Paradox: The Time Travel Podcast

Finally, we’ve come to the smoking-hot group of middle-aged friends reliving their cocaine-fueled glory days in an ’80s comedy of time travel that is “Hot Tub Time Machine.” There aren’t a ton of time travel comedies out there, but “Hot Tub Time Machine” manages to be pretty funny, when it isn’t being a little overly sexist and very 2010. Still, a few great time travel and 1980s comedy gags thanks to the very solid casting of Crispin Glover. Turns out, “Hot Tub Time Machine” has a lot in common with “Back to the Future,” in that it has some pretty sad and weird implications about traveling back in time, changing everything about your life, and then returning to the present to a life you don’t recognize with loved ones you’ve never met before. Hilarious!

Finally, we’ve come to a smoking-hot question and answer episode of time travel, rounding up some interesting questions from our amazing listeners. It’s Q&A time! In this bonus episode, we dug up a bunch of questions listeners have put to us on the various social media channels for Paradox, like its Facebook page, the Facebook page for “So You Created a Wormhole,” and our Twitter accounts, @philhornshaw and @hewizard. (You can use them to ask us questions too!) While we always get back to people on those social places (or at least we think we do), we figured it might be nice to make the answers a little more public. We also figured that we owed a second episode for the last couple of weeks, given that we were absent for a bit thanks to work obligations, child rearing obligations, and Comic-Con obligations. We didn’t go this year, but it’s Comic-Con; you never really leave. So here’s a bunch of questions about various movies we’ve covered on the podcast. Below you’ll find the timestamps for each question so that if you’re not up on a particular movie or episode, you can skip it to avoid being ruthlessly spoiled by questions and answers. You’ll also find links to the episodes for each question, should you need a refresher. Super mega huge thanks to all our Paradox listeners and to everyone who took the time to write us questions — you’re amazing and we appreciate you! Hopefully these answers are up to spec, but if not, feel free to catch us on The Internet, where we’re always excited to dig into the nitty-gritty even further. In this episode: 6:20 – “Back to the Future” 22:57 – “Edge of Tomorrow” (“Live.Die.Repeat”) 30:46 – “Predestination” 37:01 – “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” 45:58 – “Primer” 54:32 – “12 Monkeys” 1:01:17 – “Deja Vu” After this, check out our new episode for “Hot Tub Time Machine!”

Finally, we’ve come to the hellish murder cruise of parenthood of time travel that is “Triangle.” For real, this is one Phil, as the resident horror movie fan, has been looking forward to for a while. This is definitely one of those movies you need to watch before we talk about it. More than the usual spoiler warnings here! “Triangle” is best experienced with zero understanding of it. The fact you’re reading about it here, on our time travel podcast, is already a spoiler! Did you watch it? Okay. Moving on. “Triangle” is a 2009 horror movie that sneaks up on you as a time travel film. Though it never received a lot of fanfare, it’s pretty impressive as both a horror movie and a time travel movie, getting a lot of the usual issues right throughout. Melissa George’s protagonist character, Jess, is a solid time travel protagonist who understands her plight pretty quickly. Of course, things still don’t go well for her. It’s also a testament to writer and director Christopher Smith that “Triangle” is among the most internally consistent time travel movies we can think of. That’s doubly impressive because it’s a horror movie, where playing fast and loose with “rules” is often part of the approach, since feelings like fear and dread are paramount. So kudos to Chris! At least one of us is also excited to talk about a horror movie, something we don’t get to do too often. Sorry if it sounds like Phil is gleeful about murder and dismemberment — he’s not! At least, not outside the confines of horror films. Probably. We also talked about the similarities between “Triangle” and another movie: Nacho Vigalondo’s “Timecrimes,” or “Cronocrimenes” in its native Spanish (an altogether even-cooler-sounding title, really). We recommend checking out the movie, then listening to the Paradox episode on “Timecrimes” as well.

Finally, we've come to the smoking hot cycle of endless, painful death matched only by the endless monotony of life (but, you know, funny) that is "Edge of Tomorrow." Tom Cruise’s foray into time travel takes a lot of cues from Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day,” but adds a sci-fi angle and throws in aliens. It’s cool, goofy, and hilarious, and it has a terrible title. “Edge of Tomorrow” puts together a pretty solid time loop movie from those ingredients, and does well to avoid some of the issues loop movies struggle with by placing itself right in the middle of the loop, fully aware. And that works out pretty well, all things considered. And Cruise is pretty great at getting murdered repeatedly, but in hilarious ways. Oh, and that book Phil was trying to find at the end of the episode? It’s called “Replay,” by Ken Grimwood. Not Recall. That’s not a thing. Anyway, you can find it at the bookseller of your choice — it’s Paradox recommended!

Finally, we've come to the smoking-hot mystery at the Circle K of time travel that is Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Strange things are definitely afoot for Bill and Ted, but as far as time travelers are concerned, the two confused San Dimas high schoolers are actually pretty damn good at this. Ted intuits how nonlinear causality works on pretty much his first try, which is something that is often the undoing of most other time travelers. And while “Bill & Ted” might be a bit heavy on deus ex machina for getting its heroes out of tight spots, it still pretty funny and only slightly cringy.

Finally, we've come to the smoking-hot Imagine Dragons concert of a time travel movie, of time travel: "Project Almanac." After a ridiculous nine-month delay brought on by familial responsibilities, job responsibilities, and excuse-making, the Paradox podcast is finally back! We’re sorry. We’ve powered through, though, and we’re finally back with an episode about Peggy Sue Got Married! Oh, wait, no, for some reason we didn’t do that even though it had been requested, and we hopped over to Project Almanac instead. We’ll come back to you, Peggy Sue and Nicolas Cage doing that voice for some reason. Meanwhile, sci-fi found footage tale Project Almanac starts off strong, but quickly gets lost in the time travel, mostly because it never really establishes any rules. Sure, fixing your chemistry test and watching an Imagine Dragons concert is cool, but these supposedly genius kids never consider things like the Butterfly Effect or the Marty McFly “Close Enough” Axiom. And what’s the deal with David’s dad? They never explain that.

Finally, we've come to the smoking-hot excuse to watch Denzel Washington be smoking hot (in several ways) in a movie of time travel: "Deja Vu." The Tony Scott-directed, Denzel Washington-starring movie is a consummate action vehicle that actually does pretty well with time travel. It's also the movie that originally inspired "So You Created a Wormhole: The Time Traveler's Guide to Time Travel." After watching it way back in 2006 (or whenever), it was "Deja Vu" that led us to look into trying to explain time travel stories. As it turns out, though, "Deja Vu" is pretty solid. And Denzel rules. In this episode: The Tale of "Deja Vu" and "The Time Traveler's Guide to Time Travel" Denzel Washington: National Treasure The Ferry Explosion The Message Paula Patton, half-orc movie murder victim Claire's Apartment and Its Time Travely Evidence "Welcome to our secret task force of time travel folks!" Schrodinger's Claire The Note How to Make a Car Chase Cool: Do It In the Future and the Past Interrogation Time! Ambulance Attack! Tellin' Claire What's Up The Ferry Divergence, Apparently It's Timeline B That's Weird Next Time: "Peggy Sue Got Married"

Finally, we've come to the smoking hot Harry Potter spawn in stage play form of time travel: "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" -- our first play! The "eighth" Harry Potter book (which is actually a script) takes a bit of what was started in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and kicks it into high magic time travel gear. Over the course of the two-part play, a couple of dumb kids make every time travel mistake pretty much ever. Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy are basically Marty McFly if the general time travel ineptitude of History's Greatest Intern was paired with a wanton disregard for any sort of smart planning or awareness of consequences. It's a lot of fun! And hey we found a video of someone (kinda) answering the question we had about how you say "Cursed Child." We're going with Curs-ed. In this episode: Cursed or Cursed? Reader question! Alby Severy Potter and Scary Dragon Malfoy Time Turners, etc. Delphi and so on The First Timeline Alteration The Double Trouble Timeline B Sucks to be Rose The Second Alteration Malfoyworld (Timeline C) Actually shouldn't they just have tried to kill Voldemort in the past? Coming next: "The Donald Darko" Coming after that: The Frequently Asked for "Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel"

Finally, we've come to smoking hot wizard-children-mess-with-the-time-space-continuum-with-zero-adult-supervision of time travel: "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." We're prepping for our next episode, in which we're covering the newly released stage script, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." To get in the mindset for a wizardly time travel story, we're checking out a (much more compact) wizardly time travel story. Azkaban might not be as time travel-heavy as "Primer" and the other films that we've covered here, but that doesn't mean there's not plenty to break down. You know, like the many failed timelines in which Harry and pals were (most likely) brutally mauled by a werewolf. In this episode: It's not a review but it's kind of a review What's the deal with the Time Turner "Awful things happen to wizards who meddle with time" The First Timeline The Second Timeline Buckbeak, the Werewolf, and Sirius Black Harry Potter and the Blood-Soaked 'A' Timeline Hermione's Boring-Ass School Timelines The Dumbledore Scenario Breaking It Down: Timeline A Timeline B Timeline C and the Many, Many Others Harry Potter's Line that Kinda Ruins the Movie WTF with These English Springtime Wizard Pumpkins Next time: "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"

Finally it's blah blah blah smoking hot "Primer" episode blah blah blah way too long here you go. It's Part 2 of our double-wide episode on the technically proficient and complex "Primer." Quick note: By now you'll have seen the "Part 2" up there in the headline. Ridiculously convoluted as "Primer" is known to be -- believe us when we say it's one of the movie's charms -- we wound up recording an insane, double-wide near 2.5 hours of episode for this one. As such, we've split Episode 14 into two parts, hopefully making it more digestible for you, our beloved listeners. Both episodes are live simultaneously, so if you're looking for Episode 14, Part 1, this is your link. In this episode: It's "Primer" Time The Plot The Narrator The Machine and How It Works Day One Day Two and How All This Time Travel Nonsense Works The One-Time Use Only Fallacy (That Isn't One) The Boss Discussion Attic Birds Day 3 What Aaron Bleeding Is All About Oh Yeah That Party That's Actually Integral to the Plot Rachel and Thomas Granger Day 4 The Cell Phone and Its Significance Abe's Plan Tom Granger Appears and What the Hell That's All About Day 1(a) Aaron's Lengthy, Not Super-Clear Explanation Aaron Prime (the Timeline Original), Aaron-2 (the First Time Traveler) and Aaron-3 (the second time traveler) In the next episode of Paradox, we'll be hitting up some magical time travel with "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (movie not book), in order to lead into the newly released script, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."