History Film / ThePhiladelphiaExperiment

The movie is InspiredBy, and takes its name from, a conspiracy theory which itself revolves around [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment a supposed invisibility experiment conducted during WWII]], which is said to have resulted in the same side effects as depicted in the movie. The story's most probable origin lies in WWII experiments with whole-ship degaussing as a countermeasure against magnetically triggered sea mines, likely conflated with contemporary generator experiments aboard a destroyer which produced visually impressive, yet almost entirely harmless, corona discharges.

The movie is InspiredBy, and takes its name from, a UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory which itself revolves around [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment a supposed invisibility experiment conducted during WWII]], which is said to have resulted in the same side effects as depicted in the movie. The story's most probable origin lies in WWII experiments with whole-ship degaussing as a countermeasure against magnetically triggered sea mines, likely conflated with contemporary generator experiments aboard a destroyer which produced visually impressive, yet almost entirely harmless, corona discharges.

''The Philadelphia Experiment'' is a ScienceFiction film published in 1984 about TimeTravel.

!!This film provides examples of:

* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover (seen here) is misleading. The dark thing with the headlights in the center had nothing to do with the actual experiment, Herdog is actually riding out in it at the end of the movie to fix everything.

** Herdeg watches a commercial for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_100 Rainbow 100]], which really was a computer for sale in the 1980's.

* StockUnsolvedMysteries: The Philadelphia Experiment

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Blink and you'll miss it -- After Herdeg turns off the machine in 1943 and as he walks over to talk to Jimmy on the ship, he puts his 1984 gloves in his 1984 helmet and tosses it off to the side. He never retrieves them, leaving them in 1943. The movie's almost over, and there's no time to bring this up. He returns to 1984 without them.

* CaliforniaDoubling: "Philadelphia" is actually Charleston, South Carolina. The "docked" ships you see are at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriots_Point Patriot's Point]], and you can even see the first nuclear powered mercantile vessel, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah NS Savannah]] there in the film (it was moved from there in 1994), a huge anachronism.

* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: Aside from a complete lack of any evidence supporting the experiment, the USS Eldridge was in the Carribean on a shakedown cruise during the dates specified, and four of the men mentioned by name to have died actually survived the war, one of whom eventually commanded his own ship.

Two sailors from 1943, David Herdeg and Jim Parker, become FishOutOfTemporalWater when the US Navy destroyer they are stationed on vanishes as an unforeseen side-effect of an experiment in creating an electromagnetic InvisibilityCloak, and they find themselves in 1984. While they deal with the culture shock, Parker is overcome by the out-of-control side effects and disappears. Herdeg, searching for an explanation for what happened to him, winds up at a military installation where it is revealed that a second cloaking experiment is underway, this time involving an entire city. It, too, vanished, and now there's a huge vortex in the sky that is sucking everything into it and growing larger.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Philadelphia_experiment_7551.jpg]]

* StockMysteries: The Philadelphia Experiment

* HumanArchitectureHorror: *Still-living sailors fuses with the deckplates,* anyone?!

The movie is InspiredBy, and takes its name from, a ConspiracyTheory which itself revolves around [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment a supposed invisibility experiment conducted during WWII]], which is said to have resulted in the same side effects as depicted in the movie. The story's most probable origin lies in WWII experiments with whole-ship degaussing as a countermeasure against magnetically triggered sea mines, likely conflated with contemporary generator experiments aboard a destroyer which produced visually impressive, yet almost entirely harmless, corona discharges.

* TimeTravelForFunAndProfit: Parker owns a ranch, but he doesn't seem to be any wealthier than he could have been otherwise. [[spoiler: Herdeg, however, makes a joke at the end about the military probably owing him 40 years of back pay.]]

Two sailors from 1943, David Herdeg and Jim Parker, become FishOutOfTemporalWater when the US Navy destroyer they are stationed on vanishes as an unforeseen side-effect of an experiment in creating an electromagnetic InvisibilityCloak, and they find themselves in 1984. While they deal with the culture shock, Parker gets sick and vanishes, apparently sucked back in time. Herdeg, searching for an explanation for what happened to him, winds up at a military installation where it is revealed that a second cloaking experiment is underway, this time involving an entire city. It, too, vanished, and now there's a huge vortex in the sky that is sucking everything into it and growing larger.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: There was a project involving degaussing naval ships to allow them to pass through a field of magnetic sea mines. One sailor was electrocuted, but otherwise it was a success. That's about the closest the film gets to reality.

The movie is InspiredBy, and takes its name from, a supposed ''real'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment invisibility experiment conducted during WWII]] which resulted in the same "side effects" as depicted in the movie. Today it's regarded as being little more than the stuff of overactive, discredited conspiracy theories.

It was followed by a sequel in 1993: ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaExperimentII''.

* ConflictBall: All Herdeg had to do was go with the military. He is never given any reason ''not'' to trust the military -- when the group of soldiers comes down the hall at the hospital, he just runs for no reason. Of course, judging by his character through the movie, he's not the brightest bulb. It gets worse when Herdeg meets the man who he takes into the base at gunpoint who out-and-out tells Herdeg "You'll never get into the base -- it's secure!" despite the fact that that very base was the one looking for Herdeg. The conflict is all quite contrived, but TropesAreTools.
** They do get chased by a helicopter which opens fire on them without warning, but that's ConflictBall, too.