Has anybody noticed that when a sci-fi show does a time loop episode, it always turns out to be great and often considered one of the best from it's respective show? We have 'Cause and Effect' from TNG, 'Monday' from The X-Files and 'Window of Opportunity' from Stargate. I can also remember similar episodes from Buffy and Xena. Can anybody think of any others? Is this type of episode getting old or are they the type that remains great no matter what?
Time Loop Episodes
- Thread starter crouteru
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Well... as far as a series, Day Break didn't fare well.
Back and Back and Back to the Future from Farscape is good.
Here's a good list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_loop#Television
Back and Back and Back to the Future from Farscape is good.
Here's a good list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_loop#Television
This list sums up most of them. Of course, the series Journeyman was a bunch of time loops also.
Not a time *loop* as we understand it (most of the time this implies something that we actually watch happening over and over and over), but causally it is a loop of sorts:
'Tribunal' from The Outer Limits.
The 60's movie The Time Travelers is a better example of a time loop:
'Tribunal' from The Outer Limits.
The 60's movie The Time Travelers is a better example of a time loop:
because that's how it ends - we literally see the loop repeating over and over. That's the cliffhanger!
I didn't think "Cause and Effect" was one of TNG's best. The Buffy and Xena examples weren't that great either. And time-loop stories tend to annoy me because they're so repetitive. I don't think it's easy to do them well. Window of Opportunity is among the best.
No, it wasn't. It was a bunch of time travels. The term "time loop" refers to a story like Groundhog Day in which the same sequence of events repeats over and over.
My favorites have to be "Monday", "Back and Back and Back to the Future", "Window of Opportunity", "I Do Over", and, of course, "Mystery Spot".
I saw it on TV when i was a kid - the robots scared the crap out of me! Great film.
Awesomeness. That's what it is.Nobody's yet mentioned the best of them all:
12:01 PM.
And I don't mean the lameass feature length version, I mean the original short film with Kurtwood Smith. Linky
Talk about a time loop...
btw, the Buffy ep was Season 6's "Life Serial", and it was only for a small part of the episode. I thought it was great, esp the Trio's references to similar events in sci-fi
ANDREW: I just hope she solves it faster than Data did on the ep of TNG where the Enterprise kept blowing up.
WARREN: Or Mulder, in that X-Files where the bank kept exploding.
ANDREW: Scully wants me so bad.
WARREN: This mummy hand has ceased to be!
ANDREW: It is an ex-mummy hand!
ANDREW: I just hope she solves it faster than Data did on the ep of TNG where the Enterprise kept blowing up.
WARREN: Or Mulder, in that X-Files where the bank kept exploding.
ANDREW: Scully wants me so bad.
WARREN: This mummy hand has ceased to be!
ANDREW: It is an ex-mummy hand!
^Rise and shine, everybody...rise and shine!
I have 12:01PM on VHS somewhere and Myron Kasselman is the ultimate victim of cruel fate. A brilliant short that was ruined by being fleshed out into 12:01...which ultimately bore little resemblance to the original.
And I rather enjoyed Cause & Effect. Frakes pointed out that he intentionally took each loop repetition from different camera angles on the episode which put enough of a different P.O.V. for each version to make it interesting to me.
I have 12:01PM on VHS somewhere and Myron Kasselman is the ultimate victim of cruel fate. A brilliant short that was ruined by being fleshed out into 12:01...which ultimately bore little resemblance to the original.
And I rather enjoyed Cause & Effect. Frakes pointed out that he intentionally took each loop repetition from different camera angles on the episode which put enough of a different P.O.V. for each version to make it interesting to me.
Arguably, the whole series of "The Prisonner" is one big time loop, as it ends exactly where it begins - with Number Six driving to chastise his boss about some crazy stuff his government is doing.
Mind you, arguing the existence of "The Prisonner" in ANY sort of rational universe is pretty tough in the first place, so...
Mark
Mind you, arguing the existence of "The Prisonner" in ANY sort of rational universe is pretty tough in the first place, so...
Mark
Post Groundhog Day maybe. I'll never forget the Doctor Who story which was just a repeat of the same footage for like two episodes.
I did love that Stargate episode though.
^Rise and shine, everybody...rise and shine!
I have 12:01PM on VHS somewhere and Myron Kasselman is the ultimate victim of cruel fate. A brilliant short that was ruined by being fleshed out into 12:01...which ultimately bore little resemblance to the original.
And before that, it was plagiarized by Groundhog Day, at least according to the lawsuit.
Just as Airplane! had to buy the rights to Zero Hour (even though the finished product bears little resemblance to the original), yeah...the Groundhog Day people should have ponied up from the start. At the very least their clearance people should have advised them as much!
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