Thursday, July 1, 2010

Going to Go Back in Time

Today's comic has a time travel theme, much like Monday's. This is no coincidence. Twenty-five years ago this weekend, my all-time favorite time travel comedy*--Back to the Future--premiered.

In just the same way I gave Star Wars a week, I'm giving Marty McFly, Doc Brown, and Biff a week of their own. (Oh, and don't worry, I really have no intention of honoring Batman and Robin later this summer. This should be the last of my very-special-posts-honoring-a-movie-of-my-childhood for some time.)

*For your edification, my top five time travel comedies are as follows:

1.
Back to the Future
2.Groundhog Day
3.Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
4.Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
5.Terminator 2: Judgment Day

15 comments:

  1. I really wanted to put Somewhere in Time in the fifth spot of my all-time favorite time travel comedies and make some joke about Superman; Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman; and Captain von Trapp, but I realized that that would be a joke so obscure that even my extremely pop culture-savy readers wouldn't get.

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  2. Oh, and according to Back to the Future Part II, we are only five years away from flying cars and hoover skateboards. I am so excited!

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  3. I like the idea of classifying Terminator as a "time travel comedy," although Terminator 3 may fit that category better. And how could you forget Austin Powers?

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  4. I do feel edified. Thank you for sharing. :)

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  5. Eric, here are some of the time travel comedies that didn't make the list and why:

    Austin Powers--haven't seen it, but my understanding was that Austin Powers was simply frozen and de-thawed years later (hence it doesn't quite qualify as a time travel movie).

    Hot Tub Time Machine--haven't seen it nor do I plan on seeing it.

    Time Bandits--haven't seen it for so long that I don't remember anything about it (I might need to revisit it, though).

    Peggy Sue Got Married--blah.

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  6. Arie, if I were to psychoanalyze your blog, I would say you had a childhood dream of becoming a historical film critic that got suppressed somewhere along the way and is resurfacing in your blog posts.

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  7. Oh, and I love that you posted this particular comic on the 1st of the month!

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  8. Timecop? Not really meant as a comedy, but Van Damme's acting is always a joke.

    And while we are at it, does Groundhog day really count as time travel? I mean if Austin Powers is disqualified on a technicality, shouldn't we have the same rules for Groundhog day, even though it may be Bill Murray's finest work?

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  9. Sure, Austin Powers didn't travel through time in his first moview, but what about the critically acclaimed sequel? He takes the time-traveling shagmobile back to 1975 to hunt down Goldmember and meet up with Foxxy Cleopatra.

    I agree with you about Time Bandits, but I take Joel's side on the issue of Jean Claude Van Damme (which, by the way, is the second time in a week that Joel has referenced Van Damme in a blog comment).

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  10. Here's the blog Eric is referring to. I'm sure his sense of self-consciousness precluded Eric from linking it himself.

    And, dang it, Joel's right. Jean Claude Van Damme is funnier than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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  11. Like the cartoon, but the Austin Powers comment has me wondering...how does one become de-thawed? If thawing is melting, wouldn't de-thawing be refreezing?

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  12. Wait, how do you make a joke about Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman? That show was amazingly awesome.

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  13. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman????? You were 6 weeks old when that show was cancelled.

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  14. By the way, Arie, have you noticed that you are up to 14 comments already? And you're post is only 2 days old. The only way I could ever get that many comments is if I libeled the Husker football team. Unless . . . maybe I should do a time travel theme . . . ?

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  15. Eric, Mom and I were faithful viewers of the critically acclaimed Jane Seymour hit, thank you very much. I know I look like I'm 20 years old but I was born in 1978.

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