Has there ever been a time travel SciFi story where the premise is that time travel is imprecise, and you can't control the EXACT time you go back to, there's a "margin of error" for when you arrive?
Has there ever been a time travel SciFi story where the premise is that time travel is imprecise, and you can't control the EXACT time you go back to, there's a "margin of error" for when you arrive?
IDK thought that'd be a cool concept, like some guy is trying to change the past, but he can't get to the exact date he needs to, and so has to overshoot to ensure he doesn't pass it and has to deal with whatever time he shows up in.
12 monkeys
"Science ain't an exact science with these clowns..."
yeah one of the simpsons halloween episodes homer accidentally builds a time machine when he's trying to fix the toaster, but he doesn't have precise control since it's controlled by a screwdriver jammed into the toaster electronics.
SIMPSONS DID IT! (CW: South Park)
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
There was a pretty whelming show called Travelers that had a similar premise of restrictions on time travel, but instead of imprecise its the opposite, it has to be so precise that it's very limiting because you can't send matter back in time, only information so they take over host bodies at very specific locations and moments. If they have the coordinates or the time incorrect, it misfires and the mind of the traveler just is lost.
Due to butterfly effect shit changing the future, there's tons of rules like you can't travel back further than any previous trip. They started as early as they could once cell phones were invented and they had coordinates, and then only sent back new travelers after that point in time. Basically there's future day 0 when they first tested time travel, and past day 0 when the first time traveler arrived. Those two times are synched up, and the future travelers have to come back at the same time (future day 252 and past day 252, etc).
In a post-apocalyptic future, thousands of special operatives are tasked with preventing the collapse of society. These operatives, known as "travelers", have their consciousnesses sent back in time and transferred into the "host" body of present-day individuals who are about to die, minimizing unexpected impact on the future. The transfer requires the exact location of the target, made possible by 21st-century smartphones and GPS, providing time, elevation, latitude, and longitude (TELL) coordinates that are archived for use in the future. No transfer can be safely made to a time prior to one already performed.
"Pretty whelming" is accurate. That show had so much potential and the writers just fumbled it from basically the very beginning.
Yeah very cool concept, bland network TV execution
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Which by the way is also the answer to the bar trivia question "Name four movies where Christopher Lloyd's vehicle was used for time travel."
Been watching the TOS movies to fall asleep to recently and I'll be watching the second half of that tonight! It's the second lowest on my TOS movie ranking (6,2,1,3,4,5) I think if maybe somehow they could split the crew and half do sci fi stuff and half do fish out of water stuff I'd prefer it but there's also the fact that EVERY character has a great moment in the fish out of water plot so I don't really know how I'd split that difference but it does drag it down for me.
Solid ranking. 6 is my personal favorite at well, but I'm incredibly biased because I think the Excelsior is peak starship design.
There was an episode of The Original Star Trek series I think
Yeah I was thinking that too, the one where they go to 30s Chicago or something
Yeah!
I feel like Terminator sorta does this in that all the "historical records" remaining are very imprecise, so even if the technology was hyper-precise, you don't really know what you're aiming for. But not in the literal sense of the OP.
I'm trying to remember how time travel in Continuum worked.
There's obviously also the collection of stories where the time travel is accidental, so there isn't really a statement of intent to begin with.
Been a while since I watched Continuum, but I think they didn't overshoot. Most of them -thought- they did because only one person was aware of the actual goal.
Not 100% sure tho, should probably give it a rewatch.
Not exactly what you're looking for but in Stargate SG1 they accidentally travel back in time due to some very specific circumstances involving wormhole travel and a solar flare. They try to replicate it to go back to their own time but end up overshooting due to their timing being slightly off. Since this is TV they luckily overshoot far enough that the tech exists to send them back to their original time.
Isn't this Quantum Leap (or at least the reboot, I don't really remember the original)...
Thar be spoilers...
Quantum Leap couldn't get exactly where they needed to in one shot. They had to kind of slingshot-effect around other places in time to get to where they needed...sorta like slingshotting around planets to go faster in space.
I have no idea about a reboot, but in Quantum Leap he has absolutely no control over the time periods he lept into.
Possible spoiler alert for a movie
Caddo Lake is sorta like this
The Doctor can be pretty imprecise.
It's always London and it's always WW2 during the Blitz, pretty precise to me
It’s played with, and entirely plot dependent. But it’s a major plot point in the first episode of the Matt Smith run.
In dbz trunks is consistently off by a few hours when traveling back in time. It has no impact on the story though.
I can't remember if this is actually canon or if it's a throwaway line in the Abridged dub but I think Trunks' time machine in DBZ works like this. He shows up super early to Frieza and Cooler landing on Earth, and then shows up super late to the fight with the Androids.
The Light Brigade
Doctor Who touches on this theme occasionally, but its not anywhere near the main premise. "wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff" I believe is one of the quotes, lol.