12:01 delivers a fun piece of sci fi dramedy that succeeds primarily because of its story and excellent cast.
What Is It?
This TV movie tells the story of office clerical worker Barry Thomas, who works for a scientific research company and finds himself in a time loop, with the same day constantly repeating itself. He realizes that the loop must be linked to experiments at his own company and decides that he must convince one of the scientists there, Lisa Fredericks, of what is happening so that, hopefully, she can find a way to stop it. But he witnesses her murder at the hands of men hired by someone who wishes to silence her because she has been questioning activities in the lab. He therefore faces the challenge of convincing her over and over again while also keeping her safe so that they can ultimately correct the flow of time. Add in the fact that Barry has been pining for Lisa for some time, and the situation becomes even more awkward.
Aired: July 5, 1993
Cast: Jonathan Silverman, Helen Slater, Jeremy Piven, Martin Landau
Crew: Jack Sholder (Director), Jonathan Heap (Producer/Teleplay), Richard Lupoff (Short Story)
Legacy:
While this television movie has probably been mostly forgotten, it delivered an interesting sci fi tale with a sense of fun and an impeccable cast, relying much more heavily on its story and the chemistry of its actors than on special effects.
A Closer Look:
Back in 1993, the same year that The X-Files debuted on Fox, that network aired two made-for-television science fiction movies that have mostly fallen off the radar but were both pretty good examples of the genre, especially for television. The first of these to air was Lifepod, which took the premise of Alfred Hitchcock’s film Lifeboat into outer space (you can read more about that one at this link). The second was 12:01, which delivered a sci fi story similar to the better-known feature film Groundhog Day, though slightly more grounded in science.
12:01, loosely based on the 1973 short story “12:01 PM” by Richard Lupoff, was no groundbreaker, and some may scoff at its science and improbable coincidences. But it did deliver a breezy sci fi romantic dramedy that didn’t take itself too seriously and tapped into the same sense of fun as movies like Back to the Future and Ghostbusters, though on a much smaller scale. It throws in some science with the particle accelerator experiments and the accidental time loop they cause. It also gives a justification for why Jonathan Silverman’s character is out of sync and aware of what is going on, though this is where one of those improbable coincidences comes into play. So the premise has a scientific framework, even if the movie plays fast and loose with it, as you might expect from a television production.
But what elevates 12:01 above the pack is its excellent cast, along with its well-paced, tightly written script. Jonathan Silverman had already made a name for himself on television and in the movies, probably best known at that time as the co-lead in Weekend at Bernie’s. Helen Slater had enjoyed several notable co-starring roles on the big screen (The Secret of My Success, Ruthless People, City Slickers—and we will just pretend that 1984’s Supergirl never happened). And of course, Martin Landau is well known to genre fans for his roles on Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999. In addition, future television mainstay Jeremy Piven, who would later be celebrated for his starring role in the short-lived 1998 series Cupid as well as his stint on Entourage, helped liven up the cast and added to the palpable chemistry among the actors. And while most of the actors get some pretty decent lines, it would have been nice if the script had done more with Landau’s character because he certainly had the range to pull it off.
12:01 is definitely a bit of sci fi fluff, but not the type that offends your sensibilities as you watch it. It’s a fun little movie, and it’s the type of thing that television can do well if it tries, which unfortunately it rarely does. It doesn’t rely on special effects, instead putting the story and the characters at the forefront. Its modest production needs also suggest that this type of thing could be put together economically, though Silverman and Slater likely commanded decent paychecks. It’s a shame that productions like this have all but disappeared from the broadcast networks, though we have seen some decent original movies from the streaming services over the past few years.
Should It Be Rebooted?
This film succeeded well enough for what it was trying to do, so there is not really a need to reboot it. Perhaps going back to the original story and doing an adaptation of that makes some sense, but a short film has already been produced (see below) and there is not really enough material to carry that to a feature-length production.
Interesting Facts:
12:01 seems very much like a sci fi variant on Groundhog Day, which hit theaters earlier that same year, but the TV production was not the cheap attempt to capitalize on the big-screen film that some might have thought. It was based on the short story “12:01 PM,” written by Richard Lupoff back in 1973. Lupoff and Jonathan Heap, who directed the earlier short-film adaptation and helped develop the TV movie, accused Groundhog Day of copying the original story and explored legal action. But after several months of consultations with lawyers, they abandoned the effort.
Lupoff’s short story was first adapted as the 1990 short film 12:01 PM, which aired on The Movie Channel’s anthology series 30-Minute Movie and received an Academy Award nomination. It was directed by Jonathan Heap and more closely resembled Lupoff’s short story, though it still had several notable differences. Lupoff would later revisit his original story with two sequels, “12:02 PM” in 2011 and “12:03 PM” in 2012. Apparently, even the sequels couldn’t escape the passage of time.
Danny Trejo (Grindhouse, Machete) makes a brief appearance in 12:01 as a prisoner.
Where Can You Watch It?
This movie did get a DVD release, but that has since gone out of print. It is not streaming on any of the major services, but you can watch it on YouTube.
