Finally...a continuity glitch explanation

Goodwill said:
I'm sorry... You know what? I'm just gonna give you guys some space. Seriously, I'll just be a lurker for a while.
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Actually I was talking to just about everyone except you.
 
It's cool. I just notice that people have been wanting to chase me down with a pitchfork lately so I'm just going to take a break from posting. That way, people can talk about flushing squirrels down the toilet and monkeys dancing in closets all they want.
 
Goodwill said:
It's cool. I just notice that people have been wanting to chase me down with a pitchfork lately so I'm just going to take a break from posting. That way, people can talk about flushing squirrels down the toilet and monkeys dancing in closets all they want.
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SNAP. :lol:
 
The trouble with time travel stories that involve possible consequences to the present is that in order for the traveling to be possible, then the past, present and future would need to be set. For example, if I go back into the past and blow away the first thing that crawls out of the ocean, then I may have stopped another species from taking over the planet because the "fish" required to start the process of moving from water to land was actually and day behind the one I just killed. Also, to assume that the "present" is the "current" time is to assume that no one from the future would ever travel back in time to the "present" (i.e. Booster Gold from DC). So if this guy from the "present's" future does something, is it going to effect anything at all other then his time line, and if that is the case, how would we know - or would we care? And finally, if someone from the "present" goes into the "future" do their actions then have consequences or could they act without impunity, knowing that nothing bad will come about because the "future" isn't set, and therefore, in time travel terms, is more like a violent video game that can later just be turned off once you got 6 stars and the military are chasing you down...?

Basically, the concept of time travel itself suggests that everything is set in place and that nothing that is done occurred without that action already being accounted for. In other words, the cat in the box is going to be alive or dead depending on how it was intended to be. Quantum theory becomes pointless once time travel is introduced...

In other words, this wouldn't really be a good way of fixing continuity errors between series. I think it'd just be easier if Marvel said, "Yup. Our bad," and moved on.
 
There are, in my mind, a few major theories on time travel that are expressed in science fiction today.

There is the much-used alternate timelines theory. This one has two variants. In the first variant, (seen often in comics), going back in time and changing something creates at least one alternate timeline that branches off from the point of change. The other side of this coin is the John Titor theory: every possible reality/timeline already exists, and time travel is a method of moving diagonally through both time and space.

There is the single timeline theory, seen in Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch. Only one timeline exists, and any being with the proper technology can travel into the past of the timeline and alter it. This theory disconnects causality from time, which causes many scientists to find it unwieldy.

The third theory is that seen in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Any time travel that is going to happen has already happened, and it all fits together seamlessly, with no true alterations ever being made. This theory raises questions of free will, destiny, etc.
 
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Ah, in my timeline story I'm shooting towards the second option.
 
It seemed to me (if I'm reading those right) that the single timeline theory is what Millar is using in UFF #21, in which case the theory I used works.
 
Guijllons said:
It may work, but I'd personally hope for something a bit more substantial.
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No doubt - i said before that this isn't what I *want* to see. I'm just throwing it out there as something they could use, as opposed to a huge mega crossover event. Much the same way that Ellis casually explained Ross's return.
 
Does the UFF series just not fit in with the ultimates and USM at all then? I mean, all this could have happened a couple of years ago I guess, but with Johnny popping up in USM pre-fame causes one or two glitches.

Damn, I'm gonna have to grab a biro and make a little chart I think, just to see if it all can possibly work.

I'm ignoring the bit about Reed going to college with Tony, that can be explained in another way, like peter really ****ing up his assignment.
 
Guijllons said:
I'm ignoring the bit about Reed going to college with Tony, that can be explained in another way, like peter really ****ing up his assignment.
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Not sure I follow...
 
UltimateE said:
Not sure I follow...
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In the Spiderman/Ironman team-up, Peter does a talk at Stark industries about the life of Tony, he says that tony and Reed went to college together.
Peter could have just had a really really bad week and fluffed it on the day :)
 
Guijllons said:
In the Spiderman/Ironman team-up, Peter does a talk at Stark industries about the life of Tony, he says that tony and Reed went to college together.
Peter could have just had a really really bad week and fluffed it on the day :)
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Or, the real simple way out is to have there be another Reed Richards, some fat, balding biochemist who invented something that made a lot of money. It'd be a cheap way out but it'd probabl satisfy those who can't let the little things go.
 
Wow! This thread seems surprisingly popular. Although it seems like more of a topic for Baseless Speculation. Since Millar hasn't said that the Thing squishing a plant is why the continuity doesn't match up, then I don't think that it's reasonable to assume that this is the explanation. This is about as valid as saying that the reality altering effects of the House of M are the explaination of the continuity problems. Personally, I don't understand how people get so pissed about continuity problems. Obviously, it's just a byproduct of so many different writers shaping a reality and not wanting to have to be restricted by what previous writer have done. It's just grasping at straws to looks for ways to explain it.
 
MaxwellSmart said:
Wow! This thread seems surprisingly popular. Although it seems like more of a topic for Baseless Speculation. Since Millar hasn't said that the Thing squishing a plant is why the continuity doesn't match up, then I don't think that it's reasonable to assume that this is the explanation.
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It started off as E just making a joke thread, and now it's gone into a serious discussion. Usually it's the other way around.
 
ourchair said:
It started off as E just making a joke thread, and now it's gone into a serious discussion. Usually it's the other way around.
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I know!! What the hell is this?! This never happened before!!! :scared:

:panic:

:crazy:
 
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