I swear I am not making stuff up.
At the risk of upsetting people much more versed than I am in sci-fi, there are two basic sets of rules for time travel (in my opinion). For the sake of clarity, I refer to them as the Terminator rules and the DeLorean rules.
- The DeLorean rules basically apply in cases like Back to the Future (duh) — you do something drastic in the past, you alter the future creating a parallel timeline. This is most clearly explained in Back to the Future II. Now, the storyline has Doc Brown and Marty returning to the “good” 1985 eventually, but that doesn’t mean that the “bad” 1985 doesnt exist anymore. And if you disagree, well, buy me a beer and I’ll tell you all about my 13 DeLoreans theory. The DeLorean rules also seem to apply in every time-travel story featuring the X-Men and most of the known DC Universe. And Dragonball Z.
- The Terminator rules assume one single timeline, and if a change is made in the past by somebody from the future it’s because it was meant to happen, like (spoiler alert) John Connor’s father being the guy sent back in time. Please note that the Terminator rules only apply to Terminator 1 & 2, because I refuse to acknowledge any events in that franchise after T3. Yes Christian Bale, I’m looking at you. The rules also apply to Harry Potter apparently (Prisioner of Azkaban!).
Noting that I just put Terminator and HP in the same sentence, makes me think it would be the greatest fanfic ever. Of course, the Internet demonstrates that somebody already beat me to the punch.
At any rate, I think that if I ever introduce a time travel element in Atomic Laundromat — “if”, as I don’t particularly like it as a storytelling device — it would be more along the lines of the Terminator rules. No changing the timeline! Stuff is what it is. Like not taking back this post after revealing in a few paragraphs a lot of my nerd obsessions…
By the way, if you are not doing so yet, follow us on Facebook! I want to do some exciting stuff later down the line with a “community” so become a fan!.
I like the Terminator model the best. Stable time loops are awesome.
Only two sets of rule for time travel? You need to expand your time-travel lore some , my friend. But a valiant attempt nonetheless. Keep it manageable.
Fun strip, BTW. You’ve got a much cleaner and steady line to your pen than many others that have been at the webcomics gig much, much longer than you. Onwards and upwards. Just came across this strip and am adding it to my regulars. Semper fi, fellow geek.
La verdad es ambas teorias no respetan sus propios principios, prefiero la teoria de Time Machine con Guy Pearce.
Hoy encontre tu WebComic gracias a Josh y lo estoy leyendo desde el principio.
Saludos!
Bienvenido a la tira! de acuerdo con la teorias no respetando sus principios. Las reglas del universo se doblan de acuerdo al humor de los escritores…
Jejeje, ok, se me olvido ese corolario,
Saludos!
… AND nice fake Arnold
I just watched the Terminator movie (yayy)… and its time travel rules get rid of the excitement, since Kyle Reese can’t die emmm…. nice explosions anyway
I liked the strip. Also, who knew Dragonball Z had a plot. I thought it was just a lot os yelling, closeups and flashing lights.
this is one dang good strip
The real world seems to obey the Terminator rules, but of course in the comic the only true rule is narrative causality.
I (heart) nerds…
That has been the nerdiest post you have made so far…
LOL! I know some humans who can not compute sarcasm.