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"You're not thinking fourth dimensionally!" [Time Travel]

1235

Posts

  • Mego ThorMego Thor "I say thee...NAY!" Registered User regular
    Mego Thor wrote: »
    Wouldn't alternate universe Hitler be really cool and laid back?

    Depends on the universe! There's definitely one where he's a successful painter with a dog and his beautiful young wife Eva and shit, but there's also a universe where Germany managed to work out the h-bomb and fuckin stealth aircraft and a German flag is flying over Washington and London and Moscow and Hitler is an immortal cyborg god-king.

    Edit: or you could go the animorphs route and he's just some jeep driver or whatever

    I like the alternate universe where Hitler is constantly disappointed in some minute aspect of modern popular culture.

    kyrcl.png
  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    I don't think he becomes a successful painter in any universe.

    Have you seen his paintings?

    There's a universe where he has the skill to become famous.

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    I see a lot of Banksy's stuff and I at least laugh or go, hey neat! most of the time
    Warhol's stuff does nothing for me

  • The GeekThe Geek Oh-Two Crew, Omeganaut Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited September 2015


    "Banksy has revealed his Mario Maker level and it will make you think."

    The Geek on
    BLM - ACAB
  • VicVic Registered User regular
    Lars wrote: »
    Vic wrote: »
    I have a fervent, poorly justified belief that the idea that quantum mechanics allow for time travel will eventually turn out to have been completely untrue. The smug shadenfreude I would feel if the unified theory of physics is somehow cracked within my lifetime and reveals just this would be the greatest joy of my life.

    I hate time travel

    Parallel universes are also bogus fyi

    Time travel and parallel universes are awesome things to use in fiction.

    Sometimes!

    I have a fairly high tolerance for movies and books where time travel is a key, central plot point. Time travel can be made to work, if written with sufficient effort and intelligence. Written poorly or used as a tool for retconning or added as an afterthought it's usually terrible though, which is most of the time.

    I wish I could find the plinkett review where he talks about how parallel universes remove any stakes or meaning out of stories.

  • Desert LeviathanDesert Leviathan Registered User regular
    My sister has been reading the Harry Potter books to her kids, and her six year old and eight year old have apparently been tearing the idea of the Time Turner to shreds, for all the problems it could have solved but didn't. And how bizarre it was to give such a devastatingly powerful device to some kid so she could take a few extra school classes, instead of just opening up Wizard Summer School or whatever. Makes my nerd heart proud.

    Realizing lately that I don't really trust or respect basically any of the moderators here. So, good luck with life, friends! Hit me up on Twitter @DesertLeviathan
  • LorahaloLorahalo Registered User regular
    See, I liked the Time Turner. It's exactly the type of time travel story/device that I enjoy, with the whole way it neatly loops on itself. Non-paradoxical time travel stories with neat time loops are fun to me.

    I have a podcast about Digimon called the Digital Moncast, on Audio Entropy.
  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    Lorahalo wrote: »
    See, I liked the Time Turner. It's exactly the type of time travel story/device that I enjoy, with the whole way it neatly loops on itself. Non-paradoxical time travel stories with neat time loops are fun to me.

    But it only worked out so well because the narrative was written so that it would be. There's no reason it should have worked out so well that's actually justified by the story. It could and should have been used so many other times, and the fact that they were able to make everything work out is only by the grace of being able to plan out the entire plot ahead of time and conveniently having everyone avoid doing anything that would fuck it up.

    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    Vic wrote: »
    Lars wrote: »
    Vic wrote: »
    I have a fervent, poorly justified belief that the idea that quantum mechanics allow for time travel will eventually turn out to have been completely untrue. The smug shadenfreude I would feel if the unified theory of physics is somehow cracked within my lifetime and reveals just this would be the greatest joy of my life.

    I hate time travel

    Parallel universes are also bogus fyi

    Time travel and parallel universes are awesome things to use in fiction.

    Sometimes!

    I have a fairly high tolerance for movies and books where time travel is a key, central plot point. Time travel can be made to work, if written with sufficient effort and intelligence. Written poorly or used as a tool for retconning or added as an afterthought it's usually terrible though, which is most of the time.

    I wish I could find the plinkett review where he talks about how parallel universes remove any stakes or meaning out of stories.

    This is something I never really considered but is true. Sums up my issues with Bioshock Infinite as well.

  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    Vic wrote: »
    Lars wrote: »
    Vic wrote: »
    I have a fervent, poorly justified belief that the idea that quantum mechanics allow for time travel will eventually turn out to have been completely untrue. The smug shadenfreude I would feel if the unified theory of physics is somehow cracked within my lifetime and reveals just this would be the greatest joy of my life.

    I hate time travel

    Parallel universes are also bogus fyi

    Time travel and parallel universes are awesome things to use in fiction.

    Sometimes!

    I have a fairly high tolerance for movies and books where time travel is a key, central plot point. Time travel can be made to work, if written with sufficient effort and intelligence. Written poorly or used as a tool for retconning or added as an afterthought it's usually terrible though, which is most of the time.

    I wish I could find the plinkett review where he talks about how parallel universes remove any stakes or meaning out of stories.

    This is something I never really considered but is true. Sums up my issues with Bioshock Infinite as well.

    I disagree fairly strongly

    Just because there are other peter parkers doesn't mean that when ultimate peter parker died I wasn't devastated

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    Just because Trunks blows up Cell before he develops in one timeline doesn't do anything for that version of him that got strangled by Cell before he could go back in time.

    Here's a fun experiment. Try to reconcile Trunks's time machine with Dragon Ball Xenoverse.

  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    I feel like trying to reconcile just about anything in Dragonball Z is an exercise in madness.

    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    edited September 2015
    Vic wrote: »
    Lars wrote: »
    Vic wrote: »
    I have a fervent, poorly justified belief that the idea that quantum mechanics allow for time travel will eventually turn out to have been completely untrue. The smug shadenfreude I would feel if the unified theory of physics is somehow cracked within my lifetime and reveals just this would be the greatest joy of my life.

    I hate time travel

    Parallel universes are also bogus fyi

    Time travel and parallel universes are awesome things to use in fiction.

    Sometimes!

    I have a fairly high tolerance for movies and books where time travel is a key, central plot point. Time travel can be made to work, if written with sufficient effort and intelligence. Written poorly or used as a tool for retconning or added as an afterthought it's usually terrible though, which is most of the time.

    I wish I could find the plinkett review where he talks about how parallel universes remove any stakes or meaning out of stories.

    This is something I never really considered but is true. Sums up my issues with Bioshock Infinite as well.

    I disagree fairly strongly

    Just because there are other peter parkers doesn't mean that when ultimate peter parker died I wasn't devastated

    Okay, it's more that when you can jump universes you lose a sense of what's at stake when you can jump away from your actions.

    Edit: I mean if you like them that's fine, just not my cuppa, ya know?

    JusticeforPluto on
  • NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    Vic wrote: »
    Lars wrote: »
    Vic wrote: »
    I have a fervent, poorly justified belief that the idea that quantum mechanics allow for time travel will eventually turn out to have been completely untrue. The smug shadenfreude I would feel if the unified theory of physics is somehow cracked within my lifetime and reveals just this would be the greatest joy of my life.

    I hate time travel

    Parallel universes are also bogus fyi

    Time travel and parallel universes are awesome things to use in fiction.

    Sometimes!

    I have a fairly high tolerance for movies and books where time travel is a key, central plot point. Time travel can be made to work, if written with sufficient effort and intelligence. Written poorly or used as a tool for retconning or added as an afterthought it's usually terrible though, which is most of the time.

    I wish I could find the plinkett review where he talks about how parallel universes remove any stakes or meaning out of stories.

    This is something I never really considered but is true. Sums up my issues with Bioshock Infinite as well.

    I disagree fairly strongly

    Just because there are other peter parkers doesn't mean that when ultimate peter parker died I wasn't devastated

    Okay, it's more that when you can jump universes you lose a sense of what's at stake when you can jump away from your actions.

    Look Morty we can only do this three or four more times tops.

    Steam | Nintendo ID: Naphtali | Wish List
  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    Ahhh geez Rick

  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    Ahhh geez Rick

    Morty, Listen to me Morty

    Morty Morty Morty Morty



    Morty

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    morty you gotta turn into a car morty

    Steam | Nintendo ID: Naphtali | Wish List
  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    Vic wrote: »
    Lars wrote: »
    Vic wrote: »
    I have a fervent, poorly justified belief that the idea that quantum mechanics allow for time travel will eventually turn out to have been completely untrue. The smug shadenfreude I would feel if the unified theory of physics is somehow cracked within my lifetime and reveals just this would be the greatest joy of my life.

    I hate time travel

    Parallel universes are also bogus fyi

    Time travel and parallel universes are awesome things to use in fiction.

    Sometimes!

    I have a fairly high tolerance for movies and books where time travel is a key, central plot point. Time travel can be made to work, if written with sufficient effort and intelligence. Written poorly or used as a tool for retconning or added as an afterthought it's usually terrible though, which is most of the time.

    I wish I could find the plinkett review where he talks about how parallel universes remove any stakes or meaning out of stories.

    This is something I never really considered but is true. Sums up my issues with Bioshock Infinite as well.

    I disagree fairly strongly

    Just because there are other peter parkers doesn't mean that when ultimate peter parker died I wasn't devastated

    Okay, it's more that when you can jump universes you lose a sense of what's at stake when you can jump away from your actions.

    This is what separates bad science fiction from good. Good science fiction looks at things like that and makes it a part of the story. What is lost when you do this? Every time you jump away from your actions, you aren't negating the consequences, just leaving them behind for someone else to deal with. You're literally killing another version of yourself and taking their place, in order to avoid something bad from happening to you. Somewhere out there in the multiverse, is the specific version of all your loved ones that you knew all your life, who are suffering whatever fate you successfully escaped. And from that perspective, well, that's pretty awful.

    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • PinfeldorfPinfeldorf Yeah ZestRegistered User regular
    Hey thanks for reminding me I can't watch that show because cable.

    If only I could go back in time and tell them to contract with Netflix instead of...whoever. Viacomm?

  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    Naphtali wrote: »
    morty you gotta turn into a car morty
    https://youtu.be/zj1iFepz9Lw

    Ahhhhh! R-r-rick! Wha, whats going on Rick? Why am I a car? Oh god, oh no. Is, is that guy dead Rick? Did I kill him?

  • BedigunzBedigunz Registered User regular
    Enlong wrote: »
    Just because Trunks blows up Cell before he develops in one timeline doesn't do anything for that version of him that got strangled by Cell before he could go back in time.

    Here's a fun experiment. Try to reconcile Trunks's time machine with Dragon Ball Xenoverse.

    Whoa I definitely don't remember that happening.

    cdmAF00.png
    Coran Attack!
  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    Bedigunz wrote: »
    Enlong wrote: »
    Just because Trunks blows up Cell before he develops in one timeline doesn't do anything for that version of him that got strangled by Cell before he could go back in time.

    Here's a fun experiment. Try to reconcile Trunks's time machine with Dragon Ball Xenoverse.

    Whoa I definitely don't remember that happening.

    That's how Cell got to the "main" universe of the show. Killed Trunks and took his time machine. The version of Cell in their timeline was just a little baby and got blown up.

    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • BedigunzBedigunz Registered User regular
    Oh yeah. I always wondered how Cell got back in time with an old-ass time machine.

    Funimation never showed Trunks being strangled on Toonami, did they?

    cdmAF00.png
    Coran Attack!
  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    I really couldn't say. I've only ever watched Abridged.

    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • The GeekThe Geek Oh-Two Crew, Omeganaut Registered User, ClubPA regular
    HEY VEGETA

    BLM - ACAB
  • DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    Pinfeldorf wrote: »
    Hey thanks for reminding me I can't watch that show because cable.

    If only I could go back in time and tell them to contract with Netflix instead of...whoever. Viacomm?

    Hulu has season 1. A few season 2 episodes are out there in the wild internet, free, probably mating with episodes of M*A*S*H.

  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    Bedigunz wrote: »
    Oh yeah. I always wondered how Cell got back in time with an old-ass time machine.

    Funimation never showed Trunks being strangled on Toonami, did they?

    To be honest, I don't quite recall seeing the exact scene on TV either.

    The footage definitely exists, though. DBZ Abridged showed it off.

  • LorahaloLorahalo Registered User regular
    Lorahalo wrote: »
    See, I liked the Time Turner. It's exactly the type of time travel story/device that I enjoy, with the whole way it neatly loops on itself. Non-paradoxical time travel stories with neat time loops are fun to me.

    But it only worked out so well because the narrative was written so that it would be. There's no reason it should have worked out so well that's actually justified by the story. It could and should have been used so many other times, and the fact that they were able to make everything work out is only by the grace of being able to plan out the entire plot ahead of time and conveniently having everyone avoid doing anything that would fuck it up.

    Which is why I enjoyed it! If the mechanics of the Time Turner worked out so that time travel could only work like that, it'd be fun. Like I don't mind that it's an absurdly overpowered device that never gets used again, despite how useful it could be in the story later on, because it was a super fun story to read. I mentioned before, but Time Crimes is a movie with a similar style that I really enjoyed. It's just a fun story to tell with time travel, and it doesn't bother me that it might not fit with everything else going on because I enjoy the story it told.

    I have a podcast about Digimon called the Digital Moncast, on Audio Entropy.
  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    Lorahalo wrote: »
    Lorahalo wrote: »
    See, I liked the Time Turner. It's exactly the type of time travel story/device that I enjoy, with the whole way it neatly loops on itself. Non-paradoxical time travel stories with neat time loops are fun to me.

    But it only worked out so well because the narrative was written so that it would be. There's no reason it should have worked out so well that's actually justified by the story. It could and should have been used so many other times, and the fact that they were able to make everything work out is only by the grace of being able to plan out the entire plot ahead of time and conveniently having everyone avoid doing anything that would fuck it up.

    Which is why I enjoyed it! If the mechanics of the Time Turner worked out so that time travel could only work like that, it'd be fun. Like I don't mind that it's an absurdly overpowered device that never gets used again, despite how useful it could be in the story later on, because it was a super fun story to read. I mentioned before, but Time Crimes is a movie with a similar style that I really enjoyed. It's just a fun story to tell with time travel, and it doesn't bother me that it might not fit with everything else going on because I enjoy the story it told.

    I mean, it's still really lazy, narratively (basically akin to a deus ex machina--things happen a certain way simply because the story needs them to), but there's an argument to be made for that whole "things work this way because it's the only way they would work" thing being a fundamental property of HP magic. There's a lot in those books that doesn't stand up to deep scrutiny. As a storywriting geek, that sort of thing drives me nuts, because a good story should have enough internal consistency to be able to get poked at a bunch, without falling to pieces, but the books are enjoyable enough on a surface level to get away with it. Really all it needs is a nice little story about how some all-powerful, but really incompetent (omnincompotent) being created magic in the world, and it turns out that the whole thing is basically a bunch of duct-taped-together physics hacks that manage to not contradict each other through sheer good luck or something.

    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    An omnincompoop

  • OmnipotentBagelOmnipotentBagel floof Registered User regular
    Enlong wrote: »
    An omnincompoop

    Crap, that's good.

    cdci44qazyo3.gif

  • discriderdiscrider Registered User regular
    I quite enjoyed The Time Traveller's Wife, (book or film adaptation).
    It's the fixed past interpretation (you can't change the past that you know about).

    Bit annoyed at the movie Deja Vu though, considering it went both ways. It had the fixed past but also the protagonist goes back to change it (and does).

  • The GeekThe Geek Oh-Two Crew, Omeganaut Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Oh hey, did anyone watch that cw/wb/upn show several years back called 7 Days? I really liked it.

    It was about a secret government agency that had a time machine that could only go back (duh) 7 days. They used it to avert disasters and assassinations and stuff.

    BLM - ACAB
  • CorporateRedCorporateRed Wooooooo! Registered User regular
    After going back seven days, could they not then use it to go back seven days from there?

    Steam ID: Corporate Red
    steam_sig.png
  • MadicanMadican No face Registered User regular
    Vic wrote: »
    Lars wrote: »
    Vic wrote: »
    I have a fervent, poorly justified belief that the idea that quantum mechanics allow for time travel will eventually turn out to have been completely untrue. The smug shadenfreude I would feel if the unified theory of physics is somehow cracked within my lifetime and reveals just this would be the greatest joy of my life.

    I hate time travel

    Parallel universes are also bogus fyi

    Time travel and parallel universes are awesome things to use in fiction.

    Sometimes!

    I have a fairly high tolerance for movies and books where time travel is a key, central plot point. Time travel can be made to work, if written with sufficient effort and intelligence. Written poorly or used as a tool for retconning or added as an afterthought it's usually terrible though, which is most of the time.

    I wish I could find the plinkett review where he talks about how parallel universes remove any stakes or meaning out of stories.

    This is something I never really considered but is true. Sums up my issues with Bioshock Infinite as well.

    I disagree fairly strongly

    Just because there are other peter parkers doesn't mean that when ultimate peter parker died I wasn't devastated

    Okay, it's more that when you can jump universes you lose a sense of what's at stake when you can jump away from your actions.

    This is what separates bad science fiction from good. Good science fiction looks at things like that and makes it a part of the story. What is lost when you do this? Every time you jump away from your actions, you aren't negating the consequences, just leaving them behind for someone else to deal with. You're literally killing another version of yourself and taking their place, in order to avoid something bad from happening to you. Somewhere out there in the multiverse, is the specific version of all your loved ones that you knew all your life, who are suffering whatever fate you successfully escaped. And from that perspective, well, that's pretty awful.

    So what you're saying is this is a fantastic ability for a villain. Though I've already seen it done in superhero stuff before, the Worm webnovel specifically.
    Coil has the power to simultaneously exist in two different simulated timelines, using them to try different options and see what happens in them. If he dies in one he can negate it with the other by collapsing the offending timeline. The only way to bring him down is to make it so that the same death occurs simultaneously in both universes so he can't evade it.

  • SixshotStrikerSixshotStriker Registered User regular
    edited September 2015
    The Geek wrote: »
    Oh hey, did anyone watch that cw/wb/upn show several years back called 7 Days? I really liked it.

    It was about a secret government agency that had a time machine that could only go back (duh) 7 days. They used it to avert disasters and assassinations and stuff.

    Yo. I remember the time gremlin episode the most.
    After going back seven days, could they not then use it to go back seven days from there?

    I think there was something about once used, the power source needed x amount of days to recharge or something. I don't really remember.

    SixshotStriker on
  • TheySlashThemTheySlashThem Registered User regular
    The Batman had a villain who had the ability to rewind time such that only he knew that anything had changed, but only for about 20 seconds at a time

    he was an otherwise totally unremarkable person but he could fix any mistake so long as he knew right away that it was a mistake

    like he had his own personal Omega 13 from Galaxy Quest

    the show wasn't very good overall but that episode was great

  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    I imagine tat would really screw with your perception of other people, once you start seeing conversations and such interactions as puzzles.

  • PaladinPaladin Registered User regular
    The Geek wrote: »
    Oh hey, did anyone watch that cw/wb/upn show several years back called 7 Days? I really liked it.

    It was about a secret government agency that had a time machine that could only go back (duh) 7 days. They used it to avert disasters and assassinations and stuff.

    Yo. I remember the time gremlin episode the most.
    After going back seven days, could they not then use it to go back seven days from there?

    I think there was something about once used, the power source needed x amount of days to recharge or something. I don't really remember.

    According to the wiki, they had a very limited amount of fuel for all backsteps, and after a backstop it took 7 days to reconstitute the spent fuel. I never remembered if they even tried chaining backsteps, but I do remember the main guy accidentally sending an offensive email to his boss and getting fired

    Marty: The future, it's where you're going?
    Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    Any of you play Ghost Trick? It's a puzzle game where you play as a poltergeist trying to figure out the truth of your own death, and you have the power to link up with a recently dead body and go back in time to 4 minutes before their death, to try and avert it.

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