Time loop
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A time loop is a fictional situation in which time runs normally for a set period (usually a day or a few hours) but then skips back like a broken record. It is a common plot device in science fiction. When the time loop "resets", the memories of most characters are reset (i.e. they forget all that happened). This situation resembles the mythological punishment of Sisyphus, condemned to repeatedly push a stone uphill only to have it roll back down once he reached the top. Plot is advanced, however, by having one or more central characters retain their memory or become aware of the loop through déjà vu. Plots commonly center on correcting past mistakes or on getting a character to recognize some key truth; escape from the loop may then follow.
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References
Television
An episode with a time loop motive has been featured in many TV series, including the following.
- "When Goes Around...", Andromeda episode
- "Life Serial", Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
- "Deja Vu All Over Again" episode, Charmed
- "The Good, the Bad, and the Cursed" episode, Charmed
- "Show Ghouls" episode, Charmed
- "Gulag", First Wave episode
- "'Twas the Night Before Mxymas", Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman episode
- "Window of Opportunity", Stargate SG-1 episode
- "Cause and Effect", Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
- "Time Squared", Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
- Tru Calling, TV series
- "Monday", The X-Files episode
- "Been there, Done that", Xena: Warrior Princess episode
- "The Claws of Axos", "The Armageddon Factor", "Meglos", Doctor Who serials
- "Universal Remote" Weird Science Episode
- Several episodes of "The Dead Zone" have a virtual time loop by virtue of Johnny Smith living out several versions of the same future scenario through his psychic foresight.
- "Run, Gary, Run" Early Edition episode
Film
- {{{2|{{{title|Time loop}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- Donnie Darko
- Groundhog Day
- Nirvana - time loop happens to a fictional person in a virtual reality game.
- Run Lola Run
- Sliding Doors
Literature
- A Little Something For Us Tempunauts, a short story by Philip K. Dick.
- "Escapement", an early short story by J. G. Ballard.
- The Neverending Story, a book by Michael Ende - a time loop is deliberately set in motion at one point to force Bastian's hand.
- Stephen King's entire Dark Tower series can be considered a time loop.
- Ken Grimwood's novel "Replay" involves reliving a portion of his life many times in shorter and shorter intervals.
- Stephen King's short story "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It is in French"
Art
- The Father Time Loop The mythology created by Joe Korsmo and Dylan Reiff centering around the time loop integrated robocalypse and its ultimate cessation by the work of human savior Velocity Gnome.
Video games
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask The entire game is set around a three-day time loop, which the player can reset at any time he pleases.
- Breakdown There is one part in the game in which the main character experiences an illusion that causes him to repeat the last few seconds of what just happened.
- Dragon Quest VII One town in this game is placed under a curse so that the same day is repeated, with only the heroes, not native to the town being cursed, knowing that there is a time loop.
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time The player is given the "Dagger of Time," allowing them to continuously relive the previous ten seconds of gameplay for a set amount of times, or until the player is satisfied with the way he or she played those ten seconds.