The MacGyver Timeline

MacGyverGod
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by MacGyverGod »

So here we are. We've reached the years in which MacGyver has became a young adult, who is about to graduate college and will be sent to the Vietnam war and goes out to discover the world with Jack and Mike. We also see the birth of Lisa Woodman, the rise of the Challenger's Club, how Dent's life took a bad turn and some of MacGyver's earliest assignments before beginning his studies in London and taking on several odd jobs like hellfighting while Pete reaches the point of his career in hunting down Murdoc. Next week we'll be viewing MacGyver's adult years before the start of the first season.

Live and Learn: Between Monday January 15 and Sunday January 21 1974.
Tony Milani is born to Nick and Sophie Milani.

Murderers' Sky: 1974.
Luke Chung, Adam's Chung grandson is born.

The Challenge: 1974.
The Challengers Club is founded by Booker and Cynthia Wilson to give stray teens a new chance in life. Booker has been studying for law along with Cynthia's help but Booker always said: 'By the time a kid needs a lawyer, it's already too late.' MacGyver has been volunteering at the Challenger's Club ever since whenever he could. He even worked there full time.

Second Chance: 1974.
Jesse Colton is stationed in Vietnam. His unit is about to be pulled out when he has an affair with Wanda Tran. They lose track of each other. Unbeknownst to him she was pregrant and gave birth to a boy named Willie. During the war Jesse befriends a man named George who remains in Thailand after the war.

The Madonna: 1974.
Vincent Battaglia stops going to church after his wife passed away. They prayed there religiously hoping his wife would be cured.

Hearts Of Steel: 1974.
A kid named Todd Williams is born. He is mentioned by Lisa Woodman when she goes shopping with Ingrid.

Countdown/Honest Abe/The Stringer: June 1974.
MacGyver and Philip graduates from college. This would be the last time MacGyver would see Abe Sherman. Probably almost immediately after MacGyver enlists in the army to go to the Vietnam war.

Countdown: 1974-1975.
MacGyver and Charlie were enlisted in the Vietnam war as a bomb disposal team taking on the Ling Chow bomber. Together they disarmed 51 bombs. This was probably during the last year of the war 1974-1975 since Mac won the barricade contest of 1973 at Western Tech (See Hell Week). If so and MacGyver shipped out from Los Angeles assuming it was on a (military) plane probably to Da Nang airport it took him 15 hours and 43 minutes to get their over a distance of 7819.3 miles (12584 km).

(Note: Since the American troops were largely retreating since 1973, it might seem a little strange that MacGyver and Charlie were still sent to Vietnam at this point. Maybe they got sent because of their bomb disposal skills. Charlie Robinson also confirms that Mike Donahue was in Vietnam a couple of years before them. I take it a couple of years are 2 years, 3 at the most and that largely fits in with their stationing period of 1974-1975. If it was earlier MacGyver would have his college education interrupted.)

Countdown/Jack of Lies: 1975-1977.
After the Vietnam war MacGyver, Jack Dalton and Mike Forrester travelled through Europe and the rest of the world. They visited Paplanta in Mexico north of Veracruz. A flight that would take 03 hours and 43 minutes over a distance of 1705.7 miles (2745 km). They attended the festival of Corpus Christi while they were there, which is a Christian feast day that honors the Body of Christ. They also went to Martinique in Forte de France, the Lesser Antilles. I assume they left from Mexico so that would be 04 hours and 58 minutes flight over a distance of 2343.8 miles (3772 km). They went diving into the coral reef. Thanks to Jack Dalton a shark feeding frenzy accord causing MacGyver to cut his air hose on the coral. Jack saved his life. Afterwards they went to Barbados in the same area. It's a little island in the Lesser Antilles. Only a short flight of 0 hours and 32 minutes and 145.40 miles (234 km). After that they travelled to Singapore and probably to their biggest international airport. A flight that would last 21 hours and 49 minutes over a distance of 10929 miles (17588 km). And they also visited Fresno. Fresno is however in California. So they probably went there after they came back. In flight it would only be 43 minutes over a distance of 209.40 miles (337 km) from LAX. I'd take it this was a road trip by car. According to mapquest this would take 03 hours and 35 minutes over a distances of 217.39 miles (349.86) if you take the CA-99 N.

Back From The Dead: 1975.
Taking a rough estimation from his age, I'd guess Brian is about twelve years old in this episode.

Thin Ice: 1975.
Kirby takes a frozen puck into his face while his father holds his hand when they are sewing up his chin. Kirby also attends the hockey clinics every summer.

Live and Learn: 1975.
Vicki is born. Vicki is the girl the Principal Juarez talks to. Vicki becomes pregnant at the age of 15.

The Treasure of Manco: 1975-1989.
Maria's father starts chasing his dream to find the Treasure of Manco. It will cost him his life in the end when he's killed by the Peruvian army.

The Wall: 1975.
Maria Romburg becomes ward of the state at the age of 8. Maria, her father and her grandfather Otto tried to escape from East Germany. She insisted on taking her doll Birgit with her. Otto hid the doll under his sweater and took the doll with him to America. Her father was killed during the escape and she was taken captive and educated. She was taught how to speak English. Otto escapes to the United States and opens a toyshop. He will be forced to cooperate with the Stasi if he wants to see his granddaughter again by using his shop for a courier drop to exchange papers, microfilm and tapes.

There But For The Grace: 1975.
Though it is a mere guess, I take it Doc started his teaching career in this year as an English teacher for the next 15 years.

Trail To Doomsday: 1975.
Elise Moran is born to parents Paul and Elizabeth Moran, her uncle is Frederik Moran. The Morans are very wealthy people in London and do a lot a scientific research.

Deathlock: 1975-1979.
MacGyver runs into Quayle while doing an assignment. Quayle is working for the British but sold them out to the Russians and double-crossed the Russians for the ayatollah. MacGyver ran into him when Quayle was moving planeload of stolen military computers. MacGyver stole the plane back causing Quayle's people not being too happy with him. Quayle got punished for it. MacGyver could've been working for the government even before he met Pete or it happened during his Vietnam days.

Partners: 1975-1980.
Pete Thornton and Murdoc meets each other for the first time. Pete is hunting him down. Somewhere in that time periode Pete chases Murdoc all the way to Lisbon where he almost had him. If Pete travelled to Lisbon from Los Angeles it would've taken him 11 hours and 31 minutes to get their by plane over a distance of 5677.5 miles (9137 km).

(Note: Murdoc claims in 1980, he and Pete have been playing their game for 10-15 years, but since Murdoc can't be much older or younger then MacGyver there is no way Pete could've been hunting him since the 60's.)

Pirates: 1975-1987.
Barbara Ortega and her father are starting their search for a sunken Spanish treasure fleet. Her father drowned after finding pieces of one ship. Got caught in the wreckage.

The Madonna: Wednesday December 24 1975.
The Challenger's Club has their first annual Christmas show.

Eagles: 1976.
Darin Cooper is born.

Cease Fire/Hearts of Steel/Twenty Questions: 1976.
Ingrid Goldberg is born to mother Greta, her father is unkown. She's a friend of Lisa who gets kidnapped when she is mistaken for the latter. Ingrid must be of German descend considering her mother speaks with a German accent. Greta must've worked with Eric Woodman in his office in Zurich or his house there. It is possible Lisa is born in the same year considering she's in the 9th grade.

The Gun: 1976.
The beige Dodge, Rudy and his friend escapes in after shooting the cop is being manufactured.

Off The Wall: 1976.
At the age of 7 Lobo draws vegetables on the inside of closet door saying vegetables suck. He realizes by this art is his life.

The Eraser: 1976-1986.
Jimmy Kendall spends ten years in prison for extortion.

Gunz 'N Boyz: 1976-1987.
Minton starts working as a cop in areas like South Central L.A.

Hell Week: 1977.
MacGyver starts wearing his brown bomber jacket. MacGyver is at this point in Minnesota. It's probable he bought it there.

Squeeze Play: 1977.
Reggie Jackson scores his third consecutive home run in one game during Game Six of the World Series. He hit the ball with such power that it made a towering drive into the black-painted batter's eye seats 475 feet away. During the World Series Reggie received the nickname Mr. October.

Lost Treasure Of Atlantis/Trail To Doomsday/The Human Factor: 1977-1979.
Assuming his travels with Jack and Mike are over by now and after his military service in Vietnam, MacGyver at some point decides to continue his studies (loose courses perhaps since Atticus says he didn't apply to university) at the Royal Academy of Archaeological Science in London with professor Atticus in archaeology and the Greek language. Atticus gets to know MacGyver as an eager young student eager so anxious to explore ancient ruins and solve the mysteries of the ages. He considers MacGyver as his brightest student. Atticus teaches him the search for truth is never easy. Atticus is obsessed in finding the treasure of Atlantis, earning him the nickname Atlantis Atticus, and often takes MacGyver along on his expeditions. He probably read Professor Axford's essay about his interest in finding the truth and not treasure.

During his studies there he also meets Paul Moran, a very wealthy man, whom he becomes real close friends with. At some point MacGyver rolled one of his cars. Together they exchange many ideas to change the world. In 1979 they go skiing together in which MacGyver saves Paul's life when they end up on the side of the mountain. MacGyver also probably meets Paul's future wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth however dies at some point in time and MacGyver writes Paul to support him with his loss. Maybe he even meets Dr. Jill Ludlum around this time since she was born there and he seems to know pretty well what she has done in her life.

After his studies MacGyver and Atticus must have stayed in touch over the years as they both go to Thera in 1989 to find Solon's medallion that opens his ark that according to the legend holds the Torch of Truth that needs to offered at the Temple of Ages that will cause the treasure of Atlantis to rise.

Split Decision: 1977-1984.
Veronica 'Ronnie' Dent is born to Earl Dent. Mother is unknown. She was named after Dent's mother Veronica. One might wonder what happened to Earl Dent who seemed to have a woman he loved, married and got a child with and was ranked fifth in the world of heavyweight boxing. Sounds like a case of dealing with the wrong people at the wrong time. Whatever happened, Dent was definitely a boxer before his bikergang days, maybe made a wrong choice or had a string of bad luck that cost him his marriage and his kid, joins a gang and ends up in jail. During his boxing career, under the name Rocketman because of his short fuse and lots of power, he met Bart Riggins, a bookie who ruined his career since he refused to listen to him. In five of those seven years Riggins has trained him and together they won 27 out 38 fights. They reunite years later when Dent has to fight Crazy Eddie Johnson in a set-up match.

On A Wing And A Prayer: 1978.
The revolution starts in Barraca. Rafael becomes commander in the revolution with Santina who becomes captain and Enrique Salizar who becomes Rafael's chief of staff. Enrique gets killed ten years later trying to defect to the other side after he finds out what kind of person Rafael is and gets shot in the back.

Bitter Harvest: 1978.
Natalie Garcia is born to parents Tony and Carmen Garcia. Alex Silva, Carmen's brother is her uncle. When she was born her leg was not formed properly due to the use of illegal pesticides as Carmen kept working in the grapefields until her seventh month of pregnancy. She was often sick but she thought it was the pregnancy.

Honest Abe: Between Thursday September 7 and Thursday September 14 1978.
Jeffrey Sherman is born to father Philip Sherman, mother Carol and grandfather Abe Sherman. His grandmother is unknown. MacGyver is asked to become his godfather.

The Road Not Taken: 1978-1980.
Pete mentions in the episode he hasn't seen Sister Margaret in at least six to eight years. The last time he saw her she was being chased across the Sahara with 15 children and a goat. MacGyver himself hasn't seen Debra in 8 years since 1978. She left him when was about to ask her to get married.

Murderers' Sky: 1978-1980.
Adam Chung's son dies down south.

Hellfire: 1979.
It is a mere guess but it is possible since Bill says that it's 'been a while' since he had seen MacGyver that at least 6 years (most likely after MacGyver's studies in England) could've passed since their hellfighting days. I take it they did some hellfighting in Sumatra where Bill arrived from Texas with his hat and his ten gallon boots to put up a party not even knowing where Sumatra was. They probably meet Laura there as well. Some time later after MacGyver and Bill part ways Billy marries Laura. Before their reunion with MacGyver Bill gets hurt during hellfighting in which three of his men dies. Bill ends up for three months in the burn ward. He gives up hellfighting for Laura and they would buy land in Wyoming and drill it looking for oil, putting all the money in it but if it doesn't work out Bill goes back hellfighting.

The Wish Child: 1979.
Paul and Lisa Chan's parents dies in car accident. They were going to visit Lisa at her college. So this means Lisa must be 18 or 19 years old at the time. So she should be 25-26 in 1986. The car slipped in the mountains on twisty roads full of rocks. The car hit the fence and went over and down. His father yelled and Paul heard his mother but can't remember the rest. He wandered into the mountains as the Wish Child and a patch of his hair turned white.

The 'Hood: 1979.
Molly Densmore, a young aspiring actress is born. She will become best friends with Kelly Dobbs who will become her roommate. It's likely Kelly is about the same age. She would also become an actress and write her own play called Red White and Blood.

Trail To Doomsday: 1979.
When MacGyver and Paul Moran go skiing some sort of accident or fall happens. Though it's unclear how or what happened but MacGyver has to carry Paul fully packed on his back and climb back up the mountain. MacGyver promisses no one is going to die. One way or another he succeeds in saving Paul and himself.

Partners: September 1979.
Pete Thornton is placed on Murdoc's case for investigation while working for the DXS. However they go years back.

Three For The Road/Runners/The Madonna: Christmas 1979-1986.
MacGyver meets Tony Sullivan as a guns runner in Afghanistan. I take it was during the early years of the Russian-Afghan war. In one week time he saved Mac's life twice. This could've been the assignment when MacGyver's mother died. He didn't hear about it until the day of the funeral and didn't got a chance to say goodbye. He called her on Christmas Tuesday December 25 1979 or in one of the possible following years. Ellen MacGyver suffered a stroke on Wednesday December 26 1979 or in the years after. Father Pat Lafferty was with her when it happened.
Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you.
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Irina
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by Irina »

Thank you, it is a fantastic job, again... 👍
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tvero80
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by tvero80 »

Irina wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2017 4:47 pm Thank you, it is a fantastic job, again... 👍
Indeed ! How long did it take you if I may ask ?
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Irina
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by Irina »

tvero80 wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2017 5:48 pm
Irina wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2017 4:47 pm Thank you, it is a fantastic job, again... 👍
Indeed ! How long did it take you if I may ask ?
Excuse me :oops: , my English is not very good, but I'm trying ... In such a short time - you've done an incredible job! I like it!
"It's very difficult to say "goodbye" to someone who means so much... "
("To be a Man")
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tvero80
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by tvero80 »

Irina wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:15 pm
tvero80 wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2017 5:48 pm
Irina wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2017 4:47 pm Thank you, it is a fantastic job, again... 👍
Indeed ! How long did it take you if I may ask ?
Excuse me :oops: , my English is not very good, but I'm trying ... In such a short time - you've done an incredible job! I like it!
Irina, I was asking the question to MacGyverGod , about the timeline ! Your English is perfect ... I just quoted your remark because I totally agreed ,it's a great job! I'm very sorry if you misunderstood...my fault ...
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tvero80
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by tvero80 »

So...great job , MacGyverGod ! How long did it take you to check the timeline ?
MacGyverGod
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by MacGyverGod »

It took me two years to write the timeline in it's totality. I watched the episodes in order and started writing. Interesting that the first thing I wrote on the Pilot is now somewhere on page 46 and one of the last things (legend of the Atlantis) is on page 4. I just wrote and organized per episode. There is always some connection to things you might not thought of first and than you got to find a way to have it fit in the timeline and sometimes it means bending or even breaking the rules like rearranging the episodes. Now I do know there were like easier ways to do it but it was as demanding and slow going as it was.
Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you.
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tvero80
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by tvero80 »

MacGyverGod wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:05 pm It took me two years to write the timeline in it's totality. I watched the episodes in order and started writing. Interesting that the first thing I wrote on the Pilot is now somewhere on page 46 and one of the last things (legend of the Atlantis) is on page 4. I just wrote and organized per episode. There is always some connection to things you might not thought of first and than you got to find a way to have it fit in the timeline and sometimes it means bending or even breaking the rules like rearranging the episodes. Now I do know there were like easier ways to do it but it was as demanding and slow going as it was.
Two years ? Wow !
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Irina
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by Irina »

MacGyverGod wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:05 pm It took me two years to write the timeline in it's totality. I watched the episodes in order and started writing. Interesting that the first thing I wrote on the Pilot is now somewhere on page 46 and one of the last things (legend of the Atlantis) is on page 4. I just wrote and organized per episode. There is always some connection to things you might not thought of first and than you got to find a way to have it fit in the timeline and sometimes it means bending or even breaking the rules like rearranging the episodes. Now I do know there were like easier ways to do it but it was as demanding and slow going as it was.
Two years! Wow! You are a true fan! Such painstaking work was done! 👏👏👏
"It's very difficult to say "goodbye" to someone who means so much... "
("To be a Man")
MacGyverGod
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Re: The MacGyver Timeline

Post by MacGyverGod »

By the time I had my first break I had already done 115 episodes in about six months. All the way up the Squeeze Play. But at that point I had the intention of going as broad as possible to see where it all leads to. That's how I ended up with the verses of Halloween, Friday the 13th and even Nightmare on Elm Street. With Squeeze Play, I began researching on all the players mentioned in the episode. Where they were born, when they played their first and last game and when they died. But I was drifting so far away so it took my some massive editing to narrow everything back down to simply MacGyver stuff. So I decided to stick with the legends and anything else more episode or at least plot and character-related. Since I also went through a rough period in my life it all died down a bit. After like six months I managed to do another three episodes, than another several months later I managed to get too Trail of Tears and after yet another several months, I managed to do the last fifteen episodes and the movies. Starting from Eye Of Osiris it's nearly a scene by scene analysis. While I was doing the final episodes, I kept going back and back to edit and re-edit all the time. Good Knight MacGyver for instance was suddenly 20 pages long, while it's usually a couple of phrases per date. I did manage to narrow it down to 7 pages. I'll probably need to do some more editing by the time we get there. And I also calculated the times and distances MacGyver went to on all his overseas assignments. This is of course mostly calculated from LAX and not counting possible delays. This is for all his trips mostly by air and land. MacGyver did travel from coast to coast in The Outsiders with only the Jeep. It's been pretty straight forward now and it'll remain like that until about the first quarter of season 2. From there on things gets shaken up until pretty much season 5. But I'm not going to spoil everything now, you'll see when we get there. I just also didn't wanted to post it before I finished. Something like this might even never be exactly finished, but after the long editing and doing the movies at the same time, especially Lost Treasure of Atlantis which was the last legend I was glad it was over. At least with constantly going back into the past and trying to find out possible dates. Once that was done, I had to Trail To Doomsday, so I figured let's keep going and finish it. It messed up some things like because we're dealing with people here from MacGyver's past that were never seen or heard before and that had to fit in somewhere and to me it's still before he met Pete and with Paul Moran saying they were brainstorming in the 70's and got carried up the mountain 15 years earlier, it had to be the late 70's. It was nice to figure it all out but it was just so mind-numbing sometimes.
Sometimes you just have to die a little inside to be reborn and rise again as a stronger and wiser version of you.
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