• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Time Machine for Sale - Some Work Needed

One time I tried to think of all the time machines/time traveling devices I've come across in movies and TV. Some are just the means of transportation, some are actual devices made for the purpose. There are quite a few (not in order):

Of course, the classic one from the 1960 Rod Taylor movie and the remake
.
.
.
A ship (The Final Countdown -- although it wasn't the actual instigator, just a mode of travel)

There are several other lower-budget ones I may remember (or not), or that I'm not aware of.
iirc, The Philadelphia Experiment had a ship/invisibility-device combo that accidentaly turned into a time machine.
 
I saw Time Tunnel at a screening at the 24th World Science Fiction Convention (Tricon) in Cleveland, Ohio, on Labour Day weekend in 1966.

The episode was the one broadcast the following week, "Rendezvous with Yesterday", about the meeting of the Titanic and a large lump of ice.

The comparison with the Star Trek pilot (shown the day before) was devastatingly hilarious. The protagonists tried to convince the captain of his peril by showing him a copy of a newspaper with the headline Titanic Sinks (I carry a copy of this in my back pocket for just such an emergency) but for some reason was not believed. The hero kept on looking at his very advanced watch that showed how close in time the collision was getting. I called out, "Show him your watch!" but was hissed by some close to me.

Piece of crap. (IMHO)
 
One time I tried to think of all the time machines/time traveling devices I've come across in movies and TV. Some are just the means of transportation, some are actual devices made for the purpose. There are quite a few (not in order):

Of course, the classic one from the 1960 Rod Taylor movie and the remake
The Time Tunnel (1966 TV)
A coin (Somewhere in Time)
A hot tub (from the movie of the same name)
A motorcycle (A Fred Ward? movie I forget the name of)
A DeLorean
A phone booth (Bill & Ted)
The Guardian of Forever and The Enterprise/The Sun
The Tardis
A spaceship (Planet of the Apes and TV's It's About Time comedy)
An airplane (Millennium)
A containment unit (Source Code)
A ship (The Final Countdown -- although it wasn't the actual instigator, just a mode of travel)

There are several other lower-budget ones I may remember (or not), or that I'm not aware of.
I can think of two more, Superman (in the eponymous film at the end to save Lois) and the sun (in Star Trek 4 and a bad TOS episode used as a back door pilot).
 
The Stargate can in certain circumstances be used for time travel, as can a modified Ancient puddle jumper, plus there's another Ancient device that creates a time loop. And in Travelers, the supercomputer called The Director can send consciousnesses back in time, but only to a specific individual known to be at a specific point in spacetime.

Dave
 
Others that spring to mind:
Timeless series - a time ship. Enjoyable series with satisfying ending. Ship can also locate you in a different place.
Frequency film - radio communicating across time. Limiting interaction, and quite a gentle pace.
Time Bandits film - map showing holes in space time.
About Time film - saw first bit where he climbed into a wardrobe and found he went back in time.
 
My favorite time travel stories:

Timeline - by Michael Chrichton (lot's throwing the word, "Quantum" around).

The Final Countdown (1980) - The USS Nimitz sails through a wormhole and ends up in the Pacific on the eve of Pearl Harbor.

11-22-63 - Stephen King - A portal in the walk-in freezer of a Maine diner opens to 1958, the protagonist is enlisted by dying owner to go back and save JFK. As far as time-travel stories go, this one was well thought out.

Somewhere in Time and the original novel, Bid Time Return - by the great Richard Matheson. A smart writer stays away from the science, and focuses on the story, and characters. Matheson delivered a wonderful story.
 
This is of some (peripheral?) interest.

The Time Machine (1960): Banned Alternate Ending and Hidden Truth They Tried to Hide


Interesting to see how complicated the special effects were. These days I guess they would cost about a dollar-fifty per scene.

(And who they are I still don't know.)
 
This is of some (peripheral?) interest.

The Time Machine (1960): Banned Alternate Ending and Hidden Truth They Tried to Hide

Interesting to see how complicated the special effects were. These days I guess they would cost about a dollar-fifty per scene.

(And who they are I still don't know.)
I attempted to make one of those history talking rings in 3D printing. Well, I never planned to get it to talk, but I did want to get it to light up when it spun. I got that part done but have had trouble getting it to have a nice balance -- it wobbles fiercely. I know if I made it a lot bigger I could solve that, but I'd like to keep it the size like in the movie.
 
One time I tried to think of all the time machines/time traveling devices I've come across in movies and TV. Some are just the means of transportation, some are actual devices made for the purpose. There are quite a few (not in order):

Of course, the classic one from the 1960 Rod Taylor movie and the remake
The Time Tunnel (1966 TV)
A coin (Somewhere in Time)
A hot tub (from the movie of the same name)
A motorcycle (A Fred Ward? movie I forget the name of)
A DeLorean
A phone booth (Bill & Ted)
The Guardian of Forever and The Enterprise/The Sun
The Tardis
A spaceship (Planet of the Apes and TV's It's About Time comedy)
An airplane (Millennium)
A containment unit (Source Code)
A ship (The Final Countdown -- although it wasn't the actual instigator, just a mode of travel)

There are several other lower-budget ones I may remember (or not), or that I'm not aware of.

The airplane [sic] wasn't the time travel device in Millenium. They used a time travel device to replace all the people on an aeroplane that was going to crash.
 
The airplane [sic] wasn't the time travel device in Millenium. They used a time travel device to replace all the people on an aeroplane that was going to crash.
OK, I didn't see it anyway, just read about it.
So, time-travel in airplanes -- as a mode of travel rather than the method? (Space warp or some such). Perhaps The Langoliers and that one Twilight Zone episode where they wind up flying over dinosaurs.
 

Back
Top Bottom