In comments to The Lake House part 8: before you ask, Fred says:
However, time travel does not require multiple universes or alternate ones where all the time must passs [sic] before the next reaction. A common mistake I see here. It isn't predestination if it is time travel in the film, it is just that the future has happened already. Remember Kate is sending letters into the past. She did not travel in time herself, just her letters. When Kate changes the past and Alex survives....ia [sic] a plot flaw. See the Twelve Monkeys if you are still confused.
Let me start by saying that I have seen 12 Monkeys and that I am not at all confused. Fred clearly is an advocate of fixed time theory; I have elsewhere given reasons why I find it and multiple dimension theory untenable.
Apart from my personal opinions, though, it is evident that in the movie as shown Kate does alter the past when she saves Alex' life. Fred would dismiss this as a mistake, that since it does not work under fixed time the movie is wrong. It may be that something in the movie is impossible under any theory of time; it is inappropriate to say that it is impossible simply because it does not work under the ones Fred or I happen to prefer.
Having concluded that it is impossible under fixed time theory, I am addressing what happens under replacement theory. That theory has the advantage that generally characters can do what they choose, except if they manage to destroy time such that they no longer exist.
In response to that same article, Korean Love Doctor says:
So now I have read article and commentary and the time travel involves the dog mainly? I had assumed before it was more about mailbox than the dog.
It's not really about the mailbox or the dog. It is about the connection created between Kate and Alex when he dies in her arms at Daley Plaza. The dog comes into the story to bring them together, and thus is probably part of the magic; the mailbox serves as a catalyst by which they express their intentions to send objects to each other, but he sends both the tree and the book by other means.
I would not expect a sequel, but I am not generally consulted nor informed about such matters.
Yesterday I saw Hot Tub Time Machine and I saw it was coming to dvd. How soon can we expect review?
Someone promised me a review copy, but it has not yet materialized. There is some interest in it, so I will probably prioritize it once I can get it.
Do you think they will ever make a time travel film where someone prevents Jesus from crucifiction? I think this would be an interesting plot. Will you film it?
I suspect that such a film would be too controversial in this generation, and so would not be made. I am not a filmmaker, so I would not expect to have to decide the question.
Ghost Rider...was a time travel film but I have not yet seen your review.
I have not seen Ghost Rider, but you are the first person to suggest to me it might have time travel elements in it. I won't predict when I will analyze a film; there are too many variables, including demand for recent releases like The Time Traveler's Wife (slated for our next series) and Hot Tub Time Machine (which you mentioned), along with what is available to me (which includes Premonition, Timeline, and Next all awaiting my attention). If it has time travel elements and there is an interest in it, I will add it to the list of movies I am trying to find, but that's a rather long list of which S. Darko, La Jette, and Turtles in Time have all been requested.
As always, thank you for your questions. Questions and comments can be posted in the comments section below each article, or sent to me personally by e-mail.
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