Talk:List of television series that include time travel

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Contents

[edit] Criteria

Please see Category talk:Time travel television series for the discussion regarding the creation of this list, and the reasons for moving specific articles from that category to this list.   — Lee J Haywood 22:26, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Listing individual episodes

My plan with this article was to have it as a bullet list, rather than a table, the idea being that a second level of bullets could be added like this...

  • Series 1
    • Episode 1
    • Episode 2
  • Series 2
...

Thus we can list individual episodes below each series, whilst keeping the main list of series names fairly readable. This is fairly daunting, however, since going through the complete list of individual episodes for a series and identifying which ones apply is quite a lot of work. Please comment on (a) if we should do this and (b) if you agree with the layout. Thanks.   — Lee J Haywood 22:26, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the above - it will be hard work, but should allow a more complete, particularly with examples such as Blackadder, which only use time travel in one episode. Ck lostsword 12:46, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Layout

I wonder if it really necessary to include an episode description for those featured: perhaps a link would suffice? Ck lostsword 16:58, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

I don't like the style of this article at the moment. It's okay to have a brief description (very brief – definitely no spoilers) against each episode, but listing a couple of episodes against the same bullet point makes no sense to me. Also, we should assume that people have probably already seen the episodes in question, so I propose using the minimum number of words necessary to jog their memories. Other than that, series/episode numbers at the start, then the title. And yes, links to episodes where an article already exists would make sense. Any objections?   — Lee J Haywood 21:10, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
I agree to that with a slight revision: if there is a link to the episode in question, no summary is needed: perhaps this is only necessary if there is no article on that episode. This would use less space, and interested users would, I am sure, follow the links. Ck lostsword 21:47, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
I think that a brief description should be used regardless of if there are links to individual episodes. Also, what about where there are not individual episode articles but a list, like the Red Dwarf episode list. I can only link to series (seasons in the United States) but not individual episodes. Val42 04:39, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
In that case, we should include a brief, non-spolier summary for all episodes, with a link to either the individual episode, and in the title a link to the series and an episode list (set out as above (Red Dwarf episode list).Ck lostsword 09:21, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
Linking to existing episode lists is a great idea, giving access to individual episode numbers without cluttering up this list. My main objection was that the bullet points were not being used properly, with several episodes listed on one line, but I've changed this now.   — Lee J Haywood 10:51, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
I tried adding the links to episode lists next to each article title in various ways, but it looked horrible and was hard to read (plus some titles don't have episode guides). So I have added the links but kept them separate, since they're not directly relevant to this time travel list anyway.   — Lee J Haywood 17:29, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
I agree - this is a good example of the see also feature ;). if only some of them have ep. guides, I agree that it would look horrible. We'll stick with this. Ck lostsword 17:31, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Early Edition

This series is an oddity – I've just added it to the original category because its basic premise involves information travelling from the future... but it also appears in this article because an episode has the character actually travelling back in time. Should it be listed here or not? Are there other episodes where this happens?   — Lee J Haywood 10:51, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

If the basic premise is time travel, it should go in the other list. However, it depends on the nature of the information being transferred. If this information is being transferred intentionally, then it should be in the other list. If it is accidental/unintentional, it should be in this list. Ck lostsword 10:58, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
I would argue that it depends entirely upon whether the time travel is a basic premise or not. Trying to determine whether it is intentional or not is getting too philosophical, and is likely to arguable (i.e. depend on your point of view). As for this particular series, it might be considered useful to know which episodes actual/physical time travel occurs in.   — Lee J Haywood 11:39, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
Point taken. In that case, it should be based on physical time travel, and so should feature on this list. However, more info about the series would be appreciated. Ck lostsword 12:11, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
This is a series that I have heard about and would like to see, but I don't know any more about it than is given in its article.   — Lee J Haywood 17:29, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm assuming that we're still speaking of Early Edition. The premise of the show is that Gary Hobson receives "Tomorrow's newspaper today". The paper comes a day early through the actions of some entity. We don't know for sure, but it has been implied to be one of Egyptian gods with control over time who likes cats. (Is this Isis?) Early Edition qualified for the category because "transmission of information" is considered time-travel for inclusion in this category (according to the discussion).
There was also an episode where Gary Hobson was knocked out, woke up in Chicago before the Great Fire, saved a woman and her young brother, put out the fire started by Mrs. O'Leary's cow, had the fire started by some people who wanted to kill him for saving the woman, then woke up to find out that a descendant of the brother was able to avert the disaster in modern Chicago that Gary was trying to prevent. ("A Chicago Yankee in Mrs. O'Leary's Barn" anyone?) As usual, characters in the other time period were played by the same actors as in the contemporary time. This would be the episode that included someone travelling through time. Val42 20:45, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
So the transmission of information through time is intentional and is the basic premise of the story, but there is only episode that features physical time travel. I'd say that because the transmission of info through time is the cause of the story, it should be in the other category. Ck lostsword 22:46, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
Hopefully it's obvious that the series should be in the category, and it is. I didn't add the one episode to this list (Quinen did), so I am reluctant to remove it myself.   — Lee J Haywood 09:19, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
Hmmm. That could be a problem. We could remove with a brief explanation on the edit summary - "Deleted as per talk page" or something to that effect?Ck lostsword 09:47, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stargate

When I created this article I split Stargate into its 2 sub-series, but I haven't watched the series and don't know if Stargate Atlantis actually features any time travel or not. None seems to be mentioned in the list of Stargate Atlantis episodes.   — Lee J Haywood 17:29, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

Both Stargate series are shown a season ahead on the SciFi Channel from the broadcast on the Fox network. So I'm a season behind the newest. But so far, Stargate Atlantis hasn't had any time travel. Stargate SG-1 has had at least two episodes of time travel. Val42 20:45, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
Atlantis had a time-travel episode in Season 1. I've added it to the list. --Tim4christ17 21:53, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
Okay, thanks. However, we now have a minor mismatch – I put all the Star Trek series in release order rather than alphabetical order, on the basis that this is more intuitive and could be done in two levels (i.e. Star Trek as a general heading and then the series under it). That works because the Star Trek series neatly have a ':' in the title, but would anyone mind if we swapped the Stargate series around (SG1 then Atlantis) to match?   — Lee J Haywood 18:30, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
Go for it. I noticed the lists were in alphabetical order, didn't even check the order of series that were related to eachother. --Tim4christ17 19:11, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Series or season

I put the episodes in for Red Dwarf. Since it was a British series, I used the British word for "season" which is "series". I think that the U.S. series should use the U.S. word. Would this be too confusing? Val42 03:27, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

I changed them all to "series" because it is a word that still makes sense after they have aired, e.g. when released on DVD. A "season" presumably relates to the number of episodes, typically around 22–26, being shown once a week. But you could easily watch all of them in less than a month. Personally I use both words, yet I wanted consistency in the article. Thanks.   — Lee J Haywood 09:19, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
Again personally, I tend to use 'series' with regard to UK preogrammes and 'season' with regard to American ones (particularly those which follow a story throughout, so the Simpsons would be a series but Lost would be a season). However, consistency must reign, and series is, I believe, more appropriate. Ck lostsword 09:51, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Changed US TV series' years to seasons. --Christopherlin 05:25, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Star Trek: The Next Generation & (maybe) time-travel

I have added an exhaustive list of episodes for this series, but there are a few which – at a stretch – might be considered time travel episodes. I am listing them here for the sake of completeness.   — Lee J Haywood 21:05, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

  • "The Neutral Zone" (series 1) — Cryogenically-frozen humans are revived.
  • "Future Imperfect" (series 4) — Riker is lead to believe that has has awoken 16 years in the future.
  • "Q-Pid" (series 4) — Q recreates the time of Robin Hood.
  • "The Inner Light" (series 5) — Picard experiences a previous life.
  • "Relics" (series 6) — Scotty has been held in transporter buffer for 75 years.
  • "Parallels" (series 7) — Worf experiences discontinuities as he jumps between parallel universes.
  • "Eye of the Beholder" (series 7) — an empathic pattern allows Troi to relive a moment from the past.
  • "Journey's End" (series 7) — Wesley holds a conversation with his long-dead father.
I can see why you have questions about these episodes. I think that the key to evaluate these episodes is "non-normal travel through time".
  • "The Neutral Zone" would be normal movement but in an abnormal state. (Splitting hairs?)
  • "Future Imperfect", if taken at face value (that is, not knowing the deception behind scenes), would be normal travel but Riker forgot the intervening time.
  • "Q-Pid" actually time of Robin Hood, but a semi-recreation.
  • "The Inner Light" is a simulation, including the simulation of living in the past.
  • "Relics" is like "The Neutral Zone".
  • "Parallels" is about parallel-universes (which is one way that time travel paradoxes can be resolved) but does not involve time-travel itself.
  • "Eye of the Beholder" is a memory of the past not the actual past.
  • "Journey's End" I don't remember well enough to say for sure, but I think that it is like "Eye of the Beholder".
The episodes in the actual article list all look good. Though in "Cause and Effect", at first glance, the time loop would be the apparent time-travel. But it is only an apparent time-loop and the actual time-travel is the ship that repeatedly comes through the time distortion. Though, technically, the other ship's original incursion would be the time-travel and it would also be stuck in an apparent time-loop.
You have made good calls. Val42 21:29, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
Mmm. I would say that episodes involving the Q generally involve time travel (or more accurately, time manipulation). Cryogenic freezing, I believe, does not constitute time travel; merely time delay. I agree with Val about Eye of the Beholder and Parallels. Other than that, looking good! Ck lostsword 21:58, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Smallville

The current description for Smallville is a spoiler for an episode I haven't seen before. Will someone please reword it to be less informative? Thanks.   — Lee J Haywood 18:34, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Quantum Leap

Is Quantum Leap not mentioned because if it was, we would have to list almost every single episode? --84.188.146.221 22:02, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

It is already listed in the time travel television series category, which is for series that are actually "about" time travel rather than those that only use it sporadically, as with this article. Thanks.   — Lee J Haywood 23:22, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Season/series

US television series have 'seasons'. Currently, they're all listed as 'series'. I'll come back to this, but if anybody else wants to fix it, go ahead. --Christopherlin 05:47, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

This was discussed up above, where it was suggested that some US programmes might still be listed as series and others as seasons – though I don't know if any of the linked articles support this. I don't have any objection to changing just the US programmes to say "season" so long as the others stay as "series".   — Lee J Haywood 21:23, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
Somehow I missed that discussion above. What I'm thinking is this: US programs have seasons; UK programmes have series. For example, Red Dwarf series 1, Star Trek TNG season 6. --Christopherlin 21:38, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Changed US TV series' years to seasons. --Christopherlin 05:25, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 4400

Here is part of the introduction for this list:

Series that rely on time travel as part of their basic premise are not listed here – see the category time travel television series instead.

Isn't the premise of "The 4400" that 4400 people have been sent from the future to avert some disaster (involving aliens) that will happen in ths show's future? Doesn't this qualify it for the category instead of this list? Val42 19:54, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes (not seen 4400 myself), but my self-made criteria (see the category discussion) would put in in the category for a different reason – because they have knowledge of the future which (presumably) affects all of the episodes. Time travel in the first episode by itself doesn't, in my opinion, make the series "about" time travel – but knowledge of the future does. Feel free to move it. Thanks.   — Lee J Haywood 20:36, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Andromeda (help needed)

I've gone through the episode guides at http://andromedatv.com and attempted to create an exhaustive list of episodes which include time travel. My main problem seems to be that I haven't actually seen any of season 5, plus a few descriptions of earlier episodes are too vague – for me to be certain if they should be included or for me to write a relevant brief description.

  • 2x08 "Home Fires" — an image of Sara appears in Dylan's private quarters... visibly pregnant, she tells Dylan she took his advice and went on with her life... is this the normal passage of time, just an old message?
  • 2x16 "In Heaven Now Are Three" — introduces the Engine of Creation, which rearranges space and time, but did they use it?
  • 4x01 "Answers Given To Questions Never Asked" — the guide says "time slows down", but was this just for effect, or was there actual time dilation?
  • 4x07 "The World Turns All Around Her" — it's not clear if this episode involves time travel (given the loss of memory at the end) or if they just jump between alternate realities.
  • These 4 episodes also involve the Route of Ages, but I don't know if there was time travel involved in each case or not.
    • 5x01 "The Weight, Part 1"
    • 5x07 "Attempting Screed"
    • 5x21 "The Heart Of The Journey, Part 1"
    • 5x22 "The Heart Of The Journey, Part 2"
  • 5x11 "Through A Glass, Darkly" — the description seems to indicate multiple occurrences of time travelling, but I cannot confirm any of them let alone summarise the episode for this article.
  • 5x12 "Pride Before The Fall" – includes knowledge of the future?
  • 5x15 "The Opposites Of Attraction" – the description mentions "Dylan's time-trapped body", is this a reference to the past or fresh time dilation?

Please, if you can, try to fill in the blanks for me. Thanks.   — Lee J Haywood 14:08, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

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