In this episode, Heather and Liz talk time travel in entertainment (but not real science, so don’t tell us we don’t know science – because we already know that).
Time Travel
We are discussing time travel in TV and movies. Since we don’t have Dr. Neil Degrass Tyson on the show (but we would LOVE to), we won’t be talking the actual physics/science behind the potential for time travel, or even things like wormholes. We are sticking to what we can Google and what we can see in entertainment.
Time Travel Theories
- Fixed timeline – Single fixed history which is unchangeable. Whatever you go back and try to change will be what created it in the first place. Examples: 12 Monkeys and Donnie Darko.
- Dynamic timeline – Very small change in the past has a huge impact on the future (Butterfly effect or chaos theory). Example: Back to the Future. Paradox: Grandfather paradox – If you go back in time and kill your grandfather and thus you should never be born, but the fact that YOU went back in time means that you existed and the grandpa can’t be killed.
- Multi-verse – Every change you make creates a new timeline. Example: Doctor Who, The Flash
- Trapped in time – Time is paused and they will rejoin the timeline. Example: Jumanji, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me; Planet of the Apes (1968).
Bootstrap Paradox: occurs when an object or piece of information sent back in time becomes trapped within an infinite cause-effect loop in which the item no longer has a discernible point of origin, and is said to be “uncaused” or “self-created”.
Wormhole – Often used as a method for time travel
Time Travel – in TV
- Doctor Who
- Quantum Leap
- Legends of Tomorrow
- Agents of Shield (ish)
- Continum
Time Travel – in Movies
- Back to the Future
- Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
- Groundhog Day*
- Interstellar
- Terminator
- Time Bandits
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Butterfly Effect
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- X-Men Days of Future Past
- Flight of the Navigator
- 13 Going on 30
Other Segments – Bitch of the Week, Things We Don’t Get, and Out-of-Context Internet Comments
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Long ago and far away, I was a pizza transportation specialist up the road from you in Humble (Go Wildcats!). George Forman (of grill fame) had one of his many houses in a fairly high end, small neighborhood that was on the south end of town. I never saw George Senior there, but some or all of his sons would order pizza pretty regularly. They were total ass hats. Never tipped. always ordered a crap tone of food, always complained, new how to game the system and always get free stuff or extra stuff. Latter, when George Senior left Texas for Vegas and LA, all the sons seemed to move permanently into that house. It totally went to shit after that.
I went to high school with Moses Malone Jr. (son of NBA legend Moses Malone). He was a total dickhead. He thought he was the hottest shit ever. His dad was always super nice, but the kid was worthless. I was an athletic trainer for all of the teams, including basketball, so I had to see him more than others. This story has nothing to do with time travel, but I like to cut shitheads down a notch whenever possible. 🙂