Well, I’m going to be bluntly honest, and forgive me for this, but… wow. This had such a bad ending.

I mean, I know you only have 1042 characters, but my God. This could’ve gone such a better way. You spend most of the Ficly explaining how he got there and what he was going to do— had me going for a bit, I’ll admit. But then, BAM, he trips over his time machine and goes home?

Besides how could he get back home if he lost the control and found the time machine? Doesn’t make sense.

um
the ending was lame.
The idea of a person from the future being stranded there was kind of neat, but tripping over a time machine was cartoonish in it’s implementation.

that was kind of the point in the story. hence the title. my friend and I had a discussion recently about incredibly stupid plot twists. My friend told me about a term called Deus Ex Machina

A deus ex machina (pronounced /ˈdeɪ.əs ɛks ˈmɑːkinə/ or /ˈdiː.əs ɛks ˈmækɨnə/,¹ literally, in Latin, “god from the machine”) is a plot device where a previously intractable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved, usually with the contrived introduction of either characters, abilities, or objects not mentioned before within the storyline. It is generally considered to be a poor storytelling technique because it undermines the story’s internal logic.

I just wrote as as kind of an injoke.
i am now thinking this may have been a mistake

Well this started out well, it really did. Then you took a hammer to it by having your MC trip over a time machine. There are so many questions to be answered here. Where did the time machine come from? How did he know how to use it? And why is the MC an idiot. Try to expand a little, even if it takes another Ficly.
Also, a little advice: Never end a Ficly with The End. Because it probably isn’t, you never know.

oh
i see. well, it certainly was educational for me. :) however, maybe stating this in a comment in the first place woudl have been helpful. I read it, thinking it would be something else. :) I get it, and I feel stupid.

Anyway if it was a joke. You might have mentioned that? Saves trouble.

Agree with the above. Would’ve been helpful.

sorry your right, I apologise, I was trying to be a smart arse.
obviously that is not my talent in life.
apologies again
Andy G

I actually did get the joke, and found it quite amusing – my favourite deus ex machina is when Frankenstein’s monster finds a trench coat lying around in the forest… Nice one Shelley.

Anyhoo, back to the matter in hand – clearly, to put it bluntly, this doesn’t read well to anybody unaware of the title’s meaning, but, having understood, i’m going to rate appropriately – I enjoyed it for what it was, a little poke at plot devices that make you want to tear your hair out.

In actual fact, you could take the response of the other reviewers as proof of the lameness of implausible acts of God, so, in a way, good one! MH :)

I, too, was previously familiar with the literary term mentioned in the title and comments. This little story gave me a chuckle, and I enjoyed it for what it was. I give it a satisfactory rating.

I disagree with above commenters that you have to explain everything to the reader, either in the story or in a comment. You are not responsible for their education. It was actually quite amusing to me to see discussion of this piece by people who didn’t understand the most important aspect.

haha, you all can laugh at my expense, not the first time i’ve put my foot in my mouth. won’t be the last.

i understood it…very funny.
i think you have a hidden talent of smart arsery. Be discouraged not!!!
Abby x