Timeline

*Timeline* is a series of films created by Mike Barkhoff. The former, his debut short film, created at the age of thirteen, was released in 2013. See - Timeline (2013). The latter was an updated variant, released in 2015 (Timeline (2015)). The latter is the first season of a web series called "Timeline".

Though a second season, and beyond, have yet to be made, the first season was released in seven episodes, and both Barkhoff and star of the 2015 version, Zach Delfs, have expressed interest in continuing the series.

## Timeline (2013)

### Written by

Mike Barkhoff, Conner Paulsen

The plot of the 2013 film follows Police Chief Harry Young who is following after a group of criminals known as The Poppers who are wreaking havoc around his hometown. Harry and his Police force manage to find a member of The Poppers at home and secure a collection of journals from the member - in these, Harry sees all the dates they performed master crime. Seemingly no help to them at all, Harry grows depressed, but finds himself going through journals upon a visitation from an Old Man who he writes off as being crazy. The Old Man gives him a remote which allows him to time travel. Harry time travels to the first night of The Poppers' spree, their first crime they committed, and is surprised to find out that they entered the restaurant where Harry and his wife - in the past - went on their first date. Harry struggles fighting the criminal gang while also keeping hidden from his wife. At the end, Harry manages to kill the leader of The Poppers, but is struck on the head and struggles to remember major life milestones, including his wife and family - he lost his happiness chasing after his misery.

## Timeline (2015)

### Budget

100

The plot is essentially what is written above, but the ending has a much more intimate twist - The Poppers leader is keen in Future Harry's attempts at trying to stop him, because he is a time traveler who knows of the limits of science and has prepared for the moment. The two fight for the remote that allows time travel, but Harry ultimately manages to grab it first and, as the leader holds the remote, he sends them through multiple dimensions, with them fighting and loosing one another various times through each. At the end, Harry manages to defeat the leader but is badly injured. Harry manages to send himself to the current timeline, however, and sends the Harry from the initial timeline to send the remote back to the Old Man. The initial timeline's Harry does so, and reflects on the possibilities of time travel - and potentially more unknown feats - with the Old Man.

## Reception

The short film was met with positive reviews, but is lamented for its bad production quality. The 2015 is generally considered a stronger installment, but has also received light criticism for other areas of production (ala, a bad green screen). It is generally viewed as an overly ambitious attempt of Barkhoff's, with a promising script but lacking the essentials for it to be as good of a film as it can be.

## Future

Both Barkhoff and Zach have expressed interest in continuing Timeline, with both stating on an early episode of Live Free Podcast that they had written a story they think they should use in a future season (both independently and without working together), totaling at least two further seasons if they were to adapt both of their ideas.

## Legacy

Barkhoff began his filmmaking career after the 2013 film, and, following his "amateur phase" in 2014, Barkhoff wanted to launch a new beginning to his career, making much more serious efforts and taking it much more seriously, in 2015, with the remake.

The remake was made just prior to Barkhoff entering a Film Class and finding out that he was tasked with making a film in the class - this lead to the creation of Bond V Batman: Age Of Vengeance. Barkhoff admitted that he was considering simply submitting the 2015 Timeline film, but wanted to make use of the actors he had at his fingertips due to the class.

The 2015 Timeline film sees Barkhoff collaborate with several peers who helped during his amateur phase, many of whom wouldn't continue with him beyond this film and the aforementioned "Bond V Batman" that followed.

Notably, Barkhoff took a hiatus in 2016 and, upon returning in 2017, wanted to make things that were a combination of "fun and stressful", noting that the 2015 Timeline was too much stress and the Bond film was a lot of fun, wishing he could meet a middle ground.

The 2013 effort is Barkhoff's lowest rated entry on IMDb, which wasn't followed closely by anything until I Give It A Year in 2020. Barkhoff mentions the film in Doppelgang. In an early draft of the script, Barkhoff communicated with a 13 year old version of himself and gave him advice on the film.

To date, these are the only two film efforts to remain locked onto the platforms they are on (BadgerTv0 and the specialty Timeline channel, respectively) whereas everything else has been synced.