39,327
edits
The Time Traveller's Dilemma: Difference between revisions
m
update links
m (revise quote template spacing) |
m (update links) |
||
Line 15:
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In the "[[Age of Apocalypse]]" arc of [[Marvel Comics]]; set in a changed present where Charles Xavier was killed in the past; Magneto and Rogue have a son. The Time Traveler Bishop wants to change things back. Magneto supports Bishop in this, but reminds him that if they succeed; his son will be gone forever.
** Presumably this also bothered some writers; who later wrote that this world continued to exist as an [[Alternate Universe]]. (Btw, Jean Grey stopped the nukes in the end.)
* [[The DCU]] explored ''part'' of this with alternate timelines where good versions of Doomsday and Vandal Savage change things back; ironically back to where they are villains.
* The end of [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Marvel 1602]]'' sets right the circumstances that caused the temporal divergence that brought about the 'Age of Marvels' in the Elizabethan era. Thus, the timeline is overwritten, and history proceeds as necessary. The Watchers, however, step in and save the 1602 world as a pocket universe, kept in a glass globe by this version of Uatu.
* Pointed out in ''[[Astro City]]''. Samaritan changes the future into a utopia, but his family was never born, and his old house is replaced with a future Taco Bell.
** It's revealed in "The Eagle and the Mountain" that this is actually one of Samaritan's powers. No matter what happens in history, he will still exist.
Line 40:
** Although, seeing how the [[Alien Invasion|Yeerks were just a couple steps from taking over the Earth]], [[Those Wacky Nazis|the Nazis won World War II]], "unfit" people were being eradicated, rebellious people were being "reeducated", "fit" people were forced to breed repeatedly, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|the only videogame in existence was Pong]], I doubt it could be much worse.
*** Yes, originally, that was true. But once the Ellimist and Crayak sent the kids back and they started trying to stop the [[Bad Future]] from happening, other, possibly good things started happening. D-day still occurred, for example, but Hitler was just a driver, and there was the distinct possibility that the Germans were the good guys. It was never made clear (which was completely intentional, of course).
** In ''Megamorphs 2'', this trope is in effect big time, though played...interestingly. To elaborate, the Animorphs go back to the end of the Cretaceous Era and soon discover not one but two sentient alien races who had colonized the Earth. They also soon discover that there is a giant freakin' comet flying through the sky, which [[The Smart Guy|Ax]] informs the group will just barely miss the Earth, based on its trajectory. The two alien races are at war with each other, but with the Animorphs' help, the "good" aliens drive off the "bad" ones. The "bad" ones respond by moving the comet off its path, aiming it towards the Earth in order to wipe out the entire "good" alien population. If you know anything about the age of the dinosaurs, you've probably guessed by now where this is going. The "good" aliens try a last ditch effort to blow the comet back into not hitting the planet and killing them all, but Tobias secretly has Ax rig the explosive to be a dud. Tobias insists that [[I Did What I Had to Do|he did what had to be done]], realizing that in order for humanity to rise, the Animorphs can't change history such that the "good" aliens (and the dinosaurs) survive, because they know from the lack of either in the present that they don't. Tobias also insists that he didn't consult the others because he didn't want them to live with the guilt of having condemned an entire sentient species to extinction. This still leaves Ax and Tobias with that guilt, and the question of whether dooming one innocent species to ensure their own existence was the right choice. This therefore is the unusual case of ensuring a [[Stable Time Loop]] being highly morally questionable.
* Addressed in [[Orson Scott Card]]'s novel ''Pastwatch'', where the organization that just discovered time travel is quite aware that interfering with the past will erase the existence of everyone in the current timeline and insists on having the world vote on whether or not to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]. As humanity is facing imminent extinction anyway at that point, the vote passes.
* In the [[Peter David]] [[Star Trek Expanded Universe]] novel ''Imzadi'', Admiral Riker wants to go back some thirty years to the time of late-season [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|TNG]] to save Deanna's life, since he believes someone already altered time by traveling back to kill her; Data objects on these grounds. When it's done and everybody has time-traveled home, the Guardian of Forever--time-travel mechanism of choice today--points out that "All is as it was." When asked why it didn't bother to mention that yes, Riker was restoring the proper flow of history, it answers {{spoiler|[[You Didn't Ask]]}}.
Line 61:
* Acknowledged and arguably justified in an episode of ''[[Buffy]]'', involving not time travel but alternate realities. In the Season Three episode "The Wish", Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, creating an alternate reality in which the town is overrun by vampires. Alt-Giles figures out how to reverse the effect, but at the last second, the demon responsible for it tries to stop him, asking why he thinks the alternate (original) universe is any better than the one he knows. Giles' response? "Because it has to be."
* Done beautifully in the [[Doctor Who]] episode ''The Fires of Pompeii.'' The Doctor is saddled with the choice of not setting off Vesuvius, thereby saving Pompeii, or sending those people to their deaths in order to keep history intact {{spoiler|and to keep the Pyroviles from conquering Earth. Finally, with support from Donna, he sets off the volcano.}}
** Turns up even earlier in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S12
* An episode of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' has the Defiant crash on a world populated by the crew's descendants (and a future Odo), thanks to a time loop. The characters decide they have no choice but to make sure these people live, and prepare to trap themselves in the past. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, future Odo couldn't stand to let Kira die again, so he screws with the ship, allowing it to escape and erase the entire colony.}} Kira doesn't take it well.
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' does it in the episode "2010" with Carter's husband wondering if the other timeline will really be better and what happens to them if the plan succeeds. Carter then bluntly tells him that "they" won't exist or exist but in a different way and that the new timeline cannot be worse than the absolutely certain destruction of humanity in less than 200 years. As we know, despite the new enemies appearing later on, she was entirely right.
| |||