Favorites - Favorite Non-Star Trek Time Travel Stories

If there’s one trope in science fiction that’s been used as well as misused, it’s time travel. Heck, the Star Trek franchise has made time travel into a fine art. I’ve always liked time travel stories whenever they would show up in movies, TV, video games, and books. Sometimes, you’ll get the usual plot where someone is sent back in time to right a wrong. I’ll call that the “For the Future!!!” syndrome. Other times, someone messes up something that changes the present time. Then, we have the awesome “I’m trapped in a loop and I can’t get out!” plot. You get other ones along the way, but those are the ones that I tend to notice.

So, here is my list of favorite time travel stories from movies, TV, video games, and books. I thought about splitting this one up since there are a lot of movies, but I’ll just make this a long one. Besides, I can really only think of one game that really did time travel well. It’s not in any order but I will put the best up at the top. Since I couldn’t stop listing Trek episodes, they’re going on a separate list of their own. With all that said, “Allons-y!”

1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

The Terminator franchise is pretty much the standard for good time travel stories… well, most of them. While the first movie is really good, T2 stands above it as being the superior movie. It was also the one I saw first since I didn’t see the first one until I was teen. T2 continues the story of Skynet, an AI from a dystopian future, sending a more advanced Terminator into the past to kill John Connor, the leader of the human resistance. This time, the human resistance sends its own reprogrammed Terminator in order to protect John and his mother, Sarah.

Everything about the movie is good. The story is great, the action is awesome, and the characters are cool. This movie showed that Arnold Schwarzenegger could actually emote. Ed Furlong was fun as John and Linda Hamilton rocked as Sarah Conner. Robert Patrick was really cool as the T-1000. He was really imposing villain. T2 did everything a sequel should do and more. If only they stopped there, though.

2. The Back to the Future Trilogy

Yeah, I got the movies grouped together. It’s my list after all. Not every time travel story has to be a “we got to save the world” plot. Well, Part 2 was kind of that with the Alternate version of 1985. Anyway, BTTF revolves around the adventures of Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett Brown as they travel through time. That sounds like the best way to explain all three movies. All of the movies are fun, comedic, and have a lot of heart. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd are awesome in all three. While BTTF is pretty much a classic, BTTF3 might be my favorite of the three. It was actually the one I saw first. I need to talk about these movies one of these days.

3. X-Men’s “Days of Future Past”

Now, I’m not just talking about the 2014 movie. There’s also the original story from the comics and the adapted version from the 90’s X-Men cartoon did. Even though there are differences between the three, the story’s still the same. An X-Man (Old Kitty Pryde, Bishop, or Old Logan) travels back in time to stop a dystopian future ran by Sentinels from occurring. They and the X-Men then have to go to Washington DC to save the world. It’s a story that is still one of the best from Marvel’s long line of stories. It’s so good they Marvel tries to mimic it from time to time. The adaptations even worked really well. My favorite of the bunch would probably be the 90’s adaptation, though. You can’t go wrong with a black dude going back in time to take out a Cajun assassin.

4. Fringe’s “White Tulip”

Fringe tended to run loose with a lot of sci-fi tropes. While there were other things they played with, time travel was also used pretty well. One episode that did it pretty well was this one. In the episode, the team investigates a case where people mysteriously died on a train. All of this leads to a man named Alistair Peck, a scientist who is revealed to be trying to travel back in time to save his wife. It’s a touching episode since Walter Bishop is going through a bit of a crisis at this time too. Add Peter Weller’s great performance as Peck and you get a pretty memorable episode. It could be one of the show’s best.

5. Quantum Leap’s “Lee Harvey Oswald”

Quantum Leap was pretty much the time travel show. For those who don’t know, just look up the show’s intro. It’ll tell you all you need to know. This time, things change drastically when Sam Becket leaps into Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who assassinated John F. Kennedy. The leap somehow affects Sam and he starts to exhibit some of Oswald’s ticks. Sam and Al have to figure out what to do in order to set things right. It’s one episode I definitely remember and it even plays into the whole conspiracy involving JFK’s assassination.

6. Flight of the Navigator

Now this was a live-action Disney movie released in 1986. It’s about a boy named David who’s abducted by a UFO. When he’s sent back supposedly moments later, it turns out that he’s been missing for eight years. He and the UFO (which is alive) get taken in by the government. When David finds the ship again, he and the ship (voiced by Paul Ruebens) escape the government. This is a movie that has a lot of heart especially when David meets up with his parents and now-older brother. His interactions with Max (the ship) were cool. Add the nice special effects, the cool synth music from Alan Silvestri, and a nice story that’s fun for all ages.

7. Superman: Time and Time Again/All-Star Superman #6 – “Funeral in Smallville”

For this, I had to make a tie. Superman has had his adventures with time travel. Heck, he could travel back in time himself back in the Silver Age. These two stories involve him heavily and show the fun and the somberness of time travel. Superman: Time and Time Again is a storyline from the 90’s where Superman gets pushed through time. He goes to the Cretaceous Era, the 30th Century, and everywhere in between. He even teams up with the Legion of Superheroes a few times. At this time, Superman’s years with the LOSH were erased from history, so this felt like a nod to those days. It’s a fun romp through time involving beating Nazis, dancing with dinosaurs, meeting Merlin, and seeing the Moon get destroyed. Yeah, it wasn’t too happy in the end.

Then, we have “Funeral in Smallville.” In it, a group of Superman-like characters (the Superman Squad) travels back in time to Smallville where Clark was still Superboy. While they are there to stop a threat, there is another reason this group has come back. As you can tell in the title, someone close to Clark dies here but I won’t say who. If anything, you should check out the story for yourself and see since All-Star Superman is a great story. Anyway, the present Superman basically came back to share some final moments with this character. It’s a touching story that really gets to the heart of Superman.

8. Groundhog Day 

While time travel can be a serious matter, you sometimes have to have fun with it. In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a reporter who is stuck in a time loop. He lives the same day over and over. He tries to figure out ways to break the loop but it keeps happening. We don’t even know why it’s happening. I guess God wasn’t too happy about Ghostbusters 2 or something. Anyway, it’s a funny movie that I remember from childhood and it’s one that I should revisit one day.

9. Looper

If someone tells you that Rian Johnson can’t direct, show them this movie. Looper was a 2012 movie where Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Joe, a person who disposes of bodies from the future. When his old self (Bruce Willis) is sent back to be disposed, that version puts up a fight and escapes. Joe has to find his old self who is planning on changing the future. It’s a movie that doesn’t throw out all the cards on the table especially when it concerns Old Joe’s mission. It’s got a good story, good acting from everyone, nice action, and some pretty dark twists.

10. Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow or Live. Die. Repeat. (those posters were confusing) was released in 2014. It was based on a Japanese light novel called All You Need Is Kill. In the movie, Earth is at war with powerful aliens. Tom Cruise plays a pretty crappy soldier who gets exposed to some alien technology. Whenever he dies, he relives the last couple of days over and over again. In order to break out of the loop, he teams up with Earth’s best soldier. He even learns skills during his loops. It’s a fun movie that takes the time loop and really goes for a loop.

11. Chrono Trigger

If there’s one video game that did time travel right, it’s this game.  Chrono Trigger is about how a ragtag group of adventurers travel through time in order to save their world. While the game was released on the Super Nintendo in 1995, I didn’t learn about it until couple of years ago. It’s considered one of the best RPGs ever. I decided to play it on my PS3 and was pretty surprised by it. Unfortunately, I still haven’t beaten it yet. There was a powerful boss who took a while to beat. While I beat him, I didn’t save my progress, so I have to fight that sucka again… at least it’s an awesome game.

12. Stargate SG-1’s “Window of Opportunity”

Stargate SG-1 played around with time travel as well. Heck, one of their last adventures, Stargate: Continuum, involved time travel. I’m not talking about that, though. This time, we got another time loop. In the episode, Col. O’Neill and Teal’C are stuck in a time loop where they re-live the same 10 hours. Since they are only the ones who know about the loop, they need to figure it out on their own. It goes down the Groundhog Day route since the episode gets funnier and funnier. Both end up doing things they wouldn’t normally do and it’s hilarious.

13. Smallville’s “Reckoning” and “Homecoming”

This is similar to my last look at something Superman-related on the list. Smallville played around with time travel a little bit especially when important episodes came about. Like with the last picks, time travel is handled in ways that are important to Clark. In “Reckoning”, the 100^th episode, Clark travels back in time (at the behest of Jor-El) to save someone he loves. Unfortunately, someone else close to him dies. This was from a time where Clark’s decision-making wasn’t great and it caught up with him. It also showed that with all the power he has, there are some things he couldn’t fix.

“Homecoming” was the 200^th episode. During this season, Clark was having doubts on his destiny. In fact, a lot of what he’s done over the years (his fumbling in “Reckoning” for example) have messed with him a bit. So, Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Superheroes comes back in time to help Clark move on from some of that baggage. It’s a Christmas Carol but with a better future for Clark. While “Reckoning” was a grim reminder of what can happen, “Homecoming” showed that you sometimes gotta go with the flow and hold on to that reporter lady.

14. Escape from the Planet of the Apes

While the first Planet of the Apes movie used time travel, this one used time travel in a way that was unique. This time, it was the apes who were traveling back in time to escape a dying planet. Cornelius, Zira, and Dr. Milo travel back to the 1970’s and see humanity for all its good and ills. While it is a fun movie at times, this thing can hurt especially at the end. The POTA movies rarely end happy. Also, it’s hinted that a time loop is used since it’s possible that their travel back in time resulted in the apes taking over. Either way, it’s a good movie and one of the better older POTA movies.

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Well, I’m gonna cut it off there. I could have listed more, but this list has gotten long enough. Next time, I’ll be listing off the Trek episodes and maybe even some movies. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t go out there changing the past, y’all. I don’t want to wake up finding out that the little island of Tuvalu has taken over!