# Let's talk about time machines.............. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158 "2019-03-15T01:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/1 "2019-03-15T01:38:04Z")
Nominate your favorite fictional time machines. (OK, maybe I didn’t need the qualifier there.) Books, TV, movies, comics, whatever the source. Want to go old school? The George Pal special with its Victorian trappings fits the bill. High tech, like the “Legends” Waverider? Or the “Relativity” from the ST:VOY episode of the same name. Or perhaps you want to go in style with the BTTF DeLorean. Me, I like the basic “Time Bubble” from the Legion of Super-Heroes comic. Oh, yes. Mustn’t forget the Tardis. Any others? Talk about the strengths and weaknesses, pick apart someone else’s choice. Let’s have some fun with this. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/2 "2019-03-15T01:53:08Z")
I would vote against the TARDIS. You’d think they could have fixed the “stuck as a police call box” flaw by now. I also vote against the machine in Primer, because it’s too byzantine. I think the Guardian of Forever is not a scientific time machine, but a kiosk remnant of an old shopping mall - you’re supposed to go back in time and try to make changes. Great fun - amuse your friends. until one smart alec destroyed the entire past. No, I’ll vote for the Time Tunnel. I like the look, the fact it seems to be complex and takes enormous power is a plus. The fact it doesn’t work right is a minus they should have rectified. They can still have good episodes even if Buzz and Todd (or whatever their names were) can come home at the end. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/3 "2019-03-15T02:02:27Z")
Does the Wayback Machine count? I guess it’s called a WABAC Machine also according to [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WABAC_machine). Never seen that before. It’s easy to operate, just tell it where and when you want to go, it always brings the time travelers back to their own time, translates all languages to English, I’d say it’s a nice one. Things do seem to go a little sideways when you arrive in the past but it turns out that the problems are easy to fix. I guess the one big disadvantage is that it can only travel to the past. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/4 "2019-03-15T02:11:17Z")
I like the old sling shot around the sun in StarTrek:the Voyage home. I like that Scotty was able to whip the Klingon bird of prey into shape for the trip and able to make adjustments for the Whales. He’s truly a miracle worker. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/5 "2019-03-15T02:11:30Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > No, I’ll vote for the Time Tunnel. I like the look, the fact it seems to be complex and takes enormous power is a plus. The fact it doesn’t work right is a minus they should have rectified. They can still have good episodes even if Buzz and Todd (or whatever their names were) can come home at the end. Doug Phillips and Tony Newman. The tunnel was more than complex; it extended to infinity. I like the Victorian time machine in the original movie of the same name. The rotating disk was obviously meant to generate a high-energy vortex that would suck the machine and its operator into the continuum. That’s why the table and the chandelier shook so violently just before the model went shhhhhhhh-WHOOP! and disappeared. The time machine in the remake was also cool, in that we could see what happened when something was halfway in/halfway out of the bubble the machine was traveling in. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/6 "2019-03-15T02:31:25Z")
I like: The time machine from the Koontz novel _Lightning_. The luggable, huge briefcase from _The Umbrella Academy._ The Orb of Time from _Deep Space 9_. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/7 "2019-03-15T02:48:09Z")
I like the Sarpedions time machine in All Our Yesterdays ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/8 "2019-03-15T03:29:46Z")
The one from the Terminator movies–not portable, but what an entrance! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/9 "2019-03-15T03:31:27Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I like the Sarpedions time machine in All Our Yesterdays The Atavachron. The thing was, you had to be “prepared” before you could go back in time. Makes sense because if you _weren’t_ prepared, you wouldn’t last long in the past. You’d be exposed to all sorts of pathogens to which your body has never built up a resistance. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/10 "2019-03-15T04:08:40Z")
Didn’t we just have this thread next year? ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/11 "2019-03-15T04:12:35Z")
I like the Time Machine from H.G. Wells’s story; his adventures in the year 802,701 captivated me when I read the kids’ version in middle school. Then he traveled millions of years into the future to witness the last living things on Earth. And, of course, I love the DeLorean. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/12 "2019-03-15T04:47:57Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > I like the Time Machine from H.G. Wells’s story; his adventures in the year 802,701 captivated me when I read the kids’ version in middle school. Then he traveled millions of years into the future to witness the last living things on Earth. I read the Classics Illustrated versions of _ **The Time Machine** _ and _ **War of the Worlds** _ when I was six. Scared the daylights out of me, and I sat up with the lights on until I finally fell asleep around four in the morning! :eek: Their version of the machine was pretty cool too. It really looked like something some tinkerer would build in his home workshop. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/13 "2019-03-15T05:01:14Z")
What was that thing Hermione had in a Harry Potter movie? A time winder? Loved that. ETA time-tuner. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/14 "2019-03-15T05:10:13Z")
I vote for Poul Anderson’s _There Will be Time_. Mutants have the ability to travel in time just by willing it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/15 "2019-03-15T05:19:46Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > What was that thing Hermione had in a Harry Potter movie? A time winder? Loved that. > ETA time-tuner. It worked so well she could mouth the dialogue of the other actors before they delivered it! 😉 (The next time you see the movie, watch closely. You can see her lips moving.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/16 "2019-03-15T05:21:06Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > I vote for Poul Anderson’s _There Will be Time_. Mutants have the ability to travel in time just by willing it. So could Christopher Reeve (and not just as Superman, either). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/17 "2019-03-15T05:25:22Z")
I like combined red energy from a nova with the blue energy from microwaving iffy pop. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/18 "2019-03-15T05:44:35Z")
As a Dirtbike Guy, the XT500 from _TimeRider!_ [Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timerider:_The_Adventure_of_Lyle_Swann) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/19 "2019-03-15T07:12:10Z")
Aesthetically, I like the Chronosphere from _Seven Days_. Then there’s the eponymous Hot Tub… And the Tardis is nice and all, but vortex manipulators are portable… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/20 "2019-03-15T07:21:05Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > As a Dirtbike Guy, the XT500 from _TimeRider!_ [Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timerider:_The_Adventure_of_Lyle_Swann) Is that movie script written by a Monkee, Mike Nesmith? Crazy! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158.md?page=2)