List of time travel science fiction

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Time travel is a common and important element of science fiction, depicted in a variety of media.

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[edit] Time travel in science fiction films

Time travel is a common theme and plot device in science fiction films. Below are examples of science fiction films that incorporate time travel.

Year Title Director Description
1960 The Time Machine George Pal Loose adaption of H.G. Well’s classic in which a time traveler enters a future where the world is broken up into to classes, the peaceful Eloi and the malevolent masters of the world, the Morlocks.
1962 La Jetée Chris Marker The hero is haunted by a memory from his childhood, which turns out to be himself as an adult. (La Jetée - a movie short - was the basis of the full-length feature Twelve Monkeys).
1964 The Time Travelers Ib Melchior A time travel experiment that was supposed to produce a window into different times is actually a portal.
1972 Slaughterhouse-Five George Roy Hill A man travels to various times and places from his life in addition to another planet.
1973 Idaho Transfer Peter Fonda Due to an impending disaster that threatens to destroy mankind, a time machine is built by a group of young scientists to transport themselves into the future to rebuild civilization.
1978 Superman Richard Donner Superman circles the Earth at tremendous speeds allowing him to travel back in time to just before an earthquake created by Lex Luthor.
1979 Time After Time Nicholas Meyer Using a time machine, Jack the Ripper and HG Wells travel from 1890s London to 1979 San Francisco.
1980 The Final Countdown Don Taylor A storm at sea transports a nuclear warship back in time from the 1980s to the 1940s.
1980 Somewhere in Time Jeannot Szwarc A young man sees an old photograph of a woman, and through hypnosis travels back in time from 1980 to 1912 to meet her.
1981 Time Bandits Terry Gilliam A young boy unwittingly joins a band of dwarves as they travel through time hunting treasure.
1982 Masters of the Universe David Odell The villain uses a camcorder-like gadget that shows the past, and an inventor opens up wormholes to other timestreams allowing the heroine (a young Courteney Cox) to save her parents from dying.
1982 Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann William Dear The hero travels by means of "time cannons".
1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller Three classic episodes of the popular 1950's and 1960's Rod Serling television series.
1984 The Terminator James Cameron A cyborg, played by (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to destroy humanity by killing the future mother of its future savior.
1984 The Philadelphia Experiment Stewart Raffill In 1943 an anti-radar experiment accidentally sends two sailors forward in time to 1984. Nancy Allen and Michael Pare star in this film.
1985 Back to the Future Robert Zemeckis Time travel is achieved by means of a flux capacitor. Marty McFly intervenes in his parents' first meeting, preventing them from falling in love, and placing his own existence in danger. Back to the Future had two sequels Back to the Future Part II (1989), and Back to the Future Part III (1990).
1985 The Blue Yonder Mark Rosman The main character borrows his neighbor’s time machine to go back in time to prevent his grandfather's death.
1985 Trancers Charles Band Jack Deth is a kind of cop/bounty hunter in a future dystopic Los Angeles.
1985 My Science Project Jonathan R. Betuel Michael and Ellie break into a military junkyard to find a science project. They find an orb that dangerously bends time and have to stop it to save the world.
1986 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Leonard Nimoy To save earth, Captain Kirk and his crew travel back in time to retrieve the beings who can communicate with an alien probe (humpback whales).
1986 Outlaws Nicholas Corea Five cowboys are sent forward through time 100 years and crime fight.
1986 Flight of the Navigator Randal Kleiser In 1978, a boy is moved 8 years into the future after having an adventure with the alien ship.
1989 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Stephen Herek Two teenagers (Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves) will not graduate from high school unless they pull on A on their history project. A time traveler (George Carlin) visits them to help because their success on this report is vital to a Utopian future. As Bill and Ted travel through time they encounter historical figures including Socrates, Joan of Arc, and Billy the Kid.
1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey Peter Hewitt Sequel to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Bill and Ted are killed by an evil robot and have to challenge the Grim Reaper to escape, rescue their girlfriends, and save the future.
1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day James Cameron Sequel to The Terminator
1992 Army of Darkness Sam Raimi Character Bruce Campbell, a supermarket employee, is sent back in time by a book to the 14th century medieval era.
1994 Star Trek Generations David Carson USS Enterprise Captains Kirk and Picard meet throughthe effects of an energy ribbon.
1994 Timecop Peter Hyams Includes a prohibition against changing the past. The Time Enforcement Agency is created to prevent alterations to the past. This causes a dilemma for the hero, Max Walker, who has to prevent time-travelers from altering time, but is tempted to do so to prevent his wife's death.
1995 Twelve Monkeys Terry Gilliam James Cole tries to change the past but fails. It therefore runs on the principle of a fixed timeline (the Novikov self-consistency principle).
1996 Doctor Who This film involves Doctor Who in his eighth incarnation and penultimate known showdown with the Master.
1996 Star Trek: First Contact Jonathan Frakes The Enterprise follows the Borg back in time to prevent them from altering history and preventing Earth's first warp flight and first contact with the Vulcans.
1999 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Jay Roach Dr. Evil is back and has invented a time machine that allows him to go back to the 60's so he can steal Austin Powers's mojo.
2001 Donnie Darko Richard Kelly This complex plot offers many interpretations of time travel.
2002 Returner Takashi Yamazaki The human race is on the edge of annihilation after decades of war with an alien force. In an outpost in Tibet, mankind’s last hope of survival is a time travel device.
2002 The Time Machine Simon Wells Remake of 1960s version of the film, stays closer to H.G. Wells’s original novel.
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember Jay Roach Upon learning that his father has been kidnapped, Austin Powers must travel to 1975 and defeat the villain Goldmember - who is working with Dr. Evil.
2003 Timeline Richard Donner Adaptation of the book by Michael Crichton, although it omits much science.
2003 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Jonathan Mostow Sequal to The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Alfonso Cuarón Hermione Granger receives a Time-Turner from Professor McGonagall, so she can attend more classes than time would normally allow. She and Harry later use the Time-Turner to save Sirius Black and Buckbeak.
2004 Primer Shane Carruth Time travelers spend as much time in the time machine as they want to go back, and can only travel as far back as to when the machine was first turned on.
2004 The Butterfly Effect Eric Bess & J. Mackye Gruber A college psychology student (Ashton Kutcher) learns he can temporarily travel to his past and change it. The time traveling in this film involves a process initiated by reading childhood journals.
2005 The Jacket John Maybury John Maybury's thriller stars Adrien Brody as Jack Starks, a Persian Gulf War veteran who has lost his memories to amnesia. When Jack is accused of a heinous killing, he realizes he must find a way to prove his innocence. Desperate to unearth clues about his past, he seeks a controversial treatment that allows him to go back in time -- which turns out to be a heart-rending decision when he realizes he's destined for tragedy.
2006 Click Frank Coraci Adam Sandler is given a remote that lets him fast forward, pause, and rewind his life.
2006 Deja Vu Tony Scott Denzel Washington is an ATF agent investigating a terrorist act who is invited to assist in a government time travel surveillance project.
2007 Always Will Michael Sammaciccia High-school teen uses a time capsule to travel to the past and alter his social status

[edit] Time travel in science fiction literature

Time travel is a recurrent theme science fiction literature. There are literally thousands of books that incorporate time travel. Below are examples of texts that are repeatedly recognized as works of the science fiction (as the genre has been defined in this article) that integrate time travel.

Date Title Author Description
1733 Memoirs of the Twentieth Century Samuel Madden A guardian angel travels to 1728 with letters from 1997 and '98
1881 The Clock That Went Backward Edward P. Mitchell A clock that has the power to take people back in time.
1887 El Anacronopete Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau First to introduce a time machine.
1888 The Chronic Argonauts H.G. Wells Inventor takes another with him in a time machine.
1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Mark Twain 19th century citizen goes to King Arthur's time (AD528).
1891 Tourmalin's Time Cheques Thomas A. Gutherie Time travel and the paradoxes that can result from it.
1895 The Time Machine H.G. Wells Inventor creates a time machine to travel into the future.
1952 A Sound of Thunder Ray Bradbury Changes in the past affect the future (aka The Butterfly Effect)
1955 The End of Eternity Isaac Asimov Use time machines to transfer goods between centuries
1963 Danny Dunn, Time Traveler Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams A couple of teenagers use their professor's time machine to study the past history of the city
1969 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut A man is taken by aliens and finally is released back to normal time so we can follow his life
1969 Up the Line Robert Silverberg Time travelers and their guides use phlogiston to travel through time
1970 Time and Again Jack Finney Use hypnosis to travel through time
1973 The Man Who Folded Himself David Gerrold Main character receives a belt that allows him to travel through time
1978 The Very Slow Time Machine Ian D. Watson "you must travel through time by an equal amount of accumulate hindward potential"
1979 Time After Time Nicholas Meyer H.G. Wells builds a time machine for Jack the Ripper to continue his killing spree
1980 Timescape Gregory Benford Use of tachyons to warn scientists of the past about an upcoming disaster
1980 Thrice Upon a Time James P. Hogan Messages are sent back through time which deletes the timeline in which it exists
1980 A Rebel in Time Harry Harrison Time machine misuse. U.S. Government aids the Confederacy with submachine guns
1983 Doomsday Book Connie Willis Travel through time from 2048 to 14th century. Time travel limited by the Laws of Physics
1992 The Guns of the South Harry Turtledove During American Civil War, South African white supremacists give the Confederacy AK-47's
1992 From Time to Time Jack Finney Use of hypnosis to travel through time
1996 Timequake Kurt Vonnegut People in 2001 are transported back to 1991 to relive their lives
1997 To Say Nothing of the Dog Connie Willis Time traveler from 2048 travels back to the 14th century
1999 Timeline Michael Crichton Time machines and how exactly they work
2000 The Third Level Jack Finney Use of hypnosis to travel through time
2000 Time On My Hands Peter Delacorte Man goes back in time to prevent Ronald Reagan from becoming President
2001 Thief of Time Terry Pratchett Unfreezing and freezing of time using a small mechanism
2001 Four Past Midnight: "The Langoliers" Stephen King An airplane is used to travel through time
2001 The Anubis Gates Tim Powers Gates allow people to travel through time but are only open at certain times and places
2001 Paratime H. Beam Piper Shorts stories of lateral time movement and alternate universes
2002 Night Watch Terry Pratchett Character interacts with a younger version of himself
2002 Counting Up, Counting Down Harry Turtledove Time travel with the twin perspectives of a man who travels back in time for relationship stability
2002 Thief! Malorie Blackman A huge storm traps a girl who is accused of being a thief and takes her into the future
2002 New World Order Ben Jeapes During the English Civil War aliens from a parallel universe use time travel to bring technological advances
2002 Kaleidoscope Century John Barnes Takes place on Mars. A man has a virus that puts him to sleep every 15 years and he wakes 10 younger.
2002 Lost Time: The Legend of Garrison Fitch Samuel Ben White Two pilots fly an experimental aircraft into the past
2002 1633 Eric Flint West-Virginian town is taken back to the Thirty Years War in Germany and gives them insight to the future
2002 Time Lottery Nancy Moser Three people win a chance to travel back into their own lives and change something
2003 The Shoals of Time P. Orin Zack Characters are caught in a timestream from the 19th to the 23rd century
2003 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger Man with a rare genetic disorder unpredictably travels in time, living his life out of sequence
2004 Second Time Around Nancy Moser Sequel to Time Lottery: three more winners win the time lottery and travel back in their lives to try out a new choice
2004 Axis of Time John Birmingham Military task-force is accidentally sent back in time
2004 The Spark of God (orig. title: L'Éclat de Dieu) Romain Sardou Describes the First Crusade and the Beginning of the Knights Templar in the future
2004 Pen Pal Lou Antonelli Loops in a man's life told through a narrative that goes from future to present
2004 Ishmael (Star Trek, No. 23) Barbara Hambly Spock is aboard a Klingon ship when it vanishes and travels back in time
2004 Portal Brian Reaves Joseph Turner invents the first time machine to change his horrible past
2004 Saving Time: The Legend of Garrison Fitch, 2 Samuel B. White Garrison Fitch has to travel back through time to fix the time holes he created, but without a time machine
2005 Island in the Sea of Time S.M. Stirling Nantucket is transported 3000 years back in time because of a space disturbance
2006 The Plot to Save Socrates Paul Levinson Time travelers from 2042 to prevent Socrates from consuming hemlock
2008 Timely Persuasion Jacob LaCivita Music critic travels back in time to prevent the deaths of both Kurt Cobain and his sister

[edit] Time travel in science fiction television series

Time travel is a recurrent theme in science fiction television programs. In some television series, time travel creates the premise and direction for the plot and/or setting of the show. Two model examples of television shows that utilize time travel in this way are Doctor Who and Quantum Leap. There are other television programs that incorporate time travel in only one, or some of their episodes. The table below encompasses television shows that fall into the first of these two categories.

Start date End Date Title Author Description
1979 1982 Sapphire & Steel Shaun O'Riordan & David Foster Two time traveling inter-dimensional agents protect and guard the order of time in this British drama.
1993 1994 Time Trax Harve Bennett

Jeffrey M. Hayes

Grant Rosenberg

 A police officer from the 22nd century makes his way back to our time to track down fugitives from the future.
1998 2001 Seven Days Christopher & Zachary Crowe Frank Parker can travel back 7 days in a time machine powered by alien technology.
2002 2004 Odyssey 5 David Carson Astronauts are sent back in time after witnessing the end of the Earth from space.
2001 2004 Samurai Jack Genndy Tartakovsky A evil space demon throws the hero Samurai Jack into the future, in order to allow himself enough time to build an army.
2003 2005 Tru Calling Jon Harmon Feldman A young woman receives request from corpses to stop their untimely deaths and wakes up then the day before, in order to attempt to save them.
2004 2006 Phil of the Future Tim Maile & Douglas Tuber A family attempts to repair their spaceship after being stranded in the past, or modern day, while maintaining the appearance of being normal people.
2005 2007 Time Warp Trio Peter K. Hirsch A children's cartoon where using books three children travel through time and space.
2006 2007 Life on Mars John Alexander & John McKay A police officer who must learn to adapt to the way things were done in the 70s after being thrown back in time by an accident.
2008 - Ashes to Ashes (TV series) Spin off series from "Life on Mars" set in the 1980s

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