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Timeline (film)
Encyclopedia
Timeline is a 2003 science fiction
action film, directed by Richard Donner
. It stars Paul Walker
, Frances O'Connor
, Billy Connolly
, David Thewlis
, Gerard Butler
and Anna Friel
. It is based on the novel of the same name
by Michael Crichton
. Jerry Goldsmith
was originally set to score, which would have been Goldsmith's last score before his death in 2004, but was replaced by Brian Tyler
, after being rejected by Donner due to post-production complications.
s discovers a pendant
around his neck with the ITC Corp. label. The X-ray
photos show many internal organs, veins and bones are out of alignment for an unknown reason. Soon after that an ITC Corp. employee shows up and identifies the dead man as Vincent Taub. He picks up his body and the company decides to cover up the incident.
Archaeologist Prof. Edward Johnston (Billy Connolly
) and his students Kate Erickson (Frances O'Connor
), David Stern (Ethan Embry
), François Dontelle (Rossif Sutherland
), and André Marek (Gerard Butler
) have been sponsored by the ITC Corp. to excavate the ruins of the village of Castlegard in France near La Roque Castle; the village was burned in 1357 during the Hundred Years War as part of a massive battle, incited by the hanging of Lady Claire, the sister of Arnaud de Cervole
, that led the French to victory. Prof. Johnston's son, Chris (Paul Walker
), is also present at the excavation, but more due to his infatuation with Kate. During the excavation they find the interesting sarcophagus
of a French knight and his lady with one of the knight's ears missing.
Prof. Johnston is suspicious of information given to him by ITC and flies back to their headquarters in New Mexico while his students continue to examine the ruins. After not hearing from the professor for a while, the team accidentally discovers a 600 year old parchment with a plea for help written by the professor, along with a bifocal lens from the professor's glasses. When the team contacts ITC and demand to know what is going on, ITC invites the students to their facility. ITC president Robert Doniger (David Thewlis
) and vice-president Steven Kramer (Matt Craven
) meet the students and explain they were developing the device for teleportation
but have discovered a wormhole
with one end fixed at Castlegard in 1357. This means they have built a machine that effectively allows time travel
. Doniger explains that Prof. Johnston has been extended the opportunity to travel back to the past, but somehow got trapped, and would like the students to help save their professor. Chris, Kate, François and André agree, and, along with ITC security personnel, are given appropriate clothing and special markers that will return them to the present when pressed, but the markers have a 6 hour window.
The group is transported to the past but quickly find themselves amid a battle between English and French forces, killing one of the security guards; another guard is killed as he is preparing to throw a grenade
while pressing his marker, and when his body, with the live grenade, return to the present, the machine is destroyed by the grenade's explosion, leaving the other students trapped. André happens to save a woman trapped in the battle, who turns out to be Lady Claire (Anna Friel
), unwittingly having changed history by saving her. Lady Claire takes the students to meet Arnaut (Lambert Wilson
), but they are soon captured by English forces and taken to Lord Oliver de Vannes (Michael Sheen
), who believes they are spies. He kills François as an example and throws them in prison where the professor is being held.
The group attempt escape using their collective knowledge of the history of the battle, but soon encounter Sir William DeKere (Marton Csokas
), in reality a former ITC employee named William Decker. Decker reveals that his body has been ravaged by repeated use of the time travel machine that causes damage to his DNA and internal organs, a fact that Doniger has refused to acknowledge and left Decker stranded in the past. Decker takes their markers, forcing the group to become involved with the battle in order to stay alive. During this, André finds himself falling in love with Lady Claire, while Chris and Kate work together with Arnaut to help flank the English troops at La Roque Castle via the secret tunnel, allowing the battle to turn in favor of the French as it did in the original history. Lord Oliver captures Lady Claire but is killed by Arnaut, and André is attacked by DeKere who cuts his ear off. Realizing he is the knight buried in the sarcophagus he uses all his power to defeat and kill DeKere. The students are then able to recover three of the markers and move away to return to the present time.
In the present, David and Kramer have reassembled the machine, despite Doniger's eagerness to write the students off as a loss. When the machine is completed, the markers become active. André tells Chris and Kate to return with the professor, having found his true purpose in life and his true love in Lady Claire. As the three begin to return, Doniger attempts to stop them by running into the machine, worried that his treachery will be discovered. He instead is sent back in time as Chris, Kate, and the professor return; Doniger is quickly cut down by a charging English knight. Sometime later, the students have returned to Castlegard, and discover André's legacy, having married Lady Claire and raising three children, Christophe, Katherine, and François.
The movie's crew visited various European castles from the late 14th century to make the castles and towns look realistic.
Composer Jerry Goldsmith
had his score replaced by Brian Tyler's score, because of the changes in the final cut of the film. However, both Goldsmith and Tyler's scores were released on CD.
The character Robert Doniger was named after Harriet Jacobs Doniger, a teacher of Crichton's daughter.
The filming took place in the Laurentian Mountains
and Eastern Townships
regions of Quebec
near Montreal
, Also, in the city of Terrebonne (approx. 30 km (18.6 mi) north of Montreal). Castelgard and other settings from the book where recreated there.
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
action film, directed by Richard Donner
Richard Donner
Richard Donner is an American film director, film producer, and comic book writer.The production company The Donners' Company is owned by Donner and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. After directing the horror film The Omen, Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern...
. It stars Paul Walker
Paul Walker
Paul William Walker IV is an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. He is also known for starring in the surprise summer hit The Fast and the Furious. His other films include Joy Ride, Running Scared, Into the Blue and Eight Below...
, Frances O'Connor
Frances O'Connor
-Background:O'Connor was born in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England to a pianist mother and nuclear physicist father. When O'Connor was two, her family moved back to Perth, Western Australia. O'Connor was raised a Roman Catholic and attended the Mercedes College in Perth...
, Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
, David Thewlis
David Thewlis
David Thewlis is an English actor of stage and screen. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin, in the Harry Potter film series...
, Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...
and Anna Friel
Anna Friel
Anna Louise Friel is an English actress. She rose to fame in the UK as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap Brookside.-Early life:...
. It is based on the novel of the same name
Timeline (novel)
Timeline is a science fiction novel by Michael Crichton that was published in November 1999. It tells the story of a group of history students who travel to 14th Century France to rescue their professor...
by Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
. Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
was originally set to score, which would have been Goldsmith's last score before his death in 2004, but was replaced by Brian Tyler
Brian Tyler (composer)
Brian Tyler is an American composer, producer, conductor, and film producer most known for his scores of Eagle Eye, The Expendables, Battle: Los Angeles, The Final Destination, Rambo, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Final Destination 5. Tyler is a symphonic conductor and conducts his own scores....
, after being rejected by Donner due to post-production complications.
Plot
The film begins with a man trying to escape through the forest from the pursuing knight. Just as the knight catches him and hits him with the sword the man disappears. Soon after that the man is discovered barely alive in the middle of the desert, only able to tell a single word - Castlegard. He dies shortly after being transferred to the hospital. One of the physicianPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s discovers a pendant
Pendant
A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, when the ensemble may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. In modern French "pendant" is the gerund form of “hanging”...
around his neck with the ITC Corp. label. The X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
photos show many internal organs, veins and bones are out of alignment for an unknown reason. Soon after that an ITC Corp. employee shows up and identifies the dead man as Vincent Taub. He picks up his body and the company decides to cover up the incident.
Archaeologist Prof. Edward Johnston (Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
) and his students Kate Erickson (Frances O'Connor
Frances O'Connor
-Background:O'Connor was born in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England to a pianist mother and nuclear physicist father. When O'Connor was two, her family moved back to Perth, Western Australia. O'Connor was raised a Roman Catholic and attended the Mercedes College in Perth...
), David Stern (Ethan Embry
Ethan Embry
Ethan Philan Randall , although he is known and usually credited as Ethan Embry, is an American film and television actor. He is known for his role as Declan Giggs on the Showtime television series Brotherhood.-Personal life:...
), François Dontelle (Rossif Sutherland
Rossif Sutherland
Rossif Sutherland is a Canadian actor.Sutherland was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of Canadian actors Donald Sutherland and Francine Racette, brother of actor Angus Sutherland, and half-brother of actor Kiefer Sutherland. He has appeared in films such as Timeline , and Red Doors...
), and André Marek (Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...
) have been sponsored by the ITC Corp. to excavate the ruins of the village of Castlegard in France near La Roque Castle; the village was burned in 1357 during the Hundred Years War as part of a massive battle, incited by the hanging of Lady Claire, the sister of Arnaud de Cervole
Arnaud de Cervole
Arnaud de Cervole, also de Cervolles, de Cervolle, Arnaut de Cervole or Arnold of Cervoles , known as l'Archiprêtre , was a French mercenary soldier during the Hundred Years' War.-Early career:...
, that led the French to victory. Prof. Johnston's son, Chris (Paul Walker
Paul Walker
Paul William Walker IV is an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. He is also known for starring in the surprise summer hit The Fast and the Furious. His other films include Joy Ride, Running Scared, Into the Blue and Eight Below...
), is also present at the excavation, but more due to his infatuation with Kate. During the excavation they find the interesting sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
of a French knight and his lady with one of the knight's ears missing.
Prof. Johnston is suspicious of information given to him by ITC and flies back to their headquarters in New Mexico while his students continue to examine the ruins. After not hearing from the professor for a while, the team accidentally discovers a 600 year old parchment with a plea for help written by the professor, along with a bifocal lens from the professor's glasses. When the team contacts ITC and demand to know what is going on, ITC invites the students to their facility. ITC president Robert Doniger (David Thewlis
David Thewlis
David Thewlis is an English actor of stage and screen. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin, in the Harry Potter film series...
) and vice-president Steven Kramer (Matt Craven
Matt Craven
-Life and career:Craven was born Matthew John Crnkovich in Port Colborne, Ontario, the son of Joanne Leslie, a hairdresser, and Nick Crnkovich. He has an older sister, Deborah...
) meet the students and explain they were developing the device for teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
but have discovered a wormhole
Wormhole
In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime. For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional surface. If this surface is folded along a third dimension, it...
with one end fixed at Castlegard in 1357. This means they have built a machine that effectively allows time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
. Doniger explains that Prof. Johnston has been extended the opportunity to travel back to the past, but somehow got trapped, and would like the students to help save their professor. Chris, Kate, François and André agree, and, along with ITC security personnel, are given appropriate clothing and special markers that will return them to the present when pressed, but the markers have a 6 hour window.
The group is transported to the past but quickly find themselves amid a battle between English and French forces, killing one of the security guards; another guard is killed as he is preparing to throw a grenade
Grenade
A grenade is a small explosive device that is projected a safe distance away by its user. Soldiers called grenadiers specialize in the use of grenades. The term hand grenade refers any grenade designed to be hand thrown. Grenade Launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades...
while pressing his marker, and when his body, with the live grenade, return to the present, the machine is destroyed by the grenade's explosion, leaving the other students trapped. André happens to save a woman trapped in the battle, who turns out to be Lady Claire (Anna Friel
Anna Friel
Anna Louise Friel is an English actress. She rose to fame in the UK as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap Brookside.-Early life:...
), unwittingly having changed history by saving her. Lady Claire takes the students to meet Arnaut (Lambert Wilson
Lambert Wilson
Lambert Wilson is a French actor. He is internationally known for his portrayal of The Merovingian in The Matrix He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of Georges Wilson, who was an actor, theatrical manager and director of the Theatre National de Paris.Wilson screen tested for The...
), but they are soon captured by English forces and taken to Lord Oliver de Vannes (Michael Sheen
Michael Sheen
Michael Christopher Sheen, OBE , is a Welsh stage and screen actor. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England and made his professional debut opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre in 1991...
), who believes they are spies. He kills François as an example and throws them in prison where the professor is being held.
The group attempt escape using their collective knowledge of the history of the battle, but soon encounter Sir William DeKere (Marton Csokas
Marton Csokas
-Early life:Csokas was born in Invercargill, New Zealand. His mother, a nurse, is of Irish and Danish descent; his Hungarian-born father, also named Márton Csókás, worked as a mechanical engineer...
), in reality a former ITC employee named William Decker. Decker reveals that his body has been ravaged by repeated use of the time travel machine that causes damage to his DNA and internal organs, a fact that Doniger has refused to acknowledge and left Decker stranded in the past. Decker takes their markers, forcing the group to become involved with the battle in order to stay alive. During this, André finds himself falling in love with Lady Claire, while Chris and Kate work together with Arnaut to help flank the English troops at La Roque Castle via the secret tunnel, allowing the battle to turn in favor of the French as it did in the original history. Lord Oliver captures Lady Claire but is killed by Arnaut, and André is attacked by DeKere who cuts his ear off. Realizing he is the knight buried in the sarcophagus he uses all his power to defeat and kill DeKere. The students are then able to recover three of the markers and move away to return to the present time.
In the present, David and Kramer have reassembled the machine, despite Doniger's eagerness to write the students off as a loss. When the machine is completed, the markers become active. André tells Chris and Kate to return with the professor, having found his true purpose in life and his true love in Lady Claire. As the three begin to return, Doniger attempts to stop them by running into the machine, worried that his treachery will be discovered. He instead is sent back in time as Chris, Kate, and the professor return; Doniger is quickly cut down by a charging English knight. Sometime later, the students have returned to Castlegard, and discover André's legacy, having married Lady Claire and raising three children, Christophe, Katherine, and François.
Cast
- Paul WalkerPaul WalkerPaul William Walker IV is an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. He is also known for starring in the surprise summer hit The Fast and the Furious. His other films include Joy Ride, Running Scared, Into the Blue and Eight Below...
as Chris Johnston - Frances O'ConnorFrances O'Connor-Background:O'Connor was born in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England to a pianist mother and nuclear physicist father. When O'Connor was two, her family moved back to Perth, Western Australia. O'Connor was raised a Roman Catholic and attended the Mercedes College in Perth...
as Kate Ericson - Gerard ButlerGerard ButlerGerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...
as Andre Marek - Billy ConnollyBilly ConnollyWilliam "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
as Professor Edward A. Johnston - David ThewlisDavid ThewlisDavid Thewlis is an English actor of stage and screen. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin, in the Harry Potter film series...
as Robert Doniger - Anna FrielAnna FrielAnna Louise Friel is an English actress. She rose to fame in the UK as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap Brookside.-Early life:...
as Lady Claire - Neal McDonoughNeal McDonoughNeal P. McDonough is an American film, television and voice actor.-Career:In 1991, McDonough won the Best Actor Dramalogue for "Away Alone". McDonough has made many television and film appearances since then, including Band of Brothers, Boomtown, Star Trek: First Contact, Minority Report and The...
as Frank Gordon - Matt CravenMatt Craven-Life and career:Craven was born Matthew John Crnkovich in Port Colborne, Ontario, the son of Joanne Leslie, a hairdresser, and Nick Crnkovich. He has an older sister, Deborah...
as Steven Kramer - Ethan EmbryEthan EmbryEthan Philan Randall , although he is known and usually credited as Ethan Embry, is an American film and television actor. He is known for his role as Declan Giggs on the Showtime television series Brotherhood.-Personal life:...
as Josh Stern - Michael SheenMichael SheenMichael Christopher Sheen, OBE , is a Welsh stage and screen actor. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England and made his professional debut opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre in 1991...
as Lord Oliver de Vannes - Lambert WilsonLambert WilsonLambert Wilson is a French actor. He is internationally known for his portrayal of The Merovingian in The Matrix He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of Georges Wilson, who was an actor, theatrical manager and director of the Theatre National de Paris.Wilson screen tested for The...
as Lord Arnaud de CervoleArnaud de CervoleArnaud de Cervole, also de Cervolles, de Cervolle, Arnaut de Cervole or Arnold of Cervoles , known as l'Archiprêtre , was a French mercenary soldier during the Hundred Years' War.-Early career:... - Marton CsokasMarton Csokas-Early life:Csokas was born in Invercargill, New Zealand. His mother, a nurse, is of Irish and Danish descent; his Hungarian-born father, also named Márton Csókás, worked as a mechanical engineer...
as Sir William De Kere/William Decker - Rossif SutherlandRossif SutherlandRossif Sutherland is a Canadian actor.Sutherland was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of Canadian actors Donald Sutherland and Francine Racette, brother of actor Angus Sutherland, and half-brother of actor Kiefer Sutherland. He has appeared in films such as Timeline , and Red Doors...
as François Dontelle - Patrick SabonguiPatrick SabonguiPatrick Sabongui is a Canadian actor and stuntman who has made his career as an actor, stunt performer, theatre actor and drama teacher. He also spent several years working live stunt shows in Southern California.-Life and career:...
as Jimmy Gomez
Production
The battle sequences used medieval reenactors. Donner limited the use of CGI in the film as much as possible.The movie's crew visited various European castles from the late 14th century to make the castles and towns look realistic.
Composer Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
had his score replaced by Brian Tyler's score, because of the changes in the final cut of the film. However, both Goldsmith and Tyler's scores were released on CD.
The character Robert Doniger was named after Harriet Jacobs Doniger, a teacher of Crichton's daughter.
The filming took place in the Laurentian Mountains
Laurentian mountains
The Laurentian Mountains are a mountain range in southern Quebec, Canada, north of the St. Lawrence River and Ottawa River, rising to a highest point of 1166 metres at Mont Raoul Blanchard, north east of Quebec City in the Reserve Faunique des Laurentides. The Gatineau, L'Assomption, Lièvre,...
and Eastern Townships
Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...
regions of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
near Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Also, in the city of Terrebonne (approx. 30 km (18.6 mi) north of Montreal). Castelgard and other settings from the book where recreated there.
Reception
The film was panned by most critics and did poorly at the box office, only recouping $43,935,763 worldwide from a budget of $80,000,000. The film also received a terrible 12% fresh rating on film website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Differences between the film and the novel
- Instead of being inadvertently beamed into the midst of the final battle, where he is killed in the film, in the book Doniger is sent by his Vice President to 1348, during the peak of the Black DeathBlack DeathThe Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
. He is presumed dead, and his VP takes control of the company. - In the film, company protocols dictate that nothing modern can be sent into the past. In the novel, the protagonists are allowed a few survival items, which come in handy over the course of the novel. The weapons Baretto brings with him are still considered unauthorized and result in the destruction of the machine.
- In the novel, instead of being sent back with the team, Gordon is the Vice President who works with Stern to bring the team back. He takes control of the company from Doniger. Kramer is a woman, Doniger's ex-girlfriend and the company's lawyer.
- In the novel Marek is a Dutch history student with an interest in reenactment. Not Scottish as in the movie.
- In the novel, Chris Johnston is Chris Hughes, unrelated to the professor, and himself a historian.
- Dontelle's character was created for film purposes. In the novel, team members are given earpieces which serve as translators, although the only ones who can communicate effectively are Marek and Johnston. While the medieval characters in the film speak accented, modern English, their counterparts in the novel speak Middle FrenchMiddle FrenchMiddle French is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from 1340 to 1611. It is a period of transition during which:...
, Middle EnglishMiddle EnglishMiddle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
, Occitan, or LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, which people would have spoken during that time. De Kere can also listen in on their conversations through another headpiece. - Claire and Arnaut are portrayed in less of a traditionally "chivalrous" manner in the novel. Claire is shown to be cunning and manipulativePsychological manipulationPsychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
and not above using sex to further her own ends (the inheritance of her dead husband's property). This might be part of Marek's attraction to her, as she is a more assertive, modern type of woman. Arnaut is not her brother, and is much more hostile (and crude) to the protagonists, who must avoid his army as well as Oliver's (Although he still extends his gratitude to them after they help him prevail in the final battle). - The siege of La Roque is not won when Chris and Kate sneak Arnaut's troops into the castle, and Claire is never threatened with death during the battle.
- Sir Guy de Malegant, also known as "The Black Knight", is a major antagonist in the book. The character is completely eliminated from the film.
- In the novel, the team goes back for 37 hours. In the film they are limited to only 6 hours, resulting in a substantial abridgement of the story.
- In the book, Marek and Claire have 5 children whose names are unknown. In the film, Marek and Claire have 3 children whose names are known
- In the book, there is a character referred to as the Green Knight. He is a hulking and insane warrior with rotting teeth and a bad case of head lice who lives in an abandoned chapel and kills anyone who approaches. The character was not included in the film.