# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/21 "2019-03-15T07:39:05Z")
The best, without doubt, is the DeLorean in _Back to the Future_. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/22 "2019-03-15T11:34:15Z")
The _Generalized Nonlinear Extrapolator_ in Keith Laumer’s The Great Time Machine Hoax (1964). It was a huge database that was supposed to be able to project a VR simulation of any event in history, but found it easier to move the spectators in time than to actually reproduce the requested scenes! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/23 "2019-03-15T12:03:55Z")
the Victorian Time Machine from the George Pal film has already ben mentioned, along with the TinkerToy version in the _Classics Ilustrated_ adaptation, and the “Fresnel Lighthouse Lens” version from the movie remake. And the Tardis, and the Time TRavel Packing Box from _Primer_, and The Guardian of Forever, that looks like a 1950s art installation.And the WABAC machine More Time Machines The Giant TV Time Machine in the 1960 Ib Melchior film _The Time TRavelers_. The TRavelling Salesman Case time machine from the 1914 film _Predestination_ (which beats the Time TRavelling blanket from Heinlein’s original story “All You Zombies…”) I kinda like Dr. Doom’s Time TRavel Square on the Ground from _The Fantastic Four_ circa 1960. No frills – you step on the platform, you travel in time. In the Batman comics of the 1950s some professor had a couple of Time Travel chairs that you just sat in. But that would’ve made it difficult to bring things like Blackbeard’s Treasure back through time. Murray Leinster actually wrote a novel called _The Time Tunnel_ before the TV show came out, which I suspect influenced and inspired that show. Leinster later wrote a couple of novels based on the TV show. DC comics liked Time Travel “portals”. I know of at least two that showed up on their comics covers in the 1960s. Just a circle floating in space, with another era on the other side. [http://babblingsaboutdccomics.blogspot.com/2017/01/green-lantern-30-chased-by-pterodactyls.html](http://babblingsaboutdccomics.blogspot.com/2017/01/green-lantern-30-chased-by-pterodactyls.html) Similar, I guess, is the _Time Mirror_ in Harlan Ellison’s episode “Demon with a Glass Hand” from _The Outer Limits_. Or, for that matter, the “Time Bubble” device used in James Cameron’s _Terminator_ movies. A lot of Time Machines are simply sort-of-boxes that are only really different from the TARDIS in that they aren’t shaped like police boxes (and aren’t bigger on the inside). Like the one in the 1979 movie _Time after Time_. I think most Time Machines are, when all is said and done, just boxes that travel in time. I know the one in my YA novel _The Traveler_\* is just such a device. \*coming out this September. No joke. ---
**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, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/24 "2019-03-15T12:46:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > A lot of Time Machines are simply sort-of-boxes Sometimes [literally](https://calvinandhobbes.fandom.com/wiki/Time_Machine). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/25 "2019-03-15T12:53:44Z")
If you judge by looks, the George Pal \*Time Machine \* is definitely the best. Another great one is that in “[Forms of Things Unknown](https://classic-horror.com/files/images/scarytv-formofthings.preview.jpg)” from _The Outer Limits_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/26 "2019-03-15T13:13:06Z")
Am I really the first person to mention the Omni, from _Voyagers_? I loved that show, but I seem to be the only one who remembers it. It was a similar theme to _Quantum Leap_: Whenever the travelers arrive in time, there’s something wrong with history, and they need to fix it. But it’s voluntary: They bring their time machine with them, and when the indicator light changes from red to green, they can push the button and go to a new time. I’m also surprised that **CalMeacham** didn’t mention The Clock that Went Backward, the first time machine in literature. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/27 "2019-03-15T13:23:22Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Sometimes [literally](https://calvinandhobbes.fandom.com/wiki/Time_Machine). Extremely Interesting multiple Science Fiction Nexus: There was a Canadian version of the TV show _Howdy Doody_ in the 1950s with a different cast and production team, which differed materially from the US version. Among other folks, the Canadian show had James Doohan and William Shatner, a decade before _Star Trek_. What’s really interesting, in terms of this thread, is that one of the characters on the show was a “Mr. X”, who had a “Whatsis Box” that enabled him to travel anywhere in Time or Space that he wanted. When you consider that the executive producer of the Canadian show was Sydney Newman, who later went to Britain to worjk for the BBC as Head of Drama and created a children’s science fiction show called _Doctor Who_, things begin to fall together. “Mr. X” and his “WHatsis Box” for travel through Time and Space doesn’t really differ that much from “Dr. Who” with his Time And Relative Displacement In Space TARDIS. What started out as a simple, straightforward plot device to take the setting of a kids’ show to anywhere or anytime you want became an iconic kid’s BriTV series thart became an Icon. And Captain Kirk and Scotty were there to see it born. I’ve never seen a picture of the Whatsit Box > **[The Canadian Howdy Doody Show (Late 1954?)](https://www.shatnerweb.com/2017/04/02/the-canadian-howdy-doody-show-late-1954/)** > > Confusion reigns in this next entry about Shatner’s career. > **[Sydney Newman - Library and Archives Canada (LAC) | www.missing-episodes.com](https://missingepisodes.proboards.com/thread/9105/sydney-newman-archive?page=1)** > > Hi: We all know that a Canadian, Sydney Newman, then Head of BBC Television Drama, was involved in the creation of Doctor Who. After his death (1997) in Toronto, ON, his personal "papers" we ---
**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, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/28 "2019-03-15T13:31:22Z")
[Another time machine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-P0Hs0ADJY)that is not much more than a box, but it does have some dryer duct, christmas tree lights, and sound effects. That makes it one of the more sophisticated cardboard box time machines ever built. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/29 "2019-03-15T13:54:27Z")
One of the more popular Time Machines is Nothing At All. This is different from Time Machines that simply deposit you at your destination (as with the Skynet machine in the _Terminator_ series). The Nothing At All Time Machine doesn’t have any moving parts, or even tangible parts. It’s often, in fact, a State of Mind. Hark Morgan didn’t need any device to travel back to King Arthur’s Britain in Mark Twain’s **a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court**. Martin Padway just got hit by a lightning bolt, or something, in L. Sprague de Camp’s **Lest Darkness Fall**. Jack Finney’s "Time Machine’ is just a big ol’ building where you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the place and era you want to go to, and just sort of _will_ yourself through time. I don’t know why, but I find this particularly stupid and annoying. He used it in **Time and Again** (1970) and **From Time to Time** ] (1995) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/30 "2019-03-15T14:08:35Z")
There’s always the Standing Stones used in Diana Gabaldon’s _Outlander_ series. I haven’t watched the series or read the books (although Pepper Mill has), but apparently in the TV show you can just walk through them, whereas in the book you touch it, go unconscious, and wake up in a different time. ---
**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, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/31 "2019-03-15T14:15:31Z")
In an Asimov novel (I don’t remember which one), some poor shlub is propelled into the distant future just from being hit by a stray burst of radiation. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/32 "2019-03-15T14:15:49Z")
In _Futurama_, there’s Professor Farnsworth’s one-way time machine. It can only go forward in time to prevent paradoxes… hopefully. S06E07 The Late Philip J. Fry - one of the best episodes. ---
**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, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/33 "2019-03-15T14:18:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Am I really the first person to mention the Omni, from _Voyagers_? I loved that show, but I seem to be the only one who remembers it. It was a similar theme to _Quantum Leap_: Whenever the travelers arrive in time, there’s something wrong with history, and they need to fix it. But it’s voluntary: They bring their time machine with them, and when the indicator light changes from red to green, they can push the button and go to a new time. I remember it. The star of the show was Jon-Eric Hexum, who sadly blew his brains out while horsing around with a gun on a movie set a few years later. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/34 "2019-03-15T14:20:42Z")
> [@](#): > > In an Asimov novel (I don’t remember which one), some poor shlub is propelled into the distant future just from being hit by a stray burst of radiation. _The Stars Like Dust_, which is one of my personal favorites of his. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/35 "2019-03-15T14:24:35Z")
I always liked to one in Harry Harrison’s _The Technicolor Time Machine_. Just a field projected by the machine. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/36 "2019-03-15T14:29:53Z")
Give me the time machine from the movie _Time After Time_. H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper used it, so it’s good enough for me. Excellent, highly recommended movie. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/37 "2019-03-15T14:32:16Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Aesthetically, I like the Chronosphere from _Seven Days_. That’s my vote. Partly because they admit that, every time he traveled back in time, he wiped out the exiting timeline. That was the whole point! And as such, if you think about it, no one else on his team has ever seen a successful launch of the Chronosphere, because those versions of themselves get wiped out. Every launch is their first time doing it, and yet, they always do it, because that’s their job. It’s quite nihilistic when you think about 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, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/38 "2019-03-15T14:36:09Z")
What was the machine called in the _ **Twilight Zone** _ episode with Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/39 "2019-03-15T14:37:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _The Stars Like Dust_, which is one of my personal favorites of his. Do you mean “A Pebble in the Sky” or did he use the same mechanism in “The stars Like Dust.” I’ve only read the former. ---
**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, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158/40 "2019-03-15T14:42:25Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Give me the time machine from the movie _Time After Time_. H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper used it, so it’s good enough for me. > > Excellent, highly recommended movie. I’ve always wondered where all that clear plastic for the cabin came from. 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-time-machines/831158.md?page=3)