Time Travel

[Phoenix004]

In #7 the Animorphs are shown the future off Earth where the Yeerks have won.

In #11 the Animorphs are trapped in a Sario Rip which strands them in the Amazon Rainforest.

In #13 Tobias is briefly allowed to go back and see his past human self in order to acquire him.

In Megamorphs #2 another Sario Rip trapped them millions of years in the past, in the time of the Dinosaurs.

In Megamorphs #3 they travel through time via the Time Matrix to stop Visser Four.

In Megamorphs #4 time is altered so that the Animorphs never met Elfangor.

In #41 Jake ends up in a future time line where the Yeerks are victorious.


I think that's all of them. So, do any of you think that the time travel card was played too often? Not enough? Not described in enough detail?Personally I enjoy time travel in books, as long as it's not done badly, and since Animorphs used it well I really enjoyed it.

My favourite is probably Megamorphs #2 when they end up in the age of the Dinosaurs. Amazing book. However, it kind of annoyed me that it is never explained why they can't morph Dinos when they get back home. Unlike the previous Sario Rip in #11, the events of this book still happened and they still acquired the animals. I understand that KA obviously didn't want them all having such powerful morphs, but it would have been nice if there was an explainer.

So anyway, feel free to discuss the time travel plot lines here.

[Chad32]

When you put it all in a list like that, it does seem that time travel is used a lot.

I would have loved to see how Visser Three reacts to a T-Rex. He didn't seem too scared of Super Rachel, though.

Even if an explanation of time travel was given, it would just be another theory put out. Since time travel doesn't really exist, different people have different views about how it goes. The Grandfather paradox is often brought up, but I think an episode of Futurama found away around that quite easily. If the grandson goes back in time and kills his grandfather, then time changes to make someone else be the grandson's grandfather.

It's a complicated thing that can cause migraines if done poorly. I don't really mind the sario rips and illusionary futures like in 7 and 41. I do kind of wish the time matrix was mentioned in Ellemist Chronicles, though.

[morfowt]

that's 7 out of 64 books. that's more or less 11%. Yeah I guess it was used a lot.

And I agree. MM#2 was the best of them all.

I personally prefer the history-is-written-in-stone one (or whatever it's official name is).

[Chad32]

I personally prefer the history-is-written-in-stone one (or whatever it's official name is).

I think the idea with that is, if you go back in time to try to change the future, it turns out your actions in the past are part of what caused the future to happen in the first place. I think it's kind of what happens in MacBeth. I think that's the story where the guy gets his forutne told, but doesn't like the future the women predict. So he tries to change it, but all he does it make that future happen.

That future that he tried to prevent wouldn't have even happened if he hadn't asked those women what his future was.

[musicman88]

Yeah, it does get used a lot but this IS a SCIENCE FICTION series so you kinda get what you pay for...

[Phoenix004]

I remember that Futurama episode, that was funny! He actually ended up becoming his own grandfather!

As for what Daphnes said about trying to change the future causes the future to happen, I'd like to quote the movie Next: "Every time you look at the future it changes, because you looked at it." If you saw the future, no matter what you saw, your future would be influenced by what you saw. In some stories, the future you saw only happens because you tried to change it, where as others show the person changing what happened because they saw what could happen.

Honestly, I didn't realise there were this many time travel incidents in the series until I started this thread! 

I would also have liked to see the Ellimist talk about the Time Matrix, as do most fans I imagine. I would why he even made it. Maybe because he knew it would be needed to set the events in motion that would create the events of the series?

[Venom]

I think the idea with that is, if you go back in time to try to change the future, it turns out your actions in the past are part of what caused the future to happen in the first place. I think it's kind of what happens in MacBeth. I think that's the story where the guy gets his forutne told, but doesn't like the future the women predict. So he tries to change it, but all he does it make that future happen.

That future that he tried to prevent wouldn't have even happened if he hadn't asked those women what his future was.

your thinking of Oedipus Rex (sp?), where he is told he will kill his father and marry his mother, so the father casts him asside when hes a baby and because of that he kills his father and has sex with his mother not knowing who they are. in Macbeth he likes the future thats told to him, so he makes it happen.

and thats my two cents

[Chad32]

I think the idea with that is, if you go back in time to try to change the future, it turns out your actions in the past are part of what caused the future to happen in the first place. I think it's kind of what happens in MacBeth. I think that's the story where the guy gets his forutne told, but doesn't like the future the women predict. So he tries to change it, but all he does it make that future happen.

That future that he tried to prevent wouldn't have even happened if he hadn't asked those women what his future was.

your thinking of Oedipus Rex (sp?), where he is told he will kill his father and marry his mother, so the father casts him asside when hes a baby and because of that he kills his father and has sex with his mother not knowing who they are. in Macbeth he likes the future thats told to him, so he makes it happen.

and thats my two cents

I remember that story, but it wasn't the one I was thinking about. Or maybe I was just confused. Regardless, my point seems to have gotten through.

[RYTX]

My brain is currently running while I type this, but I don't think a Sario Rip is time travel; in a sense. It puts you at a different point in time without fully removing you from the starting point, that's why Jake had those flashes of adjacent points in time and space when he traveled a day, a time he still existed, but not 65 million years. When the rip closes you are in two places at once which is why you destroy yourself, where as in time travel moves you along the line, or to a point so a you would 1) not interact with yourself in a destructive way or 2) are a different entity, past present of future self, whatever and ow my brain!

Since time travel doesn't really exist, different people have different views about how it goes

And just because we haven't done it yet, doesn't mean it's not real

[Chad32]

Maybe I shouldn't say it doesn't exist. Maybe I should say we haven't discovered it yet.

Sario Rips don't really make any sense. Why would a colossal explosion propel someone to a different time, where there are two of that person?

[Venom]

Maybe I shouldn't say it doesn't exist. Maybe I should say we haven't discovered it yet.

you dont think it's been discovered yet? what about the fact that Bill Gates' wife married Bill BEFORE he got rich. or the fact that George Foreman just happened to know that he should sponsor the grill. or how bout the guy who just 'happened' to be filming the JFK assassination

[wolfev]

Okay the energy thing is somewhat true. I heard somewhere in physics that enough energy can warp space so much that it causes it to tear. The rest is all theoretical at this point. What I find interesting is that all but 1 megamorphs book involves time travel. Why are they mega morphs and not Chronomorphs? The best part is that it is such a plot device that Ax never actually knew how it worked since he was distracted by a girl in his class that day. What I want to know is exactly what happened when the rift opens. I'll use the forgotten as an example

1. Sario Rip Opens

2. The animorphs go back in time several hours

3. Since their past selves will go back in time just as they did it will close the rip and they all will die

4. Since none of the events occur except for jake everyone else is a virtual version of themselves in that they only kinda exist while Jake definitely exists


The question I have is when does the sario rip close? Was it going to close when they open it again at the exact place as before. This is all very confusing because it seems to have events ocuring and at the same time not ocuring.

[Yorick Brown]

I LOVE time travel and time travel featured in Animorphs but I hated the big influence that the Ellimist had over events.

I wish it wasn't destiny by the hand of the Ellimist that drove so many events in the series but rather actual random events. I also hated how Applegate brushed off so many plotholes due to her recklessness with deus ex machinas (ex. Back to Before) and stupendous explanations (ex. The Forgotten).

[yrkd88]

I totally agree with Yorick. I LOVE time travel as well (anyone read Timeline by Michael Crichton?) and I also agree with that over usage of Ellimist and Crayak. They should have kept that stuff VERY limited IMO. Not that it was awful or anything, but I dunno. Would be more realistic if events happened because of the actual character's themselves instead of being influenced by multi-dimensional omnipotent beings.

Also being the ginormous ancient history geek that I am, I really would have liked to see the animorphs and v3 get blasted back to the times of the roman empire but that's just me^^. And of course the Agincourt battle in 1415 was a pretty cool touch in MM3. That definitely reminded me of the book Timeline

[Yorick Brown]

"Timeline" by my favorite author is one of my fave books ever. It's one of those books that you simply could not put down. I read all all 400+ pages in less than two days.

I'm hoping to remake the sh!tty movie one ady and make a much more faithful adaptation.