The Big List of Time Travel Adventures

 1966

my 1970 paperback copy

   October the First Is Too Late
by Fred Hoyle
First publication: 1966

Dick, a composer, and his boyhood friend John, now an eminent scientist, find themselves in a patchwork world of different times from classical Greece to a far future that humanity barely survives.

My favorable rating is no-doubt reflective of the time when I read it (the summer of 1970, nearly 14, moving from Washington State to Alabama). Perhaps the fiction doesn’t hold up as well for me in 2015 Colorado, but the issues of time still interest me as does the idea that different parts of different times were copied and patchworked together. And, similar to Asimov, Hoyle served to cultivate my interest in the natural sciences.

 To the Reader: The “science” in this book is mostly scaffolding for the story, story-telling in the traditional sense. However, the discussions of the significance of time and the meaning of consciousness are intended to be quite serious, as also are the contents of chapter fourteen. 

—Hoyle’s preface




   Tunnel Through Time
by Lester del Rey
First publication: May 1966

When Bob Miller’s dad invents a time machine and sends Doc Tom gets trapped in the time of the dinosaurs, there’s only one possible solution: send a pair of 17-year-olds (including Bob) back on a rescue mission!

This was the first book that I got through the Scholastic Book Club when we moved to Bellevue in 1968. Each month, the club would give you a flier where you ticked off the books that you wanted, and the next month the books would magically show up at school!

 But they’d overlooked someone. Me. Somehow, by hook or crook, I was going to make that trip, too. Doc Tom wasn’t the only one who liked dinos! 








   Bewitched
created by Sidney Sheldon
First time travel: 26 May 1966

Eight seasons with at least 19 time-travel episodes, all with the enchanting Samantha. (I had a scheme to become the third Darrin.)
  1. What Every Young Man Should Know (26 May 1966) courtship days
  2. A Most Unusual Wood Nymph (13 Oct 1966) to 1300s
  3. My Friend Ben (8 Dec 1966) Ben Franklin
  4. Samantha for the Defense (15 Dec 1966) more Ben
  5. Aunt Clara’s Victoria Victory (9 Mar 1967) Queen Victoria
  6. Bewitched, Bothered, and Infuriated (13 Apr 1967) back a few minutes
  7. Samantha’s Thanksgiving to Remember (23 Nov 1967) to 1620
  8. Samantha’s Da Vinci Dilemma (28 Dec 1967) Da Vinci
  9. Samantha Goes South for a Spell (3 Oct 1968) to 1868
  10. Samantha’s French Pastry (14 Nov 1968) Napoleon
  11. The Battle of Burning Oak (13 Mar 1969) back a few minutes
  12. Samantha’s Caesar Salad (2 Oct 1969) Julius Ceasar
  13. Samantha’s Hot Bedwarmer (8 Oct 1970) 1600 Salem
  14. Paul Revere Rides Again (29 Oct 1970) Paul Revere
  15. Samantha’s Old Salem Trip (12 Nov 1970) 1600 Salem
  16. The Return of Darrin the Bold (4 Feb 1971) to 1300s
  17. How to Not Lose Your Head I/II (15/22 Sep 1971) Henry VIII
  18. George Washington Zapped Here I/II (19/26 Feb 1972)    George Washington

 Oh, my stars! 




   Warren Comics (Anthologies)
published by James Warren
First time travel: Creepy 9, Jun 1966

In the late 1960s, these horror comics were a little risqué for a young teen. After all, they were the size of a magazine, printed in black-and-white, were sold next to Playboy in the 7-11, and just for your teenaged-boy mind, they featured scantily clad, buxom women. I have only one issue that I actually managed to hang on to (Vampirella 13 from 1970), but I surreptitiously soaked up many other issues of Creepy and Eerie with fabulous covers by Frazetta and Krenkel. The earliest Eerie time travel that I’ve found so far was an adaptation of Robert Bloch’s story “The Past Master” in Eerie 12; and Creepy 9 had an (original?) Alex Toth (who adapted The Time Machine for George Pal) story called “Out of Time” in June 1966.

 Be silent . . . there is little time! From the pages of the great black book came the incantation that has drawn you from the future. 

—“Out of Time”, Creepy 9




   “Divine Madness”
by Roger Zelazny
First publication: Magazine of Horror, Summer 1966

A man has seizures that reverse small portions of his life that he must then relive.

 The door slammed open. 




   “The Man from When”
by Dannie Plachta
First publication: If, Jul 1966

A man goes to investigate an explosion and finds a time traveler.

 A calculated risk, but I proved my point. In spite of everything, I still think it was worth it. 




   “Behold the Man”
by Michael Moorcock
First publication: New Worlds, Sep 1966

The first version of this story that I read was the 24-page graphic adaptation scripted by Doug Moench and illustrated by Alex Nino in final issue of my favorite comic magazine of 1975, the short-lived Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction. In the complex story, Karl Glogauer travels back to 28 A.D. hoping to meet Jesus, but none of the historical figures he meets are whom he expected.

 The Time Machine is a sphere full of milky fluid in which the traveler floats enclosed in a rubber suit, breathing through a hose leading into the wall of the machine. 

—from the graphic adaptation




   The Time Tunnel
created by Irwin Allen
First episode: 9 Sep 1966

When the senate threatens to cut off funding for Project Tic-Toc, Tony Newman and Doug Phillips set out to prove that the project is viable, but instead they are trapped moving from one past time (perhaps the Titanic!) to another (could be the first manned mission to Mars) each week.

 He could be living in yesterday or next week or a million years from now. 




   It’s About Time
created by Sherwood Schwartz
First episode: 11 Sep 1966

Astronauts Gilligan and the Skipper Mac and Hector get thrown from the space age to the stone age, complete with Tyrannosaurus Rex, English-speaking cavemen, a beautiful cavewoman (Imogene Coca) and the requisite hyjinx. Partway through the first season, the cavepeople came to modern-day New York.

During my 2012 visit to Bellevue, my college roommate Paul Eisenbrey reminded me of this show from our childhood.

 It’s about time, it’s about space, about two men in the strangest place. 




   Star Trek
created by Gene Roddenberry
First time travel: 29 Sep 1966

There once was a Captain named Kirk
Who was known near and far as a flirt
Into hearts his show grew to
Undoubtedly due to
McCoy and that pointy-eared jerk
  —Michael Main, 1973
Gene Roddenberry is the most famous person that I’ve ever met. In 1975 he came to Pullman and I wangled the job of interviewing him for The Daily Evergreen. I didn’t know what to expect from a famous person, and was thrilled to find him friendly and interested in what I was studying at WSU (journalism at that time). Is this a good place to post my Star Trek limerick (from the fanzine, Free Fall, that Paul Chadwick, Dan Dorman and I published in high school)?
  1. The Naked Time (29 Sep 1966) back 71 hours
  2. Tomorrow Is Yesterday (26 Jan 1967) to 1969
  3. The City on the Edge of Forever (6 Apr 1967) to the 1930s
  4. Assignment: Earth (29 Mar 1968) to 1968
  5. All Our Yesterdays (14 Mar 1969) 5000 years ago

 Peace and long life. 




   NoMan
created by Wally Wood, Len Brown and Larry Ivie
First time travel: NoMan 1, Nov 1966

NoMan, a cloaked hero with the power of invisibility, was a memeber of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, a team of superheroes first published in 1965 by Tower Comics. I didn’t read them until 1976, when I bought a black and white reprint comic, Uncanny Tales, when I was in Stirling. I don’t know whether any of the other agents time traveled, but NoMan did in both of the issues of his own comic (in Nov 1966 and Mar 1967).

 Trapped in the Past! 

—from the cover of NoMan 1




   Marvel Superhero Cartoons
First time travel: 10 Nov 1966

Admittedly, I watched Marvel cartoons on ABC Saturday morning as early as 1966, but I was never enamoured by them as I was with the comic books. I can list the first time travel in many series—including what I think is the first actual time travel of Spider-Man in any medium—but I have watched only a few.
  1. The Tomorrow Man (10 Nov 1966) Marvel Super Heroes
  2. Rama Tut (9 Dec 1967) Fantastic Four (original)
  3. Vine (16 Nov 1968) Spider-Man
  4. The FF Meet Dr. Doom (21 Oct 1978) Fantastic Four (revival)
  5. The Ghost Vikings (12 Oct 1979) Spider-Woman
  6. The Creature and the Cavegirl (30 Oct 1982) The Hulk
  7. Meets the Girl from Tomorrow (22 Oct 1983) SM and His Amazing Friends
  8. Days of Future Past (13 Mar 1993) X-Men
  9. Hulk Buster (10 Feb 1996) Iron Man
  10. The End of Eternity (16 May 1998) Silver Surfer
  11. Kang (13 Nov 1999) Avengers: United They Stand
  12. Ascension, Part 2 (25 Oct 2003) X-Men: Evolution
  13. Out of Time (15 Sep 2007) FF: World’s Greatest Heroes
  14. Future X (8 Nov 2008) [or earlier?] Wolverine and the X-Men
  15. World War Witch (30 Oct 2010) The Super Hero Squad
  16. Iron Man 2099 (6 Jun 2012) Iron Man: Armored Adventures
  17. New Avengers (25 Jun 2012) Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes  
  18. Planet Doom (8 Dec 2013) Avengers Assemble!

 Hey, listen to this! ‘This is my last entry. I have set the machine to three million B.C. The door will remain open for any who wish to follow.’ 

—“Vine”, Episode 30 of the original Spider-Man cartoon




   Space Ghost
by Lewis Marshall, et. al.
First time travel: 26 Nov 1966

Back in 1966, there was a certain excitement about the each fall’s new lineup of cartoons. Maybe it was because the networks (CBS in the case of Space Ghost) made a big deal about it, even advertising in Marvel Comics; or maybe it was because kids had relatively few choices compared with today’s cable extravaganza. Whatever the reason, I do remember anxiously anticipating the new cartoons in 1966, including Space Ghost and Dino Boy. Space Ghost traveled through time at least once, back to the time of the Vikings in “The Time Machine.”

 Spaaaaaaaaaace Ghoooooooooost! 




   The Monkees
created by Bob Rafelson and Burt Schneider
First time travel: 12 Dec 1966

I knew that if I rewatched these reruns long enough, the space-time continuum would bend. In the episode “Dance, Monkee, Dance” (12 Dec 1966), Martin Van Buren himself comes for a free dance lesson.

 ♫ I’m in love, I’m a believer, I couldn’t leave her if I tried. ♫ 




   The Wild Wild West
created by Michael Garrison
First time travel: 30 Dec 1966

Agents James T. West and Artemus Gordon (in hindsight, quite likely agents of Warehouse 12) traveled in time at least one time when they met none other than Ricardo Montalbán (aka Kahn) who plays Colonel Noel Barley Vautrain with a scheme to travel back to kill Ulysses S. Grant in “The Night of the Lord of Limbo”.

 The concept of a warp in the fabric of space, a break that could permit an object—or a group of Marco Polos if you please—to enter and go voyaging through space’s unlimited fourth dimension: time. 



No Time Travel. Move along.
  “The Evil Eye” by Alfred Gillespie, New Worlds of Fantasy, 1967 [visions of possible futures ]

  The Time Bender by Keith Laumer [parallel universes ]

  “Traveler’s Rest’” by David I. Masson, Worlds Best Science Fiction, 1966 [differing time rates ]

  “The Great Clock” by Langdon Jones, New Worlds, Mar 1966 [despite title, no time travel ]

  “Your Appointment Will Be Yesterday” by Philip K. Dick, Amazing, Aug 1966 [odd entropy ]

 

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Thanks for visiting my time-travel page, and thanks to the many sources that provided stories and more (see the Links and Credits in the menu at the top). —Michael (main@colorado.edu)