Five Coolest Time Machines from 1980s Movies

1980s films gave us some of the coolest and most iconic vehicles and devices ever introduced on the silver screen and time machines are among them. Whether going to the past to save the future or going to the future to save the past, here are the five coolest time machines from 1980s movies.

The Delorean, Back to the Future

Inventor: Doctor Emmit Brown

Operator: Marty McFly

Pros: When you arrive at your designated time, you’ll have a sweet ride to cruise around in. Just be sure plot convenience doesn’t strike and you run out of gas when you get there. Moreover, with a modified Delorean, you can even hover around overhead for a bird’s eye view of the past or future.

Cons: Until you make it to the future to modify your power source, you’ll need weapons-grade plutonium to power your time machine. Not an easy thing to come by. You could hatch a plan to steal it from Libyan terrorists but that might not end well. You’ll also need a long, clear stretch of land to reach the required 88 miles per hour to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electrical energy needed for the flux capacitor to kick in. Another limitation is that you can only go back and forth in time at the same place. That can be pretty dangerous depending on when you’re going.

The Phone Booth, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Inventor: 27th century Californians

Operators: Rufus, Bill S. Preston, Ted Theodore Logan

Pros: The Phone Booth is relatively easy to operate: Just look up a time and place, dial the number, and ride through the circuits of time to your destination. Probably the greatest advantage is that you can not only go to other times but also go to another place completely in that time.

Cons: Once you get to where you are going, the Booth is stationary. You’ll have to find other means of transportation to get around once you are there. Also, be careful not to damage the time machine. If you do, there are no manuals on how to repair it and the cool guy who gave the time machine to you will be MIA until the very end of your excellent (or bogus) adventure.

Trimaxion Drone Ship, Flight of the Navigator

Inventors: Aliens from planet Phaelon

Operators: “Max” AI computer, David Freeman

Pros: Wherever or whenever you are, you have a very cool, super sleek spaceship that can go almost anywhere fast. You also have a Pee-wee Herman robot (maybe a con) and a small zoo of interesting alien creatures to keep you company during your travels.

Cons: It seems the Trimaxion Drone Ship (Max) can only take you to the future by travelling near the speed of light. Thus, time is slower for you than anyone else on Earth. In this way, time travel is far more realistic but less fun for sure. Moreover, going back in time is only possible at the risk of complete disintegration due to your fragile human biology. It’s probably best to just fly around in Max in the present and leave time travel for extreme emergencies.

Klingon Bird of Prey, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Inventors: Klingons of Q’onos

Operators: Usually Klingons unless highjacked by rogue Star Fleet officers

Pros: You have a Klingon warship at your disposal armed with photon torpedoes and disruptor cannons. It also has an invisibility cloak so you can sneak anywhere undetected! Sure, you could be an environmental badass with this and harass whaling boats, but a more ambitious time traveler could use a Bird of Prey to pretty much rule past humanity.

Cons: The Bird of Prey is not actually designed to be a time machine. Although being a spaceship capable of warp speeds, you’d have to enlist the aid of a specific Vulcan named Mr. Spock to make precise calculations to time-whip around a star to actually travel back and forth in time. Even then, the results are unpredictable and vary depending on the plot of your adventure. While a mission to the past to save an endangered species of ocean-dwelling mammal may increase your chances of successful time travel, voyaging back to engage in world domination will probably end in failure.

The Cosmic Key, Masters of the Universe

Inventor: Gwildor the Thenorian locksmith (AKA Budget Orko)

Operator: Various Eternians, Kevin Corrigan, Julie Winston

Pros: The Cosmic Key is a highly portable device that can fit into a backpack. It also puts on a music and light show when activated which is great if you happen to be a California teen in a band in 1987. Think The Dark Crystal meets Van Halen.

Cons: Skull lords, beast men, and armies of Darth Vader wannabees are often looking for this device. If you activate it, they’ll likely come looking for you. The Cosmic Key also needs complex and precise notes to get you to where you want to go (think the Phone Booth times a million). Moreover, although you can journey vast distances across the universe, time travel capabilities only work in giant, gaping plot holes.

There you have it: The pros and cons of the five coolest time machines of 1980s movies. If you want more cool 80s vehicles, check out these top five 80s television helicopters. Also be sure to listen to our picks for the best 80s television cars. With that, I leave you with this quote…

“No wonder your president has to be an actor. He’s gotta look good on television.”

— Doc Brown, Back to the Future