History Film / TimeAfterTime

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:The end text crawl mentions Wells's real life death in the 1940's.]]

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: H. G. Wells and Dr. John Stevenson (aka Jack the Ripper) travel from 1893 London to 2017 New York City. Stevenson adjusts better, quickly adopting contemporary clothes and technology, while Wells is initially stunned by the experience, especially that his longed-for utopia didn't happen.

The book and movie were later reimagined as an ABC TV series, ''Series/TimeAfterTime2017''. Its trailer can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN4C4Ar5BLo here]].

* NerdsAreSexy: Creator/HGWells, at least as perceived by Amy

* RealityEnsues: A double-whammy. Wells eventually has to accept that his pacifism can't prevent Stevenson from killing more women, and he buys a pistol to stop him and protect Amy. Unfortunately, he also finds out that if the police already suspect you of being the murderer and want you for questioning, it's a pretty damn bad time for them to catch you with a gun in your pocket.

* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Wells and his friend John Stevenson, establishing that Stevenson is an intellectual as well.

* TakingTheHeat: When the cops [[PoliceAreUseless refuse to listen]] to Wells's Jack-the-Ripper story, he gets so desperate that he confesses to the killings in an attempt to get them to check Amy's apartment and make sure she's safe.

* DisneyAcidTripSequence: The machine traveling through time is ''very'' trippy, especially the end.

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Wells finds that the future isn't the utopia he'd thought. There are also many gags, like his utter terror the first time he rides in a car.

* GetItOverWith: Stevenson, having seen that Wells has the infinity key, and knowing that he is now screwed, merely nods to Wells, who yanks it out.

* ImMrFuturePopCultureReference: Inverted and subverted; to blend in, Wells, adopts the name of a period fictional character he's sure will be forgotten ninety years later. Unfortunately, this fictional character happens to be Literature/SherlockHolmes.

* LikeADuckTakesToWater: Unlike Wells, Stevenson has no problem blending in with 1979, adopting contemporary dress, hunting for victims in discos.

* StealthPun: Herbert misremembers the name of that "Scottish restaurant" as [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds MacDougals.]]. No doubt that the audience was waiting for him to make a total dork of himself. But it would have made him seem too odd to Amy too early in the film. Especially when she was already willing to overlook the fact that he didn't pick up immediately on [[UsefulNotes/VietnamWar which war]] an American girl of her generation would have been protesting, something that's common knowledge in 1979.

''Time AFter Time'' is a 1979 novel by Karl Alexander and movie directed by Creator/NicholasMeyer (which, while based on the book, was made before it was published) starring Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, Creator/DavidWarner and Creator/MarySteenburgen. The film was shot on location in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, showing off the cable cars, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate, the exterior of the Exploratorium, etc. It has nothing to do with the song by Music/CyndiLauper (except that the movie apparently inspired the song's title).

1979 novel by Karl Alexander and movie directed by Creator/NicholasMeyer (which, while based on the book, was made before it was published) starring Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, Creator/DavidWarner and Creator/MarySteenburgen. The film was shot on location in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, showing off the cable cars, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate, the exterior of the Exploratorium, etc. It has nothing to do with the song by Music/CyndiLauper (except that the movie apparently inspired the song's title).

The book and movie were later reimagined as an ABC TV series, ''Series/TimeAfterTime2017''.

1979 novel by Karl Alexander and movie directed by Creator/NicholasMeyer (which, while based on the book, was made before it was published) starring Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, Creator/DavidWarner and Creator/MarySteenburgen.

Appalled at the thought of having unleashed a monster onto the social utopia he believes the future will be, he decides to follow Stevenson into the future and bring him back to face justice. Arriving in San Francisco in 1979, Wells finds that the future is not everything he thought or hoped, befriends an attractive, feminist bank clerk called Amy (Steenburgen) and discovers that Stevenson is up to his old tricks -- and that Amy may be his next victim...

Shot on location in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, showing off the cable cars, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate, the exterior of the Exploratorium, etc. Nothing to do with the song by Music/CyndiLauper (except that the movie apparently inspired the song's title).

In 1893, aspiring writer and inventor Creator/HGWells ([=McDowell=]) invites some friends over to dinner, where he shows them one of his latest inventions -- [[TheTimeMachine a device he claims can travel through time]]. Despite the general mockery he receives, one of them -- a surgeon called John Leslie Stevenson (Warner) -- takes particular interest in his claims, and not for no reason; moments after, the police intrude into Wells' home, claiming to have traced none other than UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper to the premises. When a search reveals that Stevenson has disappeared, Wells realises that not only is Stevenson the Ripper, but that he has used Wells' time machine to escape into the future and evade justice.

* LikeAFishTakesToWater: Unlike Wells, Stevenson has no problem blending in with 1979, adopting contemporary dress, hunting for victims in discos.

** Jack {{invert|edTrope}}s this. He [[LikeAFishTakesToWater blends into his new life splendidly]], as the quote at the top of this page illustrates.

1979 novel by Karl Alexander and movie directed by Creator/NicholasMeyer (which, while based on the book, was made before it was published) starring Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, Creator/DavidWarner and Mary Steenburgen.

* LikeAFishToWater: Unlike Wells, Stevenson has no problem blending in with 1979, adopting contemporary dress, hunting for victims in discos.

Nothing to do with the song by Music/CyndiLauper (except that the movie apparently inspired the song's title).

* UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict: Stevenson uses this as an example of why he belongs in the modern world.

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: The "send the passenger to infinity" key]]

* DrivesLikeCrazy: [[spoiler: Wells, due to never having driven before.]]
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Wells finds that the future isn't the utopia he'd thought.

* HostageForMacGuffin: Giving his word as a gentleman, Stevenson offers to trade [[spoiler: Amy for the anti-return key Wells holds. [[ILied He naturally fails to deliver the hostage]], and [[DidYouActuallyBelieve chides Wells]] for [[GoodIsDumb not realizing that he is no gentleman]]]].

** [[spoiler:But then Wells finally caves in and buys a gun. Which goes badly for him.]]
* ImMrFuturePopCultureReference: Inverted and subverted; to blend in, Wells, adopts the name of a period fictional character he's sure will be forgotten ninety years later. Unfortunately, this fictional character happens to be SherlockHolmes.

* UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper: Well, yeah.

* OhCrap: [[spoiler: Stevenson]] during the climax when he realizes [[spoiler: Wells is about to pull the [[ChekhovsGun "send the passenger to infinity" key]] out of the time machine]].
** [[spoiler: It can also be interpreted as an inverted SwordOverHead moment. It appears that he knows the game is up and is nodding to Wells that there's nothing left to do but GetItOverWith.]]

* UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco: Sure enough, the movie shows off the cable cars, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate, the exterior of the Exploratorium, etc.

* StealthPun: Herbert misremembers the name of that "Scottish restaurant" as [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds MacDougals.]]. No doubt that the audience was waiting for him to make a total dork of himself. But it would have made him seem too odd to Amy too early in the film. Especially when she was already willing to overlook the fact that he didn't pick up immediately on [[VietnamWar which war]] an American girl of her generation would have been protesting, something that's common knowledge in 1979.
* SteamPunk

* TerminatorTwosome
* TimeTravelRomance: Between Amy and Wells. [[spoiler:And in the ending, Wells takes Amy back with him to become the historical [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#Personal_life Amy Catherine Robbins]].]]

--> '''Wells:''' [[McDonalds MacDougals.]]

* StealthPun: Herbert misremembers the name of that "Scottish restaurant" as [[McDonalds MacDougals.]]. No doubt that the audience was waiting for him to make a total dork of himself. But it would have made him seem too odd to Amy too early in the film. Especially when she was already willing to overlook the fact that he didn't pick up immediately on [[VietnamWar which war]] an American girl of her generation would have been protesting, something that's common knowledge in 1979.

1979 novel by Karl Alexander and movie directed by Nicholas Meyer (which, while based on the book, was made before it was published) starring Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, Creator/DavidWarner and Mary Steenburgen.

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, who thanks to various prior roles generally gets cast as a bit of a psycho nutcase or otherwise amoral type, plays the rather sweet, slightly naive Wells -- in a movie with Jack the Ripper.

* RomanceOnTheSet: Malcolm [=McDowell=] and Mary Steenburgen would marry and have 2 children together before splitting up in 1990.

* HeyItsThatGuy: A ''very'' young Corey Feldman as a kid in the museum where the time machine ends up.
** [[Film/{{TRON}} Sark/Dillinger]] is Jack the Ripper!

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: If not actually the first story to be built on the idea of 'hey, what if HGWells really ''did'' have a time machine?', then certainly one of the {{Trope Codifier}}s.

* NerdsAreSexy: HGWells, at least as perceived by Amy

* VillainsBlendInBetter: Provides the above quote -- HGWells struggles to fit in (although to be fair to him, in practical terms he adapts a lot better than most; it's mainly culture shock over the idea that the future isn't everything he'd built it up to be), while ''UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper'' of all people acclimatises comfortably.

-->-- '''JackTheRipper'''

In 1893, aspiring writer and inventor HGWells ([=McDowell=]) invites some friends over to dinner, where he shows them one of his latest inventions -- [[TheTimeMachine a device he claims can travel through time]]. Despite the general mockery he receives, one of them -- a surgeon called John Leslie Stevenson (Warner) -- takes particular interest in his claims, and not for no reason; moments after, the police intrude into Wells' home, claiming to have traced none other than JackTheRipper to the premises. When a search reveals that Stevenson has disappeared, Wells realises that not only is Stevenson the Ripper, but that he has used Wells' time machine to escape into the future and evade justice.

* TheFutureIsShocking: The film has HGWells and JackTheRipper taken to modern times. Jack changes the channels on a TV to show constant scenes of violence to claim that he belongs here and Wells doesn't.

* JackTheRipper: Well, yeah.

* VillainsBlendInBetter: Provides the above quote -- HGWells struggles to fit in (although to be fair to him, in practical terms he adapts a lot better than most; it's mainly culture shock over the idea that the future isn't everything he'd built it up to be), while ''JackTheRipper'' of all people acclimatises comfortably.
* VillainForgotToLevelGrind[=/=]DegradedBoss: JackTheRipper, as the quote at the top of this page illustrates.

** [[spoiler:But then Wells finally caves in and buys a gun.]]