S01.E01: Pilot

[sarthaz]

Rooting for Kripke, but that was awful.  Like we need another show where a brilliant genius teams up with a grizzled cop of another gender to save the world one hour at a time.  And time travel is near impossible to do in any logical way, but the "rules" for this show were worse than most.  Also agree that it was very rushed.  This was a 90-minute pilot crammed into 40+.

Let's spot the Kripke tropes: John's journal? Check. Jessica dies? Check.

33 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

To be fair, when the trio came back, the three characters who were there originally were still there (the government woman, the inventor, the female coder), but we don't know if their lives (spouses, children, health) were affected by the time change.  There was a bunch of coders there also, don't know if some were gone or if some were added when the time travelers came back.

I assumed all their lives changed.  They just don't know it.

[Arynm]

Loved it!! I am a sucker for time travel shows and I try to watch them all (couldn't get into Continuum). I liked the twist with the notebook, I think I will go back and freeze the screen and try to read some of it. I am really hoping for at least a full season. I knew the mom would be ok, liked that the sister is gone, didn't expect that. Can't wait to find out the engagement drama. Where would the ring go? Wouldn't it appear on her finger when she stepped out of the time machine?

[iMonrey]

I thought parts of it were clunky but it had a lot to establish since it was a pilot. Hopefully it will improve because I like the concept and the cast is good too. It might have been better if they had spent the hour really working out the premise rather than including a big historical event like the Hindenburg but they probably wanted something big and splashy for the pilot.

Quote

Flynn goes back in time so many minutes into the episode, we see him changing time so many minutes later, therefore when we see the fictional present again five minutes before the end, that's the first occasion when we could possibly see the change *that took place instantly when Flynn saved the Hindenburg.* We couldn't see the effects of the change at minute X of the episode, before we saw the cause at X+ minutes of the episode. 

Yeah, I'm trying not to be too literal with the concept because the instant Flynn went back in time, everything should have changed for the characters still in the present. That's how time works. Flynn didn't need an hour, or a day, or a week in the past for the present day characters to change (or for their lives to change). He's got a time machine, so from his perspective 2016 hasn't happened yet the instant he travels back to 1937. Lucy shouldn't have known how/when the Hindenburg really crashed because the split second Flynn went back in time it would have been different as far as she knew. 

Maybe that's something else they can work on in future episodes: that there's some sort of concurrent time stream in any timeline. 

[reggiejax]

Quote

PS: I agree with the two day stubble "look" looking really odd in pretty much any time before the 21st century.  Soldier boy would have been taken for a hungover drunk or maybe a homeless guy with that look in 1937.

More like someone would say "hey buddy, you need to shave". Also, I think it would be mostly the middle 50 or 60 years of the 20th century where that look would be very out of place. I'd say from sometime in the teens, when certain advancements, namely indoor plumbing, were becoming more common, until the early 70's, when the looks of the counterculture became more mainstream. 1937 though, it would stick out.

Quote

Can someone explain to me how the people in the bunker working on the time travel device were seemingly unaffected by the change in time?  At least 30 people were saved from the Hindenburg's destruction, so I find it odd that Lucy's family were the only people affected.  

I thought the people in the bunker said, upon the trio's return, that for them, the Hindenburg was always a terrorist attack with only 2 fatalities, rather than an accident, with dozens dead, and all the "oh the humanity!"? It was my understanding that only Lucy, Rufus and Soldier Boy (sorry, I forget his name), remember the original history.

Also, we don't know if they were unaffected, we just know that their life trajectory did not change where they were no longer working on this project.

Quote

Anyone remember that NBC show from the 80s called "Voyagers!" starring the late John-Eric(sp) Hexum? Thats what Timeless kind of reminds me of,hopefully this show's run will be longer than Voyagers's was..

I remember Voyagers very fondly. And I am pretty certain someone amongst TPTB on Timeless does as well.

This show comes off like a cross between Voyagers (with it's playing to the history nerd in us all) and Quantum Leap (with it's "fixing right what once went wrong" mission). Unfortunately, except for some spots here and there, Timeless is not as eager to have fun with it, like those shows did.

[GenieinTX]

1 hour ago, derriere said:

I was really into it until the predictable, "you have no idea who you're working for" moment. I honestly wish we could have one show where the good guys are the good guys and they don't end up teamed with the fan-favorite villain in season 2. 

Will still watch for Abigail Spencer and Lem from Better Off Ted, but meh.

Lem was my "hey it's that guy!" for this show.  I'm currently binging Better Off Ted.  Love him.

 

The show?  Meh.  The heros totally screwed up everything and I didn't find the villian anyone to root against.  Yeah, I get that he's trying to change the future, but it's pretty vague on his motivations and what exactly he's trying to do.  They need to flesh that out a bit more.  It's way to close to the first season of Legends of Tomorrow.  The storyline on that show is pretty meh, but the characters are enough to keep me coming back.  The characters on this show will have to get a lot more engaging to get me to keep watching.

[statsgirl]

I wanted to like this show, I really did.  This was going to be my new show for this season (I usually only pick one a  year).  But wow, was this disappointing.

I can get beyond flaws in a sci fi show, I grew up on them. What I can't get beyond is lack of interest in the characters.  The only two who grabbed me were the old guy who created the time machines and Flynn Garcia (what kind of a name is that anyway?).  Lucy and Rufus were okay but the soldier was blander than bland and I hate the set-up that he and Lucy are going to be the relationship for the show.  (She had a ton more chemistry in her short scene with Flynn but then Goran V. is a much better actor).

I don't get the premise that they had to rush to save the Hindenburg because it was going to blow up anyway.  And yeah, as others have pointed out, they should have had all the time in the world to prepare for their trip since they were travelling back in time anyway.

9 hours ago, green said:

I would like that the bad guy turns out to be a good guy and is trying to restore an original timeline and that we are actually in an alternative timeline because someone else messed with the original one earlier.  But it doesn't seem to be set-up to go in that direction cast-wise and action wise what with bombs and shooting someone looking like soldier boy's wife. 

But the booklet he shows Lucy that he says she wrote in maybe another timeline (?) gave me some hope for that.  And I wished we could see this time travel show turn things a bit upside down.  Maybe the storyline will at least be somewhat gray and not so cut and dry good guys vs bad guys anyway.

I'm really hoping that Flynn didn't kill his wife and child (huh?  what for?) and that he turns out to be at least gray if not one of the good guys because that would actually be in interesting twist. This way, it's more black and white than a comic book. Or a CBS show.

4 hours ago, Dave in Chicago said:

I liked this! To me the difference between this and NBC's recent run of sci-fi efforts is simple: this looked fun, and is fun. I don't need a lot of portent and conspiracy, just give me a sustainable "Quantum Leap" style show, loosely serialized. I'm down with that for at least a few seasons.

The problem for is me that Quantum Leap, at least in the early seasons, was a very smart show.  I've yet to see any evidence of smarts in Timeless.

36 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

That depends -- mine have a tendency to work themselves loose, poke through the side of the bra and start stabbing me. I've had a few where I was able to remove the wire without removing any clothing, but they were fairly old bras.

That's me too, and they're impossible to repair.  But at least there was a point to the bra here.  Usually it would have been a hair pin, which Lucy should have had if she was dressed for the year.

[Amethyst]

3 hours ago, reggiejax said:

I thought the people in the bunker said, upon the trio's return, that for them, the Hindenburg was always a terrorist attack with only 2 fatalities, rather than an accident, with dozens dead, and all the "oh the humanity!"? It was my understanding that only Lucy, Rufus and Soldier Boy (sorry, I forget his name), remember the original history.

Also, we don't know if they were unaffected, we just know that their life trajectory did not change where they were no longer working on this project.

But that's the problem.  37 people died when the Hindenburg originally blew up, and this time it was only 2.  There are at least 30 new divergent realities to consider.  Those people ended up living when history says they weren't supposed to, and we have no idea what they ended up doing since they survived.  

I figured there would be a few changes in time when the trio went back, (like Wyatt saving Kate) but one or two people at the most.  That many additional survivors could mean a drastic change in the current reality, least of all with Lucy's family or the employees working in the bunker.  

As it is, Flynn going back in time and taking those people with him already caused a major time change that they didn't approach.  The survival of the people on the Hindenburg was the other.

The bra talk is cracking me up.  Most newer bras have the wire tightly sewn in so it can't be removed easily, or shake apart when it's laundered.  I've also had wireless bras that hurt just as much as an underwire. 

Edited October 4, 2016 by Amethyst
The math is making my head hurt!

[atomationage]

The people on the Hindenberg coming in would all be German, right?  Didn't they blank out the big swaztikas on the tail fins, or whatever they're called?   This show confuses me.   I thought the show blew up the Hindenberg on the way back out, with all the Americans on it.

Edited October 4, 2016 by atomationage
punctuation

[shapeshifter]

Don't get me started on bras and underwires. 

I like the show more than I expected because it focused on the effects of time travel rather than using time travel as a vehicle to explore history. 

I hope eventually they do have a situation where someone travels to a time in which they encounter themselves so we can see what happens. 

[sarthaz]

"Hmmm ... I'm literally traveling back in time, and the brilliant scientist who created the time machine made it very clear not to change the past. Also, I've certainly grown up on Back to the Future and countless time-travel stories that warn against these very scenarios.  Buuuuut ... that lady kinda reminds me of my wife soooooo ... let's just break the Universe, shall we?"  Not a fan of characters who do incredibly stupid things just to advance the plot.

Flynn's probably Lucy's son from the future or some shit.

[tvsoothesthespirit]

I thought it was pretty good for a network pilot. I was relieved that the time travel rules were simple -- fewer rules to break = better suspension of belief. I thought it was great that the bad guys (although I'm not convinced they're truly bad) have the flashy machine and the trio got the clunky, old model.

I also thought that for a pilot the time travel team had some great chemistry and included an African American scientist and he wasn't killed in the first episode! Although they did make him the chauffeur (so minus one for that).

I was involved, I laughed at things that were actually supposed to be funny, and I thought the twist at the end was great. It's also a show I can watch with my kid. Hope it stays on track and doesn't get cancelled!

[biakbiak]

55 minutes ago, Amethyst said:

that's the problem.  36 people died when the Hindenburg originally blew up, and this time it was only 2. That means there are 34 new divergent realities to consider.  

There are actually 37 new realities (the reporter died in both) because 35 who died originally all survived because they were on the earlier flight and someone who didn't originally die died this time.

Edited October 4, 2016 by biakbiak

[MissLucas]

35 minutes ago, atomationage said:

The people on the Hindenberg coming in would all be German, right?  Didn't they blank out the big swaztikas on the tail fins, or whatever they're called?   This show confuses me.   I thought the show blew up the Hindenberg on the way back out, with all the Americans on it.

The swastika was visible. And they did actually a good job with the interiors though the famous piano that they included in was no longer on-board when the Hindenburg went down. The nationality of the passengers would be mixed just like on today's commercial flights. The show did blow up the Hindenburg on its way back to Europe with a couple of important historical figures from the US on their way to the coronation of George VI but there were only two casualties.

[Netfoot]

57 minutes ago, atomationage said:

The people on the Hindenberg coming in would all be German, right?  Didn't they blank out the big swaztikas on the tail fins, or whatever they're called?

The crew would have been German, and a reasonable number of passengers too, but there might have been any number of non-German passengers aboard. US returnees, visitors from other European countries, etc.

No, the Swastika was clearly visible on the empennage of the dirigible. 

17 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

There are actually 37 new realities (the reporter died in both) because 35 who died originally all survived because they were on the earlier flight and someone who didn't originally die died this time.

The very fact that the disaster was a deliberate act of terrorism and not an accident, might have affected thousands of people.  Random newspaper readers who took pity on the poor Nazis whose wonderful airship was destroyed by their unreasonable enemies, and later supported the Nazis, rather than fight against them two years later.  

Literally, since different bugs were killed in the grass by the airship falling on different days, who can say how the fate of the world was affected?  

[Amethyst]

20 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

There are actually 37 new realities (the reporter died in both) because 35 who died originally all survived because they were on the earlier flight and someone who didn't originally die died this time.

Good catch.  I thought Kate was one of the 36, but those people were all on the flight.  Kate was the person on the ground who was killed by the falling debris.

I thought the person unaccounted for was one of Flynn's cronies (the guy who caught on fire) so it wasn't like he would have been registered to be flying on the Hindenburg, anyway.  

[biakbiak]

2 minutes ago, Amethyst said:

Good catch.  I thought Kate was one of the 36, but those people were all on the flight.  Kate was the person on the ground who was killed by the falling debris.

I thought the person unaccounted for was one of Flynn's cronies (the guy who caught on fire) so it wasn't like he would have been registered to be flying on the Hindenburg, anyway.  

The 36 people who died in the actual Hindenburg crash were 35 passengers and one person on the ground, though in real life the person on the ground was a member of the ground crew not a cute blond reporter so I assumed that Kate was included in that 36 number.

I still can't buy that the delta force guy would so instaneously make a connection with the reporter that he would obey direct orders and common sense because she looked like his wife. 

[Silver Raven]

1 hour ago, sarthaz said:

Flynn's probably Lucy's son from the future or some shit.

I was SO thinking this same thing.

[Silver Raven]

Here is a list of all of the passengers on the Hindenburg, including those who died:

 

http://facesofthehindenburg.blogspot.com/

 

Some Americans, a Dane, a Swede, and an Englishman, and also a family with German name listed as being from Mexico City. Surprisingly, one of the passengers was a Jew, though an American.

[blackwing]

I loved it.  Time travel always makes my head hurt, thinking about all the paradoxes and new alternate realities, but I get through it by trying not to think about it too hard.  I am a sucker for anything historical, so if they can jump around to various periods in history (and not just sometime within the last 50 years like Legends of Tomorrow does) that would be cool.

I hope NBC gives this one a chance.  Looking forward to enjoying the ride for as long as it lasts.

[saber5055]

Okay, so I enjoyed this show and am in for the duration. So yeah, it probably will be cancelled because that's what happens to shows I like while dreck I won't watch stays on for years. But I digress. The bra talk is cracking me up, but I am glad to know others have been stabbed by underwire. I easily pulled my underwire out because of that, so wondered why that couldn't be done with the bra still in "position." And every single one of my exes (and yeah, there are multiples) have been mesmerized by me being able to remove my bra through my shirt sleeve, quickly and easily, and in a fraction of the time it takes to just unbutton a blouse much less remove and put it back on. The downside to this show for me is the Delta Force guy looks just too young to be that accomplished. I don't care HOW old the actor is, the character on my teevee was barely into his 20s. I like my heros with a bit more "seasoning" to them. Until next week, gang!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

The very fact that the disaster was a deliberate act of terrorism and not an accident, might have affected thousands of people.  

This is what actually bugged me the most.  Our idiot heroes decided to turn a disaster into a terrorist attack when several wealthy and influential figures were on board.  I would expect that to cause more trouble than 36 people surviving who weren't supposed to and a couple dying that weren't supposed to just from a government policy and public sentiment perspective.

I think the show would be better off if they spent more time on changing the world around them as a direct result of changes they didn't avert.  And the changes that viewers recognize as part of world building would be more interesting than interpersonal one this early in the series.

More air ships (ala Fringe) or at least more comfortable airplanes (since that is all airships had over airplanes until Hindenberg tipped the scales in favor of planes).

Are government or military policies drastically different in a way that affect daily life?  How much is terrorism a problem relative to the original timeline and is it more foreign or domestic?  How (or did) it impact world events like wars?

What is the cover of Led Zeppelin's first album?  Are they still Led Zeppelin?

Oh the humanity, did the WKRP Turkey episode ever happen?

But in all seriousness, I think that the characters realizing they made mistakes that made the change even greater, that were avoidable, is more interesting than angst over failing to stop the villain.

Edited October 4, 2016 by ParadoxLost

[Shanna Marie]

4 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

More air ships (ala Fringe) or at least more comfortable airplanes (since that is all airships had over airplanes until Hindenberg tipped the scales in favor of planes).

Yeah, that should be a ripple effect, since Hindenberg pretty much put an end to airship travel. Though I guess the war might have done so, as well, since most airships were German, unless without Hindenberg, the US started developing more airships. Or would the ship blowing up due to terrorists still have quashed airships, since it showed the same vulnerability of intensely rapid combustion?

5 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

Oh the humanity, did the WKRP Turkey episode ever happen?

That, right there, is the real tragedy of changing the past. I don't want to live in a future without that episode. This must be set right!

[MV007]

1 hour ago, sarthaz said:

"Hmmm ... I'm literally traveling back in time, and the brilliant scientist who created the time machine made it very clear not to change the past. Also, I've certainly grown up on Back to the Future and countless time-travel stories that warn against these very scenarios.  Buuuuut ... that lady kinda reminds me of my wife soooooo ... let's just break the Universe, shall we?"  Not a fan of characters who do incredibly stupid things just to advance the plot.

Flynn's probably Lucy's son from the future or some shit.

I'll be interested to learn more about Wyatt's backstory.  But at this point we know his wife died and he reeks of booze.  And then at the end of the episode he was by himself at a bar.  I'm guessing he isn't very happy with his life at the moment and wasn't too concerned with keeping the timeline as it was.  He has nothing to go back to anyway.

Edited October 4, 2016 by MV007

[possibilities]

4 hours ago, Netfoot said:

she stripped to the waist, and we didn't get even the tiniest flash of boob?  Doesn't come off as a male ego-trip to me.

It's network, in prime time. No boob-flashes allowed. But Soldier Dude can put the bra in his mouth, instead of having Historian Lady rip the wire out herself.

3 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

I'm generally able to forgive a lot when it comes to time travel. I like that they're having a ripple effect rather than going back in time, fixing things, and there being no consequences.

That's where I'm at, too. If you are going to make a time travel story, you have to accept a certain amount of handwaving, but I prefer a little chaos and butterfly effect to a simple fix-it story.

2 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

in all seriousness, I think that the characters realizing they made mistakes that made the change even greater, that were avoidable, is more interesting than angst over failing to stop the villain.

Absolutely.

I expected to hate this. I mainly tuned in because of my abiding affection for "Better Off Ted"-- and as it turns out, that was my favorite part of the show. I like that instead of either pretending racism is a non-factor, or using it as an excuse to make a show with all white leads "to avoid the problem," they are addressing it head-on. Whether they do this well, of course, is another matter. But I think if you are going to do anything, it's better to try than to ignore, so we'll see how they sustain and improve on how they handled it in the first attempt.

I laughed my head off every time they showed the "time travel ship" with its swirly snakes and gigantic eye. It was just cheesy enough to be fun.

[blackwing]

I'm curious as to how the tweak in the Hindenburg disaster changed Lucy's life.  The mom was dying of some disease, perhaps some guy who was supposed to have died in the Hindenburg explosion didn't die, and his child ended up finding the cure for that disease.  That one is easy enough to explain.  But the mom didn't even know who Amy was, so that means she never had her (and not that Amy somehow died because some guy's descendant killed her).  Perhaps Mom had an affair with the descendant of a Hindenburg original victim, so her marriage broke up before she and Dad had Amy?  Will be interesting to see next week what happened, and how other people's lives have altered.

[biakbiak]

10 minutes ago, MV007 said:

I'll be interested to learn more about Wyatt's backstory.  But at this point we know his wife died and he reeks of booze.  And then at the end of the episode he was by himself at a bar.  I'm guessing he isn't very happy with his life at the moment and wasn't too concerned with keeping the timeline as it was.  He has nothing to go back to anyway.

But they didn't keep the timeline as it was ie healthy mom and no Amy.

[Netfoot]

18 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

Yeah, that should be a ripple effect, since Hindenberg pretty much put an end to airship travel.

True, with the Hindenburg lost to terrorist action and not simply due to the the inherent dangers of using hydrogen, airship development would have been affected/extended in some way.  But the R100/R101 debacle of nearly a decade earlier (and the loss of the latter) had already put a pretty big scuff-mark on the shine of airship travel, and pretty much brought British development of the technology to an end.

Edited October 4, 2016 by Netfoot

[basiltherat]

Sorry, Lucy, but you don't need a bustenhalter at all, underwire or not -- you're too damn skinny.  Your hair is also quite tragic.

The giant "eye in the sky" (Cut The Alan Parsons Project!) is way more ridiculous that Doctor Who's big blue police box!

But I will still watch.

[MissLucas]

30 minutes ago, basiltherat said:

Sorry, Lucy, but you don't need a bustenhalter at all, underwire or not -- you're too damn skinny.  Your hair is also quite tragic.

Here, have a good old ü for a great effort at body-shaming. Next time BH will do.

[Silver Raven]

30 minutes ago, basiltherat said:

Sorry, Lucy, but you don't need a bustenhalter at all, underwire or not -- you're too damn skinny.

Popping up in the past with visible nippleage would not go over well.

[reggiejax]

Quote

Oh the humanity, did the WKRP Turkey episode ever happen?

That "Oh the humanity" doesn't occur in the new Timeless reality instantly made me think of Turkeys Away. My guess is the episode still happened, but Les Nessman never got to quote his fellow broadcaster. Which I think is the biggest loss in all of this. Oh well, we'll always have "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!".

[MV007]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

But they didn't keep the timeline as it was ie healthy mom and no Amy.

Yes.  I was trying to articulate why Wyatt's actions may not have been the result of lazy writing when he attempted to save the reporter.  Instead of it being a character being stupid despite obvious warnings not to change things.  Maybe he just didn't care about changing things because his life sucks.  So the fact that the timeline changed is of no consequence to him.  My point would be that this may not have been a case of lazy writing to further the plot but an action consistent with a man who has no motivation to keep things as they are.

Edited October 4, 2016 by MV007

[sjohnson]

The stuff about the gadgets being coordinated (the CPU in the lifeboat is slaved to the one in the fancy time machine?) tells them when the fancy one is being used. 

The hurry is about going back to catch them because the timer they have tells them when Flynn was starting his intervention. When Flynn actually succeeds in completing his intervention, then the change in the fictional present is instantaneous. 

Does the timer really make sense? No, because we have no idea how they could be kept coordinated. But it is the show's rules, and it does follow from the premises they would want to hustles back to keep Flynn from succeeding whatever he started.

Edited October 4, 2016 by sjohnson

[atomationage]

2 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

Oh the humanity, did the WKRP Turkey episode ever happen?

Yes, because we use Helium rather than Hydrogen:

2 hours ago, Netfoot said:

not simply due to the the inherent dangers of using hydrogen

The Germans didn't have as much access to Helium as the USA.

Holy Crap,  from the Faces of the Hindenberg, there were three guys from Chicagoland on the Hindenberg:
Nelson Morris, Homewood, IL, Executive - Armour and Co.
Herbert O'Laughlin, Elgin, IL, President - Consumers Coal and Coke Co. of Elgin, IL

Clifford Osbun, Park Ridge, IL, Sales Manager - Oliver Farm Equipment Co.  from Hillary Rodham's home town

None of them died.

Edited October 4, 2016 by atomationage

[Shanna Marie]

59 minutes ago, MV007 said:

I was trying to articulate why Wyatt's actions may not have been the result of lazy writing when he attempted to save the reporter.  Instead of it being a character being stupid despite obvious warnings not to change things.  Maybe he just didn't care about changing things because his life sucks.  So the fact that the timeline changed is of no consequence to him.

As I said earlier, Lethal Weapon with time travel -- not outright suicidal, but looking for a way to get himself killed, and not giving a damn what he changes because as far as he's concerned, it can't get much worse, and at least if he saves one person, that one person's life is better. Though if taken too far, that could come across as terribly selfish, so I hope they develop him better.

I am hoping that the fact that he's still mourning his wife will slow down the probably inevitable 'shipping (though I wouldn't entirely mind having a slightly older woman with younger man, for a change, instead of the more common on TV middle-aged man with much younger woman), and it's even possible that instead of main character relationships we'll instead get the relationship of the week, in which one of the main characters develops doomed and tragic feelings for a person they meet in the past. Then again, with the changed-timeline fiance, it looks like the makings of a triangle.

3 minutes ago, atomationage said:

2 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

Oh the humanity, did the WKRP Turkey episode ever happen?

Yes, because we use Helium rather than Hydrogen:

Hydrogen vs. helium has nothing to do with "Turkeys Away." That was about playing on the infamous Hindenberg radio broadcast as turkeys were thrown out of a helicopter (incidentally, I first saw that episode as a child before I ever heard of the Hindenberg, so the first time I heard the original, it first struck me as funny because I was used to thinking of "Oh, the humanity!" as a funny line. It took me learning a lot more about the disaster and seeing the film footage that went with it to change the association).

[MzLiz]

6 hours ago, SierraMist said:

Please, y'all, stop saying it's going to be cancelled.  I really liked it.  I don't need it all to make sense.  It was a lot of fun. 

Ditto!! 

I really liked it. I like sci-fi/time travel so it would have to be really bad or stupid for me not to like it, but I loved it.

Love Abigail Spencer and Matt Lanter so this was a plus even before I saw it. ML can act and is lovely eye candy. 

Some humor, drama, eye candy and fun. I'm in!

dr dre/ nurse Jackie and general hospital quip was hilarious. She thinks well on her feet.

The Mom being awake was one thing but I did not see the sister not existing anymore. What a shock! 

My new favorite show!

[ketose]

1 hour ago, reggiejax said:

That "Oh the humanity" doesn't occur in the new Timeless reality instantly made me think of Turkeys Away. My guess is the episode still happened, but Les Nessman never got to quote his fellow broadcaster. Which I think is the biggest loss in all of this. Oh well, we'll always have "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!".

I thought I was alone when I realized that Les' radio broadcast that day would be totally different. Imagine if that episode of WKRP were never made and the show was cancelled before the second season and future generations never saw it on Hulu or DVD. The implications are mind-boggling.

Eureka did one of these shake-ups where a handful of characters came back and things were different, like one woman's son was no longer Autistic. They never tried to draw a direct connection. The thing about the butterfly effect is that a butterfly flapping its wings could also make absolutely no difference in the real world. Progeny is the big difference. Maybe not more people, but different people running around. Maybe the people who survived went to Germany or other countries and had little impact on American history. Maybe the men went to WW2 and died.

Time travel is fun to explore intellectually, but if rules exist, we don't know them. But the writers have to create rules that make sense and are followed.

[Jordan27]

19 hours ago, Amethyst said:

Flynn took several people with him when he went back in time, so he already set a different future in motion.  

As long as they didn't interfere with anything, that wouldn't set a different future.

[crazycatlady58]

Well I enjoyed   it. I have no problems  with the problems  of time travel ,  I watched  Sleepy Hollow  till they killed off one of the leads #stillmad. My only  complaint  was the whispering  and the dark lighting, I understand  why I just cannot  enjoy it  if I cannot  see or hear whats happening . 

[Jordan27]

I'm laughing at all the handwringing over the time travel repercussions.  We simply don't know what they would be, if anything.  I like the different takes on it to see what they come up with. 

And 11.22.63 was really good show about time travel.  It was a Stephen King adaptation and dealt with going back to stop the Kennedy assassination.  If you haven't seen it, give it a look, it was really suspenseful and has an incredible ending. 

I liked it and I think it's not going to be cancelled. 

[Latverian Diplomat]

I'm a sucker for the "plucky old time female reporter" type (of whom there were several real life examples) so I hoped they might save her, then take her into the future to avoid effing up a past where she didn't survive. But then they made a big deal about the timeship only carrying three people, so, it was pretty clear she was toast. Too bad it was more in service of a tired emotional beat rather than a "City on the Edge of Forever" necessary sacrifice.

Good point made about the "future gun" and it's potential to change the past. Also, good handling of racism, I thought, hopefully we'll see some sexism bullshit of the past spotlighted as well.

It's funny how TV sees teaching a low level class to a huge hall of undergrads as an important part of being a "fast track to tenure" professor.

I liked this more than I should have perhaps. There's potential here, I think, but we'll see. 

I would like to see some time travellers from the future show up in an episode (maybe sweeps) to prevent "our heroes" from doing something really dumb, maybe? Sauce for the goose?

[Enigma X]

This is on my DVR, and I will watch tonight. I am a huge fantasy and science fiction fan, but I usually hate time travel and alternate reality shows (with a few exceptions).

[LoneHaranguer]

9 hours ago, Netfoot said:

So, their job is to prevent any changes being made to the past, because even a squashed beetle could cause huge alterations to the future/present.  Except they totally screw the mission, and sweeping changes occur.  Therefore, they've failed, and we can bring the series to a conclusion already?

No, they can spend the remaining episodes trying to smooth out all the ripples they made. I didn't hear them rule out making another trip further back in time to do something that would preempt their "later" failure.

[saber5055]

All this discussion about time traveling and what changing this will do to that is pretty funny given that I'm pretty sure time travel is imaginary so therefore we can "imagine" any repercussions we want based on "going back" and making changes. Sam Beckett changed the past every week and neither Gungie nor Ziggy EVER said the future (their present) was ever changed for the worse. Plus, if someone went back in time and changed something, none of us NOW would know anyway, right, because the future changed. I know the debate will continue here ad nauseum, but I, for one, am just in for the ride and whatever happens, happens. Just as long as "show cancelled" does not happen.

[statsgirl]

I think it was okay for Sam Beckett to change the past because he always changed relatively small things.  Flynn is trying to change really big ones for devious (?) purposed of his own.

47 minutes ago, Latverian Diplomat said:

It's funny how TV sees teaching a low level class to a huge hall of undergrads as an important part of being a "fast track to tenure" professor.

LOL, I missed that.  My friend, who has spent the last 20 years doing a very good job teaching undergraduates, can't even get a tenure track position based on it.

[ketose]

1 minute ago, statsgirl said:

I think it was okay for Sam Beckett to change the past because he always changed relatively small things.  Flynn is trying to change really big ones for devious (?) purposed of his own.

LOL, I missed that.  My friend, who has spent the last 20 years doing a very good job teaching undergraduates, can't even get a tenure track position based on it.

Other than saving Jackie Kennedy.

[KaveDweller]

5 hours ago, biakbiak said:

The 36 people who died in the actual Hindenburg crash were 35 passengers and one person on the ground, though in real life the person on the ground was a member of the ground crew not a cute blond reporter so I assumed that Kate was included in that 36 number.

I still can't buy that the delta force guy would so instaneously make a connection with the reporter that he would obey direct orders and common sense because she looked like his wife. 

I'm assuming we are going to learn there is much more to the backstory about the wife.

4 hours ago, blackwing said:

I'm curious as to how the tweak in the Hindenburg disaster changed Lucy's life.  The mom was dying of some disease, perhaps some guy who was supposed to have died in the Hindenburg explosion didn't die, and his child ended up finding the cure for that disease.  That one is easy enough to explain.  But the mom didn't even know who Amy was, so that means she never had her (and not that Amy somehow died because some guy's descendant killed her).  Perhaps Mom had an affair with the descendant of a Hindenburg original victim, so her marriage broke up before she and Dad had Amy?  Will be interesting to see next week what happened, and how other people's lives have altered.

She doesn't have to have an affair, there just needs to be someone/something that stops her from having sex the time the sister was conceived.  There was a show a few years ago where a reporter in San Francisco was able to time travel. I forget why/how, but in one episode he came back to the present to find that his son was now a daughter. At some point in his travels he managed to get his past self called into work the night the son was conceived. He somehow switched it back to normal though, it was that kind of show.

But if you think about it, there must be lots of things like that where people were/were not born, which has unlimited implications. It wouldn't just be small details, it would be huge. And it's only going to get bigger with each trip back in time.

It would have been interesting if they started the show with some kind of fictional history existing. Then make it that what we know in reality only happened because of what the characters did. 

[dargosmydaddy]

2 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

I am hoping that the fact that he's still mourning his wife will slow down the probably inevitable 'shipping (though I wouldn't entirely mind having a slightly older woman with younger man, for a change, instead of the more common on TV middle-aged man with much younger woman)

If we're going by the actor's ages, AS is slightly less than two years older than ML. I  know you did say "slightly older," but to me that's a difference not worth mentioning in terms of an older woman relationship. 

I was mildly entertained, and Lanter does bring the pretty, so I'll stick around for at least a few more episodes. And I'm definitely enjoying this fall's usage of Rectify actors... I found both Abigail Spencer's and Clayne Crawford's characters on Rectify to be pretty awful, so it's nice to be able to enjoy both their performances and their characters now. (Though I enjoyed Lethal Weapon and CC more than this.)

[sarthaz]

Flynn's from the real timeline. Someone messed up the past to create a bad future where Lucy has a sister and her mom is dying.  Flynn's trying to fix it, but Lucy's team is messing everything up by trying to maintain their inaccurate timeline. *boom*

[Time Out]

Not much hope for this show from the get go. They broke the Cardinal rule of time travel within minutes of arriving in the past. They didn't even try.