The future in the flashforwards is Reality 1, in which people seen in the future did not already know that they would have that future - i.e., had not seen flashforwards six months earlier. In other words, no flashfowards had occurred in that Reality 1.
But the moment the flashforwards do occur, that changes Reality 1 into Reality 2, in which everyone alive knows that flashforwards occurred, and most people have seen themselves in their flashforward.
That is the reality which our characters are living through now, and we are seeing unfold each week on television.
Which suggests that the flashforwards can indeed be changed, though not easily.
Of course, since in our reality there are no flashforwards (as far as we know), we are just living in reality, with no number.
But see FlashForward 1.9: Shelter from the Storm
See also FlashForward Debuts and Oceanic Airlines as a Portal Between FlashForward and Lost and 1.2: Proofs and Defiance of Inevitability and 1.3: Conficting Visions and Futures and 1.4: FlashForward Meets Shaft and House ... Drunk FlashForwarding in 1.5 ... Across the Universe in FlashForward 1.6 ... FlashForward 1.7: The Future Can Be...
Listen to 40-minute interview with Robert J. Sawyer
The Plot to Save Socrates
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2 comments:
Flash Forward has taken some very interesting turns lately, but as the suicide of the FBI agent proved, there is a paradox in people seeing their future. If they can kill themselves they alter what happens to everyone else seen in their flash forward and thus change the future. The show reminds me of Back To The Future.
I actually interpreted the realities the other way around. What people saw in their flash forward was what they would be doing in the future as a result of having a flash forward in the first place, because much of what the main characters saw in their flash forwards consisted of things that refer to the flash forwards themselves.
Think about this: if the flash forwards never happened...
1) ...would Mark Benson be investigating the flash forwards and have all of those leads on his board? (Would he even have a board?)
2) ...would Olivia Benson ever have met the Lloyd Simcoe if Dylan's mother hadn't died in the accident during the blackout?
3) ...would Olivia's coworker, Bryce, still have committed suicide if he didn't see himself in a relationship in the future?
4) ...would the Nazi prisoner still be free? Would the guy at the airport he saw in his flash forward ever have applied to that job?
5) ...would Janis be contemplating having a child?
But it can be argued that maybe these things would still have happened:
1) Mark is an FBI agent, and he could have gathered those leads all on his own. The case could have gotten to him through normal channels.
2) Dylan is autistic, so it's likely he could have gone to Olivia's hospital at some point, and Lloyd turned up their for some other reason.
3) Maybe Bryce would have survived his suicide attempt (the bullet missed, or something else interfered/intervened) and gotten back on his feet and into a relationship
4) The Nazi prisoner said he had a "murder" to thank for his release, which is pretty ambiguous. The airport worker could have found his way to that job anyways.
5) There's no good reason why Janis can't just have wanted to have a baby.
The flash forwards are just ambiguous enough to allow such reasoning. But I do agree that the flash forwards can be changed, but it takes a lot of effort to do so.
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