Man by nature is a restless creature, he was always worried about two questions: what happened before him and what will happen after. The theme of the past and the future has an inexplicable attraction for us, which is why it is very often used by directors and screenwriters in films and TV shows about time travel. We offer you a selection of the best projects, both foreign and domestic. First, you will learn about the five best series of foreign production, and for dessert - television projects from Russian directors and screenwriters.
"Doctor Who"
Doctor Who is a cult science fiction television series on British television. It is the longest in the world (thanks to which it was included in the Guinness Book of Records) and is regarded as an important part of British mass culture. The original series was released from 1963 to 1989. In 1996, its creators attempted to revive the project by releasing a full-length film of the same name, but the ratings were low. And only in 2005, 15 years after the closure, the series was successfully resumed.
“Doctor Who” for the Russian audience is a series about time movements from the 90s. He learned about the adventures of an alien traveler then. In the homeland, the project was nearing completion by then. In the center of the plot is an alien traveler, whom everyone calls the "Doctor", he travels with his companions in temporary space, saving individuals or even entire civilizations, or simply for his pleasure.
"Life on Mars"
The series "Life on Mars" is another popular "product" of British television, produced by BBC. It consists of two seasons that came out in 2006-2007. In 2010, the project received a spin-off called “Dust to Dust”.
In the center of the plot of this series is about the time movement of a criminal police inspector from modern Manchester. Having got into a car accident, he makes a leap in time space and falls in 1973. He does not understand what happened to him, but is forced to accept reality as it is. One of the main roles is played by actor Philip Glenister, who, inspired by the project in 2008, released his own book, entitled “Everything Is Not As It Was Before”. In it, he plunged into memories of the past, describing the 80s of the last century as he remembers them.
"Continuum"
The premiere of the fantastic Canadian television series “Continuum” took place in 2012 on the Showcase channel and subsequently brought him great success. The project consists of six seasons, the shooting of which took place in Vancouver.
The plot of this series about time travel (a list of the most famous projects - in the text) is twisted around the human rights activist Kira Cameron, who is being transferred from the future in 2012. She is chasing a group of dangerous terrorists sentenced to death and having committed a daring escape in our time. Kira is forced to join the ranks of the police, hiding her true plans, and work in the company of a young computer genius.
"12 monkeys"
The series is based on the 1995 feature film of the same name with Bruce Willis in the title role. The premiere took place in January 2015, and in 2016 the project was successfully extended for the third season.
The series "12 monkeys" tells about the planet since 2043, when most of the population died from a terrible virus. People are forced to hide underground. Where the disease spread and who was the zero patient - all this remains to be learned by the scientist D. Cole, sent in 2015, when people still did not suspect the impending mortal danger.
"Staplers"
In 2015, the ABC Family channel premiered a new series about time travel, Staplers. Initially, he received mixed reviews from critics, but the audience liked it. In 2016, the project was extended for the third season.
This is a story about an ordinary student with the unusual disease "temporary dysplasia." She naturally possesses certain abilities, in connection with which she was invited to work at the US National Security Agency. A special department is engaged in the fact that it "delves" into the brains of dead people who are somehow connected with the commission of a crime.
The five TV series on time movements offered to you are just a small part of foreign-made projects. However, the selected material is the most popular among viewers, has a high rating and favorable reviews according to popular portals about film and television.
Alas, Russian TV series about time travel are less numerous, and even the most sophisticated viewer will not be able to immediately recall more than 10-15 projects. Such a genre requires certain monetary costs to recreate the situation of past or future eras. Therefore, the reason for the lack of decent projects is often the lack of funding. Nevertheless, science fiction lovers have something to look at. We offer you a selection of the five most popular TV shows of domestic production.
“Guest from the future”
The British had "Doctor Who," and the Soviet television viewer had a series about the time travel "Guest from the Future." The five-part sci-fi project was filmed based on the novel by Cyrus Bulychev “One Hundred Years Ahead.” The premiere took place in 1985 during the spring break. The series was successful at the box office and was popular not only among the children's audience, which was mainly intended for, but also among adults. The song, sounding in the finale - “The Beautiful Far Away” - became a hit for all time, a kind of anthem for young people.
The series has a simple but exciting plot. An ordinary schoolboy meets his friend on the way out of the store and along with him begins surveillance of a mysterious stranger. As a result, they find themselves in the basement of an old abandoned house. The boys are shaking without looking at the buttons of the strange apparatus located there, unaware that they are starting a time machine. Now in front of them is an acquaintance with a girl from the future Alice and the fight against space pirates.
"Another side of the moon"
The detective mystical Russian series “The Other Side of the Moon” is a free adaptation of the project of the British BBC channel “Life on Mars”, which was discussed above. Its creators did not even remove the cosmic component from the name.
While maintaining the general idea of the project, the storyline is significantly different from the British counterpart. The main character of the Russian series about time travel is police captain M. Solovyov, chasing a maniac. During an operation to apprehend a criminal, he is hit by a car, and the man is mysteriously transferred from 2011 to 1979. There he is forced to adapt to the new reality and work in the Soviet police, while simultaneously searching for a way to return back.
This project will appeal to those who are interested in science fiction. Series about time travel, in principle, all belong to this genre, but are often very intertwined with a historical or romantic line. The project is quite controversial. The first season was received very warmly by both the viewer and critics, but something went wrong with the second. The first channel, after showing several episodes, stopped broadcasting, citing low ratings. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that in the second season the main character finds himself in a parallel reality, a utopian world of the future. Nevertheless, the historical component was more attractive.
"Time loop"
“The Loop of Time” is another domestic series about the movement of police officers in time. The premiere took place in January 2014. The series consists of one season.
The action begins in Moscow in 2013. Two operatives examine the remains of an unknown found in the basement of an old noble mansion. The forensic scientist immediately concludes that this is a very old death, and the remains most likely belong to a person who lived in the 19th century. Having taken everything necessary from the scene, the operatives are selected to the surface. That's just before them is not a modern metropolis, but the old Moscow of the times of 1879.
"Temporary worker"
In world literature and cinema, quite a lot has been said and filmed about movements in time and space. The series "Temporary worker" has a completely banal plot, but at the same time the viewer is interested in the atmosphere and ease of perception that are not aggravating the mind. The premiere took place in December 2014. The project consists of four series.
This is a story about a graduate student at a historical university who is a specialist in enigmatic events (i.e., shrouded in mysticism and mystery) of world history. He becomes the owner of the secret about the Portal of Time. Through it, he falls into the past of Russia, becomes a participant in precisely those events that he studied in the silence of his office.
Gloria's Gold
If you are looking for a film with an unobtrusive plot and good acting in the background of the events of past years, and maybe centuries, then be sure to take into account the series “Gloria's Gold”. This is a joint project of Russian television and Cuba. The shooting took place in the most beautiful places in the Caribbean - the cradle of pirates. The project premiered in 2014.
In the story, three friends fly from Moscow to Havana. They seem ordinary tourists only at first glance, in fact they are adventurers and gold from the sunken Spanish ship Gloria. They leave for the bay, where the treasure was supposedly hidden, but mysteriously fall into the past, and it was in that year when the shipwreck occurred. Being held captive by the pirates, they must find out two questions: where is the gold and how to return home.
Outside the scope of the given selection of TV series about time travel, I would like to note one more domestic project - “Fog”. His genre, rather, can be attributed to the military-dramatic. The series tells about the events of World War II through the eyes of young soldiers from the detachment of the Russian army, who, making the march, strangely found themselves in the past, and at the very epicenter of the bloody events of the past years.