Precognition and Time Travel in SciFi vs Fantasy?

[MithrandirOlorin]

This is an excerpt from a recent blog post of mine, link provided at the bottom.

Back to the present of Railgun. In my post on The Wolverine I ranted briefly on how I don’t like predicting the future being presented as a scientific rather than magical ability. Maybe it’s a silly distinction to make, Magick or Science really shouldn’t change it’s Determinist philosophical implication. But when it’s Magick I more easily accept that the rules for how changeable the future is will inevitably be flexible to serve the interest of the plot.

Maybe it’s then inconsistent that Time Travel is something I only like seeing done in SciFi and hate seeing thrown into Fantasy. Maybe delving into Time is just so problematic that I’m only really into it when they do something really interesting, and these biases are just based on what Genres I currently think have handled them less badly. I like how Your Name dealt with the Grandfather Paradox by just having people not remember doing the time travel related activities they engaged in.

[url]https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/08/anime-2020-august-21.html[/url]

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Time traveling in fantasy loses a lot because the world is already supposed to be bizarre and unfamiliar that it becomes generic. With Sci-Fi it is typically a very exclusive facet in the world. Very important, and high-value, whereas in fantasy it is just another spell.

Precognition on the other hand becomes like a unique ability in fantasy that gives your character relative agility. In Sci Fi it just tends to make things boring because the politics surrounding it muddle it inherently and practically.

[GreyICE]

Sci-Fi uses time travel to either move from the future to the present day, or from the future/present day to the past (by our perspective). Very rarely it moves from present day to future. This is a good vehicle for social commentary, looking at our mistakes, comparing present society to past, etc. For instance Back to the Future looks at both how society changed in the past, and how it might change in the future (humorously). So they can make good vehicles for critiquing our society, and comparing us to other societies.

Fantasy moves from one fantastic place to a fantastic place... but at a different time. Why not just have one fantastic place and remove the plot mess? On the other hand, precognition and prophecy bring in interesting themes of destiny, fate, and fighting against it versus giving in.


There's a D&D module out there where they lovingly describe part of Forgotten Realms, where your characters are from, what they might be doing, etc. Then like two encounters into the module they drop you through a portal into somewhere else. Time travel has that exact issue - it's like "if you wanted the plot to happen over here, why didn't you just say it was happening over here? Why the contrivance?"

[MithrandirOlorin]

Thank you, those are some pretty insightful comments.

[Rocketboy1313]

Fantasy moves from one fantastic place to a fantastic place... but at a different time. Why not just have one fantastic place and remove the plot mess? On the other hand, precognition and prophecy bring in interesting themes of destiny, fate, and fighting against it versus giving in.

There's a D&D module out there where they lovingly describe part of Forgotten Realms, where your characters are from, what they might be doing, etc. Then like two encounters into the module they drop you through a portal into somewhere else. Time travel has that exact issue - it's like "if you wanted the plot to happen over here, why didn't you just say it was happening over here? Why the contrivance?"

STOP WASTING MY TIME!
GET TO THE POINT!

https://youtu.be/UAocvKHUidg

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Taking back on what I said earlier, precognition probably isn't boring, just gets convoluted pretty fast if you're not paying attention.

[Fianna]

The time travel issue with fantasy only comes up if you're dealing with secondary world fantasy. For urban fantasy, historical fantasy, or post-apocalypse fantasy, the setting is still our world, so you can still travel to recognizable periods in history.

'Course, when a fantasy story contains time travel, but the time travel is the only fantastical element, people often don't classify it as fantasy. A Christmas Carol, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and Groundhog Day are all beloved fantasy stories about time travel, but you rarely see people call them fantasy.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Makes sense.

Fantasy a lot of the time is secondary world I guess but not always.