Michael Crichton

writer, creator
Novel

Sphere

Because he wrote a government report on how to handle alien contact, psychologist Norman Johnson is called to the scene when the Navy discovers a 300-year-old crashed space ship on the Pacific floor. But it turns out to be an American space ship, just not from today’s America.
And yet now we have proof that time travel is possible—and that our own species will do it in the future!
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  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Sphere

For me, this adaptation of Crichton’s novel was slow and unscary. —Michael Main
I borrowed from good writers, You know: Isaac Asimov, Rod Serling.
Series faces of Dustin Hoffman (as Norman), Sharon Stone (as Beth), and Samuel L. Jackson (as Harry) float above three connected underwater spheres.
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Novel

Timeline

Three bland archaeology graduate students, one of whom envisions himself as a knight, are sent back to 14th-century France to rescue their professor. The novel mentions a multiverse model of time-travel, but gives no explication (nor does it enter the plotline); the most interesting characters and developments appear for a few pages and are never again heard of (at least not in this universe).
I don’t mean time travel at all. Time travel is impossible. Everyone knows that.
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  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Timeline

Michael Crichton’s book, on which this was based, was interminably slow, and so was the movie—and I’m not only talking about the battle scenes in 1357 France. The actual time-travel mechanism is cool, though. —Michael Main
It means the camera was taking pictures in the wilderness near Castlegard, France, in the year 1357.
A geometric grid in red-and-yellow light covers a strong hand holding crossbow that morphs into a spiral at one end.
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel