Excellent Adventures: The Time Travel Movie Podcast
paulexcellentadventures
45 episodes
6 hours ago
Join Ellen, James and Paul as we chat about time travel movies and why we love them!
Ellen Cheshire has a BA (Hons) in Film and English and a MA in Gothic Studies and has taught Film at Undergraduate and A Level. She has published books on Ang Lee, Jane Campion, Bio-Pics, Sussex on Film, Audrey Hepburn and The Coen Brothers and contributed chapters to books on Silent Fil, UK Counterculture, James Bond and Charlie Chaplin. She is one of the writing team for the new A Level WJEC Film Text Book. She is a frequent contributor to BFI’s home entertainment releases and has written for Sight & Sound, The Iris Murdoch Review, Sussex Life, Chichester Observer, South Coast Magazine, GScene, Classic Television, Desi, Crime Time, Movie Memories, kamera.co.uk, Science Fiction World and Matrix. Follow Ellen on letterboxd @cheshellen. Check out Ellen’s website - www.ellencheshire.com.
James Clarke is a writer and lecturer. He has taught screenwriting at the London Film School and also works as a Script Reader for the British Film Institute. James has given talks about screenwriting for the BFI Film Academy for young people and has directed a community film with young people for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. James’s film books include: Being Bardot, Bond: Photographed by Terry O’Neill, The Year of the Geek and The Films of Pixar Animation Studio. James specialises in writing about animation and visual effects films for the magazines Imagine FX and 3D World and his writing has also been published in Empire magazine and at Little White Lies online amongst other outlets. James is currently developing a feature film screenplay project with a co-writer and, in the short-film form, he has written and produced a number of short film projects and was a BAFTA long listed producer in the Best Short Film category (an awfully long time ago). Follow James on instagram at jameswriter72.
Paul Tonks has written about film & in particular – film music for many years. He has interviewed a great many composers & been published within numerous magazines, websites, CD booklets & for record labels. It was in writing the Pocket Essential Series book on ‘Film Music’ that Paul met fellow Excellent Adventurer Ellen Cheshire. Their mutual love of Time Travel in the movies was soon established. Paul may be found regularly reviewing & championing the sound of film music on letterboxd as proftonks and instagram at prof.tonks.
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Join Ellen, James and Paul as we chat about time travel movies and why we love them!
Ellen Cheshire has a BA (Hons) in Film and English and a MA in Gothic Studies and has taught Film at Undergraduate and A Level. She has published books on Ang Lee, Jane Campion, Bio-Pics, Sussex on Film, Audrey Hepburn and The Coen Brothers and contributed chapters to books on Silent Fil, UK Counterculture, James Bond and Charlie Chaplin. She is one of the writing team for the new A Level WJEC Film Text Book. She is a frequent contributor to BFI’s home entertainment releases and has written for Sight & Sound, The Iris Murdoch Review, Sussex Life, Chichester Observer, South Coast Magazine, GScene, Classic Television, Desi, Crime Time, Movie Memories, kamera.co.uk, Science Fiction World and Matrix. Follow Ellen on letterboxd @cheshellen. Check out Ellen’s website - www.ellencheshire.com.
James Clarke is a writer and lecturer. He has taught screenwriting at the London Film School and also works as a Script Reader for the British Film Institute. James has given talks about screenwriting for the BFI Film Academy for young people and has directed a community film with young people for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. James’s film books include: Being Bardot, Bond: Photographed by Terry O’Neill, The Year of the Geek and The Films of Pixar Animation Studio. James specialises in writing about animation and visual effects films for the magazines Imagine FX and 3D World and his writing has also been published in Empire magazine and at Little White Lies online amongst other outlets. James is currently developing a feature film screenplay project with a co-writer and, in the short-film form, he has written and produced a number of short film projects and was a BAFTA long listed producer in the Best Short Film category (an awfully long time ago). Follow James on instagram at jameswriter72.
Paul Tonks has written about film & in particular – film music for many years. He has interviewed a great many composers & been published within numerous magazines, websites, CD booklets & for record labels. It was in writing the Pocket Essential Series book on ‘Film Music’ that Paul met fellow Excellent Adventurer Ellen Cheshire. Their mutual love of Time Travel in the movies was soon established. Paul may be found regularly reviewing & championing the sound of film music on letterboxd as proftonks and instagram at prof.tonks.
A visually arresting adaptation of the poem ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ , David Lowery’s film is fascinating. It’s a Christmas movie , for sure, and it includes a time travel thread in the tapestry of its tale. What more could you ask for? Inventive, and imbued with a tangible sense of magic, the film prompts an enthusiastic conversation between James and Ellen for this episode.
James and Paul are MIA, but Ellen is forging ahead solo into the wonderfully absurd world of Hallmark Time Travel Movies. From pocket watches that open wormholes to Victorian men horrified by toasters, she breaks down the rules, the romance, and the time-bending tropes that make this subgenre so irresistibly unhinged.
Buckle up—time travel waits for no one!
Time travel, medieval mayhem, and a crooning Yankee - what more could you want? Ellen, Paul, and James dive into A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1949) and its literary origins in Mark Twain’s groundbreaking novel.
Join them as they explore the surprising legacy of this fantastical fish-out-of-water story - complete with an eclipse, a sneaky almanac, and Bing Crosby bringing swing to Camelot.
Recorded over a 13 month period - the Excellent Adventurers are proud to present a chat with possibly the only person left on the planet who had not seen the Back to the Future trilogy - Ellen's Mum!
Paul captures the initial & eventual reactions to Parts I & III, while Ellen gets the complicated one in the middle with II!
The Time Travelling Trio return to the third in the trilogy for the second time. Huh?
Episode 14 was a Mini Excellent Adventure with guest Nigel Smith, who pipped for this as a favourite to chat about.
James & Paul felt left out, so promised Ellen she could do an episode about Hallmark movies, & so this grand revisit came about. In so many ways, the romance with Christopher Lloyd & Mary Steenbergen is just a big tease for Ellen & Paul, who promise to get to Time After Time one of these days!
Paul's been wanting to explore David Lynch's twisty Noir nightmare with a like-minded admirer for ages. Is it Time Travel or Not? Paul asked this at a screening of the movie in 2024 at the Worthing Connaught - & is here joined by Film Manager of the cinema James Tully, to definitively put to bed & answer all mysteries of the film. I mean, how hard can it be?
Find the Worthing Connaught here: https://wtm.uk/
And here on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connaughtcinema/?igsh=c3VwbnVkbzJ3Mmw2
Ellen, James & Paul explore "the Feels" within this charming Time Loop Romedy.
Kyle Allen & Kathryn Newton are living the same day over & are actually pretty happy about it. Then they start to question if there is a reason, & what would happen if they made a map of their findings.
Sweet. Uplifting. Great to look at.
But enough about us - you should see the movie too.
Join Ellen and special guest Jamie Dyer, founder of Old Time Review and host of The Quo-Cast and Vintage Animation Millennial, as they embark on a mini excellent adventure through the classic 1960 film The Time Machine, directed by George Pal.
In this episode, Ellen and Jamie delve into a broad discussion of the film’s enduring appeal, from its imaginative take on time travel to Pal’s pioneering stop-frame animation. They also take a closer look at three key scenes: the mesmerising first journey through time, the unsettling arrival in 1966, and the poignant discovery of crumbling books in the far future. Blending thoughtful analysis with personal memories, this episode is a must-listen for fans of classic cinema and sci-fi storytelling.
This Czech comedy-drama by Director Jindřich Polák had Ellen & Paul in giggling fits, what with a parrot squawking "Heil Hitler," a funky score & a tight script that really knew how to play with the fun of looping over & over your own Timeline.
Join them to find out what the Nazi plan involving a nuclear bomb was all about & how a circus family with a trampoline & skeleton-eating washing-up liquid get involved!
Paul finally gets off his chest a decades-long theory about Kubrick's classic, & finds all new aspects of the film to (maybe) support it.
This kicks off a l'il sideline of episodes in which he poses the question: Is it Time Travel or Not? There will be more. As with all such things, it's just a matter of making the time!
James & Paul storm the beach with Tom Cruise & Emily Blunt for this fantastic sci-fi action movie. It features one of the most intriguing reasons for Time Travel as plot device, which Paul traces back to the the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.
It's an unusual role for Cruise, scripted by multiple-movie collaborator Christopher McQuarrie.
11 years later. Where have movies like this gone?
Paul puts his trainers back on for this Indian Hindi-language comedy-thriller film directed by Aakash Bhatia. It's an official adaptation of the award-winning German film Run Lola Run by Tom Tykwer, and stars Taapsee Pannu and Tahir Raj Bhasin in the lead roles.
The gang learn some choice German words from this dazzling - & surprisingly short - fast-paced drama from director Tom Tykwer. The movie put Franke Potente on the movie map & made everyone wanna go jogging.*
*Last part may not be true.
For this mini adventure episode, James has a conversation with director Chris Reading about his new movie, Time Travel Is Dangerous. Their conversation takes in the delights of the time travel genre, the ways in which the movie developed and the challenges involved in bringing it to the screen. Time Travel Is Dangerous had its big screen release in the UK and Ireland in March 2025 and is scheduled for screenings in America this spring.
The movie’s website can be reached here: https://www.timetravelisdangerous.com
The trio all know a good Sandra Bullock Time Travel movie when they see it. Which raises some discussion about this tragic tale of a wife living a week of days out of chronological order. The real tragedy being that one day her husband is alive. The next he's not. Then he is again. And so on. Sort of.
Featuring Ellen's all-time favourite trope of the surprise-house-gift, this was a fun one to record!
Paul dissects another in the teen-girl-sent-back-in-time-to-stop-serial-killer sub-genre, linking back to episode 24, about It's a Wonderful Knife. The pitch of Scream meets Back to the Future is already feeling a little tired, but these aren't likely to disappear any time soon.
The trio travel to a hilltop in radiant Italian countryside to a Lab where a portal is playing havoc on a Father/ son relationship & who did what first - & when.
The film by writer/ director Ciro Sorrentino is also known as Time Perspectives.
Ellen chats with filmmaker Mat Braddy about his award-winning short film Deus Otiosus, which explores themes similar to time travel, and discusses one of his favourite time manipulation films, Arrival.
Formerly the Global CMO of Just Eat, Mat has since completed a Master’s in Film at Raindance, earned acclaim at international festivals, and is currently developing an audio drama about the infamous highwayman Dick Turpin.
@matbraddy.bsky.social
https://frenzyfilms.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alMS8VfK1SY
The time-travelling trio delve into the chaos and charm of Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. Amidst the magical mishaps and fractured fairy tales, they uncover the heartfelt themes of love, resilience and second chances. Despite the twists and turns, the discussion highlights the humour and heart of this underrated gem in Disney's sequel canon.
In October 2023, Ellen and Paul recorded their impressions of The Time Traveller's Wife: The Musical, performed at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. The musical featured music by Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics fame) and lyrics by Joss Stone. Despite its high-profile contributors, the show received mixed-to-poor reviews and ran for only a limited number of weeks.
Listen to one of the songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dtkFQKLszY
Excellent Adventures: The Time Travel Movie Podcast
Join Ellen, James and Paul as we chat about time travel movies and why we love them!
Ellen Cheshire has a BA (Hons) in Film and English and a MA in Gothic Studies and has taught Film at Undergraduate and A Level. She has published books on Ang Lee, Jane Campion, Bio-Pics, Sussex on Film, Audrey Hepburn and The Coen Brothers and contributed chapters to books on Silent Fil, UK Counterculture, James Bond and Charlie Chaplin. She is one of the writing team for the new A Level WJEC Film Text Book. She is a frequent contributor to BFI’s home entertainment releases and has written for Sight & Sound, The Iris Murdoch Review, Sussex Life, Chichester Observer, South Coast Magazine, GScene, Classic Television, Desi, Crime Time, Movie Memories, kamera.co.uk, Science Fiction World and Matrix. Follow Ellen on letterboxd @cheshellen. Check out Ellen’s website - www.ellencheshire.com.
James Clarke is a writer and lecturer. He has taught screenwriting at the London Film School and also works as a Script Reader for the British Film Institute. James has given talks about screenwriting for the BFI Film Academy for young people and has directed a community film with young people for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. James’s film books include: Being Bardot, Bond: Photographed by Terry O’Neill, The Year of the Geek and The Films of Pixar Animation Studio. James specialises in writing about animation and visual effects films for the magazines Imagine FX and 3D World and his writing has also been published in Empire magazine and at Little White Lies online amongst other outlets. James is currently developing a feature film screenplay project with a co-writer and, in the short-film form, he has written and produced a number of short film projects and was a BAFTA long listed producer in the Best Short Film category (an awfully long time ago). Follow James on instagram at jameswriter72.
Paul Tonks has written about film & in particular – film music for many years. He has interviewed a great many composers & been published within numerous magazines, websites, CD booklets & for record labels. It was in writing the Pocket Essential Series book on ‘Film Music’ that Paul met fellow Excellent Adventurer Ellen Cheshire. Their mutual love of Time Travel in the movies was soon established. Paul may be found regularly reviewing & championing the sound of film music on letterboxd as proftonks and instagram at prof.tonks.
