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I know this isn't solely a fic request, but it is a request that will help me to write a current fic I myself am working on. But so as to follow the rules, I will be asking for a fic as well.

I was just wondering if anyone knew of where I might be able to find a timeline for the QaF episodes.... like, anyone who may have been able to somehow figure out what months certain episodes happened on. I am specifically trying to figure out the time between Justin leaving Brian in season 2, and Justin coming to the loft to talk to Brian about his tuition payments in the beginning of season 3.

I'd also love to read a fic based in the future, post-513, where Brian&Justin run into Ethan and he sees them together and happy. I know fics like that have been requested, but I've read all that are in the memories and was wondering if there are any more.

Thanks for all the help in advance!

Edit: The timeline has been found, and I've gotten one fic response. More are always welcome.

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I'm working on a timeline. I've got the first three seasons on an excel sheet which you can download on my journal:

http://dhrachth.livejournal.com/8812.html

I'll be adding seasons 4 & 5 before too much longer. We're up to 504 on our rewatch.

You do realize that even attempting to do a timeline is an act of lunacy, right? It's been tried, numerous times, lol YOU explain how Mel has a pregnancy that lasts from mid-seasin three to the end of season four! Oh, and how Ted's birthday is in August, and get he and Emmett are at an open ski resort in the US. Go ahead, I dare you!!

*sits back to watch the fun*

bahahaha, yeah, it is an act of lunacy, which is why i am asking OTHERS if they've done it so i don't have to make an attempt.
i can't explain the forever pregnancy thing (and some of my favorite crack!fic mocks that screwed up timeline_ but i can say that they might've just gone somewhere where the altitude is high and thus snow happens in august?
aha.

It is lunacy, but once you get obsessed with it it's hard to let it go. I'd always heard it was impossible, but I've been working on a timeline of my own for quite a while, which I hope to one day finish...

On Mel's pregnancy, you have to take seasons three and four (which are shortened seasons) as one year not two.

Basically, as I see it, Justin left with Ethan around the beginning of the summer of 2003, Mel got pregnant around August, and the election had to be in November. Vic's death, the Cancer, the Liberty ride, the birth of JR and Justin's first trip to California all happened in the first half of 2004. And Justin came back after Rage was cancelled around the end 2004 or beginning of 2005.

...but that's the easy part. I actually have a harder time figuring out the first season as well as a couple of dates given on the show. The date of the murder of Jason Kemp, the part where Ted mentions Pride having been in 2002, which was actually 2001 and the two different dates for Justin and Michael's birthdays...

It is pretty maddening, but I'm stubborn enough to still think it's somehow possible...

In season 1 dates were given in a couple places as 2001, then I think they just put the dates with production years, season 2 is 2002, 3 is 2003, etc. However, the plot for each season doesn't take up a whole year. They frequently reference the last episode as 'last week' or 'last night' and then there are events with an actual time of year to consider--which puts each season as taking place over less than a year.

I chose to start in 2001 and end early, probably 2004. Or you could go with it actually ending in 2005 and saying the first season took place 2002. Bottomline is five seasons in four years and either the early dates or the later dates in the series are wrong.

I've found with a few minimal changes it's actually workable. If you ignore the weather and the original air dates, you can put Mel's pregnancy on a timeline as just 9 months. There's no reason in the plot that season 4 couldn't have taken place in a 6 month span.

Yes, that means ignoring what we see on the screen.

I can ignore whether or not they're wearing coats in a scene. Doesn't bother me in the slightest.

OOOOOH thank you thank you!

oh WOW you are a lifesaver! i considered trying to do it myself, but after (during my grey's anatomy uberobsession) i sat through every episode of grey's to tally the "seriously" count, i've given up on watching a show to obtain background information.
so i am glad there is you!

Have you read Quinn's series starting with corrospondance?

http://www.kinnetik.org/correspondence/
http://www.kinnetik.org/adventures/index.htm
http://www.kinnetik.org/int/index.htm
http://www.kinnetik.org/changes/index.htm
http://www.kinnetik.org/summer/

In changes they meet Ethan when they go to the ballet. The series is really good and interesting.

is it all in postcard form? oh wow, that's so unique! thank you.

It's postcards, letters, e-mails, journal enries and such. It is a really interesting story, too.

Anything beyond Season 1 is pure speculation,
verging on fanon.

CowLip didn't keep track of time, so it's a free-for-all.

It is true that they stopped paying attention early on. In season 1 they very clearly marked things as 2001 in a couple places. Then seasons 3 & 4 have to be less than a year all together so that Mel has a normal human pregnancy, and yet 2 years elapsed in the series making dates in season 4 2004.

However, up to early season 5, I've found that with minimal, single word type, changes--ie changing a year on a date or saying 'quarter' instead of 'semester'--the kind of thing that doesn't change the plot or character development the original canon could have been easily brought into consistency.

I'm not going to argue that a fic that conflicts with my timeline is wrong. Someone decides to toss out the other half of contradicting evidence from what I chose, that's their choice. I'm just offering a possible time frame to work from.

Then a timeline is, essentially, pointless, especially
since it contradicts the only actual canon, i.e., what
we are seeing on screen.

The truth is that CowLip didn't give a damn about timelines
or being consistent -- they changed things to suit themselves
or else they were lazy and forgot/didn't bother (that's my
belief). Writers who came in during S2 admitted that they
didn't even bother to watch S1, so unless the actors said
something or someone else called it to their attention,
they made everything up out of whole cloth. When things
suited them to bring up again -- i.e., Dumpster Boy or
whatever -- then they sort of looked things up, but they
didn't bother to reconcile facts. They figured no one
would be paying that close attention. In other words,
they know nothing about fandom (and could care less!).

For instance -- was Vic the older or younger sibling? He
is another one with 2 birth years -- one on the Babylon
Membership Card he gives Justin in 103 (1952) and another
on his headstone (1951-2004) -- which dates Vic's death
during late January or early February 2004 (Emmett says
it's February when Deb is decorating for the Christmas
Party). But if either of those dates is true, that
would make him older than Deb, who says that she had
Michael when she was 17 -- Michael born in 1970 = Deb
born in 1953. Which also means that she was at Woodstock
when she was 16 (and those Three Guys Named Julio weren't
her first, since she told Jennifer in 106 that she lost
her virginity at 15).

So any kind of timeline will always be up for grabs. There
is no definitive interpretation -- like the Bible, you
can always quote another scripture to contradict it.

Edited 2008-10-08 05:35 (UTC)

There's not a definitive timeline as far as specific dates go. I think specific dates are pretty much irrelevant anyway. Whether Vic was born in 1952 or 1951, who cares? What does it matter?

However, a relative timeline does affect interpretation of the story. For example, if Justin's relationship with Ethan was 3 months long that's a very different scenario than if they were together for nearly a year. I used a calendar for convenience sake, but my object was to figure out when events in the series could plausibly have happened in relation to each other--which is an entirely possible task.

For those of us, unlike QAF's original writers, who do care about internal consistency in our fic, having a concrete idea of when and how long before you start writing is a must. I am simply offering my figuring so that people don't have to start from scratch.

If there's some specific interval you have a problem with, ie the span of time between season 1 & 2, tell me. I probably won't change it, but I'll explain my reasoning and you might convince me otherwise. If you just don't like the idea of a timeline, don't look at it.

I wanted to make one. Other people have asked me for it. Your harping on how a timeline is impossible is not in the least appreciated.

i appreciate the work you've put into a timeline. it's just, if you want to put specific dates into your fic, you don't want to feel completely off base, you know? so thank you, you have helped me feel better about the realism (as far as that can go in an AU fic) in my fic.

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm simply saying
that it's going to be subjective no matter what.

I've been in this fandom for a long time and there
have been many timelines. Everyone who writes a
fic makes a timeline, which is as it should be.
But it's still a timeline that will fit that fic
and not the show, per se.

I'm not harping -- this is an open community and you
posted something that comes up at least twice a
year, if not more often on the LJ. Everyone would
love a definitive answer. I would love a definitive
answer -- it would make things so much easier! But
even the writers didn't know. They've said so.

People need to write their fics with an internal
logic. Then we'll buy it. That's all that's really
needed.

A little late, but if you're still interested, I also worked out a timeline. You can find it here: http://darla-isabelle.livejournal.com/1792.html#cutid1

Though I have to agree with Gaedhal - there are so many inconsistencies and contradictions that you can pretty much make up whatever timeline suits your story best and no one could prove you wrong. I'm looking forward to reading it!

i know there's no definite way of finding the right timeline because it doesn't exist, it makes me feel better to have some sort of basis with which to put my fic to, since i want to reference specific dates.
your enthusiasm about reading my fic only makes my enthusiasm about writing it that much greater! ;].

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