Episodes
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Finally, weâve come to the smoking-hot group of middle-aged friends reliving their cocaine-fueled glory days in an â80s comedy of time travel that is âHot Tub Time Machine.â
There arenât a ton of time travel comedies out there, but âHot Tub Time Machineâ manages to be pretty funny, when it isnât being a little overly sexist and very 2010. Still, a few great time travel and 1980s comedy gags thanks to the very solid casting of Crispin Glover.
Turns out, âHot Tub Time Machineâ has a lot in common with âBack to the Future,â in that it has some pretty sad and weird implications about traveling back in time, changing everything about your life, and then returning to the present to a life you donât recognize with loved ones youâve never met before. Hilarious!
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Finally, weâve come to a smoking-hot question and answer episode of time travel, rounding up some interesting questions from our amazing listeners. Itâs Q&A time!
In this bonus episode, we dug up a bunch of questions listeners have put to us on the various social media channels for Paradox, like its Facebook page, the Facebook page for âSo You Created a Wormhole,â and our Twitter accounts, @philhornshaw and @hewizard. (You can use them to ask us questions too!)
While we always get back to people on those social places (or at least we think we do), we figured it might be nice to make the answers a little more public. We also figured that we owed a second episode for the last couple of weeks, given that we were absent for a bit thanks to work obligations, child rearing obligations, and Comic-Con obligations. We didnât go this year, but itâs Comic-Con; you never really leave.
So hereâs a bunch of questions about various movies weâve covered on the podcast. Below youâll find the timestamps for each question so that if youâre not up on a particular movie or episode, you can skip it to avoid being ruthlessly spoiled by questions and answers. Youâll also find links to the episodes for each question, should you need a refresher.
Super mega huge thanks to all our Paradox listeners and to everyone who took the time to write us questions â youâre amazing and we appreciate you! Hopefully these answers are up to spec, but if not, feel free to catch us on The Internet, where weâre always excited to dig into the nitty-gritty even further.
In this episode:
6:20 â âBack to the Futureâ
22:57 â âEdge of Tomorrowâ (âLive.Die.Repeatâ)
30:46 â âPredestinationâ
37:01 â âHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabanâ
45:58 â âPrimerâ
54:32 â â12 Monkeysâ
1:01:17 â âDeja Vuâ
After this, check out our new episode for âHot Tub Time Machine!â
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Episodes manquant?
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Finally, weâve come to the hellish murder cruise of parenthood of time travel that is âTriangle.â For real, this is one Phil, as the resident horror movie fan, has been looking forward to for a while.
This is definitely one of those movies you need to watch before we talk about it. More than the usual spoiler warnings here! âTriangleâ is best experienced with zero understanding of it. The fact youâre reading about it here, on our time travel podcast, is already a spoiler!
Did you watch it? Okay. Moving on.
âTriangleâ is a 2009 horror movie that sneaks up on you as a time travel film. Though it never received a lot of fanfare, itâs pretty impressive as both a horror movie and a time travel movie, getting a lot of the usual issues right throughout. Melissa Georgeâs protagonist character, Jess, is a solid time travel protagonist who understands her plight pretty quickly. Of course, things still donât go well for her.
Itâs also a testament to writer and director Christopher Smith that âTriangleâ is among the most internally consistent time travel movies we can think of. Thatâs doubly impressive because itâs a horror movie, where playing fast and loose with ârulesâ is often part of the approach, since feelings like fear and dread are paramount. So kudos to Chris!
At least one of us is also excited to talk about a horror movie, something we donât get to do too often. Sorry if it sounds like Phil is gleeful about murder and dismemberment â heâs not! At least, not outside the confines of horror films. Probably.
We also talked about the similarities between âTriangleâ and another movie: Nacho Vigalondoâs âTimecrimes,â or âCronocrimenesâ in its native Spanish (an altogether even-cooler-sounding title, really). We recommend checking out the movie, then listening to the Paradox episode on âTimecrimesâ as well.
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Finally weâve come to the adaptation of a tragic 1950s Robert Heinlein short story about really cruel timeloops that is âPredestination.â
Yup, itâs been a long time. Weâre pretty sure some old man stole our car and messed around with the radio presets and other buttons, and long story short, itâs 2018 and our Creedence tapes are missing. âŠI may be mixing my movie jokes here.
Anyway, itâs âPredestination,â the 2014 Sarah Snook and Ethan Hawke vehicle that adapts what might have felt like an eminently unadaptable but classic 1959 Robert Heinlein short story, âAll You Zombies.â As we say in the episode, if you havenât read âAll You Zombiesâ or watched âPredestination,â we suggest watching the movie first â the twists (of which there are a ton) hit a lot harder if you donât have experience with the short.
We definitely suggest checking out âAll You Zombiesâ if you havenât (although itâs very similar to whatâs in the movie) because itâs one of those time travel stories that has inspired a lot of others. As we donât advocate piracy, hereâs an Amazon link where you can snag a Kindle version.
Heinlein wrote a couple of these intense timeloop stories, and âAll You Zombiesâ followed another crack at the idea: âBy His Bootstraps,â which Heinlein wrote 18 years earlier, and âThe Door into Summer,â published in 1957. âBy His Bootstrapsâ is another short story whose influences can definitely be felt resounding through time travel stories, and both works are worth checking out.
Another book we mentioned in this episode: âThe Man Who Folded Himself,â by David Gerrold. Written in 1973, it also digs into the idea of time travel and meeting yourself, and the weird identity entanglements that can result thereof.
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Finally, we've come to the smoking hot cycle of endless, painful death matched only by the endless monotony of life (but, you know, funny) that is "Edge of Tomorrow."
Tom Cruiseâs foray into time travel takes a lot of cues from Bill Murrayâs âGroundhog Day,â but adds a sci-fi angle and throws in aliens. Itâs cool, goofy, and hilarious, and it has a terrible title.
âEdge of Tomorrowâ puts together a pretty solid time loop movie from those ingredients, and does well to avoid some of the issues loop movies struggle with by placing itself right in the middle of the loop, fully aware. And that works out pretty well, all things considered.
And Cruise is pretty great at getting murdered repeatedly, but in hilarious ways.
Oh, and that book Phil was trying to find at the end of the episode? Itâs called âReplay,â by Ken Grimwood. Not Recall. Thatâs not a thing. Anyway, you can find it at the bookseller of your choice â itâs Paradox recommended!
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Finally, we've come to the smoking-hot mystery at the Circle K of time travel that is Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Strange things are definitely afoot for Bill and Ted, but as far as time travelers are concerned, the two confused San Dimas high schoolers are actually pretty damn good at this. Ted intuits how nonlinear causality works on pretty much his first try, which is something that is often the undoing of most other time travelers.
And while âBill & Tedâ might be a bit heavy on deus ex machina for getting its heroes out of tight spots, it still pretty funny and only slightly cringy.
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Finally, we've come to the smoking-hot Imagine Dragons concert of a time travel movie, of time travel: "Project Almanac."
After a ridiculous nine-month delay brought on by familial responsibilities, job responsibilities, and excuse-making, the Paradox podcast is finally back! Weâre sorry.
Weâve powered through, though, and weâre finally back with an episode about Peggy Sue Got Married! Oh, wait, no, for some reason we didnât do that even though it had been requested, and we hopped over to Project Almanac instead. Weâll come back to you, Peggy Sue and Nicolas Cage doing that voice for some reason.
Meanwhile, sci-fi found footage tale Project Almanac starts off strong, but quickly gets lost in the time travel, mostly because it never really establishes any rules. Sure, fixing your chemistry test and watching an Imagine Dragons concert is cool, but these supposedly genius kids never consider things like the Butterfly Effect or the Marty McFly âClose Enoughâ Axiom. And whatâs the deal with Davidâs dad? They never explain that.
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Finally, we've come to the smoking-hot excuse to watch Denzel Washington be smoking hot (in several ways) in a movie of time travel: "Deja Vu."
The Tony Scott-directed, Denzel Washington-starring movie is a consummate action vehicle that actually does pretty well with time travel. It's also the movie that originally inspired "So You Created a Wormhole: The Time Traveler's Guide to Time Travel." After watching it way back in 2006 (or whenever), it was "Deja Vu" that led us to look into trying to explain time travel stories.
As it turns out, though, "Deja Vu" is pretty solid. And Denzel rules.
In this episode:
The Tale of "Deja Vu" and "The Time Traveler's Guide to Time Travel"
Denzel Washington: National Treasure
The Ferry Explosion
The Message
Paula Patton, half-orc movie murder victim
Claire's Apartment and Its Time Travely Evidence
"Welcome to our secret task force of time travel folks!"
Schrodinger's Claire
The Note
How to Make a Car Chase Cool: Do It In the Future and the Past
Interrogation Time!
Ambulance Attack!
Tellin' Claire What's Up
The Ferry Divergence, Apparently
It's Timeline B That's Weird
Next Time: "Peggy Sue Got Married"
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Finally, we've come to the smoking hot British-comedy-about-a-time-travel-bathroom of time travel, "Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel."
By popular demand, we're diving into the 2009 comedy that mixes a bit of a "Shawn of the Dead" vibe with some time travel tropes, some "Back to the Future" gags, and some generally nerdy discussions of why Hollywood puts out a bunch of crap sequels instead of great sci-fi movies, because jeez.
All the knowledge of every sci-fi movie ever can't save "FAQ" from getting lost in its time travel ideas, however. Still pretty funny, though!
In this episode:
Hey, our (other) book is on sale.
"Timeless," it's not bad
Oh the Huge Manatee!
"FAQ About Time Travel," although it doesn't really answer any
Nerding Out at the Bar
Time Leak. That's a joke about pee, isn't it.
Avoiding yourself because paradoxes
Getting lost in time
That One Really Good Idea
Getting "Edited"
There are, uh, a lot of timelines here
The future is an antecedent to the past but also that doesn't really work
Wants to Be a Loop Story But Isn't One
It gets a 5/7
Next time: "Deja Vu"!
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Finally, we've come to the smoking hot six-foot Halloween bunny hallucination from the future of time travel, "Donnie Darko."
Way back from 2001 comes a broody teenage angst story that's also about time travel, God, sacrifice and parallel universes. "Donnie Darko" is a weird case because it has an original cut of the movie, which is pretty, uh, ambiguous, and a director's cut that is significantly less ambiguous, but no less confusing.
The good news is, we've gone through both versions in our analysis in Episode 17! The bad news, this is our longest episode (and it feels like we keep saying that).
This handy breakdown explains a lot of what's up with "Donnie Darko." And here are a ton of more details, including the pages of "The Philosophy of Time Travel."
In this episode:
What's the deal with "Donnie Darko"
Director's Cut vs. Original Cut
Saved by Drew Barrymore
Flood dreams
Super powers or just sleepwalking megastrength?
"Glad school was flooded today" and other coincidences
Occam's Razor Theory
Donnie's sacrifice to save people he loved
The jet engine and Frank problems
The Timelines. Maybe.
"The Philosophy of Time Travel"
Weird retcons for some reason
Timelines vs. dimensions
One last theory
Next time: "Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel"
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Finally, we've come to the smoking hot Harry Potter spawn in stage play form of time travel: "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" -- our first play!
The "eighth" Harry Potter book (which is actually a script) takes a bit of what was started in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and kicks it into high magic time travel gear. Over the course of the two-part play, a couple of dumb kids make every time travel mistake pretty much ever. Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy are basically Marty McFly if the general time travel ineptitude of History's Greatest Intern was paired with a wanton disregard for any sort of smart planning or awareness of consequences.
It's a lot of fun!
And hey we found a video of someone (kinda) answering the question we had about how you say "Cursed Child." We're going with Curs-ed.
In this episode:
Cursed or Cursed?
Reader question!
Alby Severy Potter and Scary Dragon Malfoy
Time Turners, etc.
Delphi and so on
The First Timeline Alteration
The Double Trouble
Timeline B
Sucks to be Rose
The Second Alteration
Malfoyworld (Timeline C)
Actually shouldn't they just have tried to kill Voldemort in the past?
Coming next: "The Donald Darko"
Coming after that: The Frequently Asked for "Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel"
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Finally, we've come to smoking hot wizard-children-mess-with-the-time-space-continuum-with-zero-adult-supervision of time travel: "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
We're prepping for our next episode, in which we're covering the newly released stage script, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." To get in the mindset for a wizardly time travel story, we're checking out a (much more compact) wizardly time travel story. Azkaban might not be as time travel-heavy as "Primer" and the other films that we've covered here, but that doesn't mean there's not plenty to break down.
You know, like the many failed timelines in which Harry and pals were (most likely) brutally mauled by a werewolf.
In this episode:
It's not a review but it's kind of a review
What's the deal with the Time Turner
"Awful things happen to wizards who meddle with time"
The First Timeline
The Second Timeline
Buckbeak, the Werewolf, and Sirius Black
Harry Potter and the Blood-Soaked 'A' Timeline
Hermione's Boring-Ass School Timelines
The Dumbledore Scenario
Breaking It Down: Timeline A
Timeline B
Timeline C and the Many, Many Others
Harry Potter's Line that Kinda Ruins the Movie
WTF with These English Springtime Wizard Pumpkins
Next time: "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"
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Finally it's blah blah blah smoking hot "Primer" episode blah blah blah way too long here you go. It's Part 2 of our double-wide episode on the technically proficient and complex "Primer."
Quick note: By now you'll have seen the "Part 2" up there in the headline. Ridiculously convoluted as "Primer" is known to be -- believe us when we say it's one of the movie's charms -- we wound up recording an insane, double-wide near 2.5 hours of episode for this one. As such, we've split Episode 14 into two parts, hopefully making it more digestible for you, our beloved listeners. Both episodes are live simultaneously, so if you're looking for Episode 14, Part 1, this is your link.
In this episode:
It's "Primer" Time
The Plot
The Narrator
The Machine and How It Works
Day One
Day Two and How All This Time Travel Nonsense Works
The One-Time Use Only Fallacy (That Isn't One)
The Boss Discussion
Attic Birds
Day 3
What Aaron Bleeding Is All About
Oh Yeah That Party That's Actually Integral to the Plot
Rachel and Thomas Granger
Day 4
The Cell Phone and Its Significance
Abe's Plan
Tom Granger Appears and What the Hell That's All About
Day 1(a)
Aaron's Lengthy, Not Super-Clear Explanation
Aaron Prime (the Timeline Original), Aaron-2 (the First Time Traveler) and Aaron-3 (the second time traveler)
In the next episode of Paradox, we'll be hitting up some magical time travel with "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (movie not book), in order to lead into the newly released script, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."
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Finally, we've come to the smoking hot ridiculously-convoluted-best-friend-betrayal-so-you-can-look-baller-at-a-party of time travel, "Primer."
Often exalted as one of the best time travel movies out there, "Primer" is a 2004 indie film written and directed by, and starring, Shane Carruth. In a big way, it's one of the most technically exacting time travel movies, and it's often thought of as being pretty difficult to follow as a result. But that's why we're here!
As always, you're going to want to make sure you've watched the movie before listening, because we're going to spoil the hell out of it. We'd also recommend you watch it more than once. Like, at least twice. And the second time, probably you should turn on subtitles, because it'll help you catch some snatches of dialogue that are essential to the plot but easily missed.
Another quick note: by now you'll have seen the "Part 1" up there in the headline. Ridiculously convoluted as "Primer" is known to be -- believe us when we say it's one of the movie's charms -- we wound up recording an insane, double-wide near 2.5 hours of episode for this one. As such, we've split Episode 14 into two parts, hopefully making it more digestible for you, our beloved listeners. Both episodes are live simultaneously, so if you're looking for Episode 14, Part 2, this is your link.
Without further adieu, listen to Episode 14, Part 1!
We enjoyed this handy plot rundown from qntm.org. We consider this one pretty damn close to a definitive read on the movie (although we have a couple spots where we take issue, as mentioned in the episode). This rundown is also great for seeing key time travel moves and drawing clear lines from lines of dialogue and character motivations to how they play out in the film.
In this episode:
It's "Primer" Time
The Plot
The Narrator
The Machine and How It Works
Day One
Day Two and How All This Time Travel Nonsense Works
The One-Time Use Only Fallacy (That Isn't One)
The Boss Discussion
Attic Birds
Day 3
What Aaron Bleeding Is All About
Oh Yeah That Party That's Actually Integral to the Plot
Rachel and Thomas Granger
Day 4
The Cell Phone and Its Significance
Abe's Plan
Tom Granger Appears and What the Hell That's All About
Day 1(a)
Aaron's Lengthy, Not Super-Clear Explanation
Aaron Prime (the Timeline Original), Aaron-2 (the First Time Traveler) and Aaron-3 (the second time traveler)
In the next episode of Paradox, we'll be hitting up some magical time travel with "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (movie not book), in order to lead into the newly released script, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."
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Finally, we've come to smoking hot viral-end-of-the-world-and-animals-inherit-the-Earth of Time Travel: "12 Monkeys." And "La Jetée," the short film it's based on, as well.
Look, this is our longest episode, and one of us is neck-deep in the hundreds of thousands of people-strong insanity that is Comic-Con. So go ahead and listen, because we're feeling a little nuts.
Also, one more mega-huge thanks to listener Tim Taber for his generous donation to the cause of talking about time travel movies!
In this episode:
Phil's at Comic-Con!
"12 Monkeys," "La Jetée," and "12 Monkeys" again
The Ruined Future of "12 Monkeys"
You Can't Change the Past Apparently
1990, WWI, and 1996
The Cassandra Complex
Brad Pitt's Greatest Role: Jeffrey Goines
"I am insane, and you are my insanity."
Railly is Convinced
The Vision
The End
The Timelines
"La Jetée"
"12 Monkeys" on TV
Big Thanks to Tim Taber, Episode Sponsor
Comic-Con Again
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Finally, we've come to the totally nonsensical "giant anthropomorphic turtles with googly eyes that make you uncomfortable" of time travel: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III."
The lesser of the three original "Turtles" films, "TMNT III" includes time travel back to 1600s Japan for some reason. This is accomplished by a weird scepter, the rules of which make zero sense.
Somewhat in honor of the release of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows", the second movie in the new rebooted Turtles continuity that Phil rather likes, we're digging into 1993's ignoble end to the live-action "Turtles" movies. It's technically a time travel movie!
By the way, here's the ZZ Top song from the beginning of the movie that Nick incorrectly disparaged as being a knock-off of "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors. It makes sense in context!
We'll be hitting up the Terry Gilliam movie "12 Monkeys" on our next episode, combined with "La Jetee," the French short that inspired the film. You can check it out on Vimeo or (but you might want to find it in French with subtitles instead).
In this episode:
Hey, remember "Out of Our Shells"?
Turtle Predestination Paradox
The Ancient Scroll of Weirdness
Teenage Mutant Niceguy Turtles II
What's the Deal With This Scepter Anyway
TMNT III Trailer Nostalgia
Oh Hey It's That Illustration from THE SPACE HERO'S GUIDE TO GLORY That We Mentioned
"Turtles in Time"
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Finally, we've come to the smoking hot "1979 San Francisco riff on a classic time travel story -- but with Jack the Ripper also because that's awesome" of time travel: Time After Time.
Director Nicholas Meyer dives into H.G. Wells' novel The Time Machine, mixes in the story of an 1800s serial killer, takes the whole thing to San Francisco (just like he will with Star Trek in The Undiscovered Country) and tosses in the First Lady of Time Travel, Mary Steenburgen.
Then things get weird, as Time After Time is alternately an adventure story, a fish-out-of-water comedy, and a story about gruesome murders. It's pretty awesome. Although the time travel doesn't make a ton of sense.
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Yup, the hit super-violent fantasy TV show Game of Thrones went ahead and somewhat haphazardly introduced time travel. So welcome to a very special bonus episode of Paradox, in which we attempt to make some sense of the extremely limited tidbits of information presented in Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 5: "The Door."
(Spoiler alert from the future: They never did explain the time travel and it never did make sense.)
The "bonus" part of this episode is that it's a short one, mostly because there are a ton of unknowns when it comes to Game of Thrones and time travel. We've only seen it a couple of times, it's perpetrated via magic, and for a while it appeared that what we (and Bran Stark) were seeing were visions of the past rather than the actual past. That is, until Bran yelled at his young father, Ned, during a scene earlier this season, and Ned heard him.
During "The Door," though, we go full time travel, and all evidence suggests we're looking at a time loop. Hopefully the answers to more questions, like what's actually happening, what the rules are, and whether time is an unalterable written-in-stone loop already, will be forthcoming by the end of Season 6. When we get 'em, we'll be back here to talk about 'em.
Meanwhile, pour one out for Wyllis, whose fate has literally always been to care and then die for Bran Stark.
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Finally, we've come to the smoking hot "Goofy attempt to link a reboot to the rest of its franchise" of time travel: X-Men: Days of Future Past.
The second movie in the rebooted X-Men franchise (or are they prequels?) and the, like, ninth film in the X-Men continuity (or is it a continuity at all?), Days of Future Past introduces everyone's favorite plot device: time travel. In order to save the world from an awful fascist future full of killer robots, the future X-Men decide to send Wolverine (who else, when it comes to these movies) back in time to prevent a crucial event. Of course, that means needing to get the band of Professor X and Magneto and pals back together for some reason.
To cut through all the X-Men lore both filmic and comic, we've recruited our pal Dr. Bryan Carr, Ph.D., associate professor of Mass Media and Information Science at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He's also a regular contributor to video games website Shacknews and a co-host of Shacknews' ChattyCast podcast. Find it on the site and iTunes, and follow him on Twitter at @Learnonaut. He's also super-smart, almost like some kind of ... mutant. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Also, we forgot to mention it during the show itself, but Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men's episode on Days of Future Past was a huge help in cutting through the gobbledygook in this episode. You should definitely listen!
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In This Episode:
-How to Watch Timecop: Amazon, YouTube, Vudu, iTunes, Google Play
-New Donate button!
-Catching up with "Time Lapse"
-The weirdo, never again relevant opening scene of "Timecop"
-You Can't Kill Hitler
-You Can't Travel to the Future (Except When You Can and Do)
-Van Damme's Ass
-All About Entwood, McComb and a variety of time travel henchmen
-The Nonsensical time machine of "Timecop"
-Alternate 2004
-McComb is Terrible at Villainy
-The Same Matter Can't Occupy the Same Space
-Timeline Breakdown - Montre plus
