Credible time travel in fiction

[mtbc]

I found myself thinking about time travel in movies, then also television: especially, instances in which the time travel was consistent, important and non-trivial, where it had been thought through successfully in an interesting way. On television, the show Travelers (2016) has some fun with the variant of being sent back in time to possess past people whereas Dark (2017) has rather less fun in linking the nature of time travel with deeper questions about fate; I have yet to catch either in a glaring mistake.

Movies like Looper (2012) are an entertaining attempt but I didn't buy some of the details. Whereas, say, Predestination (2014) was harder-going but I think its model might have stayed consistent. I wonder if the latter may be a movie of both causal loops yet fixed history. I greatly appreciate how Primer (2004) makes a real effort to consider its model of time travel but I shan't be wholly convinced that it sticks to it until I spend more time than I should figuring the mechanics of addressing the incident at the party. Getting Primer straight in my head is worse than Dark. Not unrelatedly, in terms of understanding the flow of events, I got a lot out of the Memento (2000) DVD Easter egg that plays the scenes in chronological order.

I have probably forgotten a few movies that make a rich, credible attempt at the implications of time travel. Perhaps also books: in describing Predestination's model I was reminded of Iain Pears' Arcadia which also hangs together well.

Comments

[goldibehr]

"Dark" is disappointing me a lot; I don't feel that my time investment has been well spent. It was bad enough that nothing was resolved at the end of season 1... but the surprise dropped in the last minutes of the last episode of season 2 makes me think the writers have no intention of providing us with a reasonable/logical/consistent resolution to the story.

[wpadmirer]

Pat and I really liked 12 Monkeys. I think that it holds up well.

[mtbc]

I think you're right, it does, moreover it may be another causal loop yet fixed history story unless I'm forgetting something. I tend to like Terry Gilliam's work and it was one of the movies that opened my eyes to Brad Pitt's range as an actor.

[wpadmirer]

Yes, it is a fixed loop! And like you, it really made us realize that Brad Pitt could actually act and not just be pretty. Great movie.