FANGORIA 2010 MACHINE/ "Steampunk" Time-Machines

After seeing my friend Peter's Halloween concept, a friend of mine sent me a link to this which I thought you all would find interesting and fun!

This group of people in England made a Halloween attraction in their garage. IT"S GREAT!

FIRST, WATCH THIS:

(Note: If it doesn't fit, double click on the movie and it will take you to the video posted on YouTube.)



THEN, WATCH THIS (the engineers view):




WOW! GREAT JOB, GUYS!!!

(I like how when they go way into the future, the whole earth is covered in water due to the global warming/melting of the ice caps.)

I always used to call this genre "Jules Verne-style" but I guess the "official"/commonly used term fot it is "steampunk".

WHAT IS "STEAMPUNK"?

According to Wikipedia, the term "steampunk" was coined by a science fiction writer K.W. Jeter in an effort to find a general term for the works that were being written about in the mid 1980's/early 90's with regards to science fiction stories that took place during the Victorain-era (1837-1901).

The style would be derived from how people of that time would have envisioned such machines/devices. Most of these devices were operated via steam power (like a steam locomotive) because that would have been the greatest source of power available to them during that period with a brief introduction to electricity.

Examples of this can bee seen in 'The Wild Wild West' in both the film version (1999) and the television series that ran from 1965-69.



The machines and devices were built of riveted steel and brass but were fashioned with an elegant and ornate feel as opposed to the "grungy" post-modern industrial style depicted in such films as 'Blade Runner' (1982) and 'Alien' (1979).

One of the earliest depictions of Victorian-era science fiction would be the French film, 'A Trip to the Moon' (1902).



Since then, the more popular depictions of Victorian-era inspired time traveling/science fiction devices have been Harper Goff's design for the "Nautilus" from Disney's '20,000 leagues Under The Sea' (1954).



"The Time Machine" from George Pal's 1960 film based upon H.G. Wells' novel.




The inside of the Fangoria Machine and my friend's steampunk drill/Halloween project is reminiscent of the one in 'At The Earth's Core (1976) starring Peter Cushing (after watching it, its hard to believe that he was Grand Moff Tarkin!)



Then there's the time machine form the Nicholas Meyer's film, 'Time After Time' (1979).




and the "Omni" from the (1982-83) television series, 'Voyagers!'



I have to admit, 'Voyagers!' was/is a guilty pleasure of mine. I remember in the episode "The Trial of Phineas Bogg", The time-traveling Voyager, Phineas Bogg is called back to home to stand trial for breaking the Voyager code and the villainous prosecutor, Drake had his own "pimped-out" Omni made of silver which was unique and untraceable.



(a SILVER Omni?! Whoah! How cool is that! --I was 12 yrs. old.)

Drake was eventually discovered to be obstructing justice and fled only to go back in time and be hunted as being "Jack The Ripper" and...

oops...'guess I'm "geeking out". 'better go...

(but first let me leave you with this cool picture I found of the DeLorean time machine from 'Back To The Future')



Alright, now BACK TO WORK!!!