Animation is as old as cinema itself. Some of the earliest filmmakers used techniques like stop-motion and cel animation to create amusing short films that had people rolling in the aisles. Nowadays, animated features regularly achieve blockbuster status, wowing critics and thrilling audiences alike with their unique blend of imagination and creative flair.

So how did we get from there to here? To answer this question we need a time machine. Luckily I have one to hand!

Every month, the Animation Time Machine whizzes 100 years into the past. Programmed to scan all the film journals of the day, it returns to the present with all the news from the world of animation as it happened exactly a century ago. All that remains is for me to write a monthly column based on the nuggets of gold that the Animation Time Machine has panned from the river of cinematic time.

You can read my “Animation Time Machine” columns month by month at Animation Magazine. Think of it as a way to track the evolution of animation in real-time … precisely 100 years in the past! Below you’ll find links to every column published so far, in chronological order.

Animation Time Machine 1923

• November 1924 – An Exclusive Interview with Max Fleischer
• December 1924 – Colonel Heeza Liar Goes Bananas

Animation Time Machine 1924

• January 1924 – The Silhouette Films of Lotte Reiniger
• February 1924 – What did America Make of Wladyslaw Starewicz?
• March 1924 – Clash of the Titans: Walt Disney vs Paul Terry
• April 1924 – Felix the Cat Conquers Europe
• May 1924 – Earl Hurd and the Mystery Animated Short

Special thanks to Ramin Zahed, editor in chief at Animation Magazine, for publishing these columns.