aka Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
Plot synopsis
50 minutes into the movie, young Stewie Griffin meets someone who he thinks is his real father, due to their uncanny likeness. This man admits that he is really an older version of Stewie from the future, called Stu.
He says he is not allowed to speak to his younger self, as it is a “violation of the terms of his vacation”. Stu then tries to return to his own time by clicking a button on his wristwatch. But Stewie grabs hold of Stu’s arm just in time and they get transported to the future together.
Stewie soon realises that none of his dreams have come true. He eventually works out that it he has taken fewer risks in his life because of a near-death experience at his local swimming pool, when he collapsed a tower, which only just missed him.
Stewie asks Stu to get him a time travel watch, so he can go back in time to prevent his near-death experience. Stu realises that if Stewie is successful, their timeline will change and he will become a really different person.
Stewie goes back and stops himself from blowing up the tower. They talk for a while before the original Stewie shoots Stu with a vaporising gun, which causes him to disappear.
My comments
We can assume that the purpose of Stu not violating the terms of his vacation is to stop him from make a significant enough change in the past, which might affect the time he has come from.
Summary of time travel
This film is using a model of time with a double-well timeline. Stu makes two trips back in time: The first one is when he meets his younger self, Stewie. They return together to his unchanged present. This means that any divergence he caused in the timeline must have re-converged (see first figure below).
They then travel back together and Stewie makes a significant change to the past, which he hopes will cause a new better future for him. Stu is then shot dead, so his journey ends at the point of divergence, but Stewie continues along this new timeline.
Category of time travel
Science fiction: hand-held device.
Model of time
Open past, open future with a double-well timeline.
Stu’s first trip:
Stu’s second trip:
