Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark Plot Holes: Tempus Fugitive

So, there's been something on my mind for while now, and I was wondering if anyone else noticed the inconsistencies...

In Tempus Fugitive, Wells erases Lois and Clark's memory of the whole adventure to "preserve the time stream," because she's not supposed to find out yet, and to let her remember would alter the timeline.

HOWEVER, Wells then dumps Tempus in 1866, where he's locked up in an insane asylum, and he writes everything down in a journal, which is discovered by Mr. Mayzik years later, setting off the events that led to Lois finding out about Clark. Therefore, had Wells never intervened, Lois would have found out in a very different manner (probably, Clark would have told her, because he wouldn't have been interrupted by Mayzik. At least, that's my own hopeful thinking)

So, my point is this: Wells erasing Lois and Clark's memory in Tempus Fugitive, is not only frustrating, but also completely, and entirely pointless, because at the end of the day, it was still Tempus' fault, and the result of the time-travel adventure that led to Lois finding out about Clark.

Hi Abigail,

I fully understand and endorse this sentiment!

And on an unrelated note, I recommend you check out ML Thompson's There is no place like home.

Michael

Yeahhh, H.G. Wells makes some very questionable decisions. Traveling with Tempus in the first place was not a great choice.

Time travel can be like that, particularly in episodic TV series. This is a typical example: one writer has a story that involves Herb hitting the reset button so Lois doesn't find out about Clark's dual ID before she's "supposed" to, but other writers who use the same characters and events don't ensure that their stories are consistent with the first, and no story editor calls them on it -- if they even care. Remember the old Hollywood saying: "I don't want it good, I want it Tuesday!"

Herb's questionable decisions can be doubletalked around: he does what he does because that's the way history says it happened, and he wants to preserve Utopia. That can be argued against, of course, but at least it explains what's going on -- after a fashion -- and is very reminiscent of the Silver Age comics' method of dealing with time travel, namely that history, past or future cannot be changed.

I don't agree that Herb erasing L&C's memories was pointless. He knew that Lois was going to find out, but when she found out and how she reacted were the important points. If the future can be changed by a time traveller, then it is quite possible that the timestream is chaotic -- a smal change, such as Lois finding out too soon (before she's close enough to Clark, for instance) could lead to massive changes in the future, so from Herb's p.o.v., the fewer and smaller changes, the better!

Of course, if he's going around erasing memories, why not do Tempus before dumping him in prison in 1866?