Date archives "March 2023"

Time Travel Movies & TV Shows

A non-exhaustive list of Time Travel Movies, TV Shows, and more, updated occasionally…

While it is difficult to recommend a time travel movie without spoiling that is has time travel in it, the Mechanism and Category can be considered thematically spoilery depending on one’s aversion to knowing anything about a movie, so I hid those behind a spoiler tag, just click the tag to show it.

Legend:

Time Travel Level – Just how time travely is it

  • Full-fledged – As time travely as it gets
  • Low/Medium/High – The amount of time travel taking place as an ongoing part of the story
  • Story starter – low/medium/high – Time travel mainly sets the story in motion, but it’s integrality to the story takes a back seat to one degree or another

Mechanism – What makes time travel possible

  • Machine – A good-old time machine or device
  • Time Dilation – Time moving differently between places
  • Future Tech – An obscure or hand-wavey technology from the future
  • Relativity – The effects of relativity causing time travel-like results
  • Genetic – A genetic cause for a person’s ability to time travel
  • Natural phenomena – A feature that is or is seemingly part of the environment, wormholes, etc’
  • Magic/Magical Device – A spell or magical artifact
  • Superpowers – Who wouldn’t want time travel as their superpower?
  • Unknown – When the mechanism is not explained or is not hinted at

Category – What story style/trope is it or what is it that traverses time

  • Classic – Good old fashion time travel, people moving through time
  • Consciousness – Consciousness is the thing that travels through time
  • Time bubble – Where a different part of space moves at a different pace
  • Time loop – A where someone experiences a repeating time/day/sequence but recalls previous iterations
  • Information – Where the only thing moving through time is information and not objects

Movies:

TitleTime Travel LevelMechanismCategoryNotes
Back to the FutureFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
The Time machine (2002)Full-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
Time trapFull-fledged
Time Dilation
Time bubble
Deja VuFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
LooperFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
InterstellarFull-fledged
Future Tech + Relativity
Information
 
Volition    
Time CrimesFull-fledged 
Classic
 
The Butterfly EffectFull-fledged
Unknown
Consciousness
 
The Time Traveler’s WifeFull-fledged
Genetic
Classic
 
Groundhog DayFull-fledged
Unknown
Time Loop
 
Palm SpringsFull-fledged
Natural phenomena
Time Loop
 
Frequently Asked Questions about Time TravelFull-fledged
Future Tech
Classic
 
X-Men Days of Future PastHigh
Genetics/Superpowers
Consciousness
 
The JacketHigh
Unknown
Consciousness
 
About TimeFull-fledged
Genetic
Classic
 
Project AlmanacFull-fledged   
ARQFull-fledged
Machine
Time Loop
 
TimelineStory starter – medium
Machine
Classic
 
Hot Tub Time MachineFull-fledged
Machine
  
Terminator SeriesStory starter – high
Machine
Classic
 
PredestinationFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
FrequencyFull-fledged 
Information
 
12 MonkeysFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
A Wrinkle in Time    
Bill & TedFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
TimecopFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
Time BanditsFull-fledged   
PrimerFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
ArrivalMedium-high
Information
  
Prince of PersiaFull-fledged
Magical Device
Classic
 
Planet of The ApesLow
Natural phenomena
  
PaycheckHigh
Machine
Information
 
Timelapse 
Machine
Information
 
Displacement   Not good
Flight of the NavigatorStory starter – Medium
Relatively
  
SphereLow
Future tech / Unknown
  
Source CodeHigh
Virtual
Time loop
 
Edge of TomorrowFull-fledged
Alien tech/biology
Time Loop
 
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanHigh
Magic
Classic
 
Star Trek – First ContactMedium
Future tech
Classic
 
Star Trek – 2009Medium
Future tech
Classic
 
Star Trek IV: The Voyage HomeMedium
Future tech
Classic
 
Avengers EndgameFull-fledged
Future tech
Classic
 
Project AlmanacFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
The History of Time TravelFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
Mockumentary
Midnight in ParisHigh
Unknown/Natural phenomena
Classic
 
The I Inside
 
41
Unknown
Classic
 
Safety Not Guaranteed?
Machine
Classic
Hard to classify
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things Full-fledged
Time loop

TV Shows:

TitleTime Travel LevelMechanismCategoryNotes
Doctor WhoFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
TravelersHigh
Future tech
Consciousness/Information
 
TimelessFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
ContinuumStory starter – medium
Machine
Classic
 
The Umbrella AcademyMedium-High
Superpowers
Classic
12 MonkeysFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
Legends of TomorrowFull-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
Future Man (Hulu)Full-fledged
Machine
Classic
 
11.22.63 (Hulu)Story starter
Natural phenomena
 
DarkFull-fledged
Machine
 
OutlanderStory starter
Natural phenomena
  
Early Edition 
Unknown
Information
Gravity FallsOccasional
Future Tech
  
FuturamaOccasional 
Classic
 
LokiFull-fledged
Future Tech
  
Paper GirlsFull-fledged
Classic
Based on the Graphic Novel
Russian DollFull-fledged
Unknown
Time loop
The 7 Lives of LeaFull-fledged
Consciousness
Time loop
Last Night in SohoHigh
Unknown
Classic

Books, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels:

Coming soon…