The Philadelphia Experiment story
The film is set in 1943 where two sailors, David Herdeg and Jim Parker, are stationed on a ship used for an experiment to make it invisible to radar. However, the experiment goes horribly wrong and the ship completely disappears and Herdeg and Parker find themselves in the Nevada desert in the year 1984. They find out the program has been revived in 1984, unexpectedly interacting with the experiment in 1943 and putting the entire world in danger.
11 total · 4 choice · 4 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| military secrecy | choice | The film concerns a secret 1943 military project to make a Navy ship invisible to radar. |
| out of control scientific experiment | choice | A 1943 experiment to make a Navy ship invisible to radar opened up a potentially world consuming vortex in 1984. |
| time travel | choice | A Navy experiment to make a ship invisible to radar went horribly wrong and ended up sending two sailors 31 years into the future. |
| what if I found myself in the future | choice | Two sailors, David and Jim, found themselves 31 years in the future when a Navy experiment went horribly wrong. |
| facing organized pursuit | major | David and Allison were being pursued by Major Clark and his men. |
| past point of view | major | World War II sailors David and Jim were sometimes astonished and other times disturbed by what life was like in 1984. For example, David was astonished to find that Germany and Japan had become friends of the United States, and the Soviet Union an enemy. He was also astonished to find out that the former actor Ronald Reagan had been elected President. On the other hand, he was somewhat taken aback by his meeting of a transgendered punk rocker. |
| romantic love | major | David and Allison fell for one another while the two of them tried to piece together how David jumped ahead in time from 1943 to 1984. |
| the dangers of unfettered scientific advancement | major | A 1943 experiment to make a Navy ship invisible to radar opened up a potentially world consuming vortex in 1984. |
| coping with the death of a parent | minor | David teared up upon learning that his father was already dead. |
| transsexualism | minor | David asked a transgendered man "what the hell he was dressed like that for" while the two were sharing a jail cell. |