At some point I want my NaNoWriMo time travel book to acknowledge or reference every major time travel story and/or trope out there.
I don't want to shovel in exhaustive lists of names; I could cut and paste from Wikipedia for that. But I'd like to make sure I hit all the biggies, with maybe a few sly hints tucked in.
Setup: Desperate soldiers, scientists and survivors are traveling through time to kill the grandfather of the world's most horrible despot. Problem is, the story is told from the POV of the grandfather in question, and he's getting a little peeved about it.
He and his friends -- he's in high school when the attacks begin -- know time travel is possible. His friends call him McFly and "Future Boy," talk about the Terminator movie, etc. And there will be many more references. "A Sound of Thunder" will trouble my protagonist considerably, for example.
But I also want to use shoutouts for character names and other references. Already I have characters named for Bill and Ted, one for the protagonist in Heinlein's "By His Bootstraps," and even a little white dog named Peabody.
I wouldn't use Wells as a name, for example, but a character might think it was funny to name a pet "Weena." Suggestions?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Maybe a reference to one of the time travelers' wife.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Lest Darkness Fall certainly deserves a reference, as does A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Babylon 5 with Valen, some humpback whales, and maybe someone's mother at Roswell
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
One of the characters should have one blue eye and one green one.
Posted by 0Megabyte (Member # 8624) on :
How about a classmate named Peggy Sue?
Posted by Aris Katsaris (Member # 4596) on :
Or another called Sarah Jane? :-)
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Someone, somewhere, needs to ask why no one is bothering to save the whales. Perhaps one failed assassin goes around feeling everyone's skulls to see if they match the one he's carrying with him. They probably also need to use "quantum foam" for something. "Billy Trout" should make an appearance, looking confused and out of place; you could kill two birds with one stone by making him a zombie. And you may want to make a reference to playing Scrabble or cleaning telephones for a living.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
quote:Originally posted by Aris Katsaris: Or another called Sarah Jane? :-)
Or make reference to his having another grandchild--a granddaughter named Susan.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Someone might need to mention that bowties (or fezzes!) are cool.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
There should also be a necklace from Baghdad.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
*grin* Good one, Rivka.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Nice!
And Tom, I think I need to have you stashed under my desk somewhere, feeding me ideas...
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
1.7 JIGGAWATTS!!!
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: *grin* Good one, Rivka.
Thank you.
I adore that novella. I've been pondering since last night what element from it would be good.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
And from a completely different world: There should be a tapestry on a wall, featuring flaming dragons.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
A Japanese transfer student from Nishinomiya Japan?
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Oh and feature news about how the JSDFS Mirai has dissappeared mysteriously, and maybe work into a reference to 'maybe one day cell phones can tell the future as some kind of diary but that could never happen'.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Maybe some singing about the year 105105 http://vimeo.com/13762513 Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
Something from Futurama, but I can't remember Fry's missing brainwave (from being his own grandfather). Or any of the millions of things that Bender stole from the past.
Romance readers might appreciate an Outlanders reference but I can't think of any reference (read it 5 years ago and didn't read the rest of the series).
Butterfly Effect Hot tub time machine (haven't seen, but has time travel I assume) Prince of Persia Time Cop with Van damme Timeline (Micheal Chrichton) Pastwatch (OSC) Time Bandits Star Trek TNG has a few episodes- the end one with Q comes to mind and the Traveler character who moves through time- didn't one of the other series time travel to the past and see the Tribbles Seven Days (tv show where they can travel 7 days into past). Quantum Leap (Sam, Al, Ziggy) X-men has several time traveling stories- the big guy comes back to change thing. For cheese factor- Cinderella III a twist in time- sitting through that movie is a bit like torture Lost references? Sailor Moon (the little pink girl)
That about exhausts my brain for now, thoguh I am sure I am missing a bunch.
Posted by Shawshank (Member # 8453) on :
Probably the most well-known examples from the Star Trek universe are: The Voyage Home (to save the whales); First Contact (to make.. First Contact); and also the Next Generation episode Yesterday's Enterprise, which was always considered one of the best episodes of the show.
You could have a flying train time machine.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
Here is a fairly long list, though by no means complete. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
[nitpick] The Traveler moved through space at faster-than-warp speeds, but I don't recall him moving through time, per se.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
I remember very little of the Traveler to be honest- just his existence and he eventually takes Wesley away. Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
How about Hermione's time turner?
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Ooh, hadn't thought about the X-Men "Days of Future Past" story. My geekish characters would definitely have used that as a reference.
In appreciation -- or possibly as punishment -- here's an excerpt from shortly after my main character, Mitch, the will-be-grandfather in question. learns to deal with constant time traveling assassins. Setup: people keep appearing, killing him, and then disappearing along with their efforts. After each time Mitch "resets" to his state before they arrived, but remembers what happened, which you would think would be a little disconcerting if you weren't an exceptionally self-absorbed teenager...
quote:It was amazing what you could get used to. Mitch's murders were coming almost daily, now. At first he was worried that other people would remember the way Ted had, or notice him twitching from the reset. But gradually he learned that no one else noticed the assaults -- or remembered noticing, anyway -- as long as they weren't looking directly at the time dudes (or, occasionally, dudettes), when it happened, and repetition helped him reduce his own reactions until he could be cut down in midstride and never lose a step. He even started doing what he could to make his own assassinations easier and speed things along. When gunmen threatened, Mitch would turn slightly toward them, blocking them from the view of other students and providing a better target.
He even offered helpful advice, especially when they aimed at his face (he'd found that stung more than chest shots). "Center of mass, soldier!" he'd yell, holding his arms wide and pointing to his own body.
He found he preferred having his throat slit to being stabbed, especially if the stabber insisted on twisting the knife on the way out, and he had nothing but contempt for an assassin with a dull blade. Killers with swords found him turning to maximize their thrust or tilting his head to make decapitation easy and convenient for both of them. Mitch began to see it as his way of being polite, like good customer service.
Garottes just sucked.
Once he even got to throw himself on a grenade and save the girls' volleyball team, which was deeply satisfying even though they went back to ignoring him seconds later, his heroic valor and personal sacrifice lost to time.
It became a game, of sorts. Could he spot the killer before the killer spotted him? He'd still be wiped out either way, of course, but there was no reason he couldn't enjoy himself. Sneaking up on a sniper and beeping his nose, and the subsequent look on the guy's face, was totally worth getting his head blown off, in Mitch's opinion.
The relative harmlessness will not continue, by the way.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
If you're going with resets, there are a number of time loop stories that might be specially applicable. TNG's "Cause and Effect" (the Enterprise keeps blowing up), Stargate SG1's "Windows of Opportunity" (playing golf through the wormhole, Teal'c being slammed in the face every reset), the X-Files (leaking waterbed).
Edit: One way of referencing them is to slightly change the appearance of the reset each time as homages, but leave the mechanics of it the same. The main character could for example (taking the above examples), reset while watching a rerun of Frasier, fall through a mysteriously glowing circular kiddie pool, fall asleep in a waterbed, or have a sandstorm blow through.
[ November 19, 2010, 01:24 PM: Message edited by: Mucus ]
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
I suspect I'll be coming back to various groups of references. Act One has him in high school (circa 1986), where the attacks began as he first meets his future wife. Act Two is ten years later, when he meets her again after consciously avoiding her to make the attacks stop. And Act Three is current day, when he discovers their kid is about to have a kid and kick the whole thing off.
Thanks everyone, for the suggestions!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
You should also get a penny from 1979.
Or is that too obscure? -----
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: 1.7 JIGGAWATTS!!!
You mean 1.21 Gigawatts.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Chris, I love the excerpt. I look forward to reading the finished product. (You ARE going to share it, right?)
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
BB- is penny to pay for dinner at the restaurant at the end of the universe?
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Rivka - one way or another I'll get this out there. So far I'm happier with this than any of my previous NaNoWriMo novels and I definitely want to see it through, even if it's only to post online.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by scholarette: BB- is penny to pay for dinner at the restaurant at the end of the universe?
Nah, it's the penny that brought Christopher Reeves accidentally back to his own time from Somewhere In Time.
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
A photo of your main character from 30 years previous as a new recruit in the Dharma Initiative.
Or perhaps a reference to Richard's / Locke's compass, which was never actually created.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by scholarette: I remember very little of the Traveler to be honest- just his existence and he eventually takes Wesley away.
Actually, he brings Westley back for an episode.
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
Since Mitch is repeatedly killed with bladed objects a reference to the Shrike could be worked in.
EDIT - and the excerpt was greatly amusing. Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
I can't believe no ones mentioned The Doctor.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
The statue of liberty should show up somewhere.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
Galaxy Quest may not be famous enough, but the Omega 13 was a reset button so it ties in particularly well.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Hmmm... the trouble with names I come up with is that they are probably too obscure.
I personally favor "William Ashbless" from "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers.
"Tony Newman" from "The Time Tunnel"?
Anyone mentioned Peggy Sue?
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
There was an episode of MacGyver where he sorta went back in time (I remember an old Swiss army knife)
The Voyagers (Phineas Bogg and Jeffrey Jones, traveling device was called an Omni)
The End of Eternity (Asimov)
Enchantment (OSC)
Time Scout series (Asprin, Evans) might not be well enough known
...
I'ma keep thinking. This is fun. Maybe I'll think of some more and post them yesterday.
[Edit] Tru Calling?
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: I can't believe no ones mentioned The Doctor.
Sarah Jane and granddaughter Susan are Daughter Who references, and the cool bowtie thing I thought was a Dr. Who reference as well.
How about Flight of the Navigator?
Posted by kwsni (Member # 1831) on :
Farscape has a time-loop episode, too, and one where Crighton meets his younger self.
For Who references, I love The Oncoming Storm. As if Daleks could be that poetic.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
They actually fairly are poetic.
Posted by capaxinfiniti (Member # 12181) on :
look it up on wikipedia for the premise if you havent seen the movie. i though it was an interesting and original take on the time travel genre.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Time travel references everywhere! Tonight's Futurama Xmas special opener:
"Attention Time Travelers! Only 331 days until last Christmas"
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
What can I add to this great list?
Merlin travels backwards in time, so perhaps he stopped by on his way to Camelot?
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
Speaking of Merlin, and someone's already mentioned the Shrike, but perhaps a reference to Merlin's Sickness, as described in 'The Scholar's Tale' in Hyperion (hatrack won't let me link to the wiki page, the URL contains parens):
quote: The Scholar's Tale: "The River Lethe's Taste is Bitter" The pilgrims' voyage aboard the Benares ends at Edge, on the edge of the dangerous and vast Sea of Grass. The windwagon they are scheduled to take across the Sea is late, but it does arrive. Soon the pilgrims leave aboard it. After dinner, it is Sol Weintraub, the Jewish academic, who tells his story.
Sol Weintraub had been a professor of ethics on Barnard's World, the second colony founded from Old Earth. He and his wife, Sarai, had been happy; they had been even more happy when their only daughter, Rachel, was born. Rachel was the apple of their eye, beautiful and intelligent. She eventually became an archæologist, and while in her post-graduate studies went on an expedition to study the Time Tombs of Hyperion.
While mapping the so-called Sphinx for hidden passages or rooms, something happens to Rachel: all the instruments and equipment fail, and the Shrike appears in the Sphinx amidst a massive surge of "anti-entropic fields". (This incident is never clearly explained, although the second John Keats cybrid remarks on page 494 of The Fall of Hyperion that there were "several Sphinxes visible to my expanded sight: the anti-entropic tomb carrying its Shrike cargo back in time like some sealed container with its deadly bacillus, the active, unstable Sphinx which contaminated Rachel Weintraub in its initial efforts to open a portal through time, and the Sphinx which has opened and is moving forward through time again.").
Rachel is returned to the WorldWeb where her parents learn of the novel disease she has contracted, dubbed the "Merlin sickness" (after T.H. White's The Once and Future King), in which every time Rachel goes to sleep, she ages backwards two days (for a net loss of one day), losing her memories and in fact physically becoming younger; there is no sign that the condition will reverse itself when she ages backwards to her birth. Rachel's life is shattered by her slow retrogression into the past, shattering her links with the present; her parents devote their lives to caring for Rachel and trying to cure her. Meanwhile, Sol wrestles with his dreams, in which he is ordered to go to Hyperion and sacrifice Rachel, in a replay of the Binding of Isaac. Weintraub becomes increasingly fascinated with the ethical problem that the Binding presents.
As Rachel becomes younger, the Weintraubs resort to subterfuge to accommodate Rachel's beliefs as to when in time she is. Press coverage eventually forces them to flee to the Hebrew desert planet Hebron. While on a vacation home, Sarai dies. Sol begins worrying about what will happen when Rachel reaches her birthday, and begins a PR campaign to force the Shrike Church to allow him and Rachel to take the pilgrimage and implore the Shrike for a cure. The permission is granted literally bare weeks before Rachel's day of birth. The voyage arrested the condition, but nevertheless, time is short for Sol and Rachel.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
From comic books, there's Rip Hunter: Time Master. There have been many variations of the character, but in the one that was popular when I was a kid, the deal was you could never travel through time the same way twice. So they were constantly having to re-invent time travel at the same time as they were traveling through time. But Rip Hunter actually comes to my mind first when I think Time Travel. If you have geek characters a Rip Hunter reference seems obvious.
There's also a guy called Waverider whose schtick is that he can see the future of anyone he touches, by actually traveling through thier lives as an observer. Sort of Scrooge meets Quantum Leap. I really dug him, and loved he alternate future stories he led to, but he might be kind of obscure for a shout-out.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
![[Smile]](smile.gif)