Help me come up with time travel references
September 8, 2011 7:54 PM Subscribe
Help me come up with time travel references
I'm writing a song about time travel, and I'm trying to make references to as many popular time travel movies/books/etc. as possible. Can you help me come up with some ideas?
The key is that I am looking for movies or books that the average person would know about, so nothing obscure. Examples of what I have so far would be Bill & Ted, the Terminator, Back to the Future, and the Time Travelers Wife.
Help me to make this the greatest song about pop culture time travel that it can be by giving me more references to use!
I'm writing a song about time travel, and I'm trying to make references to as many popular time travel movies/books/etc. as possible. Can you help me come up with some ideas?
The key is that I am looking for movies or books that the average person would know about, so nothing obscure. Examples of what I have so far would be Bill & Ted, the Terminator, Back to the Future, and the Time Travelers Wife.
Help me to make this the greatest song about pop culture time travel that it can be by giving me more references to use!
Best answer: Have you checked out the TVTropes page? There's also Star Trek IV (the one with the whales). The newest Star Trek also featured time travel, but less prominently.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 8:04 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 8:04 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Hermione Granger's TimeTurner in Prizoner of Azkeban.
posted by apartment dweller at 8:06 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by apartment dweller at 8:06 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
(yes I can spell) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban (sorry)
posted by apartment dweller at 8:07 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by apartment dweller at 8:07 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Jean-Claude Van Damme in Timecop
The Ray Bradbury short story The Sound of Thunder has someone step on a butterfly in the past and change history, which I think is kind of a go-to for how you accidentally change history.
H.G. Welles
posted by RobotHero at 8:08 PM on September 8, 2011
The Ray Bradbury short story The Sound of Thunder has someone step on a butterfly in the past and change history, which I think is kind of a go-to for how you accidentally change history.
H.G. Welles
posted by RobotHero at 8:08 PM on September 8, 2011
Best answer: Lost, Life on Mars... Hot Tub Time Machine?
Also TV Star Trek, most famously "City on the Edge of Forever," from the original series. You gotta squeeze that one in.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:16 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also TV Star Trek, most famously "City on the Edge of Forever," from the original series. You gotta squeeze that one in.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:16 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Heroes, in pathetic and repeated fashion. Ugh.
posted by RobotNinja at 8:17 PM on September 8, 2011
posted by RobotNinja at 8:17 PM on September 8, 2011
Response by poster: I should have mentioned, this is for a performance where all of the songs are based on the HG Welles story, so that is a given for this one. The Time Travel Tropes list is a little sparse, so keep the ideas coming (I can't believe I didn't think of Hot Tub Time Machine!)
posted by markblasco at 8:22 PM on September 8, 2011
posted by markblasco at 8:22 PM on September 8, 2011
Best answer: There's always Army of Darkness and the awful movie The Butterfly Effect (with Ashton Kutcher). Primer is another movie that fits the bill, but it is a little less well known.
posted by puffycoat at 8:32 PM on September 8, 2011
posted by puffycoat at 8:32 PM on September 8, 2011
Doctor Who travels throughout time and space! Forever! With hot laydees!
Slaughterhouse 5, by Kurt Vonnegut - "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time".
Also, Back to the Future - "Where we're going, we won't need...roads"
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:40 PM on September 8, 2011
Slaughterhouse 5, by Kurt Vonnegut - "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time".
Also, Back to the Future - "Where we're going, we won't need...roads"
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:40 PM on September 8, 2011
Austin Powers.
posted by freezer cake at 8:42 PM on September 8, 2011
posted by freezer cake at 8:42 PM on September 8, 2011
Oh! Also Life, the Universe, and Everything.
posted by freezer cake at 8:45 PM on September 8, 2011
posted by freezer cake at 8:45 PM on September 8, 2011
does 'etc' include songs? Iron Man by Black Sabbath fits.
Donnie Darko
Life On Mars/Ashes to Ashes TV series, though probably only well-known if you're in the UK
Land of the Lost
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:42 PM on September 8, 2011
Donnie Darko
Life On Mars/Ashes to Ashes TV series, though probably only well-known if you're in the UK
Land of the Lost
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:42 PM on September 8, 2011
Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie! - from NBC's "Community"
posted by j03 at 10:51 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by j03 at 10:51 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh, yes - Futurama!
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:00 PM on September 8, 2011
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:00 PM on September 8, 2011
There's Jack Finney's Time and Again, and the posthumously-published sequel From Time to Time.
posted by trip and a half at 11:01 PM on September 8, 2011
posted by trip and a half at 11:01 PM on September 8, 2011
And Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:03 PM on September 8, 2011
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:03 PM on September 8, 2011
Time Bandits
Phineas and Ferb have a time travel episode
Voyagers
Any reference to going back in time and killing your own grandfather/becoming your own grandfather
Heroes
posted by mikepop at 6:05 AM on September 9, 2011
Phineas and Ferb have a time travel episode
Voyagers
Any reference to going back in time and killing your own grandfather/becoming your own grandfather
Heroes
posted by mikepop at 6:05 AM on September 9, 2011
Esoteric ones I can think of:
Behold the Man - Michael Moorcock. Going back to meet Jesus.. with surprises.
In a similar vein, The Next One, with Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Adrienne Barbeau.
posted by elendil71 at 8:22 AM on September 9, 2011
Behold the Man - Michael Moorcock. Going back to meet Jesus.. with surprises.
In a similar vein, The Next One, with Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Adrienne Barbeau.
posted by elendil71 at 8:22 AM on September 9, 2011
Time After Time, which has H.G. Wells in it (well, Malcolm McDowell) and Mary Steenburgen, who was in Back To The Future III. Cripes! (Maybe you could get bonus time points for sneaking in a Cyndi Lauper riff?)
Somewhere In Time which has Superman in it.
posted by Gentlemanhog at 10:24 AM on September 9, 2011
Somewhere In Time which has Superman in it.
posted by Gentlemanhog at 10:24 AM on September 9, 2011
Army of Darkness
Rocky Horror Picture Show maybe? It has the Time Warp song, but I don't remember if there was any actual time warping going on.
posted by Green With You at 12:24 PM on September 9, 2011
Rocky Horror Picture Show maybe? It has the Time Warp song, but I don't remember if there was any actual time warping going on.
posted by Green With You at 12:24 PM on September 9, 2011
The Time Tunnel
The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel
Mister Peabody (and the WABAC machine!)
Scrooge
posted by mazola at 1:39 PM on September 9, 2011
The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel
Mister Peabody (and the WABAC machine!)
Scrooge
posted by mazola at 1:39 PM on September 9, 2011
Response by poster: All great suggestions, I marked the ones that I think most people would recognize, but I'll probably end up using quite a few more of the suggestions given. Thanks!
posted by markblasco at 11:05 AM on September 10, 2011
posted by markblasco at 11:05 AM on September 10, 2011
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posted by demiurge at 7:58 PM on September 8, 2011