Plot synopsis
Unorthodox police detective, John Spartan, is sentenced to 70 years sub-zero rehabilitation in the California Cryo-penitentiary for a crime he did not commit: the manslaughter of 30 innocent people.
He is placed in a container of liquid, which suddenly freezes all around him. All prisoners remain in cryo-stasis for the duration of their sentence, during which time their behaviour is altered by synaptic suggestion.
The rehabilitation program uses a computer to draw up a skill and trade that best suits their genetic disposition. It implants the knowledge and the desire to carry out the necessary training.
In 2032, Simon Phoenix escapes from jail, killing the guards in the process.This is the first unlawful death that has taken place in this society in the last 22 years.
Doctor Cocteau programmed Simon differently: he is now three times stronger, can access all computers, drive all vehicles and knows the location of everything in town.
Simon’s skills were given to him for a reason: to kill the leader of The Scraps, a group of revolutionaries who live underground in the city’s sewers.
His job becomes harder because the Police unfreeze John Spartan and offer him a pardon and a full reinstatement into the Police Force if he can catch Simon again.
Simon gets five of his associates unfrozen to help him do his job. Dr Cocteau assures Simon that if he does his job, John will be put back in the freezer. After a battle, John freezes Simon and then shatters his frozen body, so that he can never come back.
My comments
The whole plot of this film revolves around cryogenic freezing. Rather than a one-off device for forwards time travel, it takes place several times during the film.
During rehabilitation, the prisoners are not supposed to be conscious, as they would go insane. However, John says he had a 36-year nightmare about people trapped in a burning building. Dr Cocteau dismisses this as an unfortunate side effect.
See other films with cryogenic freezing such as: Forever Young (1992), Idiocracy (2006), Sleeper (1973), Vanilla Sky (2001), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999).
Summary of time travel
Cryogenic freezing does not affect the past, but the time travellers’ arrival in the future causes the future to be changed.
Also, from the moment a time traveller leaves the timeline, their absence will cause a new timeline to be created. But we cannot say if this has converged or diverged unless we can go back in time to check.
Category of time travel
Science fiction: cryogenic freezing.
Model of time
Undefined past, open future with a future timeline.
