aka Unidentified Flying Odball
Plot synopsis
A spaceship has been designed to test the Theory of Relativity by travelling faster than the speed of light. It uses intense magnetic fields to “collect atoms while in flight, ionising them ahead of the craft and guiding the ions into the intake area.”
Trimble is sent to the cockpit of the spacecraft just before take-off to sort out a last-minute technical problem. But a bolt of lightning strikes, which causes the ship to launch prematurely with only him inside it.
He tries to override the computers and stabilise the ship in an orbit around the Earth. He sees the sun rising and setting on the earth in fast motion, as he races back through time.
Trimble finally lands the ship and to his shock finds the year to be 508. He soon realises he is in England during the time of King Arthur. During his adventure, he manages to change the course of history before taking off again.
He tells Alisande, the girl he has fallen in love with that she cannot come with him because he is not sure if she will prematurely age as they go forward in time. He goes back into orbit and travels at a speed that causes the clocks to move forward very quickly.
After travelling more than one hundred years into the future, he notices that a goose has stowed away. But, as it has not aged at all, he decides to go back for her.
My comments
The idea is of course pure fantasy, as a rocket cannot accelerate to a speed faster than light. This is because its mass will keep increasing, causing it to need more and more energy to keep going faster.
Adapted from an 1889 Mark Twain novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, as were: Black Knight (2001), A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1948) and A Kid in King Arthur’s Court (1995).
Summary of time travel
We will never know what consequences Trimble caused in his present by changing the course of history because the movie finishes before he reaches home.
However, it infers there will be none because the timeline will have converged by the time he arrives home. However, his future will be open as he will be arriving with his newfound love.
Category of time travel
Science fiction: time-travel vehicle.
Model of time
Open past, open future with a converging timeline.
