5/15/09
Final Paper
Film 319 Greene
“When the Hell Are they?”
Time Travel is a trope of science fiction that has always fascinated me. It has also fascinated mankind, in general:
Science fiction is in essence a time travel genre. Events either open in the altered past, the transformed present or the possible future, transporting the reader or viewer to another age, place, dimension or world. (1)
Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court uses a bump on the head to send Hank back in time to medieval England. Rip Van Winkle simply falls asleep for twenty years. Perhaps the most famous example of early time travel in literature is The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, in which the Time Traveler creates a stationary vehicle that allows time to rush forwards and backwards. Each of these examples shows a future based on the science and technology available at the time they were written.
The methods of time travel used in science fiction film reflect a future based on our current scientific understanding of time and space when it serves the narrative. For example, Isaac Newton believed that ‘time is absolute,’ while Albert Einstein proved that ‘time is relative to the speed of motion.’ In Back to the Future (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1985, USA), Star Trek: First Contact (dir. Jonathan Frakes, 1996, USA)and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (dir. James Cameron, 1991, USA), all rely on Newton’s theory that ‘time is absolute’ to advance the narrative. All three movies use time as a fixed line in order to change the past.
Back to the Future’s Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) inadvertently changes the circumstances of his parents’ meeting when he is accidentally sent thirty years into the past. Unless he fixes the timeline, he will wipe out his own existence. The T-1000 (Robert Patrick) in Terminator 2: Judgment Day returns to 1995 to kill teen-ager John Conner (Edward Furlong) so that Connor cannot lead the resistance against the machines in 2029. The Borg Queen (Alice Krige) in Star Trek: First Contact, attempts to assimilate humans by traveling into Earth’s pre-warp past.
This notion of ‘fixed’ time contradicts current scientific theories of time travel. Instead, some time traveling theories state that if we were to go back in time and change the past, we’d actually create an alternate timeline. Brian Weaver, a student at the University of Virginia illustrates how this would work in Terminator 2: Judgment Day:
T2 implies that its world is of one existence and a single timeline. Certainly, it would seem to be futile to send someone back to change the past in a multi-universe existence--unless one is very altruistic! Consider this: T2 implied that Judgment Day never occurred due to manipulation of the past. But it all depends which timeline one looks at:
1995 2029
-----|----------------|--(existence with nuclear war) (A)
\_______________|__(alternate peaceful existence) (B) (2)
This would mean that in timeline A, nothing would be changed. This scientific theory doesn’t help the narrative in any of the movies. Instead, presenting just one timeline, as Newton suggested, makes for a more interesting story.
The films do reflect, however, changes in scientific thought about how time travel could be accomplished and use their special effects to highlight these new theories:
Susan Buck-Morris notes the new models of conveyance at the end of the 19th Century became linked to new fields of knowledge and the extensive possibilities for human advancement (3).
The special effects in all three movies use speed, power, light and sound to give the audience a sense of the fantastic motion needed for time travel. If we look at them in the order they were made, we see more evidence of how new scientific thought about space and time are used in the special effects:
Back to the Future reflects Einstein’s theory that time ‘dilates’ when we move at faster speeds. The DeLorean that Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) uses plutonium (energy) and speed (88mph) to travel back and forth along the timeline. Skynet builds ‘time displacement equipment’ to send the Terminator back to 1995. While we never see the actual equipment used, it implies more advanced scientific thinking about time travel, such as the idea that time and space can be folded. The Borg in Star Trek: First Contact create a temporal vortex, reflecting physicist Kip Thorne’s idea of manipulating wormholes for time travel.
Back to the Future , released in 1985, mirrors the need for motion in order to change time: i.e. 88mph (ignoring that you have be traveling at or near the speed of light) as seen in the visual below:
Zemeckis uses special effects to give the audience a sense of the motion. He shows the dashboard of the DeLoren reflecting the speedometer along with a burst of light to show the transition from one time period to another. He further emphasizes the speed with external shots of the DeLorean disappearing into thin air (space), using more light bursts, a booming sound and fiery tire tracks, taking ‘burning rubber’ to the extreme.
The time displacement equipment used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, involves no on-screen motion. One simply steps onto the platform (I am assuming it is a platform, because no one has ever seen the actual equipment in use before) and the equipment transports you to a certain location at a certain time. Instead, the time travelers appear in a large bubble, perhaps of future space, preceded by crackling electricity, as seen below:
As the sphere dissolves, the traveler emerges with residual scars from the process of moving through time. Released in 1991, Terminator 2: Judgment Day reflects the idea of manipulating wormholes through the shape of the bubble. The power needed for time travel is reflected in the crackling sound and lightening bolts of electricity.
Star Trek: First Contact shows the changes that occurred within the Star Trek franchise. This is one of two Star Trek movies that deal with time travel. I chose to examine this film, rather then Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (dir. Leonard Nimoy, 1986, USA) because of the greater usage of special effects for time travel, and that it reflects more recent scientific thought. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home uses the ‘sling-shot around the sun method introduced during Star Trek: the Original Series (1966-1969). Whereas, in the photo below, The Borg in Star Trek: First Contact, create a temporal Vortex, suggesting the idea of manipulating a wormhole to travel into Earth’s past. I really like how the Borg used a penetrating motion to depict their time travel method. It’s symbolic of how they assimilate beings into their culture, and it is very forceful and quick.
On the surface, all three movie narratives seem to indicate that time travel would allow us to go back into our past, change something and our present will be better. However, I believe the concept of time travel can have a deeper meaning for society in general: to learn from our own past how to become more evolved as human beings. This is reflected in the softer science of psychoanalysis, where the patient psychically travels into his own past to find the cause of his current problems. We see a glimpse for possible internal growth in Back to the Future, but it is watered down by use of broad comedy throughout the film. Because these films follow the formula for blockbusters, the potential for impacting the audience is lost:
Rather than engaging with serious and complex, contemporary ‘adult’ themes, as was witnessed under the influence of the ‘new wave’ in science fiction, these early blockbusters seemed to leap back in time (both generically and politically) in their return to highly fantastical tales that appeared far removed from reality. (4)
This has been my favorite theme of science fiction, ever since I was little, and it is still a fascinating concept that intrigues me to this day. I believe that one day, we will reach the ability in which we can travel through time, but not in our life time. Maybe when humanity becomes a little more responsible, once we are done fucking up our own lives, I think we might be ready to do so in the past or future:
If we could travel into the past, it's mind-boggling what would be possible. For one thing, history would become an experimental science, which it certainly isn't today. The possible insights into our own past and nature and origins would be dazzling. For another, we would be facing the deep paradoxes of interfering with the scheme of causality that has led to our own time and ourselves. I have no idea whether it's possible, but it's certainly worth exploring. (5)
Endnotes
(1) Redmond, Sean. “The Origin of the Species: Time Travel and the Primal Scene.” Liquid metal: the science fiction film reader. Illustrated Edition. (London: Wallflower Press, 2004) 114.
(2) Loepelmann, Karstan. "[6.0] Time travel questions." The Terminator FAQ. 1996-2008. 1 May 2009
(3) Bukatman, Scott. “Zooming Out: The End of Offscreen Space.” The New American Cinema. Ed. Jon Lewis. (Durham and London: Duke University Press) 242.
(4) Christine Cornea, “The Masculine Subject of Science Fiction in the 1980s Blockbuster Era,” Science Fiction Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press LTD, 2007). 115.
(5) Sagan, Carl. "Sagan on Time Travel." Nova: Time Travel. November 2000. PBS. 1 May 2009
Works Cited
Back to the Future, dir. Robert Zemeckis. perfs. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Llyod, Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson. 1985. DVD. Universal Studios, 2009.
Bukatman, Scott. “Zooming Out: The End of Offscreen Space.” The New American Cinema. Ed. Jon Lewis. (Durham and London: Duke University Press) 242.
Christine Cornea, Science Fiction Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press LTD, 2007). 111-174.
Loepelmann, Karstan. The Terminator FAQ. 1996-2008. 1 May 2009
Nova: Time Travel. November 2000. PBS. 1 May 2009
Redmond, Sean. “The Origin of the Species: Time Travel and the Primal Scene.” Liquid metal: the science fiction film reader. Illustrated Edition. (London: Wallflower Press, 2004) 114-116.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day. dir. James Cameron. perfs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick. 1991. DVD Extreme Edition. Artisan, 2003.
Star Trek: First Contact. dir. Jonathan Frakes. perfs. Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Alice Krige. 1995. VHS. Paramount, 1997.
