THE WHOLE ITTDB   CONTACT   LINKS▼ 🔍 by Keywords▼ | by Media/Years▼ | Advanced
 
The Internet Time Travel Database

Circa AD 2200 to 2299

Time Periods

Ijon Tichy

Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego, pt. 4

Literal: From remembrances of Ijon Tichy, pt. 4

by Stanisław Lem
Ijon is unphased when Physicist Molteris lugs his time machine into Ijon’s sitting room, promising Ijon will be repaid for the colossal amount of electricity that will be consumed by the first trip.
— Michael Main
Zamierzałem, ale . . . widzi pan . . . ja . . . mój gospodarz wyłączył mi elektrycznoćś . . . w niedzielę.
I planned to, but, you see, I—my landlord turned off the electricity on Sunday.
English
[ex=bare]Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego, pt. 4 | From remembrances of Ijon Tichy, pt. 4[/ex] by Stanisław Lem, in Księga robotów (Iskry, 1961).

Journey into Mystery #86

On the Trail of the Tomorrow Man

by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Zarrko, a mad time-machine-building scientist from 2262, believes that our nuclear weapons will enable him to take over the world of his time. He comes back to 1962 to steal one, and the Mighty Thor pursues him back to 2262.

The plot suffers from Alpha Centauri syndrome, where the time traveler might as well be from Alpha Centauri as from the future, but seeing the emergence of Kirby’s high-perspective artwork gives this issue a boost. In addition, the story provides a powerful image of the pre-Vietnam cold war era and its prevailing assumptions about the roles of women in society.

— Michael Main
Ahhh—an ancient explosion of a nuclear bomb! The perfect device with which to conquer the twenty-third century!
“On the Trail of the Tomorrow Man” by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in Journey into Mystery 86 (Marvel Comics, November 1962).

The Voyages of Ijon Tichy 11

Podróż siódma

English release: The Seventh Voyage Literal: Journey seven

by Stanisław Lem
What do you do when your one-man spaceship loses an argument with a meteor, and the only way to repair the rudder demands two people? “The Seventh Voyage” is the eleventh tale of Stanisław Lem’s space traveler Ijon Ticvhy, but I believe it’s the first where the hero also wrangles with time.
— Michael Main
— Zaraz — odparł wolno, nawet nie ruszając palcem. — Dzisiaj jest wtorek. Jeżeli ty jesteś środowy i do tej chwili we środę jeszcze nie są naprawione stery, to z tego wynika, że coś przeszkodzi nam w ich naprawieniu, ponieważ w przeciwnym razie, ty, we środę, nie nakłaniałbyś już mnie do tego, abym ja, we wtorek, wspólnie je z tobą naprawiał. Więc może lepiej nie ryzykować wyjścia na zewnątrz?
“Just a minute,” I replied, remaining on the floor. ”Today is Tuesday. Now if you are the Wednesday me, and if by that time on Wednesday the rudder still hasn’t been fixed, then it follows that something will prevent us from fixing it, since otherwise you, on Wednesday, would not now, on Tuesday, be asking me to help you fix it. Wouldn’t it be best, then, for us to not risk going outside?”
English
[ex=bare]“Podróż siódma” | Voyage seven[/ex] by Stanisław Lem, in Niezwyciężony i inne opowiadania by Stanisław Lem (Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, 1964).

Star Trek (s01e04)

The Naked Time

by John D. F. Black, directed by Marc Daniels
After an alien spore infects the entire Enterprise crew with madness, it seems that the only available action to save the ship from a rapdidly decaying orbit is a cold restart of the engines.
— Michael Main
You know, Dr. McCoy said the same thing.
Star Trek (s01e04), “The Naked Time” by John D. F. Black, directed by Marc Daniels (NBC-TV, USA, 29 September 1966).

Star Trek (s01e19)

Tomorrow Is Yesterday

by D. C. Fontana, directed by Michael O’Herlihy
Darn those high-gravity black stars! Always accidentally throwing starships hither and yon through time. Although in this case, the crew of the Enterprise manages to correct all the problems they caused by beaming 1960s Air Force pilot Captain John Christopher on board.
— Michael Main
Spock: Fifty years to go. Forty. Thirty.
Kirk: Never mind, Mr. Spock.
Spock: [silence]
Star Trek (s01e19), “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” by D. C. Fontana, directed by Michael O’Herlihy (NBC-TV, USA, 26 January 1967).

Star Trek (s01e28)

The City on the Edge of Forever

by Harlan Ellison, directed by Joseph Pevney
After a delirious Bones hurtles through a time portal to the 1930s, Kirk and Spock follow to save him and stop dangerous changes to the timeline, no matter the cost.
— Michael Main
Star Trek (s01e28), “The City on the Edge of Forever” by Harlan Ellison, directed by Joseph Pevney (NBC-TV, USA, 6 April 1967).

Star Trek (s02e26)

Assignment: Earth

by Art Wallace, directed by Marc Daniels
The Enterprise and her crew make their first intentional trip back in time to study historical aspects of 1968 and the Cold War, but unexpectedly, they intercept a transporter beam that brings the mysterious Gary Seven and his feline from a faraway advanced planet.
— Michael Main
Humans of the 20th century do not go beaming around the Galaxy, Mr. Seven.
Star Trek (s02e26), “Assignment: Earth” by Art Wallace, directed by Marc Daniels (NBC-TV, USA, 29 March 1968).

Star Trek (s03e06)

Spectre of the Gun

by Gene L. Coon, directed by Vincent McEveety
After barging into the space of the reclusive Melkotians, Kirk and his crew find themselves facing the Earps and Doc Holliday in a second-rate simulation of the 1881 gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
— Michael Main
History has been changed in the fact that Billy Claiborne didn’t die, but Chekov is lying there dead.
Star Trek (s03e06), “Spectre of the Gun” by Gene L. Coon, directed by Vincent McEveety (NBC-TV, USA, 25 October 1968).

Star Trek (s03e11)

Wink of an Eye

by Arthur Heinemann, directed by Jud Taylor
In an outer quadrant of the galaxy, the Enterprise is taken over by Deela and her subject Scalosians, who can accelerate their personal time frames to a point where everyone else seems frozen.
— Michael Main
They cannot hear you, Captain. To their ears, you sound like an insect.
Star Trek (s03e11), “Wink of an Eye” by Arthur Heinemann, directed by Jud Taylor (NBC-TV, USA, 29 November 1968).

Star Trek (s03e19)

Requiem for Methuselah

by Jerome Bixby, directed by Murray Golden
The seemingly all-powerful Flint lives with the brilliant young Raina, hangs unknown [tag-3791 | da Vinci[/ex] paintings on his walls, and provides Mr. Spock with a modern-day Brahms waltz. Could his riches be ill-got via time travel or is there a mundane explanation?
— Michael Main
Your collection of Leonardo da Vinci masterpieces, Mr. Flint—they appear to have been recently painted.
Star Trek (s03e19), Requiem for Methuselah by Jerome Bixby, directed by Murray Golden (NBC-TV, 14 February 1969).

Star Trek (s03e22)

The Savage Curtain

by Gene Roddenberry and Arthur Heinemann, directed by Herschel Daugherty
The critics agree that this episode lives in the bottom ten of all Star Trek episodes, but we kinda liked seeing Lincoln and Surak, even if Spock concludes that they were mere sims.
— Michael Main
Conjecture, Captain, rather than explanation: It would seem that we were held in the power of creatures able to control matter and to rearrange molecules in whatever fashion was desired, so they were able to create images of Sarak and Lincoln after scanning our minds and using their fellow creatures as source matter.
Star Trek (s03e22), “The Savage Curtain” by Gene Roddenberry and Arthur Heinemann, directed by Herschel Daugherty (NBC-TV, USA, 7 March 1969).

Star Trek (s03e23)

All Our Yesterdays

by Jean Lisette Aroeste, directed by Marvin J. Chomsky
The three principal Trekkers find themselves on a planet where everyone is being evacuated to the past to escape an impending supernova.
— Michael Main
Spock! You’re reverting into your ancestors, five thousand years before you were born!
Star Trek (s03e23), “All Our Yesterdays” by Jean Lisette Aroeste, directed by Marvin J. Chomsky (NBC-TV, USA, 14 March 1969).

The Voyages of Ijon Tichy 20

Podróż dwudziesta

English release: The Twentieth Voyage Literal: Journey twenty

by Stanisław Lem
After the time mish-mash of Ijon Tichy’s seventh voyage, it wasn’t clear whether Ijon would ever ply the channels of time again, but here he is, traveling back in time to persuade himself to go forward in time and take up the helm of THEOHIPPIP—a.k.a. Teleotelechronistic-Historical Engineering to Optimize the Hyoerputerized Implementation of Paleological Programming and Interplanetary Planning. It takes a few attempts for older Ijon to convince younger Ijon to head to the future on a one-man chronocykl, but when he does, the younger Ijon begins the unexpectedly hard task of righting history’s wrongs. As a sophisticated time traveler yourself, you’ll spot what’s happening early on, while you also get a tour of history from the formamtion of the Solar System to the extinction of the dinosaurs and the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. You’ll also recognize the fun Lem has at the expense of the bureaucracies of mid-20th-century Poland.
— Michael Main
Zresztą Bosch nie powstrzymał się od niedyskrecji. W „Ogrodzie uciech ziemskich,” w „piekle muzycznym” (prawe skrzydło tryptyku) stoi w samym środku dwunastoosobowy chronobus. I co miałem z tym robić?
Even so, Bosch couldn’t refrain from certain indiscretions. In the “Garden of Earthly Delights,” in the very center of the “Musical Hell” (the right wing of the triptych), stands a twelve-seat chronobus. Not a thing I could do about it.
English
[ex=bare]“Podróż dwudziesta” | Journey twenty[/ex] by Stanisław Lem, in Dzienniki gwiazdowe, expanded third edition, by Stanisław Lem, (Czytelnik, 1971).

Sleeper

by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, directed by Woody Allen
Jazz musician Miles Monroe is conscripted into a long sleep and awakened 200 years later.
— Michael Main
Look, you gotta be kidding. I wanna go back to sleep! If I don't get at least 600 years, I'm grouchy all day.
Sleeper by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, directed by Woody Allen (at movie theaters, USA, 17 December 1973).

Star TrekIV

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

by Steve Meerson et al. , directed by Leonard Nimoy
As the brave crew of the Enterprise are returning to Earth on a Klingon Bird of Prey to stand trial for the events of the previous movie, Spock determines that Earth’s demise is imminent unless they can return to 1986 and retrieve a humpback whale (which they proceed to do).

I saw this in the theater with Deb Baker and Jon Shultis during a winter trip to Pittsburgh for a small computer science education conference.

— Michael Main
McCoy: You realize that by giving him the formula you’re altering the future.
Scotty: Why? How do we know he didn’t invent the thing?
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home by Steve Meerson et al. , directed by Leonard Nimoy (at movie theaters, Canada, 21 November 1986).

Star Trek: The Original Series Books

Timetrap

by David Dvorkin
Determined to discover what the Klingons are doing in Federation space, Captain Kirk beams aboard their ship with a security team, just as the stormflares to its highest intensity. As the bridge crew watches in horror, Mauler vanishes from the Enterprise’s viewscrreen. And James T. Kirk awakens . . . one hundred years in the future.
— from publicity material
His age, his century, his civilization—they were all gone. This was now his universe. The fact was irreversible. So be it. I will adjust.
Timetrap by David Dvorkin (Titan Books, June 1988).

Time Was

by Nora Roberts
Time travel via a spaceship that got too close to an uncharted black hole. Our hero, Caleb Hornblower, survives to have a romance with Liberty Stone, a woman from a couple hundred years before he was born. The romantic element is definitely stronger than the science, but there are some interesting discussions about past versus future technology and different social norms. There’s also a fun ride on an aircycle! And a bit of comedy when Liberty’s parents arrive unexpectedly. But only the one time travel event is documented, so this remains heavier on the Romance than the Time Travel.

The story continues in a 1990 sequel, Times Change.

— Tandy Ringoringo
The cockpit lights went out, leaving only the whirl of kaleidoscopic colors from the instrument panel. His ship went into a spiral, tumbling end over end like a stone fired from a slingshot. Now the light was white, hot and brilliant. Instinctively he threw up an arm to shield his eyes. The sudden crushing pressure on his chest left him helpless to do more than gasp for breath.
Time Was by Nora Roberts (Silhouette, November 1989).

Times Change

by Nora Roberts
Jacob (J.T.) Hornblower, astrophysicist, deliberately travels back a couple of centuries to shake some sense into his brother Caleb, who had foolishly (in J.T.’s opinion) decided to stay in the past. A little more science than the first book in this duology, but still heavier on the romance angle, as J.T. finds himself strongly attracted to Sunbeam (Sunny) Stone. Both J.T. and Sunny are opinionated and bullheaded, as well as having blackbelts, so there is also more conflict in this book. The documented return trip to the future includes a brief description of physical side-effects.
— Tandy Ringoringo
And now he stood and wondered. If he dug for it, he would come upon the same box. The box that he had left with his parents only days before. The box would exist here, beneath his feet, just as it existed in his own time. As he existed.

If he dug it up now and carried it back to his ship, it would not be there for him to find on that high summer day in the twenty-third century. And if that was true, how could he be here, in this time, to dig it up at all?

Times Change by Nora Roberts (Silhouette, January 1990).

Horrid Henry [s01e16]

Horrid Henry’s Time Machine

by Francesca Simon
In the cartoon version of the short story, Henry imagines that his time machine is an elaborate time ship, at least until his perfect little brother brings him out of his daydream and back to the real world of cardboard.
— Michael Main
Peter: “I'm going to the future. I want to see it for myself!”
Horrid Henry’s Time Machine by Francesca Simon, from Horrid Henry [s01e16] by Malcolm Williamson, directed by Dave Unwin (ITV, UK, 18 December 2006).

Star Trek

The Many and the Few

by Wendy Welcott
Spock travels back and forth through time to save the Federation.
— Michael Main
Peering into the murky abyss, Spock saw something he had never seen before: a window, a portal to that other world, not a vision, not a light, but a feeling, a feeling he didn’t understand—wonderment.
The Many and the Few by Wendy Welcott, submission to Star Trek’s To Boldly Go Script Competition, 16 February 2016.

Best. Scientist. EVER.

by Omar Velasco
You head out on a quick, rollicking ride back through time, with an unknown pursuer and an ambiguous conclusion.
— Tandy Ringoringo
You come to the conclusion that you can correct everything if you stop yourself before you steal the time machine.
“Best. Scientist. EVER.” by Omar Velasco, Daily Science Fiction, 8 December 2020 [webzine].

Ad Nauseam

by Josh Warriner
Illegal time travelers Jin and Rhea are stuck in a time loop in the 1950s.
— Michael Main
Was this the fourth, or the fifth time around?
“Ad Nauseam” by Josh Warriner, Daily Science Fiction, 24 June 2022 [webzine].

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (s01e10)

A Quality of Mercy

by Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman, directed by Chris Fisher
A despondent Captain Pike considers warning two future cadets about the accident that will kill them and maim Pike himself, but before he can write to them, his older self shows up to transport young Pike to the future that the warnings will create.
— Michael Main
Young Pike: How am I supposed to believe . . . ?
Old Pike: . . . that I’m really you?
Young Pike: You ever gonna let me get a word in edgewise?
Old Pike: I knew you were gonna say that. Does that help?
“A Quality of Mercy” by Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman, directed by Chris Fisher (Paramount+, USA, 7 July 2022).

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (s02e03)

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

by David Reed, directed by Chris Fisher
A mysterious, bloody man appears and warns La’an of an attack in the past, after which she races to the bridge, only to find herself in an alternate timeline with a young James T. Kirk at the helm. A trip to the past seeems in order.
— Michael Main
There’s going to be an attack. It’s going to change the timeline. We have to stop it.
“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” by David Reed, directed by Chris Fisher (Paramount+, USA, 29 June 2023).
as of 4:59 p.m. MDT, 18 May 2024
This page is still under construction.
Please bear with us as we continue to finalize our data over the coming years.