My own take on it is that it is not so much “time machine” as a “Lost World” in the Professor Challenger mode — an isolated corner of the Earth where creatures of all geologic periods still happily coexist, along with primitive humans. We, the visiting Victorian explorers, have just set up camp in the clearing, where we can interact with the resident cavemen and observe the abundant wildlife.

My host had glitched a telepad into the landscape, and I have to tell you that the scenery and creatures are just as awesomely detailed up close as they are from a distance. Wandering “behind the scenes” does destroy some of the illusion of reality, and I can understand why developers don’t want us to do it. But what you lose in illusion is more than made up by the awe at the sheer cleverness that went into building this space within Home’s memory budget.

Bottom line: it’s a beautiful, beautiful apartment — tough to decorate, perhaps, but with its own unique gifts of fantasy and wonder.