I have to confess, I’m a bit of a geek. In addition of history and romance, I also enjoy science-fiction. And, in the case of time travel romance, you get to have the best of both worlds.
Time travel is a fascinating trope and it’s fascinating to see how various writers get around inherent paradoxes in the concept.
The causal loop – what if an event from the future is cause of an event in the past, which in turn is the cause of the future event? A permanent ground hog day that goes on for centuries? That’s intriguing.
The contradiction – in which a time traveler goes back in time and does something to alter future events. Also known as the grandfather paradox – if a time traveler goes back in time and kill his grandfather in his childhood, the time traveler’s parents would not have been born and therefore the time travel themselves would not be born.
But I think the most fascinating idea that comes from time travel is the notion of eternal life or the eternal soul – the idea that we can transcend time and space to pursue happiness and love (or perhaps to save the human race itself!)
Do you have a favourite time travel film? Let me know in comments.
Read the Time Travel edition of Love’s Great Adventure Magazine
Elizabeth’s favourite time travel movies
12 Monkeys (1995) In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.
Groundhog Day (1993) A self-centred weatherman finds himself inexplicably living the same day over and over again.
The Terminator (1984) A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity’s future salvation.
The Time Machine (2002) Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds humankind divided into two warring races.
Back to the Future (1985) Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent thirty years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the eccentric scientist Doc Brown.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) Two seemingly dumb teens set off on a quest to prepare the ultimate historical presentation with the help of a time machine.
Somewhere In Time (1980) A Chicago playwright uses self-hypnosis to travel back in time and meet the actress whose vintage portrait hangs in a grand hotel.
