Factor, Unknown

by Sam Merwin, Jr.

In order to save the world, wealthy young Houghton travels back fifty years to set straight his great-uncle’s world-threatening mistakes, but it’s Alison—Houghton’s fiery tempered cousin-once-removed—who has a more genuine interest in saving the future than her father does.

— Michael Main

“This is most extraordinary,” he said in an unexpectedly high-pitched voice, regarding Houghton benignly from the tall white fortress of his collar. “You say that you have come back through time to instruct me how to arrange my affairs so that they will not be instrumental in destroying the world some fifty years hence.”

“Factor, Unknown” by Sam Merwin, Jr., Other Worlds Science Stories, June 1952.

Journey into Mystery #2

The Pact

by an unknown writer

Frances Conrad learns the dark truth about an unholy pact made by his ancestor from the horse’s mouth itself.

— Michael Main

The year is 1693, the month is June, and the day is the fifteenth. Come and watch with me.

“The Pact” by an unknown writer , in Journey into Mystery #2 (Atlas Comics, August 1952).

The Twilight Zone (r1s01e05)

Walking Distance

by Rod Serling, directed by Robert Stevens

Stopped at a gas station outside of his boyhood hometown, burnt-out executive Martin Sloan decides to explore the town, which surprisingly has not changed at all in twenty-some years.

— Michael Main

I know you’ve come from a long way from here. . . a long way and a long time.

The Twilight Zone (v1s01e05), “Walking Distance” by Rod Serling, directed by Robert Stevens (CBS-TV, USA, 30 October 1959).

Only Yesterday

by Ted White

Near the start of the Great Depression, a man waits for college student Donna Smith—someday to be Donna Albright—at the trolley stop near her rural Virgina home.

— Michael Main

Nervously fingering his narrow lapel, he broke the silence, saying, “I’d like to tell you some things . . . Totally outrageous things. You have to promise me just one thing first.”

“Only Yesterday” by Ted White, Amazing Stories, July 1969.

Quantum Leap (s01e01–02)

Genesis

by Donald P. Bellisario, directed by David Hemmings

Physicist and all-around good guy Sam Beckett rushes his time machine into production—funding is about to be cut!—and as a consequence, he leaps into the life of a USAF test pilot, where Sam and his holographic cohort Al have a moral mission. And after setting things right in that pilot’s life, Sam—“oh, boy”—takes a few moments to win the big baseball game in 1968.

— Inmate Jan

One end of this string represents your birth, the other end your death. You tie the ends together, and your life is a loop. Ball the loop, and the days of your life touch each other out of sequence, therefore leaping to one point in the string to another. . .

Quantum Leap (s01e01–02), “Genesis” by Donald P. Bellisario, directed by David Hemmings (26 March 1989) [double-length broadcast].

Horrid Henry stories 13.2

Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine

by Francesca Simon

Henry builds a time machine out of the box that the washing machine arrived in, and he’s his usual horrid self in bringing with his little brother Peter up to speed about the whole thing.

— Michael Main

“I’m going to the future and you can’t stop me,” said Peter.

“Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine” by Francesca Simon, in Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine [four stories] (Orion Children’s Books, 2005).

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).

Miri and Molly 2

Magic in the Mix

by Annie Barrows

After their first adventure united Miri and Molly as twins in the 21st century, the pair discover more about the magic of time travel via doorways and other openings in their house. Unfortunately, their twin brothers also go traveling, getting into hot water in 1864 Virginia.

— Michael Main

Molly, that’s totally crazy. You can’t stop yourself from existing because you do exist, you have to exist.

Magic in the Mix by Annie Barrows (Bloomsbury Children’s Books, December 2007).

Edelstein Trilogie, Book 2

Saphirblau

English release: Sapphire Blue Literal: Sapphire blue

by Kerstin Gier

Apart from amusing blustering from the Count during her trips to the 18th century, time travel took a back seat to Gwenny’s on-again-off-again romance with Gideon in this second book of the trilogy. Gwenny’s new pal, the ghost/demon/gargoyle Xemerius, was enjoyable, though we wish that he would be time traveller #13.

— Michael Main

Rubinrot, Begabt mit der Magie des Raben, Schließt G-Dur den Kreis, Den zwölf gebildet haben.

Ruby Red, with G-major, the magic of the raven, brings the Circle of Twelve home into safe haven.

English

[ex=bare]Saphirblau | Sapphire blue[/ex] by Kerstin Gier (Arena Verlag, January 2010).

The Flash, Season 1

written and directed by multiple people

Time travel is implied right from the first episode of the CW’s rendition of The Flash where a newspaper from the future is seen in the closing scene. The rest of the first season builds a fine time-travel arc that includes a nefarious time traveler from the far future, a classic grandfather paradox with a twist (sadly not examined), a do-over day for the Flash (which Harrison Wells calls “temporal reversion”), and a final episode that sees the Flash travel back to his childhood (as well as a hint that Rip Hunter himself will soon appear on the CW scene).

— Michael Main

Wells: Yes, it’s possible, but problematic. Assuming you could create the conditions necessary to take that journey, that journey would then be fraught with potential pitfalls: the Novikov Principle of Self-Consistency, for example.

Joe: Wait—the what, now?

Barry: If you travel back in time to change something, then you end up being the causal factor of that event.

Cisco: Like. . . Terminator.

Joe: Ah!

Wells: Or is time plastic? Is it mutable, whereby any changes in the continuum could create an alternate timeline?

Cisco: Back to the Future.

Joe: Ah, saw that one, too.

The Flash, season 1 written and directed by multiple people (The CW, USA, 7 October 2014) to 19 May 2015).

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).

Creeped Out (s01e05)

A Boy Called Red

by Bede Blake and Robert Butler, directed by Steve Hughes

After his parents break up, Vincent visits his Dad’s childhood home where Auntie Jeanne encourages him to explore—without even putting that cursed well off limits, the very well where Dad lost his best friend back in the summer of ’85!

— Inmate Jan

When your dad was younger, he had a best friend, a boy called Red. Red disappeared down that well.

Creeped Out (s01e05), “A Boy Called Red” by Bede Blake and Robert Butler, directed by Steve Hughes (CBBC-TV, UK, 28 November 2017).

Not This Tide

by Sheila Finch

Through the eyes of young Rosemary (in 1944 London during the time of buzz bombs and V-2 rockets) and old Rosemary (now called Mary in 2035 Oslo), we see the picture of her whole life from her imaginary friend during the war to her physicist grandson at Princeton.

— Michael Main

“Not This Tide” by Sheila Finch, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, January/February 2020.

Oona Out of Order

by Margarita Montimore

On Oona Lockhart’s 19th birthday, her mind leaps into her 51-year-old body where she learns that she’s fated to leap into a random year on every coming birthday, living each year once in a normal manner except for her discontinous consciousness.

— Michael Main

Do I ever find any kind of stability? Or do I live life year after year like some kind of existential hobo?

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore (Flatiron Books, February 2020).

The Umbrella Academy, Season 2

by multiple writers and directors

Five’s plan for the Umbrella siblings to escape the apocalypse by going into the past ends up scattering them throughout different years of Dallas in the 1960s. They manage okay on their own until shortly after 11/22/63, when secondary effects from changes to the timeline cause a nuclear holocaust that can be averted only by recently arrived Five jumping back to 11/15/63 to exert his unique charm into getting the gang to work together.

— Michael Main

Hazel to Five: If you want to live, come with me.”

The Umbrella Academy, Season 2 by multiple writers and directors, ten episodes (Netflix, USA, 31 July 2020).

The Christmas Chronicles 2

by Matt Liebermann and Chris Columbus, directed by Chris Columbus

Two years after the first Christmas Chronicles movie, young Kate Pierce is sitting on a beach in Cancun, missing her father and losing her status as a True Believer, all of which causes her to try flying back to Boston on her own—a plan that plays right into evil Belsnickel’s plan to overthrow Santa Claus and Mrs. Santa Claus.

— Michael Main

Santa: [shaking head] Only Belsnickel would power a time machine with triple-A’s.

The Christmas Chronicles 2 by Matt Liebermann and Chris Columbus, directed by Chris Columbus (at movie theaters, USA and elsewhere, 25 November 2020).

Giving Up the Ghost

by Aeryn Rudel

An assassin jumps back into her 17-year-old body where she takes care of her mission and has a little time left over.

— Michael Main

My target is a few blocks from here, which is why the Department of Temporal Enforcement chose me for the assignment. Proximity is important. The less you move around, the less likely the time stream gets fucked up.

“Giving Up the Ghost” by Aeryn Rudel, in Flashpoint Science Fiction, 26 June 2021.

The Tomorrow War

by Zach Dean, directed by Chris McKay

Forty-year-old high school biology teacher Dan Forester is drafted for a seven-day tour of the future where he must fight what seems to be a losing cause in the war against bug/T-rex aliens.

— Michael Main

We need you to fight beside us if we stand a chance at winning this war. You are our last hope.

The Tomorrow War by Zach Dean, directed by Chris McKay (Amazon Prime, 2 July 2021).

Fantasy Island (r3s01e03)

Quantum Entanglement

by Adria Lang, directed by Kimberly McCullough

The new Fantasy Island inches closer to actual time travel when Elana helps “invisible” Eileen understand her relationship with her grown daughter by acting as a Dickensian guide and showing Eileen how her daughter experienced growing up. And young Ruby receives news of how her family is managing without her.

— Michael Main

Eileen: She absolutely loved it here.
Elena: Are you sure?

Fantasy Island (v3s01e03), “Quantum Entanglement” by Adria Lang, directed by Kimberly McCullough (Fox-TV, USA, 24 August 2021).

Fantasy Island (r3s01e04)

Once Upon a Time in Havana

by Dailyn Rodriguez, diected by Laura Belsey

Finally! Some Actual Time Travel™ as Elena takes young drummer Alma Garcia back to 1967 Havana to learn the real story of the musical grandfather who abandoned his family decades ago—and the role Alma played in that single, static timeline.

— Michael Main

Grandfather: Who are you? Where do you really come from? Elma: Just an Americana who plays the drums.

Fantasy Island (v3s01e04), “Once Upon a Time in Havana” by Dailyn Rodriguez, diected by Laura Belsey (Fox-TV, USA, 31 August 2021).

Fantasy Island (r3s01e05)

Twice in a Lifetime

by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, directed by Adam Kane

The Island takes Nisha into two different versions of her future life in order to help her decide which man to marry. Only the Island knows whether Nisha is actually time traveling or merely experiencing potential futures, but the story’s ending suggests the latter. And meanwhile, out in the Island wilderness, Elena and Javier share intimate moments.

— Michael Main

Let the future unfold.

Fantasy Island (v3s01e05), “Twice in a Lifetime” by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, directed by Adam Kane (Fox-TV, USA, 7 September 2021).

Flashback

written and directed by Caroline Vigneaux

After high-powered lawyer Charlie Leroy gets her client cleared from a rape charge by claiming that the accuser’s lacy underwear was consent to have sex, Charlie finds herself transported by a divine cabdriver to historical moments that were key for women’s rights.

— Michael Main

Attends . . . si maman n'épouse pas papa, je vais pas naître. Je viens de me tuer.

Wait . . . if Mom never marries Dad, I won’t be born. I just killed myself.

English

Flashback written and directed by Caroline Vigneaux (Amazon Prime, 11 November 2021).

The Adam Project

by Jonathan Tropper et al., directed by Shawn Levy

In 2050, time jet pilot Adam Reed steals a jet and heads back to 2018 to save his stranded wife, but he gets waylaid in 2022 where his 12-year-old self is the only hope to save the mission.

— Michael Main

Young Adam: I mean if this is happening to me, that means that it already happened to you—right?—unless it works more like a multiverse where each ripple creates an alternate timeline—
Middle-Age Adam: It isn’t a multiverse! My god, we watch too many movies.

The Adam Project by Jonathan Tropper et al., directed by Shawn Levy (Netflix, worldwide, 11 March 2022).