Similar to Firefly...

Meddling time travellers by Huinesoron on 2014-07-01 13:00:00 UTC Reply

(And the pop culture they clearly caused)

There are some things in modern pop culture that seem to stick out as basically inexplicable. Things which happened, or didn't happen, for no discernable reason. Well, this is the thread that explains it all:

Time travellers.

Meddling time travellers.

Yes, when things seem to make no sense, the only possible explanation is violation of causality. A few examples from me:

-The cancellation of Firefly. Why was there never a second season? Simple: time travellers. In the timeline where there was a Season 2, it was excruciatingly bad - so time travellers came back and stopped it being made.

-And of course, the next logical step: the later seasons of Heroes and Lost. Shows which were absolutely brilliant until their sudden cancellation, so time travellers came back to ensure they continued - only to discover that it would have been better for them to stay dead.

-The revival of Doctor Who. Hey, I never said they were all bad things. Despite its popularity now, back in '05 there was no reason to think 'that show with Colin Baker in a stupid coat' would ever be a success again - except time travellers.

-Tolkien's inability to publish anything after LotR. This is actually a failure of time travellers. Originally, Tolkien finished a bunch of minor works - The Lost Road, The Notion Club Papers, maybe even The Lay of Leithian, Tal-Elmar, and The New Shadow. But some meddling time traveller couldn't stand the fact that all this publication prevented him from working on the full Silmarillion, so went back and changed his priorities - only to give us the 'worst of both worlds', where J.R.R. didn't get anything to publication quality.

-Our current fascination with comic book movies. This one actually deserves a trailer monologue:

In the darkness of the future, an increasingly bitter and jaded world needs a hero. But not just any hero - they need a superhero. There's only one problem: such characters are the creations of comic books, and the great publishing houses which wrought them folded long ago.

Now, the world's last comic book geek must undertake a perilous mission. Diving into the deep past, into the very first days of the twenty-first century, she must rescue the comics industry. To save the future, she must preserve the popularity of superheroes - no matter what the cost.

It's the only explanation that makes sense! And I have no doubt that you can find more examples... ;)

hS

It is now my goal in life to become one... by Iximaz on 2014-07-02 22:52:00 UTC Reply

...of these time travellers. I will go and make J.K. Rowling write more Harry Potter> books and it will be absolute...ly.. ama...zing...

Nope, changed my mind. I don't want to risk a repeat of Lost. I guess some things are better left untouched.

You've certainly given me something to think about!
For the Firefly one... by Ekyl on 2014-07-02 18:19:00 UTC Reply

Does that take into account all the ways Firefly has continued anyway? Now there's comics, a video game, the two tabletop RPGs... it's not on TV any more but it's still going strong.

(Tough given what's been said of the plans for season 2, like what Inara's needle was really for, it was probably for the best there was only one.)
Similar to Firefly... by Neshomeh on 2014-07-01 22:44:00 UTC Reply

The original Star Trek and Farscape both went through similar ordeals of cancellation due to low Nielsen ratings, massive fan outcry, and partial revival. TOS got syndicated (I think is the word), and the popularity of the reruns led to movies and the launch of the gigantic franchise we know today. FS got a two-part miniseries and continuation in a line of comics. There are reports of a Farscape movie in the early stages of development, too, but I'll get excited about that when there are actual trailers. Anyway, clearly more time travelers are responsible!

In the case of TOS, I think the time travelers came back to make sure Star Trek lived. In the alternate timeline where it faded into obscurity, the ground it broke didn't stay broke, and the world became a lot less awesome.

As for Farscape, it's possible that we were saved from a really terrible fifth season—things did get pretty weird in the fourth, even by Farscape standards. However, I think it's more likely that it was sabotage. Instead of FS season five, we got more Stargate: SG-1 with Ben Browder and Claudia Black poached from their other ~~better~~ roles. Clearly our time traveler was a Stargate fanboy with dastardly designs. Frell you, unknown Stargate fanboy! To Hezmana with you and all your offspring!

~Neshomeh, who might still be a touch bitter, just a touch.

Re: Similar to Firefly... by Snowy the Sane Fangirl on 2014-07-01 23:40:00 UTC Reply

I'm going to omit stating that I'm still just a touch bitter (just a touch) that Stargate: SG-1 ended at all, since that will obviously cause problems. Who am I to talk, I've only seen a season and a half of Farscape.

...

Moving on.

Clearly all the Stargate movies and the two spinoffs were due to the same fanboy (girl?).

That's all I had to say.

I like this. by Cassie on 2014-07-01 21:54:00 UTC Reply

It as least gives me an explanation and a reason to cling to about Firefly whenever I watch it and wail for the fact we never got to see more... and the deaths in the Big Damn Movie.
One creepy example. by doctorlit on 2014-07-01 17:10:00 UTC Reply

But first, I just wanted to challenge your assertion that [This paragraph contains a hopeless Lost fanboy defending the later seasons of Lost. For the benefit of everyone involved, it has been automatically excised by internet protocol 4815162342. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.] And the video game was awesome, too!

Anyway, I wanted to talk about was a particular novella. It was written by Morgan Robertson, about a humongous ocean liner that smashes into an iceberg in the middle of an April night while sailing from England to New York. Unfortunately, people had been so sure of the massive ship's indestructibility, it hadn't been equipped with nearly enough lifeboats, and many lives were lost.

If only people had paid better attention to the story when it was published in 1898. Alas, Robertson's attempt at time travel wasn't enough to prevent the RMS Titanic disaster fourteen years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futility,ortheWreckoftheTitan

(Was that too dark? I apologize if that was too dark. >_> )

That is fascinating and creepy. by Kittythekatty on 2014-07-02 16:42:00 UTC Reply

It also reminds me of a theory (most likely a joke) that the Titanic was sunk because of the amount of time travelers trying to save it.

More recently by zdimensia on 2014-07-02 16:55:00 UTC Reply

Maybe "Little Did She Know She'd Kissed a Hero" wouldn't have created if not for a time traveler who was willing to die to create a ray of hope.

No, but it did work. by Huinesoron on 2014-07-01 21:29:00 UTC Reply

Just, y'know, not as well as he wanted it to.

Check out Chapter 7: the Titan hits the iceberg and sinks with all hands, except anyone who was on the bridge at the time (which appears to be two people). The ship goes down in all of five paragraphs.

Contrast that with the Titanic, which lazed about on the surface for nearly three hours. Titan killed all 3000 people aboard her; Titanic let more than 700 go home.

It's not a lot better, admittedly - but without the time travel, it would surely* have been worse.

hS

*'Surely', adj. - 'because of reasons I cannot be bothered to come up with'.
I heard that once a long time ago... by Snowy the Sane Fangirl on 2014-07-01 21:16:00 UTC Reply

Yeah, creepy, dude. That shows you that we should all pay lots of attention to fiction!
That's beyond creepy. (nm) by Sergio Turbo on 2014-07-01 21:10:00 UTC Reply