# Things That Bother Me in Science Fiction Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 24, 2023, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001 "2023-10-24T08:55:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 34
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/661 "2024-05-15T02:53:11Z")
Primer? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/662 "2024-05-15T02:55:16Z")
Plenty. See [The Man Who Folded Himself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Folded_Himself) by David Gerrold where it happens to the Nth degree. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/663 "2024-05-15T03:05:27Z")
Well, there’s [Primer (2004)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/). It’s all over the place. [Predestination (2014)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2397535) is arguably an even more extreme example. Otherwise you can find several examples on the TV Tropes [page about stable time loops](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StableTimeLoop). **Warning** : TV Tropes _itself_ is like a time loop, in that it’s easy to enter but impossible to exit. ETA: Ninja’ed on Primer. But the concept of ninja’ed _itself_ naïvely assumes a linear timeline. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/664 "2024-05-15T09:47:28Z")
And of course, there’s Temporal Fugue combat from Roger Zelazny’s _Creatures of Light and Darkness._ A Fugue master can send himself several seconds back in time, attacking an enemy before they start moving; furthermore, by changing the immediate past he can create duplicates of himself, so that several seconds before the start of combat, he can create a clone army. A pair of Fugue masters fighting each other can do damage on a planetary level before reality reasserts itself. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/665 "2024-05-15T11:20:55Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Dragons can fly because they’re actually natural hydrogen balloons. The wings are just for steering and propulsion, not lift. > > This is also how they breath fire. Only in Gordon Dickson stories ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/666 "2024-05-15T11:36:20Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Has there even been a story in which the time traveler goes back just a short time and interacts with himself? ‘All You Zombies’ by Heinlein? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/667 "2024-05-15T11:41:27Z")
Isn’t it also pretty much a point of _Tenet?_ The protagonist is even told, “Don’t try to understand, feel it” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001/668 "2024-05-15T12:36:47Z")
I also recommend Time crimes (a Spanish film; original name Chrono crimenes). I’m a real stickler for plot holes in my time travel movies, and it checks out; a lot of stuff that seems odd on first viewing checks out on a repeat watch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-in-science-fiction-movies/992001.md?page=33)