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The Internet Time Travel Database

Despite Title, No Time Penomena

Time-Related Situations

The Ape-Woman

by John Charles Beecham
Given the intriguing title, we hoped the title character of this early novelette would be a time traveling ape from from future, but alas, such was not meant to be. Instead, the narrator’s partner on a rubber plantation adopts an orphaned Bornean ape and brings her up as human.
— Michael Main
In pursuance of this theory he strove sedulously to teach the ape to distinguish colors, to recognize and fashion geometrical patterns, and to do many of the clever things with blocks and tinted paper that four and five year olds do in the kindergartens. Each new accomplishment he claimed as a triumph and a further vidication of his theory. I had my doubts, although I was willing to concede that Claybourne was a good animal-trainer.
“The Ape-Woman” by John Charles Beecham, in Argosy All-Story Weekly, 30 October 1920.

Stalemate in Space

by Charles L. Harness
Even though this story was reprinted as “Stalemate in Time” in the 1960s, it still was just a battle between two death stars. No time travel.
— Michael Main
For twenty years, in company with her great father, she had watched The Defender grow from a vast metal skeleton into a planet-sized battle globe.
“Stalemate in Space” by Charles L. Harness, Planet Stories, Summer 1949.

The Time Machine

by Ray Bradbury
Charlie takes his pals Douglas and John to visit the old Colonel who—says Charlie—has a time machine that travels in the past.
— Michael Main
War’s never a winning thing, Charlie. You just lose al the time, and the one who loses last asks for terms. All I remember is a lot of losing and sadness and nothing good but the end of it.
“The Last, the Very Last” by Ray Bradbury, The Reporter, 2 June 1955.

Barrier to Yesterday

by Bob Shaw
The story revolves around tribes who migrate to follow the sun around a slowly rotating world. I don’t understand what the title refers to, but it is not time travel.
— Michael Main
He seemed to think it was a privilege to live on a world whose spin had almost stopped, stretching the days and nights into years so that it was useless even to go underground.
“Barrier to Yesterday” by Bob Shaw, in Nebula Science Fiction #16, March 1956.

Conquest over Time

by Michael Shaara
A fun story of first contact with a planet where astrology reigns supreme, but despite the story’s title, there is no actual time travel™ or other time phenomena.
— Michael Main
Every event that happens on this cockeyed world, from a picnic to a wedding to a company merger or a war, it’s all based on astrology.
“Conquest over Time” by Michael Shaara, Fantastic Universe, November 1956.

Gorgo #23

Time Pocket

by Joe Gill [?] and Bill Molno
Although this one-page feature is title “Time Pocket,” it seems to be about travel to another dimension rather than through time.
— Michael Main
A person can suddenly disappear before our eyes, by accidentally or purposely stepping into another dimension.
“Time Pocket” by Joe Gill [?] and Bill Molno, in Gorgo #23 (Charlton Comics, September 1965).

Cherryh’s Alternate Realities #1

Port Eternity

by C. J. Cherryh
Living an isolated life on the spaceship Maid of Astolat, Lady Dela and her crew of cloned servants designed in the image of Arthurian legends are pulled into a parallel dimension, but despite the title of this first book in Cherryh’s Alternate Realities series, there is no actual time travel.
— from publicity material
Then it was as if whatever was holding us had just stopped existing, no jolt, but like sliding on oil, like a horrible falling where there is no falling.
Port Eternity by C. J. Cherryh (DAW Books, October 1982).

Time to Go

by Erin M. Hartshorn
The title and opening lines made us hope that there would be time travel for Grandma, but alas, no.
— Michael Main
Sally patted her grandmother’s shoulder. “It’s time to go.”
“Time to Go” by Erin M. Hartshorn, Daily Science Fiction, 3 November 2011 [webzine].

My Dad Is Scrooge

by Keith Cooper, directed by Justin G. Dyck
Let me get this straight: The animals of Woodsley Farm can talk and show home movies to Ollie and June’s Scrooge-of-a-dad (that would be E. B.), they can drive the family car (well, the pig can), and they can even do hypnosis (that’s the rat, of course), but they can’t actually time take him to the past or future, not even to directly observe? Hardly seems deserving of the name E. B.

Verdict: no actual time travel.

— Michael Main
Talking Bunny of Christmas Present: Like I said, sick animals.
Dad: Oh, is he, uh, . . . I mean will he, uh, . . .
Bunny: Don't know.
My Dad Is Scrooge by Keith Cooper, directed by Justin G. Dyck (unknown release details, 10 November 2014).

The Thundermans (s04e04)

Max to the Future

by Dicky Murphy, directed by Trevor Kirschner
Superhero teens Phoebe and Max are applying as a team to the Z-Force. She has many special skills, but Max seems to have only one—creating gadgets—even though many have backfired. He creates a new one, the CrimeCaster.
— Tandy Ringoringo
It predicts future crimes so we can catch criminals in the act.
The Thundermans (s04e04), “Max to the Future” by Dicky Murphy, directed by Trevor Kirschner (Nickelodeon, USA, 14 January 2017).

How to Stop Time

by Matt Haig
As a 400-something-year-old member of the Albatross Society, Tom Hazard ages less than a month for each year of life. But now, after falling in the 21st-century and butting heads with the Society, he seems to be on a mental trip that covers his entire life (but not an actual time traveling trip).
— Michael Main
But as time goes by, at birthdays or other annual markers, people begin to notice you aren’t getting any older.
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig (Canongate Books, July 2017).

A Wrinkle in Time

by Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell, directed by Ava DuVernay
An unabashedly pretentious adaptation of L’Engle’s fine children’s, well deserving of the Rotten Tomatoes consensus that it’s “less than the sum of its parts.” Meg views her past, but with no actual time travel[font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]™[/font].
— Michael Main
Seriously, Charles Wallace, I’m underwhelmed.
A Wrinkle in Time by Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell, directed by Ava DuVernay (premiered at El Capitan Theatre, Los Angeles, 26 February 2018).

A Demon’s Christmas Carol

by Jennie Goloboy
A enjoyable Christmastime tale of a demon who hasn’t been on Earth since Victorian times, but despite the title, there are no Dickensian guides and no time travel.
— Michael Main
This was it; this was the summoning Mastema had been waiting for.
“A Demon’s Christmas Carol” by Jennie Goloboy, in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2021.
as of 3:04 p.m. MDT, 18 May 2024
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