Time is a-changin’

For ages, humans have dreamed of manipulating time to their advantage. The evolution of this idea has taken a long and complex course.

Though it’s impossible to pinpoint the exact beginning of time travel fantasy, a great starting place would be “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells. Written in 1895, this book popularized time travel and is where the term “time machine” originated.

The protagonist, simply known as the Time Traveller, travels through time because of the “Block Universe” theory, which states that time is the universe’s fourth dimension. The Traveller’s device is a machine that can take him to any year he desires. This book gave a simple view on time travel, since The Traveller only seeks to explore other times and his actions do not change the course of events in history in any way — even though he might wish they could.

“The Twilight Zone,” very influential in the 1960s, eroded the joy and wonder of time travel with an episode titled “The Odyssey of Flight 33.” In this episode, a pilot from the year 1961 flies his jet aircraft through a vortex where he somehow breaks the sound barrier. This relocates his jet and passengers to a random place in time.

The time travelers on the plane could not choose the time period to which they travel, turning a central tenet of time travel into a cause for paranoia. The pilot even comments that they “can’t land in 1939,” suggesting that time travel can alter the course of history. While most earlier media praised it as a wonderful idea, “The Twilight Zone” consistently presented the darker aspects of time travel.

Time travel became even more complex in the movie “Back to the Future” and its sequels. The movie showed how great an effect tampering with the past or future can have on the present. Also, like “The Twilight Zone,” it visited the dangers of being stuck in another time period. What set this time traveling experience apart was its portrayal of the good and bad aspects of time travel, combining them into one.

Worth briefly mentioning is the character Trunks from the popular anime series, “Dragonball Z.” His character traveled back in time to prevent his family and friends from being killed by androids. He explained that even if he prevents his friends from being killed in the past, his friends in the future will still be dead because the course of history can only be changed in one dimension. The series’ take on time travel is not commonly used.

Though the idea of time travel has greatly expanded, facing complex issues of physical and moral boundaries, some key ideas remain constant. Time travelers most commonly travel to the past to change some circumstance that ails their universe. Travel into the future is more often for exploration.

Now it’s the year 2010 and even a hot tub can be a vessel for time travel. It’s anyone’s guess how exploration of this fourth dimension will further evolve.