# Is there any book or movie where going back in time is a good thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879 "2012-06-02T17:07:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/1 "2012-06-02T17:07:59Z")
I can think of a few TV shows, but that’s it. Oops, almost forgot the Back to the Future Trilogy. Thought of another one Peggy Sue Gets Married. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/2 "2012-06-02T17:34:27Z")
I’m assuming in your TV shows you’re including _Quantum Leap_, because … yeah. Was going to mention Stephen Fry’s _Making History_, but I honestly don’t remember how that ended. ETA: Probably lots of examples on this TVTropes page: [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong) Warning: TVTropes page. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/3 "2012-06-02T17:45:44Z")
Sure there’s plenty. _Back to the Future_ - Before his trip, Marty’s family was very unhappy, had crappy jobs, a terrible boss. Afterwards, they were wealthy and very happy. \*Peggy Sue Got Married \*- IIRC Peggy falls in love all over again, fixes her relationship with her sister, and wakes to what may be a better future. Twain’s _Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_ as I recall, he did a lot of good while trying to get back home. ---
**Author:** ![bramma23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@bramma23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bramma23)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/4 "2012-06-02T17:54:17Z")
Source Code, sort of. Dejavu, sort of. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/5 "2012-06-02T18:00:28Z")
_Somewhere In Time_ led to finding true love, so that’s sort of good. _The Butterfly Effect_ showed a number of positive and negative effects of travel to the past, but the ultimate ending is a good result (if not ideal) from the time travel. There’s “A Sound of Thunder”, if you voted for Deutscher. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/6 "2012-06-02T18:01:00Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Twain’s _Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_ as I recall, he did a lot of good while trying to get back home. Nitpick: if you consider [killing 30,000 people](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Yankee_in_King_Arthur%27s_Court#The_Interdict) “a lot of good,” sure, okay. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/7 "2012-06-02T18:16:06Z")
[**Time and Again**](http://www.amazon.com/Time-Again-Jack-Finney/dp/0575073608/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338660792&sr=1-1) by Jack Finney. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Like\_Pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I\_Like\_Pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Like_Pie)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/8 "2012-06-02T18:23:39Z")
Mib 3. ---
**Author:** ![phxjcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phxjcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phxjcc)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/9 "2012-06-02T18:54:55Z")
Star Trek IV Saved the whales ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/10 "2012-06-02T19:16:47Z")
The old series _Time Tunnel_ is a distant childhood memory. I’m pretty sure at least a few of those episodes had a positive outcome. Theme song [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/c8BOCXv8duA/hqdefault.jpg "Theme Song to The Time Tunnel") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8BOCXv8duA) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qIQVpXYiTuc/hqdefault.jpg "THE TIME TUNNEL.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIQVpXYiTuc) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/11 "2012-06-02T19:39:10Z")
Star Trek: First Contact, in which they save the Earth from being taken over by the Borg (who, technically, went back in time to do it, so they probably cancel each other out…). City on the Edge of Forever, going back in time prevented the Third Reich from taking over the world. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/12 "2012-06-02T19:47:05Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > City on the Edge of Forever, going back in time prevented the Third Reich from taking over the world. But that was just to un-do McCoy going back in time and bringing about the Third Reich taking over the world in the first place. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/13 "2012-06-02T20:06:43Z")
**Millennium** , the John Varley book (and movie). People from the future take doomed people from the present to repopulate the Earth in an even further future. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/14 "2012-06-02T20:24:01Z")
**Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure** ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/15 "2012-06-02T20:26:52Z")
_The Anubis Gates,_ by Tim Powers, in which a guy goes back in time and becomes Samuel Taylor Coleridge, noted poet and laureate. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/16 "2012-06-02T20:29:40Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > _The Anubis Gates,_ by Tim Powers, in which a guy goes back in time and becomes Samuel Taylor Coleridge, noted poet and laureate. Not quite - He meets Coleridge but he becomes William Ashbless ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/17 "2012-06-02T20:39:24Z")
It’s been a while. I do see a trend in which people go back in time and seem to profit, but really, they’re just cleaning up a mess (their own, or somebody else’s). Heinlein’s Lazarus Long stories… in which (in _Time Enough for Love_), Lazarus goes back in time so he can have an affair with his mother, then (in _The Number of the Beast_) brings her forward in time (saving her life in the process (actually, it’s some very distant descendants of his, including a couple female clones of himself) to join the Time Corps, and she eventually (in _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_) goes back in time so she can … “recruit” her father. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/18 "2012-06-02T20:57:43Z")
Not exactly time travel, but it does involve getting a message from the past: [Frequency.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_(film)) ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/19 "2012-06-02T21:00:00Z")
Terminator 2 stopped Judgement Day and then they never made any sequels ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879/20 "2012-06-02T21:08:01Z")
If we take Terminator at face value along with the deleted scenes, and ignore the sequels. Reese going back in time lead to the human race being saved, both through his er personal contribution and the information he imparted to Sarah which she then imparted to John. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-book-or-movie-where-going-back-in-time-is-a-good-thing/623879.md?page=2)