Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls Time Traveling and Universe Hopping

So...in Tempus Anyone?, I'd always thought that time just passed differently in the two universes, seeing as Lois was in altMetropolis for 2 days, but when she got home, she'd only been gone for 10 seconds. I did think it a little odd (and was shocked that the writers hadn't cared to check their math ) when I sat down one day to do some calculations (no name calling please ) and found that if altClark spent 4 months in Metropolis, he'd have been gone for 14 *years* in his universe (don't quote me on the math...I lost my calculation sheet ). Well, I'd just passed it off as poor research or something because all in all, it didn't really matter too much.

Now, what really left me flummoxed was when Paul said, "No, Wells brought her back to Metropolis *and* took her back in time so she wouldn't have been gone so long."

Well this was my reaction

What I want to know...what did you guys think when you first saw the episode? What is your standing belief as far as the show/L&C canon is concerned?

All I can remember thinking when I watched the episode was why they'd bothered with a time difference in the first place.

I was a little disappointed, because making only 10 seconds or whatever it was pass in our universe, robbed us of some angst. <g> Our Lois barely had time to notice Clark was gone, let alone worry about what was happening to him or miss him.

It seemed a bit of an unnecessary addition.

LabRat

I always liked the Narnia idea, that time went by at different intervals in different universes... but they didn't really say that, and it would kinda complicate things -- when altClark visits in L&Cs, he was in our world for two days or so -- would he go back to find that he'd missed 20 years?

Though that could be interesting... hmm... he'd have a chance at a secret identity again, and maybe even find the new incarnation of his soulmate...

And then, Paul kind of has a point, but if you go by Tempus Fugitive, going back in time has an amnesiac effect, so Lois shouldn't have remembered much <g>

In general, I try not to think too hard about the "scientific" details of things in the show, because they were often laughably wrong

PJ

You didn't have an "Other" category so I chose the least mean suggestion(cause neither you or Paul are idiots)I've had tons of ideas about how alternate universes and time travel works. You kinda have to point out that if alt Clark were removed from his timeline, then his timeline would go on without him, but a time traveler could bring him back to any point along that timeline, including the instant he left. That would work for any space/time/continuim traveler, so you've got tons of room to make up whatever return scenarios you want.

And I say get Crazy! Don't let any specifics of "made up" rules bog you down. This story has been an awesome read and I for one plan to just keep taking it as it goes...regardless of my run on tissues.

TEEEEEEEEEJ

My take, to make things clearer, is this:

Time passes at the same rate in both universes. 1996 = 1996 an 1 sec = 1 sec.

Wells, when bringing Lois back to her universe, targeted his machine to bring them back at close to the point when they left (leaving a small margin for error).

There's a year between TA? and L&Cs. If 10 secs in the L&C universe = 2 days in the Alt universe, Alt-Clark should have aged considerably (even with super-powers, he ages). They didn't talk about it much, but I never got the impression that it'd been more than a year for him.

The amnesia thing really shouldn't have worked, but in the ep where it was used, Wells made it happen by bringing them back in time to *before* they'd left. In TA? Lois came back to just *after* she'd left. I still suspect that, as in Chaos Unspool, there was something else going on... some kind of hypnosis device or something. I mean, really... if going back in time caused amnesia, Wells's own memory would be (pardon me, Dr. Beckett) swiss cheese.

In any case, TJ, I don't want to say too much, but, although it is a little detail, how it's handled can make a big difference.

Paul