The Big List of Time Travel Adventures

 2002

   “Tachycardia”
by Paul Park
First publication: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jan 2002

A retired widower travels back to his son’s death during an operation in which his heart is momentarily stopped.

 “Geoffrey,” I tried to say. He wasn’t looking at me. He was staring through the bars of his cage, his arms as thin as the sticks of bamboo, as they had been toward the end. 




   The Fairly Odd Parents
created by Butch Hartman
First time travel: 26 Jan 2002

Young Timmy Turner has two fairly odd fairy parents who can grant wishes, but are always creating problems for Timmy to fix, including at least twice when he had to wish himself back in time: to the old west (“Old, Old West”) and to a pirate ship (“Odd Pirates”).

 Safety’s for yellow bellies. 

—Timmy’s dad in “Odd, Odd West”




   Donnie Darko
by Richard Kelly (Kelly, director)
First release: 30 Jan 2002

For me, this cultish movie about a schizophrenic teenager presented a shallow understanding of both schizophrenia and time travel.

 I have reached the end of your book and there are so many things that I need to ask you. Sometimes I’m afraid of what you might tell me. Sometimes I’m afraid that you’ll tell me that this is not a work of fiction. I can only hope that the answers will come to me in my sleep. I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to. 




   “Veritas”
by Robert Reed
First publication: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Feb 2002

Jonathon Colfax, Emperor of the Roman Empire, tells the story of his travel back from the 21st century and the intrigues of his rise to power.

Robert Reed is my favorite prolific short story author from around the turn of the millennium.

 What we should do is gather up a group of people, and train them, and then travel back in time and conquer the Roman Empire. 


   “Ransom”
by Albert E. Cowdrey
First publication: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Mar 2002

Maks Hamilton, time-travel agent who lives centuries after the troubled times, must travel back to just before the disasters to kidnap a boy.

Albert E. Cowdrey is another of my favorite turn-of-the-millennium short story writers.

 I’ve got a sense of justice. It amused me to kidnap the son of the man who kidnapped me. 




   DC’s The Time Machine
adapted by John Logan and Mike Collins
First publication: Mar 2002

Nicely done, giveaway comic with a 10-page teaser for the movie on slick paper.

 Will Mara be rescued? Will Alexander recover the time machine? Will he ever prevent Emma’s death and return to 1903? For the answers, see “The Time Machine”—opening March 8—only in theaters! 




   Tomorrow Man
aka Time Shifters
by Doug Campbell (Campbell, director)
First release: 5 Mar 2002

Bryon, a murderer in the present day, steals a time-travel device from a cop in a secret government program so that he can go back to rescue his ten-year-old self from an abusive father. The kidnap plan succeeds, but the father gloms onto the pursuing cop as she returns to the future, and together they chase after Byron (old) and Byron (young) with lots of gunfights.

 He’s kidnapped himself, his younger self. If’s difficult to understand, but crap like this happens. 




   Simon Wells’s The Time Machine
adapted by John Logan (Simon Wells, director)
First release: 8 Mar 2002

This version (definitely not your grandfather’s time machine) has imaginative settings, but for me, the refactored plot was all dramatic music and no substance.

 You built your time machine because of Emma’s death. If she had lived, it would never have existed. So how could you use your machine to go back in time and save her? You are the inescapable result of your tragedy, just as I am the inescapable result of you. You have your answer. Now go. 




   Dust
by Milcho Manchevski (Manchevski, director)
First release: 5 Apr 2002

A reliable source (well, TV Guide) told me this would be a thought-provoking time-travel Western. I can affirm that the first of those double-barreled adjectives is inaccurate; it’s harder to tell about the second, even after surviving the incomprehensible story of two brothers in the old west (and Macedonia), a mean-spirited woman in the present, and a black dude who may have had his thumbs broken by crooked present-day police (or possibly he broke them at the Alamo).

 Edge: What’s you gonna do with this stupid story anyway?
Angela: You’ll see at the end.
Michael: Only if you survive that long. 




   The Chronology Protection Case (Movie)
adapted by Jay Kensinger (Kensinger, director)
First released: 20 Apr 2002

Stilted acting and hokey science, but still an enjoyable, low-budget adaptation with a believable version of D’Amato.

 Everything is related to each other on some level, and people have discovered that the deeper you go, the more you find that totally different things are made of the same thing. 


   “Hot Tip”
by Billy Bruce Winkles
First publication: Analog, May 2002

Obscure physicist John Suttle receives a phone call from the future with information about his eventual fate.

 As I said, I’m calling you from the twenty-fifth century. I am also a physicist. In fact, I’m the leader of a research group that’s studying space-time contortion phenomena. Recently, we discovered a way to make phone calls into the past. 




   Felicity
created by J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves
First time travel: 1 May 2002

High school senior Felicity Porter follows Ben to college in New York and mopes around him for four years before he cheats on her, so (in the final five episodes of the series) her friend Meghan casts a spell to send her back in time where she can be with Noel who’s always had a crush on her although now he’s not quite so certain, after all there is that Hannah girl.

 Next time be a more responsible time traveler. 

—Meghan to Felicity




   “When Bertie Met Mary”
by John Morressy
First publication: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jun 2002

A time traveler seeks Dr. Frankenstein.

 The time traveler—for so I must call him—emerged from his laboratory with a small wooden box cradled in his hands. 




   Odyssey 5
created by Manny Coto
First time travel: 21 Jun 2002

Five shuttle astronauts in orbit watch the mysterious destruction of the Earth, after which an alien offers to send their consciousnesses back in time five years to solve the mystery and save the earth. For me, it was the melodramatic music, weak scientific concepts and weaker dialog that fated this show to one season, although they did take on some interesting questions about how the crew’s actionsmay alter time.

 I . . . have it in my power . . . to project you back. 




   Austin Powers in Goldmember
by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers (Jay Roach, director)
First released: 26 Jul 2002

When the Austin Power’s father is kidnapped and taken to 1975 by the evil Goldmember, the famous spy must follow in the Pimpmobile.

 Powers: Where’s Goldmember?!
Dr. Evil: Not where, Mr. Powers—when! 


1st edition

2nd edition

3rd edition

   Graphic Classics: H.G. Wells
by Nicola Cuti, Antonella Caputo, Seth Frail and Craig Wilson
First publication: Graphic Classics 3 (1st Edition), Aug 2002

Eureka publishers have released a series of Graphic Classics trade paperbacks, each issue of which collects together comic book versions of stories, usually from a single classic author such as Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, Jack London, and more. And, yes, the series includes an H.G. Wells issue (#3) which has undergone three editions, each of which has presented new black and white Time Machine material.

My favorite is the Wilson version (3rd edition), which has a steampunkish Eerie Comics feel and an extended stand-alone version with ten additional pages. My
  1. 1st edition (Aug 2002) A Time Machine Portfolio by Nicola Cuti
  2. 2nd edition (Apr 2005) The Time Machine by Antonella Caputo and Seth Frail
  3. Stand-alone (Jun 2013) The Time Machine by Caputo and Craig Wilson
  4. 3rd edition (Feb 2014) The Time Machine by Caputo and Craig Wilson

 I cannot help but wonder. Will he return? It may be he was swept back into the past. Or did he go forward into one of the nearer ages, when men are still men, but with the wearisome problems of our own age solved? I may never know. 

—from Caputo’s adaptation




   “Time and Again”
by Betsy Gallup
First publication: Revolution SF, 8 Aug 2002

Some years after Cassie has given up her career to be a full-time mom, it occurs to her that she might use the beta version of her mother’s invention, the Redux 3000, to make life a little different.

 Her mom had spent a lifetime researching time travel and The Redux bracelet was the result. Cassie was one of several test subjects asked to test the new technology. 




   Megas XLR
created by Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic
First publication: 23 Aug 2002

In the pilot show (called “Lowbrow” and aired on a Cartoon Network Weekend Summerfest), two video-game gearheads (Coop and Jamie) find a time-traveling robot in a junkyard and trick him out with a new engine, some new body work, a 671 jimmy huffer, and an eight-ball gear shift before realizing that they (along with the redhead, Kiva, from the future) must now protect present-day Earth from the evil aliens who enslaved the planet in the future and are now tracking the Megas back through time.

After the pilot, the Cartoon Network picked up the show for 26 new episodes.

 Listen! We need Megas to avert an alien invasion in the far future. He wasn’t meant to be a toy for a prehistoric yahoo and his pet monkey thing! 




   ¡Mucha Lucha!
created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin
First time travel: 31 Aug 2002

Just one time-travel episode (“Woulda Coulda Hasbeena”) in this forgetable series when the three kids’ teacher heads back to the land-of-disco to right-a-wrong in his past, and the kids follow.

 Traveling back in time to change the outcome of a wresting match is so against the code of Mas Wrestling that it will rip our world apart at the seams! 


   “Posterity”
by Christopher Evans
First publication: Interzone, Sep 2002

A cynical innkeeper for time travelers whines.



   The Twilight Zone (3rd Series)
created by Rod Serling
First time travel: 2 Oct 2002

One season with 4 time-travel episodes.
  1. Cradle of Darkness (2 Oct 2002)    to kill baby Hitler
  2. Found and Lost (27 Nov 2002) relive your past
  3. Rewind (5 Feb 2003) short time ago
  4. Memphis (26 Feb 2003) MLK in 1968

 I reminded them that Adolph Hitler was responsible for the deaths of 60 million people. 




   Do Over
created by Kenny Schwartz and Rick Wiener
First episode: 19 Sep 2002

Thirty-something Joel Larsen, disappointed in his life, finds himself back in 9th grade with a chance to do things over again.

 That, young time traveler, is your first kiss. 




   The Chronology Protection Case (Radio)
adapted by Mark Shanahan, Paul Levinson and Jay Kensinger
First aired: Fall 2002

An enjoyable script based on the short story of the same name.

 But if you come across something you know to be true, one thing is certain: you can never go back to not knowing. 


   “At Dorado”
by Geoffrey A. Landis
First publication: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Oct/Nov 2002

Cheena’s husband comes back to the port around the wormhole—dead, though the death is in the future, and she doesn’t bother to tell him.

 The wormholes were the port’s very reason for existing, the center of Cheena’s universe. 




   “The Time Telephone”
by Adam Roberts
First publication: Infinity Plus, Oct 2002

A pregnant woman calls her future daughter at age sixteen (at a cost of nearly 18,000 euros) to find out whether the daughter was glad she was born—and she’s not the only one calling into the past.

 This is a call from the past, my darling. 




   Time Changer
by Rich Christiano (Christiano, director)
First release: 25 Oct 2002

Nineteenth-century biblical scholar Russell Carlisle is sent forward 100 years to see what the world will become of people’s morals if they are allowed to accept or reject Christianity willie-nillie.

 Stop the movie! You must stop this movie! The man on the screen just blasphemed the name of the lord! 




  Time Traders #7
Atlantis Endgame
by Andre Norton and Sherwood Smith
First publication: SFBC Time Traders III, Nov 2002

When one of Eveleen Riordan’s earrings is found on the island that once was Atlantis, she and her hubby Ross Murdock (plus Gordon Ashe, a few Russians, and a new agent or two) must investigate—and of course, clash with the Baldies.

 I put the variables together, wondering if you might be part of the equation, and last winter when I uncovered that earring in a place that had been sealed under volcanic ash since 1628 B.C. and saw that modern jeweler’s mark, I decided that maybe it was time to try again to dig you up. 




   Frasier
created by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee
First time travel: 19 Nov 2002

Under the influence of sedatives, Niles wonders whether a hospital has memories, a question that's answered as he is wheeled into the operating room. I suppose the scenes could just be flashbacks or even hospital memories, but the final scene in “Rooms with a View” (Season 10, Episode 8) might well be time travel.

 All these big dramatic moments, and the hospital just gobbles them up. Do you think a hospital has memories? 


   “Walk to the Full Moon”
by Sean McMullen
First publication: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Dec 2002

Undergraduate linguist Carlos helps his uncle try to understand a pre-neanderthal girl who has appeared in present-day Spain.

 On a monitor screen was a girl in a walled garden. Crouching in a corner, she had a fearful, hunted look about her. I could see that she wore a blanket, that her skin was olive-brown, and that her features were bold and heavy. Oddly enough, it took a while for me to notice the most remarkable about her: she had no forehead! 




   Das Jesus Video
English title: Ancient Relic (translated from German)
aka The Hunt for the Hidden Relic
adapted by Martin Ritzenhoff and Sebastian Niemann (Niemann, director)
First aired: 5 Dec 2002 (made-for-tv)

Stephen Vogt, an archaeology student, uncovers a 2000-year-old skeleton and the man’s notes purporting to have taken a video of Jesus Christ on a camera that doesn’t yet exist. The result is a 3-hour blood-filled, melodramatic chase that, for me, detracted from the more interesting religious questions that the premise might have addressed.

The two-part German tv movie was based on the book Jesus Video by Andreas Eschbach with some significant changes to the ending. It was released in the US with a quality English dubbing in 2006.

 Gentlemen, sleep well tonight. And don’t forget that we are scientists and not science fiction writers. 




   “Time Loop”
by Sam Hughes
First publication: qntm.org, 14 Dec 2002

I first encountered Sam Hughes while desperately trying to figure out the ending to the remake of Planet of the Apes; in addition to excellent speculation on that count, he had this short-short story about a time loop (later made into a fun youtube video by Andrew Hookway).

 I am your future self, and I just traveled back in time to meet you. 



Romance Time Travel of 2002
Bodice rips are a more workaday mode of time travel than time ships.
  MacKendimen 3: Once Forbidden by Terry Brisbin

  George & the Virgin by Lisa Cach

  Time after Time 3: Wild Highland Rose by Dee Davis

  Highlander 5: The Dark Highlander by Karen Marie Moning




No Time Travel. Move along.
  Eternal Gangstas by D.A. Jackson [reincarnation ]

  “Time Bleeds” by Andrew Humphrey, Open the Box and Other Stories, Feb 2002 [despite title, no time travel ]

  Minority Report by Scott Frank and Jon Cohen, 21 Jun 2002 [precognition ]

  “Some Other Time” by Ray Vukcevich, Sci Fiction, 17 Jul 2002 [despite title, no time travel ]

  “The Whisper of Discs” by John Meaney, Interzone, Oct 2002 [despite appearances, no time travel ]

  “The Trinity Paradox” by R.A. Jetter, Thirteen Stories, Dec 2002 [differing time rates ]

 

41 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)