Les Lynam's Blog: Time Will Tell - Posts Tagged "time-travel"
♪♫♪ Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? ♪♫♪
What is so fascinating about time? I mean, enough to churn my imagination into fictional stories about Time-Travel? Along the same lines as the question: "If a tree falls in the forest, and no one hears it, was there sound?" I pose: "If human beings weren't around to be aware of it, would time exist?"
Animals don't wear watches (or carry phones, for those youngsters out there that don't relate to watches), and as far as I can tell, they don't keep appointment books, either. We humans are the keepers and worriers of time. I don't think animals are ever 'late', or wish they had more time in the day, or feel pressures from looming deadlines. So have we humans invented the concept of time? Does our own cognizance (which separates us from the animals?) create time?
With time itself an enigmatic cerebral back-flip, why would anyone want to make up stuff about Time-Travel? Who, you may ask, was first to do so? Yes, you in the back, waving your hand madly and grunting 'ooo, ooo, I know, I know'. H.G. Wells, you say? A reasonable guess, and possibly correct if you want to specifically label Time-Travel as Science Fiction, but other forms of literature have flirted with the concept well before the 1895 publication date of The Time Machine. Wikipedia (yep, I know. Why is a former librarian quoting Wikipedia?), mentions that Hindu writings from 700 BC are primal flirts. Let me cut and paste a bit: "In ancient Hindu mythology, the Mahabharata, written around 700 B.C. mentions the story of the King Revaita, who travels to a different world to meet the creator Brahma. The King is shocked to learn that many ages have passed when he returns to Earth." Hmmm, kind of sounds like time dilation, as in Einstein's theory regarding approaching the speed of light. If you want to peruse the whole article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_tra...
The point is: lots of people in the past toyed with the idea of alternate methods of time-travel. By 'alternate', I mean different from the way everyone time-travels. What? You don't think you time-travel? Sure you do. Everyone does... but we only go one direction, and it's at the rate of one second per second (or one minute per minute, if you like). That's physically, of course. Our corporal selves move along the time line and observe the future as we go. But what about our non-corporal selves? Don't we, in a sense, time-travel backwards whenever we wish? Remember that embarrassing time at your 8th birthday party when you said something to those two girls that you always regretted? (OK, that may have just been me)... but surely you also have a vivid memory, and when you think about it, it's almost like you can relive the whole thing in your imagination. Ever tell yourself "If I could go back and change just one thing in my life..."? Is that what spurs imaginative speculation in the form of fiction? I don't know.
Something else I don't know: When did I become aware of the concept of Time-Travel? As a kid, I loved the Sci-Fi shows on TV. Irwin Allen is listed as 'creator' for a lot of those shows: Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and The Time Tunnel. I loved The Time Tunnel! IMDB has one FREE episode (not one of their better ones, in my estimation): http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1254... "Town of Terror".
The Time Tunnel ran 30 episodes from 1966-1967. But there were other shows on at about the same time, such as: It's About Time which was mostly a sit-com that took place when time travelers got stuck in 'caveman days'. This also ran 66/67 for 26 episodes. So that would have been when I was about 12 years old. I think there are earlier influences, like certain episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. I'm pretty sure I remember "The Last Flight" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734651/?... which would have been when I was six in 1960, as well as a year later: "The Odyssey of Flight 33" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734668/?.... A few years later, there was a very gripping story on The Outer Limits that introduced me to the concept of the actions of a time-traveler changing the future: "The Man Who Was Never Born" (October 1963). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667842/?.... I also remember being scared spitless (PG Blog rating) of the Morlocks when I saw The Time Machine on TV. The theater release date was 1960, so I'm not sure when it would have been on TV.
So, somehow, my innate interest in Sci-Fi brought all these concepts into my life at an early age. It seems like I've Always known about Time-Travel. And so, gentle reader, I've finally traveled far enough into my future to start writing my own tales.
I hope you've enjoyed this installment of my ramblings about Time and Time-Travel. But before I go, I'd like to Cher one more thing:
♪♫♪ If I could turn back time ♪♫♪
♫♪♫ If I could find a way.... ♫♪♫
Animals don't wear watches (or carry phones, for those youngsters out there that don't relate to watches), and as far as I can tell, they don't keep appointment books, either. We humans are the keepers and worriers of time. I don't think animals are ever 'late', or wish they had more time in the day, or feel pressures from looming deadlines. So have we humans invented the concept of time? Does our own cognizance (which separates us from the animals?) create time?
With time itself an enigmatic cerebral back-flip, why would anyone want to make up stuff about Time-Travel? Who, you may ask, was first to do so? Yes, you in the back, waving your hand madly and grunting 'ooo, ooo, I know, I know'. H.G. Wells, you say? A reasonable guess, and possibly correct if you want to specifically label Time-Travel as Science Fiction, but other forms of literature have flirted with the concept well before the 1895 publication date of The Time Machine. Wikipedia (yep, I know. Why is a former librarian quoting Wikipedia?), mentions that Hindu writings from 700 BC are primal flirts. Let me cut and paste a bit: "In ancient Hindu mythology, the Mahabharata, written around 700 B.C. mentions the story of the King Revaita, who travels to a different world to meet the creator Brahma. The King is shocked to learn that many ages have passed when he returns to Earth." Hmmm, kind of sounds like time dilation, as in Einstein's theory regarding approaching the speed of light. If you want to peruse the whole article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_tra...
The point is: lots of people in the past toyed with the idea of alternate methods of time-travel. By 'alternate', I mean different from the way everyone time-travels. What? You don't think you time-travel? Sure you do. Everyone does... but we only go one direction, and it's at the rate of one second per second (or one minute per minute, if you like). That's physically, of course. Our corporal selves move along the time line and observe the future as we go. But what about our non-corporal selves? Don't we, in a sense, time-travel backwards whenever we wish? Remember that embarrassing time at your 8th birthday party when you said something to those two girls that you always regretted? (OK, that may have just been me)... but surely you also have a vivid memory, and when you think about it, it's almost like you can relive the whole thing in your imagination. Ever tell yourself "If I could go back and change just one thing in my life..."? Is that what spurs imaginative speculation in the form of fiction? I don't know.
Something else I don't know: When did I become aware of the concept of Time-Travel? As a kid, I loved the Sci-Fi shows on TV. Irwin Allen is listed as 'creator' for a lot of those shows: Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and The Time Tunnel. I loved The Time Tunnel! IMDB has one FREE episode (not one of their better ones, in my estimation): http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1254... "Town of Terror".
The Time Tunnel ran 30 episodes from 1966-1967. But there were other shows on at about the same time, such as: It's About Time which was mostly a sit-com that took place when time travelers got stuck in 'caveman days'. This also ran 66/67 for 26 episodes. So that would have been when I was about 12 years old. I think there are earlier influences, like certain episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. I'm pretty sure I remember "The Last Flight" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734651/?... which would have been when I was six in 1960, as well as a year later: "The Odyssey of Flight 33" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734668/?.... A few years later, there was a very gripping story on The Outer Limits that introduced me to the concept of the actions of a time-traveler changing the future: "The Man Who Was Never Born" (October 1963). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667842/?.... I also remember being scared spitless (PG Blog rating) of the Morlocks when I saw The Time Machine on TV. The theater release date was 1960, so I'm not sure when it would have been on TV.
So, somehow, my innate interest in Sci-Fi brought all these concepts into my life at an early age. It seems like I've Always known about Time-Travel. And so, gentle reader, I've finally traveled far enough into my future to start writing my own tales.
I hope you've enjoyed this installment of my ramblings about Time and Time-Travel. But before I go, I'd like to Cher one more thing:
♪♫♪ If I could turn back time ♪♫♪
♫♪♫ If I could find a way.... ♫♪♫
Time Will Tell
Author Les Lynam randomly writes bits of info that may or may not relate to the Time Will Tell series.
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