A Switch in Time[6][7] is a 1988 Canadian science-fiction comedy film written and directed by Paul Donovan, starring Tom McCamus, Lori Paton, Jacques Lussier and David Hemblen.

Its belated U.S. home video version was re-titled Norman's Awesome Experience by distributor South Gate Entertainment to ride on the success of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, a film it actually predates.

His life takes a whole new turn when an attractive Canadian model named Erica (Lori Paton) and her Italian photographer boyfriend Umberto (Jacques Lussier) persuade him to allow them access to the plant for an Omni photo shoot.

The next day, the three central characters are literally zapped back in time by a freak accident at the nuclear power plant in which none of them was an active participant.

In addition to learning the ability to converse in Latin, Norman has a rudimentary technical understanding of many modern devices and is able to use his knowledge to actively alter history.

This activity is witnessed by the Roman commanding officer and the images of the balloons makes it into a book that Umberto and Erica are forced to help manufacture on a primitive printing press operated by a group of galley slaves of which they are now a part, having been sold into slavery due to their failure to stop Norman.

[7] Production services were provided by local company Fata Morgana, headed by Alejandro Azzaro, who had previous experience working on outsourced foreign pictures.

[14][15] The bulk of the film was shot at Lanín National Park[16] near San Martín de los Andes, as the Patagonian region could pass for the Swiss Alps without the high cost, and the local skiing industry provided the hospitality infrastructures needed by the production team.

The film's completion guarantor received scam complaints,[13] but Paul Donovan argued that bribes extorted by the Argentinian customs administration were the main culprit for their financial situation.

While the original director maintained that Normanicus was headed in the right direction, Simcom's Ron Oliver, who was tasked with bringing the film to the finish line, thought the delivered footage was disjointed and could not be cut as is.

[17] According to Oliver, Donovan initially agreed to collaborate on the new material, but the discarding of much of the film's dark satire in favor of the heavier-handed comedy demanded by Simpson led him to depart the project, at one point attempting to dissuade the actors from taking part in the additional sessions.

To go with the new moniker, South Gate peppered its ad copy and trailer with teen speak such as "like", "dude" and "totally rad", while touting a youth-oriented promotional campaign on Viacom's MTV, VH1 and CBS.

However, he found the visual effects "modest" and deemed that the film's single jump to the past caused it to "lack variety" compared to works that featured a time hopping premise.

[4] In Hollywood en Don Torcuato, his Spanish-language opus about international films shot in Argentina, journalist Andrés Fevrier deemed the picture "quite good and a little crazy".

[13] In addition to an original score by Canadian composer Paul Zaza, the film features several classic rock 'n' roll songs:[4] "Hey Good Lookin'" by Hank Williams, "Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel)" by Roy Orbison and "Runaround Sue" by Dion DiMucci.