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Wednesday, 6 January 2010 02:33 pm
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A couple hours after yesterday's post, I was reading a story that, against my expectations, introduced the element of time travel. How about that.
Equally surprising is that it worked for me. In the past, I've gotten annoyed at time travel entering the picture late in the game, since it usually means an abrupt shift to more severe suspension of disbelief. Of course, "late" can be a matter of perspective in such cases....
Now I feel like listing my preferred uses for the time travel concept, in descending order:
1. Philosophical wanking. Sorry if you find the language jarring in my LJ, but I can think of no better term for a line of thought so deep and yet so probably fruitless. It can be rather soothing, if you don't mind the risk of your brain exploding.
2. Comedy. Thanks to Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar, I know that philosophy and humor are closely related. And having finally finished the Back to the Future series a few months back, I know that there is a vast potential for laughs with time travel, whether they depend on a knowledge of history or the absurdity of the logic. Way to make Bill and Ted appeal to brainiacs and underachievers alike. The only thing keeping this from the #1 slot is that, well, comedy's always a gamble.
3. Adventure. For the most part, this translates to Rule of Cool-type adventures in which modern heroes have to face vikings or other historical forces, often with a good dash of comedy as above. But what would The Terminator be without the premise that this android came to a present before weapons were designed to stop it, before police or anyone else could anticipate it, and before its intended target had any idea why she would be singled out? Or what would Twelve Monkeys be if the hero didn't have good reason to believe an apocalyptic manmade virus would arrive soon?
4. Happy endings. This is a very distant fourth -- a last resort, really. I can't quite blame the makers of Jumanji for deciding, if only for the younger viewers' sakes, that the end of the game should mean more than all the dangers getting sucked into the board. Galaxy Quest gets a pass for the comic element.
Equally surprising is that it worked for me. In the past, I've gotten annoyed at time travel entering the picture late in the game, since it usually means an abrupt shift to more severe suspension of disbelief. Of course, "late" can be a matter of perspective in such cases....
Now I feel like listing my preferred uses for the time travel concept, in descending order:
1. Philosophical wanking. Sorry if you find the language jarring in my LJ, but I can think of no better term for a line of thought so deep and yet so probably fruitless. It can be rather soothing, if you don't mind the risk of your brain exploding.
2. Comedy. Thanks to Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar, I know that philosophy and humor are closely related. And having finally finished the Back to the Future series a few months back, I know that there is a vast potential for laughs with time travel, whether they depend on a knowledge of history or the absurdity of the logic. Way to make Bill and Ted appeal to brainiacs and underachievers alike. The only thing keeping this from the #1 slot is that, well, comedy's always a gamble.
3. Adventure. For the most part, this translates to Rule of Cool-type adventures in which modern heroes have to face vikings or other historical forces, often with a good dash of comedy as above. But what would The Terminator be without the premise that this android came to a present before weapons were designed to stop it, before police or anyone else could anticipate it, and before its intended target had any idea why she would be singled out? Or what would Twelve Monkeys be if the hero didn't have good reason to believe an apocalyptic manmade virus would arrive soon?
4. Happy endings. This is a very distant fourth -- a last resort, really. I can't quite blame the makers of Jumanji for deciding, if only for the younger viewers' sakes, that the end of the game should mean more than all the dangers getting sucked into the board. Galaxy Quest gets a pass for the comic element.