Time travel remains a fantasy since we can't actually step into a blue police box or a DeLorean to journey into the fourth dimension.
However, last Thursday, we could imagine ourselves as a time traveller who ended up in bustling Bangkok in December 2022.
Since 2007, Dec 8 is known as "Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day". It was initiated by Aaron Diaz, the creator of the webcomic Dresden Codak, whose main character Kimiko Ross and its Hob storyline are about the consequences of time travel.
On this special day, people can have fun imagining themselves coming from the past or future and landing in the present.
Dressing up in the era's fashion is a part of the role play. The wannabe time travellers have to spend the entire day in costume and fulfil their character.
Moreover, they have to be dumb or terrified about current technology and other matters. Coming from the future requires more wacky costumes and being a bit crazier in greeting strangers on the streets.
In Thailand, people may not be aware of Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day and will have to celebrate the time-hopping next year.
Time travel is a fixture in science fiction, and H.G. Wells sends his Victorian English inventor as far as 802,701 AD to observe the future of the human race in The Time Machine published in 1895.
The transport vehicles come to life in two feature films adapted from the novel, released in 1960 and 2002. The latter beautifully reinterprets the time machine with swirling rotary blades and extravagant bronze piping.
In contrast, the DeLorean is a two-passenger sports car with futuristic wing doors and flux capacitor, featured in the Back To The Future movies. Revving to 88mph initiates time travel, taking scientist Doc Brown and teenager Marty McFly on thrilling adventures to disrupt the past.
The most iconic time machine on television is the blue police box in Doctor Who, which is actually the Tardis (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space). Also functioning as a spacecraft, the Tardis is engineered on the fictional planet Gallifrey, which is home to the humanoid Time Lords.
BBC's long-running science-fiction series premiered in 1963, with William Hartnell cast as the original Doctor.
As Time Lords have regenerative abilities, the Doctor can transform into a new physical form with a different personality.
Many actors have played the protagonist, and it's a pity that the only female and 13th Doctor, portrayed by Jodie Whittaker, faced her final battle on Oct 23.
The episode titled The Power Of The Doctor saw her regenerating into a familiar face as David Tennant, the 10th Doctor from 2005 until 2010, surprisingly made a comeback.
The Scottish actor resumes his role in next year's 60th-anniversary special of Doctor Who before passing the baton to Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa.
The 14th and 15th reincarnations, Tennant and Gatwa have already appeared in the Doctor Who Returns 2023 teaser, which gives a glimpse of the TV show's new era.
In the late 19th century, H.G Wells spurred dreams of time travel. Many scientific theories suggest it is possible, but in the 21st century, we still cannot blast into the past or explore the future.
Even if we could, like how the ad of The Time Machine (2002) asks: "Where would you go?"
Kanokporn Chanasongkram is a feature writer for the Bangkok Post's Life section.
