ection. offering T2™ merchandise not available at retail: Collect the entire series. Because when — he’s through, the cards may be the only things that eurvive.TS ce aT THE SCIENCE Pai Reacher art Perera ras arte nM ad poe cate eects erie aie ae aa Pacer Reed ee are Patera erica iartos ee sited Prartaancreeecre ies ea etc ie ti perenne ree nen Fo etait Pease y Bacar ee ees eke eS i es Peace nener aera ere care cara ac a eaehahed Sore ad Perea eet Brrr aac Domo aes eae eg Een ae ea Doo ee aeons baa 14 Oe Chronological adventure is more BRE aed 16 THE GOOD, THE BAD & MCFLY ua ema! a eee ety Pee eee Bi accu ees eae eee Tied 32 DIRECTOR'S JUDGMENT Fala Ne teed Dnata ea a alg Paks ec) COMM eR aL Cee meni Pacvastee nest CORT Roe hone yeraeta ar) Into the four-color medium Ce aa ; ena ag creased Ca Lt) Baan aa Peete nee v7 Cea aT) Piper uc) Cie M ER ce Lerma tan organ teaaears Sater . daa 5 COMMUNICATIONS serene 22 FAN NETWORK Sr tld —= Poa’ Be Cee tal) town—Arnold Schwarzenegger and. Loree) Pe CuSTARLOG 12 issues/year $34.47 (Foreign: $43.47) FANGORIA 10 issues/year $24.47 (Foreign: $33.47) ___ COMICS SCENE 6 issues/ year $17.99 (Foreign: $23.99) _ GOREZONE 4 issues/year $11.99 (Foreign: $15.99) Total Enclosed: $ _ Plaatecllow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery of it lame. Foreign orders snd U.S. funds only. °F you do mot wont to eut cu! coupon, ove wl accopt written orsarkSEPTEMBER 1991 #170 Business & Editorial offices: 1475 Park avenue South, New York, NY 10016 Presiaent/Pubisher NORMAN JACOBS ‘Executive Vice Presigent RITA EISENSTEIN. Associate Publisher ‘MILBURN SMITH vp seirculation Director ‘ART SCHULKIN Creative Director WR. MOHALLEY Egitor DAVID MeDONNELL Special Efects Editor DAVID HUTCHISON. Managing Editors DANIEL DICKHOLTZ MICHAEL MERVENNIE Contributing Eaitors "ANTHONY TIMPONE MICHAEL CINGOLD Consultants LIA PELost 4, PETER ORR ‘TOM WEAVER KERRY O-QUINN ‘are Director JIM MeLERNON, restate -CALVIN LEE YWONNE JANG INEVIN WASHINGTON HOHN KELLY Senior Correspondent STEVE SWIRES ‘West coast correspondent TMARC SHAPIRO British Correspondent ‘ADAM PIRANE Canadian correspondent PETER SLOCH-HANSEN Typeserter PAUL HALLASY financier: mn Se Asta seve acts Maa Damian, pete ‘Sirapra inn Pa care, hate ener arrespondents, (A Mite Care Kye Counts, oa Berganza, ami Bernard, Robert creer berger, award Gres tn sein, an Yair {Sostom wl uray SF ere Neerost: WV John ‘Syes (on aura Haigeman feaN Mare Pris. interplanetary! wicnae! Wot lereature Whe ner (Cosme George Roane ‘Contributors: srry © savoce Rina Baron, Tony Santer, George Broderick J cameron, David {Camptiferry roman, Steve Gsbera, Howard ‘Green. gruce Gorson, Regina. cruss) Doug ortwel uanne ienava, david Mumford, Steve Rosenal Doug favor, Jr Walker sie. son Cover photon Terminstor2serwrzonegger. epoportpatrck fade Nosentrayeopyeane 25 stoic Petures, ll & Ted Bogus Journey pine 1 orion tues. For Agvertisng information (Grav eooczeae ray (ra) 899-7955. ‘averting Director: ta Eensten Classified Ads Manager: connie Bartlet For west coast advertising sales. Jim Reyotas, Due to the large volume of mail, personal replies are absolutely im- possible. Celebrity adcresses can fot be given out. Mail can not be forwarded. No exceptions. Other fans & advertisers sometimes con- tact readers whose letters are printed here. To avoid this, mark your letter “Please Withhold My Address.” Otherwise, we retain the ‘option to print it. Write: ‘STARLOG COMMUNICATIONS 475 Park Avenue South, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016 FIRST CONTACTS ‘Saturday, [attended an SF convention forthe fist time since 1987. Four years ago, 1 walked into the middle of a sixorganized bunch of ped dlers and the associated asskissers from Paramount Pictures who probably laughed their heads off at all those who had been naive enough to take an interest in spaceships and ray-guns and the lie. Things haven't improved too much enjoyed Star Trek IV very mach and as ttvilled to se the latch of Star Trek: The Nest Generation. My enthusiasm soon faded as | real iged that although The Next Generation was the best thing on television (stills, a6 a matter of fact, it rarely rose above a level of mediocrity sary 1 borrow fom the other 70 oF 50 shows in primetime. The original en hecause it culm: his and not propaganda. It ausht about acceptance and not the American way: one his to do with the right and wrong as seem in a plan- lary context, rather than the political one Noble as it may be, it could never Bethe basis for a truly heterogencous galactic organization, Tink about it: The revolution in Easiem Europe has aleady brought forth specific national ide als which even our liberarian concepts would fot accommodate, but would have 1 Yield t in the premise ofa future Starfleet When T used to attend conventions, the fe! ing of alienation from the rest of the city and the world was always there. with me-on one side (of it, of course. This time around, I eas caught Somewhere in between, The fans who attended were perceived as inoffensive werdos, Then, 38 now, cetuin individuals preyed on this naivele by exacting exorbitant prices for the general admission as well a certain “collector sens. ‘An atmosphere of live worshipping was quickly introduced (kind of like Elvis and the Beatles) complete with screaming girs and Paramount insiders” who had to be hearty applauded for offering Ws, poor slobs, shos of famous actors they were privileged 10 know on a personal ba ss and fond of rubbing itn, “Thats what L found sickening and had hoped had gone away. No such ck, “The reasons I attended were of an inquisitive nature the opportunity to see Stor Trek actors and writers, the purchase of make-believe die tionaries and. manuals that helped detail and specify Star Trek and Star Wars. Por to the VCR's popularization, it was also 3 great op: CTE CTU Act ou, SREENWRITERG, Leo! Siw Sta TRE. orEUity 0 view movies or episodes oiherine ‘univalabe. The same old orsanizes (and a few ‘others quick to jump in fora piece of the ation) ‘were. Teft empty-handed by certain changes ‘hied followed, and they resorted 10 the Ameri- caization of the Japanese mania for comic ‘books and idiotic “space monsters fom planet Gheva" kind of movies, nowhere else bener ex. cemplifed thin by the embarassing release of Star Trek V and other exploitation ticks, The NOSTALGIC SCI-FI & A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE. IN MOTION. PICTURE TERROR! Sinister Cinema @, With over 900 shock filled titles ovoilable, Sinister Cinema is truly the leading source for your favorite se:fi and horror oldies on video Just end $2 00for aureye popping catalogue, for receive it free when you order ony of the fellowing fms atthe low price of eR $16.95. tine 1-Mott OFT ing Dest 268 rit tet vie avai S Nah Te 1TU Se in nt ec nar ~ tilesotse tine wo fath ihe abla in tra 3 sacting_and production. andthe | Eseess graces th af else eer a He nee cies in de field 0 the imbecile endeavors 001 an Stor Trek. nthe whole convention a waste of fe and paper i was but one septa that bas ken the spice program back With the incredible photograpts and by the Voyager pnectt in tie eccsion was pe for ene wt Son Congress for fare Tunding for Drakeis sich es mining operations on fea Bat sel mon ha been (Of 43?) sions and. permanent a feast ar aay ina oer a Space station and so on, Hasiead of _ Rivancing tse concepts of realistic slen ene Counters of space exploration, the publics _ Sony ee fl apace mone Tannen 1 pepubescent boys eplorable that today's best releases {ake inspiration in eigon or polities and | take their place in filmmaking history only as IO ALIEN or Predator or Star Trek. | "understand Why you fall demonstrate the nsiblty of dressing actors in rubber suits fanennae and spots: mast the large studios vai | Origin: Earth's future. must be destroyed. By the year 2029, humankind was in a struggle for Its survival Characteristics: Terminators were created by the Network to seek out ‘and destroy humans. The 600 Series | hod imperfect rubber skin and were looks completely human — it sweats and even has bad breath. The T-1000 seties has. ‘even more advanced, technological capabilities, ‘Construction: Port mon. Pati machine. A hyperalloy combat chassis, fuly | ‘armored and controlled by amicroprocessor, is || covered by human tissue, A Terminator combat ‘chassis on the assembly line before being covered wih human issue, “a Mike Fisher TERMINATOR! Future History: A nuclear war was started by the Defense Network ‘computers, buill for SAC NORAD by Cyberdyne systems. These extremely powerful computers wore a new order of infeliigence. They developed & mentality of their own and decided that all humanity ‘easly identified. Model 800, however, fot educate the public and attempt 0 dramatize the nature of a first encounter or expansion of @ terran foundation together with its associated ans and murders and beauty and disgrace and Courage and horror? Why not attempt 10 grow beyond the silliness of Irsaders from Mars or The Last Starfighter? 1 sill hope that Cael Sagan's Contact and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series wil someday be filmed, And that someone will have the talent and ability t0 write and market realise, intel ‘ent science fletion forthe betterment of eve Radu tots 32.23 Crescent Street Long Island City, NY 11106 My fellow readers, Bruce Gordon, who wrote the “Return of Marty McFly" articles, and the broducers of the special The Secrets of the BITE Trilogy all sem confused over nosing ‘Why did BitT all out of the time machine in pain? Answer: He smacked himself with his ane. 1 obvious he caught it on a pedal oF shifter pulled on it with all {op of the cane broke and the rest hit Bi either broke something in his chest or the had a heart attack. This also explains why. cine an of Brestr Gutta sted in Mare Shapiro's snerview with McCord in STARLOG #62 a Tas surpsed to sur that Glen Larson wanted MeCord tobe inthe fist ncrmon of Galactic. Thovgh he never mensions wba oe be wast pay. It eeman wa to be Aplin, oh tes plaed by Richard Hach Ianto ck up for Hach abit hereby saying Tan insane Tie fire ease. Lop uncle inresing sting McCord as Apollo, bt we medion boy Eatie weeny McCord ih tay that Gala as 10 oda idea let go. and | as eed when [ABC announced Gulati [80 od be sown Untortiately. budetconsidersons sabotaed wh cod ave been an eeslem SF sence Ait eee aie ah oe ata Colon sack on Lon Angels, superbly mixing oaths footage rom Eure with footage of Clon fees Gatch Peer a science sion than Sar Wars StarTrek bets ithes more imeresing ad eleva oie the esas of i ees eee is mnphation (menvoned a the stat of amost vey episode) that ancien ivliztons Uke ‘cient ERyp and spams descended rom space The two-puer “Law Plnet of te Go” ee ee I tope Larson and. Universal can raise Galatea ke Sr Trek (One ial Gala ate! te Coons snot inerestine movi vias ever. {hem more than the humans inte show bea tke Wie Coyote the ae tne ad bo on 10 your seats) ite sympathetic charters ‘They ae machines, ponentnllypertonning the tasks prognmmed tem. They hl yes and rolls. bt feng aches one cant hare them he way one can ate Dah Vader Mica! Daly 1 Willow Set Wate MA 01880 the ike ESS ceiving duplicates? Subscription questions? Write direty to: 1 1 | STARLOG NEW SUBSCRIBERS Subscriber’ ONLY: q Services, Do not send money P.O. Box 132 order to above address, Mt. Mortis, IL See subscription ad this B cioseoi32' issue, ‘Attach Mailing ‘Label Here t t ' t t 1 1 Inquiries addressed to editorial offices only delay your request. NAME ADDRESS cry poebore eta * Endorsed by the Octal STAR TREK fan lub by Thomas Blackshear 1990 “Plate of the Year” Artist ‘Twenty five years ago, the most orig- inal, innovative, and daring television show ever produced was launched. America immediately fell under the spell of STAR TREK'S® most captivat- ing character, Mr. Spock. Here was a figure like none before. Half human, half vulcan. Different in looks, unaffected by emotions, totally logical, unrestricted by human limits, yet completely and utterly irresistible. Now, on the 25th Anniversary of STAR TREK, The Hamilton Collection, and Paramount Pictures proudly pres- ent “SPOCK” Created by Thomas Blackshear, one of America’s leading cinematic artists, this fine porcelain col- lector plate portrays the First Officer of the USS. ENTERPRISE™ against a dra- SPOCK atic backdrop of deep space. Captured. in an extraordinarily rich palette of colors and highlighted by bril liant 8mm 23K gold border, this work of art premiers the offial STAR TREK 25th Anniversary Commemorative Collection. Each issues limited to a total of 14 fring days and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity, Our 100% Buy-Back Guar. ‘aniee allows you to retum any plate ‘within 30 days for a prompt replacement ‘or full refund. Collectors are expected to respond vigorously to this exclusive 25th Anni- versary offer. Enter your reservation " Repond i: Soptanber 30,1901 1 I Limit: Two plates per collector I eer oetes | “SPOCK plate(s) forthe price of 35.00" (plus | {Sean sere | Sat anos | edsedag een mle | ie err ee | to shipment. U ats / Mes. / Me rt gi ca | I I came pus i es SES a _% pra) ' I I ion | =ueslon Cal 8160 27 atge $48 or tee mth dr. CA reser 460 65% i FURTHER TIMELY TRIPS cellent! Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey is in theaters and on this issue's cover. Next month, a Bill & Ted car- toon series swaps CBS Saturday moming aixplay for Fox Broadcasting (and new episodes). And now, it’s live-action TV time, as FBC has also scheduled a new Bill & Ted primetime series. Titled like the cartoon, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures, this live-action halt hhour premieres at mid-season on FBC. No series casting has been announced yel—though Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, the movies” Bill & Ted (sho also do the cartoon voices, see page 27), supposedly won't be involved. Genre TV: OF course, the new TV sea- son results are in—and as usual, it’s a ‘mixed bag for genre fans The syndicated Love & Curses (a.k.a ‘She-Wolf of London) was killed. FBC added Bill & Ted and renewed The Simpsons. But that was all CBS (as expected) rubbed out The Flash, offering no new genre series. NBC staked (as expected) the Dark Shadows revival and sank the pirate ad- DICKENS VIDEOS BY MAIL 1-800-228-4246 ra SOO Z2245 oF send check oF Maney oer 1 $300 pr ap 820 po: at sgongandng 12-4 ELKHOAN BLVD. ri ol PAL asus avalabe OATHS IN BLOOD ‘Accused of WWII war crimes against Australian POWs is “Takei). But America—represented by Major (Rocketeer’s Terry O'Quinn, left)—wants Takahashi for a role in post- Takshashi Becket ‘Star Trek's Geor ice Admiral Baron war Japan. Australia—and prosecutor Captain Robert Cooper (FX 2s Bryan Brown, right)—wants justice done. Their dramatic confrontation ignites in Prisoners of the Sun (now in release). venture fantasy Black Jack Savage. New 10 Sundays at 7:30 p.m. is Ferie, Indiana, a half-hour fantasy adventure following. an “imaginative” 13-year-old. As previously announced, NBC gave an early renewal t0 ‘Quantum Leap (Wednesdays, 10 pam). ‘ABC Killed (as expected) Twin Peaks and Ron Koslow’s barely seen futuristic ‘comedy/drama memoit, My Life & Times ‘The network renewed the fantasy comedy Dinosaurs, moving it to Wednesdays at 8 pam. The comic-derived Human Target was greenlighted, at presstime, as a mid season replacement. Also definite for mid-season are Steven Bochco’s Capitol Critters (animated mice in the White House) and the eagerly awaited Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Character Castings: Speaking of Young Indiana Jones, production is un- erway. As noted previously. the series will feature two different young Indys— Cory Carrier playing the nine-year-old adventurer, Sean Patrick Flannery as the 16-year-old hero—in exploits set between 1908-1917. In a page out of Little Big Man (or My Life & Times or Free Country), the 93-year-old Indy, still alive in 1992, will introduce each episode, ABC has ordered 13 segments from Lucasfilm/Paramount Pictures TV, including a two-hour debut for early “92. Fresh from acting evil as the Nazi agent battling The Rocketeer, Timothy Dalton next discovers America, He'll play the fa- ous adventurer in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery. Veteran Superman movie producers Tlya Salkind and Bob Simmonds are in charge of this expedition Leviathan’s George Pan Cosmatos (STARLOG #142) directs from a Mario Puzo script. This is one of two competing Columbus projects; Blade Runner's Ridley Scott (STARLOG #101) is helming the ‘other. Scot's Columbus is Gerard (Green Card) Depardieu. Both films are slated for release S00 years after the fact—in 1992, of course Updates: The Sci-Fi Channel has added Space: 1999, The Prisoner, Stingray and Caprain Scarlet & the Mysterions to theit rerun line-up. The cable service is now scheduled to bow sometime this fall, ‘And although he rarely gives. inter views, Brent Spiner certainly can camry a ‘une. A Broadway veteran, Spiner has just released an album of popular standards. Singing back-up vocals 16 Spiner on one track, “It’s a Sin 10 Tell a Lie,” are The Sunspots, better known to Trek fans as Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn and LeVar Burton. Spiner’s album, already in record stores, gives a nod 10 both Data and Frank Sinatra. It’s called OF Yellow: Eves is Back. —David MeDonnell FILM FANTASY CALENDAR August gnome Wi c Bod September: Dinner, The Dd October r Tin Fern C Last R X’Mas ‘01: 1 f 8 STARLOGISeptemhTHE OFFICIAL LIMITED EDITION JACKET FROM THIS SUMMER’S BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE! TERMINATOR 2 JUDGMENT DAY Announcing the official limited edition jacket from this summer's hottest movie, TERMINATOR,y. 2: JUDGMENT DAY, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger! Jackets like this have previously been available only to cast and crew members of Hollywood movies. But now you can own an. official TERMINATOR,,, 2: JUDGMENT DAY jacket. ‘The TERMINATOR,y 2: JUDGMENT DAY jacket is crafted to exacting standards by the same company that supplies jackets to leading Hollywood film crews. The TERMINATOR, 2: JUDGMENT DAY jacket has sleeves made of glove soft leather and a body contructed from wool. This high quality jacket has a wonderful look and feel The TERMINATOR,, 2: JUDGMENT DAY logo is embroidered in steel blue on the jackets back, with the "T2,," logo embroidered on the front. Tens of millions of people worldwide will thrill TERMINATOR, 2: JUDGMENT DAY, but limited production means very few can own one of these jackets. You must act fast, or forever miss your opportunity to own the limited edition TERMINATOR,,, 2: JUDGMENT DAY jacket. To order, rush the attached Order Form with your payment. You must hurry! Order today! Order today. Available in black only. Sizes small, medium, large and extra large. ‘ORDER Starlog Magazine 475 Park Avenue South, 8th Floor New York, NY 10016 Please send me __ official limited edition jacket(s) from TERMINATOR, 2: JUDGMENT. DAY. My payment of $225*, plus $10 shipping & handling, per jacket is enclosed. My satisfaction is guaranteed and | may retum my jacket in its original condition within 30 days for a full refund. *CT residents add $18:80 tax. Foreign orders add $20. SIZE: _Small _Medium _large _X Large Bos elee ise FORM PAYMENT METHOD: __Check _VISA _MC Credit card # Exp. Date. Name. Address City ST___Zip. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for shipment. No PO boxes or C.0.D. orders. Ad ©1991 EAC ©1991 Carolco. Signature‘MICHAEL WOLFF/iilustrated GEORGE KOCHELL otually, according to John Korty and ‘Charles Swenson’s 1983 film Twice Upon a Time, i’ all rather simple Time is controlled by the Cosmic Clock, which just happens to be hanging on the ‘back wall of a comer loan shop in a big city. Remove the glowing mainspring from the clock and everything grinds toa halt. It has been said that the problem with Life is that it doesn't come equipped with a ‘musical soundtrack. The problem with Time is that it's always traveling in the same di rection equally forall things and all places, Or at least that’s the common belief. But make a statement like that, and certainly someone will set his or her chin and try to do something about it Time travel mainjains a fairly popular hold within SF and fantasy stories and films. Writers can bypass the nasty mechanics of actually getting from moment A to moment B and concentrate on the situation’s fun aspects, while filmmakers are limited onl by what they can locate in the prop depart ment, plus the decision on just how complex to make the time travel system itself: run- ning the spectrum from the drug-induced transport of Chris Marker's La Jetée (1962) to the enormous electronic caverns of Irwin Allen's TV series The Time Tuan! (1966). ‘What makes time such a difficult nut to crack is that, even though we've all been traveling through it for centuries, we're only how beginning to figure the arangement out. Time, however, isn't so much a medium as it is a dimension. It's usually listed as the Fourth Dimension, the three previous ones ‘of course, length, width and depth fephen Hawking, Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. and perhaps the only person living outside of Looking-Gilass land who actually under stands how Time works. speaks in terms of space-time coordinares, We move from event 10 event, with each event occupying a point in space-time specified by its particular time and location. Space-time becomes a four-dimensional area defined by events. Before Professor Hawking, there was Albert Einstein, who observed that time, space and motion are only measurable in re= lation to one another. Time is measured by ‘motion in space, motion is measured by time land space, and space is measured by time ‘and motion. Einstein's theories point out that the nature of time can be altered by very high speeds, intense gravitational fields, or both, Right on Time Starsnip engines, which bulldoze their way across interstellar distances, tend to do double duty as time machines. The starship ‘engine which was “liberated” from the UFO in 1985's My Science Project could warp time and space 10a fantastic degree. creating ‘overlapping areas from various locations and periods. The engine, operating on its own built-in instructions, would offer its ship a selection of time-space alternatives (rather like a gearshift lever in a sportscar). If the film's heroes had managed to engage a spe- cific “gear” within the engine's direetional system, they might have found themselves transmitted to another star system, At a much lesser velocity, Dr. Emmett Brown’s modified DeLorean only needed to hit $8 miles per hour in order to have “some setious shit" happen. The secret of Brown's process lay in a capacitor which converted 1.21 gigawatts of electricity into a massive fenergy flux which was shaped through a laser-guided magnetic field into a gravita- tional mass placed directly in the car's path ‘The mass was sufficient to distor space-time locally. Direction through time was con- trolled by simply rotating the gravitational mass at half the speed of light (93,136 miles, per second) and traveling perpendicular 1 it ‘Traveling against the rotation would send the ‘car into the pas, traveling withthe rotation, into the future Even more powerful gravitational fields have assisted one of the most famous of all 'SF time travelers. Doctor Who's Time Lords first received their powers when the Gallifreyan engineer Omega created a supernova explosion in 1054, indirectly forming the Crab Nebula. Energy from this, explosion was harnessed to provide the im- ‘mense power needed to create artificial time warps, the precursors to the TARDIS. Omega’s process was refined by Rassilon, who managed 10 capture a black hhole and trap it within Gallifrey’s center. ‘The gravitational stress which the hole exerts in all directions upon Gallifrey provides a constant source of power for the TARDISes, Would you buy a used TARDIS from this, ‘man? ‘enabling them to create warps in space-time while disguised as various things, such as phone booths. A recent movement even be lieves that the Time Lords actually exist in San Dimas, California, circa 2688 AD, and that, rather than Omega and Rassilon, they ‘were inspired by an excellent rock group known as Wyld Stallyns. This may be an area for further study Nick of Time Time machines, not being limited by known principles of engineering, have ap. peated in various shapes and sizes. In 1895, H.G. Wells designed his machine to be con- sructed out of ivory, nickel and rock crystal It was described as being an open-air con: traption and remarkably easy to operate: One lever sent the machine into the future, and another into the past Perhaps to preserve his scientific secrets, Wells glossed over how his machine moved through time, but George Pal’s 1960 film version of the novel provided a clue in the form of the spinning copper disk which dominated the device piloted by Rod Taylor. The disc was part of a mechanism which produced a powerful localized gravitational field that the machine rotated against, creat- ing a time warp. To produce a field of such strength would require some sort of incredi- bly dense material, and yet the Time Machine could rather easily be pulled and pushed about by’a single human or @ couple ‘of Morlocks. An alternative solution would bbe to consider that the Time Traveler may have accidentally stumbled upon the method of traveling through dimensions by experi- ‘menting with imposing equal force upon all STARLOG/Seprember 1991 11spatial coordinates of a gyroscope (a system ‘expanded upon in Robert Heinlein's. 1980 novel The Number of the Beast) Nineteen years later, Nicholas Meyer's adaptation of Time After Time, based on the novel by Karl Alexander, updated Wells’ de- sign to provide several additional features; solar power, a vaporization device to insure that the passenger would remain fluid ‘enough to withstand the voyage, and a safety ‘mechanism which automatically returned the ‘machine to its point of origin. The cabin was both completely enclosed and, best ofall, roomy enough 10 allow Mary Steenburgen to perch on one’s lap. Other time machines reflected a trend towards unique designs. The time sphere of Alain Resnais’ Je f aime, je aime (1967) appeared more organic than mechanical, whereas the whirling device in 1962's less- than-classic The Three Stooges Meet Hercules seemed more suited 10 washing clothes than transporting people to ancient Greece. The Twilight Zone episode “Execution” featured a machine with a transparent receiving booth designed by Russell Johnson (always the professor). DC Comics’ Fime Masters are forced, by circumstance, o seek a variety of time travel ‘methods, including using a backpack mech anism ane a “time sphere” which could be an antecedent to the gone-but-not-forgotten, transparent time bubbles once employed by the Legion of Super-Heroes. Over at Marvel Comics, Doctor Doom developed a time ma- 12 STARLOG/Seprember 1991 chine involving a glowing square that ap- ‘peared and passed down over the travelers In Cyborg 2087 (1966), Michael Rennie traveled from the future in'a machine which resembled a milk can, while the Voyagers! ‘ofthe short-lived ABC TY series relied on a device worn on the wrist. In the 1980 TV film The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything, Robert Hays inherited a watch which could freeze time altogether, a situa tion similar to “A Kind of Stop Watch” on sale in The Twilight Zone. That series also presented Buster Keaton “Once Upon a “Time,” wearing atime machine helmet which looked as if it could transport the Three Stooges—to meet Hercules, or just about anyone else. ‘Some machines are not so much vehicles a they are transmitters, In Robert Heinlein's The Door into Summer, a scientist developed a method of time travel using polarized ‘gravitational fields. The Guderian Tau-Field Generator of Julian May’s “Pliocene Exile” ‘saga closely imposed a dynamic field within the coordinates of “normal” space-time. The process had a serious drawback—it was a ‘one-way trip; travelers attempting to return the same way were ultimately destroyed. Everyone's absolute favorite time ma- cchine, however, has to be the Wayback Machine developed by Mr. Peabody in Jay Ward's classic “Peabody's. Improbable History” lectures. A genius by anyone's def- inition, the canine devised the Wayback ‘Machine asa means to give his boy Sherman, some “running room.” The resulting device ‘dominated an entite wall, yet was fiendishly simple to operate. Simply turn the dials until the desired place and date appeared, then sep through the adjoining doorway and be whisked away. The Wayback Machine also automatically made it possible for Mr. Peabody and Sherman to communicate inthe common language of wherever they went, ‘overcoming a problem which many time travelers overlooked, although it never seemed to bother Tony Newman and Doug Phillips as they went through The Time Tunnel ‘And then, there's Quantum Leap. Stitch in Time ‘Sam Beckett is certainly time traveling. Bu, instead of stepping out of a milk can, hhe's materilizing inside the bodies of peo- ple and assuming control of their lives for brief periods. What would Mr. Peabody say? Well, he might opine that the Project: ‘Quantum Leap process searches for memory transmissions still floating through space long after the people who “thought” them have passed on. These transmissions are boosted and rebuilt into a semblance of real~ ity within Sam's own mind. So, in a sense, he's not so much time traveling as he’s act- ing as a receiver For images recovered from the past. When the images arrive, his per- sonality kicks into achieve greater control (Or: Sam's consciousnessjs actually sent through a time warp (thought processes be-ing better able to survive such a journey than physical objects). But humanity is composed ‘of several subgroups all unknowingly con- nected through common mental fields which stretch from generation to generation (omething like Kurt Vonnegut J.’s concept of Karass). Sam is being shunted about through the various people in his subgroup. ‘Since the subgroup's mental field is so Drive this little of special right out of ‘our showroom and into your future. firmly shared, Sam feels he’s completely in ‘control whenever he leaps into someone. Then, again: Sam may be “unstuck” in time, like Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s 1969 novel Slaughterhouse Five (filmed in 1972 by George Roy Hill). Like Wells, ‘Vonnegut tended to gloss over the method of his hero continually moving from one time ‘Want an inexpensive trip? Try the Connecticut Yankee model. period to another. As with Sam, Billy Pilgrim's consciousness slipped up and down time, but, unlike Sam, Pilgrim's mind remained i its own body. ‘There's a subgente within time travel sto- ries of people who manage to move from ‘one period to another without having to re- Sort 10 any type of mechanism. Poul Anderson's 1972 book There Will Be Time testablished an entire group of people who had the ability 10 send themselves through time, and who were building a conspiracy to Ccontfol the world, Jack Finney’s novel Time ‘and Again, and Richard Matheson’s Bid Time Return (filmed in 1980 as Somewhere fn Time), also dealt with people who could literally will themselves into the past. Finney has often explored the comers of time—as have such other SF writers as Ray Bradbury, Fred Saberhagen, William R. Forischen James R. Hogan and Simon Hawke. ‘On a more personal note, Ken Grimwood’s 1986 book Replay tells of a rman who suffers a heart attack at age 43, nly to awaken and discover that he has gone back to being an 18-year-old. Not only that, but he continues to die at age 43, re- peating the cycle time and again. Similarly, a hheart attack sent Kathleen Turner back to high school in the 1950s to possibly undo her fate in Peggy Sue Got Married. Elsewhere in the universe ate the dragons of Anne McCaffrey’s tales of the world of Pern. Possessing the ability o teleport across ‘great distances, the dragons, with the assis- tance of their human partners, advanced their power to the extent where they could move across time, Dragon teleportation, it seemed, hha its Foundation inthe ability to establish a ‘mental fix upon a different set of physical coordinates, and then draw upon some sort ‘of internal power source in order to physi cally teleport from point A to point B. If this becomes possible, then the next step that of ‘establishing a mental fix upon a different set ‘of time coordinates, becomes easy. ‘The exact biological mechanism which might allow a living creature to move itself through time is hard to nail down, our knowledge of biology limited to life forms living in normal space-time. But there are some cases where it seems that hard physical contact is required. In Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ‘a man is transported to the sixth century AD after being struck in the head. This brain concussion triggered some hitherto unknown process which made time travel possible. ‘There was a time when my mom threatened to knock me into the middle of next week, so apparently there's something toi. ‘Time travel requires brute power in order to create a working warp. Madeline L'Engle’s novel A Wrinkle in Time intro- duced Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs Which, three ladies who were able to resser or wrinkle their way through time and space. Since they had begun their lives as stars, they had the power to get the job done. MICHAEL J. WOLFF. STARLOG’s Interplanetary Correspondent, played games with Death in issue #168. STARLOG/September 1991 13Out of Time Apart from time machines, and people getting hit onthe head, there has been the problem of warps occurring naturally, oF though accident. Einstein demonstrated that time was elastic, and thatthe presence of forces, sich as excessive gravity, could warp itout of shape. Time Banchts (1981) postu lated that these warps were due to God's having to. perform_a rush job on the Universe. The warps were thoughtfully indicated on a map which a repair team (Serupulous oF otherwise) could use in locating them, ‘Spaceships usually stumble upon these warps. The starship Enterprise discovered a umber before uizing the Sun's gravita- tional Field to produce “slingshot effect” to facilitate further time travel. To thelist could be added the one-man expedition’ in The Outer Limits episode “The Man Who Was [Never Born," similar mission which ended up Beyond the Time Barrier (1960), a two ‘man ship which crashed in prehistoric times forthe benefit of the CBS sitcom I's About Time (1966), a slightly more populated spaceship which traveled to 2508 AD in World Wirhout End (1956) and two space- craft carying six humans one way and three inteligent apes the other, in three entries {rom the Planet ofthe Apes series “The U.S. Navy nearly lost the carrier Nimitz and all hands not far from Pear Harbor because of atime warp in 1980's The 14 STARLOG/Seprember 1991 Meet Albert, trained mechanic. He'll ‘square up all your problems, I's just 4 matter of time. Final Countdown, not to mention two crew- ‘men who took part in The Philadelphia Experiment (1985). The Twilight Zone began with visit to Peatl Harbor in Rod Serling’'s “Time Element,” (a precursor tothe series); infact, Pearl Harbor is a popular time travel estination, along with the Tiranic, the Crucifixion, Nazi Germany, the Alamo, Ford’s Theater and November 1963 Dallas They're all places where events occurred that we sill somehow yearn to change. OF course, The Twilight Zone was a fre- {quent way station for people going back and forth through time in episodes such as “Walking Distance,” “The Last Flight,” “A Stop at Willoughby,” “Back There,” "The Odyssey of Flight 33,” and “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim.” In most cases, the trip was deceptively simple. The travelers were involved in nothing more complicated than walking across a desert to find the future or stepping off a train and into the past. Slightly more complicated was a recent adventure of The Flash where the hero was hurled 10 years into the future after being struck by a'missie. The missile had the char- acteristics of a Sidewinder air-to-air weapon, which flies at supersonic speeds. Sidewinders have hit targets before without sending them—as far as we know—through time. And ifthe Flash was hit by the missile, then he wasn’t running fast enough to take advantage of relativistic effects. What happened? "The answer was at the journey's end: & reactor mishap at $.T-A.R. Labs, A nuclear reactor, especially on have the power to warp time locally. The warp expanded through time from the troubled reactor, encountering a “pot hole” 10 years in the past atthe instant the missile hit the Flash, who was then pulled forward into the mishap’s time period. His presence altered the direction of time slightly to where the reactor, instead of undergoing its original ‘mishap, went through a blow-up because of the viliain’s machinations, creating yet another warp which sent the Flash back to the period ofthe original “pot hole.” ime travel creates the problem of alter- ing history, often with disastrous results, Julian May-solved the problem in her “Pliocene Exile” saga through the simple ‘expedient of placing her travelers in a time period which would eventually be wiped clean by the Ice Age. ‘Another answer comes in the idea of ‘alternate timelines.” For instance, we know that inthe series’ first film, Superman traveled back in time to save Lois Lane from the earthquake. But the fact that he had to do so meant that a timeline existed in which Lois died. All Superman did was to return through time, save Lois and establish a sec- cond timeline where she lived. But his action didn’t erase the previous timeline, where Lois is still dead as a doornail Often, travelers in time go off witha par- ticular mission—to right some wrong in the time stream (as in Voyagers!, Quantum Leap), to serve, protect and study the past (as in Connie Willis’ “Fire Watch”), of to specifically change history (the goal of those ‘Terminators charged with dispatching Sarah and John Connor). Each event in space-time is capable of producing an infinite variety of conclusions, the fiction of parallel worlds which offers the tantalizing possibilty of what might have bbeen. Variations are continually being ex- plored: a world where the Byzantine Empire never fell (Harry Turtledove’s Agent of Byzantium), a world where the dinosaurs never died out (Harry Harrison's West of Eden) and one where the Confederacy won the Civil War (Ward Moore's Bring. the Jubilee). There are countless others—even “Marvel comic (Whar 1/2) to examine super- heroic variations Nazi Germany has earned its own sub- {genre within this field. In Jerry Yulsman's Elieander Morning, Adolph Hitler is assas- sinated before his rise to power, while Len Deighton’s SS-GB explores an England which lost World War II and lives under Nazi domination. An entire anthology, Gregory Benford and Martin Greenberg's Hitler Victorious, is devoted to Nazis com- {ng out on top. ‘The problems of time travel, like its so lutions, involve a complex variety of direc tions that writers have been dealing with For centuries, and quantum physicists are only row beginning to scratch at. The efforts of SF and fantasy have shown the audience the possibilities that could be, and the physical answer, when it arives, may be as practical as clock, and yet ae surpasing 2 grinThe popular star of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION sings his favorite standards with a full orchestral accompaniment. It's Spiner's bute to the music he grew up with, with loving renditions of Time After Time, Embraceable You, More Than You Know, When I Fall In Love and others. Now available in record stores everywhere For credit card orders call 1-800-258-6700 orsend check or money order for$4 4.99 plus$2.00 shipping and handling per CD (.50 each adgitional)/$9.99 plus $2.00 shipping and handling per cassette (.50 each additional) to: Bay Cities (Dept. 5) 9336 Washington Bivd. Culver City, CA 90230 9336 WASHINGTON BLVD., CULVER CITY, CA 90290 * (213) 559-0346, FAX (213) 559-0348funny thing happened on the way to the theater. We got there in the wrong time. Not af the wrong time, ‘but inthe weong time last year, on Tuesday, April 3, 1990, t0 be precise. In all our excitement te get an early look at Back tothe Future Hl which wasn’t due to open in theaters for an ‘other month, it seems we somehow managed to cross over into an alternate dimension of time: one with an altemate version of Back tothe Future Il ‘That's right, there's another timeline with another Back 10 the Future. And amazingly enough, this other Back 10 the Future an Swers every question ever raised in our pre- Right about now, you're probably asking yourself, “How could such an amazing (and Well, it's really quite simple. ‘There's no doubt that we live in'a world and instant gratification. Being ‘of that not-so-elite club, ‘couldn't just sit around and wait for Part 111 to come out. So, we did what comes natu- rally—we made a quick trip over to the Universal Studio Tour in Hollywood and hijacked their time-traveling DeLorean. While some friends ereated a diversion aboard the Glamor Tram, we jumped over the barriers and hopped into the DeLore With a flash of light an shot across the parking lot at 88 miles an hour—which, coincidentally, is also the ex act speed it takes to elude studio security! tral of flames, we 16 STARLOG/Seprember 1991 When “Back to the Future Ill" opens in another timeline, it Offers all the answers. In an instant, we were transported for ward to May 25, 1990, just in time for the ‘opening of Back to the Funure Ih But there was a slight problem, {As we have all leamed from Doe Brown, Whenever you go forward in time, you wind up arriving in your own mos likely future Or, to put it another way, your most likely future is simply an extension of the way things ate toda Now, here's the important part: At the ‘moment we went forward in time, on April 3, 1990, “The Return of the Other Marty McFly” had just been published in STARLOG #154, However (and it’s a bi however), on that date, Part /IT had not yet ‘opened in the theaters, So, when we went forward in time, we wound up in our most likely future, a future with a version of Back ro rhe Furure IH that was exactly the way the article had prdi it would be. Ahead of Time At 8:00 p.m.,.on May 25, 1990, Part IH] sereened for a loud and passionate crowd, Clutching our souvenir Marty McFly rain: bow caps in our hands, we anxiously waited forthe story to unfold ‘This is the film we saw in that alternate dimension: As expected, the film opens in 195 the moment the lightn tower and sends Marty’ bi dancing a jig in the street, when out from behind a parked car jumps another Marty McFly, “I'm back from the future,” Marty hollers, as Doc falls to the ground in a dead faint The scene changes, and we see a flying DeLorean rushing through the clouds. We ‘move in on the car, and see it's not Doe at he controls, its Old Biff! He has just given 8 copy of Gray's Sports Almanac 10 his ger self, and right now, he's busy tryin to find his way back to 2015, Just as Old Biff hits 88 miles per hour, the Destination Time Panel shorts out. If only Doe had gotten that panel fixed? With @ major memory flashback jumbling its cir cuits the panel resets itself to Doc's previous destination, Octob But this time, b himself the Sports Al future, it's October 2 In one of ences, Old Biff lands on t Pleasure Palace at the mor self—Rich Bitf—is consciousness after Doc knocked him on the head with the DeLorean’s door. As Rich Biff stumbles to his feet, Old Biff comes fuzzily into view. Rich Biff stares For a n realizes that this old man is the sume guy who gave him the hose great cosmic caine roof of Biff"sSports Almanac back in 1955. Rich Biff grabs Old Biff, demanding some answers—and also demanding the keys to that flying DeLorean. Old Biff strug gles with Rich Bitf—he's well aware of ‘what kind of an adversary he's up against— Lunt Old Biff clubs Rich Biff over the head with his cane. The cane cracks, but doesn’t break off. Rich Biff stumbles backwards and falls through the skylight to the floor of his penthouse below (Old Biff climbs back into the DeLorean, stan i up and takes off once again. Twenty Feet below, Rich Biff lies dy con the floor. Realizing he may have just killed himself literally), Old Biff can only think of one thing to do: Go back to 1955, retrieve the sports book and return everything to the way it was. Old Bift takes off in the DeLorean and disappears in a flash of light. AL the very moment Old Biff leaves 1985, Rich Biff dies on his penthouse floor. ‘The scene changes to 1955. It's 6:00 ‘am,,22 minutes before sunrise, and Doc and Marty have just arrived from the evil 1985. Marty sets off to retrieve the Sporrs Almanae—but winds up getting trapped in Young Biff's garage instead. Just down the road, we see Old BitT also arriving in 1955, He stashes the DeLorean- something everybody must be old hands at by now-—in a hiding place down at Old Man Peabody's Twin Pines, er, Lone Pine Ranch Finally, at 6:00 p.m.—afler 12 wasted hours in 1955—Young Bill opens the garage and takes his car to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, with Marty hiding in the back seat. Moments later, Doc rides up to the Tannen house on a bike. "Marty!" he cals ‘Where is that kid?” Finding no sign of Marty, Doe rides off AAs Doe pedals away, out of the bushes steps Old Biff, He has been trying to figure ‘outa way to retrieve the Sports Almanac. but now it looks like somebody—namely Doc land Masty—is going 10 do the job for him! (Old Biff figures its time to get back to 2015. before anything else goes wrong. He heads back to Peabody's ranch and fires up the DeLorean, ‘The time panel display reads 6:38 p.m. Ola Biff swings the DeLorean around the ‘barn, guns it up to 88 miles an hour—and flies straight into Old Man Peabody’s last remaining pine tree, The force of the impact sprays pine needles across two counties. Old Man Peabody runs out of the house, fring his shotgun into the sky. “That does it!” he screams. “From now on, I'm breeding oak trees! Let's see somebody try and knock se down! Meanwhile, Old Biff is on his way back to 2015, But there's one thing he didn’t ture on: Since his younger self still has the Sports Almanac, the evil 1985 is still the ‘most likely future, And in that evil 1985, Old Bift i lying dead on the floor of his Pleasure Palace penthouse ‘That means there’s not place For Biff in 2015. So, when Old Biff lands the DeLorean in oing 10 be any Back in 1885, Marty finds both his friend and trouble, as, ‘Mad Dog Buford Tannen is a-gunnin’ for Doe and a fella named Eastwood, Clint Eastwood. 2015, he disappears, forever erased from existence. Biff has rid the world of Biff We return now to Doc's home at 1640 Riverside Drive. It's 1955 again, and tims for Doe to help Maety 1985, Doe and Marty head off to the DelGado mine, where they find the DeLorean still ealed off ina side tunnel after 70 years, wo ‘months and 13 days, In the proces find Doc's tombstone in the old Boot Hill ‘cemetery outside the mine Here Lies Emmett September 7, 1885. Shi Buford Tannen o Now. it's Marty's tur to save Doc They gas up the DeLorean, and M time travels back to Wednesday. Septem 2. in the wild, wild west of 1885. Marty tracks down Doc and convinces him it’s time to leave the Old West behind ‘When Doe realizes that they need gas for Marty's DeLorean, they do the obvious DeLor The And as anyone DeLorean sill has plenty of g Back in Time or Mary Cla BRUC STAR David rack from t orse lugging two si Doe spots Clara C on, Doe rides Ravine—Clayton E GORDON, « Disne Marty MeF ‘pte ianeerte a DelGado mine nother Doc to Ravine—the18 STARLOGISeprem A fight between Rich Bift and Old Bitt ‘ensues when Old Bitt appears in Rich Bits evil timeline. The fight results 2 in Rich Bits untimely demise, incl; eal eget ae ola) Tak ae becLamin sep, Dec sn B sary pach te hole nthe fue ln ne gs un Mary's DeLorean, Ouse the shop. he AP San we sicecy begining es 1c ond ibe [Frepialy approaching darkness wil uke 4 ere care Saree eee: f Dow's eer tld ws hat he fying soos ee tes ret pies arto ee Trap rssieein ats Do chhew ere rae ae ae) rons So. with fee eveing on ee hand, Doc and Mary head over ote Hl Vale Towa Fesival; ete Mad Dog chalenass Nat ee acme aca emia) dab pepe ip age ede bebos Gov baey ays Mery There's us one problen,thougtr—Doc has fallen bead over heels fr Clas (ates Ai seven dacondple a ioe Iues Verne) Doc sect oy in 165, Sundiy worrlng ated a De heed 9 1965, On a bore tell ont cule of town, Mary speds up to 88 and disappears int fash of igh Doe puls ut he Peels See Mar ee aca gle rounds nds hie face wo face wth Si Dod Tavien ohe Macnee ace the whole thing fom up atop the hil. "We (ee al aCe tee ay ale eee een eee Mad Dope KAS Mey Doo alee HE ei cere Gaalne Tee Te tea ae Monday." Mad Dog growls, and Pa pret He tha Eaton (la Bat e's jt fag ell gue have oe you Bac looks down al the Polar 1s no ea ee re eee ees oa le diet og tu Valey-and Cara nis on going with him. Al precisely 8:00 am, Monday, Doc fis MaliDog wid Bega Where oyu hit out goin'? Mad Foogats Rccsreen nines mene 2 hollers, “What do you care? Where we're iy As long as ive?” Mad Dog soars “If Daerah eee ee aoe 5 Mad Dog tubing Nears ino te om stone. It shatters into the ste Doc looks over to the station, where the train is already pulling out. “Come on, Clara!” Doc hollers. "We'll head off the train at Coyote Pass!” As Doc and Clara ‘make a dash for the tran, Mad Dog stumbles {his feet, points his gun at Doe, then falls ‘over backwards into a pile of manure. (One frantic ride through the woods later, Doe and Clara catch up with the train, and leap from their steeds onto the caboose. They collapse into a pair of seats, settle back and ride the wain all the way to the end of the line—San Francisco, that boomiown by the bay, a eity with everythin could ever need The scene changes again and we rejoin Marty as he arrives in 1985, at 11:00am. on Sunday morning. October 27. With a flash of light, he crashes through the time barrier—then crashes headlong into the Fox Photo Booth in the mall's parking Jot. The horse trail Doc picked in 1885 must have run right through Old Man Peabody's ranch, the mall's future site A six-man construction crew is standing. near the wreckage, staring in disbelief at the cca that eame out of nowhere. The crew had just finished working an all-night shift, re placing the booth that the Libyans had crashed into the day before. Now, it's just broken lumber and little yellow boxes. Miraculously, Marty escapes the erash unhurt. He crawls out of the twisted wreck: stands up, and sees the construction They're not stil Marty takes a quick, look at the DeLorean. The cari able, but the critical time circuits are com- pletely destroyed. And with Doc still living back in the Old West, there won't ever be ‘anyone around to fix them As Marty backs away from the rapidly ‘rowd—then turns and breaks into pulls back and we see still be drive 1 sign at the parking lor entrance. The Oak Tree Mall Marty makes his way back to his house. Ws 11:15 am,, and the rest of the McFly family ison their way’ to Sunday brunch. AS Marty walks up the driveway, he sees that the garage is empty. “Hey, Mary.” his sister calls, “What are you doing back here? 1 hought you went tothe lake gives her a puzzled stare, then looks into the empty garage. “Where's my truck?” ‘You drove off in it yesterday morning Marty. Ate you allright? Where's Jennifer? That's what I'm gonna find out,” Mary replies, With an une owing in side him, he grabs one of his skateboards out of the garage—wheels again! —and rides of 10 find Jennifer. “Where's that hoverboard when I need it?” he mutters to himself, “I sure hope Do is taking Marty skates up to Jennifer's house and finds her still sleeping on the porch. He awakens her with his prince's kiss—the nt all (Well, actually, it has only bee same kiss he has been trying to pl jennifer asks Marty where-his truck is,“°Manty's go it,” Marty replies. She stares at him, “Another Marty.” he continues, as if that answers the question, “What other Many, Marty? Marty stares off into space. “There can ‘only be one answer,” he finally concludes, “there must be two of me here in 1985, ‘Two Marty McFlys! OK, admit it, you knew it had to come 10 this, sooner of later! Another Time ‘The scene changes, and now we're sein Marty—the other Marty—riing i the tuck. And siting next to im is, you guessed it, another Jennifer! They're on their way back from their Saturday camping trip (which went very wel, judging by the looks on their face). As they're waiting at a traffic light near the train tracks, another pickup stops next to them. At the wheel is Necd “How's it hangin’, McFly? Needles obviously wants to race—and Mary isn't above taking the bait. But re rember, this isthe Marty who has just tured from 1985, and who has only been driving this track for one day. All he ever had was a skateboard! ‘The light changes, and with a squeal of tires, the two trucks take off together Needles is out in front as Mary tres to shi gears. He looks down atthe shfte a Rolls Royce pulls out from aside st Mary looks up, but its too late We cut back to our Marty and Jennifer, as they walk down the road, trying to sort out what's going on. In the background, we Marty's back in 1985, but are things back to normal? After al (Clara) Clayton Ravine Is now Eastwood Ravine (in at least ‘what used to be 1e Part Ill. ‘can hear the sound of sirens. As Marty and Jennifer round the comer, they ean see there has been a wreck. One of the cars 1o0ks like itused to be a Rolls Royee, and the other car looks like—Marty stares in horror—his truck His truck, with him inside? And another Jennifer! From across the street, they can see the ‘other Marty lying on the ground, still breathing. And there's the other Jennifer she’s all right—leaning over him. Marty.” our Jennifer gasps, “that’s me! She starts to eross the street, but Marty pulls her back. “We can’t let them see us.” he says. Then, he adds, “And don’t ask why! Just trust me on this one! They both take cover near a crossing gate (on the railroad tracks. “This must be cident Doe warmed me about in his letter.” Marty says to himself, “the accident that ruins my life. Uh, his lite.” Jennifer stares at him. “The accident? Then, it wasn'ra dream! Marty and Jennifer watch from the dis tance as the accident is cleared away. Not sure exactly what to do, they tum and walk slowly back to town, following the railroad tracks. As the tracks pass through a thick ove of tees, Marty and Jennifer hear a dis tant rumble—then a blinding flash of light knocks them tothe ground. A huge, steam-powered locomotive has appeared on the track, right infront of them. And waving from the window is Dac Brown, Doc,” Marty shouts. “I didn’t think I would ever see you again! You've got to help us, everything's all mixed up! There's another one of me here Jennifer, and I, I mean he, just got hauled away in an ambulance!” Don't worry, Marty! You'll be fine— that is, he'll be fine! I've already made ar- rangements to leave written instructions with his doctor, describing a surgical procedure I learned long ago, back in the future. He’ll be as good as new by this time tomorrow’ ‘What about the guy driving the Rolls Royce?" Marty asks ‘Don’t worry about him. He’s just a big motion picture director, out here scouting lo cations for his next picture. I'll be sending him some story ideas I've had.” “That's great, Doc,” Marty hollers back “I didn’t know you weote store ‘Of course, Marty! This o crazy cartoon rabbit and another about a ‘Roger, Doc! Hey, if he likes your ideas, maybe he'll give you a part in the movie! “1 could play the villain,” Doc replies striking a bug. A crazed s ed pose. inst the world. But arty, we've still gota problem! A problem? es, It's you, Marty. You and Jennifer! There's no place for either of you here in 1985, since both of you are already here! I's all my fault, of cours, I just wasn’t thinking fourth-dimensionally! “So, what happened” ‘Well, when I sent that other Marty back to 1985 on the night of the lightning storm, there was a second Marty—you—hiding be hind a parked car!” 1 remember, Doc.” says Marty. “When You saw me, you fainted dead away! Gites Ba ae“The DeLorean that Marty traveled in Is out of gas, but since Doc also journeyed to 1885 with a DeLorean, there are two such vehicles. Doc's still has fuel Ri ht! Well that Marty reached 1985 on at 1:24 am. tobe precise Afier he discovered his new tuck, he and Jennifer went off on their camping tip. fn “Unfortunately. when I sent you back from I885, you didn't get here until Sunday ‘morning at 11:00—a full day after the other now Marty got here. By the time you arrived, he had already taken your pla ‘Doc,” Jenner yells, “what about me ‘When we brought you back from 201 and dropped you off on your patio at 9: pam. Saturday’ night, we were actually drop- ping you off in an alternate 1985—a 1985 that already had its own Jennifer. When the in Flor his thoughis once a ight not be bad for my health!” ‘By the way.” says Marty ight he! know we'd be alternate 1985 was destroyed, the wo di mensions transformed into one—which still chance that you wo had both Jennifers. OF course, by,the time ral junction point, whi you woke up, the other Jennifer hi of the accident! Teft on the Then, Marty and Jenn imping trip with the othe Marty! the train, Clara is there, along with Einstein, So, Doe,” Marty wonders, “what are we Jules and Verne. Doe fires up the circuits, 1 10 do. the train rises in the air, spins around and Well,” Doc replies, “since there's no takes off right toward the audience place for either of you here, why don't you And across the screen come the words: both come along with us? We've got plenty TO BE CONTINUED of adventures left ahead of us! I've finally The trailer that followed d out how to keep this time travel new t upan Institute of Furure advanced study of tin An institute?” Marty shouts back, ‘OF course! I think I'm going to build it Marty testing a time-travein hack in the Middle A: Lady Guineve 20 STARLOGIS Doe continues, becoming lost in i. “The high humidity is good for the flux dispersal, and besides, it how did you 1 mean, right 11's very simple. When I suddenly real ized I had duplicated both of you in 1985—s which occurred to me right in the middle of testing my new flux miniatur izer—I figured I'd better come back her shien things out. I knew that the flow of the time continuum was bound to wo Martys and the two Jennifers together—it always does—so I took a 1 here a the tempo: fof course, is the er climb aboard was a dead rings Lorraine. But how could this be? Lorraine was a Baines, nor a McFly. We know that Shamus and Maggie had a son, named William McFly, ‘grandfather. William and his wife must apparently dition in Back to the Future flms— business under control, so I'm going to open showed such enticing scenes as Doc and s, and Clara on trial asa witch in Old Salem. We saw Jennifer as and Marty as the Yellow Knight! The trailer even left us with a cliffhanger as we saw Doc back in the Dark Ages. being led to the chopping block by ‘Tannen the Terminator! One More Time The film was finally over, bu it ted ‘out our adventure was only beginning ‘As we walked out of the theater, we heard some people remark, “Wow! Part II vwas even better than Part Il, which won all those Academy Awards.” We asked them what they were talking about. Hey. where have you been?” they replied. “Part If won an Oscar for best writ. ing, best director, best cinematography —it feven won two Best Actor Oscars, not to mention Best Picture!” ‘Now. wait a minute." we thought. Back to the Furuse If getting all those Oscars? Any SF film winning major Academy Awards? Not in any dimension we ever heard of Suddenly. everything became very clear—we had tobe inthe weong dimension, So. we got back into the DeLorean one more ime, eateully set the destination time to the exact moment we left, and crossed our fingers. In a flash, we landed and prayed we had returned to our original dimension. There would only be one way t0 know for sure: We would have to wait all over again for Parr I1's premiere. So, on May 25, 1990, we once again headed for the theater. hoping we wouldn't be disappointed. And boy. were we ever! Watching this other Back 10 the Future M1—the rel Part IIIs what it must have been like to be trapped in evil 1985, Everything was going wrong! It was great to visit with Doc and Marty again, and as a Wester, it was terrific fun, But we saw plot holes in this Part 111 big enough to fly a DeLorean though. Heck, big enough to fly Doe's steam rain through! “There was only one thing we could fig ure: The story problems must have been ‘caused by our goofing around with the time ‘continuum—Bob Zemeckis and Bob Gale couldn't possibly have made this big a mess without outside interference! First off, in 1885, when Doc and Marty realized that they couldn't start the DeLorean without gasoline, why didn't they Just ge the gas from the DeLorean parked in the mine? They both could have been out of there the next morning! Even if Doc had drained the tank, he would have saved the ir- replaceable gasoline! And just what exactly is the story with Marty McFly’s ancestors? There’s some thing odd going on here! Listen: Shamus McFly’s wife, Maggi for Marty's mother ‘who was Marty's great ve had a son, who became Marty's ‘grandfather. That son married, and had asom of his own, who was named George— Marty's father. Now, since Lorraine Baines looks just like Maggie McFly, a fanddaughter of Maggie must have ried a map named But that means—eusp—Lorraine’s. grandmother (who married the Baines) and George's andmother (descended from Maggie) must have been one and the same! George McFly married the granddaughter of his ‘own grandmother! Ah, small tovin li. There's more: When Doc and Marty are in 185, Doc mentions Marty's accident with the Rolls Royce. If Doc already knew about Marty's accident when he took Marty and Jenifer to 2015, why was he wat their time chasing Marty Jr?” Why not pre- vent the accident? On the other hand, if Doc heard about the accident for the first time while they were in 2015, why didn't Doc warn Marty about itn the Wester Union letter? Afterall, i's the least he could do, since Marty saved Doc's life with that leter bout the Libyan terrorists! Then, of course, there's the whole in ‘comprehensible business about the train hit ing the DeLorean, right there in the middle of Hilldale First off. the DeLorean rolls down the tracks past a sign that says Eastwvod Ravine But why would it be called Eastwood Ravine? As far as the townspeople knew Marty had no connection with the ravine. And if they had found out he was the hi- jacket, wity would they name their ravine after @ thief who stole a locomotive and crashed it off a bridge? Doe decides to stay in the past and spend his future with Clara Clayton, the one-in-a-googolplex he rescued earlier from a predestined death, rethink his position about staying behind. One more thing: Take a look at the ‘ground around the sign. Time travel works in strange ways, but it doesn't use shovels— and it sure doesn’t leave footprints! And this: When the diese! engine collided with the eat, howe come the train didn’t stop? How come no one in any of the cars waiting at the erossing came over to see what hap pened? Why didn’t anyone come out of their Hilldale houses to see the crashed car? How come the police never came by—even hours later when Marty and Jennifer returned to the scene? Was Hilldale populated by emo: tionless pod people from nearby Santa Mira? ‘When Marty got back to 1985 on Sunday ‘morning, he went home and found Biff stil ‘waxing his truck. But back in Part /, Biff started waxing iton Saturday. If Biff had re ally spent two days putting on that second coat of wax, he would have rubbed the paint Fight off the ruck! And how did Doc know that Marty and Jennifer would be standing by the tracks the exact moment Doe arrived in his flyin locomotive? How did he know there ‘wouldn't be another train coming in the op- posite direction? Finally, ast but not least, wo was in the Rolls Royce? Not getting the answer to a question like that is like never finding out the meaning of “Rosebud.” ‘You're just being to0 picky be thinking. “After Wrong I's nor just a movie it's Back 10 the Furure Playing With Time There was only one thing we could do Pale iefenter Decadent We went back fo Universal Studios one last time their— DeLorean. oy to find they had shipped 1 Florida, to the Institute of Future Technolo Dee's Insti the alternate film the one he mentioned in Marty heads back to the future, but Mad Dog catches up with Doc, who decides to Vith hope in our hearts, we set off for Florida, only to find thatthe Institute hadn't actually been built by Doc. It was just a ride inside Universal's big new amusement park! Boy, can things get messed up when time dimensions flip back and forth Sill hopefil, we bought our tickets to the park and made our way to the Institute. AS noted on page 42, it’s a huge building, all decked out in the same gaudy color scheme we saw in 2015. At first glimpse, it just didn't seem like the kind of building that Doc Brown would build, not after having seen that Jules Verne-style steam train he designed. But then again, he had picked out that transparent necktie ‘We waited in line for our chance to enter the Institute. Doc would be right there, and surely, fe would be willing to help us. As soon as we got inside, Doc appeared fon a closed-circuit TV system, We see that he's building whole fleets of his “ultimate scientific achievement"—the new eight-pas senger DeLorean time vehicle. (We figure Doc must have time traveled back to 1983 and bought all the left-over DeLoreans at a clearance price before the company went out of business!) “It's fas." Doe says, “it's more convertible energy-efficient, and—it's Right in the middle of Doc's presenta: tion, Biff Tannen breaks into the Institute ‘Jumpin’ jigawatts!" Doe yells. It seems one of Doc's teams had been conducting an ex- periment back in 1955, and Biff must have stowed a ay. “Hey, I'm not one to pass up a Biff hoilers as he runs past one of he security cameras Biff eludes the security guards (ata boy!) then locks up Doc inthe fab. Biff is planning to steal a DeLorean and take it out for a joyride—tripping through time! There's no Way Doe can free himself, so its up to us to catch Biff and bring him back Eight at a time, joaded into the convertible DeLoreans, and off we go. “In ff back to our Doc tells us over the video order to successfully bri time period,