Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Difference between revisions

#Usually only one attempt to correct it is necessary or in fact possible.

Sometimes, trying to Set Right What Once Went Wrong is what [[You Already Changed the Past|sets everything wrong in the first place]], resulting in a [[Stable Time Loop]] and [[Two Rights Make a Wrong]]. Succeeding would create a [[Temporal Paradox]] (i.e. if you do manage to set right what was wrong, you would have no reason to travel back in time in the first place, which means the wrong-ness would still be there, so you'd travel back in time, etc.) When the purpose of the time travel is to save a person (but not alter the timeline) by pulling the person out of time, it's a [[Time Travel Escape]].

* In the "Camelot Falls" storyline in the ''[[Superman]]'' comics, a prophetic sorcerer tells him what he needs to do to avert the extinction of humanity years down the line. In a subversion of this trope, Superman refuses to comply, namely because "what he needs to do" involves not preventing the deaths of countless innocents.

* The mission of Samaritan in ''[[Astro City]]''. He actually did set things right before the series started, but now his own time period has [[Stranger in a Familiar Land|changed beyond recognition]].

* Similar to Cable, Bishop's goal is to prevent the dystopian future he comes from. Only problem is, he's never been sure exactly ''how''.

* Archie's ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series:

* In ''[[Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures]]'' episode "The Edge of Yesterday," we learn that Dr. Quest created a time machine program in [[Cyberspace|Questworld]] after his wife died, which would allow him to travel back in time and see his wife again. When he finished it, he realized he wouldn't only be able to ''see'' his wife, he could also change the past to prevent her from dying. His ethics would not let him alter history for personal gain, so he sealed the program so it couldn't be used. Later on, Jonny and Jessie use the program to go back in time and prevent Ezekiel Rage from planting a bomb that could cause the tectonic plates to split, destroying the Earth.

* Two episodes of ''[[Lilo & Stitch: The Series]]'' centered around this plot. In the first, Lilo embarrasses herself in front of her love interest. She find out Jumba has a surfboard style time machine and used it to fix the blunder, but at the same time there's an experiment running around that Stitch tries to catch and each attempt causes a disaster to the area causing multiple re-dos. Eventually Lilo has to let herself get embarrassed to fix the timeline. The second involves Lilo finding an experiment that can warp time forward, allowing her to age into a teenager and later an adult. However since she and Stitch are time traveling, they're not around to catch experiments. Allowing [[Big Bad]] Gantu and Hamsterveil to capture them and take over the Earth. Conveniently said experiment has a [[Reset Button]] but they have to rescue it first to fix the damage.

** Done as a [[Shout-Out]] to ''Back to the Future'', when Peter has Death warp him back in time so he can relive a day in his teenage years. However he does so at a critical moment in the history of his relationship to Lois that ends with her married to Quagmire and him married to Molly Ringwald (its complicated, just go with it). Peter, along with Brian, convince Death to send them back to undo Peter's mistake.

** Also, explicitly referenced in an episode where Peter [[It Makes Sense in Context|becomes a Jehovah's Witness (among other things)]] and explains Jesus like this, leading to a ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' sight gag.

* Likewise, sister series ''[[American Dad]]'' had a [[Christmas Episode]] that featured a Ghost of Christmas Past trying to pull [[Yet Another Christmas Carol]] on Stan but he uses the opportunity to try and "fix" Christmas by killing Jane Fonda. His guardian angel stops him, but when they get back to modern times America is under the control of Soviet Russia. [[It Makes Sense in Context]].<ref>Stan also got [[Martin Scorcese]] off drugs, which meant no ''[[Taxi Driver]]'', which meant John Hinkley Jr. didn't try to shoot [[Ronald Reagan]], which meant Walter Mondale gets elected President and immediately surrendered to the USSR</ref> {{spoiler|In a bit of a subversion, trying to fix the original event by making ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' doesn't work, so Stan is forced to shoot Reagan himself (which much to his relief is told he just has to "wing him") to fix the timeline.}} Note that even in the end [["Close Enough" Timeline|the timeline isn't the same]]: {{spoiler|Since Stan only shot Reagan, his assistant James Brady was fine which meant no Brady Bill and thus America has less strict gun laws.}}

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