Post by Catsmate on Sept 7, 2022 10:23:56 GMT
An idea from my notes that I've finally cleaned up.
The Time Machine stories in Boys' Life.
Starting way back in 1959 and continuing (intermittently) until 1989, Boys’ Life¹, the magazine for the American Boy Scout movement, carried a number of time travel short stories written by Keith Monroe and his father Donald, usually under the name ‘Donald Keith’.
About half of the 23 stories were later collected in two books, Mutiny In The Time Machine (published 1963) and The Time Machine To The Rescue (1967). The later stories, of which there are twelve, were never collected. The books are long out of print and even most libraries don’t have copies due to their age. Nor are the available through the Internet Archive. However the magazines have been digitised by Google and the stories are available via Google Books.
The stories are interesting, in much the same way as the early Doctor Who stories are; very much creations of their time with the attitudes and knowledge of the period.
The basic premise is pretty simple; two boy scouts get lost taking a shortcut and stumble over what they think is an aircraft buried under a rockslide. The smarter one fugures out the craft’s operation and they end up in the far future.
The original premise seemed to have been, like Doctor Who, to use the machine as a framework for lessons in history, though several of the stories involve trips into the future, including the relatively near future. However there is attention paid to the consequences of having access to a time machine, and certain other technologies acquired in the far future².
Oddly, given the emphesis given to the beliefs and creed of the Boy Scouts, the explorers fairly contantly lie to their peers, families and others
The idea of paradoxes and alterations to the timeline are generally avoided; if the explorers actions alter the past, it seems that is the new history. Such alterations never appear to be significant.
Characters.
A few of the stories rather resemble episodes of Doctor Who; for example in the three-part ‘The Time Machine Gets Stuck’ the explorers end up desperately searching for silver wire⁷ to repair the damaged machine.
This is actually one of the more interesting stories, involving a broken time machine, several time periods (1965, 1866, 1847, 1519), messages being left for other time periods, meeting people of out sync (including La Malinche⁸) and similar effects.
The origin of the time machine.
In the four-part story 'Mutiny in the Time Machine' the boys attempt to discover when the time machine ended up under the rockslide and where it came from. This involves a trip back 450 years where they meet a man called Peters (or 'Widgett') who claims to have paid for it's invention by a Professor Zimmer in 2035. Peters is a desperado, a self-admitted pirate who intends to acquire a medicinal herb that can cure the common cold⁹. The third member of the team, the pilot Otto, is dead and Zimmer is stranded in 188910. The explorers disagree about what do do, a mutiny is staged11, and there are multiple jumps through time.
Overall the series is interesting and worth mining for scenario ideas. It could be adapted to a full campaign fairly easily with a small group from the present day having access to a time machine but remaining pretty much at home.
Notes.
1. Renamed Scouts’ Life in 2021 following major changes to the BSA.
2. Including stun guns, anti-gravity packs and ‘ESP pills’. Later medical gear and might-vision glasses are added.
3. His parents are later rescued from one of the satellites of Jupiter. This is one of the few references to space travel in the series.
4. Variously stated to be 4000AD, 5000AD and ‘almost 5000 years in the future’.
5. To win a competition.
6. Initially unnamed, later called Watertown and then Waterton.
7. Rather than mercury.
8. A Nahua woman enslaved by the Spanish conquistadors; acted as interpreter, advisor, and intermediary for the Cortés. A woman whose portrayals vary enormously over the centuries
9. All other diseases having been cured by 2035....
10. Just prior to the Johnstown flood where the collapse of a poorly maintained dam killed 2,200 people.
11. Ignored in later stories.
The Time Machine stories in Boys' Life.
Starting way back in 1959 and continuing (intermittently) until 1989, Boys’ Life¹, the magazine for the American Boy Scout movement, carried a number of time travel short stories written by Keith Monroe and his father Donald, usually under the name ‘Donald Keith’.
About half of the 23 stories were later collected in two books, Mutiny In The Time Machine (published 1963) and The Time Machine To The Rescue (1967). The later stories, of which there are twelve, were never collected. The books are long out of print and even most libraries don’t have copies due to their age. Nor are the available through the Internet Archive. However the magazines have been digitised by Google and the stories are available via Google Books.
- The stories can be accessed via links from ‘planettom’ on their blog on Dreamwidth or from Wikipedia. Both sources also summarise the stories, the former with less detail and no spoilers.
The stories are interesting, in much the same way as the early Doctor Who stories are; very much creations of their time with the attitudes and knowledge of the period.
The basic premise is pretty simple; two boy scouts get lost taking a shortcut and stumble over what they think is an aircraft buried under a rockslide. The smarter one fugures out the craft’s operation and they end up in the far future.
- Despite some of the illustrations the craft is not shaped like a flying saucer; it’s clearly stated to be ‘cigar like’.
The original premise seemed to have been, like Doctor Who, to use the machine as a framework for lessons in history, though several of the stories involve trips into the future, including the relatively near future. However there is attention paid to the consequences of having access to a time machine, and certain other technologies acquired in the far future².
Oddly, given the emphesis given to the beliefs and creed of the Boy Scouts, the explorers fairly contantly lie to their peers, families and others
The idea of paradoxes and alterations to the timeline are generally avoided; if the explorers actions alter the past, it seems that is the new history. Such alterations never appear to be significant.
Characters.
- Bob Tucker, scout patrol leader and narrator. Somewhat self-righteous and a bit stupid.
- Ellsworth "Brains" Baynes (or 'Baines'), a stereotyped ‘brilliant
bookworm’ who operates the time machine. Portrayed as overly impulsive,
opinionated and easily influenced. - Kai Beezee Tentroy, initially an orphan³ from a
future city called Troy and scout, encountered camping in the far
future⁴. Somewhat resembles the classic ‘Grey’ alien, small spindly
body, large toothless head, no hair. - Dion, a teenage boy recruited from ancient Sparta
(~450BCE) to instruct the scout troop in physical education⁵. Impulsive,
a little prone to violence. Camps in the woods outside town⁶. May later
win medals in the 1968 Olympics. - Rodney Carver, an impetuous tenderfoot scout added
to the series in 1965. Described as ‘A Negro’ and the first non-white character in
the patrol. Impulsive and prone to causing problems.
A few of the stories rather resemble episodes of Doctor Who; for example in the three-part ‘The Time Machine Gets Stuck’ the explorers end up desperately searching for silver wire⁷ to repair the damaged machine.
This is actually one of the more interesting stories, involving a broken time machine, several time periods (1965, 1866, 1847, 1519), messages being left for other time periods, meeting people of out sync (including La Malinche⁸) and similar effects.
The origin of the time machine.
In the four-part story 'Mutiny in the Time Machine' the boys attempt to discover when the time machine ended up under the rockslide and where it came from. This involves a trip back 450 years where they meet a man called Peters (or 'Widgett') who claims to have paid for it's invention by a Professor Zimmer in 2035. Peters is a desperado, a self-admitted pirate who intends to acquire a medicinal herb that can cure the common cold⁹. The third member of the team, the pilot Otto, is dead and Zimmer is stranded in 188910. The explorers disagree about what do do, a mutiny is staged11, and there are multiple jumps through time.
- Of course there is no guarantee that the duplicitous Peters was telling the truth about the time machine.
Overall the series is interesting and worth mining for scenario ideas. It could be adapted to a full campaign fairly easily with a small group from the present day having access to a time machine but remaining pretty much at home.
Notes.
1. Renamed Scouts’ Life in 2021 following major changes to the BSA.
2. Including stun guns, anti-gravity packs and ‘ESP pills’. Later medical gear and might-vision glasses are added.
3. His parents are later rescued from one of the satellites of Jupiter. This is one of the few references to space travel in the series.
4. Variously stated to be 4000AD, 5000AD and ‘almost 5000 years in the future’.
5. To win a competition.
6. Initially unnamed, later called Watertown and then Waterton.
7. Rather than mercury.
8. A Nahua woman enslaved by the Spanish conquistadors; acted as interpreter, advisor, and intermediary for the Cortés. A woman whose portrayals vary enormously over the centuries
9. All other diseases having been cured by 2035....
10. Just prior to the Johnstown flood where the collapse of a poorly maintained dam killed 2,200 people.
11. Ignored in later stories.
