12 Monkeys
- Eloi Silver Medal
- by David Webb Peoples and Janet Peoples, directed by Terry Gilliam
- Feature Film
- Science Fiction
- Adults
- Definite Time Travel
- English
- 12 Monkeys by David Webb Peoples and Janet Peoples, directed by Terry Gilliam (premiered at an unknown movie theater, New York City, 8 December 1995).
In the year 2035, with the world devastated by an artificially engineered plague, convict James Cole is sent back in time to gather information about the plague’s origin so the scientists can figure out how to fight it.
—Michael Main
If you can’t change anything because it’s already happened, you may as well smell the flowers.
Tags
(18)
- Time Periods
- Timeline Models
- Single Consistent Timeline: To me, the film has many conclusive scenes demonstrating that the world consists of a single, static timeline with no chance of actually changing the past (e.g., the phone message that Katheryn records). The scientists realize that this may be the case, but at the very least they want to get a sample of the original, unmutated virus so they can bioengineer a cure for their own time. At the end, the “insurance” that Jones mentions implies that she has come back to obtain a sample of the virus just in case none of the other plans work out.
- Time Travel Methods
- Time Tethers: Little is shown about the time machine, but Cole appears to be shot to another time and later retrieved.
- Themes
- Causal Loops: In La jetée, the prisoner is selected because he has a vivid memory of the past, and his travel to the past causes that vivid memory. In 12 Monkeys, young Cole similarly has a vivid memory of the past, but he does not seem to be selected for that reason, so there is no causal loop. However, at one point, Cole believes that his contact witj Jeffrey in the past is the cause of the pandemic, and that would have been a causal loop had it been true. There may have been some actual causal loops, but if so, they were minor.
- Nude Travel
- Precognition, Premonition, or Prediction: I don’t know how Kathryn’s premonition that she already knew Cole fits in with the other time travel.
- Reincarnation: Cole and Kathryn watch Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak wandering among the redwoods in Vertigo while Novak talks of a past life.
- Reporting Back via a Time Capsules or Other Prearranged Systems: voicemail to the carpet cleaner
- Self-Visitation: Cole’s younger self sees old Cole.
- Real-World Tags
- Fictional Tags
- Post-Apocalyptic and Post-Holocaust Worlds
- Woody Woodpecker: A time travel cartoon, “Prehistoric Super Salesman,” plays in the background at the mental hospital.
- Groupings
Variants
(1)
- 12 Monkeys by David Webb Peoples and Janet Peoples, directed by Terry Gilliam (premiered at an unknown movie theater, New York City, 8 December 1995).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
written by
David Webb Peoples as by David Peoples
Chris Marker (other contribution)
Translations
(1)
- French (dubbed and subtitled).
L'Armée des 12 singes by David Webb Peoples and Janet Peoples, directed by Terry Gilliam.
Chris Marker (other contribution)
Previous Works
inspired by La jetée written and directed by Chris Marker (1962)
Derived Works
(1)
- 12 Monkeys, Season 1, written by Terry Matalas, Travis Fickett, et al., directed by multiple people (16 January 2015).
Indexer Notes
(1)
- In the credits: Inspired by the film “La Jetée” written by Chris Marker