Friday 29 October 2010

Time Travel Taboo

Just a quicky today:

Please be bloody careful when using time travel in a story. If your hero uses it to save the day, stop and think. Let's say I'm the Captain of the Starship Enterprise. The world has been destroyed, it's game over, I've lost, bad guy's won. But I can go back in time and stop it if I want.

"Good good, let's go back to the last possible moment I have to stop the bad guy, dragging William Shatner back with me. A solid plan."

What? WHAT?!!! The last possible moment?! How about you go back to the beginning of the movie and kill the fucker before he even has chance to plan anything?

"Well then there wouldn't be a story, would there!" I hear you cry.

No, there wouldn't. Which is a damnsight better than having a story that completely, absolutely, catagorically falls apart in Act III. As if the deus ex machina itself wasn't bad enough! Jeez!

So if you're going to use time travel, be very very careful. And make sure you watch two things first: a) Back to the Future and b) Terminator.

All done. Feel free to yell at me now.

NB: Star Trek Generations may be shite, but First Contact is a damn good sci-fi movie!

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