Talk:Parallel universes in fiction

The title doesn't reflect the content of the article.

The title suggests a conclusion. "It's all just fiction, not to be taken as a serious possibility." A better title would be "Parallel universe hypothesis." 2600:8801:BE01:2500:1499:78DB:4944:F113 (talk) 00:12, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

We also have articles like Mars in fiction. Does that imply the nonexistence of the planet Mars? —Tamfang (talk) 06:58, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

facsimiles

In some later retellings of Peter Pan, facsimiles of the characters created by J. M. Barrie ...

Does this mean the characters are impostors? Are they contrasted with the real ones, perhaps in backstory? —Tamfang (talk) 00:18, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

—Tamfang on your question: The characters depicted in these retellings are those created by J. M. Barrie but have been somewhat altered; They may have been re-named or their genders or ethnicities changed, been aged up or down or given different described appearances, different personalities or different roles. So essentially those authors have borrowed or copied these characters from J. M. Barrie but then have gone and made them their own to fit into their own interpretation of the story they've done! So they are based on J. M. Barrie's creations but are ever so slightly not! So what else would you call them but facsimiles? Please request the right word for them so I can rectify it!For example the character of John Darling in Nevermor is renamed Henry and aged up into a pre-teen while in Everland said character of John Darling is aged up into a teenager and changed into a girl called Joanna — Preceding CSOOCS comment added by CSOOCS (talk • contribs) 15:40, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

I would use a phrase like "Barrie's characters, though often somewhat altered". A facsimile is a copy as faithful as the medium allows. —Tamfang (talk) 16:52, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

We have a word count to think about how about pastiche? — Preceding CSOOCS comment added by CSOOCS (talk • contribs) 20:20, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

Funny you should mention word count … 😜 —Tamfang (talk) 06:42, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

I don't see where pastiche implies alteration. —Tamfang (talk) 06:44, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

When The Magicians was adapted for television, the main characters were aged from college freshman to grad student, one was renamed (from Janet to Margo, to reduce confusion with Jane and Julia) and her role greatly expanded, and two names of omitted minor characters were reused for new unrelated major characters. To calibrate my thinking, as it were, I wonder how you would summarize these changes. —Tamfang (talk) 06:57, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

I am now reminded of some similarities between the two characters called Penny. —Tamfang (talk) 03:15, 4 May 2024 (UTC)

Shall we just settle on alternative versions then? — Preceding CSOOCS comment added by CSOOCS (talk • contribs) 20:20, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

I'm cool with that. —Tamfang (talk) 03:13, 4 May 2024 (UTC)

an alternate history is not necessarily a parallel universe story

I see some muddling of parallel worlds, like Oz, with alternate timelines. I would not include the latter here unless the different forks are equally real and somehow coexist, allowing communication between them. That of It's a Wonderful Life is temporary and perhaps illusory. In It Happened Here, is there any mention of our timeline? —Tamfang (talk) 03:50, 11 June 2024 (UTC)