Time loop

Eric Wargo.

has a phd in anthropology he's the author of several acclaimed books exploring time the unconscious and creativity including from nowhere precognitive dream work and the long self oh yes and time loops and this isn't just dream theory from an armchair eric has spent years investigating the strange relationship between consciousness, creativity, dreams, and the future.

His book Time Loops was described by Jeffrey Kripal as the most significant intellectual work on a paranormal topic in the last 50 years.

the most significant intellectual work on a paranormal topic in the last 50 years.

I had to repeat that.

I mean, she collected examples, and there are some examples in her books that are exactly like what Gary described.

Eric, we're going to be going to a break pretty soon, but I just wanted to throw out this little question maybe to answer now or on the other side of the break, not sure.

So a dream like Gary's, where he dreams about something tragic happening, and then he's able to take preventative measures in the waking state because of the dream that that sort of makes sense to me that we would have these dreams so that we so that we survive better but in your in your book time loops you talk about the titanic you talk about 9-11 you talk about so many big world events where so many people have documented precognitive dreams about these things that they could absolutely, they couldn't do anything about it.

Reid reminded us that Star Trek is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, so we thought we would take a TreknoBabble episode out of the vault and post it over on the public feed.

This episode covers the time loop episode Cause and Effect, which is a pretty fun one.

We had fun talking about it, hope you enjoy listening to it, and if you do enjoy it, I just wanted to let you know we review Star Trek The Next Generation episodes like this every so often over at patreon.com slash filmjunk.

So, you know, maybe check it out.

But that's about it for now.

So enjoy and engage.

Star Trek The Next Generation incoming transmission hello everyone welcome to another episode of trek no babble this time around we're talking about season 5 episode 18 cause and effect A neat little time loop episode.

Got to tie it into Groundhog Day, right? I mean, it's that time of year.

Yeah.

Do you know how long I've been waiting for this? You thought this was a time loop.

You thought there was a puzzle.

You thought eventually Michael would have to give you a way out.

Disintegrated.

Flattened like a pancake.

All right, that happened in the time loop.

I'm not too sure.

okay there you go um and bit like it's set after in this it's uh the apocalyptic event is just world war three But pretty much what's in this movie is quite, you know, taken from that quite faithfully.

It's essentially, in a way, it's a time loop

movie

because of, again, spoilers.

It's such a strange movie.

Because by the way, should we address that part? Because one thing I've always thought's interesting about this movie is it can play as a totally straight movie.

That's just a closed time loop.

And it's about the idea that what happened.

... and Barbie Horse Adventure.

No, what is it called? Barbie something Time Loop.

No.

Barbie Rewind.

It is quite the juxtaposition.

The write-ups are explicitly describing the story, which, by the way, comes from the massively best-selling romance duo Christina Lauren, as blending contemporary romance with a Christmas time loop twist.

Right, the time loop.

But here is the phrase that I literally cannot get out of my head.

The source says the story features existential panic wrapped in twinkle lights.

Wow.

She is actively making massive mistakes and starting a protagonist at this kind of absolute rock bottom isn't just for dramatic effect.

It is structurally essential, particularly for the mechanics of a time loop narrative.

It really is.

It shows us the tricky nature of adapting complex thematic narratives, especially ones dealing with heavy stuff like time loops and propaganda.

And the precarious reality of early television development, which we will definitely get into.

So let's start with the acquisition itself.

Now, our mission today is much bigger than just previewing a television show.

We are going to deconstruct the premise of this time loop fantasy series, which I have to say is layered and completely wild.

That's so good.

But then we're going to use all the surrounding headlines on this page to analyze a Hollywood landscape that is honestly caught in its own real-world time loop.

Yes, the parallels are they're striking.

We are talking endless franchises, inverted streaming strategies and the very real, very present threat of generative artificial intelligence rewriting the physical production of movies.

It is.

But when he gets there, he triggers the core mechanic of the story.