Time Travel Errors of Logic

[Stanlei]

Hey all,

In my member introduction post, I mentioned my favorite pastime is to "find errors of logic in time travel stories". Some people replied to it, in particular, @Jim who suggested a thread to discuss it.

So here it is. The rules are simple: Pick a story/film/book/etc, mention the scene/plot/trip/effect, and say why it is an error of logic.

But pay attention that the error of logic needs to be 'in world', i.e. even following the rules of time travel of that specific story/film/book/etc, world, it still does not make sense.

I will start on my next post.

[Stanlei]

Back to The Future 2: When Old Biff Tannen 'borrowed' the Delorean.

Old Biff Tannen took the Delorean and went to his past younger self and gave him the Almanac. Then, he traveled back to his future.

Following the Time Travel rules of that world, Old Biff Tannen should have ended in a future, where he was already a millionaire, where Marty's dad was already dead, and Marty's mom was Biff's wife.

Instead, he traveled to a 'future' that was unchanged by his actions, in the past, which breaks the logic of Back to The Future 1.

[Randy]

I wouldn't call it a logic error, but I hate the "happy ending" of the movie Timecop.

The MC goes back in time (10(?) years and prevents his pregnant wife from being murdered. When he goes back to the future and goes home, he is greeted by his loving wife and child.

How is that a happy ending for the wife and child? The man they've lived with for (10?) years no longer exists. The only father the child has ever known is now replaced by someone she's never shared memories with, or bonded with. The MC may be no more than a long-lost identical twin brother.

Maybe there is a logic error -- where is the husband and father they lived with for the last (10?) years?

[Nancy]

Randy wrote: "Maybe there is a logic error -- where is the husband and father they lived with for the last (10?) years? ..."

That is what I was thinking as I was reading your post!

[Paul]

My favorite kind of topic! Here's an example not of a logic flaw per se, but a ham-handed attempt to avoid what would have been a serious logic flaw: the hero in Twice Upon A Time (a TV series on Netflix) travels slightly back in time to correct a problem with his girlfriend, which led to their break-up. He somehow manages to extensively interact with his girlfriend (who of course doesn't know he's from the future, because he looks exactly the same), but manages to avoid running into his earlier self, which would have generated a cascading series of paradoxes stemming from his older self suddenly remembering when his younger self suddenly encountered his older self. Nonetheless, however, this was still a very enjoyable series (one short season). Here's my review with more details https://paullevinson.blogspot.com/202...