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Top 50 Time Travelers Submission thread - Clock In!

Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
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Alright! It’s… TIME! Time to vote on your favourite time travelers in fiction and… reality? Well, we’ll get to that. But this character archetype isn’t just a character with a gift and/or a curse, it’s how we can use speculative fiction to explore some big-ass ideas. After all, the past is a foreign place and an inaccessible one. It’s easy to feel trapped in the now and while there are good things about this era, it’s not hard to see the scary stuff. If anything, that feeling of fear and of loss is what is the inspiration of mining nostalgia for hard earned bucks. Yes, I can see the cynicism and even the toxicity of nostalgia but there’s not question there’s enticement to get back to… not a simpler time to be sure but what FEELS like a simpler time. Times were never simple and in many ways, the past sucked too. But the longing is completely understandable. The yearning.

Perhaps you yearn to see the future and you want to validate your fears or be given hope. Perhaps you want to go to the past, a lost world you once knew. Perhaps you want to stay in the now for as long as possible. Perhaps, as you grow older, you see time slipping through your hands like sand and want to find a way to keep it from fleeing. Stories of time travel allow you to feel a power you wished for to break free from the rules of the world and be where you want to be. Conversely, it can also be a way to explore the horror of infinity, the awe-inspiring responsibility of the smallest actions in time or simply realize that this dream is not what we thought.

It’s about the big questions. Regrets and things we wish we could change. Second chances, to make things right. What does it mean to be where you don’t belong on a cosmic level? Or maybe, simply, a rollicking adventure in a place that is fantastical simply by virtue as not existing anymore, even if it’s as recent as a few years ago.

OK, so basically, here’s what I want from you, a list of up to 25 characters (optimally, I’d like a full list but I understand if your list is incomplete). Send it to me and we’ll compile them into a bigger list, which I will create as a countdown.

Here it is in rule form…

A) Send a list of your top 25 time travelers. You are free to send a smaller list if you want but I will say my personal preference is a full list if possible.

B) PM me your list. And keep it a secret from the other players. It's more fun if people aren't gaming the system or knowing what's coming. Don't worry, you can reveal your list when it is all done.

C) I'll tally everyone's list and make a composite list of time travelers.

Now what counts as a time traveler? “Defining” is always tricky, isn’t it? Well, I’ve learned from past experience to not make the mistake of being too gatekeepery about it and I’ll probably accept whatever you send but let’s go over some variations.

Can I include a character who cannot control their journey through time or only goes to one time

Yeah, many of these are the most iconic of stories. Time travel frequency isn’t too important, though I will say… like Spider-Man has travelled through time in a few stories but it’s not really what he’s known for. If there’s a memorable story where a character who usually doesn’t does, sure I’ll accept it but I’ll only be talking about the character within that context.

  • OK, OK, But… but… here me out… people in time loops.

Yeah, this makes sense to me. It’s a different kind of travel, one with little control but still.

  • Can I include characters who CONTROL time?
I mean, like I said, this is always tricky, isn’t it. It’s a different way to travel through time. I say, as I often do, listen to your heart on this one. What feels right. Especially since there are different versions of this. You get to decide if Zack Morris giving a time out counts as time travel.

  • Speaking of feels… what about a character misplaced in time in non-time warping means. For example, a character frozen in ice and they are a person out-of-time?

OK, this is where things get tricky. Again, listen to your heart and don’t complain if people don’t see it the same way. Maybe on some of these I’ll mutter under my breath but I get it; the spirit of a person in the foreign time does actually have a similar tone in many ways, even if it’s not a “letter of the law” kind of thing.

  • What if a character thinks they time travelled (or can) but didn’t (or can't)
Sure. I actually can’t think of a character like this (at least not a character where this is a defining element) but it seems like it fits.

  • OK, OK, But… but… here me out… people in time loops.

Yeah, this makes sense to me. It’s a different kind of travel, one with little control but still.

  • What if time travelling isn’t a specifically famous trait but they do it pretty often?

If it feels right to you.

  • OK, how about groups or pairings?

Oh, this is always tricky. After all, someone might send a duo as two individual characters and others as one. I might try to help you out but I’d ask you to consider how much individuality there is between the duo/trio/group.

• OK, OK, But… but… here me out… people in time loops.

Yeah, this makes sense to me. It’s a different kind of travel, one with little control but still.

  • What about a real person who has claimed to time travel?

Sure, sounds fun.

OK, I think that more or less covers it!

Deadline is in April 30th but as always, it’ll probably be stretched a bit as I tabulate. But please AIM for April 30th or sooner and if you think you might be late, let me know.

And feel free to ask questions! Until then…

 
I've been slowly assembling candidates in my head since this list was a go but I still need a few more, I think.

My #1 will probably surprise absolutely no one.
 
After seeing the relevant bullet point, I’m immediately thinking of a few really obvious duos/groups and struggling with whether to list them individually or all at once. Hmmm.
 
2
Doc Emmett Brown
250px-Doc_Brown.JPG

291 Points, 10 Lists, #2 Johnny Unusual ​
Source: Back to the Future
Traveler-Type: Got to Make It Right, Explorer
Method of Transport: Delorean, Steam Engine

Doctor “Doc” Emmett Brown is a scientist and known eccentric in the town of Hill Valley. Born into an affluent family, Brown became obsessed with science and poured all of his family fortune into his experiments. In 1955, an accident caused him to have an accident that resulted in an epiphany, an object he called the Flux Capacitor. However, though he understood it at the time, Brown was unable to realize it until thirty years later after losing a house to a fire. In 1985, he had made friends with a local youth, Marty McFly, who assisted him in his experiments (Marty being less interested in the science and more in the personality of Brown, who he connected with). Eventually, Brown created his capacitor and used it to fuel his time machine in the form of a Delorean.

However, in order to get fuel, Brown made a deal with Libyan terrorists who gave it to him in the promise he would make it into a bomb. When the terrorists realized they’ve been betrayed, they attack and kill him on the night of trying out his Delorean. In escaping, Marty went back to the past to meet Brown to explain how he was trapped in the past and also needed help with a time paradox he accidentally set into motion that risks his existence. Brown immediately got to work with Marty, using knowledge of the future in part of a plan to restart the Delorean and send Marty back to the future. Marty also gave Brown information to save his life from the terrorists, which Doc initially rejected for causality reasons but eventually used to fake his death and save his own life. He and Marty would continue to adventure together through time, helping Marty’s kid, undoing a dark alternate reality inadvertently created by Marty (and intentionally created by local bully Biff Tannen) and traveling back to the founding of Hill Valley in the old west.


Though Marty is deservedly popular as the cool guy of the duo, it is Doc Brown who won in the popularity contest between the two. It’s interesting that these characters are so different but you completely buy that these characters would be friend without having to bother to establish their back story. I think the writer Bob Gale claimed he imagined that he was dared to go to the Brown place, saw that he was working on cool stuff and they just hit it off. Very simple and even that is unnecessary. The two aren’t family, belong to different age groups, run in different crowds, have these different life experiences and you sense none of that matters, these two are friends.

But as for Doc himself, as is often the case, the actor adds so much. Before this film, Christopher Lloyd was more well-known for his burnt-out cabbie Reverend Jim in the sitcom Taxi. Brown is also a big broad character who has these big wild eyes and expressions but Brown as a character never gets lost in quirk and eccentricity. Beginning to end, he remains a very human character and though for the series he is second to Marty, he really is closer to a co-lead in Back to the Future Part III, where he needs to wrestle with between his head and his heart. While that film is more of a victory lap, it really lets Brown take center stage more.


Which is not to say he lacks anything in the other films. Yes, he’s the secondary lead who explains stuff while Marty does a lot of the heroic stuff (though Brown definitely has some heroics on the clocktower) but they give him a lot. He’s someone who never gained fame for his achievements but more than anything he’s someone who loves science for the sake of its progression. But he’s also very conscious, unlike some movie scientists, of the weight of his creation and when seeing the dangers of time travel considers destroying the Delorean on more than one occasion. A lot of the time the wacky scientist heroes are kind of temperamental savants but Brown is someone who, while a little out there, is often thinking of others. He’s not just a joke machine, though he does take part in some very Zemekis-y misunderstandings of future terms and facts. He truly is willing to put himself on the line for Marty and anyone else he cares for.


It’s interesting because I think Back to the Future is often labeled as a comedy and in many ways it is. Lots of jokes and wacky misunderstandings and farce. But it’s also very much a whimsical adventure movie and though most of the set pieces focus on Marty, the films always give Brown a chance to be the hero rather than a plot device. It’s clear Gale and Zemekis think of him as just as important as Marty and treat him with as much care. And with Lloyd at the helm, one of film’s most indelible characters, creating a character who is lovable and lively but with nuance. I think because we love Marty, we also respond to him positively because he mentors Marty, supports him and even will push against when he thinks or knows Marty is doing something wrong. And maybe that’s why Brown has more votes. Marty is cool and would be a good friend but having someone in your life who does what Brown does for Marty means you have someone in your corner who takes you and this time travel business seriously and never forgets the human factor in science.

Your call. That said, depending on how the spread goes, I might ask you to either to consolidate or break up, depending. As for now, you do you.
 
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Kirin said:
After seeing the relevant bullet point, I’m immediately thinking of a few really obvious duos/groups and struggling with whether to list them individually or all at once. Hmmm.
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I had a few instances like that on my list. I did split most of them up which did make it real easy (too easy) to fill out my list.
 
Working on a list. This might be interesting.

There's one really obvious duo I can think of that I emphatically wouldn't separate.
 
Made my long list and it's at 29. A decent number of them are more than one person and I'm not sure yet if I'll break 'em up. Fun little thought exercise.

Also a lot more characters from books are on my list than I expected which is cool.
 
Issun said:
Maybe an extension? 12 days is a lot shorter than most Top 50 submission threads have gotten.
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I expect my Top 50 will run until May 11th if that can help plan the schedule. I do have some things mapped out so I don't plan on changing my presentation schedule.
 
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If you need time let me know but this is around the usual time I provide. I dont like the submission time to go too long, as people just think "Ill get around to it" and don't. Also, it takes me several days to tabulate, during which time I accept more lists. So if you are a little behind, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Just let me know to expect it.
 
Johnny Unusual said:
I dont like the submission time to go too long, as people just think "Ill get around to it" and don't.
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Echoing this. Ya'll really like to send in lists just before the buzzer, or a day or two after the buzzer, and Johnny knows this better than most, given how many of these he's done. Moving the deadline back isn't likely to accomplish much.
 
We are up to 8! Getting 2 more is key but my real goal is 7 more. I think we can do it. Official deadline is Thursday but let me know if you need a little time after so I know to hold the door open.
 
Hmm, I have two where I realized it's kind of a spoiler that they're time travelers. I doubt they'll make the final list but I assume just marking that is fine?

Edit: actually just one, looking at the synopsis I misremembered and it's revealed basically at the start so removing the spoiler tag from one.
 
Violentvixen said:
Hmm, I have two where I realized it's kind of a spoiler that they're time travelers. I doubt they'll make the final list but I assume just marking that is fine?
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My #1 is one of these as well. From my submission PM:
"My #1 with a bullet. However, explaining why would mean major spoilers for [REDACTED], and I think everyone should experience that narrative beat for themselves? Honesty, I feel a little guilty even voting for him at all, given that, but..."

Just comes with the territory, I think. *shrug*
 
Yay! Currently at 10! Hopefully if everyone who has expressed interest sends in a list that can bring us to 15! Get those lists in as soon as you can. If you are going to be a little late, that's OK. Just let me know to keep the door open for ya!
 
People should really have the decency to jump back to before the original deadline here and make their submissions then.
 
If anything, they should have sent them before I announced this so I'm all like "what the heck are all these lists? I may as well do SOMETHING with them".
 
I may be asking you some to consolidate entries or break them up. You dont HAVE TO but it will likely make for a smoother list. But in the end, follow your bliss.
 
I got a shortlist of 24 entries right now.

I need to find a better list of videogame time travellers than that Wikipedia article.
 
Ok, got my list in, we'll see if Johnny wants me to re-edit any of my, uh, waaaaay more than 25 individual people I ended up slipping into my top 25 list...
 
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