The list of articles is getting long, and so it might be useful to include a quick list of the most recent additions to the site, with links to the sections in which they are described and linked on this page.

1. The Lake House part 18:  This Changes Everything
2. The Lake House part 17:  Visionary coincidence
3. The Lake House part 16:  the other book
4. The Lake House part 15:  persuaded by a book
5. The Lake House part 14:  real estate
6. The Lake House part 13:  no call no show
7. The Lake House part 12:  happy birthdays
8. The Lake House part 11:  a tree grows
9. The Lake House part 10:  instant graffiti
10. The Lake House part 9:  ratcheting

The analysis of Primer was a vexing problem for many reasons.  The opportunity to break the analysis into individual bits and deal with each in its own space was a welcome one.  Here are the sections, as they appear at The Examiner:

1. The Right Question with the Wrong Answer:  Right from the beginning, the efforts to protect history are done completely incorrectly.
2. Answering the Phone:  The mistake related to how to protect history comes into stark relief when there is a call to a cell phone, and no one knows whether or not it should be answered.
3. Shot Gun Party:  The time travelers make the very dangerous decision to change history, and then decide to change it again--and again, and again, and again.
4. The Wrong Aaron:  We watch one partner explaining his discoveries to the other, but what we are seeing is already not exactly how it originally happened.
5. The Punch That Never Was:  The question is raised, what would happen if you did something and then tried to erase it?  They never get the answer, but maybe we do.
6. The Inexplicable Traveler:  On the way to deliver that punch, the time travelers are interrupted by the appearance of another time traveler.  They never figure out how this happened, but there is a reasonably plausible explanation.
7. The End Beyond the End:  The time travelers manage to make the biggest mistake of all by attempting to fix their mistakes.

1. The Disappearing Abe:  Tim E. Sham, author of The Primer Universe, asked what happens to the Abe seen by Abe and Aaron entering the storage facility; the answer is simple enough.
2. Aaron's Future Plans:  It appears that Aaron may be building a larger version of the time machine somewhere in Latin America, and the curious want to ask why.
3. Multiple Dimension Theory 1:  Several people suggested that Primer works under either parallel or divergent dimension theory; I say it does not.  This is where I address the problems faced under divergent dimension theory.
4. Multiple Dimension Theory 2:  In the second part of the consideration of multiple dimension theory and Primer, I address the problems faced by pure parallel dimension theory.
5. Fixed time theory:  Whether fixed time might be the theory behind Primer is considered, with particular attention paid to the phone call.

Beginning in July 2009, all Examiners were asked to contribute articles to the Info 101 project, an effort to provide answers to common questions in our fields.  Thus a series of Temporal Theory 101 articles were written, covering in brief various terms and concepts used in connection with time travel in movies:

1. How does time work in time travel?:  An overview of the major theories of time travel is given, with mention of a few alternatives.
2. What is fixed time theory?:  This is a presentation of the theory that the past cannot be changed, so if you were to travel to the past you would do, do, do what you've done, done, done, before, before, before.
3. What is parallel dimension theory?:  Consideration is given to the idea that there are many other universes parallel to our own, and that time travel actually takes you to one of them rather than to our own past.
4. What is divergent dimension theory?:  The view similar to and related to parallel dimension theory, this theory holds that such universes are created by the time travel event itself, and so diverge from the universe at the point of arrival.
5. What is replacement theory?:  The theory favored by and defended on this web site holds that a time traveler can travel to his own past and alter it, with consequences which may affect his own existence and more.
6. What is a temporal anomaly or paradox?:  It may be the obvious question, but it needed to be answered.
7. What is an infinity loop?:  It seemed reasonable to include an article describing this most dangerous of all temporal anomalies.
8. What is a sawtooth snap or cycling causality?:  The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably to refer to the phenomenon in which each history is the cause of a different history, but sometimes distinguished based on their ultimate outcome.
9. What is an N-jump?:  The only desireable outcome for a time travel event is explained.
10. What is sideways time?:  This notion, common to the theories of parallel and divergent universes and of supertime and two-dimensional time, suggests that one can travel across time to various universes.
11. What is a predestination paradox?:  also known as a causal loop or uncaused cause, this popular trope of fixed time stories is explored.
12. What is a grandfather paradox?:  the two distinct problems referenced by this term are distinguished and defined.
13. What happens if I become my own grandfather?:  the particular versions of the predestination paradox in which the existence of an object is dependent upon its own appearance in the past is considered.
14. What happens if I kill my grandfather before he has children?:  the problem created by a time traveler undoing his own existence is examined.
15. What is a temporal duplicate or doppelganger?:  various ways in which a person can become temporally duplicated are considered.
16. What is Niven's Law?:  the specific law proposed by science fiction author Larry Niven concerning time travel, that the discovery of the ability to change the past would lead ultimately to the elimination of such a discovery, is presented, explained, and discussed.

Not unexpectedly, the theory articles also brought questions and comments.  Many of these were answered in the comments sections of the articles, but there was one respondent who raised several points requiring a clarifying article.

1. Temporal theory questions from Waggs:  A reader posted several challenges in comments to the articles on parallel and divergent dimension theories, including that the number of parallel dimensions need not be infinite, that conservation of matter and energy need not be absolute in a multiverse, and that under quantum theory it is possible for irreconcilable histories both to be true.  Most of those arguments are correct within their own contexts, but still need to be limited and contextualized.
2. Temporal theory questions from Jeff:  Another reader posted several variants of replacement theory, in which specific types of results are guaranteed.  Whether the guarantee is that things will be essentially unchanged, or that they will be worse, or that they will be better, the concepts all seem to invoke providence, as the article explains.

In 2009 the Star Trek franchise decided to confuse all search engines by releasing a new movie with nothing more than the core name, Star Trek.  They also decided to confuse all the fans by going back to the beginning with a new cast in the old roles, and using time travel to erase everything that happened in all the stories to date and start a new history of the universe.  I will be tackling the film in parts.

1. Introduction to the 2009 movie:  gives an overview of the plot and sets up the discussion ahead.
2. Mister Scott's transwarp teleportation formula:  when Spock gives Scotty the formula Scotty has not yet invented, does that change the world at all?
3. The death of Vulcan:  the destruction of Vulcan will have a significant impact on the future of the Star Trek crew, as Vulcans have become an endangered species; that is one of several changes to consider.
4. Spock, know thyself:  what problems might arise from the fact that the older and younger versions of Spock ultimately meet.
5. The final answer:  what happens to time one hundred twenty-nine years hence when Spock is faced with saving Romulus?

It is worth mentioning that three previous Star Trek movies have been analyzed on this site, Star Trek IV:  The Voyage Home, Star Trek Generations, and Star Trek:  First Contact.

A couple of Futurama fans have been pressing for an analysis of this direct-to-video animated feature, and I have objected that there are more time travel theatrical releases than I can cover; if I open the field beyond that, I will be completely overwhelmed.  However, they are insistent that fans of the show will flock to the discussion, and since this is now going to The Examiner rather than here, I have decided to turn my attention to Bender's Big Score.

1. Introduction to the Futurama Movie:  a brief overview providing a glance at the plot and some of the problems.
2. Beginning at the End:  it appears that the temporally last departure is the sequentially first, or at least that is the best conclusion we can reach.
3. Futurama doppelgangers:  the first time trip reveals how the "self-correcting" code handles temporal duplicates, and we consider whether this is a plausible solution.
4. Mona Lisa Men Have Called You:  as Bender begins his pillaging of the treasures of history, his first theft raises questions about all of them.
5. Tut, Tut, Tut:  As Bender steals an Egyptian sarcophagus, we have opportunity to consider the process of thievery.
6. Hermes ain't got nobody:  In a fatal move, Hermes loses his head and has his own body stolen from his past self.
7. Cut to the Chase:  the convoluted paths of multiple Fry and Bender copies form the most challenging parts of the time travel story.
8. Leela, Leelu, Lars:  continuing the chase, Fry's duplicate becomes Lars--but how does he know this?
9. The Gorey Details:  there is an upset in the Presidential race thanks to Bender's pursuit of Fry, and that will change things.
10. What have you undone?:  in the end, Bender manages to replace nearly all of the previous sawtooth snaps with infinity loops, undoing everything many times over.
11. That's unwrapped:  an attempt is made to summarize the entire package.

Christmas caught my attention as I realized the new 2009 version of A Christmas Carol was in fact a time travel film, and that there was at least one other well-known Christmas movie with a temporal element.  Thus as Thanksgiving loomed I prepared a few installments on Time for the Holidays.

1. It's a Wonderful Time-Travel Christmas Carol Life:  provides an overview of those movies which connect some type of temporal anomaly to a Christmas story.
2. A Christmas Carol:  focuses on the newly-released Disney version with Jim Carrey, but also on the time travel elements of the story that are consistent through most tellings.
3. It's a Wonderful Life:  looks at the Capra classic, and the temporal elements involved in erasing someone's past and then restoring it.

A series has been drafted examining Butterfly Effect, which I anticipate running right after the holiday series concludes.  I've learned that there were sequels, and have captured Butterfly Effect III on my home recorder.  That, though, implies that there is also a Butterfly Effect II, and I have never heard mention of it anywhere, so it may be hard to find.  Still, we can do the first and see where it gets us.

1. A Brief Overview:  gives a very quick summary of the essentials of the film.
2. The Blackouts Problem:  suggests that the blackouts and the time travel have the same cause, but are not otherwise related.
3. Evan at Seven:  recreates the original history up to the death of Evan's father.
4. Four at Thirteen:  recreates the original history beginning with the mailbox and ending with leaving Kayleigh behind.
5. Sophomoric Antics:  discusses the first two time travel events and the minimal changes they make to history, including the problem of the burn appearing.
6. Joining the Fraternity:  covers the timeline that begins with seven year old Evan threatening Mr. Miller and ends with the miracle.
7. It's a Miracle:  examines the trick of making the scars appear in his hands.
8. The Wrong Fix:  in which Lenny kills Tommy to save the dog, and then Evan visits his father.
9. Time and Time Again:  considers the problem created when Evan relives the same events again again.
10. Having a Blast:  in which he is a quadriplegic but his friends are all happy.
11. On the Edge:  in which he goes back for the knife but changes nothing.
12. Out With a Bang:  in which he kills Kayleigh with the dynamite.
13. Grandfather Paradox:  considering whether Evan had intended to kill himself
14. Changing the Changes:  looking again at the problem of making two trips to the same point in the past, this time when both travelers have an agenda.
15. How to Lose a Girl in Ten Seconds:  covering the final timeline.
16. Relying on Niven:  in which the problem of whether changes to history are or are not permanent is considered.
17. The Other Evans:  asking what happens to the versions of the central character who must have existed in the other histories.
18. Where It Fails:  recapping the parts that do not work.

With the release of Terminator Salvation, commenters suggested that the entire Terminator series should be presented afresh to incorporate the new data.  Thus all of Terminator, the first two films having the honor of being the subject of the first page published on this site and the third also analyzed a while back, is re-examined:

1. A Starting Point:  taking the information about The Autonomous Weapons Division of the Cyber Research Systems branch of the United States Airforce from the third film, the original history is reconstructed sufficiently to give us an original SkyNet launch in 2004.
2. Sarah Conner's Child:  the timelines created within the first movie are briefly recounted as Kyle Reese becomes the father of John Conner.
3. History Repeats Itself Yet Again:  the complications created by the second film are considered, leading to the point where Sarah ought to create an infinity loop by destroying Cyberdyne Systems.
4. Sidestepping Infinity:  explains how John Conner can save the universe by lying to his mother.
5. Square One Squared:  the transition from the second to the third film is considered, addressing such details as the development of the futuristic weapons in a 2004 setting.
6. John and Kate:  considers how the couple connect in that history of the world in which no terminator is trying to kill her.
7. The Kate Escape:  how John and Kate could escape from a terminator without the aid of another terminator is considered, with an unexpected explanation.
8. A Few Dead Men:  solutions are found for the anomaly created when the T-X appears to kill people on its hit list, which in bumping them off also bumps them off the list.
9. Salvation Cometh:  a foundation is laid for the consideration of the fourth film, Terminator Salvation.
10. Resequencing:  the sequential order of events is discussed, taking into account that SkyNet has not yet attempted to kill John Conner in the past when it tries to kill Kyle Reese in the future.
11. Wrong or Wright?:  the peculiar conversation between SkyNet and Marcus Wright, in which the computer suggests that it has attempted to kill John Conner before, is examined.
12. Paternity Test?:  why SkyNet believes that Kyle Reese is John Conner's father is another problem the film presents, and there are several possible answers that work within the film.
13. Killing Niven's Grandfather:  it is admittedly possible that SkyNet does not know whether Niven's Law means that John Conner would still survive even if his father were killed in the future.
14. Fixed or Replaced?:  the question of whether this movie might be explainable under fixed time theory is addressed.
15. Bad Dates:  when Kyle Reese is born becomes a problem, because it appears to fall between the two SkyNet launch dates, which means he has to be born at roughly the same time despite the upheaval of the war.
16. Half a Man:  the birth of Kyle Reese is made more probable by recognizing that there is some wiggle room as to whether this is the right Kyle Reese.
17. Inconclusion, Temporarily Terminated:  the series is wrapped up and reviewed, with a few comments about the possible future of the series.

Again we have questions:

1. Terminator Question 1:  When Does Kate Matter?:  the issue is raised as to whether John and Kate would have had to stay together following their basement tryst in 1997 if the T-1000 had not arrived, and the answer is complicated.

John "A-1 Nut" Cross called my attention to this family film which is also a time travel story, in which some scientist in the future is sending toy rabbits to the past in an attempt to gather some pure human DNA with which to restore humanity to the human race of the future.  The thinly-veiled environmentalist polemic makes for an entertaining story, but has serious problems as a time travel movie.  Our analysis of The Last Mimzy uncovers most of them:

1. Time Travel for Kids:  introduces the film's premise and some of the challenges facing any analysis.
2. The Lost Mimzys:  considers the problem created by the statement that "many" were sent to the past, but we can account for at most three.
3. The Order of Mimzys:  examines the question of in what sense or senses the one in the film is the "last", and what that means to history.
4. The Mandala Mimzy:  resolves the issues raised by the implication that a Mimzy in twelfth century Tibet impacted the development of Buddhism.
5. The Alice Mimzy:  considers the problems which arise if Charles Dodgson does not become the famous Lewis Carroll by publishing stories inspired by a white rabbit trying to get through a looking glass back into a rabbit hole on time.
6. What's in a Name?:  faces the particular problem of the use of the word "mimzy" in the Jabberwocky poem, and the loop that creates if Lewis Carroll got it from the doll and the doll got it from Lewis Carroll.
7. Intelligence:  recognizes that Intel gets a boost to its technology which, as with Terminator, escalates in a sawtooth snap as each advance in Intel's technology improves the Mimzy which in turn advances Intel's technology.
8. Numbers:  addresses the lottery problem, and the impact that the redistribution of wealth will have if Larry White and Naomi are multimillionaires in the altered timeline.
9. Bridge Building:  tackles advances to civil engineering, the the potential change in future science that will endanger the existence of the scientist sending back the Mimzys.
10. Parlor Tricks:  recognizes that entymology will also advance, and the basic research here will have unpredictable consequences.
11. Precocious Prodigies:  concludes the series with a consideration of the impact two psionically capable children will have on the history of the world, ultimately very likely undoing all of future history.

A question was raised along the way:

1. Probability of Analysis:  It was more a statement than a question in response to The Last Mimzy part 5:  the Alice Mimzy, but it challenged the likelihood of some aspect of the analysis being correct.  This discussion addresses how such analyses work, and in what senses they are likely.

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves have been romantically involved on screen before, and this time they attempt to make the sparks fly by correspondence.  Like that other Kate who fell in love with Leopold, this Kate is in the future and her Alex in the past, but in this case both of them lived at The Lake House at different times.

Here are the articles in the series:

1. A Romantic Fantasy:  introduces the basic premise and the time travel element.
2. How It Begins:  identifies the critical event which launches the magic that gives us the time travel.
3. The Bitch is Magic:  examines the complication created by the presence or absence of the dog Jackie in the magic and the time travel.
4. Reconstruction:  attempts to formulate the original history that existed before there was any time travel.
5. An Accidental Meeting:  wrestles with the problem of why Alex was killed at Daley Plaza if he was not there looking for Kate, who in the original history he could not have known.
6. They Got a Dog:  the initial changes made to history by the arrival of Jack the Dog are considered.
7. The Flag Trick:  the magic that causes the mailbox flag to rise and fall is examined.
8. Before You Ask:  the question is why Alex' letters don't leap to the future the same way Kate's leap to the past, and the answer has to do with the form of the future.
9. Ratcheting:  covers the little things that happen along the way, as time keeps being revised.
10. Instant Graffiti:  looks at the walking tour, but most particularly the problem of the grafitti suddenly appearing at the end.
11. A Tree Grows:  considers a similar but more complicated problem with the appearance of the tree in front of Kate's apartment.
12. Happy Birthdays:  looks at the revisions of time in the changing interactions at the party Morgan throws for Kate.
13. No Call No Show:  brings up the problem of Alex' failure to call at the time Kate suggested and to appear at the restaurant at which he'd made reservations.
14. Real Estate:  considers the complications involved in people moving to the correct addresses at the right times.
15. Persuaded By a Book:  finally deals with the delivery of Kate's copy of Persuasion by hiding it in her apartment somewhere where it wouldn't be found for a couple years.
16. The Other Book:  examines what happens when Kate sense Alex a book that has not yet been published when he receives it.
17. Visionary Coincidence:  brings Kate to the architect brother of the architect she knew, which at least raises eyebrows.
18. This Changes Everything:  finally reaches the conclusion of the movie, which rewrites all of history to one final form completely incompatible with every previous form.

Again there were questions from readers:

1. Assorted Questions from Fred & Doc:  apparently the answer given in The Lake House part 8:  before you ask did not adequately answer all the questions, because two readers challenged some of the statements made.  This article was promised as an answer to those questions.

The Time Traveler's Wife is presently holding my attention; it is a fascinating film on several levels.  Of those awaiting said attention in my inbox, there has been some clamor for Premonition, which I shall probably put next; Next will have to wait, along with Timeline, about which I received some e-mail some time back but not recently.  I have been asked about the new Darko film, but have not seen it available anywhere yet.  I've also been promised a copy of Hot Tub Time Machine, but it has not yet materialized.  Also, someone called my attention to Turtles in Time, which I'm sure is lying around here somewhere and I have seen a couple times casually already (thanks to my kids), so that might wind up on the list.