I have now actually seen Timeline on DVD, and I just have to take back every tentative endorsement I gave it based on the book and previews. It was a great waste of time, and it really was embarrassing. I'll accept flaming arrows and night-time siege warfare in LotR, because it's a fantasy, but not in something that pretends to be "realistic."

Actually, the fire arrows and flaming trebuchet bombs were possible, but they would have used these things during the daytime, and then called battle to a halt at night. E.g (from 14th c. chronicle):

"Sir Thomas Trivet had quarters with many others in the town of Bourbourg, and fortified the town with a fence and ditch. Thereupon the king of France suddenly appeared, with his royal power, and came to Bourbourg and pitched his camp to besiege it. And he shot fire into the town, and set it ablaze. While the town was burning he threw his force against the defences until the evening, but being well beaten the French then withdrew." [emphasis added]

I found one account of nighttime fighting--"skirmishes" with townsfolk attempting to escape from a besieged city in the middle of the night--obviously nothing actually planned.




What made both DH (who was even more bored than I was) and me laugh out loud was the "night arrows!"--non-flaming arrows, which were evidently supposed to be all stealthy and kill more people than the flaming arrows? Because they could theoretically see the flaming arrows and get out of the way? Right. And they're supposed to fight with swords, and shields, and manage their horses AND carry torches?

And that's all before the amazing ability of the 20th c. folk to understand Middle English and Old French, and vice versa...the book explains this somehow--hypnogogy, or something?

Nope. Sorry. Timeline goes on the "Worst Medieval Movies of All Time" list.

And to top it all off, the "making of" documentaries are boring. "Well, we're here in the woods, and we've had a really good time together. Billy and Frances are just the best...There's our castle over there..." and an amount of time that only a true film-making-maven could appreciate devoted to the glueing and taping together of a photo-collage to be used in preparing to shoot a battle scene. Impressive--but boring to watch.

Because the existing thread was ancient...and mostly about Samurai--judgment call, I guess. Moderators, feel free to obliterate this thread and reattach it to the existing thread, as you see fit.

(being extra cautious here...)


Except for the time-travel pseudo-science & gadgets (in case there's anyone in the world who doesn't know this is a time-travel flick), once the group gets to France, there's nothing sci-fi about it. No magic, no phasers, no holy hand grenades (just an unholy one). So there's no reason we shouldn't expect a "realistic" presentation of medieval culture & warfare. I'll put up (reluctantly) with nonsense from First Knight, but not from a movie that is pretending to tell me something about history.

I was pretty grumpy after I saw The Patriot, too

Weeeeeell, yes and no.

(<---forgot to add that the first time around)

They did come across his grave at the end of the book too, but the book's explanation of it all lent itself to the suspension of disbelief better than the movie's explanation (or lack of one). Plus the book was just plain better all around and a really good read, so having that at the end didn't feel too clichéd.

But now that you bring "reality" into things... yeah, that doesn't make sense for parallel universes. At least not on the surface. Is there anybody on the board who dabbles in quantum physics and can lend a clue?