IndridC0ld Like many who have enjoyed this film as a youngster, I was pleased by its availability on Amazon. Others have written about the high quality of the story, and I completely agree. What really impresses me though, is the faithfulness to hard science. A lot of scientific principles are discussed in this film, and they are all correct! I can't remember the last time I saw a science fiction film that got ALL of its science right. Everything, from the limitations presented by the speed of light barrier, to the action/reaction principle of a photon drive. All of this film's science IS science. No warp drives, no subspace faster than light radio transmission. Everything (except, of coarse the time portal itself) fits within the confines of the universe as we know it today. A science teacher in grammar school could screen this for his class, and then use it as a jumping off point for additional sessions. I wish more of today's firms, that claim to be science fiction, would be as scientifically accurate as this little jewel of a film.

Scott LeBrun Celebrated Danish born science fiction writer Ib Melchior made his feature length directorial swan song with this amiable bit of escapism. Sometimes the pace gets much too draggy, and sometimes the movie itself gets just too silly and cheesy, but overall it's a fairly charming and intriguing piece of work. It gets lifted out of the ordinary by some ingenious moments, some special effects that are actually pretty good, and a striking conclusion that one won't soon forget. The actors are all wonderfully sincere, making the most of what is a fairly standard (for a while) post-apocalypse tale.A scientific team on a college campus is conducting time travel experiments, and pull off what turns out to be a journey into an Earth of the future, decimated by nuclear holocaust. While hiding from mutated, animalistic humans in a cave, they run into some survivors of the apocalypse who live in seclusion and who are planning a trip to a distant planet that should be able to sustain human life.The solid cast includes Preston Foster, Philip Carey, Steve Franken, John Hoyt (who's a standout as the helpful Dr. Varno), Dennis Patrick, Berry Kroeger, and lovely ladies Merry Anders & Delores Wells. Buffs will delight in the presence of Forrest J. Ackerman of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" fame, who appears as the square-frame technician. Carey and Franken are quite likable and Patrick is good as a character with an antagonistic attitude.Richard LaSalle does the enjoyable music score; notable names on the crew are cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (billed as William Zsigmond) and camera operator Laszlo Kovacs (billed as Leslie Kovacs). Sets & props are all appropriate for this kind of entertainment.Best of all is that unpredictable ending.Seven out of 10.

flapdoodle64 The likelihood that our future is some kind of apocalyptic hellscape, while being somewhat depressing, was a huge boon for makers of low budget scifi films. In the post apocalyptic future of Ib Melchior's 'Time Travelers,' most of the action takes place indoors, where the human survivors of the apocalypse must stay so as to avoid the requisite race of post-atomic savage mutants. Shooting outdoors on location is expensive...shooting on small, spartan sets on sound stages is much cheaper.The other great thing about the human race having to live indoors is that women have to take off their clothes and go into a room together to bathe in the rays of a sun lamp, with a few carefully positioned props covering up their naughty bits so that the scene is cheesecake, rather than being soft-core porn. In my lifelong study of low budget scifi films, this is the only film I have seen where this aspect of our future post-apocalyptic life was explored.Scifi fans or film buffs looking for any kind of serious artistic or dramatic content should look elsewhere. This movie was obviously aimed at kids and adolescents, and the value of it now is just pure goofy fun.Comic actor Steve Franken, while not the leading man, is a highlight in this quirky opus, playing an electrician wearing coveralls named Danny McKee. Danny McKee has the habit of saying 'Holy McKee!' to express surprise or amazement. I have never in my life ever met a real person who used his own last name in this fashion...imagine if, say, Matthew McConaughey said 'Holy McConaughey!' whenever he was surprised or amazed. But for some reason, Danny McKee likes to say 'Holy McKee!' There is an improbable sub-plot of one of the beautiful future women, one of the gals in the semi-nude 'sunbathing' scene, falling in love with goofy Danny McKee. If they had married, would she also say 'Holy McKee'? If they were married by a clergy person, would they be united in Holy McKeetrimony? Another highlight of this film is that many of the special effects are simply bits of stage magic, perhaps adapted slightly to fit the setting. There is a scene, for example, where a head is removed from an operational android...this is done in the exact manner as a popular magic trick where a head is 'removed' from a living stage assistant. There are other stage magic tricks scattered throughout this film, such as the depiction of a high tech future assembly line and other business with the androids. I don't know if director Melchior was also a stage magician, or whether his FX person was, but the magic tricks provide unintentional humor and add to the goofy charm.

gatebanger First saw this one in a theater when I was sixteen--sat through it twice. It's a pretty standard entry in the "what comes after the end of the world" genre, from the "we did it to ourselves" theme to the cheesy mutants (lots of mutants in the fifties and sixties--them atom bombs, y'know).That said, this is a pretty good movie with some familiar faces. Preston Foster is the obligatory 1960s German Scientist--no accent, but he does sport a monocle and a goatee. Foster is the veteran of quite a few two reeler Westerns. Philip Carey is the "hunky" Scientist. His claim to fame is that he was Philip Marlowe on TV. The real pro here is John Hoyt, who did just about everything one could do on film and TV. Merry Anders (remember "Dragnet?") and Steve Franken, as the love interest and comic relief, respectively, round out the cast.As for the story line, the protagonists sure are a lucky bunch--after winding up on a burned-out earth, they manage to stumble onto the only bunch of people on the whole planet who have any technology and are actually willing to help them out.The only real minus is that there is a considerable amount of dead time comprising views of the future scientists' underground labs and factories, all to the strains of perky background music, but it's not too excruciating.As with all drama, there is conflict, mostly with the aforementioned mutants. In addition, there's a "villain" among the future people. Not that he's really what you'd call "evil"--he's more of a cranky guy who just doesn't like competition with the bunch from the past.Even with the holes, the story is better than many other SF offerings of the era and has a neat little twisty ending. If you really want to close the loop on this one, watch the whole show then replay the beginning. Watch carefully and you'll see what I mean just prior to the line, "What was that?" about six and a half minutes in.Hard core fans, be sure to look for Forrest J Ackerman at about minute 44.