This version of Twain’s story borrows some sf tropes from Shelley’s
Frankenstein
(a
mad scientist) and Kipling’s “
Wireless”
(recovering
sound from the past), although all that is small potatoes
next to Will Rogers’ folksy wit. His character—Hank “Martin—is tossed back to Camelot
when a bolt of lightning and a suit of armor knock him over at the mad scientist’s lab, and
at the end, he returns via a similar
timeslip. In between, we get
one-liners, tommy guns, tanks, cars, characters that are eerily familiar from Martin’s
present-day life—and a lot of time to debate whether this version has a real timeslip or is
just a dream.
— Michael Main
Think! Think of hearing Lincoln’s own voice delivering the Gettysburg address!
1 English variant