Rating: 
Summary: A reasonably enjoyable (albeit a bit bumpy) TimeRide
Review: I remember going to see this at the local `plex with a friend when it first came out, and I rather enjoyed the experience. Now, after seeing it again for the first time in almost two decades, I found it to be a fairly standard western/time-travel adventure with a smidge of romance, and a dollop of fish-out-of-water comedy thrown in for good measure. Our hero (Fred Ward), a famous Baja racing motocross biker testing out a few high-tech tchochkes (well, they tried to make the tchochkes look high-tech, anyway, but like the "futuristic" gadgetry seen in the original "Star Trek" show, they ended up kinda dated), somehow manages to stumble into some time-traveling experiment out in a remote part of the desert, and gets transported back to the old west. All the while he never seems to know that he's gone back in time, despite several cues & clues thrown at him during his stay.
The aforementioned fish-out-of-water comedic elements are occasionally amusing, but most of `em are a bit too subtle or are not pulled off quite as effectively as they could have been (the director acknowledges this problem in the commentary track). Fortunately, the main heavy and his two bumbling henchmen pick up the levity as they set out to take the "futuristic" dirt bike for themselves. In the meantime, the hero manages to get a little action with a surprisingly assertive woman, which sets up the tried-and-true travel movie gimmick known as... well, that's be givin' away too much if ya ain't seen this yet, so I won't discuss this particular point any further. All in all, I found "TimeRider" a not-half-bad waste of an hour and a half, with the nostalgic angle enhanced by the early 80s adventure film rock music soundtrack that relied heavily on synthesizer keyboard melodies. Even the old west scenes have this kinda music, only more old west-y in sound... if that makes any sorta sense. It ain't no "Back to the Future", but it'll do in a pinch...
But wait, there's more: what is a movie DVD without the obligatory theatrical trailer or two? In this instance, they threw two trailers in as well as several TV spots. BTW it was the TV spots that got my seven-year-old brain thinkin' to myself, "Hey, that movie looks kinda cool! Maybe I can harangue my older friend who lives a cross the street to go see it with me at the local multiplex!" Which is what I eventually did...
Then there was the big surprise: a feature-length commentary track by the movie's director! Never in a million years did I ever think "TimeRider" would have a commentary track devoted to it, but there ya have it. Anyhoo, he goes over the usual technical stuff, talks about certain scenes and moments he felt could've been done a little better, and shows his penchant for nepotism by pointing out the various relatives he used as extras in some of the scenes. He also discusses the lessons he learned shooting the movie, which was his first feature film as a director. Ya know, the kinda stuff you usually hear in a commentary track...
Now I'm gonna go off on a tangent for a moment here, but... I had a bear of a time trying to find this on video OR DVD anywhere! I went to just about every online store looking for it, and failed to get any results whatsoever on their search engines. Fortunately, I caught sight of the DVD at an "old-fashioned" brick-and-mortar setup, and found out why my searches were unsuccessful: I was typing the movie's title into the online stores' search engines as two separate words (Time Rider), rather than as one compound word (TimeRider)! I guess none of the online stores I checked out could be bothered to have their search keywords set up to where both "Time Rider" and "TimeRider" would lead to a hit for this movie...
And on another tangent: I coulda' sworn there was a scene near the end where one of the bad guys got hit with the chopper's tail-rotor, leaving behind a pair of bloody, tattered boots hitting in the aftermath. Am I thinkin' of a different movie here? I could have sworn it was here where I saw that scene. If anybody knows which flick I'm talkin' about where this moment appears, drop me an e-mail, willya? Thanks. BTW I know it's not "Raising Arizona"...
(UPDATE 8/29/04: Thank you to all of those who e-mailed me stating that the above scene I semi-recalled being in the original film did indeed exist, but was excised from the DVD release for some reason. 'Course, had I actually done a bit more research on this mysterious omission-- like reading a few of the preceding customer reviewers' write-ups-- I wouldn't have even needed to pose the question above in the first place!)
Anyhoo, I gotta skate. I'm gonna go watch my other fave Fred Ward action/adventure movie that I haven't seen in a long time: "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins"! I tell ya, I'm so excited to finally see that flick again, I'm havin' trouble maintainin' bladder control...
`Late!
Rating: 
Summary: Timerider - Blast from the Past!
Review: I saw this movie in 1983 and was surprised as to how good it was. I wish I had purchased it then. It has a wonderful ending. I can't wait to receive my copy and see it again. I've described it to my 15 year old son, who is an avid dirt bike rider and he can't wait to see it. I'm so happy it's now available!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Movie !!!
Review: I've had the internet for almost 4 years and I've been searching for this movie on V.H.S. or D.V.D. and here it is, finally !!! Fred Ward is a good actor and I wish he was more known then he is. He plays the part of a dirt bike racer. On his racing circuit, he gets lost somewhere in the desert and accidentally gets transported back in time, to the late 1800's. A research group was conducting a time travel experiment and for reasons of safety and secrecy, they set up the time travel machine out in the middle of the desert, hundreds of miles from the nearest person. Not knowing what it is, Fred Ward goes over to it on his dirt bike and the moment he pulls up to it, the research group activates it and he gets thrown back in time, about 100 years. I won't tell you the rest, but it's pretty cool and there are some funny moments during the movie as well. Thank God it's being transferred to D.V.D. !!!
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, disappointing release....
Review: Interesting movie, but I was disappointed that a scene at the end got cut short. This is your basic fish out of water story with a motocross racer, Lyle Swan (played by Fred Ward) gets unknowingly caught in a time travel experiment and launched about 100 years in the past. The general reaction, due to his attire and motorized horse is that he is some kind of devil, but one person he comes across, Porter Reese, a criminal outlaw played by Peter Coyote, sees the potential in owning this amazing contraption for himself. All of this takes place in the southern California desert, and Lyle is unaware of what has happened to him. He thinks he just got lost during a race, and tries to find his way back home. I thought it was interesting that he never really gets clued into the fact that he is 100 years out of time. As I said in the beginning, and I think another reviewer mentions this, that a few critical seconds were cut out of a scene at the end. These few seconds of missing footage include a helicopter, its rear rotor blade, and the main antagonist. I think this part was edited out for a television release and never put back in for the DVD release, which is a real shame. You wouldn't think 3 to 5 seconds of footage could impact a movie as much as it does, but it does here. This is the reason why I am giving the release 3 stars instead of four. Other than that, this was a fun sci-fi/western/action movie.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, disappointing release....
Review: Interesting movie, but I was disappointed that a scene at the end got cut short. This is your basic fish out of water story with a motocross racer, Lyle Swan (played by Fred Ward) gets unknowingly caught in a time travel experiment and launched about 100 years in the past. The general reaction, due to his attire and motorized horse is that he is some kind of devil, but one person he comes across, Porter Reese, a criminal outlaw played by Peter Coyote, sees the potential in owning this amazing contraption for himself. All of this takes place in the southern California desert, and Lyle is unaware of what has happened to him. He thinks he just got lost during a race, and tries to find his way back home. I thought it was interesting that he never really gets clued into the fact that he is 100 years out of time. As I said in the beginning, and I think another reviewer mentions this, that a few critical seconds were cut out of a scene at the end. These few seconds of missing footage include a helicopter, its rear rotor blade, and the main antagonist. I think this part was edited out for a television release and never put back in for the DVD release, which is a real shame. You wouldn't think 3 to 5 seconds of footage could impact a movie as much as it does, but it does here. This is the reason why I am giving the release 3 stars instead of four. Other than that, this was a fun sci-fi/western/action movie.
Rating:
Summary: I give it 4 stars because Belinda Bauer is in it.
Review: It is an interesting premise riding a dirt bike in the Baja 1000 and ending up in 1877. Interesting sci-fi flick but I could have improved on the ending. Belinda Bauer made this movie work. Not the most convincing of dirt bikes (i.e. 4-stroke) also a very strange time-warp engine. The ending was sorta confusing too.Is Belinda Bauer really going to be the guys grandmother? Definitely...
Rating:
Summary: No Prime Directive Here!
Review: Lyle Swann would never have made it in Starfleet. He goes back in time and changes many things about peoples lives. And thank goodness he does! What Lyle Swann is, is a convincing movie recreation of a Baja 1000 motorcycle racer. Nez (Mike Nesmith's close personal friends call him "Nez") who has raced and won in Baja gives credible theatrical due to racing south of the border. While shortcutting the course in Baja (all the bike guys do) Lyle gets zapped back to the 1870's when he interferes with a time travel experiment. The bad news is he won't win the Baja 1000 that year, and the next one isn't until 1967! The good news is he happens across his future great, great grandmother, and if you have a small imagination it looks like he's his own great, great grandfather. Wow, talk about the shallow end of the gene pool. It's just good plain fun about a guy time traveling into a time not his own and using modern ideas to change a few things around. Also see Army of Darkness if you like this premise. Kudo's to Nez on a kick-butt soundtrack! Boo to Leonard Maltin who wouldn't know a good movie if he was tied to a chair and shown one.
Rating:
Summary: No Prime Directive Here!
Review: Lyle Swann would never have made it in Starfleet. He goes back in time and changes many things about peoples lives. And thank goodness he does! What Lyle Swann is, is a convincing movie recreation of a Baja 1000 motorcycle racer. Nez (Mike Nesmith's close personal friends call him "Nez") who has raced and won in Baja gives credible theatrical due to racing south of the border. While shortcutting the course in Baja (all the bike guys do) Lyle gets zapped back to the 1870's when he interferes with a time travel experiment. The bad news is he won't win the Baja 1000 that year, and the next one isn't until 1967! The good news is he happens across his future great, great grandmother, and if you have a small imagination it looks like he's his own great, great grandfather. Wow, talk about the shallow end of the gene pool. It's just good plain fun about a guy time traveling into a time not his own and using modern ideas to change a few things around. Also see Army of Darkness if you like this premise. Kudo's to Nez on a kick-butt soundtrack! Boo to Leonard Maltin who wouldn't know a good movie if he was tied to a chair and shown one.
Rating:
Summary: Great! A must-have for Sci-Fi/Fantasy fans everywhere!
Review: No super, high-tech effects - no unbelievable dialogue... Just pure, unadulterated fiction. By reading about the movie, you may say it doesn't sound any different than any other time-travel movie, which is why I'll simply say that the casting was excellent, the way the story unfolds will keep your interest, the humor (sometimes dark) will keep you entertained and even the music is cool. My hat is off to Mike Nesmith (The Monkeys) for the way he put this movie together (he wrote the music as well). I'm glad to hear it will be re-released. It's a movie worthy to be in anybody's collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Irritated
Review: The 1 star review is for the DVD....They unbelievably cut a scene out from the climax of the film/ this must be a print from the cut for tv version. When I purchased it I immediately jumped to the cool ending with the good music and one scene was cut out rather awkwardly and obviously. Needless to say a pair of bloodied shredded boots should have been shown plus a screaming peter coyote. I'm complaining to anchor bay! I just want to know what happened? I haven't seen the rest of the dvd yet cuz I'm so peeved.
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