Not one of his best works, but still worth a read.

That’s _Let’s Go to Golgotha_, by G. Kilworth

Talking of “Behold the Man”, I once read a short story exploring a similar theme but can’t remember the title or author.

Basically, a time-travel agency sends time tourists back to watch Jesus’s execution. They are told to blend into the watching crowd by acting as they do - by throwing stones at Jesus as he stumbles by carrying his cross and yelling insults at him.

The twist is that one of the time-tourists suddenly realises that the entire howling, jeering crowd is made up entirely of other time-tourists.

Any idea who wrote it?

Time travel fans should note that Cineworld on Parnell Street, Dublin 1, is showing Back to the Future at 6 and 8.50 on Monday in the “monthly classic screening” slot.

So how was it? Were you all laughin’ like ’twas 1985?

I’m going to go back to 1985 and see it on it’s original release.

Been there, done that. Bought the lunchbox.

If you are going back though, take a trip down to Burgerland, Limerick and get me a milkshake (and some of their “Kiddie Meal” toys).

copernicus, thanks for making those of us who live outside the big shmoke jealous.

Remember to laugh at “Please excuse the crudity of this model. I didn’t have time to paint it or build it to scale”.

I’ve booked myself in for the 6 p.m show.

I’m happy to forego detailed mechanics if it frees the narrative up, allowing it to get to the real thematic meat of the tale. After all, intricate discussions of mechanics can lead to the “dark side” of technobabble (although I guess you could describe technobabble as a lazily-articulated engagement with complex and interesting ideas).

The notion of technologies “barely worthy of comment” is not one readily embraced by most mainstream sci-fi movies, where technophobe characters often stand in (improbably) for “us” - reacting with distain or bewilderment to the marvels around them.

Rewatching it with adult eyes was a surprisingly happy experience. It’s not bad at all, which is more than you can say for most fondly-remembered childhood faves. It may even be on DVD now so seek it out.

Some time travel stories which stick in the brain from childhood. Provenance unknown. A man travels back in time to hunt dinos, the day after an election where facists are narrowly defeated. He steps on a butterfly. Returns to find facists have won and the letter c has been less favoured than the letter k.

Simon, you’re referring (in the first case) to Ray Bradbury’s much imitated and parodied (by The Simpsons et al) “A Sound of Thunder”. My favourite adaptation is the EC comics one which is (like most of their Bradbury stories) well worth seeking out.

Not so sure about the second tale, although the frozen bomb dilemma was used to good(ish) effect in “A Little Peace and Quiet “, a fairly entertaining episode from the 1985 remake of The Twilight Zone.

They were terrible. I watched them anyway.

Some books in my library marked time machine- Moondial. A Tale of Time City (good on mechanics of keeping track of a plot running across time)
Another Fine Mess (like the Tardis, mostly used as a way of zapping us into another world- 1500s London)

Some time travel stories which stick in the brain from childhood. Provenance unknown. A man travels back in time to hunt dinos, the day after an election where facists are narrowly defeated. He steps on a butterfly. Returns to find facists have won and the letter c has been less favoured than the letter k. (This is a classic sign your parallel universe is a wrong ‘un, by the way. If you ever find yourself in Amerika, flee at once to a country with no c in its name.)

A master thief is hired to steal the greatest works of art, all in a morning. This is possible because he is given a gizmo that can stop time. His mysterious employers also tell him that he can steal all the money he likes. He does so. It turns out that he is in a quandry. On delivery of the art, his mysterious employer reveals she is an alien from the future. She has come to save some remnent of humanity’s culture. At the moment he had turned the gizmo on, a new bomb had been tested. If he turns if off he faces instant death along with all. She pushes off to the alien future with the Venus de Milo, leaving our thief, interrupted.