Time‐Traveling Tourist

An Accidental Historian

The time‐traveling tourist is a specific and often comedic type of time traveler. Unlike the grim soldier sent to alter a future war or the dedicated scientist on a mission of research, the tourist travels through time with no grand purpose. They are either accidental travelers, flung through time by a malfunctioning machine, or they are genuine tourists motivated by curiosity and a desire for adventure. Their defining characteristic is their ‘fish-out-of-water’ status. They are modern people, with modern sensibilities and knowledge, who are completely unprepared for the realities of the past or the future they find themselves in.

This archetype is a perfect engine for comedy and adventure. The humor comes from the clash between their modern perspective and the customs of the era they are visiting. Their story is often a cautionary tale about the dangers of altering the past. The central conflict usually arises from a simple mistake: they inadvertently change a key historical event or interfere in their own family’s past, creating a paradox that they must then race against time to fix. The primary rule of their journey is ‘don’t interfere,’ a rule they almost always break, leading to chaotic and entertaining consequences.

Famous Travelers of Time

This archetype is a beloved staple of science fiction comedy, responsible for some of cinema’s most iconic films.

• Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy is the quintessential time-traveling tourist. He is an ordinary 1980s teenager who is accidentally sent back to the 1950s. His main goal is not to study history, but simply to get back to his own time without accidentally erasing himself from existence after he disrupts his parents’ first meeting.
• Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) are perhaps the most literal tourists. They use a time machine to travel through history, collecting historical figures like souvenirs to help them pass their high school history report. Their journey is one of pure, joyful, and often anachronistic discovery.
• Austin Powers in the Austin Powers series is a spy frozen in the 1960s and thawed out in the 1990s. While not a traditional time traveler, he functions as a ‘tourist’ in a future he doesn’t understand, generating comedy from the clash between his ‘swinging sixties’ sensibilities and the politically correct 90s.