''How Time Flys'' is a

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

written by David Ossman and featuring the voice talents of all four members of

The Firesign Theatre The Firesign Theatre (also known as the Firesigns) was an American surreal comedy troupe who first appeared on November 17, 1966, in a live performance on the Los Angeles radio program ''Radio Free Oz'' on station KPFK FM. They continued a ...

plus several other contributors. It was originally released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

in 1973.

Character development

David Ossman first created the Mark Time character as a parody of

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established '' Buck Rogers'' ad ...

for a November 1970 episode of The Firesign Theatre's radio show '' Dear Friends''. In 1972, inspired by a news story about a hypothesized tenth

Planet X Following the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the mid-19th century and continued at the start of the 20th with Percival Lowell's ...

, he wrote a story line with the character being sent on a voyage to Planet X, for use in the radio broadcast and movie ''Martian Space Party'', recorded on the album '' Not Insane or Anything You Want To''. When the Firesigns took a sabbatical from writing as a group in 1973, Ossman adapted the Planet X plot to an album which he wrote solo, but cast the other three Firesigns in important roles.

Plot

Side one: NIGHTSIDE—DECEMBER 31, 1999 (24:10) # Mark's Awakening (Midnight) (4:40) Solo astronaut Mark Time, launched from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

in 1979 on an exploratory voyage to "

", returns to Earth just before midnight on New Year's Eve, 1999. Mark is awakened from hibernation by the rocket's computer system. # ''The Years In Your Ears'' with Jim & Nellie Houseafire (recorded in May 1995) (6:30) A prerecorded history video plays to bring Mark up-to-date on the events that have taken place on Earth during the latter half of the 20th century while he was away. # Tweeny and "The Welcome Home" (pre-programmed in October 1995) (10:55) Mark is unable to communicate with his Earth landing site, but is greeted on landing at the abandoned launch facility by an aged caretaker robot named "Tweeny", the sole inhabitant of what is now the "President's Memorial Space Museum". Society has forgotten all about Mark; there are only

holograph An autograph or holograph is a manuscript or document written in its author's or composer's hand. The meaning of autograph as a document penned entirely by the author of its content, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by a copyist o ...

ic recordings of an Air Force general and deceased President William D. Gazatchorn (who sounds like

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

) left to welcome and congratulate him on accomplishing his mission. As Mark resigns himself to his imminent retirement, he is drugged unconscious by Tweeny, who is then deactivated. # Manny, "Shortstop", and Lady Ann (Dawn) (2:05) Mark is kidnapped by Manny and Shortstop, two robotic minions of a mysterious "Mr. M", along with the holographic recordings Mark made of his voyage to Planet X. Side two: DAYSIDE—DECEMBER 31, 1999 (16:45) # Consumer Instruction Section with Patsy Pending & Bruno Uvula (Manditory) (2:10) The commercially prepared instruction header from one of Mark's holographic recording tapes is heard. # Mark, Mr. Motion, and The Memory Loops with Manny and "Shortstop" aboard the ''Gilda'' (Noon) (8:05) Mark awakens aboard Mr. Motion's

zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, ...

, to a hologram recording of his landing on Planet X. Motion tells Mark he plans to sell the recordings as entertainment. Mark protests that his research should be made available to the news media and freely disseminated to the public, but Mr. Motion tells him that Mark's news would be judged as no more important than any of the other stories continually published by an "all news, all the time" media. Mark protests his information is "not entertainment, it's real", to which Mr. Motion counters that Mark simply went on location and took photos: that's entertainment. Motion brings the zeppelin above the theme park, "Panoramaland 2000" (similar to 2008

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

) that features life-sized holographic replicas of world-famous buildings and monuments, and he begins to show Mark's holograms to the public. Mark's holograms combine with the theme park holograms, and the

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting ...

-like inhabitants of Planet X appear to cavort around the theme park. Mark escapes from the zeppelin and is interviewed by reporter Chiquita Bandana. # Emergency Program Over-Ride with Jim Dundee and W. C. Bingle (Live from Panoramaland 2000) (5:55) Mark's interview is interrupted by an emergency bulletin by Dr. Progresso Sweetheart, who announces that a

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can defo ...

is approaching the Earth. # The System vs. The Black Hole (New Year's Eve) (:45) The black hole puts Mark into a

time loop The time loop or temporal loop is a plot device in fiction whereby characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition. The term "time loop" is sometimes u ...

, and he finds himself back in his spaceship just before midnight, repeating his landing approach to Earth.

Cast

* David Ossman as Mark Time *

Philip Proctor Philip Proctor (born 1940) is an American actor, comedian and a member of the Firesign Theatre. He has performed voice-over work for video games, films and television series. Career Of the four members of Firesign Theatre, Proctor has had t ...

as Tweeny and Freddy BurnsThe liner notes credit "Freddy Burns as Himself". *

Peter Bergman Peter Michael Bergman (born June 11, 1953) is an American actor best known for his portrayals on soap operas, such as Cliff Warner on ''All My Children'' (1979–89) on ABC as well as Jack Abbott on ''The Young and the Restless'' (1989–pres ...

as Mr. Motion and Dr. Progresso Sweetheart *

Phil Austin Philip Baine Austin (April 6, 1941 – June 18, 2015) was an American comedian and writer, best known as a member of the Firesign Theatre. Early life and education Austin was born in Denver, Colorado and later grew up in Fresno, California, att ...

as President William D. Gazatchorn *

Wolfman Jack Robert Weston Smith (January 21, 1938July 1, 1995), known as Wolfman Jack, was an American disc jockey active from 1960 till his death in 1995. Famous for his gravelly voice, he credited it for his success, saying, "It's kept meat and potatoes ...

as Jim Dundee *

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, radio host, director and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a membe ...

and Penny Nichols as Jim and Nellie Houseafire * Lew Irwin as W. C. Bingle * Helena Kallianiotes (one of the hitchhikers in

Five Easy Pieces ''Five Easy Pieces'' is a 1970 American drama film directed by Bob Rafelson, written by Carole Eastman (as Adrien Joyce) and Rafelson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Lois Smith, and Ralph Waite. The film tells th ...

) as Roxanne Pavemente *Jock Livingston (a Hollywood restaurant owner) as Gen. George "Crash" Gorgon, USAF, Ret. *Tiny (Ossman's wife) as Nurse Angela and Chiquita Bandana * Richard Paul as Shortstop, Manny Grossero, and Bruno

Uvula The palatine uvula, usually referred to as simply the uvula, is a conic projection from the back edge of the middle of the soft palate, composed of connective tissue containing a number of racemose glands, and some muscular fibers. It also cont ...

*Anna Cheverton Drury as Lady Ann *Jon Knoll as The Ground Control Dude *Sheilah Wells as Patsy Pending *Steve Gillmor as Arnie Zonker *Mike Rozsa and Scott Weintraub

Release history

*Stereo LP - Columbia KC-32411 *Audio CD - laugh.com 126:LGH1149.2

LP Contents

The Stereo LP includes a stiff paper insert that can be broken apart and assembled to form a "3-D Diorama" of the album cover art, which shows Mark descending from the Zeppelin over Panoramaland 2000. The LP insert states that the album was written and produced from March 11, 1973 to June 7, 1973 "in

Wally Heider Studios Wally Heider Studios was a recording studio founded in San Francisco in 1969 by recording engineer and studio owner Wally Heider. Between 1969 and 1980, numerous notable artists recorded at the studios, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jef ...

3 & 4 and on location".

References

*David Ossman. ''How Time Flys''. Columbia, 1973. {{Authority control 1973 albums The Firesign Theatre albums Columbia Records albums Science fiction comedy 1970s comedy albums