Alternate Timelines/Inconsistencies of Time Travel

[MrT]

I thought the timeline started to change when the Persuader came back in time to destroyed the MMH's PZ crystal.
I can't quite remember but wasn't Clark suppose to send Doomsday to the PZ instead of burying underground ?

[xPandaHunterx]

The way I see it, it had 'always happened. The superman from their world had met them when they traveled to his younger self. There would only be a problem if these people didn't come back in time.

[Kneel before Zod]

The way I see it, it had 'always happened. The superman from their world had met them when they traveled to his younger self. There would only be a problem if these people didn't come back in time.

This is contradicted by the events of this episode. Booster's interference with the past caused changes in history.

[nate-dog1701d]

I thought the timeline started to change when the Persuader came back in time to destroyed the MMH's PZ crystal.
I can't quite remember but wasn't Clark suppose to send Doomsday to the PZ instead of burying underground ?

The timeline started to change before that when Brainiac used Kara's bracelet to go back to Krypton. Remember how Clark ended up putting himself in the ship? It's possible Brainiac used that opportunity to place Davis/Doomsday's DNA stuff on the ship at that point. Also, Dr. Swann's journal changed as a result of those events, so who knows whatever else changed on the Veritas front.

You are correct about the Persuader screwing things up, though. I don't remember everything exactly, but Rokk said that those events ended up leaving Chloe alive. She later convinced Clark not to put Davis in the Phantom Zone, resulting in an altered timeline.

----- Added 9 Minutes later -----

The way I see it, it had 'always happened. The superman from their world had met them when they traveled to his younger self. There would only be a problem if these people didn't come back in time.

I have a fundamental problem with that logic. It says to me that Clark will only become Superman if people who exist because of him becoming Superman come back and teach him stuff. Time loops like that don't make sense, just like the idea that Clark gets the disguise idea from his future self, who got it from his future self, etc. The idea actually comes from nowhere. Also, as Kneel before Zod said, it is stated in both Booster and Doomsday that these travels have altered history.

Taking a step back from all this, maybe I could stand to learn a thing or two from Q of Star Trek: The Next Generation. As he told Picard in regard to time travel, "Don't be so linear, Jean-Luc."

----- Added 19 Minutes later -----

Makes me wonder what happened to that original timeline that the Legion came from? I don't know anymore. All I know is that the unseen hand of "destiny" would've fixed everything in the end

The minds behind Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale) mentioned a theory (which they basically followed) that whenever something alters past events, other events change in order to compensate for that alteration. In a sense, that's like saying basic things are destined to happen a certain way. Minor events can change, but other minor events must change in order to ensure that the major things (like Clark Kent becoming Superman) still happen. If those major things don't happen, you have a time paradox, which is theoretically impossible. You can take it or leave it, of course, as it's just a theory about something that is fairly impractical to begin with. I personally don't think the destiny angle is a terrible idea. For the record, I'd prefer to see Clark choose to be Superman rather than be forced into it under the concept of destiny, but I'll take either, or even a mixture.

As for the bolded, that's the timeline I've been wondering about the entire time. I kind of want to see it.

[DJ Doena]

The best explanation is still this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY_Ry8J_jdw

----- Added 5 Minutes later -----

As for the bolded, that's the timeline I've been wondering about the entire time. I kind of want to see it.

But it could also mean a timeline that's not like our Superman at all. Their history was sketchy but Garth mentioned that Superman is known for doing whatever it takes. In theory that could be a very dark Superman who protects the world by killing if necessary.

[xaosthry]

think the Doctor said it best...Time is more of a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff

[nate-dog1701d]

The best explanation is still this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY_Ry8J_jdw

----- Added 5 Minutes later -----



But it could also mean a timeline that's not like our Superman at all. Their history was sketchy but Garth mentioned that Superman is known for doing whatever it takes. In theory that could be a very dark Superman who protects the world by killing if necessary.

The fact that the Legion didn't have their code about not killing is an interesting point, but I can't imagine such a dark Superman being looked upon so positively and revered throughout the galaxies.

[Tylerr]

Well if you look at it like this:

They didn't go back because they already knew he would fail.

It makes perfect sense, no?

But i do kind of agree with it, i mean in that episode with brainiac in homecomming he said that he created all the technology including the ring, well.... they used the ring before they took him back.

[DJ Doena]

But i do kind of agree with it, i mean in that episode with brainiac in homecomming he said that he created all the technology including the ring, well.... they used the ring before they took him back.

Since I just watched that episode again. What B5 said was a bit ambiguous. It can be understood as if he created the rings. Or it can be understood as an enumeration.

Here's what he says without punctuation:

I joined them in the thirty-first century I'm known as Brainiac 5 the ring time travel all my creations I brought the legion into a new realm of heroism

If he created the rings then it goes like this:

I joined them. In the thirty-first century I'm known as Brainiac 5. The ring, time travel: all my creations. I brought the legion into a new realm of heroism.

But when he says it it sounds more like:

I joined them. In the thirty-first century I'm known as Brainiac 5. The ring, time travel, all my creations. I brought the legion into a new realm of heroism.