El Anacronópete

English release: The Time Ship: A Chrononautical Journey Literal: He who flies backwards in time

by Enrique Gaspar

Mad scientist Don Sindulfo and his best friend Benjamin take off in Sindulfo’s flying time machine along with Sindulfo’s niece, her maid, a troop of Spanish soldiers, and a bordelloful of French strumpets for madcap adventures at the 1860 Battle of Téouan, Queen Isabella’s Spain, nondescript locales in the eleventh and seventh centuries, 3rd-century China, the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, and a biblical time shortly after the flood.

After taking a year of Spanish at the University of Colorado, I undertook a three-year project of translating Gaspar’s novel to English, which is available in a pdf file for your reading pleasure. Even with the unpleasant twist at the end, it was still a fine, farcical romp through history.

— Michael Main

—Poco á poco—argumentaba un sensato.—Si el Anacronópete conduce á deshacer lo hecho, á mi me pasrece que debemos felicitarnos porque eso no permite reparar nuestras faltas.

—Tiene usted razón—clamaba empotrado en un testero del coche un marido cansado de su mujer.—En cuanto se abra la línea al público, tomo yo un billete para la vispera de mi boda.

“One step at a time,” argued a sensible voice. “If el Anacronópete aims to undo history, it seems to me that we must be congratulated as it allows us to amend our failures.”

“Quite right,” called a married man jammed into the front of the bus, thinking of his tiresome wife. “As soon as the ticket office opens to the public, I’m booking passage to the eve of my wedding.”

English

[ex=bare]El Anacronópete | He who flies backwards in time[/ex] by Enrique Gaspar, in Novelas [Stories] (Daniel Cortezo, 1887).

Creatures of the Light

by Sophie Wenzel Ellis

A Teutonic scientist attempts to create a race of artificially created superman who, among other things, can jump a few seconds through time, but only as invisible witnesses to the future goings-on. The story is disturbingly prescient of Nazi ideas of an Aryan Herrenvolk.

— Michael Main

Before Northwood’s horrified sight, he vanished; vanished as though he had turned suddenly to air and floated away.

“Creatures of the Light” by Sophie Wenzel Ellis, in Astounding Stories of Super-Science, February 1930.

The Thief of Time

by Captain S. P. Meek

The brilliant Dr. Bird might well give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money when solving cases that involved modern science as does the case of the money that disappeared from a teller’s cage right before his eyes. Alas, the solution involved no time travel, but it did involve a time-related phenomenon made famous in a story by an author whose notoriety in sf circles exceeds even that of Holmes’s creator.

— Michael Main

“But someone must have taken it,” said the bewildered cashier. “Money doesn’t just walk off of its own accord or vanish into thin air—"

“The Thief of Time” by Captain S. P. Meek, Astounding Stories of Super-Science, February 1930.

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.

The Man Who Never Grew Young

by Fritz Leiber

Without knowing why, our narrator describes his life as a man who stays the same for millennia, even as others, one-by-one, are disinterred, slowly grow younger and younger.

The story is soft-spoken but moving, and for me, it was a good complement to T.H. White’s backward-time-traveler, Merlyn.

It is the same in all we do. Our houses grow new and we dismantle them and stow the materials inconspicuously away, in mine and quarry, forest and field. Our clothes grow new and we put them off. And we grow new and forget and blindly seek a mother.

“The Man Who Never Grew Young” by Fritz Leiber, in Night’s Black Agents as by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Arkham House, 1947).

Journey into Mystery #6

The Man Who Went Back

by Carl Wessler and Sam Kweskin

A man on death row murders his guards and escapes, getting on an odd bus where everyone is rapidly aging. And when he demands to be taken back, that’s when the real fun begins.

— Michael Main

You’ve got to stop the bus . . . turn around or we’ll all soon be dead of old age!

“The Man Who Went Back” by Carl Wessler and Sam Kweskin, in Journey into Mystery #6 (Atlas Comics, March 1953).

Journey into Mystery #27

The Man Who Stopped Time!

by Carl Wessler and Dick Ayers

After George Applby’s proposal is rejected by his fiancée, George stumbles across a stopwatch that freezes time for other people in the vicinity, so naturally he hatches a scheme to use the watch to break up Nancy and her new boyfriend.

— Michael Main

I don’t want some other girl! I want Nancy! If only I could stop time!

“The Man Who Stopped Time!” by Carl Wessler and Dick Ayers, in Journey into Mystery #27 (Atlas Comics, October 1955).

Warlock I

Warlock

by David Twohy, directed by Steve Miner

A captured warlock in 1691 Massachusetts is thrown forward 300 years to Los Angeles with warlock-hunter Giles Redferne in hot pursuit. Twentieth century chase ensues with pretty nurse Kassandra aiding the hunter.

— Michael Main

A grand grimore? Here? Now?

Warlock by David Twohy, directed by Steve Miner (Cannes Film Festival, May 1989).

Clockstoppers

by Rob Hedden and Andy Hedden

According to the book’s preface, the novel was written by brothers Rob and Andy Hedden based on an idea from Rob’s son Ryan. The story was turned into a movie of the same name in 2002, and the book appear at roughly the same time. We’re listing the book as a novelization of the movie (rather than the movie being an adaptation of the novel) because that’s how it’s described on the book’s cover.

— Michael Main

The large clock appeared to be broken, its second hand stopped at thirteen seconds past the hour.

“Clockstoppers” by Rob Hedden and Andy Hedden (Simon Pulse, March 2002).

Clockstoppers

by Rob Hedden, J. David Stern, and David N. Weiss, directed by Jonathan Frakes

Teenager Zak Gibbs and his pals must protect a metabolism-speeding device from falling into the wrong hands and rescue Zak’s dad as well.

— based on Wikipedia

Zak: My dad consults on these super-secret projects, and I think this is one of them.
Francesca: So your watch stops time?

Clockstoppers by Rob Hedden, J. David Stern, and David N. Weiss, directed by Jonathan Frakes (premiered at an unknown movie theater, Los Angeles, 17 March 2002).

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).

Artemis Fowl, Book #6

Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox

by Eoin Colfer

When fourteen-year-old genius Artemis Fowl realizes that the only cure for his mother’s case of Spelltropy lies in a species of lemur that Artemis made extinct eight years ago, there is only one solution: Grab your 80-year-old, elfin-police-captain-friend Holly Short and trick her into traveling back in time to stop your formerly evil, ten-year-old self from killing off the last of the all-cure lemurs.

Author Eoin Colfer does a masterful job presenting a single nonbranching, static timeline, complete with three consistent causal loops (further described in our tag notes for this story). But really, Eoin, you missed the shuttle on “the kiss”! With the help of N°1, Artemis can time travel, so if you're intent on his first romantic kiss coming from Holly Short, couldn’t N°1 have brought Holly’s actual fourteen-year-old self into the story? Might have even presented an opportunity for a fourth causal loop: Fourteen-year-old Holly kissees fourteen-year-old Artemis, but only because fifteen-year-old Artemis had already told thirteen-year-old Holly that they would enjoy it.

— Michael Main

Oh, bless my bum-flap. You’re time travelers.

The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer (Hyperion Books for Children, July 2008).

The Boy in His Winter

by Norman Lock

After Huck Finn and Jim fall asleep on an appropriated raft in Hannibal, Mo., they find themselves floating down the Mississippi for decades without ever aging a day themselves.

— Michael Main

We came by the raft dishonestly. We’d only meant to do a little fishing. It was cool and nice under the big willow with its whips trailing over the water. Christ, it was a scorcher of a day. The whole town must have fallen asleep, along with Jim and me. When we finally did wake, if we ever did, the raft was too far along in space and time to return it. We could no longer reverse ourselves, our motions in all five dimensions, than fly to the moon.

The Boy in His Winter by Norman Lock (Bellevue Literary Press, May 2014).

The Flash, Season 2

by multiple writers and directors

After Barry aborts his mission to the past in Season 1 in order to prevent his own present from being erased, he finds that his travel has caused even bigger problems! Yep, a rift has been a-opened to a parallel world with an alternate Flash and an evil speedster and—it would seem—more time travelin’ and another attempt to save his mom and dad!

— Michael Main

No, that’s not how it works. In our timeline, Barry’s mother’s already dead, and her death is a fixed point. And nothing can change that.

The Flash, season 2 by multiple writers and directors (The CW, USA, 6 October 2015) to 24 May 2016).

Marvel Cinematic Universe 19

Avengers: Infinity War

by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Given that the Time Stone is a key element to Thanos’s master plan, you’d think that time travel would play a major part in this movie, but not so. Doc Strange does use the stone to view a slew of possible futures, but we know that’s not actually time travel. So where does the time travel come into play? Pay close attention to the final thirteen minutes of the film, after Strange announces “We’re in the end game now,” and you’ll spot one definite time travel moment and a second possible moment.

— Michael Main

Tony, there was no other way.

Avengers: Infinity War by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (premiered at an unknown movie theater, Los Angeles, 23 April 2018).

The Umbrella Academy, Season 1

by multiple writers and directors

Of the 43 children born 1 October 1989 with no gestation period, the eccentric and sometimes cruel billionaire Reginald Hargreeves brought up seven of them and turned them into the super-powered group called the Umbrella Academy when they developed powers. Nearly thirty years later, after Hargreeves dies, the five surviving members of the group gather at their family home. Oh, and: Number Six died some time ago and only Number Four can see him; Number Five disappeared about seventeen years ago, but he’s back (and in his 13-year-old body) after living 45 years in a post-apocalyptic future that’s scheduled to start in eight days.

— Michael Main

As far as I could tell, I was the last person left alive. I never figured out what killed the human race. I did find something else: the date it happens.. . . The world ends in eight days, and I have no idea how to stop it.

The Umbrella Academy, Season 1 by multiple writers and directors, 10 episodes (Netflix, USA, 15 February 2019).

Fantasy Island (r3s01e01), pt. 2

Mel Loves Ruby

by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, directed by Adam Kane

I see the original 1977 Fantasy Island through nostalgia-colored glasses, making it hard for any island-come-lately to compete in my eyes. So I was happily surprised when I enjoyed the premiere of the 2021 revival, complete with a relative or the original Mr. Roarke and a new sidekick named Ruby. In the second of the episode’s two subplots (“Mel Loves Ruby”), there is even a bit of time-related fantasy when the island makes Ruby young again (although without sending her back in time).

— Michael Main

What is your deepest desire, your most heartfelt need? The island knows, even if you don’t.

Fantasy Island (v3s01e01), seg. 2, “Mel Loves Ruby” by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, directed by Adam Kane (Fox-TV, USA, 10 August 2021).

The Dust of Giant Radioactive Lizards

by Jason Sanford

Forty years after NASA explorer Tessa Raij attempted to step through a dimensional portal and was instead relegated to an inexplicable state of isolation in a radioactivce crater, a dead girl—resembling her grandmother as a teen—shows up at her feet.

— Michael Main

Anything entering her horizon no longer experienced the passage of time.

“The Dust of Giant Radioactive Lizards” by Jason Sanford, Asimov’s Science Fiction, September/October 2021.

Captain Nova

English release: Captain Nova

by Lotte Tabbers and Maurice Trouwborst, directed by Maurice Trouwborst

Captain Nova Kester travels back from a devastated future to warn an energy mogel about the impending climate cataclysm, but only young Nas takes her seriously. That happens when time travel causes you to revert to 12 years old.

— Michael Main

Luister, jongedame: De mensen denken al eeuwen dat ze leven in het einde der tijden. Het zou handig ziln als je jezelf ietsje minderbelangrijk maakt.

Listen, young lady: People have thought for centuries that the end of time is drawing near. It would help everyone if you showed just a little less. . . self-importance.

English

Captain Nova by Lotte Tabbers and Maurice Trouwborst, directed by Maurice Trouwborst (Cinekid Film Festival, 13 October 2021).

Unwound

by Tom Jolly

A sweet romance story about a gray-haired man and his wife’s reaction to his discovery of reverse aging.

— Michael Main

Would it make him younger? Would his hair darken and his wrinkles fade?

“Unwound” by Tom Jolly, Daily Science Fiction, 29 October 2021 [webzine].