This week, MGM unleashes their Hot Tub Time Machine on the world, and we here at Hollywood.com couldn’t be more excited to take it for a spin — if only to see just how exactly John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke can transcend the laws of physics using little more than a jacuzzi and an illegal Russian energy drink. For those of you who’d prefer to travel through time without getting wet, there are plenty of other methods at your disposal. Here are a few of our favorites from movies and TV:
Perhaps no time-traveling apparatus is more recognizable than the fabled DeLorean. Of course, the car is just the casing for the Flux Capacitor — the intricate design of Dr. Emmett Brown that enables it to jump from 1985 to 1955 (or 2015 or 1885 for that matter) — but its futuristic chrome body and sleek design have awarded it a permanent place in people’s hearts as well as pop-culture history.
The watery wormhole in Roland Emmerich’s grand precursor to Independence Day seemed frightening to Col. O’Neill, Dr. Jackson and their cohorts at first, but once they took the leap of faith, it was relatively smooth sailing for the pioneering crew. Based on the ease of their journey through space-time, our prediction is that someday molecular decomposition and reanimation will be the standard for long-distance travel.
The Terminator
Time-traveling in a hot tub sounds like it’d be really relaxing and a ton of fun, but if we ever crave a more adventurous method, we plan on going au natural — like that futuristic freak Kyle Reese. Sure, when you get to the other side you’ll have to worry about police and those guys from the nuthouse with the nets, but I’m guessing it’s probably the most comfortable way to go from 2029 to 1984. Unless it’s like being born. Then it would suck.
Don’t be fooled by its clunky design: The Time Enforcement Commission’s triangular pod-on-tracks is perfectly suitable for placing a person into the past. Just ask Max Walker (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who used it pursue a former co-worker who went back to cash in using his knowledge of the future. It’s a bit bulkier than most of the other vehicles on our list, but it doesn’t accompany the traveller to its destination, so there’s no need to hide it in Doc Brown’s garage. Just be sure to pack light.
Any lunatic mad scientist worth his salt knows there’s more than one way to propel a nuclear-powered time machine to its requisite 88 mph. With the limited technology available on the American frontier in 1885, Doc Brown still came through. Though a lumbering locomotive isn’t neary as sleek or stylish as a DeLorean, it’s still the most wicked set of wheels in the wild west.
When the crewmembers of the USS Enterprise board a Klingon Bird of Prey at the conclusion of The Search For Spock (Star Trek III) they assume they’re in for a nice, quiet trip back to Earth. But as we all know, things never go as planned in the 23rdCentury, and soon enough, they must travel back to 1986 and return with a Humpback whale, the only creature capable of halting an alien probe’s imminent destruction of their planet. I kid you not.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hermione Granger could teach her own class at Hogwarts on style. With simple but efficient accessories like the Time Turner, she effortlessly combines fashion with function and keeps the young wizard Ron Weasley wanting more.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
“Strange things are afoot at the circle K.” We couldn’t agree more, Ted – the phone booth from the future is definitely a bewildering means of space-time transportation, but it’s pretty safe unless you try to pack a dozen or so historical figures in it. Unfortunately, George Carlin doesn’t come as part of the package — most non-triumphant.
Doctor Who
Any hero hoping to right wrongs across the multi-verse needs a reliable means of getting from point A to point B — and time A to time B. Doctor Who uses the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, to the uninformed) device for his travel needs, criss-crossing time and space to face off against foes like the Dalek, The Master, and the Cybermen.
To track down his kidnapped father, British super-spy Austin Powers jumps into his “Pimp-mobile” and hydraulic-hops his way to 1975 in search of the bizarre super-villain Goldmember. With a pink interior and fluffy dice in the mirror, Austin is totally prepared to wreak havoc upon Goldmember’s Studio 69 – and the 1970s – in style.
