Forever Young (1992 film)

Forever Young is science fiction, but it is also a great love story. It has Daniel McCormick (Mel Gibson), living in 1939 as a test pilot. His childhood sweetheart, Helen (Isabel Glasser) is his whole world. He claimed he didn’t have a single memory that didn’t involve her; that nothing was real in his life until she knew about it. 

His best friend, Harry Finley (George Wendt) was a scientist who successfully froze a chicken and brought it back to life. He was ready to try his experiment on a human being. 

Daniel is in a coffee shop with Helen, trying to get up the nerve to propose to her. He never does. Helen is struck by a car upon leaving the diner and goes into a coma. The doctors believed she had no chance for recovery, so Daniel begged Harry to use him in the experiment. He was to be frozen and brought back in one years’ time. This way he wouldn’t have to experience Helen’s death. 

But due to Harry’s death, a warehouse fire in the early ‘40s, and the war breaking out, the capsule storing Daniel’s frozen body falls victim to military red tape and isn’t found for 50 years, when two kids accidentally open it. Daniel thaws out and ends up at one of the kid’s, Nat (Elijah Wood) house, where he meets his mom, Clair (Jamie Lee Curtis).

Daniel has some tender moments with Clair, but it becomes clear he has never gotten over Helen, so nothing actually happens between them.

Forever Young was written by J.J. Abrams of Fringe and the two new Star Trek movies. It was originally titled: The Rest of Daniel.

Forever Young uses a technique for traveling from one era to another via cryogenics. That is, freezing a person for a long period of time. It’s also called suspended animation and stasis. This is not a new technique in the science fiction genre. It was used in The Twilight Zone, Star Trek and comic books.

While viewing this film, I could get over the bad science of how much cell damage would actually occur during the thawing out process. I was already very familiar with this idea from Stan Lee’s story of Captain America coming back to modern times (Ha, 1964) from the 1940s in his story from The Avengers #4, Captain America Lives Again. But in Captain America’s defense, the serum that made him a super soldier, would have prevented him from developing cell damage. But Daniel had no such serum, so if you just let yourself go with this, it’s still a great movie.

The Avengers #4 (1964) Marvel Comics

A great scene in the film is when Daniel teaches Nat to fly. They set up a mock airplane in Nat’s tree house. The camera technique used here was brilliant and allowed the viewer to get into the imagination of the boy. You felt like the tree house was actually flying.

SPOILER ALERT: Due to the freezing process, Daniel starts to age rapidly and becomes desperate when he discovers that Helen is still alive. With Clair’s help, he “borrows” a 1940s B-25 Bomber with Nat as a stow-away, and flies to the lighthouse where Helen lives. The now aged Daniel reunites with Helen and finally asks her to marry him.

This is a great romantic time-travel film with all the elements I use as my criteria: Awe in being in another time, action, suspense, and romance. It also had great props and visuals from the 1940s.

This will be the last of my weekly time-travel blog posts for a while. I am going to be writing my next book. But, as I am only a fraction completed with blogging about this great genre, I will continue to post on a monthly basis, starting in July 2015. See you then, or in the past. 

Meanwhile, you may enjoy my own unique take on time travel in my books. CLICK HERE

Parallel Roads (Lost on Route 66)
Katya and Cyrus Time Pilgrims
Almost yesterday
Tomorrow’s Borrowed Trouble
Steampunk Alice