ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's an idea that might make a good series. It borrows a bit from the 2008 remake of The Time Machine, but it carries one aspect of the movie much further.
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Working in his private lab, a brilliant scientists named Dr. Joshua Barnes has invented a time machine, with the circuitry built into something that resembles the "laser tag vests" which are worn on the chest.

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He's kept his invention a secret because he knows it could be used to cause major changes in the time line which would have devastating effects on the present and the future!

Shortly after he successfully tests his device with a few short "hops" in time, his beloved wife Nicole is murdered by a burglar she discovered in their home. But the grieving doctor quickly realizes that he can go back and prevent the death of his wife.

After he succeeds, his wife convinces him that he and she could work together to perform the same miraculous "rescue" on other victims of violent crimes.

However, they agree that it's important to always intervene within twenty-four hours of each murder, because they know that if they make changes further back in the past, there might be drastic long-range changes in the timeline which they would not wish to be responsible for.

In other words, they vow to leave a very small "temporal footprint" whenever they use the time machine.

Dr. Barnes builds a second vest for Nicole so they can work together when they make their trips into the recent past. He improves the vests' design, reducing their size so that they can be worn under coats or loose-fitting shirts. Then the couple begin to monitor all the news outlets, hoping they'll discover tragic situations while there's still time go back and prevent them.

And so the brave couple venture back in time to the scenes of various murders which are about to occur, with the hope that they can save the victims.

However, the couple is aware that they must not let the police see them at the crime scenes, because they would wonder how the couple managed to show up on several occasions just before an attempted murder was thwarted.

But of course, the time traveling couple can't just go around shooting the bad guys before the crime is committed!

So, their strategy (in most cases) is to somehow prevent the murder, assault, or rape — but do so in a manner that still allows the police to arrest the culprit for making the attempt.

By doing this, the police have a record of the culprit's criminal behavior.

Nice idea for a series, huh?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

And the first time they go back to stop a murder they both are shot and die! They both are shot through their vests time circuits witch short out so they find themselves bounced around through time both alive and dead! Holy Schrodengers cat!!! They could only escape if someone else...some future inventor can fall upon the secret of time travel!!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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Gord, you're amazing! You paralleled my recent thoughts today while I was on the treadmill at the gym. I rushed home to write 'em down before I forget what I came up with!

Naturally the interesting possibilities of my whole concept sort of gets cut short if we went with the worst case scenario you proposed. So, let's assume the couple has a bit more luck in their noble endeavors to help people . . . and that they foresaw the dangers you described.

First, it occurred to me that it would be fun to have Joshua get shot and killed during one of the couple's "temporal rescues", and Nicole has to go back a few seconds and prevent HIS death, the same way he'd previously prevented hers in my initial story description.

But then (as you pointed out) I thought about what would happen if they both get shot. That took some serious cogitation on my part. And boy, did I cogitate the shit outta that puppy!

Here's what I came up with.

Dr. Joshua Barnes builds an AI svstem into the two vests that basically turns our married couple into a "foursome". The vests communicate with the wearers telepathically, and with each other electronically.

That means the two people can just "think" where-and-when they want to go, and the vests takes them there in seconds. This, of course, makes it quick and easy for the two people to "rescue" each other whenever one of them gets shot — even if they get shot over and over again!

As for the danger of them being shot in the chest (and therefore, the VEST), we'll minimize the danger to the vest by putting "back-up circuitry" . . . on the backs!

(Ta-Daaa!)

Next I decided to let the two AI vests (whom we'll call Adam and Eve — the first of their kind) have enough autonomy to make their own "rescues" when their wearers get killed.

How? Simple!

If, for example, Joshua and Nicole both get shot at the same time, Adam and Eve will time-transport their bodies back a few seconds-or-minutes so they will appear a few moments before the couple was attacked.

The vests on these dead bodies will then telepathically warn the living couple about what killed them — so they can avoid being killed!

The moment Joshua and Nicol avoid the danger and do NOT die, the dead bodies will cease to exist, simply because the timeline has changed, and the couple doesn't die!

(See! I told you it was simple.)

Just think how dramatic it will be in the series when the courageous couple is in the middle of a tense situation, watching for dangers from every direction . . . and suddenly their dead bodies appear on the floor in front them!

This it a clear message which says "Look out!" — along with the hasty telepathic warnings from the vests on the two bodies. As a result, they find a way to avoid being killed!

(Okay, now before somebody thinks, "Oh sure, that might work a few times, but eventually they might not avoid the danger and still get killed.")

Hey, no problem!

If they're both killed again, the "safety feature" repeats in the vests, and the second pair of dead bodies is zapped back still earlier in time.

On a really bad day this might happen three or four times before Joshua and Nicole (with the repeated assistance of Adam and Eve) finally avoid the threats that kept killing them.

But, wait a minute!

It just occurred to me that his same idea was used in the movie Live, Die, Repeat with Tom Cruse. However, in this case the ability to keep cheating death is the brainchild of Dr. Joshua Barnes. (With assistance from yours truly.)

Gee willakers, I'd sure like to write the scripts for this unique TV series!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)