# Somewhere in Time - Time Travel or Dream?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/somewhere-in-time-time-travel-or-dream/612549>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 11, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/somewhere-in-time-time-travel-or-dream/612549 "2012-02-11T20:38:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/somewhere-in-time-time-travel-or-dream/612549/1 "2012-02-11T20:38:05Z")

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I haven’t seen the movie in a long time but I’ve always wondered about this. Time travel through hypnosis seems a bit far fetched.

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**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/somewhere-in-time-time-travel-or-dream/612549/2 "2012-02-11T20:59:56Z")

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Not exactly hypnosis. They re-create a time in a controlled area to such a fine level of detail that it syncs up with the world-line, so when it all goes right you can walk out of the room and in to the Past.  
(Actually I have never seen the film, but that is how it works in the book.)

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**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/somewhere-in-time-time-travel-or-dream/612549/3 "2012-02-12T09:26:27Z")

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Couldn’t be a dream, or elderly version of Jane Seymour couldn’t have hunted him down in the first scene and said “Come back to me” before she died.

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**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/somewhere-in-time-time-travel-or-dream/612549/4 "2012-02-12T13:21:53Z")

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Strange. I was just thinking about the time travel aspect of this film the other day and wondered what would happen if he just wanted to time travel to a much more recent time, like just the previous month. Just litter the room with last month’s magazines and hope for the best?

I agree the watch proves it ‘works’ as real time travel rather than dream state in the film’s world. Although, and this is a different quibble, that watch never originally comes from anywhere in the first place, does it?

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**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/somewhere-in-time-time-travel-or-dream/612549/5 "2012-02-12T17:16:18Z")

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It was his signature in the registrar book. He was there.