Excellent Adventures: The Time Travel Movie Podcast

In this mini excellent adventure, Ellen and her mum Joy dive into Samurai in Time, a film that blends some of their favourite cinematic flavours: slick swordplay, time-travel twists, and a peek behind the curtain of the film industry. Recorded on the drive home from Chichester Cinema at New Park, after a screening presented by the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme in 2025.

Links:

Join Ellen, Paul and James in a wide-ranging discussion that begins with Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name.

What starts as an exploration of the film’s narrative - two strangers connected across time and space - expands into a conversation about memory, identity and the human desire for connection.

They consider how films like Your Name reflect deeper cultural questions about fate, loss, and longing and why stories of chance encounters continue to resonate.

Celebrating a whopping 50 episodes of Excellence. Ellen, James & Paul reflect on highlights of 2 years Podcasting together, lessons learned & what the Future still holds. Tune in & celebrate along with them!

This episode, Paul Hosts & invites Ellen & James to a mini quiz on the cinema of the Summer of 1989. With the picture painted, it’s a race against Time to stop a devil of a scheme to undo creation itself.

Discussing the performances of Richard E Grant, Julian Sands & Lori Singer, there’s also much praise for Jerry Goldsmith’s score.

Oh & Paul was really pleased to finally suggest something Time Travelly that Ellen hadn’t already seen!

Our Christmas special two-parter takes a festive leap through time (and film history) as we each pick our favourite Christmas Carol adaptation.

Oh, & Paul's pick - the 1951 Scrooge starring Alastair Sim. That's not too shabby either. Bring a bag of humbugs. Put your feet up in front of the fire. Enjoy Part One...

This week, Ellen is joined by Jen Francis - a freelance TV producer and writer whose work spans original scripts, television development and sharp-eyed film criticism. Jen is also the author of Steve McQueen: In The Scene (2025), a new non-fiction study of the director’s craft.

https://www.aurorametro.com/product/steve-mcqueen-book/

Together, Ellen and Jen dive into the irresistible world of time-traveling Jane Austen adaptations:

Love & Jane (Hallmark, 2024), An American in Austen (Hallmark, 2024), and ITV’s cult miniseries Lost in Austen (2008).

Why do these stories of portals, swaps and “out-of-time” heroines keep captivating a

udiences? And what do they reveal about the enduring appeal of Austen herself?

They also celebrate their joint contribution to Encounters with Jane Austen — a brand-new anthology of short stories, essays, and poetry marking the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth in 2025 (Supernova Books). A thoughtful, celebratory collection — and an ideal Christmas gift for Austen fans everywhere.

https://www.aurorametro.com/product/encounters-with-jane-austen/

A visually arresting adaptation of the poem ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ , David Lowery’s film is fascinating. It’s a Christmas movie , for sure, and it includes a time travel thread in the tapestry of its tale. What more could you ask for? Inventive, and imbued with a tangible sense of magic, the film prompts an enthusiastic conversation between James and Ellen for this episode.

James and Paul are MIA, but Ellen is forging ahead solo into the wonderfully absurd world of Hallmark Time Travel Movies. From pocket watches that open wormholes to Victorian men horrified by toasters, she breaks down the rules, the romance, and the time-bending tropes that make this subgenre so irresistibly unhinged.

Buckle up—time travel waits for no one!

Time travel, medieval mayhem, and a crooning Yankee - what more could you want? Ellen, Paul, and James dive into A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1949) and its literary origins in Mark Twain’s groundbreaking novel.

Join them as they explore the surprising legacy of this fantastical fish-out-of-water story - complete with an eclipse, a sneaky almanac, and Bing Crosby bringing swing to Camelot.