Plot synopsis
Ellie, a female radio astronomer, detects a message from aliens in outer space. It turns out to be detailed instructions on how to build a pod to transport a human to their planet, Vega, which is 26 light-years away.
When Ellie is chosen to pilot it, her boyfriend is reluctant for her to go. Due to time dilation, he is afraid she may not return until many years later, even though the trip will take her less than a day.
NASA builds the pod and launches it with her aboard. It returns within a split second, seeming to have gone nowhere. However, she had actually passed through a wormhole in spacetime, causing her to arrive at Vega within minutes. She then spends the next 18 hours there diligently video-recorded everything she sees.
No one believes her; they all think she is deluded. Her only proof is her camera, but it just recorded static. However, on closer inspection, the time code shows that there was exactly 18 hours of static!
My comments
This film is based on scientist Carl Sagan’s novel of the same title.
The film could have discussed the theory of relativity and wormholes to explain how Ellie had travelled across the Universe and back within a split second. The wormhole on her outward journey was a short-cut across space. But because travelled back in time to arrive at the moment just after she left Earth, the wormhole would have become a time machine before her return journey. For example, one of its mouths must have moved around very fast through space to achieve this.
Many viewers did not understand this and so believed that the whole episode was a hoax. It seems that the style of this movie was to get people asking questions, more than to give them answers, with both the science and religion.
Summary of time travel
Ellie had aged 18 hours more than people on Earth, so she must have moved backwards through time relative to them. The time travel begins when she leaves Vega. During her trip home, she travels about 18 hours backwards in time, so she arrives home just after she left. From this point on, she is on a diverging timeline, creating a new past and future.
Category of time travel
Science fiction: creating wormholes.
Model of time
Open past, open future with a diverging timeline.
