Biggest Plot Hole in Continuum (spoilers)

[AscendedThor]

Baal went back in time... what did he do with his original past-self?
obviously he took his place, but what did he do with the Baal in the past. he couldn't kill him because that would erase himself from existence. so where is he?
did the past-Baal simply agree to let the older-version of himself run his empire while he just stays in the shadows?
the Baal we saw in the movie was obviously the future-Baal, because he said he lived among humans (aka season 9), so where is the past-Baal?

maybe the future-Baal told past-Baal everything and past-Baal stayed in the shadows (it was more important that he remained safe, because if he was killed both Baals would cease to exist).

[Lewisco]

Baal went back in time... what did he do with his original past-self?
obviously he took his place, but what did he do with the Baal in the past. he couldn't kill him because that would erase himself from existence. so where is he?
did the past-Baal simply agree to let the older-version of himself run his empire while he just stays in the shadows?
the Baal we saw in the movie was obviously the future-Baal, because he said he lived among humans (aka season 9), so where is the past-Baal?

maybe the future-Baal told past-Baal everything and past-Baal stayed in the shadows (it was more important that he remained safe, because if he was killed both Baals would cease to exist).

i thought the same thing. perhaps he captured the past-Ba'al? that's the only thing i can think of that wouldnt wipe him from existance. i also wandered, would he of had to re-build his time machine in the past? because when he travels back in time, the time machine wouldnt have been there. just another thought. im sure most the plot holes in continuum thought can be explained somehow.

[AVFan]

The way that it is explained in the "Extras" part of the DVD, under the Guide to Time Travel (or something to that effect), it would be perfectly okay for Ba'al to kill is past self when he went back in time because of the alternate timeline theory. You'd have to go back and watch it over- I can't remember exactly what the guy said.

Its the same phenomenon that allowed Sg-1 to die around 3000 BC and yet still live in the present day in Moebius.

[Jeffala]

If he killed his past self and then took his place, he could possibly maintain the continuity of the timeline. He obviously did something with him and killing him would be easiest.

[SG1FanOregon]

I have to agree with you that it's a bit of a question that was left totally unanswered. I have to say though that Ba'al is my favorite bad guy. He's a bit different that the other system lords. All are very intelligent & ever so stuck up. So stuck up in fact that most look down on humans as beneith them, but Ba'al has humor, speaks to SG1 as people & even worked with them on occasion. One major thing I see in Ba'al is that he is the best at being deceptive & using his superior intellect in much the same way Samantha does. I can see a huge conflict potential between 2 Ba'al's, but I think that even the past Ba'al would be too intrigued & appreciative of the deviousness of this plan to be able to say no to it.. However! What actually happened between the 2 will probably never be answered. This is 1 of those times it's up to our own experience with the show to fill in the blank ourselves & there's nothing wrong with a bit of mystery.

[SGSargon]

Baal went back in time... what did he do with his original past-self?
obviously he took his place, but what did he do with the Baal in the past. he couldn't kill him because that would erase himself from existence. so where is he?
did the past-Baal simply agree to let the older-version of himself run his empire while he just stays in the shadows?
the Baal we saw in the movie was obviously the future-Baal, because he said he lived among humans (aka season 9), so where is the past-Baal?

maybe the future-Baal told past-Baal everything and past-Baal stayed in the shadows (it was more important that he remained safe, because if he was killed both Baals would cease to exist).

Are we talking again about the grandfather paradox??
Except 1969, ALL the time travel episodes are based on Many-worlds interpretation / alternate timeline theory. I've seen numerous threads about this, so I won't get in details.
Why should you cease to exist if you kill yourself?? Mitchell's grandfather was killed, and yet Cam Mitchell didn't vanish. And please don't start with "plot hole" cause I don't want to hear.
Baal knows himself. He wouldn'd, he couldn'd stay in the shadow:
1 : In order for my plan to work, you, past me, have to stay hidden.
2 : And miss all the fun? Come on, you know me, I mean you, myself.
There is no way I could just stay outside and let you take my life,
my everything for this, even though you is, well...me.
Knowing that, he must of got rid of him:
1 : Indeed. It seems that we are too many of me. Therefore you must,
well,disappear. There must be only ONE of us!
2 : NOOOOOO!!!!
TEAL'C: Every Goa'uld seeks power for his own reason and would betray his own brother to achieve it.
The conclusion is: future Baal killed past Baal, but he didn't cease to exist, because of the alternate timeline he created when he went back in time.

[AscendedThor]

Are we talking again about the grandfather paradox??
Except 1969, ALL the time travel episodes are based on Many-worlds interpretation / alternate timeline theory. I've seen numerous threads about this, so I won't get in details.
Why should you cease to exist if you kill yourself?? Mitchell's grandfather was killed, and yet Cam Mitchell didn't vanish. And please don't start with "plot hole" cause I don't want to hear.
Baal knows himself. He wouldn'd, he couldn'd stay in the shadow:
1 : In order for my plan to work, you, past me, have to stay hidden.
2 : And miss all the fun? Come on, you know me, I mean you, myself.
There is no way I could just stay outside and let you take my life,
my everything for this, even though you is, well...me.
Knowing that, he must of got rid of him:
1 : Indeed. It seems that we are too many of me. Therefore you must,
well,disappear. There must be only ONE of us!
2 : NOOOOOO!!!!
TEAL'C: Every Goa'uld seeks power for his own reason and would betray his own brother to achieve it.
The conclusion is: future Baal killed past Baal, but he didn't cease to exist, because of the alternate timeline he created when he went back in time.

if Cam would not have gone through the wormhole when he did he would have vanished (just like all the Tokra vanished). the only reason it was delayed was because his grandfather was only wounded and didn't die right away. he was still alive while Baal went back to the time machine and used it to go further back to change the history of the galaxy. he could have been alive for a few more days until he died.

[SGSargon]

if Cam would not have gone through the wormhole when he did he would have vanished (just like all the Tokra vanished). the only reason it was delayed was because his grandfather was only wounded and didn't die right away. he was still alive while Baal went back to the time machine and used it to go further back to change the history of the galaxy. he could have been alive for a few more days until he died.

If grandfather paradox would have been the main ideea and not the alternative timeline, then Mitchell should of vanished immediately as he stepped through the Earth Stargate, since his grandfather never had children, and therefore he never existed (the main ideea of the grandfather paradox : your grandfather killed => you MUST vanish).

[AscendedThor]

If grandfather paradox would have been the main ideea and not the alternative timeline, then Mitchell should of vanished immediately as he stepped through the Earth Stargate, since his grandfather never had children, and therefore he never existed (the main ideea of the grandfather paradox : your grandfather killed => you MUST vanish).

the idea in the movie was that travel through a wormhole shields you from changes in the time line.
therefore if you travel through a stargate in the precise moment that the timeline changes, you would not be effected because you are outside of normal space/time continuum.
but i agree that it wasn't done correctly in the movie.
the moment Baal travelled to the past the timeline should have immediately changed.
so for it to make sense they should have showed Baal using the time-machine, going into the stargate at the exact moment as Cam,Sam,and Daniel did.
but of course if that happened they would have no clue as to what happened. so that's why they decided to show the gradual changes in the time-line, even though that makes no sense. the moment someone disappears from the time-line as if he never existed other people's memory of that person should also be erased. yet they could still remember Vala and tealc when they disappeared.
and Cam indeed should have been the first one to go.

[kymeric]

Its not a plot hole they just assumed we were smart enough to figure out baal delt with it in a way that wouldnt kill himself and didnt feel it was worth 20 minutes of the movie to explain. Or in summary, DUH.