MacGyverGod wrote:
Kate, feel free to share your notes as well.
My notes are just the raw form of all the information I draw from the episodes as I watch them. But then I use those notes to write up the individual Lexicon entries, so that's where you'll see all the information in final form as I upload each episode.
My timeline is my own interpretation. I had to rearrange episodes to make some things fit
I can avoid most of those conflicts by just using the references in the Lexicon entries without actually trying to pinpoint specific years. So, for example, when I get to Unfinished Business, I can simply say that Deborah spent two years in prison without trying to make those years fit into a timeline.
The exception, of course, would be things that are actually given specific dates, like MacGyver's or Penny's birthdays. The way I'm handling that for the moment is just including the information in the "Notes" section of the Lexicon for that episode. So the "Every Time She Smiles" episode page shows their birth dates from their passports. When a later episode conflicts with that, I will indicate it again in the Notes section for that episode, and so on. That way I can point out inconsistencies without trying to make them all fit as they arise.
Then, later, I piece all of those clues together as I write up the individual entries for each character, and that's when I try to come up with the best logical summary. You'll notice that right now recurring characters like Penny or Pete are only updated as of the episodes I have completed, and MacGyver's entry hasn't been written at all. I'm waiting for later.
Many years ago, I narrowed down what MacGyver's birthday should have been, but now I sort of forget my conclusion at the time. I know I did include the clue from Thin Ice, where he gives his age during the 1960 Olympics, which would have been in February and therefore could have impacted whether his birthday was in January or March.
Of course, those passports would have been the work of the Art Department, not the writers, so they carry a little less weight than the scripts. But then again, even though he signed his resignation on March 23rd (also the work of the Art Department) while they were having his birthday party, it doesn't necessarily mean that his birthday was ON the 23rd. After all, he just got back from a mission and could have been travelling on the actual day. Maybe his friends just scheduled a gathering on a day that was close to the actual date when they knew he'd be in town?
It's all just speculation, after all. Like you, I like details to match, but writers don't always have that same obsession. Maybe they should have hired US back then to help them keep things straight!
Kate