Dan Vasser

Being a father has enough trials without being tossed back in time at random moments. Dan doesn’t come with super powers or a life he can ignore in order to serve whatever higher authority in Journeyman has decided to play twister with his timeline. With a brain and a dedication towards helping the people he encounters on his journeys, Vasser is a cool time traveler that is caught up in the chaos of something he can’t control but still works towards juggling saving people in the past and saving his relationships in the present. Substance beats style and gets a nice twist with his inability to control his unique “events”.

The Ninth Doctor

Ninth Doctor Who snapping his fingers

Doctor Who gets to show off the warrior facet of the time lord with this incarnation played by Christopher Eccleston. There are cool time travelers and then there’s The Doctor, an immortal regenerating last of his kind explorer who tends to show up where and when needed. Eccleston gets to give old and new fans of the series a quietly raging doctor, one who is ready to go to war over his grudge and that’s an aspect up until now The Doctor never much evidenced. A harder, most driven character in this generation, the ninth Doctor shows off the terrible power and fury that up until now has been hidden behind a thick veneer of Zen-like calm and that is fascinating.

Danny Quinn

Danny Quinn flying a helicopter

A scrapper and officer of the law, Danny Quinn seethes with the regret and loss of his brother and doesn’t enter into the idea of time travel without serious skepticism. Played by Jason Flemyng, Quinn feels like the eye of the storm, calm for now but venture too far out and destruction will reign. One of the cooler time travelers out there, this Primeval star won’t fall in love with time travel anytime soon but he won’t run with his tail tucked between his legs either.

Tru Davies

Tru Davies stretched out on a white fur

Not many time travelers get as cool a partner as Zach Galifianakis. Davis, played by Zach, is Tru’s supervisor, confidant and enabler as he encourages Tru whenever she hits rough spots in her quest to save the dead who ask for her help. Although only getting to go back a day in Tru Calling, Tru gets enough terror and mystery to fill her plate as she works to guide the living away from the path that leads to their death. Funny, sincere and well ensconced in her small tribe of friends, Davies gets to be one of the cooler time travelers out there as she tries to better the lives of others while being in the grips of a much larger and unseen conspiracy.

The Eleventh Doctor

Eleventh Doctor Who in his red bow tie

Quirky dress sense meets quirky personality and the eleventh Doctor comes ready to play. With an aura of intuitiveness and a drive to help others, this version of Doctor Who as portrayed by Matt Smith blends the warrior caste with the healer cast and throws in a sprinkle of occasional aloofness that makes him one of the coolest time travelers ever. Bringing bow ties back into popular dress wear might be beyond this Doctor but conveying other worldliness well taking the best bits of humanity is not. Smith keeps his companions and his encounters simultaneously at a distance and within his embrace with a powerful sincerity that makes it look easy.

Army of Darkness

Bruce Campbell being attacked by a demon ghoul

Whether you’re for or against time travel, if you’re against Bruce Campbell it’s time to go check into citizenship possibilities on other planets. Ash gets thrown back in time, gets to double his arrogance, teaches us all about the importance on high school text books and still manages to win the girl and lose the kingdom. Not necessarily a scientific portrait of time travel as it was magic that brought him back, regardless it offers vital world lessons as it’s the perfect primer on how to deal with less advanced civilizations. Army of Darkness also features a stirring treatise on confronting your inner demons and how to brutally kill them. A manly self-help kind of time travel movie.

Timecrimes

Hector with his head wrapped in Timecrimes

A definite feat of cinema, Timecrimes portrays the convoluted mess that time travel can create and yet manages to unravel it neatly. Without venturing into spoiler land, the protagonist Hector has a rough path ahead of him as he dips his toes into the past. With solid acting and a story that displays how creepy and entangling time travel can be, Timecrimes delivers so much more than its underrated movie status would make you believe.

Primer

Abe and Aaron with their error-checking device in Primer

A hybrid of science and human frailty, Primer does not dumb its concepts down to make them palatable to the audience,  and it also doesn’t bother making the characters do-gooders who have everyone’s best interests at heart. This is a film that is simultaneously confusing and understandable as the action taken by the charactersare all understandable to the the dark (and not-so-dark) parts of our brain. Although the scientific concepts behind it do require some graph paper and blood pressure medication to make your way through it, we think you will enjoy Primer.

Back to the Future Part III

Doc Brown and Marty McFly in his poncho in Back To The Future III

By the very nature of it being not just a sequel, but a sequel to a sequel, Back to the Future III already set itself to be counted among the underrated before it was even released. But forget all that because part three takes the fun of the previous films and throws it into overdrive. Future repercussions aside, it still remembers to explore how basic ideas that were once futuristic—like the bulletproof vest—can give those in the know a huge advantage in the past. But most of all it doesn’t forget the childlike wonder that time travel holds for everyone, no matter what age you’ve reached.

The Time Machine

H.G. Welles at his time machine

The original film from 1960 points out the flaws of man with an ergonomic office chair and umbrella hybrid. Underrated time travel at its best as the one thing that decays a film’s place in the collective conscious is the passage of time and it’s been more than half a century now. Despite effects losing their luster, The Time Machine explores the ignorance of humanity and how it breeds potential evil from the witch trials to the Eloi people who are content to trade being a food source in order to live lives without worry. The perspective remains sharp even in the present and serves as a concise lesson on the perils of growing complacent in our acquisition of knowledge.

Trying to narrow a list of hundreds of films down to only 11 was ridiculously difficult, and I’m sure there are many deserving films I left off. But please keep in mind that my choices are legally binding, and no amount of bitching in the comment section will alter the fact that this is now the definitive list on the subject, and will be until the end of time. With that in mind, let’s take a look.

Revenge of the Nerds

OK, right off the bat, I broke my rule. These are supposed to be films that appeal to nerds, not films about them.

That said, this movie probably did more to raise the status of nerds than any other film. It’s a classic, and it still gets laughs nearly twenty years on. Aside from the nerdy characters, the film’s plot really isn’t that nerdy. It’s more along the lines of Porky’s or Caddyshack than any of the films on this list. However, the scene where one lucky nerd dressed as Darth Vader nails a frat boy’s hot girlfriend more than makes up for it.

The Original Star Wars Trilogy

There’s no question that original The Star Wars Trilogy is beloved by nerds the world over. But I hesitate to add it to the list. After all, the films have become so popular that it’s hard to even label it in a nerd specific manner. But in the end, any film with laser beams and talking robots can’t escape its true nerdy nature.

Tron

By today’s standards, the special effects in Tron look pretty weak. But back in 1982, they were groundbreaking. Throw in a premise based on video games, and characters with names like “Master Control Program,” and you’ve got a film that only a nerd could love.

Evil Dead II

The Evil Dead Trilogy is widely loved by the nerd community, due in large part to its protagonist, Ash Williams. And what’s not to like about a guy who works at the equivalent of a Walmart and ends up fighting demons with a chainsaw in place of his severed hand. The film was so popular, that it catapulted actor Bruce Campbell into the pantheon of nerd legends.

The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan has turned the Batman franchise into every nerd’s wet dream. This is even more impressive when considering the sad state of the affairs left in the wake of Joel Schumacher‘s Batman and Robin. The Dark Knight had everything we loved about Batman Begins, and managed to turn up the action without sacrificing the plot or character development. Here’s hoping the third installment lives up to its predecessors.

Pi

Pi is about a paranoid mathematician who is more comfortable sitting in front of his computer than he is interacting with people in the outside world. That alone gets it a spot on this list. Throw in the fact that he’s discovered a complex string of numbers representing the name of God which is also useful for making stock picks, and you’ve got yourself some real nerd street cred. The gritty, documentary-style cinematography doesn’t hurt, either.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

When it comes to comedy films, they don’t get much nerdier than Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The medieval-fantasy setting certainly helps matters, but what really pushes this film over the top is its bizarre, off-the-wall humor and its highly quotable nature. After all, if there’s one thing nerds love, it’s memorization, which explains why they’ve been memorizing and repeating lines from this film for close to 40 years.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Yes, the original Planet of the Apes is a far better film. But I contend that Escape from the Planet of the Apes is far more nerdy. After all, talking, futuristic apes are one thing. Transporting these apes back in time and using them as social commentary on 1970′s racial and gender roles is quite another. Only a hardcore nerd could sit through this nonsense.

The LOTR Trilogy

Rather than single out a specific film, I included the entire LOTR trilogy. Like Star Wars, it was meant to be viewed as one continuous story, and like Star Wars, the series offers everything a nerd could want. From elves to orcs to hobbits, the universe created by J. R. R. Tolkien is littered with the pointless minutia and alternative histories that nerds crave. And with hardly a female character to be seen, it’s easy to see why it’s one of the most popular franchises of all time.

2001

2001 has all of the elements you’d expect from a sci-fi film: space travel, time travel, evolution, robots, etc. However, one crucial element is missing: fun! I don’t intend that as a detriment. It is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time. But that said, it’s more of a thought-provoking tribute to mankind’s scientific advancements than it is entertaining, which is why it is appreciated more by nerds than your average moviegoer.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Let’s face it; when it comes to nerd films, Star Wars is for pussies. After all, science fantasy is bush league. Science fiction is the real deal, which is why Star Trek is and always will be the franchise of choice for hardcore nerds. I chose the first film for one simple reason: it sucks. Honestly, it is not good. Those long, drawn out scenes of the Enterprise floating in space are completely unnecessary, not to mention a blatant ripoff of 2001′s style. And the cheesy tie into the Voyager space probe was laughable at best. But despite all the flaws, nerds rallied around the film, and it sparked one of the most storied sci-fi film franchises in history. Well done.