History Film / TimeCop

[[caption-width-right:220:They killed his wife ten years ago...''there's still time to save her''.]]

* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: If Past Self and Future Self ''do'' meet (or more specifically, touch), they end up cancelling each other out.
** In the sequel this does not cause the person in question to melt out of existence, but results in them fusing into straight-up BodyHorror.

->"''If ''I'' cannot go back to save her... this scumbag is not going back to ''steal money!''''"

TimeCop is a 1994 movie starting JeanClaudeVanDamme as Max Walker, a (wait for it) [[TimePolice Time Cop]] who has to go back in time to prevent other people from going back in time and messing up history. Mia Sara was cast as his wife Melissa, [[TheLostLenore who dies in the opening act]], resulting in Walker's zealotry in his job:

-->"''If ''I'' cannot go back to save her... this scumbag is not going back to ''steal money!''''"

!!This film provides examples of:

** FridgeBrilliance: That future got erased along with the time machines. This is actually LarryNiven's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niven%27s_laws#Niven.27s_Law_.28re_Time_travel.29 Law of Time Travel]]: (paraphrased) "If a device capable of altering the past can be created, the past will be altered continuously until a timeline is created where that device does not exist."

** This is actually LarryNiven's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niven%27s_laws#Niven.27s_Law_.28re_Time_travel.29 Law of Time Travel]]: (paraphrased) "If a device capable of altering the past can be created, the past will be altered continuously until a timeline is created where that device does not exist."

* TheMobBossIsScarier: Early in the film, Walker's ex-partner who has started working for [=McComb=] refuses to testify against [=McComb=]. After all, the worst the police can do is execute him. [=McComb=] can make him and his whole family RetGone.

* MadeOfExplodium: one small brick of C4 should not make his entire large house explode in such a huge fire ball.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology + ArtisticLicensePhysics: another egregious scientific error has to do with the claim that "the same matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time". Technically, of course, this is true, they physically ''can't''. If you touch yourself in the past, like if you touch any object, the atoms in your body and your other body will actually occupy the space next to each other. And also there's Pauli's exclusion principle which states that two identical fermions (what matter is made up of) cannot occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. But in the film, what this apparently means is "if you touch yourself in the past, your body will melt into a revolting mass". But this can't happen in reality, since the same matter is always going to occupy a different space anyway.
And, of course, the body replaces much of the matter that it contains, such that two versions of someone from ten years apart will not have much of the same matter in their body anyway.

** And, of course, the body replaces much of the matter that it contains, such that two versions of someone from ten years apart will not have much of the same matter in their body anyway.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology + ArtisticLicensePhysics: another egregious scientific error has to do with the claim that "the same matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time". Technically, of course, this is true, they physically ''can't''. If you touch yourself in the past, like if you touch any object, the atoms in your body will actually occupy the space next to each other. And also there's Pauli's exclusion principle which states that two identical fermions (what matter is made up of) cannot occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. But in the film, what this apparently means is "if you touch yourself in the past, your body will melt into a revolting mass". But this can't happen in reality, since the same matter is always going to occupy a different space anyway.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology + ArtisticLicensePhysics: another egregious scientific error has to do with the claim that "the same matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time". Technically, of course, this is true, they physically ''can't''. If you touch yourself in the past, like if you touch any object, the atoms in your body will actually occupy the space next to each other. and lso here's Pauli's exclusion principle which states that two identical fermions (what matter is made up of) cannot coccupy the same quantum state that produces them. But in the film, what this apparently means is "if you touch yourself in the past, your body will melt into a revolting mass".

* DrivenToSuicide: Max's ex-partner, Lyle, tries to jump out of a window on the reasoning that if he dies, [=McComb=] won't go after his family.
--> '''Lyle''': He'll kill my entire family! My parents, my wife, my kids! Hell, even my fucking ''cat!''

* SpiritualSuccessor: The 2012 sci-fi film ''{{Looper}}'' is basically a remake of this film.

* TimeIsDangerous: The Timecop's method of time travel requires extremely high speed when they pass through the time travel field. There was one failure that just left two red spots on a heavy steel wall.

At no point in the movie are there any legitimate reasons for time travel, implying that the only reason for time travel is to prevent other people from using time travel. This is actually a plot point. ButterflyOfDoom means that attempting to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong would have disastrous side effects, so about the least dangerous thing you can do with it is either [[ThisIsMyBoomstick go back and steal things with advanced technology]] or [[CompoundInterestTimeTravelGambit make investments in the past that you can cash in on in the present.]] And even this is risking some bizarre accident that could kill billions. So aside from the highly risky (and unprofitable) archaeological possibilities, the technology has no productive use, resulting in the titular Cops. One politician even suggests that they simply re-invest the program's funding into tougher regulations on the technology -- but he's really only interested in stopping Walker's interference in his own time travel shenanigans.

* NotSoDifferent: [=McComb=] attempts to invoke this on Walker in the climax, but Walker points out that unlike [=McComb=], he was trying to set the timeline right.

** This is actually one of LarryNiven's Laws of Time Travel: (paraphrased) "If a device capable of altering the past can be created, the past will be altered continuously until a timeline is created where that device does not exist."

* YouFailBiologyForever + YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever: Apparently you can carbon-date gold bars.

* NotSoDifferent: [=McComb=] attempts to invoke this on Walker in the climax, but Walker points out that unlike McComb, he was trying to set the timeline right.

* TerminatorTwosome: The TimeCop's main job is to form half of one.
* TimeMachine: Timecop Type, a [[TechnicolorScience giant sled]] shoots you back into the past, but you arrive with out said machine, you have a remote control that will get you back to the sled.

-->''Turn back the clock, and you're history.''