I’ve always been enthralled by the possibility of time travel. There are so many historical events I’d love to see; so many mysteries to solve.
If you could travel to any point in time but could only observe safely, not change events, when and where would you go? I think I’d go back to see dinosaurs in the wild, or maybe to see early humans. Ooh! Or to go see Shakespeare’s plays when they were first performed. What about y’all?
28 replies on “Lunchtime Poll: Time Travel”
Oh I would be all over the place. The Golden Century of the Netherlands, New Zealand before white people entered. The Sahara when it was less desert and more place of exotic flowers every other season. I would definitely visit the (far) future as well for some pointers and to see if all the warnings will become true. I want to visit the Roaring Twenties and Marie-Antoinette’s Court and really, you had to let me mourn the lack of time travel?
Going to be really shallow here and zip through to just after the last episode of season 3 of Game of Thrones finishes and then bulk watch! 10 months to wait! *sob*
AGH CANNOT WAIT.
Can I jump to when the rest of the books have come out so I can power through them?
I am going back to Jesus and seeing WHAT HAPPENED.
Yes!
And I want to see the flooding of the Mediterranean basin that’s thought to be the origin of all the Great Flood/Noah’s Ark myths. Because that would be pretty awesome to watch.
I’d even settle for just teleportation. There are countless amazing lives out there that my location and travel budget are preventing me from seeing. (I’m assuming that “observe safely” could mean hovering comfortably somewhere in mid-air with nobody elbowing me or trampling on my toes.)
But time-travel-wise, I would love to just explore historic cities, buildings and landscapes as they were once upon a time. Again, preferably hovering around invisibly, in a comfortable, stink-proof bubble.
I think I’m with you here… on teleportation.
Myself? I think I’d like to hop through Paris at different periods of time… (We don’t just have to jump once right? and do we get to come back? WHAT ARE THE RULES?!?!)
If I had to pick one time — excuse me while I get really fucking particular — it’d be Gertrude Stein’s Saturday soirees where Picasso and Le Corbusier are just hanging the fuck out, being awesome, sharin’ beds with Dali, building houses for frens’, giving away masterpieces.. NBD.
Teleportation is always, ALWAYS my answer when I’m asked what super power I would most like to have. For similar reasons – there’s so much I want to see in this world that my budget and travel times prevent, on top of my steadily more far-flung friends that I would like to visit. Teleportation would make life SO much easier.
There are a number of crimes that I would like to see. Not because I want to see people die, but because there are questions about either who did it (Zodiac, Jack the Ripper) or the circumstances, and I would find it incredibly satisfying to know.
Agreed on the wanting to know part, but I would never want to witness a murder.
On a similar note, it would be interesting to see all those relatives of mine who died during WWII, but knowing the outcome would make seeing them way too depressing.
There are definitely some family events I wouldn’t mind getting the real story on, that’s for sure.
I’m not sure I could choose just one. But I’d love to see dinosaurs for real, I’d love to listen to or talk to Oscar Wilde, and I would love to see Rome in the Augustan period (or just before…I think seeing Julius Caesar or Antony, or Cicero speaking, would be pretty amazing too.)
Ooh, I’d like to witness Caesar’s assassination, just to see if Rome got it mostly right.
One of the coolest things I have ever done in my life was standing where Caesar died. It was just an amazing moment to think I was standing at the spot where this pivotal moment in history happened. In fact, a lot of the coolest things I have ever done in my life happened while I was studying Classics in Rome, thus the desire to time travel to ancient Rome…
There’s no way I could pick just one, especially if I can only observe. If I were allowed to tamper with the space-time continuum, I would go back to the day Sam Cooke died and tell him to stay out of the motel.
I would want to be around when the Emancipation Proclamation was announced and when women won the right to vote. I think I’d also like to see dinosaurs.
I’d love to listen in on the Beatles very first recording session.
Second, I want to hear the Elizabeth I speech to the troops before she sends them out to face the Armada.
Ooo…good choices!
Kate Beaton’s got you covered on that last one http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=300
Ha! That was AWESOME!
Amazing!
Oo good timing, I just finished the book Time Travelers Never Die in which they go back to all sorts of significant moments. Hmm if I could only go back to one time period and assuming I gained the magical tardis-like ability to read anything, I think I’d go back to the library of Alexandria. Barring that, go meet Bodiccea, Queen of the Iceni as that’s the area of the world my ancestors hail from.
Hillary I am SO GLAD that you’ve given me an excuse to post this picture.
Paul McGann looks like he went out for Mexican takeaway and accidentally wandered into an AA meeting.
Ok. I can identify everyone but the one wearing blue crocs. Is that Colin Baker?
And Paul McGann does look super confused.
Yeah, it’s Colin Baker! All the “old” Doctors, minus the ones who are dead.
I would go back in time to when Paul McGann was single.
I’d probably go back to before the BBC threw out nearly all of Patrick Troughton’s episodes.
Mr Brum is nodding vigorously at your suggestion.