Non-time travel movies, some time-travel TV (#SFWApro)

As THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) is a favorite of LeAnn’s, I suggested catching a showing when they ran it at the Carolina Theatre. This was Jim Henson’s first non-Muppet movie, and a startling accomplishment at the time for being an all-puppet film with no humans. Now, of course, the designs don’t look as startling, and I don’t find it as imaginative as I do Labyrinth, but the story of a gelfling trying to restore balance to the world by repairing the eponymous giant gem is a good fantasy film and the visuals still look pretty neat. “Writing is words that stay.”

Akira Kurasowa’s NO REGRETS FOR OUR YOUTH (1946) traces the story of a young woman and her radical lover from his early days as a college protester through some undefined anti-military activism (I’m guessing his agenda would have been obvious to the Japanese audience, but to me it’s as unclear as My Son John‘s evil plans). This starts off slow (I think Kurosawa could have skipped a lot of the early years) but improves once the woman pairs off with her boyfriend. “I’m sewing you a kimono you may never get to wear.”

I haven’t rewatched SLIDERS for my time-travel book (even though I do include alternate history), because I remember it well. However I did feel it worth catching the first episode, just to confirm my memory of the fine details was accurate—and no, it wasn’t. Mostly reminds me of how uneven the show was, with clever bits (a world where JFK is apparently married to Marilyn Monroe) and clunky bits (I always found Rembrandt Brown’s comic relief more painful than comic). So I’m cool with not watching more.

K9 was a 2009 Doctor Who spinoff in which a scientist pulls the “little tin dog” out of time while attempting to reach his lost family. And then it turns out more and nastier things start coming through … Not as fun as Sarah Jane Adventures but watchable (and more time-travel centric, too). This is what consumed most of my viewing time this week as I realized it qualified and started watching.

I haven’t quite decided if STAR TREK: Deep Space Nine qualifies or not: the space station is floating near a wormhole occupied by timebending aliens who keep getting involved in events, but that aspect isn’t as big a part of the show as I remember it (most of the time travel stories are standard time glitches such as could happen in any Trek show). However, I do think I’ll include a section on the “Mirror Universe” stories that start with Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror then figured into several DS9 episodes, then came ENTERPRISE‘s “In a Mirror Darkly,” showing the early days of the Empire (unlike the other stories, this one is set entirely in the Mirror Universe, even changing the credits to match).

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