Episode 17: Donnie Darko
Finally, we've come to the smoking hot six-foot Halloween bunny hallucination from the future of time travel, "Donnie Darko."
Way back from 2001 comes a broody teenage angst story that's also about time travel, God, sacrifice and parallel universes. "Donnie Darko" is a weird case because it has an original cut of the movie, which is pretty, uh, ambiguous, and a director's cut that is significantly less ambiguous, but no less confusing.
The good news is, we've gone through both versions in our analysis in Episode 17! The bad news, this is our longest episode (and it feels like we keep saying that).
This handy breakdown explains a lot of what's up with "Donnie Darko." And here are a ton of more details, including the pages of "The Philosophy of Time Travel."
In this episode:
What's the deal with "Donnie Darko"
Director's Cut vs. Original Cut
Saved by Drew Barrymore
Flood dreams
Super powers or just sleepwalking megastrength?
"Glad school was flooded today" and other coincidences
Occam's Razor Theory
Donnie's sacrifice to save people he loved
The jet engine and Frank problems
The Timelines. Maybe.
"The Philosophy of Time Travel"
Weird retcons for some reason
Timelines vs. dimensions
One last theory
Next time: "Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel"
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