It irks me when an otherwise fun time-travel plot is hijacked by a waving-of-the-hands explanation of how, during the time-travel, the Earth continued to rotate or orbit the sun or orbit the Milky Way or whatever, but never mind: The emphasis is on the word “fun” in this 17-minute short that was written based on the following constraints submitted by the filmmakers’ fans (but—dammit!—where’s Dinosaur Kid?):
[list]
[*] Cannot take place entirely in one location.[/*]
[*] Someone must say the words “time travel.”[/*]
[*] Two characters must have a long-standing rivalry.[/*]
[*] When one character was a kid, he/she used to wish he/she could travel back in time to see real-life dinosaurs.[/*]
[*] One character is a wine lover and is very picky/elitist about their wine.[/*]
[*] One character prefers bubble baths to showers.[/*]
[*] Someone has to say: “I have to go back.”[/*]
[/list]
—Michael Main
Howard: (looking at dead self) What happened? What did you do?
Jim: I didn’t do anything. You disappeared, two more of you burst in, one of you shot the other one, then you jumped in the box and disappeared again.

Variants

(1)
  1. Stealing Time by Michael Tucker and Alex Calleros, directed by Alex Calleros (Youtube: Finite Films Channel, 30 June 2011).
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Michael Tucker
    Alex Calleros
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . directed by Alex Calleros

Indexer Notes

(2)
  1. Credits—from the film. Additionally, the IMDb credits Michael Tucker for the original story, but we have no verification of that.
  2. Release—The earliest release we’ve seen was on Youtube on 30 June 2011, which nearly matches Calleros’s statement that the first release online was in July 2011.