassidy Gifford, Brianne Howey.

  15. The 25 Greatest Time-Travel Movies Ever Made

    24. Happy Death Day (2017) Pick away at the surface of a time-loop movie and you find a horror movie. Most of the entries on this list are covered in enough feel-good spin to land as comedies, but ...

  16. Time Trap's Time Travel and Timeline, Explained

    Time Trap's Time Travel and Timeline, Explained. Aahana Swrup. April 15, 2023. 'Time Trap' is a 2017 sci-fi adventure film directed by Mark Dennis and Ben Foster. The movie revolves around a professor, Jason Hopper, who goes missing after embarking on a solo investigation regarding missing hippies from the 70s and a mythical "Fountain ...

  17. Time travel

    Time travel is possible in the Star Trek universe. (Image credit: Getty) Doctor Who (1963-present) The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) (multiple episodes) Star Trek (multiple series, multiple episodes)

  18. Time Travel: A History by James Gleick review

    Sun 19 Feb 2017 02.30 EST Last modified on Wed 21 Mar 2018 19.54 EDT. Email link. ... Time Travel is intoxicating, but that is only in part down to Gleick's execution. Much of this is well ...

  19. 9 Time-Travel Movies to Stream in Your Past, Present and Future

    Captain Nova. The world is on the verge of environmental collapse, so a woman must travel back in time to save it. The only problem is, the time travel process causes her to age backwards to her teenage self. This 2021 Dutch sci-fi film is also family friendly — and was even selected as the opening film for the 35th Cinekid Festival in the ...

  20. Best Time Travel Dramas (138 shows)

    Taking place in both the present year 2017 and in the year 2037, when people believe that their future depends on humans controlling and regulating their emotions, this drama is a sci-fi ... Time Travel: Back to 2015. Do you often miss the old TV series? If the answer is yes, please board our spaceship and let's travel back to the year 2015! ...

  21. Time Travel Movie List

    Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown. Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover. Votes: 1,260,075 | Gross: $210.61M.

  22. 7 Stories Of People Who Have Claimed To Travel In Time

    Teleportation. It gets better, too. Basiago and Stillings also said that the then- 19-year-old Barack Obama, whom they claimed was going by the name "Barry Soetero" at the time, was also one ...

  23. Where will you be for the April 8 total solar eclipse? There's still

    There's still time to grab a spot ... to view the sun as it nears a total eclipse by the moon, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. The April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse in North America first hits land at Mexico's Pacific coast, cuts diagonally across the U.S. from Texas to Maine and exits in eastern Canada. ... said it's well worth the travel to see ...

  24. The next total solar eclipse is in April and people already have travel

    The next total solar eclipse is in April and people already have travel plans ... Rick Kupfer will travel to Texas Hill Country for the first time. ... Before 2017, the last total solar eclipse to ...

  25. 10 Best Anime Movies For Children, Ranked

    Release Date 2017-06-08 ... Gate, these are the best anime that focus around the concept of time travel. Kun meets various family members at different points in their lives, including a teenage ...

  26. Solar eclipse 2024: Everything you need to know to watch

    A stunning solar eclipse is almost here. Without a doubt, the full eclipse in the U.S. in 2017 was one of the most remarkable of our time. And now we get to experience another celestial event ...

  27. The 50 All-Time Best Time-Travel Films

    A man's vision for a utopian society is disillusioned when travelling forward into time reveals a dark and dangerous society. Director: George Pal | Stars: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux, Sebastian Cabot. Votes: 44,511. 2. Back to the Future (1985) PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi.