''Time Chasers'' (originally released as ''Tangents'') is a 1994

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstell ...

directed by David Giancola and starring Matthew Bruch,

George Woodard George Woodard (born June 18, 1952) is an actor, musician, and dairy farmer in Waterbury Center, Vermont. He experimented with acting in high school, taking part in high school and local summer stock plays and musicals, while rebuilding the fami ...

, and Bonnie Pritchard. The film premiered in Rutland, Vermont on March 16, 1994 to three invitation-only showings, and in open release in Rutland theatres the next day. The film follows the adventures of an amateur inventor who goes through time with his female accomplice to stop an

evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

megacorporation Megacorporation, mega-corporation, or megacorp, a term originally coined by Alfred Eichner in his book ''The Megacorp and Oligopoly: Micro Foundations of Macro Dynamics'' but popularized by William Gibson, derives from the combination of the pref ...

intent on changing history for profit. The film was lampooned on ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1 ...

'' in 1997, and by

Rifftrax RiffTrax is an American company that produces scripted humorous commentary tracks which are synced to mostly public domain feature films, education shorts, and television episodes. With the talents of former ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''M ...

in a live event broadcast on May 5, 2016.

Plot

Physics teacher and amateur pilot Nick Miller (Matthew Bruch) has finally completed his quest of enabling time travel, via a Commodore 64 and his small

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spe ...

. After being inspired by a television commercial for GenCorp, he uses a ruse to bring out both a GenCorp executive and a reporter from a local paper. To Nick's surprise, the reporter is Lisa Hansen (Bonnie Pritchard), an old high school flame. One trip to 2041 later and Gencorp's executive, Matthew Paul (Peter Harrington), quickly arranges Nick a meeting with CEO J.K. Robertson (

). Impressed by the potential of time travel, Robertson offers Nick a licensing agreement on the technology. The following week, Nick and Lisa meet at the

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more lim ...

and go on a date to the 1950s. However, another trip to 2041 reveals that GenCorp abused Nick's time travel technology, creating a

dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

future. In an attempt to tell J.K. about how GenCorp inadvertently ruined the future. J.K. dismisses the eventuality, and states that there's enough time to worry about how to fix it before it happens. J.K. sees Nick as a threat to GenCorp, and due to the association with the U.S. Government, considers Nick's actions as treason. Nick and Lisa escape GenCorp and spend the remainder of the film trying to reverse the damage to the future. When J.K. finds out about this, he and Matt try to shoot down Nick's plane, killing Lisa in the process while Nick jumps out before the plane crashes. This ultimately culminates in a fight in 1777 during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolu ...

, the deaths of the present Nick and Robertson, and the destruction of the time machine before the original demo, thus ensuring that the majority of the film's events never happen in the first place. The film ends with the now current Nick (now aware of the danger of his time machine) sabotaging his demonstration, and doing a pitch of how an elderly skydiver would be a better ad campaign for J.K.'s company. Furious about being misled, J.K. fires Matt. Nick deletes the data that makes time travel possible. At the end of the film, Nick talks to Lisa in the supermarket as he did in the previous timeline.

Cast

* Matthew Bruch as Nick Miller * Bonnie Pritchard as Lisa Henson * Peter Harrington as Matthew Paul *

as J.K. Robertson * Jason Smiley as Future Inhabitant * Cyrus Rodgers as Future Inhabitant

Production

Martins Supermarket in South Burlington, Vermont

''Time Chasers'' was written and directed by David Giancola, under the title ''Tangents''. It was promoted as the first feature film directed, written, and produced in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

. The production was shot in the Rutland, Vermont area during the summer of 1990, though it has a distinctive assortment of mid-1980s cultural artifacts, sets, and props. It was made on a $150,000 budget by 24 year old director David Giancola and his company Edgewood Studios. Scenes of the dystopic future were filmed at the Howe Center which Giancola's family was then renovating. A few scenes were shot in the Burlington area; the undisturbed future were shot by the Papa Gino's in what was then the Burlington Square Mall and the 1950s diner was Libby's Blue Line Diner (now Athens Diner) by I-89 Exit 16. In 2004, when asked if he was considering a sequel, Giancola said: "We don't have any plans for a sequel, there have been so many time travel films since covering the same material, I don't feel I have anything new to add."

Release

To make the title of the movie more comprehensible in the Asian markets, the title of the movie was changed to ''Time Chasers,'' from ''Tangents''. In 2008, a new "Special Anniversary Edition" of the film was released with deleted scenes, new audio commentary and in depth humorous interviews, including "Memories In Time" by filmmaker Andrew Gannon.

Reception

In 1994, ''Time Chasers'' won the first-place Gold Award in the independent category at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.

''Mystery Science Theater 3000''

The film initially lost money, but licensing fees for its 1997 ''

'' appearance took its earnings out of the red. For the showing on ''MST3K'', the cast and crew had a reunion party to view the lampooning. ''MST3K'' star Michael J. Nelson claims that some at the party were not happy at the mocking, in particular Peter Harrington. However, director Giancola said they all "laughed their asses off," but also admitted that some people at the time "took it a bit too seriously." Harrington was originally planned to appear in the episode as a guest but was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 145529, Time Chasers 1994 science fiction films 1994 films American science fiction films American aviation films 1990s English-language films American independent films Rutland, Vermont Films set in 1777 Films set in 1957 Films set in 2041 Films set in the future Films about time travel Films shot in Vermont 1994 independent films 1990s rediscovered films Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 2040s Rediscovered American films 1990s American films