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Time travel comic

In a Star Trek and DC Comics crossover comic that came out today, there is this image featuring various time travel and dimensional travel devices from tons of different movies/tv shows/etc. My friends and I on another forum site are trying to name them all. This is the most recently-updated labeling we have done. We now know that the little space ship with the spherical cockpit is from a Star Trek episode. The purple sphere on the balcony is NOT one of the devices. The ones we are stuck on are: the two items on the pedestals next to the Pocketwatch, the ramp-like object next to the pedestals, and that muddy pool under the balcony. Can anyone help out?

UPDATE: The two items on the pedestals have been identified as "Atavachron and Data Disk" from an episode of the original Star Trek series. I mentioned the ramp-shaped Time Pod in error as it had already been identified. That just leaves the pesky mud puddle... ALso, does anyone think the two empty pedestals next to the Time Sphere have any significance?

enter image description here

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26
  • 6
    Kudos for having done so much identification already!
    – user1027
    Feb 15, 2012 at 19:32
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    The spherical cockpit one isn't really a time travel device. It's from The Alternative Factor from ST:TOS, and it is used to go into an alternate universe.
    – Tango
    Feb 15, 2012 at 19:34
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    Could you post a bigger close up on the items on the pedestals? It's really hard to make them out.
    – Tango
    Feb 15, 2012 at 19:35
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    Thank God this had nothing to do with robots! ;)
    – gnovice
    Feb 15, 2012 at 19:41
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    @eidylon, shawn -- the muddy pool.. Possibly the entrance to The Cave of Time? (first of the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books). Or possibly an enlarged version of The Time Pool from DC Comics? (dc.wikia.com/wiki/Time_Pool)
    – K-H-W
    Feb 15, 2012 at 20:08

6 Answers 6

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I've found an updated labelled image from 4Chan. As you can see, they're broadly in agreement on everything but the glowing puddle which they've labelled as a "Future DC Plot Device"

I asked Jeff Moy (the original comic-book artist for the picture above) for a Word of God answer regarding the puddle. It seems that it was originally going to be the Guardian of Forever's plinth until he ran into licensing issues.

"I originally had the Guardian of Forever in that spot, but was asked to remove it by IDW, because I guess Harlan Ellison would rise from his grave and throttle me"

The plinth was then replaced by a non-descript pool of water resembling the pool from Ranma 1/2

"...to answer your question, the pool is just a pool. Maybe I was thinking it could be a pool from Ranma 1/2, but those usually just change the person and isn't a time portal..."

To explain the empty pillars they've added the 'Vortex manipulator' from the Doctor Who which they've labelled as "currently in use" (by River Song).

The other empty pedestal contains 'The Power of Q' which was used by Flint/Vandal Savage (AKA Vandar the Stone) to change the timeline in the DC Crossover 'Star Trek - Legion of Super-Heroes"

enter image description here

Note that the pool is missing from the original pencil sketch which has the "Guardian of Forever" in the same space;

enter image description here

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    Excellent job finding the original pencil sketch and I would vote LotL too for the pit. Either way this was a great answer to a great question. As goofy as this series was I loved it! They also did a Trek/Doctor Who crossover and it's well worth reading, if only to see the 4th Doctor banter with Kirk and Spock =]
    – 22nd Century Fza
    Jan 18, 2014 at 8:24
  • I think Harlan Ellison is still alive. Which is actually worse - he's more likely to sue you than haunt you.
    – Joe L.
    Sep 18, 2014 at 23:18
  • @JoeL. - I'm unsure why/how they felt they could use everything else apart from that.
    – Valorum
    Sep 19, 2014 at 6:07
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I don't think it is a puddle. I think it is the Guardian of Forever from The City on the Edge of Forever.

Guardian of Forever

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  • Nope. Word of god says that it isn't.
    – Valorum
    Nov 17, 2014 at 20:05
  • @Richard: what?
    – Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE
    Nov 17, 2014 at 20:13
  • The guy who drew it says that it isn't the Guardian; blogger.com/…
    – Valorum
    Nov 17, 2014 at 20:18
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    @Richard: great link, could be used for an answer. Now I understand your comment. But I don't think it is worth a downvote, it was originally the Guardian.
    – Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE
    Nov 17, 2014 at 21:04
  • I've downvoted because your answer is (at present) "not useful".
    – Valorum
    Nov 17, 2014 at 21:06
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I think the 'glowing puddle' might be the pool from The Magician's Nephew.

It's pictured here on the dustcover of a reprint edition;

enter image description here

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12
  • Which of the devices is that and how can you support that guess? (e.g. include a picture from comics please)
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Jan 16, 2014 at 20:42
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    No worries. For the record I'm pretty sure you're wrong. The portals in Narnia were spatial, not temporal.
    – Valorum
    Jan 18, 2014 at 8:52
  • The question says "various time travel and dimensional travel devices". I'm content that the pools were not devices, but they were 'dimensional' travel - not spatial but to different worlds. They also only worked if you had the rings so I would expect the rings to be somewhere. So, probably not this, but could be.
    – Julian
    Jan 18, 2014 at 16:08
  • Oh - and for the record, you can't have a (useful) time machine that doesn't do space travel. At the very least you have to go to where the planet has moved to.
    – Julian
    Jan 18, 2014 at 16:13
  • The stargate isn't a time-travel device, either.
    – Joe L.
    Sep 18, 2014 at 23:23
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The orientation doesn't look right for the Guardian of Forever (the item looks horizontal and fairly two-dimensional.) Someone on another messageboard suggested it was the "heart of the island" from the TV show LOST, but it doesn't look quite right for that either, at least to me.

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  • Nope. It's not.
    – Valorum
    Nov 17, 2014 at 20:06
-1

the time pool that the Atom (Ray Palmer) used to use sometimes ?

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    Which of the devices is that and how can you support that guess? (e.g. include a picture from comics please(
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Jan 16, 2014 at 18:39
  • That's a good guess but I couldn't find an image of it anywhere. I did find this definition in the DC Database which would suggest the size of the pit in the image is too large: The Time Pool is an invention of Ivy Town University Professor Alpheus Hyatt. It is a small portal that serves as a gateway through time. Because of its size, only small objects can pass through it. Ray Palmer a.k.a. the Atom is small enough and has used the Time Pool to travel through time on numerous occasions.
    – 22nd Century Fza
    Jan 18, 2014 at 8:28
  • Nope. Wrong, I'm afraid
    – Valorum
    Nov 17, 2014 at 20:06
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I think the Time Sphere you have is actually from the Terminator Films.

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    I disagree, the appearance of the Time Spheres in the Terminator films isn't established, we just see the time travelers arrive in those films. That Time Sphere in the image is a standard DC Comics Time Sphere.
    – user1027
    Sep 8, 2012 at 4:07
  • I'm pretty sure you're wrong. On the picture (above) the sphere has a silver band with writing on it and a silver base - images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120531230852/…
    – Valorum
    Jan 1, 2014 at 12:43

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