P.S. A Column On Things

By PAUL E. SCHINDLER JR. I am from Portland, Oregon, Beaumont ’66, Benson High ’70, MIT ’74. Some things are impossible to know, but it is impossible to know these things.

What’s With All The Time Travel?

November 10, 2024

There used to be a time when I thought I could watch every new time travel movie or TV show. But then with the simultaneous appearance of Omni Loop (Amazon) the movie and Continuum (Acorn/Amazon) the TV series, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Continuum is Canadian, and is straight-up time travel, with one accidental passenger on the trip. Omni Loop, set in Miami, is a time loop film. It plays with the “rules” in a way that confuses. No one ever mentions Groundhog Day in the dialog, which is mandatory in the time loop genre. I guess it just takes itself too seriously. It certainly wound its way to a seriously unsatisfying ending.

Both of these outings explain exactly how the time shift occurs, ignoring the obvious benefit of leaving the cause as a mystery, one of the most brilliant aspects of Groundhog Day (as filmed). Dwelling on the mechanism bogs down the story. Well, since the mechanism IS the story in Omni Loop, I guess I can’t say that.

So, as I say, what’s with all the time travel? Are we all that desperate to get out of our current reality?

Posted at 9:20 pm Permalink 1 Comment

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Did you watch Timeless, which ran from 2016-18. It was kind of like Quantum Leap "trying to put right what once went wrong," but much more morally ambiguous. If you have Amazon Prime and you haven't seen it, I recommend it.

Posted by: Robert E. MalchmanNovember 10, 2024 at 10:57 PM

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Paul E. Schindler Jr.

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