Terminator
I posit that there is zero inconsistency with time travel, only inconsistencies with what complete laypersons in the universe THINK time travel works. It obviously isn't a closed loop, just because some resistance grunt thought it was doesn't make it so.
My own theory, for those that may care. T3 is closest to the "prime" timeline. The girl's connection to Skynet through her father puts her in a good position to be a key member of the resistance, and John Connor doesn't exist as we know him. Sarah may have a son named John, but he is no child warrior, and he's not Reese's son. Terminator is sent to kill the leader, whoever that happens to be, I like the girl for it but it doesn't really matter. Reese follows. After an unknown number of loops, maybe the first one, maybe thousands in, Reese fails and goes to ground. In any event, timelines where pieces of the Terminator are found accelerate Skynet's rise. Reese, off the grid, meets a nice girl named Sarah, convinces her the end is nigh, and they raise a warrior child ready to fight for humanity. John, now already growing up nearby someone who will prove instrumental in the resistance, has the tools and foreknowledge to spring through the ranks of any upcoming resistance, and becomes their fearless leader. As of Terminator 1, all we really know is that there has been a single John, and that's all.
Major Monty the Straw Vulcan #7363
Some links to this trope seem to imply the trope is about characters discussing how confusing time travel is, rather than contradicting time travel rules in a single universe.
"We are the music makers, and the dreamers of the dream." Willy Wonka.
Sorcerer in training
Real Life folder removed per discussion and vote in Real life section maintenance thread.
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett
Sorcerer in training
- At one point, Ryotaro's memory rebuilding the entire timeline after his sister and her husband deliberately break it in order to force their unborn daughter out of the timeline (long story). But wait, what about when Yuto disappeared and Hana stated that Ryotaro's memory wouldn't be enough to bring him back because Ryotaro didn't know him as a young teen? Then... what about all the people Ryotaro didn't know or remember in the present time? What happened to them?!
- It was explained in the "Piano man" story arc that they get displaced from time and ride the den-liner until they're remembered IF they're remembered.
- In the same film, Kotaro explained that the only reason that OOO was unaffected by the changes in history is that he had been in close contact with a singularity point. That completely doesn't match how things have worked before (Ryotaro is a Singularity Point, hence being able to be Den-O, and it sure didn't protect his supporting cast from the Timey Wimey Ball.) Of course, by this point, Den-O's movies are not unused to plot holes. When it comes to how time works in Den-O, the MST3K Mantra would seem to apply.
- Actually, the reason in this case that OOO was not affected is because if OOO doesn't exist, he and Ankh don't come back to the past, which means no Bad Future. Standard Time Paradox buffing, its just Kotaro got it wrong.
- At one point, Ryotaro's memory rebuilding the entire timeline after his sister and her husband deliberately break it in order to force their unborn daughter out of the timeline (long story). But wait, what about when Yuto disappeared and Hana stated that Ryotaro's memory wouldn't be enough to bring him back because Ryotaro didn't know him as a young teen? Then... what about all the people Ryotaro didn't know or remember in the present time? What happened to them?!
Plonking these here until those familiar with the series can sort out what happened when.
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett Hide / Show Replies
- Arguably any game with a New Game Plus. The adventurers go through their quest, save the world, and then... do the same thing again, without remembering last time, even though they have all the stuff they earned last time.
- Also Endgame+. If you try to play again, the storyline is rewound to the point before the confrontation with the Final Boss, but the adventurers still have the reward for beating him.
Are these examples, and if so, are they specific ones?
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett
Hello?
i love that imagery of the yarn ball with a beginning strand on one side and an end stand at the other. its an interesting way to think of a consciousness' "travel through time".
It's not Otis
The Master Prophet
Flash Forward
really??? how is Flash Forward now on this list? Half the cast is trying to change their future sand half the cast is trying using their futures as an invincibility shield. In the most recent episode when threatened by somali warlords. The guy who is supposed to be dead and is fighting the futures just went ahead and said "it's ok you saw yourself alive in the future" to another chick. This show is worse than Heroes for logical consistency. At least Heroes started off organized.
Edited by wolfkin — Just another second banana Hide / Show Replies
That's what Timey-Wimey Ball is. It's a plot where the only way to make sense of the contradictory Time Travel rules is to give a kind of hopeless Hand Wave.
See you in the discussion pages.
Is not actually from Lyniezia
Actually, the link to the wiki page for Back To The Future doesn't do much to explain any of the blatent paradoxes involved in the erasure of old timelines for new. Clearly, everything has a feedback effect, so we see marty disappearing as he's in the process of possibly being erased from existence. Trouble is, the same feedback effect would then lead to his non-existence causing him not to be there to split up his parents... do you see the paradox here?
Also,, if the new timeline simply forms around the time traveller, like Jennifer and Einstein, why isn't Marty not affected?
Shall we talk about this
Anyone else think that Doctor Who should get its own section (including Novels, Spin-Offs, Fan Fiction etc.) as, to be fair, it's larger than many of the other folders put together.
I preferred the older piece of art that used to be the headline of this trope. :)
Re the statement:
> Possibly exempting astronauts who, having been whirling around the earth at high speeds, have travelled a few seconds or minutes into the future depending on how long they have been in space.
Actually, from an Earthly frame of reference, and according to relativity, astronauts will travel fractions of a second or perhaps seconds into the PAST, not future. They're moving faster than objects on Earth, meaning their rate of time is slower.
Proposal:
Looking at the massive mess that is Star Trek I propose it either be listed in generalities eg: "Star Trek has trouble with time travel" or split off into a special folder just for itself. Right now we even have a Abram's Trek movie listed in live action TV at the bottom of a bunch of natter.
Why the name? That was the character not wanting to explain things, not the writer. Everything the Doctor didn't explain to Sally in the Easter egg, Blink did explain to the audience. If anything, the writer was sparing us the insult and redundancy of spelling it out that blatantly. Even if you've managed to find time-travel inconsistencies in Blink that I haven't, the name still doesn't describe or exemplify this trope because that line obviously wasn't intended to handwave anything about the writing.
It's extra weird because Doctor Who overall is full of broken time travel, and this is one of very few titles you could have chosen from the series which fails to represent that.
Hide / Show Replies
Steven Moffat has since used "Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey" as a handwave whenever anything complicated happens with time travel. So while it may not be an example in the original episode, it became one later.
But yes, that's why this trope is listed on This Index Is Not an Example.
Edited by DaibhidC
>no one minds when Our Vampires Are Different
This is no longer true. Nowadays people DO care if Our Vampires Are Different (See Twilight).
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Timey Whimey Ball
, started by Trotzky on Jun 8th 2011 at 3:10:02 AM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman