Time's Dart

Time is always relative, and relative time is coarse. Seems like a cheap joke, but it’s not. It’s quite serious. We’re talking NASA here.

Next to parallel universes, time travel is my fave sci-fi genre. I suppose they’re essentially the same thing -- displacement while retaining one’s identity. Or at least some of it. Moving from a static world to a fluid plane, personality intact. Highly unlikely, but potentially fun.

I recently binged the Hallmark series The Way Home. It takes place in rural Ontario where a pond grants numerous wishes. Jump in, get soaked, climb back on shore and confront your past; see your parents as teenagers, watch yourself losing your virginity, ponder what might have been.

As time travel narratives go, The Way Home is provincial. It takes place in a very specific time, which is probably the way to go. If you had access to unlimited time, how far would you take it? Me, I would go back to 1920s Hollywood and work as a gag writer, ideally writing for Keaton and Lloyd (Chaplin wrote for himself), but most likely reduced to Harry Langdon. Not so bad. Frank Capra wrote for him.

If I was lucky, I’d write for Charley Chase. Chase shot some bizarre comedies for the time, so I can see connecting to that. More likely, though, I’d end up writing for The Three Stooges. Hopefully Shemp, not Curly. If your comic protagonist can withstand endless physical punishment and still get laughs, sign me up. I’ve got plenty of material to work with.