Wayback Machine (Peabody's Improbable History) Explained

The Wayback Machine or WABAC 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. The Wayback 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 term has acquired popular usage as a way to introduce events or things from the past.

The Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive was named after the Wayback machine from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon.

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

In the 1960s cartoon series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, the Wayback machine was a central element of the "Peabody's Improbable History" cartoon segment.[1] [2] 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 Wayback provided educational adventures for Sherman.[3] At the request of Mr. Peabody ("Sherman, set the Wayback machine to..."), Sherman would set the Wayback controls to a time and place of historical importance, and by walking through a door in the Wayback 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 Wayback 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 Wayback or WABAC 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

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...". For example, this introduction was used by the character Kevin Flynn in the film Tron.[9] Another example 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".[10] 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.[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

The Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive was named after Peabody and Sherman's Wayback.[17] [18]

Mr. Peabody and Sherman film (2014)

An animated film based on the original Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon entitled Mr. Peabody & Sherman was released by the movie studio DreamWorks Animation on March 7, 2014.[19] [20] The WABAC machine was a central element to the plot. In the movie, the acronym WABAC was revealed to stand for Wavelength Acceleration Bidirectional Asynchronous Controller.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Scott , Keith . St. Martin's Press. New York. The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose. 2001. 0-312-28383-0.
  2. Book: Dunne , Michael . Intertextual encounters in American fiction, film, and popular culture. 2001. Popular Press. 157. 9780879728472.
  3. Web site: Mr. Peabody and Sherman. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/Kkqn7O1lHFI . December 21, 2021 . live. Youtube.com. October 1, 2012. October 1, 2012.
  4. Web site: Peabody's Improbably History: The Marquis of Queensbury. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/6DgLEDICYkU . December 21, 2021 . live. Youtube.com. August 26, 2013. August 26, 2013.
  5. Web site: Peabody's Improbably History: Casanova. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/N1deDQtXcDI . December 21, 2021 . live. Youtube.com. August 26, 2013. August 26, 2013.
  6. Web site: Peabody's Improbably History: Jim Bowie. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/h64sI3Tad8U . December 21, 2021 . live. Youtube.com. August 26, 2013. August 26, 2013.
  7. Web site: Peabody's Improbably History: Charge of the Light Brigade. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/u25-sU2ml8U . December 21, 2021 . live. Youtube.com. August 26, 2013. August 26, 2013.
  8. Web site: Wayback Machine comes to life in new home. Kahle . Brewster. Brewster Kahle. April 24, 2009. August 23, 2009. 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 Wayback machine for... three years ago."
  10. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0660190/quotes Memorable quotes for NewsRadio: Goofy Ball (1995)
  11. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20060424082239/http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=350. April 24, 2006. Sherman, Set the Wayback Machine for Scientology. June 27, 2007. Miller . Ernest. September 24, 2005. Blog. LawMeme. Yale Law School.
  12. News: Who Set the Wayback Machine for 1939?. June 25, 2007. Robinson . Eugene. September 5, 2006. The Washington Post.
  13. Web site: The Wayback Machine? Nearby Solar System Looks Like Home. June 25, 2007. Britt . Robert Roy. July 25, 2005. Space.com.
  14. News: A Jukebox Is a Way-Back Machine With Black Vinyl Wings. June 25, 2007. Mallozzi . Vincent M.. April 6, 2007. The New York Times.
  15. News: Wayback machine puts out plenty of time-travel movies. June 25, 2007. Clark. Mike. April 12, 2004. USA Today.
  16. Web site: PvP – Player vs Player – Set the WABAC machine to Pac-Man. https://web.archive.org/web/20071204182201/http://www.pvponline.com/2005/05/11/wed-may-11/. December 4, 2007. May 11, 2005. Kurtz . Scott. May 11, 2005. pvponline.com.
  17. News: Heather . Green . A Library as Big as the World . . February 28, 2002 . July 29, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20020601134105/http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2002/tc20020228_1080.htm . June 1, 2002 . dead .
  18. News: TONG. JUDY. RESPONSIBLE PARTY – BREWSTER KAHLE; A Library Of the Web, On the Web. August 15, 2011. New York Times. September 8, 2002.
  19. Web site: Stephen Colbert, Allison Janney Join Voice Cast of 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman'. McClintock. Pamela. The Hollywood Reporter. June 11, 2012. August 26, 2013.
  20. DreamWorks Animation. Ty Burrell & Max Charles Take On Lead Roles in Dreamworks Animation's Mr. Peabody & Sherman in 2014. PR Newswire. April 17, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20120319020831/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ty-burrell--max-charles-take-on-lead-roles-in-dreamworks-animations-mr-peabody--sherman-in-2014-142917265.html. March 19, 2012. March 16, 2012. live.

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