BACKGROUND
Disney Channel Original Movies cover all manner of themes and topics.
Some of their most popular, and most relatable, are those that focus on life as a teenager or troubles at high school. Everyone has been through difficult experiences at that age, so making a DCOM based on that is an easy way of engaging an audience. These types of movies were the ones I watched more of on Disney Channel.
However, Disney Channel has also been known to stray into other areas, such as delving into the genres of fantasy and science-fiction, although many of these are still grounded in school and teenage life, such as Twitches (2005); Halloweentown (1998); How to Build a Better Boy (2014) – and the 2008 DCOM Minutemen.
You can probably be forgiven for not having heard of or watched Minutemen whilst it was on Disney Channel. I will admit that I was not the first one to it, because the most exciting new DCOM to come to the channel in 2008 for me was Camp Rock. After the success of High School Musical (2006), Disney Channel had upped their game in all areas of their programming, but none more so than in their musical DCOMs. I also enjoyed watching the third instalment of the Cheetah Girls franchise, The Cheetah Girls: One World, that year. Disney Channel is known for its musical movies, with these tending to be the highest rated. Minutemen was the only other DCOM released in 2008, but it passed me by. I remember it being advertised, but it just didn’t appeal to me like the musicals did.
I don’t actually know when I found Minutemen, but it was at least a couple of years later. I was more interested in watching it after its premiere because it meant that I was more familiar with some of its leading actors by the time I found it, just randomly one day. Jason Dolley and Chelsea Staub, now known as Chelsea Kane, were frequently seen on Disney Channel in the 2000s and early 2010s, so it helped me like it, despite not being too interested in the concept of time travel, a major part of the storyline of Minutemen.
I believe I had only seen Minutemen once in full before this week, so that obviously means that it didn’t become an instant favourite for me. I took me a while to appreciate any type of science fiction film, even Back to the Future (1985), which is referenced numerous times in Minutemen, so I’m not surprised my teenage self wasn’t bothered by it. But re-watching this week, I was impressed with the storyline and the level of acting by the young stars. I did enjoy it, but not as much as other DCOMs.
PLOT
Minutemen begins on the first day of high school at Summerton High School for three friends, Virgil, Derek, and Stephanie. Stephanie worries that high school might change them, as she is going to try out to be a cheerleader, and Derek is planning on joining the school’s football team. During try-outs for football and cheerleading, with Virgil watching nearby, a kid on a jet-propelled kart comes onto the field. This is Charlie, a kid genius who has skipped grades because of his intellect. Because of Charlie ruining football try-outs, the football players circle Charlie and start to bully him. Virgil tries to diffuse the situation, but it makes everything worse: they end up dressed as cheerleaders and tied to the school’s ram statue.
Three years later, everything has changed for the trio of friends. Derek is now a jock, and his girlfriend is Stephanie, who did become a cheerleader. Virgil has remained friends with Charlie – the joint bullying experience must’ve bonded them – though he is resentful that, in his Senior Year, he still hangs out with “nerds”. Although Virgil and Stephanie continue to talk on occasion, things between Virgil and Derek are different.
During class, Charlie bursts into Virgil’s class and tells him there is an “AV Club emergency”. Virgil follows Charlie to the computer lab, where Charlie shows Virgil a simulation of practical time travel. Virgil doesn’t believe it’ll work, but Charlie manages to convince him to go along with the crazy scheme of becoming time travellers. Charlie says they need another person to help them. Virgil approaches new kid, Zeke, who comes across as the bad-boy-loner type. The three meet to discuss the project and Zeke agrees to it.
The group begin to build their time machine, having managed to convince Vice Principal Tolkan to let them set up a new club and base it in Room 77 after giving him change for the vending machine. Room 77 was Charlie’s pick for their “club” as it is a huge basement, originally set to be the school’s fallout shelter. Over time, they clean up the basement, and start to get – or steal, I can’t really tell – parts for their machine. Once it is fully built, all three of them are too scared to try it out, so Virgil and Zeke pick up Charlie’s cat, Albert Felinestein, put goggles on it, and throw it into the machine’s vortex. Charlie is furious, but the cat comes out alive, just a bit frosty. They look at the watch they strapped to the cat and it is one minute behind, proving that the cat went back in time.
The next day, all three of them are brave enough to go into the time travel vortex themselves, wrapping up warm to avoid frostbite. Charlie warns them that they only have ten minutes to go back in time and come back, or else they may explode. Nice. The trio arrive in the past and realise it is yesterday. They quickly go to a shop to buy a lottery ticket with the correct numbers so they can win the jackpot the next day, however, they are refused the sale as they are not old enough to purchase the ticket. The three go to the “living statue” outside and ask him to buy the ticket, giving him the list of numbers and telling him to keep the ticket to give to them the next day as they need to get back to the present. On their return, they rush over to the shop to find the man did buy the lottery ticket – but kept the winning ticket for himself! Can we trust no-one these days?!
Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke then discuss a different purpose for their time travel machine, as Charlie didn’t like the idea of buying a lottery ticket anyway because it is cheating. Good for you, Charlie; you stick to your morals. They then see Chester, one of Charlie and Virgil’s less-than-popular friends. Football players have stolen Chester’s clothes, leaving him to run through the school halls naked. This gives the boys an idea. They’ll use their time travel ability to help embarrassed high school kids!
Just as the three are about to go back in time, Charlie realises that they really ought to have someone stay back to monitor the machine and make sure there are no problems. The boys argue about who will have to stay and miss all the fun, when a girl called Jeanette comes into the room, wanting to be a part of the “Back to the Future Fan Club”, the cover name for the time travelling. This gives Zeke and Virgil an idea; Jeanette can be the one to stay back. Charlie isn’t so sure he wants anyone else to be let in on the secret, but he eventually agrees – and Jeanette has a crush on Charlie so she’s happy to be a part of their gang, regardless of what it means. Though she does want to do something about their time travel outfits. Luckily, her dad owns a ski shop so she equips them with white ski suits and goggles to give them an air of mystery and legitimacy to their time travelling. They name themselves “The Minutemen”.
The three go back in time and help Chester by giving him clothes to wear. As their outfits conceal their faces and identities, the mystery group soon become popular at school as they continue to help other kids. Vice Principal Tolkan, however, is not impressed by these “Snowsuit Guys”, who he keeps seeing running about the school without permission. Tolkan vows to find and punish them.
Meanwhile, employees at Pacific Tech have been monitoring high readings and power surges that seem to be coming specifically from Summerton High School. It turns out the FBI is also investigating, covertly following Zeke, Charlie, and Virgil. This leads Charlie to admit to having hacked NASA, stealing some files they had from the 1960s related to time travel. Zeke and Virgil are furious with Charlie for getting them mixed up in something illegal, but Charlie assures them that if they just lay low for a while and don’t time travel, everything should be fine. Virgil isn’t too bothered by this anyway, because he’s annoyed at not getting proper credit for the good work they’re doing. Plus, the students all call them the “Snowsuit Guys”, even though that isn’t their name. AND the kids they have helped have all become kind of obnoxious…However, Virgil soon finds an important reason for them to time travel again. He is told by Stephanie that she has got accepted to her preferred college, but on a cheerleading scholarship. The next day, Virgil comes into school to discover that Stephanie has broken her leg after falling from a cheerleading pyramid. A broken leg will most definitely cost Stephanie her scholarship, so Virgil convinces Zeke and Charlie to go back in time to help her. The three agree to do that, and Virgil manages to catch Stephanie as she falls, saving her leg, but also giving himself away in the process.
Stephanie confronts Virgil the next day, saying she knows he is one of the “Snowsuit Guys”. As Virgil believes they have been rumbled, he admits to Stephanie that him, Zeke, and Charlie are time travellers. Stephanie is in awe of this; she was just going to say they must be psychic! Charlie continues to feel uneasy about their use of the time machine, feeling that it is having repercussions in the real world. But Virgil continues to find reasons to use it. Stephanie comes to Virgil with Derek, asking for his help as Derek was distracted during a football game, and cost the team the win. Derek begs Virgil for his help, saying that he’s sorry for everything that happened between them, reiterating that he tried to get the football players to stop during that incident on their first day of high school. Virgil wants to be popular so he agrees to help Derek. Derek is grateful to Virgil and starts inviting him to parties, but this leads to Virgil ignoring Zeke and Charlie. Soon after, Virgil gets a call from Stephanie in tears, saying she saw Derek cheating on her with mean girl Jocelyn. Virgil goes to comfort her. Derek then calls Stephanie, wanting to talk but she won’t take him back. Derek begs Virgil to go back in time to stop that event from happening.
As Virgil wonders what to do – help Derek get Stephanie back, or let things run their course and hope that him and Stephanie can finally be together – he is thrown in a van and taken to a warehouse. There, the FBI confront the boys, telling them they know that the boys stole information from NASA and have been using it to time travel. The boys refuse to admit anything and are free to go. The FBI will continue to monitor their activities. The three go their separate ways, their friendship and hopes of time travel destroyed.
But Virgil goes on alone, telling Derek he will take him back in time to stop Stephanie seeing him with Jocelyn on the day of the school dance. Virgil goes to the dance with Stephanie, but he is pulled away by Derek, wanting to go back in time now. The students all follow them, believing there will be a fight. In the meantime, Charlie has discovered that their time travelling led to the creation of a black hole on the school field. He confesses to the FBI, telling them they have about four hours to save the world. The FBI and Charlie storm the school to get Zeke, Virgil, and Charlie together to stop the black hole from consuming everything. There is only an hour left at this point so the guys suit up and walk to the black hole, ready to jump in, students clapping and cheering them, as their identities are revealed.
The ”Minutemen” jump into the black hole, and fall into the local park. Using a remote machine that Charlie whipped up, they begin to reverse the polarity. Charlie believes they have about twenty minutes until they can return. They then go to the school to try and stop past Charlie accessing the component he used to make his time travel machine, something to do with that kart, because they’ve found they are back at their first day of high school. At the same time, Virgil wants to change what happened that day, so he never became “a nerd”. Charlie is hurt by this, telling Virgil that day was also the day that Charlie finally found a real friend. Charlie and Zeke walk away, leaving Virgil to do whatever he plans to do. Virgil watches over the scene below, and discovers that Derek never tried to stop the bullying, like he claimed, but was actually a part of it.
Charlie and Zeke discover that the portal is collapsing and don’t have enough time to get back through it. Suddenly, Virgil rides up in Charlie’s old kart, having changed nothing about the bullying incident. He drives the three of them to the portal – but accidentally goes the wrong way. They’ll never make it in time! Oh, but wait. Zeke has that grappling hook he takes with him on every time travel escapade. He uses the hook and sends the kart in the right direction. The kart destroys the town on the way but they get through the portal in time.
They land, in their ski suits, back at school, on what was the day they first time travelled. As they walk through the school, they see that nobody knows anything about them or the “Snowsuit Guys”. Their mission was a success. Virgil goes to the library where he spoke to Stephanie that day, and tells Derek that he knows what he did that first day of high school and that he knows Derek is cheating on Stephanie with Jocelyn. Virgil then tells Stephanie he likes her; she says she feels the same. Charlie also kisses Jeanette, just before Zeke and Virgil can remind him that Jeanette hasn’t kissed him yet, as she had done before they went into the black hole…She doesn’t mind though. Charlie then starts to talk to Virgil and Zeke about a new idea around teleportation. The two quickly carry him away, not wanting to get mixed up in any more of Charlie’s “experiments”.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Virgil Fox initially seems hopeful about his first day of high school. He’s got his two best friends with him, what more does he need? But one event can change everything, and from that point, although Virgil has made new friends, he has become frustrated that he has become associated with “nerds”. Although Virgil talks and listens to Charlie, for most of the movie it seems like he merely tolerates him. Virgil seems to blame Charlie specifically for his problems. I hate to break it to him, but if Stephanie and Derek were going to be a cheerleader and a jock respectively, then the chances are their friendship wouldn’t have lasted anyway. Popularity does strange things to people. And in that scenario, Virgil would’ve been all alone, even without Charlie to call his friend. When Charlie comes up with the idea of time travel, suddenly, Virgil thinks this is quite cool – but once again, Virgil uses it as an opportunity to become popular and more liked amongst other students. It doesn’t really work that way until Stephanie learns about it and she tells Derek. But when Virgil gets the chance to go back and change his first day of high school so he never met Charlie and became unpopular, he doesn’t do it. I never thought Virgil was going to go and do that, because, although I’ve made him sound like a bad guy, he’s not.
Virgil does have some unresolved issues, there’s no doubt about that, and he forgets who his real friends are at times, yet he’s still a likeable character. This is all down to the actor, because Virgil could’ve ended up as a terrible main character if the wrong person was cast. Jason Dolley was cast as Virgil. Dolley had a long career with Disney Channel, beginning with the DCOM Read It and Weep (2006), where he played Connor. Dolley went on to star as Newt in the series Cory in the House (2007-08), and then as Pete in the DCOM Hatching Pete (2009). Dolley later was cast as PJ Duncan in Good Luck Charlie (2010-14) and its DCOM, Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011). After this, he appeared as Kevin in the ABC series American Housewife (2016-21). Most recently, Dolley wrote and starred in the short film The Unicorn That Never Lies (2024).
Charlie Tuttle hasn’t had an easy time at high school, because he is so much younger – and smarter – than everyone else. He’s an easy target for bullying and thanks to Virgil coming to his rescue on that first day, Charlie finds he does have a friend, someone he can talk to and who might stick up for him. Charlie is a genius; however, his high-achieving personality leads to him getting himself into trouble. Just because the possibility of time travel is waiting to be discovered doesn’t mean you should hack into NASA and steal their old research on the subject. Charlie is ecstatic to have figured out how to time travel, but he soon discovers that his, Virgil, and Zeke’s actions have caused damage to the world, culminating in a black hole. Charlie admits that he made a mistake and finds a way to resolve it. He just wanted to advance the world of science; he never meant to destroy it!
Charlie Tuttle was played by Luke Benward, who had already starred in the film How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) as Billy Forrester prior to his role in Minutemen. Benward went on to appear as Alan Wheddon in Dear John (2010); and came back to Disney Channel to star in the DCOMs Girl vs. Monster (2012) as Ryan, and Cloud 9 (2014) as Will Cloud. Benward also appeared as Beau, Teddy’s boyfriend, in the final season of Good Luck Charlie (2010-14). After Disney, he went on to be cast as Dillon Sanders in the Pretty Little Liars spin-off series Ravenswood (2013-14) and as Bo Larson in the Netflix movie Dumplin’ (2018).
Zeke Thompson is a new student at Summerton High School, first seen as he arrives to school on a motorbike. He seems like the silent, loner type, but Charlie and Virgil notice that he has engineering skills which may be useful to their time travel project. Although it might seem that Zeke doesn’t have time to hang out with science geeks, he is intrigued by this plan and agrees to help them; Zeke thinks the idea of time travel is cool. Much of the plot resolves around Virgil and Charlie’s friendship, and the dynamic between Virgil, Stephanie, and Derek, so Zeke doesn’t get all that focus, however, he helps find students who might need their time travel experience to avoid embarrassment and he is loyal to the cause, sticking firmly with Charlie on points, such as not betraying each other to the FBI, and not continuing to time travel when things start to look tricky.
Nicholas Braun also had a bit of history with Disney. Prior to his casting as Zeke, he was cast as Zach in the Disney movie Sky High (2005). After Minutemen, he went on to appear as Ed in the DCOM Princess Protection Program (2009), and then as Lloyd in Disney’s Prom (2011), which was not a DCOM, though it does feel like one. Since his “Disney days”, Braun has become an incredibly successful actor, appearing as Michael in Date and Switch (2014), alongside Dakota Johnson and Sarah Hyland, and as Josh in How to Be Single (2016), which also featured Dakota Johnson, and Rebel Wilson. He is perhaps most known for his role as Greg Hirsch in the critically-acclaimed series Succession (2018-23). Recently, Braun portrayed both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman in the movie Saturday Night (2024) and is set to star in the movie Famous alongside fellow Disney alumni Zac Efron and Debby Ryan.
Moving on, Stephanie Jameson was one of Virgil’s closest friends before high school. At high school, though, things are a little bit different. Stephanie is a cheerleader, but she does make time to speak to Virgil. She’s not like one of those awful cheerleaders you see in movies who drop all their friends when they finally become popular. Stephanie isn’t actually all that happy about being popular. She thinks Virgil and his friends look much happier than any of the popular kids ever do. Virgil is smitten with Stephanie, and for once, I was actually rooting for the “nerd” to win the heart of the popular girl, because she was just so nice!
Chelsea Staub, now known as Chelsea Kane, was cast as Stephanie. Like the three actors I’ve just talked about, Kane also had a history with Disney Channel. After Minutemen, she went on to star as Stella Malone, alongside the Jonas Brothers, in the Disney series Jonas (2009-10), before being cast as Alexis Bender in StarStruck (2010), alongside Sterling Knight. Also for Disney, Kane voiced the character of Bea Goldfishberg in Fish Hooks (2010-14). Outside of Disney, Kane placed third in Season 12 of Dancing with the Stars and played the part of Riley in the ABC series Baby Daddy (2012-17). She returned to voice acting again in 2019 to voice the character of Loy for the series Archibald’s Next Big Thing (2019-21).
Then there is Virgil’s ex-best friend Derek Beaugard. For most of Minutemen, Derek is also Stephanie’s boyfriend, but he turns out to be a cheater – big surprise there – so Stephanie dumps him. Derek then asks Virgil to take him back in time to avoid the moment that Stephanie saw him with another girl. Derek convinces Virgil to do this because he claims that during that bullying incident on their first day of high school he tried to get the other football players to stop doing what they were doing. Well, it’s a good thing that big, black hole stopped Virgil from helping Derek because it turns out Derek is a liar as well as cheat, actually contributing to the football players’ bullying of Charlie and Virgil, and not stopping it, as Virgil sees when they go back in time to save the world. Derek is just awful.
Steven R. McQueen was cast as Derek. He went on to be cast as Jeremy Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries (2009-17), and then as Jimmy Borrelli in Seasons 4 and 5 of Chicago Fire (2012-present). Oh, and that girl Derek was caught with was, Jocelyn, was played by Kellie Cockrell, who might look familiar to Halloweentown fans, as she played Sapphire Sinister in Return to Halloweentown (2006).
Then there are a couple of Virgil and Charlie’s friends to mention. One is Chester, who is frequently bullied by the jocks, but once Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke go back in time to help him one day, Chester becomes a real jerk, ignoring Virgil and Charlie, who only risked their lives to stop him being humiliated, and even starts to bully the jocks. All returns to normal, though, once the Minutemen go back and sort out that black hole. Then, there is Jeanette. Jeanette is a bit weird and hyper, coming on a little bit too strong for the socially awkward Charlie when she’s trying to show she has feelings for him. Eventually, Charlie learns to love Jeanette’s quirks and they become an oddly cute couple.
Chester was played by Dexter Darden. Darden went on to be cast as Frypan in The Maze Runner trilogy (2014-18) and appeared as DeVante in the reboot series of Saved by the Bell (2020-21). Most recently, he portrayed Muhammad Ali in the Peacock miniseries Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (2024), which starred Kevin Hart. Jeanette was played by Kara Crane, who went on to guest star in episodes of series like The Suite Life on Deck (2008-11); The Mindy Project (2012-17); and Baby Daddy (2012-17).
Finally, there is Vice Principal Tolkan. Tolkan isn’t bothered by the bullying epidemic he clearly has going on at his school, not even batting an eyelid when he sees a student trapped in a vending machine. Instead, he’s bothered about getting the right coins to get the snack he wants. Tolkan is happy to let “the normal order” take precedent over basic human rights, but that does mean that when Chester becomes a bully to the jocks, Tolkan suddenly wants to discipline because that goes against the status quo. What is it with DCOMs and corrupt teachers. We have Tolkan here; we had Brenigan in Lemonade Mouth (2011); where does it end? Vice Principal Tolkan was played J.P. Manoux, who should be familiar to Disney Channel fans for playing Vice Principal Hackett in the Disney Channel series Phil of the Future (2004-06). He also replaced David Spade from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) as the voice Kuzco in The Emperor’s New School (2006-08), and voiced the character of Mr. Fraley in the Disney Channel animated series The Replacements (2006-09).
MUSIC
Minutemen isn’t a movie packed with songs, but one in particular was familiar to me.
This song was “Like Whoa”, performed by Aly & AJ, which played during Virgil, Zeke, and Charlie’s building of their time machine. It was written by Aly and AJ Michalka – who themselves starred in the DCOM Cow Belles (2006) – Antonina Armato, and Tim James. “Like Whoa” was part of Aly & AJ’s second album Insomniatic, released in 2007.
Another song I instantly recognised as being performed by Corbin Bleu, although I had not heard the song before, was “Run It Back Again”, which can be heard during the montage of the Minutemen helping students and being investigated by the FBI. “Run It Back Again” was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil. The music video features clips from Minutemen. It is also a track on Radio Disney Jams, Vol. 10, released in January 2008.
At the party that Virgil attends with Derek and Stephanie, I believe the song “Thinking About It…Baby” is playing, which was written and performed by Salme Dahlstrom. At the school dance, there is also a song that sounds a bit like “Johnny B. Goode” being played by the school band. When Stephanie and Virgil dance later, there is a different song playing. These seem to just be riffs on 1950s songs, since that is the theme of the school dance, and it’s a small reference to Back to the Future, and its setting of 1955. There is no information on these songs and they are not credited.
One final song to mention that is also not credited is the music that is playing during the End Credits. This is a mini-blooper scene that turns into a dance party with all the cast and crew. All I know is that the song goes “put your hands up, put your hands up, put your ha-ha-ha-ha-hands up”. I tried to search for it, tried Shazam, but it doesn’t exist apparently.
Nathan Wang is credited as the composer for Minutemen. Wang has composed the music for other DCOMs including Hatching Pete (2009); Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006); and Christmas…Again? (2021), amongst many other non-Disney projects.
PRODUCTION
Science fiction is a common genre in entertainment, both on-screen and off.
On-screen, some of the most popular science fiction franchises have involved space travel, such as Star Wars and Star Trek. Although space travel is advancing, we are not yet living in a world that looks anything like those in science fiction films. However, others in this genre have become less science fiction and more “science fact”.
Some science fiction movies that have been focused on getting the science right include Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014), whose plot has a basis in theoretical physics, and Ridley Scott’s The Martian (2015), which follows an astronaut’s attempts to survive on Mars[1]. A movie that comes somewhere in between science fiction and “science fact” is Back to the Future, one of the most popular science fiction franchises ever, in itself an inspiration to other science fiction films. Minutemen takes some ideas from this movie in its own exploration into time travel.
For fans of Back to the Future, there are many subtle references within Minutemen, aside from the time travelling storyline. One is that Charlie has named his pet, in this case a cat, after Einstein, and Doc Brown did the same with his dog in Back to the Future. Jeanette can also be seen at one point looking at the school newspaper, which changes its headlines as soon as the Minutemen have changed the past; this is something that happens in Back to the Future. You might also notice that Virgil’s last name, “Fox”, the same as that of Marty McFly actor Michael J. Fox, and that Vice Principal Tolkan is named after actor James Tolkan, who played Principal Strickland in the movie. A big mention of the movie comes in the fact that the boys named their club, the “Back to the Future Fan Club”. Obviously, they knew that they were re-enacting the movie in real-life.
I could go into detail about the never-ending problems with the scientific inaccuracies and plot holes that exist within Minutemen and Back to the Future that others have somehow had time to find. I’m not going to do that, because I don’t really care about accuracy in movies like this, because there is too much still to be discovered in the world of science. I will instead mention just one.
Time travel is not currently physically possible, however, theoretically, it has been discussed with many possible outcomes. For example, one theory that neither Back to the Future nor Minutemen manage to follow is the “grandfather paradox”. The example used to explain it says that if a time traveller went back in time and killed his grandfather before he could have children, then this would mean the time traveller never existed, so couldn’t actually go back in time to do that. In Minutemen, the boys go back in time to fix issues and return to the present to find that it’s like they never happened. This goes against the grandfather paradox. This theory led to the belief that travelling backwards in time was not possible, and has caused many viewers of movies like this to comment on inaccuracy.
But there have since been discussions, including theories from Stephen Hawking, that debate whether it is possible to travel back in time, at least to an earlier point in time that you’ve already been to. This would mean that Minutemen could work, however, this relies on the fact that things would be unalterable in that past timeline – which Minutemen does not stick to. Alternatively, there is a lot of discussion about quantum physics and parallel timelines, which are too complicated for me to understand[2]. All I know is that parallel timelines are explored in Back to the Future, specifically Back to the Future Part II.
My point here is that Minutemen took a lot of influence from Back to the Future, and in doing so, it took some of Back to the Future’s scientific inaccuracies and made them their own. However, that does not mean that Minutemen doesn’t have a good story, because it does, and it was good for Disney Channel to create a science fiction-based movie. Science fiction isn’t a particularly common genre for Disney, with their Zenon trilogy ending in 2004. Minutemen was their first science fiction movie since then, but Zenon takes place in space in the future, not in present day with some elements of science within it, like Minutemen. There wouldn’t be another science fiction-themed DCOM until The Suite Life Movie in 2011.
Minutemen was directed by Lev L. Spiro. After Minutemen, Spiro went on to direct the DCOM Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009) and some episodes of the Disney Channel series Jonas (2009-10). More recently, he has directed some episodes of UnReal (2015-18) and Insatiable (2018-19). The screenplay for Minutemen was written by John Killoran, with David Diamond and David Weissman being credited for the story.
The actors enjoyed working with Spiro during filming on Minutemen, and Spiro in turn enjoyed working with them. It seemed like a fun, creative atmosphere on set. One area where this was clear was in the stunts. Minutemen is not a high action thriller, however, there were still moments of stunt work, and the actors got to do quite a lot of it. Jason Dolley, Luke Benward, and Nicholas Braun ended up doing lots of jumps and dives to film the shots of them going into and coming out of the time travel vortex. They also did some work on wires for their characters spinning through the vortex. Although the vortex doesn’t look particularly realistic, it is worth remembering this is a TV movie from 2008. Benward was also able to drive the “runaway” kart in Charlie’s first scene in the movie.
There is also another actor that should be mentioned here and that is Tennessee the cat, who played Albert Felinestein. Although the cat is not seen all that much in Minutemen, Albert Felinestein was part of a key moment in the movie: the first test of the time travel machine. The cat actually had to be sprayed with something to make it look like it had been frosted up during the time travelling. But don’t worry; the cat was not thrown into the air when the boys throw it into the vortex in the film. A toy cat was used as a “stunt double”.
The coldness aspect of time travelling, which saw the DeLorean freeze during the time travel sequences of Back to the Future, did mean that the boys had to wear big, thick snowsuits. This may’ve been easy to do had this shoot been entirely inside, or shot during winter, but it was not; it was filmed in summer. Dolley, Benward, and Braun had to do a lot of activity in those costumes and did struggle at times in the hot weather[3]!
Minutemen was filmed in August 2007 in Utah, with two schools being used as filming locations: Murray High School, based in Salt Lake Valley; and Highland High School in Salt Lake City. It seems that Murray High School was used as the exterior of Summerton High School, with a giant bronze ram statue being placed outside the school entrance, with “Summerton High School” and “Rams” wording being added to the building. It supposedly confused some registering students; however, the props were removed before school started. Highland High seems to have been the setting for Summerton’s playing field[4].
Utah has been a fairly common filming location for Disney Channel, with others being filmed in Utah including Cloud 9 (2014) and Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011). Murray High School is not even a stranger to Disney Channel, as it was used as the filming location for Read It and Weep (2006) and the High School Musical trilogy (2006-08)[5].
RECEPTION
Minutemen premiered on Disney Channel on 25th January 2008 in the US.
It reportedly reached around 6.5 million viewers on its premiere. This is about average for a Disney Channel Original Movie release for the time, potentially slightly above average. The DCOMs with the best viewing figures tended to be the musicals, or the ones with the biggest Disney Channel stars. Although Minutemen features a lot of Disney stars as we now know them, at the time, none of the main actors had been in many Disney projects before, so Disney Channel didn’t have that to market the movie fully. Although I’m from the UK and not the US, I don’t remember Minutemen being heavily advertised on the channel, however, the other two releases of 2008, Camp Rock, and The Cheetah Girls: One World, were. It is worth noting though that in the US, Minutemen actually had slightly more viewers than the third Cheetah Girls movie, which had viewership of around 6.2. million. I also think Minutemen fared quite well for a January movie release. DCOMs released over the summer or towards Halloween I always felt were the most exciting ones.
Looking at audience reviews, I was surprised to find so many positive ones for Minutemen. That’s not to say I think it deserves more negative reviews, because it doesn’t, but just that many reviews of DCOMs tend to be overly critical. In Minutemen’s case, many felt that the storyline was fun and smart, with better-than-expected acting. I would definitely agree with this statement. Many liked the references to Back to the Future that are peppered throughout Minutemen. It was also appreciated that this is a DCOM that is centred on three teenage boys, and outcasts at that. Many other DCOMs do not do this, although Disney Channel were clearly trying to appeal to this demographic during the 2000s, as you can see with movies like Jump In! (2007) and Hatching Pete (2009).
However, Minutemen did not escape any negative reviews, as no film ever can. Some said that Minutemen was “forgettable”. To be fair, in amongst all the other DCOMs that have been released, I would say that Minutemen has been forgotten by many Disney Channel fans, unless they happened to have watched it enough times at a younger age to make it a favourite. But the reason it may have been forgotten isn’t because the movie is low-quality; it’s because the DCOM world has been saturated with musicals. Others were quick to point out the inaccuracy of the time travelling within Minutemen, and there were some comments about how the black hole and “end of the world” scenario was a little bit overdone, especially with the four-hour time limit to fix everything. Four hours is a random amount of time for something as cataclysmic as a black hole consuming the world – or was it just the US? – but I didn’t think it was excessively dramatic.
Personally, I think Minutemen is a better-than-average DCOM, with a different type of story and pretty good acting. It’s certainly not anywhere close to being one of the worst DCOMs I’ve seen.
LEGACY
Unlike Back to the Future, which spanned two sequels, merchandise, a TV series, and a fandom that are extraordinarily loyal, Minutemen didn’t get that.
Minutemen instead may even get confused with The Minutemen characters from the DC comic book series Watchmen. Minutemen are also the name of characters in other comic books, including those from Marvel. Minutemen, or Minuteman, has also been used as the name of different organisations or groups in the US over the years, including in the American Revolutionary War. This term generally refers to rapid deployment of people.
One good thing to come out of Minutemen was the careers of its stars, with the four main actors having multiple Disney credits. Jason Dolley mentioned during a 2020 video he appeared in on Christy Carlson Romano’s YouTube Channel – the voice of Kim Possible for anyone unfamiliar, as well as Ren Stevens in The Even Stevens (2000-03) – that he was one of the few actors to have been in the most DCOMs with four, joint with Brenda Song. Song has in fact been in five. Although some were quick to point out the inaccuracy in his statement, many actors who have been in more than four DCOMs were in series, such as Raven-Symoné in The Cheetah Girls and Zenon films, and Ashley Tisdale, in the High School Musical and Phineas and Ferb movies. Dolley was in four completely unrelated, standalone DCOMs, as well as two Disney Channel series, which is still impressive. If nothing else, Minutemen was a stepping stone to success for its Disney Channel stars.
Minutemen also went some way in breaking Disney Channel’s reliance on musicals after its High School Musical hype, and finding a way of appealing to boys, instead of only on pre-teen and teenage girls.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Minutemen is not my favourite DCOM, and I didn’t even see it until after its release. I’ve always liked musicals, so I was always excited for those, and I’d also choose to watch DCOMs with actors I already knew. Minutemen wouldn’t be able to meet that second requirement for a few years, but when it did, I went ahead and saw it.
It wasn’t a particularly memorable movie experience to be honest, but re-watching this week, I was impressed with it. The storyline covered the scientific background of time travel, as well as the potential homeland security issues that may come with this sort of endeavour, making Minutemen more complex a movie than others that are generally about high school. Minutemen managed to combine the time travel with this aspect.
Minutemen is a movie for the outcasts, once again proving that it’s the ones who no-one imagines anything of who do the things that no-one can imagine.
Alan Turing reportedly said that; I can’t take credit for it.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: BBC Bitesize, ‘Five times the movies got their science right’, BBC.co.uk/bitesize, October 2022.
[2] Credit: Andrew May, ‘What is the grandfather paradox?’, LiveScience.com, 31st January 2022.
[3] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Minutemen 2008 DVD Overview’, Diamond Boy’s Disney DVD Overviews YouTube Channel, 12th January 2024.
[4] Credit: Jennifer Toomer-Cook, ‘Disney moment for Murray, Highland’, Deseret.com, 3rd September 2007.
[5] Credit: Jennifer Guzman, ‘Got Disney+? Keep an eye out for these movies filmed in Utah’, KSL.com, 12th November 2019.
The Disney Purist 