Terminator Twosome: Difference between revisions

 

== Literature ==

* In the ''[[Belisarius Series]]'' by Eric Flint and [[David Drake]], two artificial intelligences from opposite sides of a far-future war get sent back to the early middle ages, one to try and alter the timeline so the evil side wins the future war, the other to try and stop the first one, via recruiting local [[Badass Normal]] allies. A semi-subversion, since both sides are attempting to change the timeline. Indeed, both ''rely'' on massively altering the cultural and technological evolution of the world; they just each want history to evolve in a different direction. This is because, after the changes already made by the "bad" AI, the timeline has already been irrevocably changed, so the "good" AI needs to insure that the right culture comes out on top.

* [[Harlan Ellison]]'s ''[[The Outer Limits (TV)|The Outer Limits]]'' episode "Demon with a Glass Hand" may have created this trope. In fact, the producers of the first ''[[Terminator (Film)|Terminator]]'' movie had to pay a settlement to him following a lawsuit.

* ''Rebel in Time'' by Harry Harrison. A racist colonel steals the design of the Sten submachine gun and travels back in time to change the course of [[The American Civil War]]. He is pursued by another officer, whose task isn't made easier by the fact that he's black.

* In [[Tim Powers]]' ''[[The Anubis Gates]]'', a millionaire discovers the existence of time portals and uses them to visit the past. A scholar brought along for his historical know-how discovers the millionaire's nasty ulterior motives, and must stop both him ''and'' the villains who'd opened the time portals in the first place. Subverted twice, in that 1) the millionaire isn't looking to change ''documented'' history, but to become a power behind the throne; and 2) the historian isn't sent back to preserve anything, and initially is only looking for a way to get back home.

* An unintentional example in a Russian novel, where two Russian cosmonauts somehow end up in the past during the decline of the Roman Empire. One of them gets captured by barbarians, while the other one ends up becoming a Roman legionnaire. Eventually, the latter becomes the primus pilus (senior centurion) of a Roman Legion and is determined not to let the Empire fall, while the other manages to become the chieftain of the Germanic barbarians who captured him. You can see where this is heading.

 

* ''[[Kamen Rider Den O]]'' features Imagin going into the past to wreak havoc with Kamen Rider Den-O time travelling to stop them.

* In ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'' episode 4 season 3 "All Halliwell's Eve", the sisters are send back in time to save one of their ancestors; at the same time, team evil is sending back their main agent to prevent their birth.

** On the other hand, this makes for an incredibly depressing [[Downer Ending]] in one of the [[Big Finish Doctor Who]] audios, ''Flip Flop''...

* Series two of ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'' becomes this, with [[Big Bad|Martin Summers]] trying to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]] from his perspective, but is actually [[Make Wrong What Once Went Right]] for everyone else. Alex decides that acting as the [[Time Police]] will enable her to [[Trapped in The Past|get home.]]

* In ''Millennia: Altered Destinies'', the player is given a timeship by a hooded alien to guide four races in the Echelon Galaxy in order to stop the expansion of the evil Microids. One of the major obstacles is an [[Evil Counterpart|alternate version of the player]] recruited by the Microids to sabotage the player's work. Like the player, he cannot be killed.

* ''[[Time Hollow (Visual Novel)|Time Hollow]]'' plays a variation of this. Upon learning that the past has changed, the protagonist tries to undo the antagonist's interferences in time through time portals. The biggest conflict is {{spoiler|trying to save the antagonist's mother, who sent herself a letter in time to commit a form of suicide}}.

 

 

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Terminator Twosome]]