Wednesday 23 September 2015

The Time Machine And The Time Patrol

(i) HG Wells' The Time Machine is a novel about a scientist exploring the future whereas Poul Anderson's Time Patrol is a series about an organization preserving the past.

(ii) The Time Machine and the Patrol timecycles are open temporal vehicles that the traveler sits on, not in.

(iii) The Patrol message shuttles recall the Time Traveler's model Time Machine.

(iv) In both cases, time travel is technological, not magical or supernatural.

(v) Humanity devolves into Morlocks and Eloi or evolves into Danellians.

(vi) In both cases, other periods are described colorfully and vividly.

(vii) The Time Machine hints at "...curious possibilities of anachronism and of utter confusion..." (see here) whereas the Time Patrol series examines time travel paradoxes with subtlety and ingenuity.

In a completely different way, The Time Machine and The War Of The Worlds are forerunners of Doctor Who:

The Time Traveller = the Doctor;
The Time Machine = the TARDIS;
Weena = companion;
Morlocks and Eloi = Daleks and Thals;
Martians (evolved beings in tripod vehicles) = Daleks (mutated beings in protective machines);
Martians invading Earth = Daleks invading Earth.

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