When did your interest in time travel start?

:bat

The Rod says that His interest in time travel started when He was Young Rod (Around 7-8) , it was reading Sci Fi books and watching TV serials that started Him off.

Quantum Leap and The Back to The Future Trilogy (Which The Rod rates as 3rd in His all time greatest Trilogies Top ten by the way) kept His interest in time travel going.

Interesting question SteveDude.
 
Interesting indeed. My interest started mainly with Back to the Future as well. I have all the movies, model cars, a couple posters, the Pizza Hut BTTF2 sunshades, an outtatime license plate, etc...

After that I started watching all the time-travel stuff I could get my hands on. Then in '89 when I saw the commercials for the new time-travel series, something called Quantum Leap, well... I wouldn't miss it. I was at my grandma's house and pitched a fit at my parents because they wanted to leave and I wanted to stay and finish the show.

Needless to say, I finished the show and was hooked.
 
Hmm, I have to think about this one...

I'd *like* to say it started with watching TNG's "All Good Things", but I think that getting into Red Dwarf and Goodnight Sweetheart (and at a stretch, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) had more to do with my interest in Time Travel.

Good question! Cheers!
~gelfling
 
Yeah, I think Back to the Future was what introduced me to the concept, but it wasn't until after I'd really become a fan of the sci-fi genre via Star Wars that I really got obsessed with time travel stuff. QL came along, and the rest is history.

Joy
 
Wow, that IS a good topic, Steve!

Let's see... I'm not even sure exactly WHEN my interest in time-travel began, but I definitely became fascinated with it ever since I was a young boy. I can remember specifically being in like 5th grade and thinking how cool it would be to have something like Star Wars, only with time-travel, and it could be called "Time Wars."

Actually, now that I think back far enough, I believe it might have been 2 specific movies that really showed me how fascinating time-travel is: Time After Time with Malcom McDowell as H.G. Wells, Mary Steenburgen as his love interest, and David Warner as Jack the Ripper; and Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. If you haven't seen these two movies, I strongly recommend them. They were released in the early 80's, but I consider them classics. The scene in Superman when he turned the world backwards was probably another scene that exposed me to time-travel, and Back to the Future and Star Trek IV definitely had me hooked.

Around the time I entered high school, I also read a few novels that really got me into it: the "Dragonlance Legends" trilogy of books by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, "Lightning" by Dean R. Koontz and "Millennium" by John Varley. All very well-written books, in my opinion, that really get the brain working in hyperdrive. I was also introduced to the world of comics in high school too, and read an interesting crossover series called Armageddon 2001 about infinite numbers of possible futures. And then, of course, I discovered Quantum Leap in 1990 and the rest, as they say, is history. ;)

And now, nearly 20 years after imagining my "Time Wars" idea, the first inklings of an epic storyline have formed in my head in the form of a trilogy with the working title, "Timescape." It's such an ambitious and complex saga that even I don't know where to begin, LOL! Especially since it contains so many biblical analogies and references, and only tells the story of the history of the UNIVERSE starting from the end of time and going backwards! Yeah... I think big! ;) The major inspirations behind it are Star Wars, Terminator, Back to the Future, the 1985 comic maxiseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, and a 1995 video game called Chrono Trigger (greatest RPG of ALL TIME!) :D

Okay, now that I've given an historical overview of time-travel stories from the past 20+ years, I'll let someone else put in their two cents! :nut
 
On November 21st 1963, 40 years ago, with the original UK airings of "Dr. Who", I'd be 9 then and along came the "Time Tunnel", corny now I know but it was fascinating when I was a kid. Next came "BTTF", "Goodnight Sweetheart" and "Red Dwarf".

Teehee, how do I know the exact date? Well, UK Gold celebrated the 40th anniversary of "Dr. Who" the other weekend, a whole weekend of nothing but time travel, brilliant.
 
Damon, the only movie that I have not seen that was mentioned in your second paragraph was "Somewhere In Time". I'm going to have to see that one!;)
"Time After Time" was a very good movie and, as you may have already noticed, it was very similar to BTTF-Part 3 and Mary Steenburgen was in that also and as the Doc's love interest. AND, in both movies, the time traveler(s) each had a nemesis, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen and Jack the Ripper.
A little off topic, since the BTTF trilogy is a time travel story, and Mary Steenburgen was in it, and QL is also a time travel story/saga starring DEAN STOCKWELL who is the godfather of an actress who now has the lead role in a currently run first season series; Amber Tamblyn(Joan Of Arcadia), then it all comes back to Mary Steenburgen who's also in "Joan Of Arcadia".
Anyway, that's enough out of me,

~Steve(aka RossBeckett)
:leap
 
I think my interest in time travel came from my own wild imagination. I loved Back to the Future, Quantum Leap, Star Trek, Somewhere in Time, and all those other great time movies, but I think it was my interest in time travel that got me interested in them, not my love for a show sparking a love for time travel. I had an over active imagination from the time I was old enough to understand the concept of things like time travel, paradoxes, alternate dimensions/universes, etc. I was a little ham...always acting things out (quite dramatically, too). 0]

-Biridox
 
The appeal of time travel has been evident for a very long time. One of the first people to give it some ink was none other than Mark Twain in "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." Of course, HG Wells also wrote about it in "Time Machine."

As for myself, I read a book a looooooong time ago called, "Hangin' Out With CiCi." It was very similar to the Back To The Future movies in that a girl goes back in time and meets her mother, CiCi, when she was a 13-year-old girl. After that, I also got my hands on any time travel story I could find.

Along the same lines is a movie called "Peggy Sue Got Married," which starred Kathleen Turner and Nicholas Cage, I think.

The Dr. Who series inspired Diana Gabaldon to write her "Outlander" series, which is about an army nurse from WW II who goes between two stones in a stone circle in Scotland during the 1940s and is transported back 200 years to the 1700s where she meets the love of her life. Together they face the Jacobite uprising in Scotland where the Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, makes his ill-fated attempt to reclaim the throne of England. Surviving that, they then face the American Revolution, or they will in the 6th book, as yet to be published.

Good topic. Thanks. Kinda dangerous to mention literature and time travel stories to a librarian, huh?
 
...

Hands-down, Back to the Future. I didn't get to see the movie until after it was released to home video, but it immediately became my favorite film. I mean, who didn't want to be Michael J. Fox in the 80's? lol

I remember quite vividly the awe I felt after the movie ended. I rewound it and watched it again. Then rewound it and watched it a third time. That day I would see the movie five times (it was a rental, had to return it the next day). lol Every time my mom would rent movies, I'd beg her to bring home Back to the Future.

Finally, she borrowed my uncle's VCR and we dubbed it. Thanks to copy-protection technology, our tape had all sorts of flaws but I watched it anyway. Day and night. I even recorded parts of it onto an audio cassette so I could listen to the movie on my walkman. Tell me that ain't crazy! lol

I became obsessed with time travel (and DeLoreans). I started thinking about the past as an actual PLACE! For example, I'd be riding in a car thinking "man, those people way back when don't know what they're missing." As if I could just go to their houses and say, hey check this out! :)

Quick little story you guys can make fun of me for later...

I remember one night I was lying in bed and my mom was watching TV in the living room. I heard the BTTF theme and Michael J. Fox's voice saying "Are we back?" Man, I jumped out of bed so fast and RAN to the TV. So I stood there in nothing but my underwear drooling over the preview for "Back to the Future Part 2."

Incidentally, I played basketball for my school at the time (6th grade) and missed a big game called the "Hoop-A-Rama" to go see the movie. We got behind the bus on the way home and I got busted big time. But that's another story. lol

Back to the Future is now and will most likely forever remain my favorite movie of all time. I can quote it from beginning to end with nothing more than a music cue. To me, it is a perfect film.

And, without it, I may never have been so into Quantum Leap. I had to make special trips to watch it and probably wouldn't have bothered if my interest in time travel hadn't been boosted by BTTF.

And I wouldn't have met you guys. :(

I could write you all a book about my different experiences with both Back to the Future and Quantum Leap, but I'll not attempt doing so here (consider yourselves lucky). lol

In Peace,
Shane
 
Re: ...

Boy, all these Back to the Future fans...

You guys are gonna go nuts over "Second Genesis, Part II" in TVS then. Stephen even asks Al if he's seen movies like Back to the Future, cause his and Sammy Jo's explanation of the different timelines is... well, mind-boggling. Prepare to take a few aspirin by the time you finish reading it... just a warning! ;)

Heh heh heh... :evil
 
Your episode sounds really good Damon!

I can't wait to see it.:cheers
Here's a clip from BTTF Part 1:

Mr. Strickland: "No McFly had ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley!"

Marty:"Yeah, well history's gonna change."

You're darn right it is!
Quantum Leap's famous phrase was "Oh Boy" and BTTF's famous phrases were "This is heavy" and "Great Scott"(Bakula:lol )

~Steve(aka RossBeckett):leap to the future
 
If I could go back in time, maybe I could pinpoint when!

:lol This is an interesting topic... so many people seem to be big fans of Back to the Future. I, ashamedly, have only seen the first one many times, the second one maybe twice, and never seen the third one. I thought the movies were good. <G>

I really can't remember when I got interested in time travel, but "Quantum Leap" definitely amplified it by a large magnitude. I suppose I started getting into sci-fi probably around 1991 to 1992 when I became a Trekkie. :b Watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation", there wasn't a huge amount of time travel, but then "Star Trek: Voyager" came along right after... that show had too much time travel for my liking. :lol

However, in 1999, I started watching QL. Before that, by maybe a year or so, I was enthralled with the video game that Damon mentioned, "Chrono Trigger". (Although it is a truly amazing game, I think "Xenogears" is the best one ever :b , as I mentioned on Damon's discussion board, The Nexus. :) )

Thinking back, it was probably about the time that ST:TNG was ending that my curiousity led me to becoming interested in time travel. I also am a huge "Sliders" fan, and watched it up until about the middle of the fourth season, I think. Unfortunately, it's not on re-runs here. I can't think of any other TV shows, movies, books, or video games that influenced my time-travel interests (except maybe Peabody and Sherman on "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" ^_~ <j/k>), so like I said, QL was definitely the major factor that got me into it more.

This is a fun topic. ^_^ It's nice to see others' influences. I guess another big question is, what is YOUR theory of time travel? Perhaps that would be better suited for another thread... :nut

... Mike. ^_^

P.S.: I just watched the movie currently ranked #21 on the bottom 100 of the IMDb, "Hercules in New York" starring Arnold Schwartzenegger... it's only good because it's sooooo bad.

Hercules: "Bucks? Dough? What is all this zo?logical talk about male and female animals?"
 
Re: If I could go back in time, maybe I could pinpoint when!

I remember shows such as "Time Tunnel" when I was a kid, and of course the Star Trek: The Original Series.

Wonderous movies such as "The Final Countdown", "The Philidelphia Experiment", and of course, the "Back To The Future" stuff.

Watching TV shows that showed daily life for Westerns (Such as "Gunsmoke" and "Ponderosa") in a way were like time travel!!

As well as Scifi shows... they show a LEAP forward!

Matt
 
Re: If I could go back in time, maybe I could pinpoint when!

I was enthralled with the video game that Damon mentioned, "Chrono Trigger". (Although it is a truly amazing game, I think "Xenogears" is the best one ever.)

If not for Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, Mike, I'd agree with you on that one, especially since the same development team worked on both. With religious ideologies and concepts so controversial that the game was almost banned in the U.S., there's nothing like "Machine Vs. Man, Man destroys God" type stories to really get the brain working overtime. :p

P.S. Xenogears/Xenosaga is actually another inspiration for my "Timescape" saga. My idea is rather ambitious (the whole Good vs. Evil thing and the origin of mankind: humans were once innocent until the course of history was changed and the "evil seed" was planted by a non-benevolent alien race). By the time I get this whole thing written down, the Vatican will probably vote to have me excommunicated or somethin'! :lol
 
First Time - Time Travel... hmmmmm.....

Well, since I've postponed this topic for a bit, I might as well just think a little bit more.

I, like Shane and the others, (heehee, I still can't seem to get the image out of my head of Shane running down the hall in his underwear to see the TV) Back to the Future was the show that did it for me too.

It's one of those shows that explained it rather well... even with the term, "This is heavy," being said all the time and Doc responding about gravity in the future. (heehee)

I've always liked time travel shows... and I think that when I was introduced to Quantum Leap by a friend of mine, it was fate. :) I walked right into it and just thank heaven that they introduced me to it, period. :)

I'll put more later.. but I just wanted to add to the conversation. But it was a good topic to discuss!

Thanks!
 
The Rod's Cent and a Half on BTTF & QL

:bat

The Rod says that early on within this post, He stated that BTTF was in His top 3 trilogies of all time.

You can of course draw parallels with this and QL, both had funny catchphrases: "Heavy" and "Oh Boy!". Both were very good at being both comedic and serious, BTTF2 was a very dark story, QL had similar stories.

The main difference was the addition of a time vehicle. The concept of a Time Vehicle is by no means a new one but....

"You built a time machine..(Incredulous tones).....Out of a Delorean"
Stands out as being the funniest so far!!
 
Re: The Rod's Cent and a Half on BTTF & QL

I LOVED that whole scene down at the mall, with "Einstein", the car via remote, the squeeling tires and Marty wanting to get out of the way, and Doc looking at him and looking down, and back to looking at him! I was literally CRYING!!
 
Re: I agree about BTTF2

At the beginning of BTTF2 Doc comes rushing into the McFly driveway and tells Marty that he has to go back to the future with him with rush tones, if you will. What's the hurry? They always have tomorrow or the next day.

Ross, the segment you had a question about has a valid point and one that many have asked director Robert Zemekis about. That beginning scene for BTTF2 is also the end of BTTF1... When they filmed BTTF1 they didn't know there would be a sequel. That scene was only ever done for a laugh originally. But when they decided to do sequels 4 years later, the producers didn't want to cheat the audience out of that scene in BTTF2 so they went ahead with it.
 
Re: I agree about BTTF2

Also because Doc is always in a hurry, its just his personality.
I too like alot us first became obsessed with time travel with Back to the Future. The BTTF trilogy will always be my favorite movies and QL my favorite tv show. The two complement each other perfectly, yet are still very much unique to themselves.

Cool fact - Early during the filming of the first BTTF when Eric Stoltz was still playing Marty the original actress that was going to play Jennifer Parker was going to be Melora Hardin. The same actress who later did play Abigail Fuller on Quantum Leap! She never filmed any scenes. When they started over the movie with Michael J. Fox as Marty, they felt she was too much taller than him. Here is the interview with BTTF producer Bob Gale were he talks about it- www.bttf.com/interviews/2...ale6.shtml
 
I agree about BTTF2

It was a very dark/serious story that revolved around the infamous, but also famous, Biff Tannen. From the very beginning of that part of the trilogy, I noticed that Biff will be the center of the movie. After the Delorean vanished while flying above Lyon Estates the camera panned over to Thomas F. Wilson(Biff) who said, "What the hell is going on here?" He said it in a dark voice and it was then that I, and all of you, realized that the movie was going to be dark and that the Tannen family tree would be at the center of the story.
I also have a question. At the beginning of BTTF2 Doc comes rushing into the McFly driveway and tells Marty that he has to go back to the future with him with rush tones, if you will. What's the hurry? They always have tomorrow or the next day.
~Steve(aka RossBeckett)
P.S. What if Sam Beckett leaped into Emmett Brown. :lol :eek
 
Credited as Tom Wilson....

He plays a recurring character on NBC's "ED" as Sean Nowell, a friend of Molly Hudson's.
Another interesting bit, Lea Thompson will be guest-starring in a few weeks on "ED" as Liz Stevens. I guess as Ed's sister or cousin. Or maybe she'll have a lot of make-up get put on her like in BTTF:lol and play Ed's mother!
www.epguides.com/ED

There, you'll find Tom Wilson listed as a recurring actor.

~Steve(aka RossBeckett)
:leap
P.S. Okay back to Quantum Leap related stuff....
 
Happy Accidents

I have discovered a time travel movie that I thought was really good! It's called Happy Accidents. It's kind of a romance-comedy-mystery-drama thing. A woman falls for a guy who seems normal but then divulges that he is from the year 2470. Is he sick? Is he mental? Is he really from the future?

I was on the edge of my seat at the end. You guys have gotta check that movie out if you haven't already. Besides, I love Marissa Tomei. :sup
 
Has anyone here heard of or seen the movie "Kate & Leopold". That's a great time travel, romantic-comedy movie too! In the movie, some of the characters in it literally have to "leap" to travel back and forth through time. It's a great movie that I highly recommend.
Starring Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, Bradley Whitford, etc.

~Steve(aka RossBeckett)