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No wonder time travel is so confusing
Oh, television writers, why do you forsake me?
Seriously, how hard can it be to sit down and plan a timeline before you start writing? I do it with my fics, and - dare I say it - that's only fanfiction. It's posted online for a dozen people to read, and I make no money off it whatsoever. But, come on. You guys are professionals. It's your job.
I'm used to occasional, even glaring, inconsistencies in a show's timeline (when was Shelly Pomroy's party, again?). But that doesn't excuse it. In a show that doesn't rely heavily on its timeline, it's easy to overlook - which is not to say it isn't important. In a show that spans a shorter period than a regular series - five, seven, eight weeks instead of the usual nine months to a year - it's even more so. And in a show that features time travel as a prominent and important plot device? Dude. Put some fucking forethought into it.
In episode 1:1 - Genesis, Claire states that homecoming (episode 1:9 - Homecoming) is in exactly three weeks. In episode 1:2 - Don't Look Back, it's October 2nd. Episode 1:4 - Collision, we'll later learn, takes place on October 4th.
It's also stated that Don't Look Back takes place the day after Genesis - which would place homecoming on October 22nd. By episode 1:11 - Fallout, two weeks have passed since then, and it's remarked that Nathan's election (which we already know to be held on November 7th, the day before the explosion) is in three weeks.
Only it's not. Because the current timeline would place Fallout around November 5th, just two days before the election. To make sense, Fallout should actually occur on October 17th, placing homecoming on October 3rd - which is before Collision, and all kinds of impossible.
And then, of course, there's Claire. In Collision, the coroner assumes her age at sixteen. Okay, I can live with an approximation. At various points throughout the series, it's stated that Claire is "nearly sixteen" (by Claire), that she is sixteen (by Meredith), that she's a junior (by Sandra), and that on February 28th, 1992 (the date of the article concerning the fire in which she and Meredith were presumed to have died, and fourteen years and eight months before the current timeline), she was eighteen months old. It's possible to reconcile all those things (if you squint a little), but it isn't readily apparent. And in a show about a group of people with superpowers saving the world, I really don't think that that's where you want all my efforts at maintaining my suspension of disbelief going.
I know that even professional writers make mistakes. Believe me, I've got used it. But if you have a timeline of less than two months to work with, really, how hard is it to say that it begins here, ends there, that key events take place then, then, and then, and let the rest fall in the middle? And, for God's sake, either figure out how old your characters are, or stop freaking mentioning it.
Seriously, how hard can it be to sit down and plan a timeline before you start writing? I do it with my fics, and - dare I say it - that's only fanfiction. It's posted online for a dozen people to read, and I make no money off it whatsoever. But, come on. You guys are professionals. It's your job.
I'm used to occasional, even glaring, inconsistencies in a show's timeline (when was Shelly Pomroy's party, again?). But that doesn't excuse it. In a show that doesn't rely heavily on its timeline, it's easy to overlook - which is not to say it isn't important. In a show that spans a shorter period than a regular series - five, seven, eight weeks instead of the usual nine months to a year - it's even more so. And in a show that features time travel as a prominent and important plot device? Dude. Put some fucking forethought into it.
In episode 1:1 - Genesis, Claire states that homecoming (episode 1:9 - Homecoming) is in exactly three weeks. In episode 1:2 - Don't Look Back, it's October 2nd. Episode 1:4 - Collision, we'll later learn, takes place on October 4th.
It's also stated that Don't Look Back takes place the day after Genesis - which would place homecoming on October 22nd. By episode 1:11 - Fallout, two weeks have passed since then, and it's remarked that Nathan's election (which we already know to be held on November 7th, the day before the explosion) is in three weeks.
Only it's not. Because the current timeline would place Fallout around November 5th, just two days before the election. To make sense, Fallout should actually occur on October 17th, placing homecoming on October 3rd - which is before Collision, and all kinds of impossible.
And then, of course, there's Claire. In Collision, the coroner assumes her age at sixteen. Okay, I can live with an approximation. At various points throughout the series, it's stated that Claire is "nearly sixteen" (by Claire), that she is sixteen (by Meredith), that she's a junior (by Sandra), and that on February 28th, 1992 (the date of the article concerning the fire in which she and Meredith were presumed to have died, and fourteen years and eight months before the current timeline), she was eighteen months old. It's possible to reconcile all those things (if you squint a little), but it isn't readily apparent. And in a show about a group of people with superpowers saving the world, I really don't think that that's where you want all my efforts at maintaining my suspension of disbelief going.
I know that even professional writers make mistakes. Believe me, I've got used it. But if you have a timeline of less than two months to work with, really, how hard is it to say that it begins here, ends there, that key events take place then, then, and then, and let the rest fall in the middle? And, for God's sake, either figure out how old your characters are, or stop freaking mentioning it.
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(And honestly? The shows that I love now, I love them, but man do they have some bad continuity. I honestly don't remember anything on Buffy being this blatantly erroneous, and I can't believe that it actually seems wrong now, somehow, for a show not to have massive continuity errors. Man, I miss the days when the continuity editor's job was something other than, seemingly, editing out anything that might be mistaken for coninuity.)
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PS. I have a Hufflepuff lighter too now.
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PS: Copycat :P My Hufflepuff lighter is the original and the best. But it's a Puff lighter, so it's totally happy for you.