Fixed Point in Time, Sorry!

My husband and I are members of a Doctor Who-themed online running club. We just finished a competition called Racery in our club, and we’re both beat. We’re both big fans, but recently I found out he hadn’t seen the first season all the way through. To reward ourselves, we’ve been watching the first season together. It got me thinking…

If someone showed up, claiming to be from another time or world, and says I need to help change something, would I trust them and go help? The answer: yes and no. I would help however I could, but I wouldn’t trust them.

If I’ve learned one thing from this show, it’s that you don’t mess with events and timelines.

Time travel has always been problematic in any fictional work. H.G. Wells showed us how it could affect us psychologically–The Time Traveler would’ve gone to extensive therapy were he alive today. The Back to the Future series shows what can happen if you change just the smallest thing, and Doctor Who shows that it’s always dangerous to meddle in time and space.

So if I could help by, say, packing a lunch for the stranger, sure. I’d slap some peanut butter and jelly on some bread and give them some applesauce to go with it. You want a soda? Here you go. But I will not hop into your time machine and help you change things. No Biff, I won’t bring you the Guinness Book of World Records.

Well, ok, I’ll make one exception: if you say you’re taking me to the Caribbean or Hawaii for a free beach vacation, I’ll trust you.