Excellent Adventures: The Time Travel Movie Podcast
Three friends, Ellen, James and Paul, explore the hows and whens of time travel in the movies.
Episodes
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 spr...
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 ...
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.
Ellen & Paul discuss the film in comparison to the book, & allude to the TV show. 'cos this idea's been around a wee bit! Do they think Eric Bana & Rachel McAdams make the perfect couple to deal with the oddity of time travel with remarkable ease? Tune in to find out!
Paul goes solo for a bit of a worried whinge about a spate of Horror/ Comedy/ Time Travel films forming their own little sub-genre.
The trio had to make the trip to Bedford Falls at some point to discuss all things Jimmy Stewart in this Christmas classic.
Paul travels back to the height of Jean Claude van Damme's career to chat with special guest, author James Swallow.
James is a British author. A BAFTA nominee and a New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 best-seller, he is the author of several original books and tie-in novels, as well as short fiction, numerous audio dramas and video games.
From the 18th onwards through December, he’s releasing MOSCOW RULES, a free 10-part ser...
The trio explore the meaning & mysteries of Ingmar Bergman's classic old man journey. For all the bittersweet & tragedy of the piece, the chat manages to find the happy & the humorous in what often features upon lists of Greatest Films of All Time.
Recorded in November 2022, Ellen & Paul enthuse over the Laurence Olivier Award-winning show at London's Adelphi Theatre.
Of course the gang would get here eventually, but there's just so much to talk about. This is therefore Part One of Ellen, James & Paul discussing the first part of the trilogy. Paul Hosts - with a susprise in format for the others...
Paul is joined by Karen McCreedy, author of the Unreachable Skies sci-fi trilogy. Both are keen Star Trek fans - which may just show... For Ellen's benefit: it's the one about whales!
The trio of time travel chatters put their minds to making some start & end to Jacques Rivette's amazing tale set in the lesser know streets of Paris of the early 70s. Allusions to Alice's wonderland, boiled sweets, cats & murder all swirl into something any fan of David Lynch ought to find great affinity with.
Ellen & Paul throw around some immediate thoughts, immediately following a joint viewing. It's a mini excellent adventure, but an enthusiastic one: both having been pleasantly surprised by everything about this Australian production.
Back to the 1990s - where Paul loves to lurk for Time Travel that splurged onto the scene in the wake of Back to the Future. This stars Jeff Daniels with a young Ariana Richards (Jurassic Park) as his daughter - hosts to a strange busload of tourists...
Released on video under the name "Grand Tour: Disaster in Time" - it packs in some great Time Travel twists & a super central couple (!) of performances by Daniels.