The Big List of Time Travel Adventures

 1993



  Reggie Rivers #6
“The Cayuse”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Expanse, 1993

Apparently, the parasaurolophus does not play well with certain 20th century technology.



  Reggie Rivers #7
“Pliocene Romance”
aka “Miocene Romance”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Analog, Jan 1993

How would an animal rights activist view the hunting of extinct species on Reggie’s time safaris?

 But the beasts my clients hunt on these time safaris are all long extinct anyway. Ending the safaris wouldn’t bring any dinosaurs or mastodons back to life. 




   “The Battle of Long Island”
by Nancy Kress
First publication: Omni, Feb/Mar 1993

Major Susan Peters is in charge of all the nurses at “The Hole” where a series of soldiers from alternative past Revolutionary Wars keep appearing.

 They’re often like this. They find themsleves in an alien, impossible, unimaginable place, surround by guards with uniforms and weapons they don’t recognize, and yet their first concern is not their personal fate but the battle they left behind. 




   Bradbury Comics’ “A Sound of Thunder”
adapted by Richard Corben
First publication: Ray Bradbury Comics 1, Feb 1993

In addition to reprinting Williamson’s 1954 adaptation, Ray Bradbury Comics 1 had a new 12-page adaptation by Richard Corben.

 My god! It could reach up and grab the moon. 




   Groundhog Day
by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis (Ramis, director)
First release: 12 Feb 1993

A jaded weatherman, Phil Connors (no relation to John Connor), is in Punxsutawney to cover the Groundhog Day goings-on, continually repeating the day and—after losing his jaded edge—striving for Rita’s heart.

 You’re not a god. You can take my word for it: This is twelve years of Catholic school talking. 




   Army of Darkness
by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi (Sam Raimi, director)
First release: 19 Feb 1993

A Connecticut Yankee (or maybe Michigan) in King Arthur's Court meets the Living Dead and their kin.

 This is my boom-stick. It’s a 12-guage, double barreled Remington—S-mart’s top-of-the-line. You’ll find them in the Sporting Goods Department. 




   X-Men Cartoon
created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
First time travel: 13 Mar 1993

Even though the 1992 cartoon had all them new-fangled X-Men and their funky costumes, I still got some enjoyment from the Kirby-designed villians, such as the Sentinels in the two-part time-travel story, “Days of Future Past” (which, not coincidentally, will also be the name of the upcoming X-Men movie). Well, they were sort of Kirby-designed: He penciled the cover and sketched the layouts of X-Men 14.

 We rebels have a theory: If the assasination of the 90s never occurred . . . 




   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III:
Turtles in Time
adapted by Stuart Gillard (Gillard, director)
First release: 19 Mar 1993

Tim’s favorite reptiles (at age 8) moved from animated to live-action for the silver screen. For this third installment, the turtles’ human friend April swaps place with a 17th century Japanese prince, and the ninjas in a half shell head back to rescue her.

 Awesome! But do you think they had pizza back then? 




  Reggie Rivers #8
“The Mislaid Mastodon”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Analog, May 1993

Wait a minute! Didn’t Reggie lay down the law long ago that his time safaris can’t meddle in human times? So how’s he gonna bring back a Mastodon alive for his latest customer?



   “Just Like Old Times”
aka Seems Like Old Times
by Robert J. Sawyer
First publication: On Spec, Jun 1993

When serial killer Rudolph Cohen is convicted to die for his crimes, by transfering his consciousness into a previous nearly-dead being with no ability to control that being. He chooses a T. Rex. as the previous being, and it turns out that he can control it.

 We can project a human being’s consciousness back in time, superimposing his or her mind overtop of that of someone who lived in the past. 




   Glimpses
by Lewis Shiner
First publication: Jul 1993

A weak marriage isn’t enough to sustain Ray Shackleford, but he doesn’t want to leave either, so he spends time in his mind wondering what various unmade albums would be like from the Beatles and other 60s bands (the Doors, the Beach Boys), and one day the music of those unmade albums starts coming from the speakers in his stereo repair shop.

 When I opened my eyes it was nighttime and I was crouched on the sidewalk in front of Brian’s house and it wasn't 1989 anymore. 




   12:01
by Richard Lupoff, Jonathan Heap, Richard Morton (Jack Sholder, director)
First aired: 5 Jul 1993 (made-for-tv)

Trapped in a one-day time loop, Barry Thomas tries to bring down the company that’s causing the loop, hopefully coming to a happy ending with the gorgeous scientist who runs the project.

 Barry: Oh my God. It’s twelve o’clock.
Lisa: No! We’ve got to do something!
Barry: There’s no time. Quick, tell me what your favorite color is. 




   The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse
First episode: 27 Aug 1993

In a steampunk old west, gunfighter Brisco County, Jr., and his sidekick Lord Bowler are hired to track down the maniacal time-traveler John Bly who, among other things, kills the senior Brisco County and seeks a powerful Orb from the future—plenty of excitement for the 27 episodes of its one season.

At least one Brisco time traveler from 5502 appears naked a la the terminator, but (as of 2015) Harlan Ellison hasn’t sue Brisco over the time-travel requirement.

 Brisco: Are you an angel? You look like an angel.
Karina: No. I’m from the future. My name is Karina.
Brisco: And, uh, in the future you’ve kinda given up on clothes? 


   Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics and Science Fiction
by Paul J. Nahin
First publication: Sep 1993

If you have only one reference book on your shelf—on any topic—this must be it. Get the second edition.

 This is, I believe, a book for the adventurous in spirit. 




   King Arthur and the Knights of Justice
created by Jean Chalopin
First episode: 13 Sep 1993

When the real King Arthur and his knights are put out of commission by the evil Morgana, Merlin brings a football player, Arthur King, and his teammates, the Knights, back as replacements for two seasons on this syndicated series.

 And then, from the field of the future, a new king will come to save the world of the past. 


   “The Girl with Some Kind of Past.
And George.”
by William Tenn
First publication: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Oct 1993

A pretty, young time traveler from the future visits the most fascinating person she can think of in the past—that would be playboy George Rice, coincidentally her great-great-grandfather—but she won’t tell George what makes him so fascinating.

 That left the incest angle, and I asked him about that. He says that making it with your great-great-granddaughter from the twenty-first century is not much different from making it with your clothes-designer neighbor from across the hall. 




   Pinky and the Brain
created by Tom Ruegger and Steven Spielberg
First time travel: 6 Oct 1993

In their quest for world domination, the pair of gene-spliced lab mice traveled through time multiple times, both in their role as an Animaniacs guest feature and in their own series. Their jaunts include a visit to H.G. Wells and his time machine.

As with the Warners in other Animaniacs episodes, it’s not always clear whether Pinky and the Brain are traveling through time or merely acting out a drama set in a different time period. Such is life within four walls.
  1. Pavlov’s Mice, Animaniacs (6 Oct 1993)
  2. When Mice Ruled the Earth (H.G. Wells), Animaniacs (23 Oct 1993)
  3. Puppet Rulers, Animaniacs (12 Nov 1993)
  4. Don’t Tread on Us, Animaniacs (11 Nov 1995)
  5. Brain of the Future, Pinky and the Brain 8 Feb 1997)

 Greetings from a post-apocalyptic future. We have traveled back through time to bring you the answer to all of your problems. We are your future selves. 

——Brain of the Future




   Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
created by Reed Shelly, Bruce Shelly, Phil Harnage and Kent Butterworth
First time travel: 26 Oct 1993

Video game character Sonic and his sidekick Tails repeatedly foil the evil Dr. Robotnik, including a four-part quest to the past where Robotnik seeks the four all-powerful chaos emeralds in the times of Blackbeard, King Arfur, Sonic’s ancestors and prehistory.
  1. Blackbot the Pirate (26 Oct 1993) to time of Blackbeard
  2. Hedgehog of the Hound Table (27 Oct 1993)    to time of King Arfur
  3. Robotnik’s Pyramid Scheme (28 Oct 1993) erasing Sonic’s family tree
  4. Prehistoric Sonic (29 Oct 1993) to caveman times and elsewhere

 I can’t go through with this. My theories of time and space were developed for peace, not for your evil schemes. 




  Reggie Rivers #9
“The Honeymoon Dragon”
by L. Sprague de Camp
First publication: Rivers of Time, Nov 1993

Reggie Rivers must watch his back when he accepts an invitation from a journalist to track down a Megalania (kinda like a giant Komodo dragon) in the Quaternary period. This is the only new story in the 1993 Reggie Rivers Collection, Rivers of Time.



   The Silurian Tales
by Steven Utley
First story: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Nov 1993

I’ve read ten of Utley’s stories of an expedition plopped into the Silurian geologic period, the most recent of which, “The End in Eden,” tells the tale of customs agents Phil Morrow and Sal Shelton, living at the border between the Silurian period and the present, matching wits with NCIS and JAG officers over a case of possible smuggling of Paleolithic biological specimens.
  1. There and Then (Nov 1993) Asimov’s
  2. The Age of Mud and Slime (Mar 1996) Asimov’s
  3. A Silurian Tale (May 1996) Asimov’s
  4. The Wind Over the World (Oct/Nov 1996) Asimov’s
  5. The Real World (30 Aug 2000) Sci Fiction
  6. Chain of Life (Oct/Nov 2000) Asimov’s
  7. The Despoblado (22 Nov 2000) Sci Fiction
  8. Cloud by Van Gogh (Dec 2000) F&SF
  9. Half a Loaf (Jan 2001) Asimov’s
  10. Five Miles from Pavement (21 Mar 2001) Sci Fiction
  11. The World Without (Jul 2001) Asimov’s
  12. Walking in Circles (Jan 2002) Asimov’s
  13. Treading the Maze (Feb 2002) Asimov’s
  14. Foodstuff (Feb 2002) F&SF
  15. Beyond the Sea (29 Aug 2002) Revolution SF
  16. Exile (Aug 2003) Asimov’s
  17. Chaos and Gods (18 Aug 2003) Revolution SF
  18. Invisible Kingdoms (Feb 2004) F&SF
  19. Babel (Mar 2004) Analog
  20. Another Continuum Heard From! (2 Apr 2004)   Revolution SF
  21. A Paleozoic Palimpsest (Oct 2004) F&SF
  22. The Wave-Function Collapse (Mar 2005) Asimov’s
  23. Promised Land (Jul 2005) F&SF
  24. Silv’ry Moon (Oct/Nov 2005) F&SF
  25. Diluvium (May 2006) F&SF
  26. All of Creation (18 Jan 2008) Cosmos
  27. The World Within the World (Mar 2008) Asimov’s
  28. The 400-Million-Year Itch (Apr 2008) F&SF
  29. Variant (Summer 2008) Postscripts
  30. The Woman Under the World (Jul 2008) Asimov’s
  31. Slug Hell (Sep 2008) Asimov’s
  32. Lost Places of Earth (Jan 2009) in We Think, Therefore We Are
  33. The Tortoise Grows Elate (Mar/Apr 2012) F&SF
  34. The End in Eden (Oct 2012) Analog
  35. The Gift Horse (Fall 2012) in The 400-Million-Year Itch
  36. Sidestep (Spring 2013) in Invisible Kingdoms

 Where’s he going to run to? Home is four hundred million miles away. 

—The End in Eden




   Philadelphia Experiment II
by Wallace C. Bennett, Don Jakoby, et. al. (Stephen Cornwell, director)
First release: 12 Nov 1993

At the end of the first movie, David Herdeg was left in 1983 America; ten years later, another experiment sends a nuclear bombed to 1943 Germany and David must go back to stop from creating a Nazi-ruled world.

 That plane got sucked back there. Landed in the heart of Nazi Germany. 




   Goodnight Sweetheart
created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran
First episode: 18 Nov 1993

Television repairman Gary Sparrow walks into a pub and meets a friendly barmaid in London during World War II, a spot where he repeatedly returns to escape a mundane life and loving but sometimes trying wife in 1993.

 Oh, I must say you might be takin’ this 1940s theme a bit too far. 




   We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story
adaptation by John Patrick Shanley
First release: 24 Nov 1993

Based on the children’s book of the same name, Rex tells the story of how he went from the Cretaceous to the modern-day golf course. The story is weak, but the animation and voices are better than the usual 90s fare.

 Greetings friends, and welcome to my shack. My name is Captain Neweyes, and I live in the far future where all the stars and all the planets have had to learn to get along. 




   Dilbert
by Scott Adams
First time travel: 19 Dec 1993

 Make sure nothing changes because of my visit or it will kill everyone in the future. 



Romance Time Travel of 1993
Bodice rips are a more workaday mode of time travel than time ships.
  Outlander 3: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

  Tempest in Time by Eugenia Riley

  Two Hearts in Time by Eugenia Riley

  Stolen Brides 1: Forever His by Shelly Thacker




No Time Travel. Move along.
  Tomorrow Calling by Tim Leandro, 1993 [alternate timelines ]

  Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, 13 Apr 1993 [parallel stories from different times ]

  “The Four-Thousand-Year-Old Boy” by Lawrence Dyer, Interzone, Jul 1993 [immortality ]

  Muddle Earth by John Brunner, Sep 1993 [long sleep ]

  Demolition Man by Marco Brambilla, 8 Oct 1993 [long sleep ]

  Blue Flame by Cassian Elwes (Elwes, director), Dec 1993 [no definite time travel ]

 

34 items are in the time-travel list for these search settings.
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)