Time Machine series

The Time Machine series of science fiction stories for young adults, published between 1959 and 1989 in Boys' Life magazine, featured a group of American Boy Scouts who acquire an abandoned time machine. The Polaris Patrol visited the future and the past, sometimes recruiting new Scouts. The stories used the time machine as a framework for history lessons, but also explored the consequences of having a time machine (as well as the various technologies the boys who discovered it obtain from the future).[1]

Time Machine series
Illustration by Charles Hawes for The Day We Explored the Future
OwnerBoys' Life
Created1959

The author was given as Donald Keith for most of the stories, a pseudonym for the father-and-son team of Donald and Keith Monroe. In later years, some stories were credited just to the son, Keith Monroe.[2]

The first story in the series was "The Day We Explored the Future", appearing in the December 1959 Boys' Life on page 18.[3]

Some of the stories were collected in two books: Mutiny in the Time Machine[4] and Time Machine to the Rescue,[5] with Donald Keith listed as the author. All the Time Machine stories are available from Google Books in its collection of Boys' Life issues.

Recurring characters
  • Bob Tucker, patrol leader (often the story narrator)
  • Ellsworth "Brains" Baynes, brilliant bookworm who operates the Machine
  • Kai Beezee Tentroy, recruited from a city called Troy in 4000 A.D.
  • Dion, recruited from ancient Sparta
  • Rodney Carver, an impetuous tenderfoot

Stories in Boys' Life

In the following table, "DK" indicates that the story's author is listed as Donald Keith, while "KM" means attribution to Keith Monroe. Links are to the copies available at Google Books.

IssueTitleAuthorSerial dates
December 1959The Day We Explored the Future. December 1959.DK
February 1960The Time Machine Flies Backwards. February 1960.DK
June 1960How We Got the Mind-Reading Pills. June 1960.DK
July 1960Our Time Machine at the Jamboree. July 1960.DK
October 1961Marco Polo and Our Time Machine. October 1961.DK
February 1962The Time Machine Slips a Cog. February 1962.DK
December 1962Mutiny in the Time Machine Part 1. December 1962.DKDec 1962 to Mar 1963 (4-part serial)
January 1963Mutiny in the Time Machine Part 2. January 1963.DKDec 1962 to Mar 1963 (4-part serial)
February 1963Mutiny in the Time Machine Part 3. February 1963.DKDec 1962 to Mar 1963 (4-part serial)
March 1963Mutiny in the Time Machine Part 4. March 1963.DKDec 1962 to Mar 1963 (4-part serial)
June 1964The Time Machine Cracks a Safe.DK
October 1964Time Machine to the Rescue.DK
February 1965The Time Machine Gets Stuck Part 1.DKFeb 1965 to Apr 1965 (3-part serial)
March 1965The Time Machine Gets Stuck Part 2.DKFeb 1965 to Apr 1965 (3-part serial)
April 1965The Time Machine Gets Stuck Part 3.DKFeb 1965 to Apr 1965 (3-part serial)
April 1967The Time Machine Hunts a Treasure Part 1.DKApr 1967 to Jun 1967 (3-part serial)
May 1967The Time Machine Hunts a Treasure Part 2.DKApr 1967 to Jun 1967 (3-part serial)
June 1967The Time Machine Hunts a Treasure Part 3.DKApr 1967 to Jun 1967 (3-part serial)
December 1968The Dog from the Time Machine.DK
September 1970The Time Machine and the Generation Gap. September 1970.DK
August 1971The King and the Time Machine. August 1971.DK
February 1973The Time Machine Cleans Up. February 1973.DK
August 1973The Time Machine Twins the Jamboree. August 1973.KM
December 1973Santa Claus and the Time Machine. December 1973.DK
November 1974The Time Machine Fights Earthquakes. November 1974.KM
April 1975The Time Machine Saves a Patriot. April 1975.KM
July 1976The Time Machine Kidnaps a Parade. July 1976.KM
September 1988Target Timbuktu. September 1988.KM
February 1989Why We Kidnapped our Scoutmaster. February 1989.KM
September 1989A Pirate took our Time Machine. September 1989.KM

See also

References
  1. "The Time Machine stories in Boys' Life, 1959-1989". Planettom (blog). March 4, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2011. Includes synopses of the stories.
  2. Higgins, William S. (March 14, 2010). "Part 1: Donald Keith's Time Machine stories". Paging through Boys' Life. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
  3. Keith, Donald (December 1959). The Day We Explored the Future. Boys' Life. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  4. Monroe, Donald; Monroe, Keith (1963). Mutiny in the Time Machine. Random House.
  5. Monroe, Donald; Monroe, Keith (1967). Time Machine to the Rescue. illustrated by Albert Orbaan. Putnam.
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