Get it Here

I know some people have been driving themselves nust over qaf timelines for years...but logically, I would say:

- B and J met - early in Justin's school year, late August, early September.

- J left his home and moved to Deb - I think by then it had to have been a couple of months after meeting Brian, I don't think there are any clues for that one. November?

- Prom - Prom is always held in late May or June

- J met Ian - When Brian cancels the Vermont trip in the next episode it's mentioned it's Spring Break, so Justin's birthday when he meets Ethan a short time before was probably in February or March.

- episode 308 - Probably early fall, sometime before the election in 314, which would have been in November, if it's a general election, which I think it was that year.

Hope that helps.

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Prom - Prom is always held in late May or June

Not true. My daughter's prom was in April. Depends on the state sometimes.

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court1429.livejournal.com

I agree; where I've lived, proms are always in mid-April to the first weekend in May. Probably depends on the school calendar. If school begins the first couple weeks of August or after Labor Day, it would determine proms, graduations, etc.

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I should have said usually...and Justin was in a private school. So they might do things differently...but generally it's held at the end of the school year.

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Thanks! It helps a lot and now back to writing -> :)

Hugs
-LP-

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Episode 110 takes place in late October -- see the
pumpkin decoration at Molly's birthday party -- so
Justin was living there by the beginning of November.

And so it goes...

Really, establishing a timeline that makes any sense
after Season 1 is an impossible dream that fic writers
have been battling with for years. The show contradicts
itself on so many details it isn't funny. Continuity
was not a strong point in the QAF writers' room.

Edited Date: 2009-09-26 09:50 pm (UTC)

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court1429.livejournal.com

This question is better asked at the

queerasfolkfans comm. Thanks!

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Well, I answered the inquiry myself, so...spank me? lol

Next time I'll be good!

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court1429.livejournal.com

hee! I debated about it (both the question and answering it with my own timeline guesses) and really don't have any huge objection to this question per se, just don't want to have it become a regular occurrence *and* want to make sure people know about the other comm, too, since it's more of a catch-all type.

Edited Date: 2009-09-26 05:47 pm (UTC)

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Well, I couldn't find anything from there. I suck at searching something from coms :D. But still thanks for the info.

Hugs
-LP-

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Can't give you specific months, just "around this time" generalities.

- B and J met--late summer, Justin is in school already, so I'd say maybe late August, early September

- J left his home and moved to Deb--early fall, perhaps, maybe mid to late October

- Prom--I recently saw something that said Brian's birthday was May 21st, so the prom was within a day or two of Brian's birthday.

- J met Ian-- Supposedly, Justin is a Pisces, so maybe early March

- episode 308--since we tend to go with the assumption that elections are held in November, and 314 was the election eppie, I'd say early October, maybe.

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Justin is a Pisces?...I didn't know that. Is there a reference I missed somewhere?

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Ben mentioned to Michael he was a Pisces. And Ben and Justin have the same birthday. So Justin is a Pisces. :)

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Thanks, you beat me to it!

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Thanks. I knew about them having the same birthday, but I forgot about Ben's Pisces comment.

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Except in Season 1, where Justin turns 18 in December 2000,
right after Michael turns 30.

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Thank you for the information!

Hugs
-LP-

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Well, since there is no official time line in QaF, it is perfectly acceptable in the fandom to make up dates stuff happened. But I believe most writes just go by the type of weather that's happening outside during those scenes.

- B and J meet: Since the series started in September of 2000, and the weather looks about right, that's when most fans believe that they met. Justin is in school, so you could say either September or October.

- J left his home and moved to Deb: Again, since there doesn't seem to be any snow on the ground and when the boys are outside it still looks fall like, I believe this happened within a few weeks (maybe a month) after B/J met. So I'd say around October, maybe November.

- Prom: Most school's proms are in very late April or early May. And when you look at Brian's deathday cake in the last episode the year is 2001. So most fans believe the prom took place in May of 2001.

The last two: At this point dates are just made up. Look at the weather that's in those scenes. It looks fall or late winter. Anything to this point is pure speculation.

I hope this helps you out a bit, and I look forward to reading what you come up with! :)

Edited Date: 2009-09-26 05:41 pm (UTC)

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Thank you so much for the information. Can I ask one quiestion? The espisode 308 was the year 2002? I didn't watch the show when it came from TV so I don't know.

Hugs
-LP-

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Justin gives his age as 19 in 310 (I think it was 310), so yes, 2002. S3 picks up a week after 220, IIRC.

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Thanks!

Hugs
-LP-

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I think episode 308 happens in 2003. For this I usually go by the political ad that Brian releases about Stockwell later in the season. The ad mentions that "Dumpster Boy" was killed a year ago and gives the date as being in 2002. I wrote down some dates that they did mention somewhere. I should see if I could find that again! ^^;

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Thank you!

Hugs
-LP-

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That's the kind of thing that drives people crazy when they try to come up with a timeline...

I think there are two possible timelines based on this. 1. The election was held in November of 2002 and it was a general election. (In which case you ignore given for Jason Kemp's murder.)

or 2. It's spring of 2003 and the election Pittsburgh is having is only a local election, which would happen sometime in spring. Dumpster boy was killed a year ago, in which case Justin and Ethan were together for several more months than just the summer of 2002.

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I found the date mention in the Ad. Dumpster Boy was killed on April 11th, 2002.

I believe most mayorial elections are a local thing and not part of the November election. I know I didn't vote for my city's mayor in November.

I guess at this point in the series, any date will do. Most fans are not picky about dates since the timeline is so messed up as it is! XD

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...the date for Jason Kemp's murder is one I usually try to avoid putting into the timeline (along with season-5 Ted talking about Pride 2002 when telling Emmett about Troy the jerk. He meant Pride 2001, and in my mind the character got the date mixed up which people do in real life).

Anyway, if you try to build any sorf of timeline around the date Brian gives in his ad it throws everything else off...it just doesn't fit even just in relation to season 2.

Kemp was killed in episode 210, if that was in April there's not much time in which to fit the rest of the season into the other facts we know, which I think you'd want to fit in more than one date mentioned much later.

...the wedding, Justin working for The Sap, Rage, the birthday fiasco and Justin's week in Vermont would all have to happen in a couple of weeks and even then you end up with Spring Break in May. I know sometimes it comes earlier and sometimes later in the year, but I've never heard of it coming that late.

So yeah...even for qaf the date in that ad can't be reconciled. We know Brian doesn't lie, but maybe Brian the ad man was just trying to make his ad sound more dramatic.

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When did Justin leave Brian? Was it in April-May?

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edom56.livejournal.com

I've always figured it was before the first anniversary of the prom, but then again that's just guess work.

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That's one everyone is free to imagine...

Early in season 3, in the scene where Justin goes to see Craig trying to get some help with his tuition, he tells him something like, "...now that I've finished my first year..." of college.

So that must have been early summer, and if it had been a few weeks since he left Brian, he left around the anniversary of the Prom, but it could have been before or after.

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Just pick a date. Nobody is really going to question it. :)

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I'm really pedantic with these :D.

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I've literally been trying to come up with a timeline for years, but it still hasn't worked.

I experimented with two different alternate theories once to force the timeline to work out. I tried to ignore what is commonly accepted about B/J meeting in early fall and tried to do a timeline with them meeting in January 2001.

I also did one where I ignored the fact the show premiered in the fall of 2000, and I moved everything up to have them meet in fall of 2001. Neither idea really worked; they ended up throwing other major events off.

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I always thought the ending of Season 2 and all of Season 3 just didn't make sense timeline wise. That's why I kinda gave up trying to figure anything out. And because of that Mel seems like she was pregnant for way more than 9 months. I heard it was around 14 months! XDD

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I've always thought the real reason for the screwy timeline and inconsistencies in some of the dialogue, is the way shows are sometimes run on cable with several months and up to a year on hiatus before they come back.

I think the writers simply wrote it in their real time and never considered the time elapsed for the characters. Like they were writing an episode in 2004, but the show had already been off for a year, so it was still 2003 for the characters...that's why the Liberty Ride sign says "Liberty Ride 2004, but Mel's baby was supposed to be born in 2003...

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The real reason was the schedule of filming, from fall to late spring in Toronto. We used to joke that Pittsburgh was the land of no summer because by the time they started filming it was almost always already cold -- see poor Peter running around at the fairy gathering -- the poor guy was FREEZING! The same with 501 -- all those naked guys supposedly were in California, but they were actually outside in Toronto and it was about 40 degrees.

The timeline doesn't jive, so my suggestion is to create your own for your fics -- fics are non-canon anyway, so when even canon doesn't make sense, no one is going to knock you for it!

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Except that date doesn't jive with the rest of Season 2.

It occurs in 210, which is late fall or early winter -- the lesbian wedding and then Brian appearing in Michael and Ben's bed (211 & 212 is certainly winter and not after April). Then Justin's second birthday (and Ben's party) which is supposedly in March, is 216 -- well AFTER the murder of Dumpster Boy, so it can't be April 2002, unless Episode 210 takes place BEFORE 216. If it's April 2001, then that's BEFORE Justin was bashed -- another impossibility.

See? It just doesn't follow no matter how hard you try. And we've tried for the past nine years.

But then Mel was pregnant longer than an elephant, so...

Edited Date: 2009-09-26 10:04 pm (UTC)

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