Time travel is always a tricky thing to pull off, but this 47-episode Syfy series attempted it in the most ambitious way possible and pulled it off. Is there any idea more structurally complex to do than time travel? Sure, there may be more philosophically sticky questions to tackle or more difficult set pieces to design, but time travel is its own animal.
The paradoxes that get presented with time travel storytelling open up the types of plot holes that fans can feast on for weeks, diving into the mistakes and roundabout issues that develop. To make a successful time travel story, you not only need a sound sort of logic behind it, but you need a compelling enough story that fans will remain interested once the inevitable pitfalls appear.
12 Monkeys may therefore be just about one of the most solid time travel stories to ever air. Only Netflix’s Dark tops it in terms of time travel satisfaction, and some may even argue that Dark is actually about parallel worlds rather than time travel. 12 Monkeys premiered on Syfy in 2015 and ran for four seasons.
The series, based on the 1995 movie of the same name, which is itself based on a 1962 short film from French director Chris Marker titled La Jetée, is set in the year 2043, years after a deadly virus has caused an apocalypse. James Cole (Aaron Stanford) is a scavenger in the wasteland who is recruited to a top-secret project.
La Jetée is actually a featurette, which refers to a film shorter than a full-length film but longer than a traditional short film. As it were, Le Jetée runs 28 minutes.
“Project Splinter” sends James and others back in time to 2015 to stop the outbreak of the virus by searching for members of the mysterious “Army of the 12 Monkeys”. It’s a fantastic series that ties together heady science plots with a thrilling storyline that never slows down.
Hold Up, A Time Travel TV Series That Pretty Much Makes Sense?
The time travel aspects of 12 Monkeys could have easily threatened to overrun the show. From the very first episode, time travel plays a key role in the story. 12 Monkeys wisely rolls out its harder science fiction elements slowly. The series begins simply enough: go back in time and change the future.
It doesn’t make a huge deal about the consequences of changing the past right away, but as the series goes on, more complexities are offered up. The methodical, sure-handed storytelling of 12 Monkeys ensures that as a viewer you never feel lost and can trust in the showrunners to land the plane.
It’s so easy for a time travel show, or even an episode, to fall on its face. There’s so much a writer needs to account for in order for everything to work out. The time loop in 12 Monkeys is closed at the end of the show, and while questions will necessarily linger, they won’t detract from your enjoyment.
12 Monkeys The Movie Vs. 12 Monkeys The TV Show: Which Is Better?
The 1995 12 Monkeys movie is also worth watching. While many of the details are different, the basic plot structure is the same. James Cole (Bruce Willis) is sent back in time to stop the release of an apocalyptic virus. Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe, and Christopher Plummer also star.
Both the movie and the show are worth checking out, but 12 Monkeys the show may be the better of the two. The complex plot requires more hours to tell the whole story, and while the film is still satisfying, it’s forced to brush over some plot holes in order to get to the end of the runtime.
- Release Date
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2015 – 2018-00-00
- Directors
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David Grossman, David Greene, Grant Harvey, Joe Menendez, Magnus Martens, Michael Waxman, Steven A. Adelson, Mairzee Almas, Alex Zakrzewski, Bill Eagles, David Boyd, Dennie Gordon, Guy Norman Bee, Jeffrey Reiner, John Badham, Kat Candler, Mark Tonderai, Sheree Folkson, T.J. Scott, Kevin Tancharoen
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Aaron Stanford
James Cole
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Amanda Schull
Cassandra Railly
