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Top Sci-Fi Time-Travel Methods

by Leila Brillson on June 9, 2009 at 11:01 AM


Discovery.com has rounded up some of Hollywood's most ridiculous explanations for time travel, including Superman reversing the earth and the quantum mechanics and "exotic material" underlying [SPOILER ALERT] the time-hopping island in 'Lost.'

The time-traveling trope has been a stalwart in science fiction since the 18th century, and continues to be a defining characteristic of the genre. Discovery touches on the good ones, including lesser known (and more realistic) moments like the wormholes in 'Donnie Darko' and the new 'Star Trek.' However, it shoots most theories down, arguing that black holes, for instance, would compress matter into one singularity and that wormholes are still too theoretically unruly to adequately discuss.

While we certainly aren't quantum theorists or astrophysicists, here are our own additions to the list:
  • Marty McFly takes the DeLorean and demonstrates how a flux capacitor (which isn't given a lot of scientific context) can send him into 1955. The film trilogy is known for its notion of time as having a changeable, singular course.
  • 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' features a young Keanu Reeves and time travel in order to show how funny it would be to have Napoleon in Southern California.
  • The Terminator Quadrilogy offers plenty of time travel, but no explanation why, despite their highly sophisticated technology, the Terminators don't just go back far enough in time to destroy Sarah Connor's great-grandfather or some other defenseless ancestor.
  • By destroying all of the Ministry of Magic's time-turners, 'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling effectively stops any discussion of time travel outside of 'The Prisoner of Azkaban'.
While none of these are scientifically probable, they certainly do sound fun, and make our science fiction that much more unbelievable. [From: Discovery.com]

Tags: movies, physics, sci-fi, science, time travel, TimeTravel, top

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