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Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

THE TIME TRAVELERS has about it a claustrophobic feel that suits it just fine; the darkened underworld living quarters of the Future Earthmen are probably not too far removed from where we'll actually BE, ere long... (It's hard not to think so: we already live in a world where polar bears DROWN trying to swim to ice floes in the Arctic...) It's always fun to see Forrest J. Ackerman on the Big Screen ("getting things squared away for the astronauts" who'll be leaving the Feckless Future to populate/contaminate another planet); I don't think I remember him ever having to say this many words before. Ib Melchior (uncredited creator of LOST IN SPACE) does a fine job directing this one, although two moments are quite jarring: in the first, one of the actors breaks the fourth wall and says something directly to the camera; in the second, a clearly handicapped man is referred to as "a mutant." I know a lot of people defend this kind of casting, but, to me, it borders on the inhumane.

The likelihood that our future is some kind of apocalyptic hellscape, while being somewhat depressing, was a huge boon for makers of low budget scifi films. In the post apocalyptic future of Ib Melchior's 'Time Travelers,' most of the action takes place indoors, where the human survivors of the apocalypse must stay so as to avoid the requisite race of post-atomic savage mutants. Shooting outdoors on location is expensive...shooting on small, spartan sets on sound stages is much cheaper.The other great thing about the human race having to live indoors is that women have to take off their clothes and go into a room together to bathe in the rays of a sun lamp, with a few carefully positioned props covering up their naughty bits so that the scene is cheesecake, rather than being soft-core porn. In my lifelong study of low budget scifi films, this is the only film I have seen where this aspect of our future post-apocalyptic life was explored.Scifi fans or film buffs looking for any kind of serious artistic or dramatic content should look elsewhere. This movie was obviously aimed at kids and adolescents, and the value of it now is just pure goofy fun.Comic actor Steve Franken, while not the leading man, is a highlight in this quirky opus, playing an electrician wearing coveralls named Danny McKee. Danny McKee has the habit of saying 'Holy McKee!' to express surprise or amazement. I have never in my life ever met a real person who used his own last name in this fashion...imagine if, say, Matthew McConaughey said 'Holy McConaughey!' whenever he was surprised or amazed. But for some reason, Danny McKee likes to say 'Holy McKee!' There is an improbable sub-plot of one of the beautiful future women, one of the gals in the semi-nude 'sunbathing' scene, falling in love with goofy Danny McKee. If they had married, would she also say 'Holy McKee'? If they were married by a clergy person, would they be united in Holy McKeetrimony? Another highlight of this film is that many of the special effects are simply bits of stage magic, perhaps adapted slightly to fit the setting. There is a scene, for example, where a head is removed from an operational android...this is done in the exact manner as a popular magic trick where a head is 'removed' from a living stage assistant. There are other stage magic tricks scattered throughout this film, such as the depiction of a high tech future assembly line and other business with the androids. I don't know if director Melchior was also a stage magician, or whether his FX person was, but the magic tricks provide unintentional humor and add to the goofy charm.

I've been watching old sci-fi films for 45 years, and time travel is my favorite of the genre. I've seen them all, and collected most, and this is a must see for any aficionado of time travel stories. I'll skip the synopsis and stick to why your brain must ingest this movie. To begin with this is the first of the straight forward time portal movies, and one of the best. The budget is surprisingly meaty for an AI movie, and the effects are quite good for the time. The quaint rear screen portal effect may seem cheesy by today's standards, but it allows for the unexpected discovery of the portal, advances the storyline nicely by providing a plausible way to get them out of the room, and sets up the totally cool story twists....especially the ending. The collapsing portal effect is very neat. Compare it to Hewitt's remake/rip-off Journey To The Center Of Time (1967). That rehash (directed by the co-producer, co-story writer, and effects manager of this movie) has everyone leaving though the door. There are so many interesting features to the story including a post apocalyptic hell scape complete with radiation scarred mutants, androids, teleportation, advanced food production techniques, force-fields, weird recreational activities, futuristic blue pant suits, and of course 60's babes including Delores "Va-Va-Voom" Wells. Almost all of the actors are above par for the time and genre, with Steve Franken doing a memorable job as the comic relief guy, and Preston Foster and John Hoyt delivering their usual workmanlike performance. Carey is a passable hero, with his Heston-like delivery, and Wells and Anders provide more than just pleasant window dressing. Of course there's the obligatory as-much-boob-as-we-dare scenes, which adds to the campy fun. I disagree with some reviewers whom assert the android factory and Wells music scenes were drawn out to kill time. This was no Coleman Francis movie. You get the impression throughout that the makers thought this was cutting edge sci-fi stuff, certainly the best androids to that time. There's some good action as well, especially the mutant attack finale. By far though the best part of this movie was the great ideas generated by the writers, a skill that seems sadly lacking these days. So much of the science was cutting edge for the time and its hard for a contemporary audience to appreciate that now. Imagine living in 1964 and only having seen the movies to date and you can begin to give this film the credit it deserves. Finally, the time-loop ending and tie in foreshadowing to the first scene is a classic and was groundbreaking. If you like time travel stuff you must collect this if only for the historical perspective it will give you on the genre. I'm just disappointed that I won't live to the year 2079...really would like to have an android and see everybody in sky-blue futuristic jumpsuits :) .

I first saw this movie back in 1965 or 1966, when I was 5 or 6 years old. The mutants really scared me, and I had some bad nightmares. So I would not recommend this film for small children. I recently re watched this and found it not too scary (for adults) but still a good, thought-provoking film. It is a low budget film so some of the special effects and script are obviously dated, but this film heavily influenced Star Trek, and The Time Tunnel was also a spin-off. The scene where Dr White first encounters a half-mutant/half human is still kind of creepy. And the doomsday scenario and the race against time and the mutants lends some good suspense. This film deserves a wider audience, and would be a good candidate for a serious-minded remake.