Hi FoLCs!

Out of nowhere (well, it happened while reading Vicki's latest story but that's more an evil coincidence than related to the actual plot, but I'm digressing) I got the following idea:

What if Clark got hold of a time device and and uses it to reset mishaps such as Lois discovering his secret, or Lois accidentally dying during her stories or getting killed by one of the bad guys, and Clark using the time device to reset the timeline so he can prevent said mishaps.

LOIS: Me dying is a mishap? Wait, what secret?

Anyway, moving on, what happens if Clark does that? Some of those would be pretty selfish, akin to the amnesia kiss from Superman II. Others, like rescuing Lois, are probably less objectionable, but messing with the timeline is still a bad (TM) thing. It might even have consequences for the rest of the gang, like messing up Jimmy's love life, causing Cat to not have a steady boyfriend, getting Lex killed during the aborted wedding, such things...

Why would he do it? Besides the obvious, that is. How would he do it? How often?

I'm, thinking more along the lines of a goofy comedy, not a tearjerker with lot's of drama. Well, aside from his pain when Lois dies or he realizes he just cost Jimmy his next girlfriend. But...Lois!

On a related note, it might have started with an accident where Clark got merged with Tempus, or Andrus. Probably Andrus since that stooge wasn't a really evil person, just a misguided bureaucrat.

Yeah, so...that's it. What do you guys think?

Michael

It could be really funny if you combined this with my challenge of Lois proposing first. That way, Clark has to come up with a way to try to either propose first (before her) or (if that doesn't work) to then TELL her first about being Superman in a way that doesn't stop her from wanting to marry him. (This also works, if he proposes badly -- i.e. without telling her first -- and so he keeps redoing it until he can get it right.)

After successive mishaps and redos (as what happened in 'Twas the Night before Mxymas), Lois starts to get a case of déjà vu, where suddenly things start to seem familiar.

I love the idea. A darker story would make the time device a gift to Clark after Lex got merged with Tempus... Lexpus? Lempus? Tempex? Tex?

I was about to make this post when I read yours...

Tempus has been frolicking about making Utopia-free universes. Wells, the eternal meddler, realizes that one of the universes is so far gone that there is no way to restore either Lois or Clark. In desperation, he grabs Clois and Cclark to fill in, with maybe a little memory modification to boot. (Assuming Groobie's TOVOM premise that Lex lied about their lifespans.)


Cclark: I'm grew up on a farm in Smallville, Kansas.

Clois: (pointing to a map) Clark, there is no Smallville, Kansas.

Cclark: Sure there is, it's right.... (sits down, stunned)

Clois: See?


By the way, my brain just degenerated into: "Tempus, I've come to bargain."

Now I'm picturing something very dark, a la The Butterfly Effect, where every attempt to make things better makes them worse.

Would the time device be a Delorean, by any chance? Yes, I am indeed imagining a certain crossover...

Joy,
Lynn

What about a rewrite of the John Doe arc? Instead of being lost in time, Clark is sent on a journey similar to Quantum Leap. Leaping into his own life, not necessarily chronologically and fixing what once went wrong. The only way he can get back is to figure out how to control his leaps (at least somewhat), and in the process may find a permanent solution to Tempus's interference.

I'm sure Clark would have issues determining the ethics of what to do and what not to do.

(Groobie fodder found below...)

On the other hand, he might waver in his personal life and give us a whole new interpretation of the title, "Lois and Clarks".