Movie Club Relaunch: Back To The Future

Just because science hasn't confirmed what the rational explanation is yet doesn't mean there isn't one.

 

I think it would be better if we end this discussion here on the note that we all agree to disagree. There's clearly never going to be a resolution to the issues discussed and the "BTTF" thread has digressed into something very different which might discourage folks from participating in the Movie discussions.

 

All I'm going to point out is, whether possible in the real world or not, time travel in fiction is no different than any other plot device in the way that it's used. It has the exact same rules as all plot devices, so having a grudge against it is a bit . . .

 

Several points:

I recently saw Back to the Future II (1989), for the first time ever. I thought it was a great film, and dove-tails perfectly with the ending of the first movie. I'll write a more detailed review at some point - I'm waiting to see if there will be a dedicated thread created for this. Next, I will see BTTF III (1990).

Also, a couple of pages ago - on this thread - the superb sci-fi TV series Babylon 5 (1993 - 1998) was mentioned. From Summer 2017 - Fall 2018 I watched the whole series, and some of the TV movies. Excellent show, and I attest this is the best sci-fi TV series ever produced. If a dedicated thread on B5 is ever created (on this board), I've already written some reviews - and will be happy to post them. I just didn't want to de-rail this thread too much.

 

There are already two threads on parts 2 and 3 if you want to add your more detailed thoughts there. :D
http://thundercats.org/forums/index.php?threads/movie-club-relaunch-back-to-the-future-ii.10323/
http://thundercats.org/forums/index.php?threads/movie-club-relaunch-back-to-the-future-iii.10330/

Like I said before there is some time travel stories "in fiction" I do quite enjoy, some talented writers can do it well enough, but for the most part compared to all other gimmicks and plot devices I still find it really lazy, uninspired, tedious and pointless.

A good example is Dino-Riders. I liked the show and toys. They needless shoe horned time travel into the plot when there was absolutely no need. Aliens from the planet Valoria being chased through space are being chased by the evil alien Rulons. They use and experimental crystal and travel back in time and crash on prehistoric earth. They had absolutely no need for them to go back in time. It could have just been prehistoric time when the crash landed. They didn't even use time travel again in show until near the end of the series by travel to the ice age and bring back some ice age animals to prehistoric time. Just a completely lazy way to introduce the new toys.

 

It's not lazy - if anything, the writers have to do a lot more thinking than usual with the story, about how history would have panned out differently. At what precise point is the change introduced, the knock-on effects and so on.

 

That's my point. I am basing my opinion on all of the fiction I have watched and read that really did not think of the knock-on effects the changes had to the story. Star Trek 4, Harry Potter. Terminator franchise amongst many others are some examples of writers being incredibly lazy with the use of time travel. There are very few examples I know of, and in my opinion, were the writer has really worked out all ramification time travel will have to the characters and story.

 

Terminator I can't comment on as I haven't seen. Harry Potter I thought handled it OK because A - it was in a world of magic to begin with, and B - it wasn't a massive leap back through time anyway.

Star Trek 4, well, the time travel element there was a little different to their normal attitude to time travel (the various series would typically have one time travel story per season). But they were conscientious about not doing anything to alter history. Scotty gave Nichols the formula for transparent aluminium, true, but that's because Nichols was supposed to be the guy who invented it anyway - as was originally planned to be mentioned earlier in the film, when Spock was having his multiple computers testing his memory, there was going to be a question on it, but for whatever reason it got cut. That's not lazy writing so much as careless editing. There's a difference. Not everything that's wrong with a piece of fiction is lazy writing.

 

The big problem with Harry Potter is how it was used. Not mention if they were able to go back in time, why couldn't they have went back and stopped Voldermot etc.

You should watch the Terminator movies...the first two anyway...and you will see there is a huge problem with the use of time travel. Overall they are still good action movies. The big problem is with the first. Only one slight change would need done to the script and it would be fine. @Wilycub knows what I am talking about. As for the second movie...and kind of the first, I suppose its a similar problem to the transparent aluminium in Star Trek 4 with the company responsible for the Terminators/Sky Net.

True some things can't all be blamed on lazy writing. Sometimes there are worse factors like playing up to certain audiences and doing nothing more than to express their opinions/views rather than tell a good story.

 

The Harry Potter fandom have themselves raised the question. Apparently the time magic used only has limited powers, and this is stated in the books.

There are plot holes in some time travel stories, I freely admit. Red Dwarf have an absolute doozy of one, "Ouroboros", where it was ultimately revealed that Lister is his own father. Now, I can swallow a lot of time travel stuff in fiction but I draw the line at that. Each time he repeats the cycle, there's going to be less and less of his own DNA in the mix and more of Kochanski's! To be fair though, their earlier shows did have a couple of good time travel stories, notably "Stasis Leak" and "Timeslides".

I guess by getting so into Star Trek first, I was spoiled by all the good time travel stories they have. "The City On The Edge Of Forever" (TOS) and "Yesterday's Enterprise" (TNG) frequently get called the finest episodes of their respective series, and deservedly so.

In fiction, time travel is just another "wouldn't it be interesting if . . ." plot device. Same as so many fantasy plot devices. Nobody's expecting you to believe it could happen in the real world, it's just a way to tell a fun story. Live and let live I say!

 

Terminator has a very similar problem to Red Dwarf.

I read all the Harry Potter books and enjoyed them. Only ever watched the first film fully and seen a good bit of the third.

The time travel in the Transformers Beast Wars series was very good as it did not alter anything. Two ships of Maximals and Predacons go back to Earth during the time the Autobots and Decepticons are deactivated aboard their spaceship. I also enjoyed some of the time travel stories in the Transformers comics...but certain events did alter the time line etc...Target 2006 is still among the best stories from the series. Some of the best Justice League episodes even involve time travel.

While I am not keen on the theme I can and do appreciate a good time travel story when it is done right.