# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/61 "2016-11-19T23:37:54Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > [Time after time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_After_Time_(1979_film)) > > It was made in 1979, but that was the present that they zapped to. > > Good movie. I just rewatched it not too many months ago and it holds up well from when I saw it as a kid. It’s on TCM right now. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/62 "2016-11-20T02:31:15Z")
I believe the comic _Alley Oop_ had him travel; to contemporary times. As I recall, it wasn’t much of a culture shock, he didn’t see much that was different in people and motivations. Edgar Allen Poe had a group of crazy scientists reanimate a mummy with electricity. Conversing in Greek, he was likewise unimpressed with technological advancements of Poe’s time. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/63 "2016-11-20T06:23:18Z")
[Alley Oop.](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiftJWF2bbQAhXI5SYKHZeGAGYQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FAlley_Oop&psig=AFQjCNEFdd_OKDLJeYKq2CMF0fm8Au1LqA&ust=1479709351822431) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/64 "2016-11-20T08:38:24Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > In a similar vein, I remember a couple episodes of Bewitched where a historical figure was (accidentally?) brought forward to the present. I sometimes do a thought experiment where I’m trying to explain the technology of the modern day to someone from the past, and the idea came from Bewitched, and their very bad explanations (which, of course, made it easier to get by with just using magic). ---
**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:** [November 20, 2016, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/65 "2016-11-20T08:46:19Z")
In an interesting variation on the theme, _Futurama_ has the preserved heads of current(ish) celebrities kept around so they can interact with the show’s characters in the third millenium setting. Richard Nixon is president of Earth and the cast of _Star Trek_ show up in one episode too. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/66 "2016-11-20T15:20:55Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I sometimes do a thought experiment where I’m trying to explain the technology of the modern day to someone from the past, and the idea came from Bewitched, and their very bad explanations (which, of course, made it easier to get by with just using magic). I sometimes wonder if you showed a current ad that has web sites printed in it to someone from, say, 1985 what they would think the strange characters mean. They might guess it had something to do with computers but past that…? ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/67 "2016-11-20T16:46:30Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > I enjoyed “The Man From Earth,” about a time traveler of sorts. It’s about a prehistoric man who just happened to survive for thousands of years and lives now in contemporary America. > > [The Man from Earth - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth) Oooh I watched that movie a couple of months ago. Low key but fascinating story. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/68 "2016-11-21T12:52:40Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > _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!” Actually it’s not inexplicable. He works it out. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/69 "2016-11-22T05:20:19Z")
> [@TPWombat](#): > > Actually it’s not inexplicable. He works it out. The skills required to fly a helicopter and the skills required to fly a fixed-wing aeroplane (even a Sopwith Camel) are not necessarily rapidly interchangeable. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2016, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/70 "2016-11-22T12:09:21Z")
And the process of “figuring out” the differences are likely to result in a fiery crash several times more quickly than in understanding. ---
**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 22, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/71 "2016-11-22T16:15:34Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > The skills required to fly a helicopter and the skills required to fly a fixed-wing aeroplane (even a Sopwith Camel) are not necessarily rapidly interchangeable. Indeed, some things are opposite. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/72 "2016-11-22T16:31:55Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > In an interesting variation on the theme, _Futurama_ has the preserved heads of current(ish) celebrities kept around so they can interact with the show’s characters in the third millenium setting. > > Richard Nixon is president of Earth and the cast of _Star Trek_ show up in one episode too. Poor Welshy! ---
**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:** [November 22, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/73 "2016-11-22T21:37:38Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Poor Welshy! Well played 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/74 "2016-11-22T21:52:23Z")
Time After Time has been remade as a series, which will be airing sometime next season on ABC. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/75 "2016-11-23T00:11:28Z")
While in prison, Lex Luthor once contemplated building a time machine. Not the kind of time machine where he could disappear from the present and pop back out in the past or the future; that’s just crazy talk. I mean, how would he even get his hands on the parts for something like that? All he has to work with is, what, some aspirin, plus maybe the sunlight that slants in through the bars of his window, and whatever else a guy can acquire while locked up? So, yeah, cue the [solar-powered time machine that brings Hercules to the modern world,](http://crookedtimber.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/luthorpapercraft2.jpg) where he’ll [smash his way out of confinement](https://babblingsaboutdccomics2.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/act_267_001.png) and then [clash with Superman](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EvgmTfMxR_k/TY-fYMnmYnI/AAAAAAAADgM/zWVQ6AkO9Dc/s1600/action267.jpg). That pretty much went without saying, right? ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/76 "2016-11-23T02:25:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > … TZ also had [_A Hundred Years Over The Rim_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hundred_Yards_Over_the_Rim). One of my favorite episodes. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/77 "2016-11-23T18:12:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And the process of “figuring out” the differences are likely to result in a fiery crash several times more quickly than in understanding. “Worked it out” not “figured out” A sadly unsuccessful by me to riff on one of the books [http://www.biggles.info/Details/40/](http://www.biggles.info/Details/40/) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/78 "2016-11-23T19:06:05Z")
Anubis Gates had a society of back and forthers. Although most of the story takes place in the back and not the forth. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297/79 "2016-11-23T23:05:43Z")
There’s also [Percival Dunwoody, Idiot Time-Traveler From 1909](http://boingboing.net/2014/03/12/tom-the-dancing-bug-percival.html). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-forward-to-the-present/768297.md?page=3)