Time Changer

Plot

Bible professor Russell Carlisle (D. David Morin) confronts and lectures a boy who has stolen marbles from his neighbors, calling his action unjust. The year is 1890 and Carlisle has written a new manuscript entitled The Changing Times, which promotes good morals without discussing Christ. The book is on track to receive a unanimous endorsement from the board of the Grace Bible Seminary. That is, until colleague Dr. Norris Anderson (Gavin MacLeod) objects. Without unanimous endorsement, his book might not do so well. Carlisle and another professor seek a unanimity rule change, but the dean insists that Carlisle discuss the disagreement with Anderson privately.

Dr. Anderson fears that Carlisle's book could harm coming generations, arguing that teaching good moral values without mentioning Christ is wrong. Using a secret time machine, Anderson sends Carlisle over 100 years into the future, offering him a glimpse of where his beliefs will lead.

Arriving in the early 21st century, Carlisle is shocked to find that half of all marriages end in divorce (instead of 5% in 1890), teenagers talk openly about deceiving their parents, movies contain blasphemous language and people who go to church are so bored by the sermons that they need extra activities. He tries to convince a laundromat worker, Eddie Martinez (Paul Rodriguez), to go to church and read the Bible. Two churchgoing men grow suspicious of Carlisle, who acts as if he's seeing everything for the first time. They confront him as he is about to be transported back to the past. As the sky grows thunderous, Carlisle seems delirious as he talks about how the second coming of Christ is drawing near. Carlisle vanishes. The men look at where he vanished and one of the men says with dread, "I think we just missed the Rapture."

Carlisle rematerializes in 1890 and excitedly tells Anderson he will revise his book. He gives the thieving boy his own set of marbles and explains that it is Jesus Christ who demands honesty. Anderson tries to learn when the world will come to an end, by trying to send a Bible to the future. The machine won't operate with a target date of 2100, so he tries with progressively earlier decades 2090, 2080 and 2070, which fail. As the film ends, he makes at least two more failed attempts, aiming earlier and earlier, suggesting that either humanity cannot know when the End comes, or that the End will come before the mid-21st century.

Production

Time Changer was Rich Christiano's first feature-length film. In August 2001 Christiano Film Group announced the film's cast, and that shooting would begin on October 6, 2001 in Visalia, CA, for an August 2, 2002 release. In February 2002, the website stated that the film was being edited in Los Angeles. In March, the first rough cut was completed, work began on a second pass, and streaming video was made available. In a press release, the theatrical release date was listed as October 4, 2002. Editing wrapped in June, while music score, sound design, and visual effects work continued, and two scene sneak previews were linked on the website. On August 2, the trailer was released online. On August 6 the press release changed to show a theatrical release date of October 11. On October 4, 2002, the film was announced as "ready to go", with a theatrical poster available which showed the final release date of October 25, as did the simultaneous press release.

Releases

The film premiered in limited nationwide release on October 25, 2002. It was released on VHS and DVD in 2003; The DVD included a "making of" featurette, commentary tracks, deleted scenes, promos and the trailer. Time Changer was one of the first Christiano films offered through the Sky Angel Video On Demand service.

The story was also released as the 140-page Time Changer (A Novel) in 2001, co-authored by Christiano and Greg Mitchell.

Reception

In the Charlotte Observer, Lawrence Toppman praised the acting work, but had questions about plot holes and how some of the film's premises would be accepted by Christian viewers. Toppman wrote, "technically, the film can stand with most releases", and gave it 2.5 stars out of four. Variety reviewer Scott Foundas described the film as "goofy fantasy hokum" with a message, one scene as "subpar", and some monologues as "distinctly uncinematic", but other scenes as "surprisingly enjoyable." Foundas found the film "hard to read" - often having "its tongue planted firmly in its cheek", but at other times "sweetly naive". Joe Baltake of The Sacramento Bee gave 1.5 stars (of 4) to the "whimsical if predictable" film "marred by a willful single-mindedness." He found the film's beginning "interminable", and overall, "very strange".

As of 18 July 2009, the film holds a 22% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 2 out of 9 critics giving it a positive review with an average rating of 3.9/10.