First up was Jay Cheel's feature on the subject of time travel. From enthusiasts to naysayers, this 20 minute tries to cover all aspects of the debate. I was struck by how Obsessed & Scientific hit on many of the usual features of recent documentaries; the talking heads speaking over the credits, live action sequences interspersed with images of charts and documents. Footage sped up and slowed down. A soundtrack with well-known artists. In this case Sufjan Stevens' music makes an appearance. (As compared to Radiohead in The Island President.) None of these things are bad. In fact it makes for a pleasant viewing experience in general! However, the more I watch documentaries, the more aware I become of tropes common to the medium.
I have to admit I did not come into this movie with the best frame of mind. I went searching for documentaries on John Titor, and I thought this movie would focus on that subject entirely. I was about ten minutes in when I realized this focused on time travel in general. One man talks about replicating a time machine seen in one of his favorite movies. He has no illusions about actually being able to travel in time, but one senses that that's not the point. The purpose of the exercise is to create a tangible object related to his favorite subject. Online forums have put the enthusiast in contact with people who share a similar fascination with time travel. Indeed, the internet is a constant presence in this film, from chats about building model time machines, to lively debates about the truth behind John Titor.
I would like to see Jay Cheel do a documentary focused solely on John Titor, because, given what I've seen here, he has has a nice grasp on informative, appealing documentaries. It's a lesser known mystery, but one with many potential areas of debate, and more than its fair share of devotees. There's a great deal to mine here.
As it stands, my favorite segment in this had to be when one of his interview subjects- a theoretical physicist- talked about how there's probably no reason for us to be visited by people from the future. They would be far too advanced to care about the people of the past! As he spoke, the filmmaker inserted images of tourists visiting museums. People pay big money to see relics of the past safely ensconced behind glass. Would there be people willing to go back in time to see something more vivid; history unfolding?
Obsessed & Scientific suggests that the answer is yes.
Timeline: The Legend of Zelda is GameTrailer's handsomely made documentary on... yep, the timeline of the Legend of Zelda series.
As video games go, it's hard to get much more iconic. It might also have one of the most obsessive fanbases out there. All credit to nintendo here; it's quite a feat sustaining interest in a series for nearly thirty years.
Some of this devotion might have to do with timeline theorizing. You see, in the Legend of Zelda games there are clues- some small, some blatant- that these games follow in some kind of chronological order. This isn't like Final Fantasy where there's a new world and story for nearly every single game. Most stories feature new characters, even if they have the same names, and are set in the same world. Some games are announced as sequels, some as prequels, and some get no such label at all. However, there is clearly an overarching mega plot. With the internet's tendency to bring like minded people together, there's long since been a dedicated group of followers who pore over hints in the game and try to construct the order of the games.
It's not an easy task; As of Ocarina of Time, the series has introduced the element of time travel. End result? It was widely accepted that the chronology branched into two different timelines after that game.
As you might be able to guess, I have had my forays into forum discussions on this very topic! I had to kill time during the wait for Twilight Princess somehow.
I haven't picked up this topic in years, but a friend alerted me to this documentary a few days ago. When I sat down to watch it, I was delighted from the moment I hit play. I found that some of the theories of my teenage years were correct, while I was way off based in other aspects. As a short film, it expertly conveys a convoluted subject, rather than drifting off into esoteric minutiae. Timeline: The Legend of Zelda probably has a small target audience, but if you're into the series and you're curious about worldbuilding, then I heartily recommend giving this a shot.
Obsession is a common theme in many documentaries I've seen. Particularly ones from the past decade. Both of these films are part of a thriving milieu non-fiction films focusing on collective fascination with a niche subject. This might be the first time I review I review movies of this nature, but it won't be the last.
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