Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark Tempus's Diary - Did he change LnC's history?

I'm curious what everyone else thinks... If Clark knew what Tempus had wrote in his 1866 diary (per AtAI), how could Clark have made such lunkheaded mistakes (Freezing Lois - TWICE! :rolleyes: The whole ARGH Arc, breaking up with Lois for her own good, and the coming of the Kryptonians)?

Did Mazik change history by interrupting Clark's confession to Lois that morning by calling? And thus change everything that came after? Lois turning down the proposal, their fights, him breaking up for their own good, delaying their marriage until after Zara & Ching show up, etc. Is that why Clark makes those mistakes? Or did he make those mistakes, knowing what the future held for him and not wanting to change it? No, I could not see he doing that!

Or did Tempus - knowing that Clark could someday read his diary - write it in such a way that Clark would misinterupt his own history?

What do you think?

I think you should explore that possibility... in the form or an amazing fic!

lol

I think every choice you make takes you on a new path etc, so at every 'fork in the road' he had two ways to go. Path A would lead him to this list of events and Path B would lead him to this list of events. So it would depend on what he did in his past to mold him into the type of person who would choose certain ways.... Time travel makes my brain hurt...

My head just exploded.

All very interesting questions! I want to say that Mazik's interruption changed how things went down. I can't see Clark actively and knowing sabotaging things just to stay in line with a diary. All of those things hurt him just as much as it hurt Lois, and I can't picture him ever doing anything to knowingly hurt Lois. And I don't think that Tempus ever really meant for Clark to get his hands on the diary to read it, so I can't see him writing it just to throw Clark off.

I never got the impression that the diary was heavily focused on L&C (although Tempus's tendency to mess with the two of them in later episodes would suggest he might have had an obsession with them that would warrant spending many pages on their life.) Rather, it just seemed like a "history of the future as I know it" kind of thing that happened to mention Clark=Superman.

Also, Clark may have merely skimmed the diary, not read it word for word. We don't know, as it was never mentioned again (that I recall.) Fun question!

If I recall correctly, Clark burned the diary so that Mazik wouldn’t have any concrete evidence. I’ll need to go back and review the episode, but I don’t recall him looking through it. From the story we know that there were economic trends which Mazik’s father used for investment purposes, but, no indication of any detail of Superman’s activities.

---------------------------------
Quote from MrsLuthor:
“I think every choice you make takes you on a new path etc, so at every 'fork in the road' he had two ways to go. Path A would lead him to this list of events and Path B would lead him to this list of events. So it would depend on what he did in his past to mold him into the type of person who would choose certain ways.... Time travel makes my brain hurt...

------------------------------------------

MrsLuthor, you have stumbled on one of the fundamental premises of my Matchmaker Chronicles series. No, I am not going to give any spoilers. If you want to find out just what I’m talking about, you will need to read the series. I am posting on both boards. You will need to start with Volume 1 to understand completely.

I just watched that episode recently which is how this question popped up to the front of my mind. Mazik knows that CK=S from the diary. And Mazik somehow knows that Clark is visiting Lois's apartment that morning, when he phones Clark there. "Who knows I'm here?" Clark tells Lois. So unless Mazik's stalking Clark (which is always a possiblity... Difficult, true, but always a possible) I assume it means that Tempus mentions something in the diary about how on this date and time Superman confessed his true identity to his future wife, Lois Lane. Later, after all the nonsense about freezing Lois... Clark/Superman pulls the diary away from Mazik, speed reads it, then tosses onto a marble endtable where his heat-vision catches it on fire.

I agree with Ken and Mrs. Luthor, too. Time travel fics can make one and lost and confused and can change history, which is what is so fun about them. (And I'm one of the people who would be okay if Ken decided to up his Matchmaker posting schedule.

I really need to stick to my schedule. I need the time to complete Volume 4 and get it through the beta process so that I can move seamlessly through the volumes.

If I can have 4 ready early enough I may even get to work on 5.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by KenJ:
<strong> I really need to stick to my schedule. I need the time to complete Volume 4 and get it through the beta process so that I can move seamlessly through the volumes.

Part 3 of 16 went up today. There are some surprises. Enjoy!

There's also the popular time travel theory that says that, no matter how hard you try to avoid something, things eventually end up in the way they were supposed to happen, because you can't change history.

It might explain why Tempus keeps failing. :p

Could be. I'm currently working on a story where Tempus succeeds at one of his plans, but things don't work out exactly the way he expects.

Yes, history is doomed to repeat itself, even if the parts and players are a bit different. How is life different? How is the same? Some of the great aspects of time-travel fic.

Anna B. the Greek,

Quote:
There's also the popular time travel theory that says that, no matter how hard you try to avoid something, things eventually end up in the way they were supposed to happen, because you can't change history.

It might explain why Tempus keeps failing.

---------------------------------------

Ah, yes, we come to the crux of the problem.

Is it the fact that you cannot change history or is it the fact that there are alternate outcomes and with each alternate outcome a new universe is created within the greater multi-verse.

That is the fundamental premis of my series and I am tracing the different possible outcomes from inflexion points.

Come join me as we explore these various possibilities. Start with Volume 1.

(Shameless self promotion.)

Welcome to my world, my friends. Population: me and Erwin Schrodinger. I love this time travel stuff. Honestly though, it can end up getting so complex that you can basically construe the outcome to be anything you want.

But it sounds like a lot of fun! You should tackle this in a fic, Virginia.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Mouserocks:
<strong>

Welcome to my world, my friends. Population: me and Erwin Schrodinger. I love this time travel stuff. Honestly though, it can end up getting so complex that you can basically construe the outcome to be anything you want.

But it sounds like a lot of fun! You should tackle this in a fic, Virginia.

Excellent questions! It could be a paradox, like Anna suggested, or an unpredictable outcome. Either way there's a lot of food for thought here.

I love time travel! It can become so convuluted but simultaneously be fun

Time Travel stories are fun! May I suggest the latest version of The Time Machine? (Year 2000) No matter how hard H.G.Wells he could not save his fiance.

Food for thought guys...

Shameless self-promotion time.

Mouse, Olive and Morgana,

(Virginia - I know that you are already with me.)

If you enjoy time travel stories then my Matchmaker Chronicles should fill the bill.

We are traveling in time and space - across the multiverse.

Tomorrow 13 of 16 of Volume 2 goes up. Volume 3 will be going up immediately after Volume 2 and I am in the process of writing Volume 4.

I have a few more chapters to transcribe as it is dictated to me and then it will be in the hands of my beta readers.

For those that have not read either I highly recommend that you start with Volume 1 or else you may become disoriented. Time travel can do that to you.

See

http://www.mjyoung.net/time/index.htm

For in-depth analysis of some famous movie time paradoxes (but not, unfortunately, L&C or any of the Superman movies).

What a great resource! Thank, Marcus. I'll definitely be using this site in my procrastination... <<cough, cough>> research.

Speaking of changing history, I've always found the episode about baby Clark to be interesting. (Tempus Fugitive, I believe it was called.) The reason that the Kents stopped their truck was because they saw what looked like a meteor streak across the sky. But in this episode, we find out that Clark created the meteor to catch their attention. The ship had actually landed a few hours earlier.

So if Tempus never went back in time to try to kill the baby, it seems to me that the Kents never would have found him. The ship would've landed during the day. That night the Kents would've driven down the road, but because there would've been no meteor, they wouldn’t have stopped....

Therefore, Tempus inadvertently caused the Kents to find Clark. Talk about irony! The man who hates Superman made it so Superman would exist!