Would future time cops head for the MU after Ep14?

[Dukhat]

^ Every organization has its rogue elements. Doesn't invalidate the entire existence OF that organization.

My point is that when one has the power over time, even in a "policing" role, then the chances that that power will be abused rises exponentially. And unlike any other job, the fact that you can even be tried for crimes you haven't even committed yet, despite the fact that you're supposedly the "good guy," is quite frankly insane. I would think that every single person living in the 29th century would be a paranoid schizophrenic.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

My point is that when one has the power over time, even in a "policing" role, then the chances that that power will be abused rises exponentially.

Perhaps. But given that time travel technology IS out there, doesn't it make sense to have at least some kind of oversight?

And unlike any other job, the fact that you can even be tried for crimes you haven't even committed yet, despite the fact that you're supposedly the "good guy," is quite frankly insane.

By the time the Temporal Integrity Commission comes into play, a whole new way of looking at the law (and prosecuting violations of it) will have to be invented. It may seem incomprehensible to US, but to a society where time travel is common, it will be necessary.

We can't possibly understand how Braxton could be arrested for crimes he's going to commit, but we have no experience with time travel, so it's really not our place to judge. By the 29th century, time travel is as common as breathing. You can't have something like that without a completely new system of law to deal with it. A system which our primitive, 21st-century human minds are incapable of understanding.

 

[dahj]

Can we please get JCVD for season two?

JCVJ was cancelled, so he's available...

 

[CorporalClegg]

See? Everything is working perfectly.

"Van Damme, Yeoh; Bat'leths, go!"

 

[Dukhat]

Perhaps. But given that time travel technology IS out there, doesn't it make sense to have at least some kind of oversight?

No, because any changes in the timeline only causes an alternate universe to branch out from that point. The original universe stays the same. And since there are an infinite number of parallel universes, what would be the point of "policing" any of them? That's why the idea of time cops makes no sense to me.

 

[Spot261]

No, because any changes in the timeline only causes an alternate universe to branch out from that point. The original universe stays the same. And since there are an infinite number of parallel universes, what would be the point of "policing" any of them? That's why the idea of time cops makes no sense to me.

It isn't clear that is always how time works in trek, sometimes it seems to, but other's it's more akin to a single timeline being tainted and not following it's intended path.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

No, because any changes in the timeline only causes an alternate universe to branch out from that point. The original universe stays the same.

Some instances of time travel do work that way. Others do not. We've seen both.

For example:

- The Kelvin timeline is an example of one that branches off from (but does not replace or overwrite) the main timeline.

- However, in situations such as "City on the Edge of Forever", "Yesterday's Enterprise", and ST:FC, the original timeline IS altered, and has to be changed back to its original form.

 

[Dukhat]

Some instances of time travel do work that way. Others do not. We've seen both.

For example:

- The Kelvin timeline is an example of one that branches off from (but does not replace or overwrite) the main timeline.

- However, in instances such as "City on the Edge of Forever", "Yesterday's Enterprise", and ST:FC, the original timeline IS altered, and has to be changed back to its original form.

But in those instances, it wasn't the time cops doing the changing. It was people who realized that the new timeline sucked and wanted it changed back to what it was before. And if the time cops were doing their job, then someone like Sela shouldn't exist, because she was a product of the change in the timeline. Yet there's Sela.

It isn't clear that is always how time works in trek, sometimes it seems to, but other's it's more akin to a single timeline being tainted and not following it's intended path.

But there were literally tons of times in Star Trek where the timeline changed, and yet not a time cop was in sight to "restore" things. Remember the whole Gabriel Bell thing? There was a real guy named Gabriel Bell, because Sisko recognized him when he saw him. Yes, Sisko took over his role and it seemed that the timeline changed to accommodate this, but in the original timeline it was the real Bell who started the Bell riots. Later in DS9 Nog remarks that an old picture of Bell looks remarkably like Sisko. But that shouldn't be if the time cops were doing their job. Things shouls have reverted back to the original timeline. But it didn't. So where were the time cops then?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

But there were literally tons of times in Star Trek where the timeline changed, and yet not a time cop was in sight to "restore" things.

They don't have to be in sight, you know.

Remember "Timeless"? We didn't see any time cops there, but we know they WERE there, because Braxton specifically makes reference to having to "clean up the mess" caused by the events of that episode. He called it "the temporal inversion in the Takara sector".

As for Gabriel Bell: There is absolutely no proof that Sisko wasn't always destined to become Bell. Yes, we did see a non-Sisko version of Bell, but you can't prove that there was ever a timeline in which that Bell started the riots and Sisko didn't replace him.

 

[Spot261]

But there were literally tons of times in Star Trek where the timeline changed, and yet not a time cop was in sight to "restore" things. Remember the whole Gabriel Bell thing? There was a real guy named Gabriel Bell, because Sisko recognized him when he saw him. Yes, Sisko took over his role and it seemed that the timeline changed to accommodate this, but in the original timeline it was the real Bell who started the Bell riots. Later in DS9 Nog remarks that an old picture of Bell looks remarkably like Sisko. But that shouldn't be if the time cops were doing their job. Things shouls have reverted back to the original timeline. But it didn't. So where were the time cops then?

Maybe they were working undercover?

 

[Dukhat]

As for Gabriel Bell: There is absolutely no proof that Sisko wasn't always destined to become Bell. Yes, we did see a non-Sisko version of Bell, but you can't prove that there was ever a timeline in which Sisko didn't replace him.

Of course I can. Sisko recognized him. That means that in the original timeline, the real Bell started the Bell riots, not Sisko.

 

[dahj]

Of course I can. Sisko recognized him.

By his ID card, not his face.

 

[Spot261]

By his ID card, not his face.

That's because Sisko IS a time cop

 

[Dukhat]

By his ID card, not his face.

But Gabriel Bell wasn't just a fake name that Sisko made up. He was a real person who was there, and would have been the one to start the riots had he not been killed. So Sisko creates a paradox. Just like how nobody really invented transparent aluminum.

 

[Spot261]

But Gabriel Bell wasn't just a fake name that Sisko made up. He was a real person who was there, and would have been the one to start the riots had he not been killed. So Sisko creates a paradox. Just like how nobody really invented transparent aluminum.

I'm thinking the multiverse has a different take on "paradox" than we do.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

isko creates a paradox. Just like how nobody really invented transparent aluminum.

Yes, it is a paradox. Nobody's disputing that. But it's a predestination paradox.

 

[Dukhat]

Yes, it is a paradox. Nobody's disputing that. But it's a predestination paradox.

But who has the authority to say that it either should always have happened that way, or that the timeline actually changed?

 

[dahj]

But who has the authority to say that it either should always have happened that way, or that the timeline actually changed?

Whoever wrote the script.

 

[Dukhat]

Whoever wrote the script.

 

[The Wormhole]

Gabriel Bell's death did cause an instantaneous timeline alteration that resulted in the Federation never existing and the Romulans living on Alpha Centauri, and this wasn't corrected until after Sisko posed as him and did the thing with the riot and hostages and was officially declared dead in the records at the end. So that argument can be used that yes, the actual Gabriel Bell in some iteration of time did indeed fill this role.