Who wrote this classic SF story (by way of the Simpsons) [MERGED]
04-30-01, 09:40 AM
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One of the Simpsons Halloween episodes showed Homer going back to the time of the dinosaurs and remembering his father's advice that he shouldn't screw around lest he change the course of history. The rest of the vignette is Homer screwing up history and trying to set it right.
Is that based on an existing sci-fi novel or story?
Is that based on an existing sci-fi novel or story?
04-30-01, 11:46 AM
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Pretty much any time travel story. Anytime you go back in time, you shouldn't change anything otherwise you'll effect your future. That is used so often it's a basic.
04-30-01, 02:09 PM
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The tale that specified time-travel to prehistoric times and the squishing of a bug was The Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury.
It is actually one of the top FAQs on the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.written which I used to peruse several years ago. I had to unsubscribe as it was so high-traffic that even with many filtets I still had hundreds and hundreds of unread posts at the end of each week!
It is actually one of the top FAQs on the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.written which I used to peruse several years ago. I had to unsubscribe as it was so high-traffic that even with many filtets I still had hundreds and hundreds of unread posts at the end of each week!
04-02-02, 07:46 AM
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Who wrote this classic SF short story? (I'm brain dead)
Who wrote this and/or what is it called? I know it's a classic, but I'm brain dead. Bradbury? Heinlein? Asimov?
The general plot:
It's the future. Time travel allows people to go back in time to hunt dinosaurs, with the only caveat being that one cannot step off an electronic path, for fear of altering the natural order of things. A guy accidently steps on a butterfly or blade of grass (I can't remember), and when he returns to the future everything has changed, as a result of that seemingly minor action.
The general plot:
It's the future. Time travel allows people to go back in time to hunt dinosaurs, with the only caveat being that one cannot step off an electronic path, for fear of altering the natural order of things. A guy accidently steps on a butterfly or blade of grass (I can't remember), and when he returns to the future everything has changed, as a result of that seemingly minor action.
04-02-02, 10:30 AM
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Re: Who wrote this classic SF short story? (I'm brain dead)
Oh, man, now I'm sitting here banging my head against a wall, trying to remember...It's so familiar; I knew you were talking about the butterfly story as soon as you mentioned the path...argh! 
