History Film / Minutemen

** True friends always stand by you and don’t exploit you with the things you can do.

* CoolLoser: Virgil is funny, kind, and likable, but the incident in his freshman year completely ruined his reputation.

** Many references to ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' are in this movie; their cover for being in the basement is that they're a "Back to the Future Fanclub" and Charlie's cat is the world's first time-traveller like Doc Brown's dog.

* StatusQuoIsGod: [[spoiler:Everything that had changed due to the time machine resets back to the way it is at the end of the movie.]]

* TimeyWimeyBall: How the time travel works. It seems to work on the principle ''Back to the Future's'' did, meaning that once you go back in time, the future/present is changed, unless changed again, and the only ones to remember the incident that set them to change it are the travelers. The only thing that's different, though, is the fact that objects that travel with them are protected from the timeline changes as well, but not ones that are near the vortex as it's active, as seen when Virgil brought a VHS tape of how the school football game played out back in time with them stays as it is, but the school newspaper Jeanette was reading changed after they changed the outcome. The main difference is the fact that the time machine can only go a maximum of 48 hours back, though Charlie was most likely working on a way to travel back further, since Virgil said that he wanted to go back 4 years to stop the incident from the first day of their freshman year. Realistically/practically, though, how would they have expected to travel back to before the time machine was either active, or in existence and, if they managed that, how would they have expected to get back? Sure, Charlie could've maybe built another one, but that would've been a major hassle for all involved, since the time machine doesn't go back with the travelers.

* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler:The desperation for popularity and to impress the jocks made Derek betray Virgil, giving the jocks the idea to hang both Virgil and Charlie on the flagpole on their first day in high school.]]

%%* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Virgil's younger sister Amy practically embodies this trope.

* BigJerkOnCampus: Derek is at the top of the high school fool chain and is a nasty piece of work.

* FriendVersusLover: The friend being Virgil vs the lover Derek over Stephanie.

'''Zeke:''' Yeah, mongo read.

* JerkJock: Derek and basically all of the football players that hung Virgil and Charlie up on the rams statue.
* LimitedSocialCircle: Outside of each other, the minutemen don’t really hang out with many other students.

* RippleEffectProofMemory: Played straight and possibly subverted. When the guys jump back in time, they remember the original timeline, but don't know much the new one until they check to see what changed outside of what they jumped back to change. However, Jeanette possibly shows that just being around the time machine isn't enough to protect one's memory, as when they jumped back to change the outcome of the football game, she asks them if they won, meaning that either she didn't remember why they went back in time, or she knew and her memory was protected. It's worded in a way where it's not too clear, as she asks the question after the newspaper she had changed.

* ShoutOut: Many references to ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' are in this movie.

* FreshmanFears: Virgil and Charlie became best friends because, on the first day of high-school, they were both hung up on the school's statue by a bunch of {{Jerk Jock}}s. This makes Virgil drift apart from his old best friends, who both remained pretty popular, while he became a nerd.

** One of the reasons Virgil comes up with the idea of helping the other kids like them at the school is because the faculty there doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. At one point, they find Vice Principal Tolkan in front of a vending machine that Chester is currently stuck inside, and doesn't seem to bother doing anything about it on account of not being able to "change the way high school works”.

* AlphaBitch: Jocelyn Lee. She’s a member of the popular crowd, and participates in humiliating less popular students such as when she removed a caution wet floor sign, causing Eugene to drop a whole tray food on top of himself.

* CruelCheerleader: Subverted with Stephanie. She’s the sweetest girl in school, remaining best friends with Virgil long after the incident that made him hideously unpopular. She also defies the other two stereotypes of cheerleaders, being smart and studious instead of dim witted, and completely devoting herself to one guy at a time instead of flirting with multiple boys at once.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: The Minutemen must act quickly to repair the space-time continuum after their time traveling creates a singularity that will eventually destroy the earth.]]

-->'''Stephanie:''' "You're a really good friend, Virg."
-->'''Virgil:''' "Yeah... friend."
* OnceMoreWithClarity: [[spoiler: The opening scene shows Derek being somewhat regretful over Charlie and Virgil's humiliation. When Virgil travels back in time, we (and Virgil) see that Derek actually encouraged the humiliation instead of merely not lifting a finger]].

* PopularIsEvil: Popularity equals corruption at Summerton High. All the “cool kids” relentlessly torment the dorks and geeks, and the staff never does anything about it in the name of [[StatusQuoIsGod preserving the status quo of high school]]. Derek, who was once Virgil’s best friend, [[spoiler: sold him out on their first day to get InWithTheInCrowd]]. The geeks that the Minutemen save from embrassment become respected, and it really goes to their heads, as they even start snubbing people and [[HourglassPlot harassing the guys who once bullied them]]. Virgil himself even gets AcquiredSituationalNarcissism when he reconnects with Derek and Stephanie and starts hanging with them and their popular friends.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: It was Derek's idea to hang Charlie and Virgil up on the ram's statue.]]

* StatusQuoIsGod: [[spoiler: Everything that had changed due to the time machine resets back to the way it is at the end of the movie.]]

* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: The desperation for popularity and to impress the jocks made Derek betray Virgil, giving the jocks the idea to hang both Virgil and Charlie on the flagpole on their first day in high school.]]

* [[spoiler: UnrealisticBlackHole: The singularity.]]

* TheCheerleader: Subverted with Stephanie. She’s the sweetest girl in school, remaining best friends with Virgil long after the incident that made him hideously unpopular. She also defies the other two stereotypes of cheerleaders, being smart and studious instead of dim witted, and completely devoting herself to one guy at a time instead of flirting with multiple boys at once.

* AdultsAreUseless: One of the reasons Virgil comes up with the idea of helping the other kids like them at the school is because the faculty there doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. At one point, they find Vice Principal Tolkan in front of a vending machine that Chester is currently stuck inside, and doesn't seem to bother doing anything about it on account of not being able to "change the way high school works”.
** Similarly, instead of helping a bare naked Chester get his clothes back from bullies, Tolkan tells him ''straight to his face'' that helping him would mean that he’d be "breaking the food chain".

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Virgil's younger sister Amy practically embodies this trope.
* AppliedPhlebotinum: The only explanation for Charlie building a time machine out of things stolen from around the school.

* {{Badbutt}}: Zeke.

* PopularIsEvil: Popularity equals corruption at Summerton High. All the “cool kids” relentlessly torment the dorks and geeks, and the staff never does anything about it in the name of [[StatusQuoIsGod preserving the status quo of high school]]. Derek, who was once Virgil’s best friend, [[spoiler: sold him out on their first day to get InWithTheInCrowd]]. The geeks that the Minutemen save from embrassment become respected, and it really goes to their heads, as they even start snubbing people and [[HourglassPlot harassing the guys who once bullied them]]. Virgil himself even gets AcquiredSituationalNarcacissm when he reconnects with Derek and Stephanie and starts hanging with them and their popular friends.

''Minutemen'' is a comedy/sci-fi/adventure that aired on the Creator/DisneyChannel about three high school kids who invent a time machine to spare others just like them from the humiliation they've endured.

%%* AlphaBitch: Jocelyn Lee. She’s a member of the popular crowd, and participates in humiliating less popular students such as when she removed a caution wet floor sign, causing Eugene to drop a whole tray food on top of himself.
%%* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Virgil's younger sister Amy practically embodies this trope.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Derek cheats on Stephanie with Jocelyn but he claims that he was MistakenForCheating.]]

* TimeyWimeyBall: How the time travel works. It seems to work on the principle ''Back to the Future's'' did, meaning that once you go back in time, the future/present is changed, unless changed again, and the only ones to remember the incident that set them to change it are the travelers. The only thing that's different, though, is the fact that objects that travel with them are protected from the timeline changes as well, but not ones that are near the vortex as it's active, as seen when Virgil brought a VHS tape of how the school football game played out back in time with them stays as it is, but the school newspaper Jeanette was reading changed after they changed the outcome. The main difference is the fact that the time machine can only go a max of 48 hours back, though Charlie was most likely working on a way to travel back further, since Virgil said that he wanted to go back 4 years to stop the incident from the first day of their freshman year. Realistically/practically, though, how would they have expected to travel back to before the time machine was either active, or in existence and, if they managed that, how would they have expected to get back? Sure, Charlie could've maybe built another one, but that would've been a major hassle for all involved, since the time machine doesn't go back with the travelers.