(not at all political) As of yesterdays news, Showcase and SyFy channels have not yet decided whether to renew Continuum for a fourth season. Yesterday I watched Last Minute, the final episode of the third season; I think it aired on June 22. As the series progressed, the time travel in the story made less and less sense to me. Ive been enjoying the story despite that. But there was one bit of dialogue in the last episode that I found totally, 100% incomprehensible. It starts a little more than 14 minutes into the episode. -- Kiera: How will we ever know if we succeed? Brad: There is the beacon I brought with me. Kiera: What about it? Brad: The beacon sends a signal marking a point in time as a critical nexus point of change. My orders were to plant the beacon, so that steps could be taken to influence that moment in history and to prevent anyone else from doing the same. -- (back to Eric) I dunno. Maybe, if there is a fourth season, theyll find some way to explain it so it makes sense. But Im doubtful of that. Of course, Im not in a good position to judge, because Ive come around to the position of finding all time travel stories implausible. Im one of those people that says time travel is impossible, because of the paradoxes that would result. But what does that assertion mean? Well, two things: (a) I believe that you cant have time travel without having contradictions, and (b) I believe that contradictions cant happen in the universe. Admittedly, I could be wrong about both those things. Maybe contradictions do happen in real life. But in any case they shouldnt happen in fiction. I agree with Mark Twain, who said truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense. Still, I think time travel can be used in a story, as long as you dont overdo it -- as long as you dont bring the contradictions into view. Time travel, American exceptionalism, and market fundamentalism are all plausible, and are stories that will appeal to many people, as long as you dont think about the story too much. If anyone reading this is about to offer me an explanation of how time travel CAN make sense, please DONT, unless it is extremely brief. I wouldnt have the patience for more than that.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 16:48:42 +0000
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