Yet, surprisingly little is known about what exactly is in the Archive's vaunted Wayback Machine. Beyond saying it has archived more than 445.

The WABAC Machine or Wayback Machine is a fictional time machine from the segment 'Peabody's Improbable History', a recurring feature of the 1960s cartoon series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.^[1][2] The WABAC Machine is a plot device used to transport the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman back in time to visit important events in human history.

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show[edit]

The WABAC machine was a central element of the 'Peabody's Improbable History' cartoon segment. The machine was invented by Mr. Peabody, a genius, polymath, and bow tie-wearing beagle, as a birthday gift for his adopted pet boy, Sherman. By allowing them to visit famous historical people or events, the WABAC provided educational adventures for Sherman.^[3] At the request of Mr. Peabody ('Sherman, set the WABAC machine to ..'), Shermanwould set the WABAC controls to a time and place of historical importance, and by walking through a doorin the WABAC machine, they would be instantly transported there. Examples of places or people visited arethe Marquess of Queensberry^[4] and the rules of boxing, the imprisonment and memoirs of Casanova,^[5] and Jim Bowie and the Bowie knife.^[6] The machine apparently later returned Mr. Peabody and Sherman to the present, although the return trip was never shown. The segment traditionally ended with a pun.

The WABAC has two main quirks. Firstly, it automatically translates all languages into English for their convenience. Secondly (and more critically), the historical figures and situations that they encounter are distorted in some crucial way. The main focus of the shorts is thus the restoration of historical events to their proper course, albeit in a characteristically frivolous and anachronistic way.

Either of the names WABAC or Wayback are in common usage, with the term 'WAYBACK' explicitly indicated during the segment in which Mr. Peabody and Sherman visit the 'Charge of the Light Brigade'.^[7] The precise meaning of the acronym WABAC is unknown. According to Gerard Baldwin, one of the show's directors, the name 'WABAC' is a reference to the UNIVAC I.^[8] Mid-century, large-sized computers often had names that ended in 'AC' (generally for 'Automatic/Analogue Computer' or similar), such as ENIAC or UNIVAC. The term 'Wayback' suggests the common expression 'way back in [some former time].'

In popular culture[edit]

The concept or term 'Wayback machine' has been adopted in popular culture as a convenient way to introduce issues or events of the past, often employing the original line 'Sherman, set the Wayback machine to ..'. This introduction was used by the character Kevin Flynn in the film Tron, for example.^[9] As in the original cartoon, the Wayback Machine is often invoked to suggest the audience follow the narrator back to the past. Frequently such visits to the past are trips of nostalgia, remembering times, places, or things of the not-so-distant past.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}

Intel and Microsoft have big problems. For the last 8 years, at least, I have heard the INTEL CEO coming with same presentation. We believe it is weakening and probably we will have to review the forecast. I live in London Order Fexofenadine Nothing to do with market or the economy. Market is bad.

One example of popular usage occurred in a 1995 episode of the television show NewsRadio, 'Goofy Ball' (Season 2, Episode 2), in which station owner Jimmy James (Stephen Root) says: 'Dave, don't mess with a man with a Wayback Machine. I can make it so you were never born.'^[17]

The Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive was named after the WABAC.^[18][19]

The WABAC machine is frequently referenced in the Stuff You Should Know podcast when discussing events in the past.^[20]

Mr. Peabody and Sherman film (2014)[edit]

The movie studio DreamWorks Animation announced in 2006^[21] and again in 2012^[22] that they were creating an animated movie entitled Mr. Peabody & Sherman, which was released March 7, 2014. The WABAC machine is a central element to the plot. In the movie, the acronym is revealed to be Wavelength Acceleration Bidirectional Asynchronous Controller (WABAC).

See also[edit]

• Back to the Future (film)

References[edit]

1. ^Scott, Keith (2001). The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN0-312-28383-0.
2. ^Dunne, Michael (2001). Intertextual encounters in American fiction, film, and popular culture. Popular Press. p. 157.
3. ^'Mr. Peabody and Sherman'. Youtube.com. October 1, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
4. ^'Peabody's Improbably History: The Marquis of Queensbury'. Youtube.com. August 26, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
5. ^'Peabody's Improbably History: Casanova'. Youtube.com. August 26, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
6. ^'Peabody's Improbably History: Jim Bowie'. Youtube.com. August 26, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
7. ^'Peabody's Improbably History: Charge of the Light Brigade'. Youtube.com. August 26, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
8. ^Kahle, Brewster (April 24, 2009). 'Wayback Machine comes to life in new home'. Retrieved 2009-08-23. On another note, we got a nice letter from the last living director of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Gerard Baldwin, because he read about the 'fantastic project'. Our Wayback Machine is a tribute to their more cleverly named 'WABAC Machine' which in turn was a reference to the Univac. Sherman and Peabody live on.
9. ^Steven Lisberger, Tron, screenplay, 1982: 'FLYNN (CONT.) (sighs): 'Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for .. oh, 1973.'' The line as Jeff Bridges actually delivered it in the film reads, 'Sherman, set the WABAC machine for .. three years ago.'
10. ^Miller, Ernest (2005-09-24). 'Sherman, Set the Wayback Machine for Scientology'. LawMeme. Yale Law School. Archived from the original(Blog) on 2006-04-24. Retrieved 2007-06-27.
11. ^Robinson, Eugene (September 5, 2006). 'Who Set the Wayback Machine for 1939?'. The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
12. ^Britt, Robert Roy (July 25, 2005). 'The Wayback Machine? Nearby Solar System Looks Like Home'. Space.com. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
13. ^Mallozzi, Vincent M. (April 6, 2007). 'A Jukebox Is a Way-Back Machine With Black Vinyl Wings'. The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
14. ^Smith, Sam (April 26, 2007). 'Condi's way-back machine'. Scholars and Rogues. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
15. ^Clark, Mike (April 12, 2004). 'Wayback machine puts out plenty of time-travel movies'. USA Today. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
16. ^Kurtz, Scott (May 11, 2005). 'PvP – Player vs Player – Set the WABAC machine to Pac-Man'. pvponline.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2005-05-11.
17. ^Memorable quotes for NewsRadio: Goofy Ball (1995) from the Internet Movie Database
18. ^Green, Heather (February 28, 2002). 'A Library as Big as the World'. BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on June 1, 2002. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
19. ^TONG, JUDY (September 8, 2002). 'RESPONSIBLE PARTY – BREWSTER KAHLE; A Library Of the Web, On the Web'. New York Times. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
20. ^'Podcasts'. Stuff You Should Know. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
21. ^Weinberg, Scott (September 16, 2006). 'DreamWorks to Bring 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman' to the Big Screen'. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
22. ^McClintock, Pamela (June 11, 2012). 'Stephen Colbert, Allison Janney Join Voice Cast of 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman''. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2013-08-26.

External links[edit]

The Wayback machine originally referred to a fictional machine from a segment of the cartoon 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show' used to transport Mr. Peabody and Sherman back in time. The term 'Wayback Machine' has been enthusiastically adopted by popular culture as mechanism to suggest transporting one's thoughts back to a historical time and place.

The WABAC machine on 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'

The WABAC (pronounced 'wayback') machine was from the 'Peabody's Improbable History' segment of the early '60's cartoon series 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'. The machine was constructed by Mr. Peabody, a professorial, bow tie-wearing dog, to be able to visit famous historical events. At the request of Mr. Peabody, Sherman, Peabody's 'pet boy' assistant, would set the WABAC machine to a time and place of historical importance, and the two would be instantly transported there. The machine was not exactly a time machine because it only transported backwards in time, hence the name 'Wayback Machine.' The machine apparently later returned Mr. Peabody and Sherman to the present, although the return trip was never shown in the cartoon segment. The machine was little more than a plot device to allow the characters to visit the past.

The name WABAC is a play on computer names such as UNIVAC and ENIAC that were contemporary to the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, and the WABAC machine was similar in size to those early computers.

The Wayback Machine will no doubt be a key component of a new computer animated feature film by DreamWorks Animation featuring Mr. Peabody and Sherman. [cite web
url = http://videoeta.com/news/2127
title = Mr. Peabody and Sherman take the Wayback Machine to the big screen
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last = Briscoe
first = Tim
date = September 15, 2006
format =
work =
publisher = Videoeta.com
cite web
url = http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/dwa/opencms/company/news/news.jsp?nId=905834
title = DreamWorks Animation and Director Rob Minkoff Team Up to Bring 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman' to the Big Screen
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last =
first =
date = September 15, 2006
format =
work =
publisher = DreamWorks Animation]

The Wayback Machine in popular culture

The concept or term 'Wayback Machine' has been extensively adopted in popular culture as a convenient way to introduce issues or events of the past and to suggest the audience follow the narrator back to the past. Frequently such visits to the past are trips of nostalgia, remembering times, places, or things of the not-so-distant past.cite web
url = http://web.archive.org/web/20060424082239/http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=350
title = Sherman, Set the Wayback Machine for Scientology
accessdate = 2007-06-27 last = Miller
first = Ernest
date = 24 September
format = Blog
work = LawMeme
publisher = Yale Law School
cite news
url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090400698.html
title = Who Set the Wayback Machine for 1939?
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last = Robinson
first = Eugene
date = September 5, 2006
format =
work =
publisher = Washington Post
cite web
url = http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050725_dusty_star.html
title = The Wayback Machine? Nearby Solar System Looks Like Home
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last = Britt
first = Robert Roy
date = July 25, 2005
format =
work =
publisher = Space.com
cite news
url = http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/travel/escapes/06Ritual.html
title = A Jukebox Is a Way-Back Machine With Black Vinyl Wings
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last = Mallozzi
first = Vincent M.
date = April 6, 2007
format =
work =
publisher = The New York Times
cite web
url = http://scholarsandrogues.wordpress.com/2007/04/26/condis-way-back-machine/
title = Condi’s way-back machine
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last = Smith
first = Sam
date = April 26, 2007
format =
work =
publisher = Scholars and Rogues
cite news
url = http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2004-04-12-mikes-menu_x.htm
title = Wayback machine puts out plenty of time-travel movies
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last = Clark
first = Mike
date = April 12, 2004
format =
work =
publisher = USA Today
cite web
url = http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070621/COL05/706210351/1009/EDIT
title = Who misses 'Miami Vice' '80s? College kids, of all people
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last = Bronson
first = Peter
date = June 21, 2007
format =
work =
publisher = The Enquirer
cite web
url = http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/fantasy/story/9790116
title = Pitching to be your keepers
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last = Gonos
first = David
date = November 9, 2006
format =
work =
publisher = CBS Sportsline
cite news
url = http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/10/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm
title = Pac Man turns 25: A pizza dinner yields a cultural phenomenon - and millions of dollars in quarters.
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last =Morris
first = Chris
date = May 10, 2005
format =
work =
publisher = CNN Money] Similar to the original Wayback Machine experience, in such visits of nostalgia there is no need to describe the return trip to the present.

Examples

*In the TV show 'NewsRadio' (Goofy Ball (1995)): Station owner Jimmy James (Stephen Root): 'Dave, don't mess with a man with a Wayback Machine. I can make it so you were never born.' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0660190/quotes]
*In the movie Tron (1982): Fired programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges): 'Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for..oh, 1973.' [http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/TRON.html]
*In Law and Order: Criminal Intent ('Legacy', first run Aug. 3, 2008): an extra playing a computer tech uses the 'Wayback Machine,' a reference to archive.org, to find an archive of a students Facebook style website.

Wayback Machine at Internet Archive

The Internet Archive ( [http://www.archive.org archive.org] ) has capitalized on the popular use of the term 'Wayback Machine' and uses this term as the name for the snapshot archives of the World Wide Web. [cite news
url = http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2002/tc20020228_1080.htm
title = A Library as Big as the World: Brewster Kahle has the technology to assemble the ultimate archive of human knowledge. What's stopping him? Restrictive copyright laws
accessdate = 2007-06-25
last = Green
first = Heather
date = February 28, 2002
format =
work =
publisher = Business Week Online] This service allows users to see archived versions of web pages of the past—what the Archive calls a 'three dimensional index'. Not all webpages are available, however, because many website owners voluntarily exclude their sites. The use of the term 'Wayback Machine' in the context of the Internet Archive has become so common that 'Wayback Machine' and 'Internet Archive' are almost synonymous.

ee also

*Mister Peabody
*Time travel
*Time Machine
*List of television series that include time travel
*TARDIS

External links

* [http://www.toonopedia.com/peabody.htm Toonopedia entry on 'Peabody's Improbable History']
* [http://www.timetravelreviews.com/tv_reviews/peabodyandsherman.html Andy's Anachronisms: Time Travel Television Reviews: Peabody's Improbable History]
* [http://www.archive.org/web/web.php The Wayback Machine at archive.org]

References