Time portal
Encyclopedia
Time portals are doorways in time
, employed in various fiction
genres, especially science fiction
and fantasy
, to transport
characters to the past
or future
.
They differ from time machine
s in being a permanent or semi-permanent fixture linking specific points in time, and thus are an especially useful plot device
when the plot involves characters moving many times back and forth.
, which allow matter to travel
from one point in time to another by passing through the portal, or may appear as an ordinary doorway.
s. In some films time portals can also be set as a hazard, for example, they can begin to go haywire which makes them accidentally transport something or someone from a different time to the present; again the most popular is a dinosaur being accidentally brought into the present world.
.
In the 1967 Star Trek
episode "The City on the Edge of Forever", a temporarily deranged Dr. Leonard McCoy
runs into a time portal, an ancient sentient stone-like ring which calls itself the Guardian of Forever, and is transported back to 1930's Depression-era Earth and history is changed as shown when the Enterprise disappears from orbit. Captain James T. Kirk
and Mr. Spock
follow through the time portal to set things right.
In the 1969 Star Trek
episode "All Our Yesterdays", Captain James T. Kirk accidentally passes through a time portal. Spock
and Dr. Leonard McCoy try to recover Kirk. All three are transported into the past of the planet Sarpeidon.
In the TV series Mirror, Mirror
and its sequel Mirror, Mirror II, the story revolves around an old mirror. At the beginning of the story it is discovered that the mirror can be used to travel back into the past
, 1919 and 1867 respectively.
In the documentary Prehistoric Park
in which Nigel Marven
activates a time portal to travel to different geologic time periods to rescue rare prehistoric species.
In the BBC
television series; Goodnight Sweetheart
, the main character; Gary Sparrow uses a time-portal to go back in time to World War II
era Britain
.
In The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End
, a time portal called The Time Gate is used by a terrorist from the year 2500 to take water from 1990 to his own time.
The Science fiction
series
Torchwood
centres most on the effects of a rift in both time and space, through which humans, aliens, and devices emerge.
In the science fiction series Primeval, a group of scientists investigate time anomalies, through which creatures travel.
series, which involves characters utilizing time portals to move through time and is intrinsic to the plotlines in the second and third installments of the series, where a character called Sergeant Cortez moves through time to complete his objective by using these portals.
Time portals are also the original mode of time travel in the SNES game Chrono Trigger
. There are quite a few of them found throughout the game and seem to be activated by the use of a "key" made by Lucca. The original portal found in the game actually occurs due to an accident that takes place at the beginning of the game involving Marle's pendent and a teleporting experiment.
Most time portals are generated via a handheld item such as a watch, or a glove. However, some time portals are such things as mirrors, or other items such as a key in the Harry Potter series. Literal portals, which are not items that you would use on a day to day basis, are also common.
"Time rips" and time travel in general are the central theme and plot engine in Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
as the titular character, Roger Wilco, is sent into the future by means of a time rip in order to save his home planet, which had already experienced a series of crises in the future time period to which he is initially sent. Throughout the game, Roger Wilco travels through different time periods in the future to complete various goals by using time-traveling vehicles called "time pods."
In the Final Fantasy XI
expansion Wings of the Goddess, grotesque statues called Cavernous Maws serve as time portals to the age of the Crystal War.
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
, employed in various fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
genres, especially science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, to transport
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
characters to the past
Past
Most generally, the past is a term used to indicate the totality of events which occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience time, and is...
or future
Future
The future is the indefinite time period after the present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the nature of the reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently exists and will exist is temporary and will come...
.
They differ from time machine
Time Machine
A time machine is a fictional/hypothetical device used to achieve time travel. The term may also refer to:-Novels and films:* The Time Machine, an 1895 novel by H. G...
s in being a permanent or semi-permanent fixture linking specific points in time, and thus are an especially useful plot device
Plot device
A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....
when the plot involves characters moving many times back and forth.
Appearance
Time portals can be represented as vortices of energyEnergy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
, which allow matter to travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
from one point in time to another by passing through the portal, or may appear as an ordinary doorway.
Film
In most films, time portals are used to take a group of people or a single person back in time. The most popular of all time travels would be traveling back to the time of the dinosaurDinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s. In some films time portals can also be set as a hazard, for example, they can begin to go haywire which makes them accidentally transport something or someone from a different time to the present; again the most popular is a dinosaur being accidentally brought into the present world.
Television
The 1966-67 series The Time TunnelThe Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran...
.
In the 1967 Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
episode "The City on the Edge of Forever", a temporarily deranged Dr. Leonard McCoy
Leonard McCoy
Leonard "Bones" McCoy is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by DeForest Kelley in the original Star Trek series, McCoy also appears in the animated Star Trek series, seven Star Trek movies, the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in numerous books,...
runs into a time portal, an ancient sentient stone-like ring which calls itself the Guardian of Forever, and is transported back to 1930's Depression-era Earth and history is changed as shown when the Enterprise disappears from orbit. Captain James T. Kirk
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...
and Mr. Spock
Spock
Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek...
follow through the time portal to set things right.
In the 1969 Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
episode "All Our Yesterdays", Captain James T. Kirk accidentally passes through a time portal. Spock
Spock
Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek...
and Dr. Leonard McCoy try to recover Kirk. All three are transported into the past of the planet Sarpeidon.
In the TV series Mirror, Mirror
Mirror, Mirror (TV series)
Mirror, Mirror is a television programme co-produced by Australia and New Zealand. Presented as a single complete story given in a serial with 20 episodes, there are cliffhangers between some of the episodes....
and its sequel Mirror, Mirror II, the story revolves around an old mirror. At the beginning of the story it is discovered that the mirror can be used to travel back into the past
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
, 1919 and 1867 respectively.
In the documentary Prehistoric Park
Prehistoric Park
Prehistoric Park is a six-episode mockumentary television mini-series that premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006. The program was produced by Impossible Pictures, who also created Walking with Dinosaurs. In 2007, ITV cancelled Prehistoric Park, but introduced the...
in which Nigel Marven
Nigel Marven
Nigel Marven is a British wildlife presenter, television producer, author, and ornithologist.-Career:Marven studied botany at Bristol University until the age of 22 when he left to begin his career at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol...
activates a time portal to travel to different geologic time periods to rescue rare prehistoric species.
In the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series; Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart is a sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the...
, the main character; Gary Sparrow uses a time-portal to go back in time to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
In The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End
The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End
The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End is an Australian children's television series created by Film Australia. The series is a sequel series to The Girl from Tomorrow....
, a time portal called The Time Gate is used by a terrorist from the year 2500 to take water from 1990 to his own time.
The Science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Torchwood
Torchwood
Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
centres most on the effects of a rift in both time and space, through which humans, aliens, and devices emerge.
In the science fiction series Primeval, a group of scientists investigate time anomalies, through which creatures travel.
Computer games
Time portals are a common element in computer games, most notably the TimesplittersTimeSplitters (series)
TimeSplitters is a series of first-person shooter video games created by Free Radical Design. The games are often compared to Rare's shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark since Free Radical Design was founded by a group of ex-Rare employees who developed these games...
series, which involves characters utilizing time portals to move through time and is intrinsic to the plotlines in the second and third installments of the series, where a character called Sergeant Cortez moves through time to complete his objective by using these portals.
Time portals are also the original mode of time travel in the SNES game Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Chrono Triggers development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, a...
. There are quite a few of them found throughout the game and seem to be activated by the use of a "key" made by Lucca. The original portal found in the game actually occurs due to an accident that takes place at the beginning of the game involving Marle's pendent and a teleporting experiment.
Most time portals are generated via a handheld item such as a watch, or a glove. However, some time portals are such things as mirrors, or other items such as a key in the Harry Potter series. Literal portals, which are not items that you would use on a day to day basis, are also common.
"Time rips" and time travel in general are the central theme and plot engine in Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and The Time Rippers was released on floppy disks on March 4, 1991, and released on CD-ROM in December 1992 with full speech support and featuring Laugh-In announcer Gary Owens as the voice of the narrator. It featured 256-color hand painted graphics and a fully...
as the titular character, Roger Wilco, is sent into the future by means of a time rip in order to save his home planet, which had already experienced a series of crises in the future time period to which he is initially sent. Throughout the game, Roger Wilco travels through different time periods in the future to complete various goals by using time-traveling vehicles called "time pods."
In the Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XI
, also known as Final Fantasy XI Online, is a MMORPG developed and published by Square as part of the Final Fantasy series. It was released in Japan on Sony's PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, and was released for Microsoft's Windows-based personal computers in November 2002...
expansion Wings of the Goddess, grotesque statues called Cavernous Maws serve as time portals to the age of the Crystal War.