Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

The Time Guardian Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf August 26, 2021

After the success of “Star Wars” in 1977 and its sequels in the early 1980s, film producers scrambled to cash in on a trend, offering all sorts of low- budget productions meant to exploit sci-fi endeavors capable of beguiling audiences with action on a much smaller scale. Australia didn’t want to be left out of the fun, turning to the complexity of time travel for their offering of blockbuster entertainment: 1987’s “The Time Guardian.” Co- writer/director Brian Hannant (co-writer of “The Road Warrior”) makes a valiant effort to deliver something big with the picture, filling it with rampaging cyborgs, laser weapons, a massive ship, and a supporting turn from Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher. However, the helmer can’t quite get the feature out of first gear, fighting to make sense of the story and characterization while visibly struggling with his limited funding, trying not to make the whole thing look ridiculous. He’s not entirely successful with that mission, with “The Time Guardian” best appreciated by viewers used to the world of B-movies and their disappointing limitations.

In the year 4039, a large city is capable of traveling through time, with Boss (Dean Stockwell) in charge of protecting what remains of the human race from the Jen-Diki, an army of cyborgs controlled by Zuryk (Peter Merrill). During a battle with the enemy, warrior Ballard (Tom Burlinson) uses a bomb to clear an escape route, damaging the ship as it makes a jump through time. Unable to land the city until repairs are made, Boss sends Ballard and Petra (Carrie Fisher) to 1988, tasking them to build a rock mound in Australia capable of holding the city’s weight, permitting them time to reassess their situation. Traveling in the area is geologist Annie (Nikki Coghill), who recognizes that the time travelers have visited before, soon encountering Ballard and Petra, willing to help them in their time of need. While work begins to create the mound, the Jen-Diki aren’t giving up the fight, arriving in 1988 to kill Ballard and destroy the city, triggering a future war around bewildered locals.

“The Time Guardian” didn’t have it easy during the production process, dealing with crummy financiers, a radically shortened shooting schedule, and major script revisions to help give the picture mass appeal. Perhaps Hannant never had a chance to prove himself with the material, and the battle to make something out of next to nothing is evident throughout the run time. “The Time Guardian” is a confused endeavor, but enthusiasm for nonsense goes a long way, and the first act establishes such goofy heroism and desperate encounters, offering an introductory action set piece where Ballard and his troops set out to clear the area of Jen-Diki, with the leader learning more about the origins of the cyborgs and their working parts. There’s time inside the city as well, which offers an industrial appearance for Hannant to fill with lots of smoke and lights, straining to turn a few rooms and hallways into a major vessel capable of jumping around the centuries, vaguely reminiscent of the The Black Fortress in “Krull.”

Design elements in “The Time Guardian” are ambitious but frequently misbegotten. Costuming is especially clunky, watching leadership run around in pajamas and felt headgear, while Ballard and his grunts are fitted with metallic breastplates, and one can almost hear Fisher screaming internally as she’s forced to act while wearing one of these silly creations. Futureworld material is mostly regulated to the first and last acts of “The Time Guardian,” with the bulk of the feature taking place in the much more affordable bigness of rural Australia, examining Annie’s entrance into the isolated area, which is populated with undersexed men and two cops, McCarthy (Tim Robertson) and Roy, who live to abuse their power. The story offers a loose sense of history with the city and its previous trips to this exact area (Annie discovers rock paintings of the ship), with the final cut more interested in the pairing of Ballard and Annie, making them a flirtatious duo when there are far more pressing matters to tend to, including the survival of the human race. But hey, there’s always time for skinny dipping, right?

The Jen-Diki aren’t very interesting in the evil department, with their lumbering ways making them easy targets. And Zuryk isn’t much of a villain, used sparingly, with the process of making a rock mound offered more screen time than the baddie of the picture. A few interesting ideas remain in the midsection of “The Time Guardian,” including a fragment of alien technology that’s left behind in the small town, punishing those who dare to explore its powers. Other sci-fi touches aren’t as successfully prioritized, especially business involving special technical armbands that possibly played a more important role in the original script, reduced here to a few scenes before they’re forgotten entirely.

The Time Guardian Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Billed as a "Brand new HD master from a 2K scan of the interpositive," "The Time Guardian" arrives on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded image (2.39:1 aspect ratio) presentation. Detail is acceptable with some degree of softness, capturing sweaty faces and the textures of the Jen-Diki. Costuming is fibrous and exteriors are dimensional, working with the vastness of the Australian locations. Ship interiors provide a good look at low-budget set construction. Colors offer hotter reds, but primaries are intact, with ship lighting a highlight. Blue skies and orange rock is also distinct. Skintones are natural. Delineation is acceptable, but blacks are noticeably flatter, with a milkier appearance at times. Artifacting is present during the opening titles. Source is in decent condition, with a few stretches of print damage, also displaying brief scratches and speckling.

The Time Guardian Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix provides an appealingly wider sense of listener engagement, offering clear scoring cues with distinct electronic instrumentation. Dialogue exchanges are crisp, managing different accents and levels of performance intensity. Sound effects are acceptable, delivering exchanges of laser weapons and gunplay.

The Time Guardian Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A U.S. Theatrical Trailer (2:00, HD) and an International Theatrical Trailer (1:31, HD) are included.

The Time Guardian Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"The Time Guardian" begins and closes with battle scenes, which aim to add excitement to the viewing experience, joining additional explosions and time with earthbound weaponry (it wouldn't be the 1980s without someone firing an Uzi) as Hannant endeavors to compete with larger action films of the era before dipping back into laser weapons and city events. The scale of the effort isn't grand, but it's nice to see the production straining to make itself seem important and competent, offering some labor to pull off an expansive time travel story with what appears to be the catering budget on "Return of the Jedi." Something went wrong along the way, as the story presents knots it has no interest in untangling, and the whole concept of time travel in the tale isn't detailed with clarity, merely delivered in chunks of flashy imagery and alien technology. "The Time Guardian" tries to play the part of event cinema, but there's too much missing or simply scrambled to make that kind of impact, rendering the viewing experience unsatisfying.