aka A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Plot synopsis
Hank Martin works as a mechanic and blacksmith in Hartford, Connecticut in 1912. He is riding his horse in a storm, when a falling branch strikes him across the head rendering him unconscious. When he wakes, he finds a knight in shining armour confronting him.
Hank soon realises that he and his horse have been transported somehow across space and time to England in A.D. 528. The knight takes him to Camelot Castle to meet King Arthur and Merlin.
He falls in love at first sight with the king’s niece, Alisande, but she is betrothed to Sir Lancelot.
At the end, he saves her life, but is struck across the chest with an axe. When he wakes up, he is back in Connecticut in 1912.
Soon after, when visiting a castle in England, he meets a girl called Sandy, who looks just like Alisande!
My comments
Adapted from an 1889 Mark Twain novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, as were: Black Knight (2001), The Spaceman and King Arthur (1979) and A Kid in King Arthur’s Court (1995).
Summary of time travel
Hank changed the course of history while he was in the past, but on his return, the world around him appeared unchanged, so the timeline must have converged back.
Soon after returning, when he meets Sandy, he acts differently to how he would have, if he had never met Alisande, so we can say his future is changing as a result of his trip and is therefore open.
However, it is unclear whether the timeline will continue to diverge in the future, or whether it will converge back again.
Category of time travel
Psychological: head injury.
Model of time
Open past, open future with a converging timeline.
