Sounds like Anthony Horowitz ripped off Ursula Le Guin's THE LATHE OF HEAVEN.
George Orr, the character in that book has what he's called 'effective dreams', where his dream changes the reality of the world. As a younger man, he was in a world where there had been a nuclear war, and he dreamed that world away.
In the book, the therapist he's working with works with George to create a better world, and the havoc that results from the resulting changes to the world.
Also, though. In The Dead Zone, he DOES manage to avert the apocalyptic visions he sees with Greg Stilson. I didn't really watch the TV show, but my impression from the book was more that you could change the future, but a) sometimes what you thought you were doing to change it just made it happen and b) mostly no one listens to you when you tell them.
UGh. man. Seeing that Heroes picture just reminds me of how pure and undiluted the absolute JOY of watching Heroes S1 was. Does anyone really remember that? The total abandon of watching Peter and Nathan learn to fly, the super-creepyness of Isaac's predictions. The first time you see Sylar.
Man, I miss it. It's hard to believe we're where we are now in just four short seasons.
@Pope John Peeps II: When "save the cheerleader, save the world" hadn't been said to death... when we didn't know if HRG was good or bad... what HRG's real name was...
In Flash Forward it's hard to believe that everyone that saw a future they didn't like wouldn't actively avoid the location of their Flash Forward, particularly when they know the exact time and date of the Flash Forward.
If you saw a future where you where lost in the desert, I’m pretty sure you would be cancelling that trip to the Grand Canyon.
This is the major flaw of Flash Forward and what will render its major theme kind of redundant and increasingly irritating.
@Space2099: Well, but that gives the show a natural arc, right? And a natural tension? Events will unfold that look to be pushing the characters into the visions of their future. It seems as if things will turn out exactly as predicted, so the show has a built-in way to generate tension and suspense as they try to avoid it. I mean, the agent didn't expect to have to wear a girl's friendship bracelet, but then was forced to accept one from his daughter. That was pretty ominous. I guess we're in for a season of things like that.
@Space2099:
First: That's not a major flaw, that's a way to keep you curious and coming back next week to see if they change anything
Second: It's the pilot, you can't expect them to answer every question
Third: Specially the ones they want you to have. Lost wasn't even a time travel show and now we don't know if it can be changed or not. That's not a bug. It's a feature. It's what keeps people addicted!!
While I would like to separate Flash Forward from our reality there is only so far you can stretch believability before you start losing credibility.
Put simplest of terms, it would be way to easy to avoid the future you see in a flash forward (Quit your job, sell your house, get locked up in prison, move to another country etc.).
What about Dune? Paul Atreides seems to feel that the future is mutable and changeable until someone sees it. Seeing turns the probable future into the destined future.
Babylon 5 had some awesome future predictions that couldn't be avoided despite all the efforts that Londo Mollari put into avoiding it.
Also a memorable one for me is an episode from Stargate Atlantis "The Seer". The prediction of the future that doesn't isn't as they thought. When Sam sees a future where Atlantis is destroyed by the Replicators, it was actually the rebel Replicator cloned city of Atlantis that was destroyed instead.
This article misses some great examples and cases. Awesome stories, too.
What about the multiple X-Files episode about time travel - the guy who can predict other people's deaths, or the woman who relived the bank robbery over and over? Push, with multiple futures? Time Cop? "The Man Who Folded Himself"? Groundhog Day? Various Star Trek episodes? Stargate? Macbeth? Quantum Leap? Eureca? The DC time travel system is all over the place, so it is hard to identify (some things can be changed, others can't be). I am sure there are a bunch of others that I am forgetting.
@ElimGarak: The X-Files episode with Peter Boyle as an insurance agent who's spent way, way too much time around actuarial tables is my favorite. Particularly when he predicts Mulder's death. "Autoerotic asphyxiation? Really?"
@finite_elephant: Boyle deserved that Emmy he got. Man, that was an amazing episode.
Is he right about M&S? Sure, we all buy that M would die from autoerotic asphyxiation, b/c duh... but he also said Scully doesn't ever die... was he lying or mistaken?
Charles Dickens dealt with this before any of these.
"Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point", said Scrooge, "answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that will be, or are they shadows of things that may be, only?"
A great example would be Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. He travels back and forth through time and accepts the fact that nothing can change. Almost done with the book; love the writing.
@Dee4leeds: come on, many of us are parents, and our preteen daughters have had us sit through this show. I draw the line at CORY IN THE HOUSE. That's total crap.
Well Oedipus' parents saw(or heard) their future, and they ended up ordering him to be killed. Which didnt end up happening and the boy grew up to different parents, and series of events led to the future that was foretold.
@ChasePolydeuces: I was wondering if anyone was going to mention this. Probably the oldest and best-known "Can you change the future?" tale, and one of the most uncompromising in suggesting that, no, it's written in stone.
10/01/09
George Orr, the character in that book has what he's called 'effective dreams', where his dream changes the reality of the world. As a younger man, he was in a world where there had been a nuclear war, and he dreamed that world away.
In the book, the therapist he's working with works with George to create a better world, and the havoc that results from the resulting changes to the world.
Freakin' brilliant book
09/30/09
09/30/09
09/30/09
Man, I miss it. It's hard to believe we're where we are now in just four short seasons.
09/30/09
"Wait, wait, what are you doing in second season.. no.. no, that's not.. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!"
09/30/09
So many things that made it a great season!
09/29/09
If you saw a future where you where lost in the desert, I’m pretty sure you would be cancelling that trip to the Grand Canyon.
This is the major flaw of Flash Forward and what will render its major theme kind of redundant and increasingly irritating.
09/30/09
09/30/09
First: That's not a major flaw, that's a way to keep you curious and coming back next week to see if they change anything
Second: It's the pilot, you can't expect them to answer every question
Third: Specially the ones they want you to have. Lost wasn't even a time travel show and now we don't know if it can be changed or not. That's not a bug. It's a feature. It's what keeps people addicted!!
09/30/09
Put simplest of terms, it would be way to easy to avoid the future you see in a flash forward (Quit your job, sell your house, get locked up in prison, move to another country etc.).
09/29/09
09/29/09
Also a memorable one for me is an episode from Stargate Atlantis "The Seer". The prediction of the future that doesn't isn't as they thought. When Sam sees a future where Atlantis is destroyed by the Replicators, it was actually the rebel Replicator cloned city of Atlantis that was destroyed instead.
09/29/09
What about the multiple X-Files episode about time travel - the guy who can predict other people's deaths, or the woman who relived the bank robbery over and over? Push, with multiple futures? Time Cop? "The Man Who Folded Himself"? Groundhog Day? Various Star Trek episodes? Stargate? Macbeth? Quantum Leap? Eureca? The DC time travel system is all over the place, so it is hard to identify (some things can be changed, others can't be). I am sure there are a bunch of others that I am forgetting.
09/29/09
09/30/09
09/30/09
Is he right about M&S? Sure, we all buy that M would die from autoerotic asphyxiation, b/c duh... but he also said Scully doesn't ever die... was he lying or mistaken?
09/29/09
"Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point", said Scrooge, "answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that will be, or are they shadows of things that may be, only?"
09/30/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
10/01/09
09/29/09
09/30/09
09/18/09
In a spooky voice, with a flashlight under my chin: "In The Year 2000"
09/17/09
09/17/09