Since several of you asked, this is a list of the time loop-themed television episodes (or time travel episodes that play with a similar theme) that I watched in preparation for writing Dark Matter’s All the Time in the World:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Life Serial
Star Trek: The Next Generation – Cause and Effect
Stargate: SG-1 – Window of Opportunity
The X-Files – Monday
Angel – Time Bomb
Lois and Clark – Twas the Night Before Christmas
Smallville – Reckoning
Lost – Flashes Before Your Eyes
Dr. Who – Father’s Day, Meglos, Heaven Sent, Carnival of Monsters, Image of Fendahl, Invasion of Time, The Armageddon Factor, The Claws of Axos
Person of Interest – If Then Else
Vampire Diaries – Hell Is Other People
Sealab 2021 – Lost in Time
The Twilight Zone – Death Ship, Shadow Play
Eureka – I Do Over
Sapphire & Steel – The Trap
Supernatural – Mystery Spot
Blood Ties – 5:55
The Outer Limits – Deja Vu, The Refuge
Red Dwarf – White Hole
South Park – Cancelled, Go God Go XII
Fringe – White Tulip
Stargate: Universe – Time
Charmed – Deja Vu All Over Again
Andromeda – What Goes Around
Dead Zone – Deja Voodoo
Farscape – Back and Back and Back to the Future
Painkiller Jane – Playback
Star Trek: Enterprise – Future Tense
Futurama – Meanwhile, The Late Philip J. Fry
Xena – Been There, Done That
Star Trek: Voyager – Coda
How many of the afore-mentioned 44 have you seen and which were your favorites?
Travelers: “17 minutes” S2:E7 by Brad Wright
All great episodes! but lets go back a little further with; The City on the Edge of Forever — Star Trek: The Original Series — Season 1, Episode 8 (aired 1967). Here are some more; “The Naked Time” “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” “Assignment: Earth” “All Our Yesterdays”. And this is just a partial list of all the Star Trek (all series) time travel episodes. Needless to say I Love Star Trek. And yes, I have seen them all, most of them the first time around.
Well said, BOB.
Of those ones that I’ve seen, TNG’s “Cause and Effect” is my favourite. It really holds so closely to the ideal formula like you discussed.
Virus news – so far today no more cases here in NB and ten more people have recovered, so our total cases in progress is actually going down (to 42, I think). I don’t know if this is the corner we’re turning or not. I hope so. Going into lockdown early has really made a difference here, I think.
So many decades of scifi reading and watching…so few brain cells available at my age…
That’s a big list , but what I want to know is this: how the hell did you find them?
Do you just type into google “give me a list of time travel episodes from every series” or what?
Dr. Z: I bet Wikipedia has such a list, key word “time travel”. The TV Tropes website (name may differ) is probably a source.
Thanks that’s good to know
You actually watched all those shows just to write one episode of Dark Matter???
WOW!!!!!!
Happy Easter to all of those that celebrate! I’m having a hard time feeling it this year. 🙁
Yes, TamDixon, Happy Easter and a Blessed Passover to all. Being “So Yesterday” as my daughter constantly reminds me, how can we talk of time travel without mentioning the original Twilight Zone?! Episodes like “No Time Like the Past”, “Fatalism” and “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville” really caused one to reflect on life and it’s many aspects. I never miss the Twilight Zone marathons or the morning episodes of the SyFy channel. BTW, who remembers when it used to be the SciFi channel?
Of course there were our weekly trips through time in both “The Time Tunnel” and “Quantum Leap”
I’ve seen at least 28, but can’t pick a favorite. I’m now contemplating watching a few more.
This might be of interest: a list I started putting together recently. Includes some books and short stories.
All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein
“Doubled and Redoubled” by Malcolm Jameson (1941)
The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
12:01 PM (1973)
Replay by Ken Grimwood
The 13th Hour
Caught in a Time Loop
Stargate SG-1 – “Window of Opportunity”
Star Trek: The Next Generation – “Cause and Effect”
Groundhog Day
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow – “Here I Go Again”
The Edge of Tomorrow (Live Die Repeat)
12:01
Russian Doll
Dr. Strange
Source Code
Run, Lola, Run
Twilight Zone – “Shadow Play”
Star Trek: Discovery – “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”
The X-Files – “Monday”
Farscape – “Back and Back and Back to the Future”
Haunter
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – “Life Serial”
Angel – “Time Bomb”
Eureka – “I Do Over”
Fringe – “White Tulip”
JLU – “The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time Warped”
Andromeda – “The Dark Backward”
Torchwood – “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”
Doctor Who – “Meglos, part 1”; “City of Death”
Supernatural – “Mystery Spot”
Infinity Chamber
Exit Strategy
Doctor Who 12 – “Heaven Sent”
12 Monkeys – Lullaby
1408
Charmed – “Deja Vu All Over Again”
Xena Warrior Princess – “Been There Done That”
Daybreak
Lois and Clark – “Twas the Night Before Mxymas”
Outer Limits – “Deja Vu”
The Dead Zone – “Deja Voodoo”
Futurama – “The Late Philip J. Frey”
Painkiller Jane
Star Trek: Enterprise – “Future Tense”
Star Trek: Voyager – “Coda”
Dark Matter – “All the Time in the World”
The Librarians – “And the Point of Salvation”
Person of Interest – “If Then Else”
Tru Calling
Lost – “Flashes Before Your Eyes”
Prisoner of Azkaban
Thanks for this, Michael.
Woah! 😲
A few other time loop related episodes…
I Dream of Jeannie – “Always on Sunday” (S2, E2)
Jeannie makes every day Sunday so Tony can relax. When he complains that it’s driving him nuts, she makes every day Monday.
Felicity – (S4, E18-22)
The story goes that the show runner was told the network needed a few more episodes after they had just tied up all the loose ends. So he had the main character jump back in time, reliving the last season but knowing how things will go. It turns out to be a fever dream, but one that nevertheless informs her destiny.
Let’s just say I have the tulip from Fringe tattoed on my wrist 🙂