A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

by Bernard McConville, directed by Emmett J. Flynn

We may never see this first movie adaptation of Twain’s story, since only three of the eight silent reels are known to still exist. The Yankee in this version is Martin Cavendish, who after reading Twain’s book, is knocked on the head by a burglar and slips into the time of Camelot. The result is high comedy coupled with a romantic interest and replete with motorcycles, explosions, Model T Fords, telephones, indoor plumbing, and lassos at a jousting tournament. As we did for Twain’s original, we classify the story as science fiction for the Yankee’s attempts at bringing modern technology to the distant past. And yes, the hero predicts a solar eclipse to save his life.

One review at Silent Hollywood indicates that the ending has Martin awakening from a dream and there is no explicit mention of actual time travel. With this in mind, we’re marking the time travel as debatable. Oh, and Mark Twain himself appears in the film, played by Karl Formes.

— Michael Main

All this nobility stuff is bunk.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Bernard McConville, directed by Emmett J. Flynn (at movie theaters, USA, 14 March 1921).

Un brillant sujet

Literal: A brilliant subject

by Jacques Rigaut

Now that we’re in the enlightened 21st century, every self-respecting reader is intimately familiar with all the early time travel classics. Anno 7603, Paris avant les hommes,[/em] “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains,” “The Clock That Went Backward,” El Anacronópete, The Time Machine, blah blah blah. But let’s be honest and call a Morlock a Morlock: All those old tales are tales of vacuous travelers through time, none of them giving a thought to contorted paradoxes, none wondering which lover they would get back (or get revenge on) if given the chance, none fretting about what might happen should they kill their younger self, and none having impure thoughts about sleeping with their mothers or the consequences of doing so. Yep, I’d always proudly boasted that it was my generation who discovered such sauciness.

And then I stumbled upon Jacques Rigaut’s century-old gem that managed all that and more in under 1,000 words more than a century ago.

— Michael Main

Divers incestes sont consommés. Palentête a quelques raisons de croire qu’il est son propre père.

Various incests are consummated. Skullhead has some reason to believe that he is his own father.

English

[ex=bare]“Un brillant sujet” | A brilliant subject[/ex] by Jacques Rigaut, Littérature #2, April 1922.

The Atom-Smasher

by Victor Rousseau

We've got the evil Professor Tode (who modifies an atom-smasher into a time machine that travels to the Palaeolithic and to Atlantis), a fatherly older professor, his beautiful young daughter (menaced by evil Tode), casually written racist pronouncements (by Rousseau), and our hero scientist, the dashing Jim Dent. But my favorite sentence was the brief description of quantum mechanics, which I didn’t expect in a 1930 science fiction tale.

— Michael Main

The Planck-Bohr quantum theory that the energy of a body cannot vary continuously, but only by a certain finite amount, or exact multiples of this amount, had been the key that unlocked the door.

“The Atom-Smasher” by Victor Rousseau, Astounding Stories of Super-Science, May 1930.

A Connecticut Yankee

by William M. Conselman, Owen Davis, and Jack Moffitt, directed by David Butler

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!

A Connecticut Yankee by William M. Conselman, Owen Davis, and Jack Moffitt, directed by David Butler (at movie theaters, USA, 6 April 1931).

Master Gerald of Cambray

by Nat Schachner

Unassuming Gerald Cambray, a professor of Latin at Harvard in 1939, has a dizzy spell and wakes in Paris of AD 1263 where his accent in speaking Latin is considered odd and his makeshift plan to earn a living by teaching astronomy brings dangers that even his brazen, swashbuckling young student, Guy of Salisbury, might be unable to forestall.

— Michael Main

“My subject,” he began, “is the science of astronomy. I am going to be frank. In my land and time . . . uh. . . that is—” Guy frowned. He had warned him against any mention of that insane delusion of his about having been catapulted back from a future age. But Cambray recovered himself. “What I meant is that there are far greater masters of this science where I come from. I am familiar only with the skirts of this knowledge. Yet what I have to say will be novel to you, and will doubtless upset many of your present concepts.”

“Master Gerald of Cambray” by Nat Schachner, in Unknown Fantasy Fiction, June 1939.

The Twonky

by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

A man, dazed from running into a temporal snag, appears in a radio factory, whereupon (before returning to his own time) he makes a radio that’s actually a Twonky, which promptly gets shipped to a Mr. Kerry Westerfield, who is initially quite confounded and amazed at everything it does.

Because of the story’s opening, I’m convinced the Twonky is from the future. The “temporal snag” that brought it to 1942 feels like an unexpected time rift to me, although the route back to the future is an intentional journey via an unexplained method.

— Michael Main

“Great Snell!” he gasped. “So that was it! I ran into a temporal snag!”

“The Twonky” by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore, Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1942.

The Search

by A. E. van Vogt

When salesman Ralph Carson Drake tries to recover his missing memory of the past two weeks, he discovers he had interactions with three people: a woman named Selanie Johns who sold remarkable futuristic devices for one dollar, her father, and an old gray-eyed man who is feared by Selanie and her father.

Van Vogt combined this with two other stories and a little fix-up material for his 1970 publication of Quest for the Future.

— Michael Main

The Palace of Immortality was built in an eddy of time, the only known Reverse, or Immortality, Drift in the Earth Time Stream

“The Search” by A. E. van Vogt, Astounding, January 1943.

Vintage Season

by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

More and more strange people are appearing each day in and around Oliver Wilson’s home; the explanation from the euphoric redhead leads him to believe they are time travelers gathering for an important event.

— Michael Main

Looking backward later, Oliver thought that in that moment, for the first time clearly, he began to suspect the truth. But he had no time to ponder it, for after the brief instant of enmity the three people from—elsewhere—began to speak all at once, as if in a belated attempt to cover something they did not want noticed.

“Vintage Season” by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore, Astounding, September 1946.

Child’s Play

by William Tenn

Sam Weber, an underemployed lawyer, receives a Bild-a-Man kit as a Christmas gift from 400 years in the future—and it’s a timely gift, too, seeing as how he could use a replacement girlfriend.

Bild-a-Man Set #3. This set is intended solely for the use of children, between the ages of eleven and thirteen. The equipment, much more advanced that Bild-a-Man Sets 1 and 2, will enable the child of this age-group to build and assemble complete adult humans in perfect working order.

“Child’s Play” by William Tenn, Astounding, March 1947.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

by Edmund Beloin, directed by Tay Garnett

Bing Cosby’s delightful portrayal of the Yankee Hank Martin (why not Morgan?!) begins in 1912 after he’s already returned from Camelot. He’s just traveled to England and sought out the very castle of his 6th-century musical adventures, where he proceeds to tell his story to the master of the castle.

Based on Hank’s knowledge of the castle and its displays, the time travel definitely occurred in this version, with both the travel back and travel forward caused by clonks on the head. And based on the ending, Hank might not have been the only traveler through time.

— Michael Main

Docent: Kindly notice the round hole in the breastplate, undoubtedly caused by an iron-tipped arrow of the period.
Hank Martin: [shakes head and grunts]. . . I mean, well, that happens to be a bullet hole.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Edmund Beloin, directed by Tay Garnett (premiered at an unknown movie theater, New York City, 7 April 1949).

The Little Black Bag

by C. M. Kornbluth

In a 25th century where the vast majority of people have stunted intelligence (or at least talk with poor grammar), a physicist accidentally sends a medical bag back through time to Dr. Bayard Full, a down-on-his-luck, generally drunk, always callously self-absorbed, dog-kicking shyster. Despite falling in with a guttersnipe of a girl, Annie Aquella, he tries to make good use of the gift.

Switch is right. It was about time travel. What we call travel through time. So I took the tube numbers he gave me and I put them into the circuit-builder; I set it for ‘series’ and there it is-my time-traveling machine. It travels things through time real good.

“The Little Black Bag” by C. M. Kornbluth, Astounding, July 1950.

Weird Fantasy #17 (1951)

The Time Machine and the Shmoe!

by Harvey Kurtzman

Cleaning man Donald Yubyutch is fed up with everyone at the time travel lab thinking he’s nothing but a shmoe.

— Michael Main

Please sir, professor, sir! Can I go along with you on the time machine?

“The Time Machine and the Shmoe!” by Harvey Kurtzman, Weird Fantasy #157 (EC Comics, January/February 1951).

Tales of Tomorrow (s01e37)

All the Time in the World

by unknown writers and Arthur C. Clarke, directed by Don Medford

The skilled robber is now Henry Judson and his target is now the New York Metropolitan Museum, but the plot essentials remain largely the same as in Clarke’s earlier story: Use the time traveler’s foolproof plan to rob the museum.

— Michael Main

Within this five-foot circle, time is speeded up to an almost unbelievable pace. But the world outside the circle remains unchanged.

“All the Time in the World” by unknown writers and Arthur C. Clarke, directed by Don Medford (ABC-TV, USA,13 June 1952).

The Twonky

written and directed by Arch Oboler

Unlike in the original short story of “The Twonky,” the movie’s mad machine is a TV rather than a radio. Also, we never explicitly see the machine’s construction by a time traveler, but the professor’s discussions with the coach make it clear that they believe the machine is from the future, and that’s good enough for us. And finally, when you watch the wacky film, you’ll see that Arch Oboler devised a different fate for the Twonky than that of Kuttner and Moore’s original story.

— Michael Main

Kerry: Then it is from another world?
Coach Trout: No, from our world, centuries in the future.

The Twonky written and directed by Arch Oboler (at movie theaters, USA, 10 June 1953).

Journey into Mystery #14

The Man Who Owned a World

by an unknown writer, Vic Carrabotta, and Jack Abel

Evil stepfather George intercepts a build-a-world kit from the future.

— Michael Main

Somewhere in the future, a postal error had been made and a package destined for a yet as unborn grandson had been lost in time and delivered to this house!

“The Man Who Owned a World” by an unknown writer, Vic Carrabotta, and Jack Abel, in Journey into Mystery #14 (Atlas Comics, February 1954).

Journey into Mystery #20

The Messenger!

by Paul S. Newman and Jack Abel

Jeff Calder is a true prankster, but his new messenger, Dal J. Keefe, seems to take every prank without missing a beat.

— Michael Main

Messenger, you’re just in time! Recieved a priority order from the top. . . scrounge up a gallow of yellow paint with black stripes.

“The Messenger!” by Paul S. Newman and Jack Abel, in Journey into Mystery #20 (Atlas Comics, December 1954).

Time Patrol 1

Time Patrol

by Poul Anderson

In the first of a long series of hallowed stories, former military engineer (and noncomformist) Manse Everard is recruited by the Time Patrol to prevent time travelers from making major changes to history. (Don’t worry, history bounces back from the small stuff.)

— Michael Main

If you went back to, I would guess, 1946, and worked to prevent your parents’ marriage in 1947, you would still have existed in that year; you would not go out of existence just because you had influenced events. The same would apply even if you had only been in 1946 one microsecond before shooting the man who would otherwise have become your father.

“Time Patrol” by Poul Anderson, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1955.

Journey into Mystery #28

They Wouldn’t Believe Him!

by unknown writers and Pete Tumlinson

To escape a forced marriage, a woman in the future tries to disappear into the pase, but her fiance tracks her down.

— Michael Main

I’ll marry you, Everest! But first may I go on a short time-vacation?

“They Wouldn’t Believe Him!” by unknown writers and Pete Tumlinson, in Journey into Mystery #28 (Atlas Comics, November1955).

Unusual Tales #30

A Small Matter of Time

by Joe Gill [?] and Rocco “Rocke” Mastroserio

The title suggests that Professor Amos Shute’s intrepid travelers are going back in time to four planets that are identical in every way to our own, but then again, perhaps those four planets were merely at earlier times to begin with. We won’t say one way or another, but we are glad that the Spanish Flu pandemic, World War I, World War II, and World War III were all averted on some Earth.

— Michael Main

In what time period will you find yourselves when you land at your particular destinatoin!

“A Small Matter of Time” by Joe Gill [?] and Rocco “Rocke” Mastroserio, Unusual Tales #30 (Charlton Comics, October 1961).

La jetée

English release: La Jetée Literal: The pier

written and directed by Chris Marker

In a world made uninhabitable by the Third World War, a prisoner is chosen as being the only person with vivid enough memories of the past to travel through time and return with salvation.

This 28-minute photo montage with about 1,200 words of narration has a nice seed of an idea, but I find it insulting to other talented filmmakers that Time magazine ranked this sketch of a film as #1 in their 2010 list of best time travel movies.

— Michael Main

Tel était le but des expériences : projeter dans le Temps des émissaires, appeler le passé et l’avenit au secours du présent.

Such was the purpose of the experiments: to project emissaries into Time, to summon the Past and the Future to the aid of the Present.

English

La jetée written and directed by Chris Marker (at movie theaters, France, 16 February 1962).

The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass

by Frederik Pohl

This cautionary tale about Snodgras—time traveler who brought modern-day healthcare back to the Roman Empire—originally appeared as an essay in the editorial pages of Pohl’s Galaxy[/em] along with a nod to L. Sprague de Camp’s Lest Darkness Fall, but it’s since made its way into more than one story compilation.

— Michael Main

Snodgrass decided to make the Roman world healthy and to keep its people alive through 20th century medicine.

“The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass” by Frederik Pohl , Galaxy Magazine, June 1962.

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).

Non ci resta che piangere

Literal: We just have to cry

by Roberto Benigni, Giuseppe Bertolucci, and Massimo Troisi, directed by Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi

While stranded in a thunderstorm in Tuscany, lifelong friends Mario and Saverrio find themselves unexpectedly in 1492, whereupon they fall in love a few times, pretend to be the composer of “Yesterday” and other modern-day hits, and come to the conclusion that they must stop Columbus from discovering America (either to prevent the genocide of the Native Americans or to prevent Mario’s sister from having her heart broken, depending on who you believe), and try rather pitifully to explain trains and other modern marvels to da Vinci, including a proposal to split the proceeds “thirty-three, thirty-three, and thirty-three!”

An extended director’s cut also expands the story of one of their heartthrob-esse, an Amazon named Astriaha[/ex], but we don’t know the details of its release or whether an English-subtitled release of the film exists.

— based on Wikipedia

Trentatré, trentatré e trentatré!

Thirty-three, thirty-three, and thirty-three.

English

Non ci resta che piangere by Roberto Benigni, Giuseppe Bertolucci, and Massimo Troisi, directed by Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi (at movie theaters, Italy, 20 December 1984).

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).

from The Teacher of Symmetry Cycle

Фотография Пушкин (1799–2099)

Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099) English release: Pushkin’s Photograph (1799–2099) Literal: Pushkin’s photograph (1799–2099)

by Андре́й Би́тов

In 1985, an author has visions of a time traveler named Igor from 2099. The traveler is being sent by his comrades in the domed city of St. Petersburg back to the 19th century, where he is tasked with capturing images and audio of motherland’s supreme father of poetry, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.

Note: A dissertation by [ex=bare]Гулиус Наталья Сергеевна | Gulius Natalya Sergeevna[/ex] notes that this story is part of Bitov’s Teacher of Symmetry Cycle, which consisted of a series of avant-garde stories purportedly written by an obscure Englishman named [ex=bare]Э. Тайрд-Боффин | A. Tired-Boffin[/ex] and loosely translated to Russian by Bitov. The English version of “Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099)” was said to have been called “Shakespeare’s Photograph” (or possibly “Stern’s Laughter” or “Swift’s Pill”), and presumably it was about Shakespeare rather than Pushkin.

Sergeevna explains that all this artistic mystification was part of an extensive footnote to “Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099),” but up in the ITTDB Citadel, we’ve yet to track down the footnote. Perhaps it was part of the 1987 publication in [ex=bare]Знамя || Znamia[/ex], or maybe it did not appear until the story was published along with the rest of the cycle in Bitov’s 1988 collection, [ex=bare]Человек в пейзаже | Man in the landscape | Chelovek v peyzazhe[/ex]. It is not listed in the table of contents of [ex=bare]Преподаватель симметрии ] | | Prepodavatelʹ simmetrii[/ex](2008), which was translated to English as Symmetry Teacher (2014).

— Michael Main

. . . мы сможем в будущем, и не таком, господа-товарищи, далеком, заснять всю жизнь Пушкина скрытой камерой, записать его гол. . . представляете, какое это будет счастье, когда каждый школьник сможет услышать, как Пушкин читает собственные стихи!

. . . we will be able in the future, and, gentlemen-comrades, not such a distant one, to photograph Pushkin’s entire life with a hidden camera, record his voice . . . imagine how wonderful it will be when every schoolboy will be able to hear Pushkin read his own poetry!

English

[ex=bare]Фотография Пушкин (1799–2099) | Pushkin’s Photograph (1799–2099) | “Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099)”[/ex] by Андре́й Би́тов, [ex=bare]Знамя || Znamia[/ex], January 1987.

The Magic Tree House 2

The Knight at Dawn

by Mary Pope Osborne

Cautious Jack and his gung-ho sister Annie have their second adventure through time when a book in the magic tree house sends them to the age of knights and chivalry. For the most part, they’re passive observers, but when they return back to Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, Jack discovers another clue about the magic person who may have built the treehouse.

— Michael Main

“My magic wand!” Annie said, waving the flashlight. “Get down. Or I’ll wipe you out!”

The Knight at Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, February 1993).

Moment Universe Stories 4

It’s All True

by John Kessel

About five years after the first two Moment Universe stories, time traveling talent scount Det Gruber heads to 1942 in hopes of recruiting young, bitter Orson Welles to accompany him back to the future.

— Michael Main

Welles clenched his fists. When he spoke it was in a lower tone. “Life is dark.”

“It’s All True” by John Kessel, in Sci Fiction, 5 November 2003.

No Time

by Andrew Bale

A battlefield plunderer meets his own dead self.

You get attacked, you have no backup, so you become your own.

“No Time” by Andrew Bale, 365 Tomorrows, 13 August 2011 [webzine].

The Last Musketeer 1

The Last Musketeer

by Stuart Gibbs

While chasing the cad who stole his family’s prized black crystal, young Greg Rich ends up back in AD 1615 where he and three future Musketeers must save Greg’s parents from Dominic Richelieu (the cardinal’s evil brother) and the deadly prison known as La Mort.

— Michael Main

When joined as a whole, the Devil’s Stone was rumored to perform many miracles: strike people dead in an instant, turn lead into gold, even open portals in time.

The Last Musketeer by Stuart Gibbs (HarperCollins, September 2011) [print · e-book].

I Hate Time Travellers

by Lee J Isserow

Turns out the Luke is one of the few people on Earth who didn’t get involuntarily evolved into a time traveler.

— Michael Main

All of them except Luke Denton and around a thousand other souls who’d been left behind whilst the rest of the human race were evolved against their will, by a force conspiracy theorists around the world had put down to anything from governmental to extra terrestrial tinkering.

I Hate Time Travellers by Lee J Isserow (ABAM.info, March 2016) [audio reading].

Million Eyes 0.03

The Charlie Chaplin Time Traveller

by C. R. Berry

What could that mysterious woman be doing on the film clip of the 1928 premier of Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus, other than apparently talking into a small brick held to her ear?

— Michael Main

Yup, this woman was talking on a mobile phone—in 1928—decades before they were invented.

“The Charlie Chaplin Time Traveller” by C. R. Berry, in Tigershark Magazine 11, Autumn 2016.

내가 이 나라의 평강공주다

Mai onri leobeusong English release: My Only Love Song Literal: My only lovesong

by 김수진, directed by 민두식

Diva actress Song Soo-jung drives off in a huff in her manager’s VW van—Boing Boing—only to find herself in the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo where she meets characters from her historical TV show including the real Princess Pyeonggang and the roguish hero On-Dal.

— Michael Main

The history changed because of me, right? That’s why I should go.

Mai onri leobeusong by 김수진, directed by 민두식 (Netflix, 9 June 2017).

Found Things #1

The Little Shop of Found Things

by Paula Brackston

Xanthe Westlake and her mother are looking for a fresh start as owners of an antique shop in the village of Marlborough when a 17th century silver chanelaine calls to Xanthe’s psychic powers and eventually takes her on a quest to save a young servant girl in 1605 (and maybe, in the process, meet a handsome young architect with oddly modern views on women).

— Michael Main

Had she somehow crucially alterted her own present by changing Alice’s future? The thought that she might have started some terrible chain of events that she could not possibly have foreseen, nor known about, worried her more and more. It was only in the small hours of Wednesday night that an answer came to her that seemed to make sense. The present that she knew, the way things were in her time, could only have come about if she had traveled back to the past. Her finding the chatelaine, her answering Alice’s call for help, those things were necessary to shape the past and bring about the future as it was. She had to believe this. It did work. She was a part of how things had turned out, not an alternative version, but the one she was meant to live in. If she hadn’t gone back, hadn’t taken the decision to help Alice, well, that wouldhave resulted in a different future from the one she knew.

The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston (St. Martin’s Press, October 2018).

The Other Emily

by Dean R. Koontz

A decade after David Thorne’s wife goes missing on a solo trip to northern California, her exact duplicate shows up—without having aged a day and claiming not to be Emily—at a bar in one of David’s favorite restaurants.

— Michael Main

Equally in the grip of dread and amazement, David Thorne began to awaken to a previously unthought-of truth, the ramifications of which were devastating and numberless.

The Other Emily by Dean R. Koontz (Thomas and Mercer, March 2021).

Da Vinci’s Cat

by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

As a hostage to Pope Julius II in 1511 Rome, 11-year-old Federico is lonely until he receives a visit from a tawny cat, an art collector from the 20th century, and an 11-year-old kid named Bee from the 21st century.

— Michael Main

All we need is to get Raphael to draw me and make sure he signs it.

Da Vinci’s Cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (Greenwillow Books, May 2021) [print · e-book].

The Magic Tree House: Graphic Novel 2

The Knight at Dawn: The Graphic Novel

adapted by Jenny Laird, Kelly Matthews, and Nicole Matthews

Retells, in graphic form, the tale of eight-year-old Jack and his younger sister, Annie, who are whisked back in the magic tree house to the time of knights and castles.

— from publicity material

Annie: [turning on her flashlight] That’s right! We have a magic wand and we’re not afraid to use it!

The Knight at Dawn: The Graphic Novel adapted by Jenny Laird, Kelly Matthews, and Nicole Matthews (Random House Children’s Books, November 2021) [print · e-book].

The Peripheral, Season 1

by Scott B. Smith, et al., directed by Vincenzo Natali and Alrick Riley

When Flynne Fisher’s ne’er-do-well brother lands a lucrative gig testing new VR tech, he drafts Flynne to do the heavy lifting, and she’s bowled over by the future world the VR has created—until she realizes it’s more than a sim.

— Michael Main

If it were time travel, as you say, you’d be here physically. This is merely a matter of data transfer: quantum tunneling is the technical term for it. I understand your confusion.

The Peripheral, Season 1 by Scott B. Smith, et al., directed by Vincenzo Natali and Alrick Riley, 8 episodes (Amazon Prime, 21 October 2022 to 2 December 2022).