Back to the Past

Zurück in die Vergangenheit (English: Back to the Past) is a 2003 science fiction brickfilm by Thomas Zeug. It follows Thomas and Stefan who travel back in time and manage to accidentally wipe out humanity. Rather than being stop-motion animated, it instead combines sprites of photographed LEGO with CG environments and photographs of real life environments. It is Zeug's first brickfilm, and it was followed by Zurück in die Vergangenheit II in 2005.

Plot
Stefan arrives at Thomas' garage and is surprised to find that Thomas has built a time machine vehicle. Thomas explains how the time machine works, and they hop in to try it out. Stefan suggests travelling to the time of dinosaurs, so Stefan dials up 65,000,000 in the past, and they travel back in time once they reach over 110km/h.

Thomas and Stefan arrive in the Mesozoic Era and find the land empty. They hide in the time machine from a passing herd of stampeding dinosaurs. Something begins to block out the sun, and when they look up they see a gigantic asteroid heading right for earth. Afraid for their lives, Thomas takes a laser gun from the time machine and blasts the asteroid into a million pieces. The pair decide to travel back to 2003.

In the present, they find the land completely empty and devoid of humans. A T-rex arrives and picks up the time machine, but they scare it away by shining the headlights in its face. Thomas realises that destroying the asteroid meant that dinosaurs stayed on earth and humans never came into existence. They return to 65,000,000 years ago to fix what they have caused.

Back in the past, Thomas sets up a bomb that will mimic the effect of the asteroid. They drive away as it begins to explode, and time travel to 2003. They crash back into Thomas' garage, and find that civilization as they knew it is back in place. However, when they aren't looking, a dinosaur peeks its head around a corner.

Cast

 * Thomas Zeug as Thomas
 * Walter Zeug as Stefan

Crew

 * Thomas Zeug - Writer, Director, Animator, Editor
 * Gaby Zeug - Special thanks

Awards

 * colspan="1" rowspan="1"|2004
 * colspan="1"|Crossmedia Wettbewerb
 * Movie
 * First place