Bats_Breath And this is one of them. Yes it is a bad movie. But it is certainly not a terrible film. It's not a good film because it lacks a cohesive plot, the narrative sorta just plods along and we never really learn much about Lyle Swann, the dirt biker part of a motor-cross marathon that accidentally gets sent from 1982 to 1877. We don't learn much more about the characters he interacts with either, and no one seems to change or grow at all by the end of the movie. The film seems to end rather abruptly, and on a somewhat bittersweet note.The biggest complaint I always see about Timerider is that Lyle Swann is pretty stupid about what happened to him. He doesn't seem to put together that he went back in time till literally the very last scene, even the moments leading up to that last part don't give a hint that Swann had realized he was sent back to the 19th century. Yes this was annoying. Though I do find it believable that most people would not suddenly think "hey I went back in time" simply because they are lost. Swann's interaction with the old man in the desert or the villainous Reese and his crew would probably not be enough for him to make that connection, but I think that by the time Swann had reached the small village something should have sparked in his mind that this was not right. Too many people were reacting with hysteria and fear upon seeing him in his red dirt bike dear and Yamaha bike (or machine as they start calling it). By this point Swann should have seriously wondered about why people continue to assume he is some demon.I want to echo the sentiments of another poster, some of the stuff I really enjoyed about this movie was the raw unapologetic presentation of 19th century America. For PG standards anyway. There was nothing romantic about THIS Old West. People were dirty, dingy, nasty cruel barbarians with guns. Apart from Claire, who had her hair done up and wore nice make up (this was forgivable since she was hot), everyone else was presented as a grimy, yellow teethed, uneducated lot of folks that likely did inhabit the real 19th century. Most of these people probably never or rarely saw a dentist, and bathing was a luxury. I really liked this, when I saw this movie for the first time as a small child this struck a chord with me, as I don't think I had seen too many films up to that point that presented the old west like that. These issues also illustrated how radically different the culture of the late 20th century was from previous eras. Simple things we take for granted such as good hygiene, were in the 19th century, almost assuredly reserved for the wealthy who had the means for such dalliances. You certainly would not want to live in Timerider's Old West, there is no compulsion to sit and write poetry or muse about the old American frontier, no the director makes you feel just as eager as Swann does to get the hell out of there. If there was a least believable aspect of the film, it's that Lyle gets shot at repeatedly but never once gets hit. Nevertheless, catching this movie on a lazy weekend on a syndicated channel back in the 80s was always a treat and it's still good viewing for any rainy day.

MartianOctocretr5 Well, it was a good idea. They just didn't do a lot with it. A guy on a motorcycle in the desert gets accidentally catapulted back in time by an experiment, and is himself unaware that this has happened.I liked the people of the 19th Century town, and the chemistry between Lyle Swan (Fred Ward) and the local beauty there (Belinda Bauer) is a plus. Ward's acting is alright, playing the confused dummy lost in the past. However he is undermined by feeble scripting: neither his nor any other character grows or learns anything. The same jokes about futuristic marvels that he shows the astonished people get thin pretty fast, and some of the same dialog, like "Where's my bike?!?" even repeats.There's only one common thread running through the story that has any meaning as far as the impact of time travel adventure goes, and if you blink, even that will zip by. A weak story that's just not written very well.

commanderstraker-1 Time Rider made today would be a great film. Somehow the creators of this movie were so wrapped up in showing us how the people in 1870 reacted to modern marvels such as pre-packaged granola snacks and cyalume light sticks that they forgot about the acting and building a better script. Fred Wards continual sweating and saying things like "Where's my bike" and "I gotta get outta here" just don't hold you for 90 minutes. Then there's Peter Coyote (wasted here) gritting his 50 or so gold fillings while saying "That's mine, that's mine" The premise here is good and the film entertaining but another 15 minutes of character building and a better use of Swan's gadgets would have been a big help. 6 out of 10. Re-write the film and put "Arnold" on the bike and you may just have something here!

snowalker-1 Timerider is a fun movie to watch. It's a good movie to watch with kids on a rainy day. Some of the content is a little adult, but not over the line. It's not a billon dollar pick, but it has some nice special effects. You will see some familiar faces when they were young, and the acting they really tired. I liked the movie, and hope it sparks the fire that leads someone to become a "timerider". I would not say run out and buy it, but if someone has a old VHS of it, watch it! I think even hardcore si-fi fans like me will get a kick out of it. Maybe its just me, but I thought the soundtrack was pretty good. It fit the mood of the movie. Only downside is there is a lot of rerun footage.