The FLASH TV SERIES

[Anarchist]

Yeah, at this point I just ask myself:
Hasn't this guy learned ANYTHING at all by now?

Time Travel ISN'T HELPING Barry!

[Lightning Rider]

Barry is blamed for ruining everybody's lives is because he keeps using his powers (time travel) for his personal benefit and that never ends up well. If stops going back in time to undo something that already happened, everything would be fine. Or, at least, it wouldn't be his fault.

Sandy Hausler

Yeah that's what I mean, he's done it so many times now. It's 2 seasons since he first learned he shouldn't do it and he's still doing it.

[Frontier]

I think saving Nora was the only time Barry actually went back in time for completely personal reasons.

The first time he did it was a total accident and ended up saving the city (at the expense of Cold learning his identity).

It was never clear whether it was Eddie killing himself and causing a paradox or Barry coming back to stop Thawne that created the wormhole that opened the doorway to Earth-2.

The second Flash/Arrow crossover had him also go back in time by complete accident, but this enabled the heroes to fix their mistakes and stop Savage.

Then he went back in time for pragmatic reasons because he needed Thawne's advice on becoming faster so he could stop Zoom, which ultimately worked out and even led to Hartley becoming a good guy (though it was never explained exactly how that happened).

Flashpoint is the only time he time-travelled for purely selfish reasons and really messed things up. As dangerous as it had been before, time-travelling had usually had more positive dividends to Barry doing it, when he intentionally did it at all.

Now he understands that he can't use it as a crutch anymore and just how delicate the time-stream is.

[Jim Kelly]

It seems like most of the time when Barry time travels he has no control over where he goes. Likewise when he hops between Earths, he has to try several times before he can get to the right one.

I would guess that once having gotten back to the moment of his mother's death, his powers somehow now guide him back to that moment. Maybe it's the emotional homing signal effect.

But over all, Barry can't just shift through time and worlds so easily--it shouldn't be a power he can depend on.

[FishyZombie]

Yeah, at this point I just ask myself:
Hasn't this guy learned ANYTHING at all by now?

Time Travel ISN'T HELPING Barry!

Hasn't it though? besides Flashpoint, time travel has basically had nothing but helped Barry.
Because of time travel
-he saved central city from Weather Wizard
-Pied Piper is now an ally instead of an enemy (where the frick is he anyway??)
-He learned the speed equation from Thawne
-Saved Central City (or wait, was it Star City?) AGAIN from Vandal Savage
-Allowed him to save the Multiverse from Zoom by creating a time remenent

without time travel, pretty much every character on these shows would be dead. You can understand why Barry would think that time travel is the Bee's knees prior to Flashpoint. Hell in Flashpoint, everyone besides maybe Joe had a way better life than they did before. It wasn't time travel that made everything go to sh*t, it was Wally pulling an Oberyn Martell with the Rival and Barry just standing there being useless while Wally got impaled.

[Carabas]

-Pied Piper is now an ally instead of an enemy (where the frick is he anyway??)

Very busy on Broadway, apparently (the actor, not the character).

[FishyZombie]

Very busy on Broadway, apparently (the actor, not the character).

Funny thing, I actually saw one of his plays last year, this sign language thing "Spring Awakening." I didn't even recognize it was him until I bumped into the guy walking out.

[jbmasta]

It seems like most of the time when Barry time travels he has no control over where he goes. Likewise when he hops between Earths, he has to try several times before he can get to the right one.

I would guess that once having gotten back to the moment of his mother's death, his powers somehow now guide him back to that moment. Maybe it's the emotional homing signal effect.

But over all, Barry can't just shift through time and worlds so easily--it shouldn't be a power he can depend on.

Or Nora's death is a nexus point that Barry seems drawn to. It's the site of Reverse Flash's murder of Nora, not to mention Barry's Turn Left (Doctor Who reference) that creates Flashpoint. It's a temporal hotspot. At one point there were two Barrys there, no doubt adding more weight to the moment in time.

[Lightning Rider]

I think saving Nora was the only time Barry actually went back in time for completely personal reasons.

The first time he did it was a total accident and ended up saving the city (at the expense of Cold learning his identity).

It was never clear whether it was Eddie killing himself and causing a paradox or Barry coming back to stop Thawne that created the wormhole that opened the doorway to Earth-2.

The second Flash/Arrow crossover had him also go back in time by complete accident, but this enabled the heroes to fix their mistakes and stop Savage.

Then he went back in time for pragmatic reasons because he needed Thawne's advice on becoming faster so he could stop Zoom, which ultimately worked out and even led to Hartley becoming a good guy (though it was never explained exactly how that happened).

Flashpoint is the only time he time-travelled for purely selfish reasons and really messed things up. As dangerous as it had been before, time-travelling had usually had more positive dividends to Barry doing it, when he intentionally did it at all.

Now he understands that he can't use it as a crutch anymore and just how delicate the time-stream is.

He went back to try and save Nora twice though. And now he saw his future by accident. Whether by character flaw or bad writing, time travel has taken too much focus.

[signalman112]

Maybe Eddie is from the same Earth as HR is from?

[Shriveling_memo]

As someone mentioned earlier in forum, shouldn't Barry's timetravelling escapades cause alternate timelines.An the main issue of all on time travel, why have we never seen the original timeline or at least the original flash. That's what should of been happening.

[Ace Venom]

I think saving Nora was the only time Barry actually went back in time for completely personal reasons.

The first time he did it was a total accident and ended up saving the city (at the expense of Cold learning his identity).

Barry's change the first time was completely reasonable. He did not want to condemn Central City to an attack by the Weather Wizard by allowing events to replay themselves. It cost him his moment with Iris, but one can argue that Cold learning Barry's identity was a net positive (see Legends of Tomorrow). Saving Nora was purely selfish and I have to wonder if Savitar is behind the ripples associated with correcting Flashpoint. We don't know the answer to this beyond what Jay and Eobard have repeatedly warned Barry about.

It was never clear whether it was Eddie killing himself and causing a paradox or Barry coming back to stop Thawne that created the wormhole that opened the doorway to Earth-2.

Team Flash closed the wormhole after Barry returned from the past. The wormhole reopened due to the "grandfather paradox" created by Eddie killing himself. The alternate timeline would have been erased from existence had Ronnie Raymond not sacrificed himself.

[KabutoRyder]

*shrugs*

it's all Decade's fault.

[Frontier]

He went back to try and save Nora twice though. And now he saw his future by accident. Whether by character flaw or bad writing, time travel has taken too much focus.

Well, Geoff Johns did say The Flash's thing was time travel, so I guess the show has been reflective of that .

As someone mentioned earlier in forum, shouldn't Barry's timetravelling escapades cause alternate timelines.An the main issue of all on time travel, why have we never seen the original timeline or at least the original flash. That's what should of been happening.

The show's time-travelling has definitely been creating alternate timelines.

As far as we know the original timeline and the original Flash were wiped out of existence or faded away the moment Thawne killed Nora. Maybe it still exists in the Multiverse somewhere as an alternate timeline, but we'll probably never know because the writers don't seem to have any interest in exploring the original timeline.

*shrugs*

it's all Decade's fault.

Onore Flashuuuuu !

[KabutoRyder]

My view on time travel is that it is ultimately pointless, because of the creation of alt timelines. I have thought that way since many moons ago, I read a Fantastic Four short where Ben goes back in time to give his younger, freshly turned Thing self an antidote that read said would work on his younger self. He returns home, nothing happens because he created an alt timeline. That shaped my view on time travel ever since. I'm just ready for the time travel stuff to be done and over with. Or at least not the degree the show has been harping on it.