What’s With All The Time Travel?

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?

Comments

[Robert E. Malchman]

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.