The Technicolor Time Machine is a 1967 science fiction novel by American writer Harry Harrison. It is a time travel story with comedic elements, which satirizes Hollywood. The story first appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine, where it was serialized in three parts in the March–May 1967 issues, under the title "The Time-Machined Saga." Plot introduction The narrative revolves around the efforts of a mediocre film director to save his job, his livelihood and, incidentally, the studio he works for. To do this, he enlists a mad scientist, the crooked studio owner, a jazz tuba player, a cowboy, two fabulously stupid movie stars, and a real live ocean-crossing Viking. He ends up making history, but in a way he never dreamed of. Plot summary Barney Hendrickson is a mediocre movie-maker with no prospects, and his employer, Climactic Studios, is about to go out of business, particularly as the owner, L. M. Greenspan, has systematically looted the corporation. In desperation, Hendrickson drags Greenspan to see Professor Hewitt, who claims to have a time machine. Hewitt's idea of a demonstration, sending a bottle seven microseconds into the past, doesn't impress Greenspan. Hendrickson takes over the machine, turns everything up to maximum, and sends Greenspan's Cuban cigar three seconds into the future, burning out the circuitry in the process. Greenspan is convinced enough to finance a replacement, under cover of a mad scientist's plot device for a horror movie. Hendrickson aims to make a historical movie in the past, with a minimal crew, a handful of actors, and all the other parts filled by extras recruited (hopefully for wampum and beads) from the local people. His first script is Viking Columbus, about the founding of the Vinland settlement, obtained by sending Chinese-American scriptwriter Charley Chang back to a barren Devonian Catalina Island for a month. On the first trip, they capture a Viking named Ottar in Orkney of the 11th century. With Ottar as local guide and interpreter, paid in bottles of Jack Daniel's, they move an entire sound stage into the past and begin filming. Their stars are Ruf Hawk, a narcissistic he-man, and Slithey Tove, a sex goddess. In the present the auditors from the bank are arriving in a few days, at which point they will discover the cooked books. Also, Hewitt explains that the time machine must return to the present, a moment after departing, before going