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.

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).

Astonishing #23

Doom of Ages

by an unknown writer

Three arctic explorers are thankful for the life-saving meat they’ve stumbled across in a frozen mammoth, until they start to wonder what killed the proboscidea.

— Michael Main

“I wonder what killed it?” Hafton wondered curiously, cutting swiftly through the thick masses of mastodon meat.

“Doom of Ages” by an unknown writer , in Astonishing #23 (Atlas Comics, March 1953).

Journey into Mystery #8

Time Reversal

by an unknown writer

A blackmailer demonstrates his ability to send an entire city back to prehistoric times.

— Michael Main

We received a note telling us that unless we paid the sum of three million dollars this great city would be taken back to prehistoric days.

“Time Reversal” by an unknown writer , in Journey into Mystery #8 (Atlas Comics, May 1953).

Casper the Friendly Ghost Theatrical #34

Red White and Boo

by Isadore Klein, directed by Izzy Sparber and Myron Waldman

Every Casper cartoon had the same plot, including at least one (“Red, White and Boo”) from 1955 where Casper wonders whether people in the past will also be scared of him, so he uses a time machine to visit a caveman, Robert Fulton, Paul Revere, General Washington, and a Revolutionary War battle.

— Michael Main

Gee, maybe people in the past won’t be scared of me.

“Red White and Boo” by Isadore Klein, directed by Izzy Sparber and Myron Waldman (21 October 1955).

Unusual Tales #6

Caveman

by Joe Gill [?] and Charles Nicholas

Herman Pringle despairs of ever having the respect of his wife Clara, so much so that he daydreams of living the life of of a caveman where every man’s wife was his servant.

— Michael Main

But she’d never push me around if we lived back in the time of the cavemen! No, siree! I’d be boss.

“Caveman” by Joe Gill [?] and Charles Nicholas, Unusual Tales #6 (Charlton Comics, February 1957).

Lem’s Star Diaries

Czarna komnata profesora Tarantogi

Literal: Professor Tarantoga's black room

by Stanisław Lem

Professor Tarantoga saves human civilization! After using his chronopad to investigate the leading scientists and artists in history, Tarantoga concludes that without exception they are lazy drunkards. So naturally, he sends smart young people into various eras to invent differential calculus, to paint the Mona Lisa, etc.—all while a pair of police inspectors have their eye on him.

— based on Wikipedia

[ex=bare]Czarna komnata profesora Tarantogi: Widowisko telewizyjne | Professor Tarantoga’s black room: Television show[/ex] by Stanisław Lem, in Noc księżycowa (Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1963).

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).

Bill & Ted I

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, directed by Stephen Herek

The Two Great Ones, Bill S. Preston, Esq., and Ted “Theodore” Logan, are the subjects of time-traveler Rufus’s mission, but instead they end up using his machine to write a history report to save their band, Wyld Stallyns.

— Michael Main

Most excellent!

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, directed by Stephen Herek (at movie theaters, USA, 17 February 1989).

Time Barbarians

written and directed by Joseph John Barmettler

In an ancient world of swords, sorcery, loin cloths, and bejeweled bikinis, an evil thief kills King Deran’s queen before escaping to modern-day Los Angeles. Since the thief also took a magic amulet with him, a loinclothless wizardess sends Deran after him to retrieve the amulet and avenge the queen’s brutal death.

— Michael Main

The man you seek is in this world no longer. You must travel to another time to find him.

Time Barbarians written and directed by Joseph John Barmettler (direct-to-video, USA, circa 1990).

Farside

Time Log

by Gary Larson

Hooting excitedly

“Time Log” by Gary Larson, The Far Side, 31 January 1991.

The Magic Tree House 7

Sunset of the Sabertooth

by Mary Pope Osborne

The tree house takes Jack and Annie back to the stone age where they run into Cro-Magnon man, a cave bea, a sabertooth tiger, a mammoth, a woolly rhino, and other prehistoric beasties before returning home with the third magic object to rescue Morgan.

— Michael Main

She stroked the mammoth’s giant ear. “Bye, Lulu. Thank you,” she said.

Sunset of the Sabertooth by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, April 1996).

SpongeBob SquarePants [s1:e14A]

SB-129

by Aaron Springer, Erik Wiese, and Mr. Lawrence, directed by Aarpm Springer et al.

The first of SpongeBob’s family to foray into time was Squidward, whose accidental cryofreeze took him two millennia into the future. Of course, even primitive sponges know that that was not actual time travel, but future-SpongeTrons point the six-limbed cephalopod to a time machine that took him on two actual time travel trips before returning him to his own time. No, we don’t know whether one of the future SpongeTrons is SB-129, but we do note that the production code for this episode was 2515-129.

— Inmate Jan

Well, why didn’t ya just ask? The time machine is down the hall and to the left.

“SB-129” by Aaron Springer, Erik Wiese, and Mr. Lawrence, directed by Aarpm Springer et al., from SpongeBob SquarePants [s01e14A], Nickelodeon (USA, 31 December 1999).

A Time Odyssey 1

Time’s Eye

by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter

And she was continually amazed at how easily everyone else accepted their situation, the blunt, apparently undeniable reality of the time slips, across a hundred and fifty years in her case, perhaps a million years or more for the wretched pithecine and her infant in their net cage.

Time’s Eye by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter (Del Rey, January 2004).

SpongeBob SquarePants Mini 67

Time Machine

[writer and director unknown]

In the first of three time travel mini-episodes—each around one minute long—SpongeBob and Patrick put their hot tub time machine through the works, hoping to find Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy in their prime.

— Michael Main

Will they get it right? Will SpongeBob and Patrick get to see their superheroes in their super-prime?

“Time Machine” [writer and director unknown] (SpongeBob SquarePants Mini 67, Nickelodean (USA, 14 June 2011).

The Treehouse #5

The 65-Storey Treehouse

by Andy Griffiths (story) and Terry Denton (art)

Each installment of Andy and Terry’s Treehouse series sees the house grow upward, but what if the house never had a proper building permit? No problem, if you’ve got a time machine in a wheelie trash bin! Caution: Important detours along the way may be necessary to save antkind and The Time Machine.

— Michael Main

“Don’t you see?” says Terry. “We’ll just travel back in time and get a permit for the treehouse.”

The 65-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths (story) and Terry Denton (art) (Macmillan Australia, August 2015).

Arthur Travels Back in Time

by Gene Lipen and Judith San Nicolas

Arthur the fearless dog travels to different times in a large blue cannister. The story is written in verse that ignores meter and uses rhymes that don’t quite work.

— Ruthie Mariner

With sights on events his eyes have never seen, Arthur is ready for his new time machine.

Arthur Travels Back in Time by Gene Lipen and Judith San Nicolas (Gene Lipen, November 2020).

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].

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).