Why I Hate Time Travel Stories
I was reminded recently that I really hate time travel stories. Time travel is of course a staple of science fiction in books, movies and TV form. It’s rare indeed for a sci-fi show to avoid using some form of time travel. In fact the only one that springs to mind is Firefly.
Many movies have been built around time travel concepts and there are a number of science fiction classics which also revolve around time travel. So why do I hate time travel stories?
I’ve been trying to figure this out recently and I’ve come to the conclusion that I hate them because it seems like 90% of these stories are actually just re-telling the same tale. Lately every time I see a time travel story it seems to get bogged down in the tedious details of how to resolve (or avoid) a paradox.
Usually this seems to result in the writer making their characters talk themselves in circles until the reader/audience can’t figure out whether the explanation is plausible or not. What it doesn’t do is give the reader/audience anything new to chew on in regards to time travel.
One of the things that those of us who are science fiction fans often claim to defend our genre is that science fiction explores the possibilities of what science is capable of and the effects it could have on people and society. Unfortunately with time travel stories that doesn’t seem to happen. At best we are presented with some dubious pseudoscience not to mention blathering about how dangerous it is to meet yourself.
But I can’t remember the last time I read or watched a time travel story that actually presented a new scenario. One that used time travel in an interesting or new way. One that presented the effects on society that time travel might have.
But maybe I’m being unfair. Maybe I shouldn’t dismiss an entire sub-genre quite so casually. Surely there have been more interesting or original uses of time travel in science fiction in the last decade or so right?
So can anyone suggest some good time travel stories? It can be movies, tv or fiction. Just something original.
Eoghann Irving is amongst other things the creator and Editor of Solar Flare. He has a life long interest in all forms of science fiction and fantasy and a pressing need to share this interest with anyone who will listen. Find out more at his personal website eoghann.com..
8 Comments, Comment or Ping
John
Gah! I am mortally offended! Time travel is one of my favorite sf themes. However, it is as you fear: most time travel stories aren’t all that good.
I group time travel stories into different classes. There are those that use time travel as a convenient plot device to thrust some character back (or forward) in time just to create the desired setting. (Think of the Christopher Reeve movie Somewhere in Time.) These stories, in my opinion, should not even be classified as time travel stories as the time travel has little to do with the plot.
A similar class uses time travel as a way to point out some facet of our own time or to make some social commentary. H.G. Welles’ The Time Machine is a first-class example of this type.
Another class, as you note, tackles the time paradox. Interestingly, these are usually my favorite stories. Check out John Varley’s Millenium which I read many years ago and remember enjoying immensely. (It’s based on his short story “Air Raid”. Avoid the Cheryl Ladd movie at all costs!). If you really want to mess with your head, also try “All You Zombies…” by Robert A. Heinlein. (See http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/002291.html.)
A third class of story transcends the time travel paradox and treats time travel as a tool. Two stories that come to mind here are Chris Roberson’s excellent novel Here, There & Everywhere (see http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/002760.html) and the short story “3 RMS, Good View” by Karen Haber (see http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/002189.html).
Feb 6th, 2006
Andrew Oakley
‘Life On Mars’ is a new BBC crime show drama set in… well, the viewer has to decide. Is it set in the 1970s? Or is it set in the imagination of a 2006 coma patient?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/lifeonmars/about.shtml
It tells the story of Sam, a man who believes he’s a 2006 police detective who has been the victim of a near-fatal car accident. He wakes up carrying the paperwork of a 1973 detective who has recently requested a transfer. His surroundings convince him it really is 1973… until he hears voices. Are these the sounds of a 2006 hospital filtering into his coma, or just his 1973 pals just playing jokes on him, his suspects drugging him and a malfunctioning TV?
It is stylistically very reminiscent of ‘The Sweeny’ with a bit of ‘Starsky and Hutch’. Many of the storylines revolve around the differences between modern politically-correct evidence-led policing, and the intuition-led ‘good cop bad cop’ policing of yesteryear.
The episode where Sam releases suspects for lack of evidence, against the intuition of his boss who wants to plant evidence on them, only to have them kill an innocent bystander, is particularly thought-provoking. The new twist on time-travel is using this as a storytelling tool, to examine the differences in culture within the same society that even a gap as small as 25 years can provide.
Feb 8th, 2006
Ian Hocking
Hi
My ‘Deja Vu’ uses time travel in a vaguely interesting way. I’d be happy to send you a review copy.
Cheers
Ian
Feb 12th, 2006
Tom Harper
An excellent sci-fi thriller using time travel for the purposes of social commentary would be 3000 Years by Richard Mgdrechian. The particular time-travel technology used is known as time-suppression and is described in quite a bit of detail. The book also does a great job at keeping everything about the future society (2055) within the boundaries of reason.
Feb 13th, 2006
Carl Thompson
Check out a story called “Mozart in Mirrorshades” by Bruce Sterling. It is a time travel story whose premise makes the whole time paradox mess irrelevant,i.e., you can only travel back into alternate universes and therefore nothing you do will cause a paradox. It’s more fun if the travellers can change history rather than simply validate it.
Feb 18th, 2006
Alex
Most time-travel stories do end up cheesy and contrived. That is certainly not the case, however, in Gregory Benford’s Timescape. Benford investigates the consequences of being able to send messages to the past by speculative physical methods, and he does so credibly and profoundly, while also investigating the purpose of science and its practice. A little long, but it’s one of my favourites.
Apr 16th, 2008
Simon
Vernor Vinge’s bobbles - using stasis fields to time travel, one way of course and not much fun if you get left outside when it’s turned on…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marooned_in_Realtime
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peace_War
Apr 17th, 2008
sconzey
The Time Traveller’s Wife. The sci-fi premise merely forms the background to paint the unusual relationship between the two protagonists: Clare and Henry…
Go read.
Apr 20th, 2008
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