Time Travel is a common plot device in fiction. But when it is introduced often the consequences it allows for or the plot twists become redundant or reversed. Are there examples of fiction that does time travel well, such that the impacts aren’t made redundant or that it effectively creates isn’t there to offer neat ways to resolve unsolvable plot contrivances. In this regard, is there such a thing as ‘good’ time travel?
The visual novel and anime called Steins;Gate is always my go-to reference for time travel being done well. It creates it's own rules around time travel and shows the power even small changes in a timeline can realistically make to change the wider world around them. Every use of time travel has deep and meaningful consequences that shakes the story to it's core. However, the show only succeeds because time travel is the major plotpoint of the show. I'd say this is the only way time travel can be done well in fiction - if the story isn't explicitly about time travel, chucking it in to resolve plot contrivances is always bad. – Dimitri Adoniou6 years ago
I think this applies mainly to movies or TV shows, but literature not much. Limit and define the concept of "fiction" here. – T. Palomino2 years ago