Ex Nihilo Knowledge

Tag Area: Time Travel Trope
Novella

Time Patrol 6

Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks

Everard Manse appears to be the sole Patrolman standing between the evil Exaltationists and the fall of ancient Tyre—or possibly the fall of all civilization. Ah, but wait! The loyal street urchin Pum will also stand by his side! —Michael Main
If Tyre explodes, why, here we’ll be, but our ancestors, your kids, everything we knew, they won’t. It’ll be a whole different history. Whether whatever is left of the Patrol can restore it—somehow head off the disaster—that’s problematical. I’d call it unlikely.
No image currently available.
  • Undetermined
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Star Trek IV

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

As the brave crew of the Enterprise are returning to Earth on a Klingon Bird of Prey to stand trial for the events of the previous movie, Spock determines that Earth’s demise is imminent unless they can return to 1986 and retrieve a humpback whale (which they proceed to do).

I saw this in the theater with Deb Baker and Jon Shultis during a winter trip to Pittsburgh for a small computer science education conference. —Michael Main
McCoy: You realize that by giving him the formula you’re altering the future.
Scotty: Why? How do we know he didn’t invent the thing?
Headshots of the Enterprise crew overlook a Klingon ship passing over the Golden Gate bridge.
  • Eloi Silver Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Comedy
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Hot Tub Time Machine 2

John Cusack exhibited his most excellent judgment by not reprising his role as Adam from the first tubfest. Nevertheless, we did spend several enjoyable hours up in the ITTDB Citadel trying to devise a timeline model that fits this second adventure of Adam’s three cohorts—one of whom (Jake) also attempts an explanation of how a mortally wounded Lou manages to jump into his future, healthy body. In his explanation, the trio of travelers go to 2025 in a timeline that branched off from their own timeline—in particular, a timeline where Lou was never shot. Perhaps they are even in the very timeline that was created after the trio returns to 2015 and Lou is not shot. That means that they’re living in the 2025 timeline at a point in their personal lives that’s before their actions created that timeline. —Michael Main
So, Lou was killed in our present, which means that here in the future, he should still be dead. Well, clearly he’s not fucking dead, because he’s sitting here, still bothering me. So what that tells me is we’re in a completely different future on a completely different timeline. [. . .] Anyway, the repairman said that the past is actually the future of the present that we’re in right now. So I think what that means is the killer is from the future. So clearly, someone from 2025 will go back in time and shoot Lou.
The move’s four main yahoos, dressed as astronauts, pose in front of a full moon.
  • Science Fiction
  • Comedy
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

ドロステのはてで僕ら

  • Dorosute no hate de bokura
  • We at the end of the Droste
  • Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes
  • by 上田誠, directed by 山口淳太
  • (at limited theaters, Japan, 5 June 2020)
For the first sixty minutes, a perfect static timeline seemed to be emerging from Kato’s video stream from two minutes in the future. We might even get some philosophical commentary on free will! Alas, that was not to be as the final ten minutes presented a more commonplace ending, although the single-take nagamawashi was executed with perfection and garnered this fun film an Eloi Medal.

P.S. Don’t skip the end-credits! —Michael Main
In front of the entire cast, Kazunari Tosa (as Kato) holds up a monitor depicting infinitely regressing images of monitors.
  • Eloi Bronze Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Miniseries

8 episodes

Bodies

Slowly, the investigations of four different appearances of the same body come together in four different years from 1890 to 2053. —Michael Main
My thesis dared to posit that cause and effect is malleable, right? Which therefore makes time, as we know it, totally changable and fluid.
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  • Science Fiction
  • Mystery and Crime
  • Definite Time Travel