# Time travel films/episodes where future characters travel to modern times but not when it was filmed **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030 "2015-03-26T15:28:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/1 "2015-03-26T15:28:24Z")
It’s characteristic of SF TV shows and movies (Star Trek is repeat offender in this regard) that where “future” characters find themselves traveling back in time, they frequently (and conveniently for the producers) find themselves traveling back in time to the year (or approximate year) when the episode or movie was filmed. E.g. in Star Trek IV (released in 1986), the crew travel back to 1980’s San Francisco, and Captain Archer of Enterprise traveled back to 2004-ish in one episode. Of course, one of the main reasons to do this is that it helps to prevent anachronisms from appearing on screen - you could literally just walk outside today and start filming and expect to not see much that will get you listed on the SMDB’s list of movie anachronisms. Once you start trying to film something that is supposed to be set in, say, 1995, you run the risk that someone’s iPhone will mess it up. What are some good SF time travel shows or movies that travel back to modern times, but not the year of filming, and do it _well_? This excludes travel back before, say, 100 years ago (so no medieval time travel stuff, but WW1 is probably ok). ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/2 "2015-03-26T15:53:57Z")
Star Trek’s _The City on the Edge of Forever_ is probably the best example of that. The past sequence is in the 1930s, prior to World War II. The time travel to not-quite-the-present is often a case of having a set/costumes/etc. available for the period. (Case in point: Star Trek again, which had a few worlds that surprisingly resembled Earth.) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/3 "2015-03-26T17:08:24Z")
_Futurama_’s Emmy-winning “Roswell that Ends Well” had them travel back to 1947. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/4 "2015-03-26T17:16:53Z")
“Back to the Future” to 1955, I think (on second thought - this is more a “present day” character being sent to the past, not a “future” character) ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/5 "2015-03-26T17:20:35Z")
Why does it matter if it’s a time travel movie and not just any movie in a different period? Or a movie flashback? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/6 "2015-03-26T17:30:11Z")
In _Star Trek: First Contact,_ they travel back in time to our future. In _X-Men: Days of Future Past,_ Wolverine travels back in time to the early 70’s, which was depicted pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/7 "2015-03-26T19:47:52Z")
The Next Generation episode where Data’s head was found and the cast had to go to early-1900s San Francisco? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/8 "2015-03-26T20:18:17Z")
This was the entire premise of **Quantum Leap** – Sam Beckett could travel back to any time within his own lifetime, and often ended up several years from the then-present. **Doctor Who** frequently traveled to various “modern” times that weren’t the then-present, either. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/9 "2015-03-27T00:35:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > In _Star Trek: First Contact,_ they travel back in time to our future… DS9 had 2 part episode where Sisko, Bashir, & Dax ended up accidently time traveling to San Francisco in the 2020s. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/10 "2015-03-27T00:53:07Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/11 "2015-03-27T00:58:39Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > DS9 had 2 part episode where Sisko, Bashir, & Dax ended up accidently time traveling to San Francisco in the 2020s. Also, in the DS9 episode, “Little Green Men,” Quark, Rom, Nog, and Odo travel back in time to Roswell, NM in 1947. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/12 "2015-03-27T01:01:59Z")
SyFy’s 12 Monkeys is jumping to all sorts of different years, though mostly 2015. Although, they’ve been building up to traveling back to 1987, which happened at the end of the episode last Friday. ETA: During LOST’s time travel seasons, much of it took place in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/13 "2015-03-27T14:09:28Z")
It’s not my jam, but my husband is a huge Dark Shadows fan and they were time hopping all over in that thing, including to the “future” which was in the, I forget which, 80’s or 90’s. My understanding is the reason it works even on a shoestring budget is that the stories are small and personal and never really tried to be anything but just “stories set in different time periods where sometimes there are time traveling vampires”. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-films-episodes-where-future-characters-travel-to-modern-times-but-not-when-it-was-filmed/716030/14 "2015-03-27T14:15:09Z")
_Men in Black 3_, goes back to the late 60s. Not sure how accurate it was since I wasn’t around then. _Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles_ started the series by jumping 10 years into the future.