No Time Like the Past
- Episode aired Mar 7, 1963
- TV-PG
- 51m
A scientist attempts to use a time machine to prevent tragedies, both in world history and in his own past.A scientist attempts to use a time machine to prevent tragedies, both in world history and in his own past.A scientist attempts to use a time machine to prevent tragedies, both in world history and in his own past.
- Bartender
- (as Lindsay Workman)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Fire Spectator Restraining Driscoll
- (uncredited)
- Lusitania Steward
- (uncredited)
- Man Hearing of Garfield
- (uncredited)
- Narrator
- (uncredited)
- …
- Man at Dining Room Table
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe small town set is the same as that used in A Stop at Willoughby (1960).
- GoofsThe U-boat that launches the torpedo at the RMS Lusitania has a spinning sonar mast, unlikely for a submarine in 1915. Obviously it is stock footage of more contemporary vintage to 1963.
- Quotes
Hanford: [at dinner] ... So what are your world views, Driscoll?
Paul Driscoll: ...I don't have any, Mr. Hanford.
Hanford: Of course you do, man. We ALL do! Like all this nonsense about giving the Indians land. What we need are twenty General Custers and a hundred thousand men! What we should have done is swept across the prairie, destroying every redskin that stood before us. Then we should have planted the American flag deep, high, and proud!
Abigail Sloan: I think the country is tired of fighting, Mr. Hanford. I think we were bled dry by the Indian Wars. I think anything we can accomplish peacefully, with treaties, we should... so long as it saves lives.
Hanford: Now, I trust this isn't the path you spoon-feed your students. Treaties, indeed! Peace, indeed! Why, the virility of a nation is in direct proportion to its military prowess. I *live* for the day when this country SWEEPS AWAY...
[notices Driscoll's disapproving look]
Hanford: ... You some kind of a pacifist, Driscoll?
Paul Driscoll: No, just some sick idiot who's seen too many boys die because of too many men who fight their battles at dining room tables... and who probably wouldn't last so long as twenty-five seconds in a REAL skirmish if they WERE thrust into it.
Hanford: ...I take offense at that remark, Mr. Driscoll!
Paul Driscoll: And I take offense at "armchair warriors" like yourself - who clearly don't know what a shrapnel, or a bullet, or a saber wound feels like... or what death smells like after three days on an empty, sun-drenched battlefield... who've never seen the look on a man's face when he realizes he's lost a limb, and his blood is seeping out. Mr. Hanford, you have a great enthusiasm for "planting the American flag deep, high, and proud." But you don't have a nodding acquaintance with what it's like for American families to bury their sons in the same soil!
- ConnectionsFeatured in Twilight-Tober-Zone: No Time Like the Past (2023)
The latter part where Paul attempts an escape from the 20th century in picturesque 1881 Homeville lift the episode above average. It has notably better dialogue, especially the dinner table confrontation between world weary Paul and the jingoistic Mr Hanford. It mostly concerns the romance with Abby, culminating in the tear jerking scene where a hurt Abby reproaches Paul "we'll leave it at that then" after he's made it clear, without explaining why, that they cannot get together. Call me a soppy romantic but it made me exasperatedly cry: don't be such a clot, you won't find anyone better. Patricia Breslin looks more elegant with hair up in 19th century style than her usual 60s pageboy cut, indeed she's probably never looked nicer.
- midbrowcontrarian
- Aug 22, 2021
Details
- Runtime51 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1