Here’s a visualisation of time travel plots in various films and TV programs. I had a lot of fun doing this!
It was particularly cool to highlight potential plotlines for “meta movies” where time travellers from different plots could meet and paradox it out. Charlie Kauffman are you reading this??
(By the way, I allowed myself a +1 / -1 year fuzz around the paradoxes. So knives away nerds!)
This is a straight data visualisation, rather than information design. That is, it’s not particularly useful, nor useable, nor meaningful. The inspiration was the coolness of the idea, really. I was excited to see what shape all the plots would make, and whether it could be shaped into something beautiful.
What I really love about this image, though, is the idea that this information has never been seen before. Despite the fact that it exists, in some way,somewhere, wrapped in various plots, it’s never been given form. I have to say, it was a joy to untangle it all :)
Big thanks to talented designers Alice Cho and Dominic Busby for their invaulable contributions. And Jeremy MacLynn for essential art direction.
Getting Ridiculous
I guess it’s no surprise that there are a helluva lot of time travel plots centered around our tranche of time (1900-2100). But does it have to be this ridiculous?
Here’s a zoom in.
This concentration of temporal dislocation is why the final image for the book took four months, 34 drafts and the work of three designers.
So who wants to work with me on the Dr Who one? I’m serious. Email me.
112 Comments
Twelve Monkeys: you forgot at least one jump to WWI.
Awesome!
So clever it looks simple. Great work!
Time travel method for Back to the Future 2 & 3 is listed as unknown, but is most definitely the result of a time machine (DeLorean). Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is Deep Freeze. Planet of the Apes is listed as Deep Freeze, but is really the result of the near speed of light travel. In this case, time slowed down for the passengers of the spaceship relative to the time experienced by the denizens of Earth.
Otherwise, an awesome picture.
This is my favorite by far. And all the stuff on this blog is pretty awesome to begin with. Keep up the good work! Can’t wait to see more :D
-Russ
I was about to make the Dr. Who comment, but ya beat me to it.
Then, I was going to comment that the first Austin Powers movie was deep free and not alien tech, but Matthew beat me to that.
So instead, I’ll suggest you consider adding in Voyargers (unknown?) Quantum Leap, just to make it harder for you on v2.0 :)
I’m your big fan and this one definitely makes me a bigger one. It’s your best so far.
Excellent work, man ;)
Sam Tyler didn’t time travel. It was either all in his head or as its looking more likely in Ashes To Ashes, a pocket universe/alternate reality.
Here’s one to keep you busy: LOST.
How is a Time Machine distinct from Alien Technology?
Where do you include an Alien Time Machine?
In this scheme, a time Machine is a human made device. Alien Tech would be something like a time portal or gateway, or a time machine of extra-terrestrial origin.
Primer would add a really odd, dense set of curves to this schema; but you said ‘popular TV and Film’ so maybe it wouldn’t make the cut.
Yeah and Quantum Leap would really screw it too.
hahahaah, I thought about Quantum Leap immediatly too. It was such a stupid tv series but I didn’t miss even one episode LOL
@Dan Biddle: I too would like to see a tiny dense knot for Primer. I’ve seen the movie several times. But the best designed plot timeline here…
http://www.freeweb.hu/neuwanstein/primer_timeline.html
…is still completely incomprehensible.
This is great.
There’s a few from Futurama that could be added. ;)
alucinante!!!!! felicitaciones por todo el trabajo. La investigación y la representación gráfica son claras, entretenidas, y adictivas.
esta es la mejor página del mundo.
millions, billions, and more thanks for such a terrific page. I love statistics, but what you are doing is inspiring. Congratulations!!!! Keep the great work, can´t wait to see what´s next.
salud!
this is not a favorite, sorry.
I judge infographs based on what new insight it brings, but this seems more to add confusion than clarity to the data. The time paradoxes, a little nice detail are treated like the main information, and the squiggly lines are hard to follow. It’s hard at first look to differentiate between the main line and time jumps and finally the bending seems just alleatory.
I think I preferred the earlier versions, with the main time a straigth line (in wich you could add some kind of perspective to compensate so it could be a non-linear timescale). This way you could even add more information, like the kind of timetravel system each movie portrays. For example in back to the future, changes creates alternative timeline (which could be represented by a diverging branch of the main time in which you have to travel back to fix. In 12 monkeys, no matter what you do time is fixed (nothing goes out of the main time), and in Lost, time travel allows slight changes but then self-corrects (represented by a bump out and back again to the main line)..
But good work, david..
but then as you said in the beggining, “This is a straight data visualisation, rather than information design” or I would understand it “it’s just fun with graphs, not information design)
What about Futurama??
You forgot Hiro from Heroes!!
Wow. Just wow. Exactly what I’ve been looking for. I’m v interested in doing the Doctor Who one – have sent you an email. I’ve been thinking about how we can use the web to explore narratives, and visualization is obviously a key part of this…
Glen beat me to it, but this graphic is woefully incomplete without reference to Futurama. At the very least to the “Space Pilot 3000″ and “Roswell that Ends Well” episodes.
Do you have any plans to produce this as a poster? I’d love to have one to go on my wall.
Have you considered making this into a poster? If not, I would love to do so (and give you and your site credit, of course), but would need a higher resolution version.
Hi David,
I’m a big fan of your work and I highly respect your contribution to this area. However, you have a big misconception of data visualization: “This is a straight data visualisation, rather than information design. That is, it’s not particularly useful, nor useable, nor meaningful.” Since when was data visualization not meant to be useful, usable and meaningful?
Best,
Manuel
Time’s Arrow was alien technology, if an out of phase Ophidian serpent spitting flames of temporal vortices can be called “alien”.
Awesome! (Where’re the Stargate episodes? There are several time travel eps in Stargate …)
I love your visualizations; keep ‘em coming :)
-Lauren
How about ‘Somewhere in Time’. Christopher Reeve starts in 1972 and travels back to 1912.
Where’s Dr Who?
you forgot to add other shows like Dr Who… he went to the future more times than not.
And StarTrek Voyager… they made several trips to the future, including in the last episode
To preserve my sanity, Dr Who is being done as a separate timeline. Re: Voyager – good idea. Could you dig up the data? Thanks! David
Loving the Time Travel. It would be supercool if this were available as a poster (or a large download that one could print up as a poster). Any chance? Pretty please?
Maybe I’m just seeing things, but it seems the “future” point for TNG: First Contact and TNG: Times Arrow 1& 2 are reversed, as the beginning of First Contact occurred after the conclusion of the series.
I don’t get the Red Dwarf one.
I believe you put a wrong returning date for Marty McFly in Back to the Future 3… Mid 90′s?
FUTURAMA! At least 3 episodes featured time travel (pilot, roswell, and one that goes back to the events of the pilot)
FAMILY GUY! Stewie goes into the future/past with his future self.
Quantum Leap, like Dr Who, would require its own chart…perhaps make them all to the same scale/timeline so they could be overlayed?
This made me think of a another set of data that would make an interesting chart, the Kevin Smith Universe….it probably is out there somewhere…
Dude, that Doctor Who one will be epic. It seems to me there’ll be lots of 51st century/year 500billon, and the 4th g&b human empire when you get ot the new series.
What ever happen to Dark Shadows ?
The most famous of the 1960′s soap operas! A gothic love story w. vampires, zombies, witches, and such…Before there was back to the future, or even star trek traveling back in time, In 1969, dark shadows broke ground in day time television traveling in time, not once, but TWICE!!! A time traveler vampire!!! Well now that is what I call entertainment !
Thanks.
peace+love+appreciation
@
_The Time Machine_ should connect up to the visible time line at 2,300?
Also there is also the movie _Idiocracry_?
Absolutely magnificent!
It looks like you have the timeline for Back to the Future part 3 going between 1885 and 1995 when in fact it is between 1885 and 1985. I can’t believe I both know this and noticed it.
They missed Primer on their time-line of these movies – probably the coolest time travel movie ever.
Wow! That’s pretty awesome.
If you can manage to make a Doctor Who one… that would just be staggering. Don’t forget to add in all the paradoxes and meet-ups!
Very cool! Where’s Time Rider,
Someone, perhaps me, ought to make this poster web-interactive for mouse-over (hand-over if using an MS Table) hover info containing links to possible sites or YT vids, and then of course, for submissions to the timeline, perhaps even voting on those submissions for “popularity” strength and to help the community decide inclusion or “shelving” (as, over time – no pun – things not popular now, can become very popular. Fringe comes to mind as such)
To clarify, most of your works could become there own blogs – perhaps using Google Wave once it becomes existent and in common use.
Dr. Who IS the black background.
Oh my god how clever is this image of film and TV timelines
Peggy Sue, where are you?
I can’t believe you left out Futurama.
This is still pretty great though.
Timecrimes is a small-budget time travel movie. Highly recommended. It would not likely show up on this timeline, for reasons you would understand after seeing it.
Do I dare say that Sam Tyler was only a DI in 1973? no..I don’t think I will….
Where the hell is Doctor Who!
it’s coming!
There was the time machine in Austin Powers: Goldmember which was an actual time machine, not just deep freeze.
So much time travel in Dr Who, I dont envy the task
Nice visualization, but your wavy lines and tiny text are unruly to the point of being unreadable. Once I got the jist it was no longer worth scrutinizing.