My interest in time travel was first roused when as a child I would rush home from school on a Thursday afternoon so I could watch a television show about children crawling through a hole in the fence and arriving in a different time zone. I don’t remember much about the story or the name of the series but I remember when the little girl saw her future self and she was not impressed. Can you imagine how you would feel devastated to find out you are evil when you are older?
Since then, I have watched many time travel movies or series: The Philadelphia Experiment, Back to the Future, Star Trek (especially Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home), Dr Who, The Butterfly Effect, to name but a few. What interests me in the different stories, are the different methods used to travel through time.
Here are just a few I have come across:
Through a doorway
The Netflix series Dark, uses a cave as its time portal, although there was another method they used as well. I guess you could consider The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, as travelling to a different time when they went through the wardrobe, although it was Probably more like going to a different world. I used a cat door as a portal in my second novel about a time travelling cat.
Through a Tunnel
Time Tunnel comes to mind here, the 60’s show where two men would fall through this black and white tunnel and end up somewhere in the past. Sliders comes to mind here as well but again the characters in Sliders visited different worlds rather than the past or the future.
Electricity
I think of The Philadelphia Experiment here and recall seeing the amazing storms which took place in the area they travelled to. It reminded me of storm clouds I have seen on You Tube when various channels suggested they were ramping up CERN which some suggest is to do with The Quantum Effect. I will talk about CERN and The Quantum Effect in another post.
Through a vehicle
Back to The Future and HG Wells Time machine were both vehicles were used for time travel. One vehicle was stationary and the other had to move swiftly before it could transport through time. I used a camper van as a time machine in my first novel.
Through a Space Ship
Star Trek and Dr Who are both kinds of Spaceships where time travel takes place. My first novel has a space ship in it that time travels too but I won’t say how as it would give the story away.
Through a photo
This is a favorite of mine. In the series Red Dwarf, there was an episode where they stepped into a photo to travel to get to that particular place in time. I guess to get back to your own time and place you’d need a photo taken before you leave so you can take with you. If not how would you get back?
There are so many other modes of transport as well as, through a doorways, tunnels, electricity, vehicles, space ships and photographs.
If you are a budding author, would you use one of these methods? Or maybe you’d use two different methods like they did in Dark or as I did in my first novel. Can you think of any other modes I have not mentioned? I would love to hear in the comments.
