# Time travel, forward to the Present **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297 "2016-10-12T00:50:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/41 "2016-10-13T23:23:29Z")
This is what’s going on in 13 GOING ON 30, right? Where she magically skips ahead to her life seventeen years in the future – the audience’s present – with no idea of who the heck Eminem is; or why music is emanating from something that’s smaller than a pack of smokes and obviously isn’t a _telephone,_ c’mon, that’s just crazy talk. Wait, are you telling me that gay people are unremarkable now? Huh. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/42 "2016-10-14T03:41:44Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Marvel Comics did a cute bit where Conan the Barbarian, and Red Sonja of Hyrkania, came forward to the 20th century. Teamed up with Spider-Man. DC did the same thing many years ago in _ **Our Army at War** _: Sgt Rock and Easy Company were teamed with the Viking Prince on a commando mission to Scandinavia. Maybe I missed the issue before that, but SFAIK, they never explained how the Viking Prince suddenly appeared in the middle of WWII. In the end, as I recall, he rode off to Valhalla surrounded by Valkyries as the secret Nazi base blew up. That almost made up for the silliness of the story. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/43 "2016-10-14T03:49:11Z")
On _ **The Time Tunnel** _, they would occasionally bring people from the past to 1968 by accident. My favorite was Victor Jory as a pirate captain. He grabbed Lee Meriwether as a hostage, and she damned near fell off one of the bridges on the set IRL, struggling to get away. When Security opened up with their Schmeissers, Gen Kirk yelled “You can’t kill him! He died 150 years ago!” Neat trick, that! ---
**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:** [October 14, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/44 "2016-10-14T03:52:56Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > In a similar vein, I remember a couple episodes of Bewitched where a historical figure was (accidentally?) brought forward to the present. Benjamin Franklin, when Aunt Clara (as usual) fucked up conjuring an electrician. Hilarity ensued! ---
**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:** [October 14, 2016, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/45 "2016-10-14T03:56:35Z")
Should we count Holodeck Moriarty acquiring consciousness on _ **TNG** _? ---
**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:** [October 14, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/46 "2016-10-14T04:00:58Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure I love the bit in the shopping mall when the teenage girls laugh at the time travellers and Sigmund Freud’s erect pronto pup slowly droops. ---
**Author:** ![Vicsage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e68b1a/32.png) [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/47 "2016-10-14T04:01:59Z")
Another Heinlein book, “Farnham’s Freehold”. Nuclear blast sends people from the present into the future. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/48 "2016-10-14T04:29:51Z")
> [@Vicsage](#): > > Another Heinlein book, “Farnham’s Freehold”. Nuclear blast sends people from the present into the future. Asimov wrote one novella (don’t remember the title) where a burst of radiation propelled a passer-by into the distant future. Don’t remember if he ever made it back. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/49 "2016-10-14T12:03:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Asimov wrote one novella (don’t remember the title) where a burst of radiation propelled a passer-by into the distant future. Don’t remember if he ever made it back. [Pebble in the Sky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_in_the_Sky). His first published book. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/50 "2016-10-14T12:17:00Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Which of course reminds me of Captain America / The Avengers > \ > > More seriously, ISTM a lot of the past-to-the-present “time travel” stories will be some kind of suspended animation. Back in '41, of course, Captain America was just a man of his times, acting his age by slugging Nazis – but the Shining Knight was already beating him to his future schtick, having arrived in the darkest days of WWII with little more than his magic sword and his enchanted suit of armor and his memories of what life was like centuries ago in the days of King Arthur and the Round Table. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/51 "2016-10-14T14:22:09Z")
I think it was always with ‘clip shows’ but both **Hercules: The Legendary Journeys** and **Xena Warrior Princess** have had episodes with the title characters in the then (late 1990s to early 2000s) present day. If I recall correctly Hercules appeared disguised as ‘ **Kevin Sorbo** ’ (the actual actor who played him) simply by using his half God powers. Xena arrived in the present day when a modern facility cloned her from a historical sample of her blood. Or hair. Or something. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/52 "2016-10-14T14:30:08Z")
There’s another Twilight Zone episode about a man from the 1800s who’s about to be hanged, who time travels to the present. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/53 "2016-10-14T18:03:35Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > Xena arrived in the present day when a modern facility cloned her from a historical sample of her blood. Or hair. Or something. There was an episode of \*\*\*Wonder Woman \*\*\*where a bunch of ONs “cloned” Adolf Hitler in a takeoff on _ **The Boys from Brazil** _. He materialized on a lab table fully grown and in uniform, with his memory intact. **Of course** , Diana had to infiltrate the Movement and lure Hitler back into the lab so he could be “de-cloned.” The best part was hearing her speak German: _“Diesen Weg, mein Fuehrer, bitte.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/54 "2016-10-14T18:26:11Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > There’s another Twilight Zone episode about a man from the 1800s who’s about to be hanged, who time travels to the present. I set the DVR to record all the TZs, and I’ve started watching some of the lesser known ones. Besides the one mentioned above, just this week I watched [“#78 - Once Upon a Time”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_(The_Twilight_Zone)), with Buster Keaton as a man who time travels from 1890 to the (then) present 1960…a well-done tribute to the legend. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/55 "2016-10-15T01:57:56Z")
_Biggles_ involves the eponymous hero ([Squadron Leader James Bigglesworth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggles)) travelling from World War I to the present day, and inexplicably able to fly a JetRanger helicopter because “If you can fly a Sopwith Camel, you can fly anything!” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/56 "2016-10-21T02:09:16Z")
[Just Visiting](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189192/combined) There were also episodes of [Primeval](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808096/combined) where rips in the time-space accidentally allow a knight and a somewhat more modern group of people into the present. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/57 "2016-10-21T03:12:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [_It’s About Time_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1G-TsdNWGg) opening and closing themes. > > ♬ _It’s about time > It’s about space > It’s about time to slap your face!_ ♬ > > 😃 > > . Wow, someone has heard of this? I never had until last Saturday, when I switched from cable to an antenna, flipped to the first channel that came in, and saw the opening sequence. Couldn’t stand more than 2 minutes of the show itself. It was awful, and this from a girl who loves the Brady Bunch. Speaking of which, has anyone mentioned The Brady Bunch Movie? That was set in the present day, but the Bradys were still living like it was 1969. p.s. I love how Sherwood Schwarz would tell the whole story in the theme song. Got me all caught up on the caveman/astronaut business. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2016, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/58 "2016-10-21T06:32:33Z")
> [@tenacious\_j](#): > > p.s. I love how Sherwood Schwarz would tell the whole story in the theme song. Got me all caught up on the caveman/astronaut business. That was how he sold his series to CBS (and probably ABC as well). Network executives were afraid of launching them with the situation already set up, without a backstory. According to Schwartz, they thought audiences wouldn’t understand what the hell those people were doing on a desert island or back in caveman days. “Don’t worry about it!” he told them. “All the backstory will be in the theme song.” Here is the original theme for _ **Gilligan’s Island** _, taken from the unaired pilot: And yes, I watched \*\*\*It's About Time\*\*\* back when I was in sixth grade. I loved Imogene Coca and Joe E Ross. :cool: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/59 "2016-11-19T22:47:19Z")
_Time After Time_ is starting now on TCM. I think I’ll watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/60 "2016-11-19T23:34:16Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > _Time After Time_ is starting now on TCM. > > I think I’ll watch it. I watched it a few months back for the first time in many years when it had aired on TCM. It reminded me just how progressive attitudes were in the 1970s regarding women. It was an interesting era, forward in some ways, backward in others. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297.md?page=4)