MECHANICS OF TIME TRAVEL

[vandergraafk]

At several key junctures, time travel was used by the writing team to show different facets of the Charmed Ones, their ancestors and progeny. Sometimes time travel was mandated to solve story line problems or employed to introduce new characters to the show. Whatever its purpose, time travel carries with it certain risks for any written or visual medium. Logical conundra can slip in almost unnoticed. Loose ends can remaining dangling long after the writers have moved passed an instance of time travel. In this thread, the goal is to clear up some of the misunderstandings that accompany time travel and to explore the how to of time travel, if we allow the possibility of time travel in one or both directions.

[vandergraafk]

Time travel still poses problems in Charmedverse. Perhaps this stems from a poorly articulated conceptual framework. In the Charmed Cafe, vandergraafk sought to clarify his conceptual framework:

The major problem here seems to be that none of you articulates your vision of time travel. I have, and that's why I'm relatively sure that he is caught in a time loop: albeit a time loop that is interrupted with his death.

To repeat: if one allows for time travel - both forward and backward - then there must be a multiplicity of pasts, presents and futures. Each of these co-exist simultaneously and does not exist. That is the QUANTUM PARADOX. The existence of any timeline is simply a probability density function outcome. If one talks about a main timeline, then one is talking about the most probable timeline. For Charmed, the most probable timeline is the one that exists from the perspective of the Charmed Ones themselves. All other timelines are subordinate to this main timeline. Chris, as a member of the Warren line of witches, is an integral part of this main timeline.

A time loop, of necessity, results from time travel. There are at least four instances of time travel in Charmed that are sufficiently developed as to allow us to gain insight into the mechanics as used in Charmedverse. In All Halliwell's Eve, the sisters are sent back in time to save the Warren line of witches from demonic interference. By virtue of the fact that the witches are sent home after completion of their mission the sisters are not condemned to get stuck in the past. If the main timeline past is revisited, we will always see the sisters sent back in time. That's the time loop. They have become midwives to their own line of witches.

When I speak of a time loop, perhaps it would be helpful to have a visual image in mind. Think of a roller coast with a loop-de-loop. At some point, the coaster rises and loops back over its track and descends again on a parallel track. Now, there's no parallel track here. What we have is a junction, as the descending loop merges with the track from before. If there is no exit from the main track - I use exit rather loosely, then you will be condemned to repeat the loop over and over. That's what happens to Chris. Future Chris will die, while baby Chris will be born to resume the loop over and over.

When the Charmed Ones in All Halliwell's Eve or Wyatt and Chris in Forever Charmed engage in time travel, they too make the loop. However, after their mission is accomplished, they find the bypass track that allows them to avoid the loop (the Charmed Ones) and to skip ahead further down the track as future Wyatt and Chris are able to do as well. Were they not able to do this, then each traveler to the past would have to live out their future lives in the past. So, the Charmed Ones might have died by 1685 or future Wyatt and Chris would have lived simultaneously with their younger versions.

Chris, as I noted, is unable to do this. He dies as a result of Gideon's potion. He will always die unless Paige or Phoebe can manage to send him past the loop somewhere further down the track, presumably to a point close to when his loop began in order that his absence will not be felt by any loved ones.

Looking at their situations from further on down the track, we can recognize where the loop was and notice that both the Charmed Ones, as well as future Wyatt and Chris, have moved on. Season 6 Chris, though, is condemned to die and be reborn and forever make the loop, unless he can do as future Wyatt and Chris do, namely, to escape onto a bypass track.

Looked at from the past, the loop will always exist in the future. It is unavoidable. That is what I mean when I state that the Charmed Ones are midwives to their destiny. In a return trip to the past, if they stay on the main track, they will always have a trip to 1670 on the horizon (unless of course the past they visit is after 1670, namely, That 70s Episode).

For future Wyatt and Chris, they may or may not have to go back to the past to discover what happened to Wyatt's powers. Is it possible that in a different past, Phoebe actually would get a premonition of the coming Ultimate Battle Mark I and avoid her own death? Of course, it is. If so, then the Ultimate Battle Mark I never takes place and Wyatt never loses his powers.

Time travel, if you allow it, is that simple or that probable from a quantum mechanical perspective. Now, did the production team fully grasp the mechanics of time travel. Probably not. Heck, most people simply get blown away by Quantum Physics.

[vandergraafk]

In the Charmed Cafe, Elder noted the following:

I'm not really a fan of this time loop philosophy.

For starters, we only see Chris come from the future to save Paige just one time...and that's not a loop.
Next, if it were a time loop, he should have enough memory to avoid being stabbed by Gideon and not "die" at that point.

Vandergraafk offered this rejoinder:

Neither of these comments makes any sense. First off, the notion of "loop" cannot be taken literally. It is a visual tool. At some point, along a roller coaster track, say when Chris is 22, he goes back in time. Visually, on a coaster, the ride rises and turns back over on itself and descends towards the original track. The diameter of the loop is defined as the distance one travels back in time. He goes back to rescue Paige, save the Elders and defeat the Titans.

The second point is absolute rubbish since when Chris descends into the past, he continues down the track towards the original point of departure (where the loop rises). He doesn't make it there. (Nor, for that matter, do the Charmed Ones in All Halliwell's Eve.) Unlike the Charmed Ones, who are extracted from the past and returned to a point slightly beyond the place where the track began its upward trajectory, Chris dies.

Yet, at the same time, he is reborn. This new child will continue along the track until he reaches the point of ascent to begin his path back to the past. The child would have no memories of this unless Paige, Piper, Phoebe or any other relative with working knowledge of the historical events in Season 5 provides this information to Chris. Indeed, it may be that Chris never learns of this event until after his own future is altered by something that didn't happen in the past.

If Chris does not go back in time, his world will change. Paige will disappear. Her offspring will vanish. Phoebe may not be alive either. At this point, Chris may well wonder, as Wyatt and Chris did in Forever Charmed, what went wrong. Since there's no reason to assume that Piper and Leo are dead, either of them could tell Chris what he needs to know. At this point, Chris will have to go back in time to rescue Paige, save the Elders and vanquish the Titans.

What does this make of Chris Crossed? Well, Chris Crossed is a fantasy future just like the one in Morality Bites. It is an offshot of the main time line. And, since the probability that this scenario would play out as the main time line is low, it can be usefully kgnored. Just as we can ignore the future depicted in Morality Bites, though we ought not ignore the lessons gleaned from that episode. Nor should we ignore any lessons learned from Chris Crossed. Both are great episodes. Neither reflects the main timeline.

There are only two methods of escape from a time loop. First, the time travelers could be extracted. Time cop and other shows explore this option all the time. Second, the time traveler could die in the past.

Another way of dealing with time loops, however, means that the time traveler is stuck in a self-repeating loop. He or she becomes a sort of Flying Dutchman. Think of the movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray's character is condemned to repeat the events of that one day over and over until something radically changes to allow him to escape from the loop.

Just about every work of fiction that uses time travel employs one of these methods. Back to the Future II, I believe, indicates what happens when Marty's father doesn't marry Marty's mom. Marty's future is turned upside down. That's what Chris will experience if he does not go back in time!

[vandergraafk]

Some fans just don't get it. ShantaD offers a typical example:

I don't think most of the rest of us are following your reasoning. The Chris who had to go to the past is from an alternate future which no longer exists. When Chris changed the past, that future ceased to exist and the timeline branched into a different direction, one in which Chris will not have to go back. The Chris who went back is from a whole different timeline. That Chris died and that timeline stopped dead. There's no loop in that timeline, it's a dead end, replaced by a new timeline.

Irritated, vandergraafk replied as follows:

How can you make such an absurd argument? How does his altered future change the Charmed Ones' past? Who is going to prevent the Titans from trying to kill the Elders? I just don't understand this sloppy logic. So what if the future that Chris came from no longer exists? Whatever future timeline he is in, if he does NOT go back in time, he will alter his own timeline in ways not to his liking. That is: Paige will be dead, probably Phoebe, too. The Elders will be gone, and perhaps Piper, too.

Forget about timelines, especially Chris's. Focus on one thing - and one thing only. Who is going to prevent the Titans from destroying the Elders, Maite from killing Paige and possibly Phoebe, too? No one but Chris, unless you decide to imbue some other character from the future to travel back into the past and alter that very critical event. Whatever timeline future Chris finds himself in if he does not go back into the past at some point, he will find his own future altered. There will be no Paige, probably no Phoebe, no Elders and perhaps Wyatt will turn evil.

If you can't answer this one simple question, then you haven't tackled the issue. I have, and I think my answer is well-reasoned. It may not be perfect, but it's the best one I've got so far. And, please do not insult me by suggesting it's a non-issue. Just because the writers ignored it doesn't mean that we can. Unless of course you prefer the wispiness of illogic.

Let me make note that I don't know whether any of us is in the position of knowing whether a majority of participants in this forum can follow my logic or not. Apparently, you can't. That may be due to a weakness on my part, an explanation in need of refinement or greater clarity with respect to the visual imagery. Or, it may be due to your own lack of attention to detail. Whatever the cause, let's allow others to speak for themselves and try not to posture ourselves as representing the majority of Charmed Cafe forum participants or invoking the holy sanctity of canon or any other tool to avoid debate. You are one. You've expressed your opinion. I am one. I have made my rejoinder!

What annoys me, if ever so slightly, is that I've spent a lot of time thinking about this issue. Of course, quantity cannot substitute for quality of thought. Perhaps I've spent too much time wasting my time. Still, I believe I've worked out some carefully examined positions and tried to explain them with as much vivid detail as possible. To dismiss them with a wave of the hand or a sigh makes light of my work. But so what? That's the price we pay, I guess.

Part of me suspects, though, that one big barrier to understanding the whole issue of time travel is the fluidity of past, present and future that must exist if time travel is to be allowed. Nothing can be fixed. Everything must be open to change. When things are changed, events subsequent to a given event that was changed must change also.

You don't have to rescue Paige, save the Elders and defeat the Titans. You could ignore that. However, something will happen that had not happened before and what follows will inevitably change. I believe that Chris does not want his now clarified future to be thrown into chaos if Paige dies, the Elders are destroyed and the Titans emerge victorious. He or someone he delegates will have to go back in time to fix it. It would help if he knew the exact time to make his move. Any and every delay can lead to subtle, yet unmistakable changes that may prove to be just as deadly as ignoring the threat posed by the Titans. He can, of course, get this information from the Charmed Ones, Leo or even the Elders. Who knows? Maybe even the Elders will send him back just as they sent the Charmed Ones back in All Halliwell's Eve. It's inevitable, as Avatar Alpha would say!

[vandergraafk]

On a personal note, let me add that there is no necessary virtue in using the language of science to explore questions of time travel. It helps me to visualize a multiplicity of pasts, presents and futures as possible outcomes of some unknown probability density function. That Quantum Physics allows the indeteminancy of locating with any degree of certainty the exact position of an electron but can only speak of the probability of finding an electron in a certain place helps me clarify the multiplicity of pasts, presents, and futures. It by no means allows me to authoritatively answer questions posed in Charmedverse.

In no way, has science even asserted the existence of multiple pasts, presents and futures. At best, science is slowly coming to understand, based on advances in theoretical mathematics, that our universe may consist of 10 or 11 dimensions. We are nowhere near postulating that 2 or more universes might coexist simultaneously.

Moreover, most scientists discount the possibility of time travel. Stephen Hawking, who has probably contributed the most thoughtful writing on this matter, doubts the probability of time travel, especially time travel to the past. For him - and many other scientists - the arrow of time points in one direction: forward. If travel to the past is allowed, all sorts of paradoxes can emerge that in a non-expanding and possibly contracting universe pose severe conceptual problems. Time travel to the future might be possible. However, therein, too, there remain problems.

Nearly a century ago, Einstein posed the question in the twins paradox wherein one twin travels at or near the speed of light while his or her sibling remains on earth. When reunited, the two will appear to have aged differently. How could that be?

For Einstein, this was a thought experiment that proved illuminating for him with respect to relativity. For us, it is a moot point. Even if we could survive in a material state the exigencies of space travel at or near the speed of light (we most likely will turn to pure energy), what would or could we do in a future where time will have moved on, but we won't have moved on as much? I don't know. Is this the only type of time travel truly possible? I don't know.