The Time Traveler returns ..
He returns from an exhausting, action-packed journey through some alternate reality; he returns from a parallel universe at a cosmic distance, which has been traversed within few seconds, he returns mostly victorious, making amendments that would change the way things are and were, that would save millions of lives, that would prevent an apocalypse!!
While he nullifies some inevitable evil from taking place, the rest-of-the-world just never realizes what could have killed them in their sweet sleep. Time traveler's presence never registers in their minds.
There is one movie, which I saw around a year ago, where the hero - a time traveler teams up with few other folks and saves the world. At the end of movie, this same hero is seen in his base camp, while the folks whom he had teamed up with pass by.
The brutal fact of the matter is that the same folks who were his brothers-in-arms in the fight earlier, don't even recognize him in the new alternate reality.
For the traveler, those are the folks who saved his life and he saved their lives as well - and there is a strong bond of friendship and patronage that he is now feeling for them - sadly, they don't even know his name anymore!!
I don't remember the movie right away, but this particular climax got registered in my brain somewhere, and this feeling, this thought-process, has only elevated when I eventually saw some other time travel movies over a period of last few months.
Recently, when I came out of cinema theater after watching 'The Source Code', this whole spaghetti of thoughts just got escalated.
I had to pen them down.
Lets start with our very own Hollywood flick - Action Replayy.
The chief protagonist of this movie, has decided never to get married, as he has completely lost his faith in this institution - reason, his fighting parents and tragedy of their marriage. This son of sworn-enemies-cum-husband-wife then goes back in time and creates a strong bond of love and romance between his parents, so that their marriage doesn't become a living hell, like he has always seen it, all his life.
When he returns, he comes home to a happily-ever-after kinda married couple.
Well, his parents enjoy a lifetime of romance in a new alternate reality that their son triggers. What bothers me in this whole episode, is that memories of the son, still remain the same. He still remembers his parents only as a fighting couple. May be he would see pictures of their happy family hanging on their walls, but he has no memory of those happy moments. So, does making his parents live an alternate life, really change the way he has grown to think about marriage?
Should he just start loving everything about marriage only because he went back in time and made some amends??
Think of another movie - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Harry and Hermoine use the time-traveling locket and save Serius Black and prevent the slaughter of Buckbeak - all is well at the end, but will Harry or Hermoine ever forget that they actually saw the beast being axed by ministry. Even though the reality has now been altered,the original version still ponders behind in minds of the travelers - Harry and Hermoine.
Talk about Star Trek. Nero causes a change in lives of millions by traveling through black hole and destroying the USS Kelvin.
When the old Spock of earlier reality meets Kirk of changed realm, Kirk asks him - if his father is alive in that realm? Spock says yes and there goes my thought process again. Even if the things are restored to their original undisturbed state, Kirk will still have memories of being raised by foster parents and not remember any incident which would ironically be fond memories of his father, of all the times spent together with him.
Take the case of Prince Dastaan from Prince of Persia.
He spends so much time with princess Tamina, falls in love with her, risks his life for her, and then gets thrown back in time again, where all the evil gets circumvented due to his advise.
He also gets engaged to the princess eventually - but think of the moment when they start walking together. For Dastaan - he knows the girl forever, for the princess - they have only just met.
All the romance which they brewed suddenly becomes void - the traveler suffers again!!
Ditto is the case of the friends traveling in Hot Tub Time Machine. When they return, they find themselves being rock-stars and best producers in Hollywood and stuff - and while they are happy about it, there is no denying the fact that they never lived those lives.
So, when someone returns from time travel and finds that he is the best producer of the year, where would he go from there?? If he decides to start his next venture, would he have all the experience, all the know-how, all the business sense that made him the best producer -NO!!
And that is something, which has been bothering me in all these time travel fantasies.
In Source Code, this whole concept reaches a new level of imagination. A wired-guy-on-life-support connecting to an alternate reality through last few memories of some dead person!!
He is sent back to the these memories, this source code, to do some investigation. Ultimately, he ends up transpiring his mind into body of a man, whose life he saves along with thousands others.
But that is not just the end of it. The real comrade is till wired in the facility and he can be used to be wired in future to some other dead man's memories!!
It's a reincarnation for him every time he goes on some mission - but think of the other side. All those guys whose minds and brains and bodies he takes over, when he continues to live as them - he would have no memories of what they have been up to till that very moment of their death - or may be a few minutes before that, where his brain gets linked with theirs.
He has his own memories, he loves his own father, he can change the past and the future of millions - but just like all other travelers, he cannot change his own past!!
I watched the Frequently asked questions about time travel, but could not find any FAQ addressing this concept.
Agreed it helps the travelers like it helped Lara Croft in the Cradle of Life and many others like Van Damme in TimeCop; but this help doesn't pacify me.
And also, what do we call this phenomenon? Inertia??
Yes, I think we can call it Inertia!!
Like the Inertia of Mass, this is Inertia of Memories!!
If we have to define this Inertia of Memories, in the similar terminology as the Inertia of Mass, we can write:
"Inertia is the resistance of any living being to a change in its state of mind or memories. It is proportional to an organism's age. Every mind endeavors to preserve its present state."
Now, that I have bugged your minds with this concept, I am sure you will all strain your brain cells on this aspect, every time you watch some time travel flick.
Enjoy watching the Science-Fiction-Fantasy movies!!
Have Fun:-D
