Time Babble

Time Babble

“Babbling about time travel movies since 1888”. A comedy and film podcast exploring the wonderful world of time travel films in all their multi-dimensional glory. Every episode, we babble about a film that’s specifically about time travel, or that generally plays with the concept of time. JOIN US NERDS! read less
TV & FilmTV & Film

Episodes

3.13 Dimension 5 (1966) "Teddy Bear Ham"
4d ago
3.13 Dimension 5 (1966) "Teddy Bear Ham"
Hey groovy cats! Strap on your time belts and join us for the final episode of Series Three. Do we have a treat for you!  Well, when we say treat, we really mean: here is a film that no one can quite remember. And that film is Dimension 5 (1966), ‘directed’ by Frank Adreon and starring ‘old blue eyes’ himself, Jeffrey Hunter. The film was part of a series of made-for-television features, although some of them did sneak into cinemas. Our film features not-lifts, copy-cat corridors and art galleries hiding spy headquarters. Spy headquarters, of course, with well stocked bars. Perfect for inventing, leering, drinking, and torturing your enemies. We travel, via Pan Am (obvs) to many exotic locations, most of which (all) are situated just outside the film studio. The film features agents, double agents, not not not agents, bomb owls, a traffic jam, Genghis!, truculent waiters, booze and bikini shops, and much, much more… There is no way you’ll want to miss this thrilling episode! It starts with fireworks, and goes downhill from there. Time Babble Series Three, Episode Thirteen, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services.   If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.11 Wild Strawberries (1957) "The Coffin Hokey Cokey"
May 3 2024
3.11 Wild Strawberries (1957) "The Coffin Hokey Cokey"
Clasp/cuddle lovingly your existential fear and dread tightly to your chest, and join us, as we explore one of the greatest films ever made: Wild Strawberries (1957), written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film stars many of Bergman regulars; Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin, a small yet memorable cameo from Ming von Sydow, and Clive Dunn. The film follows Isak Borg (masterfully played by Victor Sjöström) over 24 hours, as he journeys to receive an honorary degree. On the way Isak (almost definitely) travels back in time, to rediscover what it means to be alive and accept the inevitable journey to the next realm. That’s right dear listener - it’s fun fun fun all the way! On the road to enlightenment (or rather, drifting off into our own existential Christmas Carol), we discuss the real influences on Stanley Kubrick’s career, discover the history of smiles, peek longingly at Zarkov shorts, and mistake strawberries for plums.  Intrigued? You should be. Time Babble dares to go to the corners of cinema that other podcasts cower in fear of…   Time Babble Series Three, Episode Eleven, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.10 The Adventure of Denchu-kozo (1987) "Benny Hill Cyberpunk"
Apr 19 2024
3.10 The Adventure of Denchu-kozo (1987) "Benny Hill Cyberpunk"
Yo Cyberpunks! Have we got a chaotic treat for you! Prepare to be dragged screaming into The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo (1987), an acid lucid dream of a film from legendary filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto.  This was one of Tsukamoto’s very first films and was originally created as a theatre piece. We have no idea how this would have been possible, and can only dream that a time machine would transport us back to see the theatre production in the living flesh. Which indeed we have, dear reader. The film is about a young boy with a telegraph pole protruding from his back. He is transported into the future and must somehow save the world from bad weather, Goth vampires and many, many other things that we can’t describe, things that we won’t describe, things that we… well, hopefully you get the idea that it’s indescribable (which it is). The film was shot on 8mm and has all the trademarks of the off-kilter, left-field genius that Tsukamoto was going to unleash on an unsuspecting world. If you dare to join us, our new episode is out now. Insert your wires… now!   Time Babble Series Three, Episode Ten, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.9 Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971) "Vincent Price-adocious"
Mar 31 2024
3.9 Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971) "Vincent Price-adocious"
Happy Easter nerds! This week we’ve gone into EASTER OVERLOAD with the psychedelic stop-motion classic Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971). This TV special was created by the ‘almost definitely not’ drug-crazed minds of Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin. Between them they are responsible for literally millions of seasonal classics, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) and Frosty the Snowman (1969). It’s a fun-filled hour of eggstravagant mind-altering ‘storytelling’, which features Danny Kaye as narrator Seymour S. Sassafras (he also voices, the umm, ‘French’ caterpillar Antoine) and Vincent Price, as the evil January Q. Irontail. Our lazy, fib-filled hero Peter Cottontail is voiced by Casey Kasem, who was the voice of Shaggy in the original Scooby Doo cartoons. So stare into your favourite egg and join us, as we try to work out what on our good earth is going on, and jump into the Yestermorrowmobile (? no, us neither) and fly, very, very slowly into the future (or possibly the past - we’re still not sure which direction they went in). We’ll meet spiders fired from rockets, bunnies in April Valley who deliver chicken eggs to ungrateful youths, sassy witches who just need love (like the rest of us), and talking hats.  This is our second musical time travel film, and the whole thing is just as much fun as Brigadoon was. Honest. So drop your chocolate, forgo your eggs and open your ears to our seasonal babbling. Time Babble Series Three, Episode nine, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.8 Camille Redouble (2012) "Jowday and the Bee"
Mar 15 2024
3.8 Camille Redouble (2012) "Jowday and the Bee"
Bonjour..! This week we are babbling about Camille Redouble (2012), written and directed by Noémie Lvovsky, who also stars in the lead role. The film is a loose remake of Peggy Sue Got Married and makes a perfect double bill with last week’s episode. It takes the basic premise of Peggy, but moves the now into the 2000s and the then into the 1980s. It’s a beautiful, more thoughtful version of the story and Noémie turns in an astonishing lead performance filled with subtlety and poignancy. The film is another fine example of the wonders the eclectic world of time travel can burp up, and how the same story can be completely different (and much improved) in the right hands. On the way to enlightenment however, we survive a blood soaked opening scene and visit a fancy dress party filled with an almost unending list of guests, which yours truly (understandably) takes maybe a bit too long to describe (nearly) every, single, one.  Meanwhile, we encounter weird Judi and her lover Lemmy from Motorhead as Camille’s parents, kids jumping from windows to escape the nonsense that is High School, and the creeping realisation that your school years were your best and worst times all rolled into one. It’s safe to say we loved this film, and so will you. Au revoir nerds.   Time Babble Series Three, Episode Eight, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.7 Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) "Gnu Blood"
Mar 1 2024
3.7 Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) "Gnu Blood"
This week we’re babbling about nostalgia-fest Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Kathleen Turner as Peggy Sue, in a dazzling lead performance. It also features another couple of Coppolas: the overacting, nasally-challenged-Nosferatu himself, Nicolas Cage, as Peggy’s childhood sweetheart and soon to be divorced husband, alongside future award-winning director Sofia Coppola, as Peggy’s little sister. Put on your prom dress and travel back to the 60s..! where we encounter the howling-puke poetry of teen beatnik (and Peggy’s secret crush), Michael, visit time-travelling cult lodges, and you’re unsure, discover that the best way to tell if you are real or not, is to hurl yourself in front of a fire truck. (Don’t) try this at home, kids. The film is steeped in nostalgia for a time that probably didn’t actually exist. But whilst sugar-coated memories are not always to be re-lived, the film is well worth a look, and is an odd, but oddly satisfying revisit for our 2024 eyes. The film also unexpectedly led us to the next movie we’ll be babbling about. However, we're getting ahead of ourselves with that one… Time Babble Series Three, Episode Seven, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services.   If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.6 Tomorrow I'll Wake and Scald Myself with Tea (1977) "Patrick Goes for the Pork First"
Feb 16 2024
3.6 Tomorrow I'll Wake and Scald Myself with Tea (1977) "Patrick Goes for the Pork First"
Get ready to board the next flight to whenever! This week we’re babbling about the Czech time travel classic Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea / Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem (1977) directed by Yindřizich Polák. The film is a lighthearted comedy with quite heavy overtones and tackles that age-old problem of a group of those pesky futuristic Nazis, who want to travel back in time to help Hitler win the Second World War. But they are relying on the slightly corrupt leanings of a womanising time pilot, without realising he has an identical twin with a very different set of ideals. What’s the worst that can happen? Well this can happen: a couple American tourists are kidnapped on the journey back to WW2. Although they delight in the on-board space jelly they’re served for lunch and are more than happy to have selfies taken with Hitler himself. However, who packed the suitcase? Could it contain lingerie, or a hydrogen bomb?!  Don’t worry, all will work out fine! Unless we have to spray you green to get you to comply. Although make sure you have both your legs attached before you start listening to our latest babble. Join us for your post-Valentine’s ‘treat’... Time Babble Series Three, Episode Six, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services.   If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.5 Last Train to Christmas (2021) ”Rumba Colditz Tony”
Dec 22 2023
3.5 Last Train to Christmas (2021) ”Rumba Colditz Tony”
Ding! Ding! All aboard!  Next stop, the Time Babble Christmas Special! This week we’re babbling about Last Train to Christmas (2021), starring Michael Sheen, playing twelve versions of Tony, a troubled nightclub impresario, Cary Elwes as his bottoms popped off, not-alcoholic not-brother, together with a host of other characters that may, or may not exist. On the last Christmas Eve train from London to Nottingham, Tommy/Tony jumps forwards and backwards by decades, as he wanders from carriage to carriage, creating havoc with his timeline, and multiple versions of his family. As it’s our festive special, we’ve been scouring message boards and fansites to bring you as much fact and truths as we can stomach. Which, let’s face it, when our stomachs are full of Rumbas and Watneys Party Seven, is not a lot.  So gather round the warm festive log fire dear Babblers, to hear tales of Colditz board game etiquette, murder walls, exploding children, and an exhaustive list of Tony’s iterations.  Come stamp on butterflies with us! Time Babble Series Three, Episode Five, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.   For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.2 A Hitch in Time (1978) ”Totally Claypoled”
Oct 20 2023
3.2 A Hitch in Time (1978) ”Totally Claypoled”
This week we dive head first into the sparkling and inviting waters of the Children's Film Foundation.  The Children's Film Foundation was for decades a way for new and established directors and actors at the end of their career, to make films aimed at, and starring kids. Our film stars Patrick Troughton as the mysterious time travelling inventor, Professor Wagstaff, currently hanging out in an abandoned castle in a public park. We’ve extensively researched and we’re pretty sure this was a unique role for Mr Troughton and sadly he never played a time traveller before or since. Two school kids ignore the ‘Danger of Death’ sign outside, (and typically everything potentially dangerous about the 1970s) and wander in to see what’s going on. Like the kids, the film pretty much ignores facts, history and continuity, but the kids, Troughton, and the audience have a pretty fun time along the way. Just like Time Babble. We follow the same characters and their ancestry all the way back to the Stone Age and a rather dodgy looking bear, via that pesky WW2, and all the way back to the now. Although their now is very much the then of 1978. Oh, and the film has an amazing soundtrack, a little bit like a jaunty version of Kraftwerk. But better.    Time Babble Series Three, Episode Two, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.   For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.1 Donnie Darko (2001) ”Joke Murder Scene”
Oct 6 2023
3.1 Donnie Darko (2001) ”Joke Murder Scene”
Welcome to Series Three of Time Babble! We celebrate our new series with a modern time travel classic, in the 3D watery shape of Donnie Darko (2001). The film is the directorial debut of Richard Kelly, and stars both Jake and Maggie Gyllenhall, alongside Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Mary McDonnell, and Katherine Ross. It’s the simple story of a narcoleptic young man who may or may not be conversing with a six foot bunny rabbit at the end of the world. This is no fluffy-wuffy Peter Rabbit of a bunny though, but it does turn out that Beatrix Potter’s watercolour palette includes a lovely shade of ‘gorefest red’. Despite the dark mournfulness (of both film and pod), there are many funny moments, as we discover the best Lorne Green gag in movie history, welcome the return of ‘Ask an Idiot’, and to add sparkle to our motion, the widely beloved ‘Haiku or Limerick’ section completes our traditionally poetic denouement. So grab your earmuffs and join us, as we attempt to put our cross at the love end of the fear/love scale.   Time Babble Series Three, Episode One is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.   For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
3.0 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) ”Tuk-Tuk”
Aug 25 2023
3.0 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) ”Tuk-Tuk”
Welcome to the Time Babble goes to the Movies Summer Special! This week, we’re babbling about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, released in cinemas summer 2023. The film stars Harrison Ford (obvs), alongside Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Toby Jones, and some old(er) familiar faces. It’s the first in the series not directed by Steven Spielberg, or with story input from George Lucas. Consequently, it’s a fun, if slightly fluffy ride, and nowhere as bad as ‘the Indy film that dare not be named for fear of a curse’. Once again, (a heavily de-aged) Harrison Ford is fighting them pesky Nazis, whilst a regularly aged Harrison Ford is coming to terms with his 1960s retirement. But hold on there! He’s soon back on the archeological hunt, racing around in Tuk-Tuks and resolving the classic conundrum of whether a horse can run faster than a subway train. Indy also gets to meet all the famous people. But which is the most famous? The answer is obvious, if we cared to tell. Which naturally, we don’t. So, does the film belong in a museum for future generations to admire, or does it sink to the bottom of the bath along with Archimedes’ potatoes?   Find out in the Time Babble Summer Special 2023, waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.   For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
2.8 The Time Travelers (1964) ”Danny The Electrcian”
May 19 2023
2.8 The Time Travelers (1964) ”Danny The Electrcian”
This week we're babbling about The Time Travelers (1964), directed by Ib Melchior and produced by the legendary Samuel Z. Arkoff. The film was released by American International Pictures, who are best known for their low budget ‘B’ movies with  high production values. Our own zero budget babbling this week features futuristic musical instruments, impressive (and not so impressive) magic tricks, Danny the Electrician (YAAAY!) and his lusty antics (could he be one of the greatest screen comedians of all time?), The Cramps (yes, The Cramps!) in space, and a preposterously comprehensive, if lengthy, audit of space sex robots. Despite what you might assume  from our meandering insights, the film is full of fun, with some quite impressive sets and costume designs. Albeit alongside possibly one of the most confusingly bleak endings in cinematic history. Join us, and Danny the Electrician (YAAAY!), for our latest Babble.   Time Babble Series Two, Episode Eight is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and all good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.   For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
2.6 65 (2023) ”Curry Powder Mountain”
Apr 21 2023
2.6 65 (2023) ”Curry Powder Mountain”
Hey, listen! This week we're babbling about 65, or 65 Million Years Ago Prehistoric Earth had a Visitor (2023), directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and starring Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, fighting off a render farm's worth of dinosaurs.  On the very first Time Babble live trip out to the cinema, our tiny brains were duped into thinking this was a time travel movie, which embarrassingly, it certainly is not. Oh, but it could be… it really should be… But, as you well know by now dear listener, here at Babble HQ we neither shirk our duty, nor give a tinker's cuss about our own rules, nor indeed do we want to waste the money we’d already spent on what was otherwise a wonderful day out. So keep your ears peeled and you'll be presented with our traditional mix of deeply researched critique and shameless gaggery, covering such erudite profundities as the Hand Ocarina™, a particular 90s acid-rave pop banger, the benefits of writing with curry powder and, um, our very first buttterfly-based concept pub venture.   Time Babble Series Two, Episode Six is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and all good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.   For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
2.5 Dominick Hide Double Bill (1980 and 1982) ”The Full Dominick”
Mar 24 2023
2.5 Dominick Hide Double Bill (1980 and 1982) ”The Full Dominick”
This week we're babbling about two films from the BBC Play for Today series: The Flipside of Dominick Hide (1980) and its sequel Another Flip for Dominick (1982). Both plays were directed by Alan Gibson and co-written with Jeremy Paul.  The plays star Peter Firth as Dominick, Caroline Langrishe as his past love Jane, Pippa Guard as his future wife Ava, and Patrick Magee as Caleb (a.k.a. Future Scrooge). Both ‘Flips represent the very best of BBC drama in its heyday, and an oddity for the 80s, as everyone is so damn nice to each other! Indeed, if the listener can count the number of times we say ‘nice’ during the podcast, you’ll win a prize! (you won’t). So pour yourself a Gilbey’s gin and tonic, strap yourselves into your time-machine-UFO-special-effect and prepare to flip back to a more ‘innocent’ time, of super-young British character actors, creepy giant teddy bears, future-altering pooches, an earworm of a theme song, and far too much Brush Stroking for our liking. Both of these films are flipping brilliant, so are well worth travelling into the future past to seek them out.   Time Babble Series Two, Episode Five is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and all good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.   For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.   (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)