In 2005 See You Later, Gladiator was adapted as an episode in the animated TV series Time Warp Trio series, created by American/Canadian producers Soup2Nuts.

See You Later, Gladiator is the ninth installment in the Time Warp Trio, a comic time-travel adventure series written for boys. In this story, friends Joe, Sam and Fred are play fighting in Joe‘s bedroom, emulating the moves of their favourite World Wrestling personalities. Their antics cause The Book, a magic time travel text given to Joe by his uncle, to tumble from the bookshelf. Just as it has before, The Book transports the boys through time and space, this time to ancient Rome, where they find themselves in the arena, facing off against Brutus, a trident-wielding gladiator. Their bravado and Pig Latin curses fail to subdue their opponent, but the encounter is merely a practice session for the real fight to come, as part of the group of eighty gladiators who will perform at the opening of the Colosseum. From their previous adventures, the boys know that they must locate The Book in order to get home. They befriend the Professor, a Carthaginian teacher who has been sold into slavery. Though small and untrained as a gladiator, he is determined to win his fight in order to be granted Roman citizenship. After Joe embarrasses Brutus and his sidekick Horridus with a demonstration of brain over brawn, the Professor accompanies them to Rome, educating them along the way about Roman culture and landmarks. Joe comes up with a plan to impress the Emperor and the crowd with the ‘Time Warp Trio Blind Ninja Smackdown’. But as they are being granted their freedom, Brutus and Horridus attack, and the boys escape through the city streets, finally taking refuge in the Temple of Vesta. Though their entry is forbidden, the young priestess welcomes them. Reciting a prophesy that foretells their adventure, she hands them their Book. The boys return to their own time, and before long resume their three-way wrestling match.

The text features a light-hearted depiction of Ancient Rome, including jokes about doing arithmetic with Roman numerals, and characters with comically Latin names like Dorkius and Doofus. But Scieszka’s representation goes beyond the superficial in referencing Juvenal’s famous line about bread and circuses (p. 27) and weaving accurate historical, cultural and topographical details into the narrative. A section at the back of the book features a glossary of basic phrases of ‘Latin for Time Travellers’. 

McCauley’s black and white cartoons exaggerate the physical bodies of the gladiators. Grizzled and muscly, hairy and scarred, they tower over the three skinny boys. Notions of masculinity are an ongoing preoccupation of the Time Warp Trio series, which is clearly written for boys, and aims to engage unwilling readers in particular. 

Friendship is also a key theme of the text. In spite of the danger, Joe leaps in to save Fred from Horridus, knowing that his friend ‘would have done the same’ (p.35). It is clear that the boys care for each other in spite of their different personalities. Joe, the narrator, hatches clever plans to get them out of trouble. Fred’s obsession with food impresses the gladiators when he triumphs in a burping competition. Bespectacled Sam is the most cautious of the three, and the most anxious to return home. He is the one who wonders ‘How come this sign is in Latin, but we can understand when people talk?’ (p. 77). This troubling element of time travel logic remains unexplained as the boys’ fast-paced adventure continues. 

As a time travelling device, The Book has significant implications, particularly given Scieszka’s interest in promoting literacy. Joe describes it to the Professor as ‘a very old book of things that have happened in the past and things that will happen in the future.’ (p. 51) Just as The Book allows Joe and his friends to experience history first hand, the text celebrates the notion that books more generally allow readers to journey to other times and places. Reading is represented as a means of problem solving when the boys must navigate the streets of Rome.