Faculty Feature: The rules of cinematic time travel

By Connor Williams

The aspect about time travel that fascinates me so much is there is no right or wrong method. Several movies, books, comics, and other stories have used time travel as a main component of the plot. If I were to time travel what would that look like? Where would I go? What movie or book would I use as my rules for time travel? 

First, I would go 65 million years back and visit with the dinosaurs. How would I get there though? If I follow “Back to the Future” rules, I would need a DeLorean that can take me to any point past or present. The problem though using that movie is I can mess up my current life by interfering with events that influence my present time. It wouldn’t be an issue going back 65 million years though, I hope.

 If I follow “Avengers: Endgame” rules, I would need Tony Stark's GPS bracelet that can, I think, take me to any point in the past. The plus side is I wouldn’t have to worry about any paradoxes using their rules. You can’t change your present-self based on what you did in the past. Since I’m going back so far in time, I will take the DeLorean over the GPS bracelet so I can escape any dangerous predators. 

Having not been alive yet to see one of my favorite movies debut on the big screen, I will travel back to the first screening of “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.” With this being so close to the present, care needs to be taken. 

The GPS bracelet or even in the recent movie “The Tomorrow War” will be my best chance to not interfere with any timelines. In “The Tomorrow War,” two time machines are built in two different time periods and time moves parallel to one another. I would be able to hop back and forth with close to no issues aside from missing a few hours in my current timeline. 

There are so many other events I would have liked to have witnessed, such as the first Modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896, Sir Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile barrier in 1954, and opening day of Walt Disney World in 1971.