Pop Culture's Time Travel Theories: Lost And Primer Explained With Pokemon

Today, I had a discussion about the movie Primer with a friend over Facebook. I had watched Primer for the first time last night and, while enjoying the plot, I was even more intrigued by the time travel theory presented throughout the movie. My friend was confused with how this was different from the time travel theories of Lost, so I decided to not only explain the differences between Lost and Primer, I'd also throw in Star Trek and Heroes and explain it using Pokemon action figures.


Lost - Whatever Happened, Happened

Daniel Faraday, the time studying physicist of Lost, explains to the characters that "Whatever happened is going to happen and we cannot change that." Further, Daniel explains that you can go back in time, and the past you are experiencing as your present is their present. You can die going back in the past because you are experiencing the present. However, characters in the past cannot die, because that all has already happened, unless it was supposed to happen. Here, we have Charmander meeting Jolteon in a battle. We are currently in present time, 2010. Then...

Bam! The superior Venusaur kills Jolteon. Jolteon is dead, he is no more. Since Jolteon was the friend who always came over when you did not want him to ever come over, Charmander and Venusaur decide that they want to get rid of him in the past - 1980 - so that they never have to deal with him again. However, as Lost explains....

Whatever happened, happened. Even if Venusaur and Charmander were not born in 1980, Jolteon experiences them as his present. Jolteon will always survive this attack, because he was alive in 2010. He also experienced this in 1980. He experienced two time travelers coming back in time from 2010, before they were born, to attack them. Jolteon will always survive, he will always be friends with Charmander and Venusaur, and he will always be betrayed by them in 2010. However...

They can both die in 1980. 1980 is their present. "Time is like a string. You can move forwards and backwards, but you can never make a new string." For the duo, they will always survive up to 2010, they will always go back in time before they were born to 1980, and they will always die by the barbaric, teething feline.




Primer - Reverse Engineering A Perfect Moment

Primer suggests that time travel can only exist for as long as the technology has existed. Furthermore, you can only travel for as long as the box runs and you are in "the box" (noted as "Time Travel Box" in the picture). With this idea, the curious, mischief-driven feline puts the Pokemon in the box for 12 hours. What this means is, when they run it at 10 A.M.,  they will come out at 10 A.M. if they leave the box 12 hours later. Their original selves will exist in the normal timeline, but they will experience themselves as doubles 12 hours behind - in Primer, they use this to cheat the stock market and intervene on events in their lives, since they knew before going in the box what stock rose the highest and what happened that day.

They exist from the box, knowing what's going to happen that day. They are now "Charmander2, Jolteon2, Marill2, and Venusaur2." They experience themselves as they are at 10 A.M., as the devil cat intended. They know everything that is going to happen that day - they know that stocks will rise a certain amount, and they can see themselves going about their day. If Jolteon were to go home at 11 A.M., he would see himself playing Parasite Eve still. So...

Venusaur2, mad that he had to naturally evolve because Charmander lost the rare candy, uses a pair of screwdrivers and kills Charmander2 while Jolteon2 and Marill2 are too busy paying attention to playing SkiFree (yes, that really is SkiFree running). Charmander1 still exists. However, there's a twist!

Venusaur2 thought he killed Charmander2, but since Charmander2 wanted to kill Venusaur2, he baited Charmander1 into taking his place at the SkiFree competition and watched. Once Jolteon and Marill get distracted and start lurking in the 4chan forums, Charmander2 steps in...

...traps them inside a set of cups...

...kidnaps Venusaur2 with "escape rope..."

...and drowns Venusaur2. Since Charmander2 knew what was going to happen later that day, knew where Venusaur1 would be, and Venusaur2 is unable to warn Venusaur1 what happen since he inhaled water...

...Charmander2 ends Venusaur1's sight seeing trips and pushes him into the garbage disposal.










I hope this clears things up. Special thanks to the cat for cooperating.