Skip to main content

Are there stories where people have conflicting memories after time travel?



I've noticed that over time there have been different rules for time travel. For example, originally the grandfather paradox was dealt with by the grandson either disappearing from the timeline or some other paradox set up. Now days, it seems more and more stories are using alternate timelines (like in Terra Nova). (And in the grandfather paradox stories, I don't think I ever saw one where, after the grandson disappeared, he wasn't there to cause the paradox, so he re-appeared only to disappear, then reappear in a loop.)


While every author or movie or TV show may have different rules, some seem to be standardized.


I've noticed one of these rules is conflicting memories. For example, when Marty McFly goes back in time and changes his present, he comes back, but remembers things as they were before he left -- he does not have memories of the changed events everyone else experienced. And, of course, those who didn't go back have only the memories of the new path and don't remember what Marty remembers. (I have yet to see Back to the Future II so I hope I'm not omitting anything.)


In Star Trek, with multiple time travel stories, people either remember the changed timeline or the original, but not both.


Is this rule ever broken? Are there stories where people have conflicting memories of an original and a changed timeline at the same time?



Answer



The main character in the movie The Butterfly Effect receives the new set of memories on top of his original ones each time he completes a time jump. The accumulated knowledge leads to nosebleeds and eventually brain damage.


Likewise in the movie Frequency, the main character retains both sets of memories, but there is no apparent damage to his mind (beyond extreme confusion when it first happens).



Edit for Star Trek additions:


TNG 3x15, Yesterday's Enterprise - Guinan can sense when the timeline is wrong, to the point of being sure one of the Enterprise crew was supposed to be dead. Not actual memories, however.


TNG 7x25/26, All Good Things... - Picard was catapulted between three time periods in an alternate timeline by Q, and retained his memory of the events.


DS9 3x17, Visionary - Miles O'Brien experiences multiple jumps into the near future, seeing disasters that eventually get averted due to knowledge gained in these jumps. He would have remembered all these alternate futures, had he not died and sent a future version of himself (that didn't experience the jumps) back in time to complete the mission.


DS9 4x03, The Visitor - Benjamin Sisko experiences pieces of the far future, before being slingshot back to his correct time. He retains memories of that future, since he knew what to do to not get temporally displaced again.


VOY 3x21, Before and After - Kes is sent backwards through time from her death, and remembers the future, and warns the captain about the Krenim.


ENT 2x16, Future Tense - Trip, Reed, and Archer experience time loops, except they do retain their memories of each loop.


Examples filtered from Memory Alpha's list of time travel episodes.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir

the lord of the rings - Why is Gimli allowed to travel to Valinor?

Gimli was allowed to go to Valinor despite not being a ring bearer. Is this explained in detail or just with the one line "for his love for Galadriel"? Answer There's not much detail about this aside from what's said in Appendix A to Return of the King: We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Glóin's son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But it is said that Gimli went also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and it may be that she, being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him. More cannot be said of this matter. And Appendix B: Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf . And when that sh

What is the etymology of Doctor Who?

I recently decided to watch Doctor Who, and started viewing the 2005 version. I have the first two episodes from the first season, and I can't help but wonder what is the etymology of the name "Doctor Who"? And why does the protagonist call himself "the Doctor" (or is it "the doctor")? Answer In the very first episode of Doctor Who (way back in 1963), the Doctor has a granddaughter going by the name "Susan Foreman", and the junkyard where the TARDIS is has the sign "I.M. Foreman". Barbara, who becomes one of the Doctor's companions, calls him "Doctor Foreman" (probably assuming that is his name given his relationship to Susan), and Ian (another early companion) does the same in the second episode, to which the Doctor says: Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about? "Foreman" is most likely selected as a convenient surname for Susan to use because it happened to be on display near where the TARDIS landed.