The MacGyver Timeline

[MacGyverGod]

Hi, everyone. On MacGyver Online, I have posted the first part of the MacGyver timeline. In my introduction post when I first signed on here, I already mentioned the timeline once and said I would post it here as well. So hereby, you also get the first part of the timeline. The posts will be the same as on MacGyver Online. So without further ado below is a little explanation on how and when I decided to do this followed by a table of contents and the first part of the time line.

So, here we are, after two years of work, it's finally here: The MacGyver Timeline. Or The MacGyver Chronicle, if you will. The idea was to sort out every event that ever took place in the MacVerse and put them chronologically on the timeline. I do have to say that sometimes that requiered rearranging the order of the episodes or else it wouldn't make sense. This is mostly during season 2, 3 and in small amount season 4 but the timeline mostly pulls itself straight. More is explained below in the introduction on how and why I made this timeline. The second post will be the table of contents and the third post will be our first flight through time. I hope you enjoy this ride, so fasten your seatbelts because we're in for a long one. *Back To The Future Theme.*

MacGyver's Timeline

Introduction

Two years ago I started on this timeline project because I was curious how MacGyver's day by day life would look like. Starting from the Pilot episode all the way to Trail To Doomsday, I worked out the entire timeline from the beginning of time throughout the centuries to see how everything in the MacGyver Universe affects him and everyone he has been in contact during his life.

Another reason why I started this project was after I read an article about Tommy Westphall. Tommy Westphall was a character on the show St. Elsewhere. An autistic boy from which is believed the entire St. Elsewhere storyline exist only in his head. Characters of St. Elsewhere have appeared on many other shows as well so it is believed those others shows also takes place inside the imagination of Tommy Westphall. The article then listed every show (over 400) that might take place inside Tommy Westphall's imagination. Some really old ones, some very new ones. I did notice MacGyver was not one of them. Pretty much every other show I know or have seen was in the list except MacGyver. Maybe that's what makes MacGyver so unique, because there is no connection with any other show at all. Yet, I did find a connection with two movie franchises that connects with a third. Which ones those are I'll reveal them when we get at their point in the timeline. I don't know if it's enough evidence to assume their universes run parallel with MacGyver but I think a date and a place is pretty solid stuff. Besides that I did not find any other connection at all with anything. So in that view MacGyver still is pretty unique.

And lastly and maybe even the most important reason was to straighten out all the continuity errors and to find out where all those college (girl)friends came from for example and where they fit in. I tried to smooth out everything as possible even if it meant bending a few things so it would fit anyway. But sometimes there are such obvious errors like MacGyver's yearbook in Jerico Games saying clearly 1968. If that's true a lot of other stuff no longer adds up. Who knows, maybe whatever I came up causes new inconsistencies but there was mostly plenty of room to juggle a bit with everything. So one way or another the pieces of the puzzle will fall in their places. It's just up to you to think what's acceptable. This is how I see it.

So in order to set this timeline, I'm going off on assumptions, theories, facts, legends and mentions that come straight from the show. I will assume that every assignment takes at least a week, unless he says otherwise. Flightplans are being calculated from LAX unless seen otherwise. I'll always try to conclude that the last scene takes place on the day of the airing, so that we sort of caught up with MacGyver's life and that everything else took place in the past week or the past few days. It might not always be the case, it might happen the last scene takes place after the day of the airing, it depends on how things turn out. With every episode that is set only during the day, I will assume that that day coincides with the airdate. There will be conflicts that shakes up the timeline so much an entire adjusting of the events is requiered but usually it pulls itself straight. MacGyver also seems to be working a lot on weekends.

[MacGyverGod]

Below you see the table of contents. The idea is to have a new weekly discussion, so I'll try to be posting every Sunday for the next 25 weeks. Yes, that's right, you heard me. 25 weeks. I will keep everything in one topic though, or else we would have like 25 seperate topics in here and that's not the idea. The idea is to talk about the timespan of the week. Therefore this is the discussion topic. I might also post the timeline in the fanfiction subfora for just those who simply wants to read it in it's entirety but that's for later. Below you can read the table of contents in which order the timeline will be posted.

Table of contents

The timeline will be posted as the following:

1. MacGyver prehistoric and ancient times: 1498011 B.C.-1789. From the first appearance of the African animal species until the Brotherhood of Hashishim starts believing in the occult.

2. MacGyver 19th century: 1824-1894. From the day Baba is born in Ammukash until the year a map is drawn according to the treaty that Bitter Flats is part of the reservation.

3. MacGyver 20th century: 1904-1951. From the day Horton Mining Co. prospects the area of Bitter Flats until the day Ellen MacGyver becomes pregnant.

4. MacGyver's childhood years: 1952-1962. From the day he is born until the day his father and grandmother dies in the car accident.

5. MacGyver's teen and high school years: 1963-1970. From the day MacGyver, Chuck, Neill and Jesse bury their time capsule and vows to return 25 years later until high school graduation.

6. MacGyver's college years: 1970-1973. From the day MacGyver goes to college and studies at Western Tech until the day Sam Malloy is born.

7. MacGyver's adolescent years: 1974-1979. From the day Tony Milani is born until and MacGyver joins the Vietnam war as part of the bombs disposal to until he meets Tony Sullivan as a guns runner in Afghanistan and his mother dies on Christmas.

8. MacGyver's adult years: 1980-1985. From the day Jill Ludlum got her PhD in system design until Harry finds out Cody has robbed the jewellery store.

9. MacGyver season 1 part 1: 1985. From the week his mission starts in Mongolia from the Pilot episode until his assignment in East Germany in Nightmares and Dr. Millhouse smuggles out the Dutch Elm decease out through her dogs bladder.

10. MacGyver season 1 part 2: 1986. From the day the Phoenix Foundation plays an important role to maintain connections between their government and the Republic of Sambaka until the day MacGyver catches Piedra.

11. MacGyver season 2 part 1: 1986. From the events taking place in the summer between season 1 and 2 until the day MacGyver helps Carrie Linden.

12. MacGyver season 2 part 2: 1986-1987. From the events taking place in Three For The Road in the adjusted timeline until the anniversary of their friendship.

13. MacGyver season 2 part 3: 1987. From the day of the rescue mission in San Perez until his birthday in the adjusted timeline.

14. MacGyver season 3 part 1: 1987. From the day the Ming Dragon arrives in America until the major assignment in Early Retirement in the adjusted timeline.

15. MacGyver season 3 part 2: 1987. From the major assignment in Early Retirement in the adjusted timeline until Turk Donner is hospitalized in Thin Ice.

16. MacGyver season 3 part 3: 1988. From the disaster in Kill Zone until the day Luke takes over Jade Shipping Company.

17. MacGyver season 4 part 1: 1988. From the summer of 1988 and the adjusted timeline until the day MacGyver wins the race against Hans Visser.

18. MacGyver season 4 part 2: 1989. From the day Dr. Cromwell writes his book on terrorism until the day Deborah dies.

19. MacGyver season 5 part 1: 1989. From the day MacGyver goes to see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade until Christmas Day.

20. MacGyver season 5 part 2: 1990. From the day Nelson Richardson give Samantha Lora the dove pin unti they day MacGyver recovers from his coma.

21. MacGyver season 6 part 1: 1990. From the day Dent is released from prison until the day he helps out Novis Reilly.

22. MacGyver season 6 part 2: 1991. From the day MacGyver and Ellen reunite until the day Pete goes into surgery.

23. MacGyver season 7 part 1: 1991. From the day MacGyver's houseboat burns down until the day he finds out about his roots.

24. MacGyver season 7 part 2: 1991-1992. From the day MacGyver helps out Pinky until the day he leaves with his son to somewhere else.

25. MacGyver the tv-movies: 1994. From the day Atticus gives his lecture to the board until the day he rescues Elise.

[MacGyverGod]

*Electrical buzzes* and we arrive 15 million years into the past. From here on our time travel starts in the year 1498011 B.C. We immediately start with a major timespan from the dawn of time all the way to 1789. This is in order to keep the history class to a minimum and to cover all the legends at once. These dates are not randomly choosen but were calculated from the information I have found in the episodes that addresses them or with whatever I found on Wikipedia. So enjoy and next week we are going to the 19th century.

Black Rhino: 1498011 B.C.
Some of the first African animal species appear and go on to survive 15 million years to be observed by MacGyver in 1989 while in Kambezi.

Mountain of Youth: 998009 B.C.
Life springs at Ammukash near the Fountain of Youth. The people of Ammukash starts to govern themselves.

(Note: Maybe a reason to believe that the Fountain of Youth is the source of all life in that part of the MacGyver Universe?)

Lost Treasure of Atlantis: 8573 B.C.
Atlantis possibly originates in this time period. The city is thought of as great and dedicated to art and science. The Atlanteans build their city at the foot of a volcano which they used to make and heat and power. They worshipped a mysterious object called the Torch of Truth which was said to possess the light of universal wisdom. For centuries Atlantis was the centre of the world in a time of peace. The city was alloted to Poseidon, God of the Sea. These were times when people didn't live by war and conquest but worshipped peace and knowledge.

Legend of the Holy Rose: 3011 B.C.
According to what Zoe Ryan believes the human race takes a wrong turn around this point in time. She believes the human race was living together peacefully, men and women as equals, caring for each other and nature, living without war.

Eye of Osiris: Between 3009 B.C. and 2009 B.C.
The legend of the Eye of Osiris begins and blows into a full-scale religion. A heavenly battle between Osiris and the evil god Set takes place. Osiris is killed and than reborn. He throws his Eye down from the sky bringing light into the world. According the legend when the Eye fell, the earth sang (natural disaster; a meteorite impact creating tektites: fused rocks created by entry burn and impact velocity) and the mountains danced (an explosion caused by seismic shocks).

Ancient peoples sees a meteorite as the sign of the gods. The crater pinpoints the location of Alexander the Great's tomb. In the legend the mountains becomes the Pillars of Osiris. The eye itself was blue, but no one knows why. The eye is held in a sun symbol called an Aton. To enter the tomb you must pay tribute to Anubis. To find the Eye of Osiris, you must find the Keys of Life. But beware of the Curse of the Eye. Woe to all but the pure of heart who pass through the Maze of the Eye for they shall be cursed to wander blind in the world of the dead forever. No one shall enter the tomb of Alexander without the favour of Re. Re is the Egyptian Sun god.

Passages: Between 2040 B.C. and 1783 B.C.
In the Middle Kingdom during the Period of Reunification, the Sun Boat is being carved. Most likely based on an actual Sun Boat. According to the legend of Osiris the pharaohs believed that the Sun Boat was a boat that was used by Osiris to guide the dead to meet Anubis, judge of the netherworld. Osiris would carry a staff with a symbol on it called Ka. Ka stands for the Egyptian concept of life and that it would protect a man's spirit in this world and the next.

Silent World: Between 1600 B.C. and 1501 B.C.
The Egyptians invent the simplest form of the water clock.

Lost Treasure of Atlantis: Between 1642 B.C. and 1540 B.C.
In Atlantis the volcano that heated their homes and powered their machines erupted. The citizens flee the ruined city but a few survivors gathered the great wealth of Atlantis. They hid it in a place they called the Tower of Fear and wrote their story in a book made out of platinum pages. One way or another the platinum book and the Torch of Truth end up in Egypt. Maybe around this time the Copernican model of the solar system has been created as well.

(Note: this was actually the Minoan Eruption that devastated the island of Thera which was believed to be Atlantis. Ironically the survivors of Atlantis would hide their wealth in the very same volcano that destroyed their homes. What better place to hide your wealth in than the one that destroyed it? Nobody is going to look for it there. According to some theories Atlantis was located in the Atlantic Ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules also known as the Strait of Gibraltar.)

638 B.C.-590 B.C.
Solon, a Greek scholar born in Anthens is born. In 590 B.C. he travels to Egypt where he discovers two relics of Atlantis in the city of Sais where he visited the temple of Neith and received an account of the history of Atlantis by two priests. One of them was the platinum book, the other was the Torch of Truth.

Before he left he told his disciples to run out of Athens and set sail to England and find refuge in caves near Exeter. Over generations they formed a religion called the Cult of Solon, who will carve Solon's riddle on an altar in the caves.

Solon later gathered his disciples and presented them with an ark which he made around turn of the century during the Iron Age in Athens and in which he locked the Torch of Truth and a platinum page inside the lid of the ark from the Book of Atlantis and designs one key in the shape of medal that says: Atlantis anaduotai meaning Atlantis rises.

Solon brought the ark to Exeter and a tin tool was used in order to try and pry open the lid but caused a deep green scratch instead. Probably the Torch of Truth was taking out of the ark when Solon showed it to them and the ark was closed before they placed it back inside and Solon had already left with the medallion. Unable to reopen the ark they must've tried to pry it open. The cult lived peacefully in England for hundreds of years, until the Romans invaded and then they were hunted down and slaughtered. But a few survivors escaped with the ark and the torch and sailed from England and went to the catacombs in Bosnia where they hid the Ark of Solon but left the Torch of Truth hidden in Exeter thinking Solon might come back for it someday and hid it where they thought only he can find it.

Through the ages Solon and the key vanishes without a trace. But since they key ends up in the ruins of Thera, it is considered as proof that Solon was at Thera looking for the Treasure of Atlantis. In Thera Solon is caught in a volcanic eruption and gets covered in hot ash, preserving him like the bodies in Pompeii for centuries to come.

427 B.C.-360B.C.
A Greek philosopher and writer called Plato is born. He will write the Timaeus dialogue in 360 B.C. followed by Critias that recounts the story of Atlantis, 9000 years before his time and Solon's journey to Egypt.

Eye of Osiris: July 21 356 B.C.
Alexander the Great is born in Pella, captial of Macedonia. He would become King of Macedonia and conquer Persia and most of the ancient world making one of the greatest empire of the Ancient Times. Alexander had Ptolemy one of his most trusted generals bury a piece of a medallion that would show the place of his tomb and the Eye of Osiris. The last time the three pieces of the medallion were together was when three of his most trusted generals has sealed the tomb of Alexandra with the Eye of Osiris in it. In his last will and testament it is written that the oracle of Siwa confirmed he was a god and entrusted him with the Eye which he took on his march to Persia. Later Alexander ordered his generals to build a tomb in all secrecy using Egyptian workers in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey to keep the Eye for Eternity. The mountains are considered to be the birthplace of the Gods where the Eye fell to Earth, in the shadow of the Pillars of Osiris.

Cleo Rocks/Black Corsage: January 69 B.C.
Cleopatra is born. Between her birth and her death on August 12 30 B.C. she owns the Black Corsage. One of the largest black pearls in the world set in 3,000 blue and yellow diamonds exactly. Murdoc later makes a musical about her with Penny Parker cast as Cleopatra in order to get to MacGyver. The Corsage is later stolen by Deegan, March, Reynolds and Simms by getting passed a computerised security system better than Fort Knox. Simms hid it in Expo Park before he got killed.

Legend of the Holy Rose/Lost Treasure of Atlantis: 57 B.C.-March 15 44 B.C.
Julius Caesar conquers Venelli and the surrounding areas in the Roman Empire. Venelli will later be known as Caesar's Camp, Kasarasburgus and Cherbourg. In 55 B.C. Julius Caesars and his Romans invade Britain and slaughters most followers of the Cult of Solon. Some however flee to Bosnia where they hide the Ark of Solon. Julius Caesar will be killed on the Ides of March on March 15 44 B.C.

Good Knight MacGyver: 7th Century between 601-700.
The earliest records of MacGyver's family tree can be dated back to this century.

The area Camelot was once domain of the dragon Bog, a horrible beast who died in the cave that leads to Morgana land as it is told by Merlin. The vapours are forever marking the site with his demise.

Somewhere in this century the Northmen invade. Merlin the Magician dreams of a slaughter so terrible, he openly opposes King Arthur's battle plan, in front of all his knights, calling in question his very ability to lead. This puts Arthur's and Merlin's friendship to the test but eventually they make their peace.

MacGyver's ancestor Iain M'Iver lives in Scotland then known as Caledonia. He was captured along with Cecilia when King Arthur and his knights fell into an ambush set by Queen Morgana and brought to the Highlands, in Camelot. He has a son named Angus. Why he was captured is unknown, presumably he was asked to rescue Cecilia, the fiancé of Galahad. King Arthur was hurt blinded by the ambush and left for dead. Iain M'Iver dies in the dungeons of Queen Morgana from exhaustion. His captivity and fate will be recored in the poems for centuries to come and form the foundations of the MacGyver family.

The Wish Child: 8th Century: Between the year 701-800.
The legend of the Wish Child is born in China.

Legend of the Holy Rose: 11th Century: 1078.
The Brotherhood of Hashishim is established. Their cult leader Hasan al-Sabah gives his followers hashish. A drug that cause hallucinations. They used to take this drug before performing robberies. They call themselves Fedajien but are later known as Hashishim. Which is the origin of the word Assassin.

(Note: The Brotherhood of Hashishim actually exists.)

12th/13th century between 1189-1220.
Ambrose one the greatest alchemists creates Diana's Mirror. He protected the artefacts and the grail of all the female deities from destruction by the Church by building a secret temple. The temple is called the Temple of the Holy Rose. The temple is a hundred fathoms in diameter and surrounded by 72 chapels made of blue sapphires and emeralds. Under the dome of the temple the holy vessel is being kept. The Mirror is later located in Greece. He also created three scepters, the scepters of the Triple Deity that symbolizes the Mother Goddess and are found in London in an abbey called St. Acerinus. The abby becomes over 800 years old. He himself gave a hint in Latin: 'And once there, exorcise thee thou unclean spirit.' The temple itself is in Cherbourg, France. He hides the Holy Rose under a British rock in Cherbourg which serves as key element. In front of the cave he placed the sacred tree with a puzzling message and reference to the sun. The temple, he hid it behind a wall in a cave that is covered with gunpowder. In order to gain entrance to the cave you have to make an optical pump or a laser. Diana was a goddess in Greek Mythology.

Good Knight MacGyver: 14th Century between 1301-1400.
Iain M'Iver of this century is the first recorded leader of the M'Iver clan and he will have son named Angus M'Iver. A tradition that started way back in the 7th Century. It must be this Iain M'Iver who traced everything back to the 7th Century. That's 700 years of history of the MacGyver family. At some point in time the M'Iver name turned into it's current pronounciation and written version 'MacGyver.' How, why, when or where that happened is unknown.

Mask of the Wolf/Trail of Tears: 15th century: 1492.
The Kaqwani Tribe are the keepers of the Mask of the Illehkam from before the white man came. Which means by the time MacGyver and Jack are going the look for it, it has been in the possession of the tribe for at least 500 years or more. It is the most sacred object to the Kaqwani people AKA Tribe of the Wolf. The mask was carved out of cedar and adorned with gold as all with Kaqwani representations of the Illehkam figures.

Around this time when Columbus had discovered America the Indians were being fought of their lands and a time of signing treaties begins or they end up being exterminated as said by Whitecloud.

The Treasure of Manco: 16th Century: 1540.
The Peruvian Andes. A young Inca man becomes the new protector of the Garden of Gold and the treasure of the Inca's known as Manco's treasure. The conquistadores later pillage Peru, killing the protector and make a camp there where a Spanish general dies and is buried with the headpiece from the protector. According to the legend the Great Chief Manco presented the headpiece symbolising the Garden of Gold to the chosen one as its protector. In the area an Inca place will be called Sarra Yatha.

The Wish Child: 1572-1586.
The Wish Child is reborn as a warlord's son. After a battle the whole family is killed the Wish Child is wandering around the mountains zonked out with no memory of the attack with the excepton of a patch of his hair that turned white. A bandit finds him a tries to sell him. According to the legend if you link your soul to the Wish Child's soul, you'd have immortality. There is also a handprint of the Wish Child on wall from a temple 400 years old so this means the Wish Child would've been alive in 1586. The hand seemed to fit Paul Chan's hand. So maybe the last Wish Child was about his age at the time so the Wish Child would've been reborn in 1572.

Gold Rush: 1589.
A Spanish galleon sinks at the Grand Keys. MacGyver wanted to go look for it 400 years later. The Grand Keys appears to be a fictional place.

Trail of Tears: 1591.
For Whitecloud's Indian tribe a time of nearly 400 years of signing treaties begins but almost none of these treaties were complety honoured.

Good Knight MacGyver: 17th Century between 1601-1700.
Somewhere in this century the MacGyver name disappears though it's unknown how or why. Maybe the name stayed in use but was no longer recorded in the registers. The Iain MacGyver of this century names his son also Angus. It is believed they are related to the M'Iver clan who lived 300 years before them. Both leaders are named Iain MacGyver or M'Iver and both their sons have the same name: Angus MacGyver or M'Iver.

The Ten Percent Solution: 1625.
Peter Paul Rubens paints The Hills North of Antwerp. A painting bought by Sam Bolinski's family that would be stolen by the Nazis in 1940 and retrieved in 1989.

The Lost Amadeus: 1644.
Antonio Stradivari is born in Italy. He will be known as the Rembrandt of violin makers, crafting the best instruments of his time. He will make a violin called The Amadeus. His oldest surviving violin dates back till 1666. Probably within that year and 1690 he crafted the violin, Mozart owned and Izzy buys in Salzburg which later will be known as The Lost Amadeus. His tomb was enquired in 1729 and dies on Wednesday December 18 1737.

Pirates: 18th Century: 1737.
The Nuestra Señora sinks killing it's captain and taking their treasure to the bottom of the sea. Dr. Barbara Ortega dated the death 250 years back in time. If it's actually 250 years is uncertain, probably she meant it roughly. A golden cob dated from 1712 was back on it's way to Spain on the ship. There were also government papers out of Monterey on board of the ship and the ship's log.

The Lost Amadeus: Friday January 27 1756.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born in Salzburg as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He would later become a prolific and influential composer of classical music. According to Lulu he was writing concertos at the age of 5 in 1761.

Legend of the Holy Rose: 1789.
An Indian village is located on the place that will become a college football field in 1989. Also in 1789 the Brotherhood of Hashishim starts believing in the occult such as the philosopher's stone, the red earth as the elexir of life and any other elexir of life.

[KateR]

That's a lot of work! Congratulations.

I'm really curious to see how you calculate his birthday, since so many of the clues in the show contradict each other.

Kate

[PamK1950]

All I can say is "WOW"!!! Very interesting read.

[Grimey]

WOW,
and really nice to read!
Much more than the pure "facts"

[MacGyverGod]

That's a lot of work! Congratulations.

I'm really curious to see how you calculate his birthday, since so many of the clues in the show contradict each other.

Kate

Thank you.

I calculated his birthday actually years ago and it's not that hard really. Phoenix Under Siege, Friends, Thin Ice and Passages are the ones you should watch to figure out his birthday. By making this timeline my theory was proven again. Initially I figured whatever comes first is what's right and everything else is wrong but the more the series progressed the more solid his background became. Every Time She Smiles shows both Mac's as Penny's passports and dates of birth. Yet later episodes confirm very different dates for the both of them. Sometimes you gotta go along, other times you gotta make up your own mind. For instance what MacGyver said on his father's and grandmother's death in Runners of him being 7 at the time, I completely ignored that because Runners was written by a one-time writer while I went along with Passages when he says he was 10 because the episode was written by John Sheppard, a regular writer on the show. Usually I tried to ignore the one-time writers and stick with whatever the regular writers came up but also there sometimes you got to ignore things, like the yearbook in Jerico Games for example. High school graduation and it clearly says 1968 but if I went with that everything else would be wrong as with many other examples. It was really puzzling sometimes but that was mostly the fun of it. Some things just don't add up, others do and if they don't you gotta make it work and sometimes something comes along that really turns the timeline upside down. I'm not going to say more but you're in for some surprises.

[KateR]

I calculated his birthday actually years ago and it's not that hard really. Phoenix Under Siege, Friends, Thin Ice and Passages are the ones you should watch to figure out his birthday.

Yes, exactly, it's not "hard," but the "facts" don't all fit. I even went so far as to look up the dates of the Olympics in 1960 to try to determine whether the January birthday (Every Time She Smiles) and the March birthday (Friends) could be reconciled with his age in 1960 (Thin Ice).

You're right, in the final analysis, you just have to pick and choose, but the detail-oriented side of me likes it so much better when everything falls into place as it should!

Kate

[eurmos]

I calculated his birthday actually years ago and it's not that hard really. Phoenix Under Siege, Friends, Thin Ice and Passages are the ones you should watch to figure out his birthday.

Yes, exactly, it's not "hard," but the "facts" don't all fit. I even went so far as to look up the dates of the Olympics in 1960 to try to determine whether the January birthday (Every Time She Smiles) and the March birthday (Friends) could be reconciled with his age in 1960 (Thin Ice).

You're right, in the final analysis, you just have to pick and choose, but the detail-oriented side of me likes it so much better when everything falls into place as it should!

Kate

Both episodes actually put his birth year as 1951 instead of 1950.

[KateR]

I calculated his birthday actually years ago and it's not that hard really. Phoenix Under Siege, Friends, Thin Ice and Passages are the ones you should watch to figure out his birthday.

Yes, exactly, it's not "hard," but the "facts" don't all fit. I even went so far as to look up the dates of the Olympics in 1960 to try to determine whether the January birthday (Every Time She Smiles) and the March birthday (Friends) could be reconciled with his age in 1960 (Thin Ice).

You're right, in the final analysis, you just have to pick and choose, but the detail-oriented side of me likes it so much better when everything falls into place as it should!

Kate

Both episodes actually put his birth year as 1951 instead of 1950.

But if his birthday was in January 1951 (Every Time She Smiles), he would have been 9 during the 1960 Olympics, and if his birthday was in March 1951, he would have been 8 during the Olympics. So if you rule out the passport, you're still left with trying to get the month to agree with the age in Thin Ice.

You'd think that MacGyver's birthdate would have been one of the things they had established in the "bible" for the show from the beginning!

(Incidentally, there is a similar problem with Jack O'Neill. They had sort of established his birthday in certain episodes, but they neglected to tell the Art Department when they whipped up his ID for a close-up shot. Ah, continuity!)

Kate