Time Warp (1981) watch online HD

TIME WARP is a forgotten (deservedly so, some might say) science fiction movie, made for TV and starring BATMAN's Adam West in a supporting role. It's a weird little flick, full of cheesy, cardboard effects and a meandering storyline involving an astronaut who, due to an anomaly in space, is transported back to Earth via time warp which means that nobody can see him because he's living a year in the future. Unbelievably, this was written by one 'Anne Spielberg' - sister to Steven, of course.

It's a neat idea, but the very poor, bargain-level execution helps to sink it. Imagine it as the thinking man's BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY, with added 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY thrown in (the guy has a friendly computer, HAL 9000 style, who helps him on his mission). There's no action here and much of the screen time just consists of a bored astronaut sitting around and waiting for stuff to happen. The invisible-to-family scenes are really weird and don't achieve much, although I guess the film does summon up an atmosphere of longing and nostalgia. The acting is generally wooden, with the exception being West's weird and not entirely successfully acting style.

I've just caught this movie on Movies4men2 (Feb 2009). I only watched it all the way through because a) there was nothing else I fancied watching and b) I always hope that before the end even a bad film will have some redeeming feature. It didn't. So where do I start with why? Well, all films start with 1)the script. This one a) fails to develop any of the characters convincingly, they are all pastiches of stereotypes that would have been around for decades, even when the film was made: an 'astronaut' who would have fitted better into a beach movie (astronauts are both intelligent and trained); grandma from 'The Beverley Hillbillies': and Adam West being - I'm really not sure what. b) It also contains many unresolved loose ends, plot ideas that later on were cut out. For example. at one stage there is lots of talk about a séance - the séance just never happens (meaning this isn't really a plot spoiler) 2) The sets and locations are an unbelievable confusion, and reveal that this film must have started out under-budgeted. 3) The timing/ editing is awful with many scenes either far longer than they needed to be to make the point, or too short to be able to follow what's supposed to be happening. 4) the music alternates between terrible hillbilly banjo and synthesiser 'stuff' done on a primitive Casio. 5) The special effects: they are neither special not effective.

Is it because Anne Spielberg is Steven's sister that no-one dared tell her it was rubbish? Did Eminegger make it worse, or was he forced to make the best of a bad job? Usually in UK we only see the better Hollywood product. This was an opportunity to see the worst! I would recommend all would-be film makers to do a detailed critique of this film to know what NOT to do when making a film.