Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- Harry Potter and the Turner of Time

This is my third post about the Potter series. In my first post about the last film, I earned the ire of Potterheads (or would have if anyone was reading this) by pointing out some serious flaws in The Deathly Hallows. In my last post about the first film, I tried to earn them back by discussing the brilliance of J. K. Rowling's writing style. In my third post about the third film, I will give back any good will I may have earned by relentlessly harping on about the greatest flaw in the Harry Potter series: the introduction of the Time Turner.

Rowling painted herself into a bit of a corner during Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and like many sci-fi writers she decided that the best way to get out of it was a little time travel. The problem is that even in a world where everyone can do virtually anything they want by muttering a few words time travel is a really powerful weapon. Most writers make sure that after the time mischief is managed that the time travel devise is lost or destroyed or that the method of time travel is so difficult to keep it from being overused. But Rowling doesn't do any of these things, so we are left to believe that throughout the series, through all the awful events that occur, there is a device somewhere in Hogwarts capable of transporting at least two people back in time and that no one thinks to use it to change the course of events except for that one time. Was the entire cast hit with an Oblivo curse after the film? This is especially obvious and painful because, as discussed previously, every other detail in the Potter series comes back at one point or another. In this post, we will mention a few moments in the series when Dumbledore could have saved the day by reversing the day. Note: In the movie, Hermione states that McGonagall gave her the Time Turner; however, as he knew that Hermione had the device, knew how to use it, and has a habit of collecting such things, we will assume that Dumbledore is the true owner of the Time Turner.

Pre-series: Through the power of time travel, there are an innumerable ways that Dumbledore could have prevented Magical Hitler from coming into power the first time around thus saving the lives of thousands. I think my choice would have been a warning to myself that teaching that Riddle kid that he can kill people with is mind is not a good idea and letting He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named live out his true destiny as an investment banker.

Now, we don't know too much about the Time Turner. Maybe there is a limit to how far you can go back. Maybe he just got the thing right before Harry's third year at school. We know that the device can be used an unlimited number of times because the number of times Hermione used it was well into the hundreds and you don't give a thirteen year old a time travel device to do her homework if you've only got a couple of uses out of it. (Sidenote: Dumbledore had a magical object capable of altering the time-space continuum and he gave it to a thirteen year old with a history of rule-breaking so that she could do her homework. It doesn't matter how smart she is, this is a generally poor decision. Also, for an entire school year, Hermione was living ~30 hour days. Shouldn't she be dog tired and visibly aging faster than everyone else?) So to give him the benefit of the doubt and because nothing really irreversibly bad happened in the first two films, we'll skip ahead to The Goblet of Fire.

The Goblet of Fire- As soon as, Harry's name came out of the cup it was recognized to be a powerful act of dark magic sure to end poorly. How 'bout going back and watching the goblet to catch the Death Eater that did it? Oh, and remember that scene when Voldemort came back to life and killed that kid? Transporting a small army back in time could have helped there.

The Order of the Phoenix- At the battle at the Ministry, a bunch of Death Eaters get away, Sirius dies and as a result they lose their headquarters. A strategic defeat all around. And because all of this happens at the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore doesn't even have to lift a wand to stop all of this. A warning owl that a bunch of escaped cons are heading to their way and the Ministry rounds up the lot turning the fight into a key defeat for Voldemort. I know Dumbledore and the Minster are not exactly getting along at this point in the series, but he'd be a complete fool not to increase security under a very specific warning.

The Half-Blood Prince- If I was Dumbledore about this time, I'd pay my younger self a visit carrying a copy of The Lord of the Rings and remind myself that it's not a good decision to try on a ring containing part of the soul of the Dark Lord, then Snape wouldn't have to kill me.

The Deathly Hallows- There's nothing Dumbledore can do now. Because he's dead. Because Snape killed him.

As this is the last post I will do on the Potter films, here is my ranking of the series.
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1-Pure depressing goodness from start to finish
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone-Magic still seems magical in the first one
3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire-The best ending in the series

4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-The second best ending

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2-The battle of Hogwarts could not possibly be ruined

                                                                           completely

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- Ranks last when considered in light of what the Time
                                                                         Turner does to the series as a whole
7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix-Flashy ending, but not much happens in this film
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-Weakest source material in the series