The Technicolor Time Machine
Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author	Harry Harrison
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	1967
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	190 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-8125-3970-2 (1985 Tor Books edition)

The Technicolor Time Machine is a 1967 science fiction novel by Harry Harrison. For the radio personality see Harry Harrison (radio. Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, March 12 1925 The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view The Doubleday Publishing Group is the fifth largest Book Publishing company in the world A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a Book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with Cloth Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. Tor Books is one of two Imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC based in New York City Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. For the radio personality see Harry Harrison (radio. Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, March 12 1925 It is a comedy, a time-travel story, and a satire on Hollywood. This article details time travel itself For other uses see Time Traveler. Like many time-travel stories, there is a paradoxical twist ending. A twist ending or surprise ending is an unexpected conclusion or climax to a work of Fiction, and which often contains Irony or causes the The story first appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine in March 1967, under the title "The Time Machined Saga". Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American Science fiction Magazine.

Plot Introduction

The narrative revolves around the efforts of a mediocre film director to save his job, his livelihood and just incidentally the studio he works for. To do this, he enlists a mad scientist, the crooked studio owner, a jazz tuba player, a cowboy, two fabulously stupid movie stars, and a real live ocean-crossing Viking. Mediatubaogg -->The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched Brass instrument. A Viking is one of the Norse ( Scandinavian Explorers Warriors Merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas He ends up making history, but in a way he never dreamed of.

Plot summary

Barney Hendrickson is a mediocre movie-maker with no prospects, and his employer, Climactic Studios, is about to go out of business, particularly as the owner, L M Greenspan has systematically looted the corporation. In a final throw of the dice, he drags Greenspan to see Prof. Hewitt, who claims to have a time machine. Hewitt's idea of a demonstration is not Greenspan's, sending a bottle half a second into the past. Barney desperately takes over the machine, turns everything up to maximum and sends Greenspan's Cuban cigar three seconds into the future, burning out the circuitry in the process.

"L M" is convinced enough to finance a replacement, under cover of a mad scientist's device for a horror movie. Barney aims to make a historical movie in the past, with a minimal crew, only a few actors, and all the other parts filled by extras recruited (hopefully for wampum and beads) from the people he finds. His first script is "Viking Columbus", about the founding of the Vinland settlement. Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the Norseman Leifr Eiríksson, about the year A

On the first trip, they capture a Viking named Ottar in Orkney of the 11th century. Orkney (also known as the Orkney Islands or incorrectly the Orkneys) is an Archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles (16 km north With Ottar as local guide and interpreter, paid in bottles of Jack Daniel's, they move an entire sound stage into the past and begin filming. Jack Daniel's is a brand of Tennessee whiskey which is among the world's best-selling liquors and is known for its square bottles and black label Their stars are Ruf Hawk, a narcissistic he-man, and Slithey Tove, a sex goddess. Slithey Tove being a reference to a line from Jaberwocky. " Jabberwocky " is a Poem of Nonsense verse written by Lewis Carroll, originally featured as a part of his novel Through the Looking-Glass

In the present the auditors from the bank are arriving in a few days, at which time the game will be up. Also, Prof. Hewitt explains that the time machine must return to the present, a moment after departing, before going to any other time. As a consequence, time used in the present day is lost forever. Barney thinks he can stay in the past as long as necessary, but first Ruf backs out and has to be returned. Then the time machine itself breaks down in the present day, taking hours to repair.

Improvising desperately, Barney casts Ottar in the lead and resolves to stay in the past until all is done. They film Ottar setting sail for Vinland with an actual colonising crew, then the movie people jump, via present day Hollywood, to Newfoundland a few months later, tracking Ottar by a radio beacon on his boat. While waiting, they have a nasty encounter with the natives, whom the Vikings will call skraelings. Skræling (plural skrælingjar) is the name the Norse Greenlanders gave to the Thule people they encountered in Greenland and perhaps to

Ottar hits the beach and digs in while the cameras roll, then the crew jumps forward a year to give the colonists time to build the settlement and stockade. They learn that Slithey, who had become smitten with Ottar, had been left behind by accident. Not only that, she has Ottar's baby son on her hip.

They continue filming, even during a mass attack by skraelings, which is repelled with tear gas and Viking axes. Shooting the final scenes, Barney is triumphant - and downcast. Even with all the film shot, he still has to do a soundtrack, dub the spoken lines, and edit the final cut. There is no time in the future to do this, and no equipment in the past. All seems lost.

Barney is all set to walk into Greenspan's office empty handed, when he gets a surprise visitor - himself. He takes in the film he has given himself, makes the film, and goes back in time to deliver it to himself.

Coda

Cover of first paperback edition (Berkley Books, 1968). Berkley Books is a Paperback Imprint of Penguin Group (USA that began as an independent company in 1955.

With the movie a smash hit, Climactic's future is assured. Only one puzzle remains. The Vikings went to Vinland, but where did the real settlers land? The Norse sagas say that the expedition was led by Thorfinn Karlsefni, but there was no sign of him. Thorfinn Karlsefni (Thorfinnr Thordarson ( Old Norse: Þorfinnr Karlsefni, Icelandic: Þorfinnur Karlsefni) was an Icelandic explorer Then Ottar, overhearing, reveals that his formal name is indeed Thorfinn Karlsefni. Shocked, Barney and Hewitt realize that the colony was founded because they decided to make a movie about founding the colony. Not only that, but the sagas mention another important figure, Bjarni Herjólfsson. Bjarni Herjólfsson ( fl 10th century) was a Norwegian explorer who is the first known European discoverer of the mainland of the Americas Barney Hendrickson realizes: "They wrote a part for me!"

The novel ends with Greenspan planning to produce a historical film about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, shot on location in 1st Century Judea, while a horrified Barney tries to talk him out of it. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) Judea or Judæa ( Hebrew: יהודה Standard Yəhuda Tiberian Yəhûḏāh, "praised

Grandfather paradox

This novel presents a clear use of the restricted action resolution of the Grandfather paradox. This article refers to the Time travel paradox In novels based on the television series Doctor Who, "Grandfather Paradox" is the semi-mythical The actions of the characters can not have changed the past because the past is what their actions brought about.

External links

• "The Time Machined Saga" publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• "The Technicolor Time Machine" publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database