So I've been trying to check up on some L&C details for the fic I'm writing...not necessarily things I'll absolutely need to know, but I tend to go a little overboard about things like timelines and making sure everything makes logical sense. (It's been known to drive me more than a little crazy when some of the books I read haven't been as careful about their timelines; I tend to notice the inconsistencies or gaps, lol)

Anyway, so the issue of Lois' birthday is one of the things I haven't yet been able to resolve. She says she's a Libra in Contact, putting her birthday between like September 23rd and October 22nd, or something like that. Now, it's established in the pilot that she's 26; and we find out in Tempus, Anyone? that she was born in 1967. The pilot (presumably) takes place in 1993 since that's the year it aired. So if she's 26, then she must have just turned 26, so the pilot would have to take place in at least late September. However, in Barbarians at the Planet, Clark says it was "barely a year ago" that he interviewed at the DP, and I would have thought that episode took place in like May or something, meaning the pilot would have to have been around the same time. So...basically there's conflicting information and I'm not sure what to go with. Thoughts?

1) It's not just authors of books that aren't as careful with timelines as they should be.

2) If you want to play the game and assume that the TV show has no inconsistencies, then maybe:

a) Lois isn't well-versed with the horoscope and doesn't know her sign. (Admittedly, not likely, but possible)

b) Clark is mis-remembering when he interviewed with the DP. (I would consider this explanation highly implausible, given Clark's phenomenal memory and the importance of the interview to him.)

c) For whatever reason, Lois chose to lie to Star about her sign. This strikes me as the most likely of the three explanations. After all, it's not as if she hasn't ever lied before. Plus, she just met Star and doesn't know whether this apparently loopy new neighbour is trustworthy.

Or perhaps Tempus has messed with the timeline.

Joy,
Lynn

Hey,her apartment number changes form time to time, (501 to 105) so why not her birth day?

That's what I figured...I was just trying to work with what they gave us, lol, but I guess it's not always possible.

Yeah, between those three options, I'd have to agree that the third is probably the most likely. I actually just went and looked up when each sign falls, and stuff about them (the wonders of Wikipedia, lol), and I was thinking maybe Lois was really a Gemini instead of a Libra...then on a whim I checked the Contact script, and sure enough, Star first guesses that she's a Gemini before Lois says she's a Libra; so yeah, that makes perfect sense! She certainly wouldn't want this strange new woman immediately guessing her sign!

Although:
Yep, that's gotta be it...always blame Tempus!! :p

Very good point there! Since she falls out a window at one point, I tend to just think of it as 501, but that's just me. :p

Not to mention that her apartment also jumps to the third floor, as well. Quoting from the Ordinary People script:

She doesn't live in an apartment after all; she lives in a (very) mobile home! :p

Joy,
Lynn

One other way to play with the information is to assume that the timeline for the characters is not the same as the TV season. What if in the Superman universe, BatP actually takes place in late September? Is there any evidence that Lex and Lois were getting hitched in the spring/summer, rather than the fall?

/plugs ears and sings la la la when everyone mentions that Clark was doing his taxes and Perry was spring cleaning in "Fly Hard".

BJ

Hey, you know, aside from that evidence from Fly Hard, that's very possible! :p It would be even better if the relevant quote about being just over a year had happened in House of Luthor instead BatP, since there's clearly been some time in between those two episodes...enough time to plan a wedding, anyway!

But I think for the purposes of my story, anyway, I'll just make Lois's birthday sometime in late May; then BatP can be shortly after that, maybe the very beginning of June, and HoL maybe mid-late July, and then season 2 can start up with Madam Ex sometime in September. (Since there also must have been some time between HoL and ME, to get the DP rebuilt!)

Lois says she is a Libra in "Contact," so her birthday is likely in September or early October. Her tombstone in "Tempus Anyone" says 1967, and Clark is February 1966.

Also, she says in "Lucky Leon" that when she was a senior in high school, she moved out after a huge fight with Sam. If her birthday is in the fall, she could have moved out sometime during her senior year because she would have been 18 and legally able to live on her own.

I know she says she's a Libra; that's one of the points I mentioned in my original post. But what I'm saying is, there's no way to really reconcile that with the other timeline issues: she's 26 in the pilot, which means that her birthday must have already occurred that year, so the pilot would have to take place in late September or later; but Barbarians at the Planet takes place just over a year after the pilot, and it's spring then. Those issues are only resolved if Lois' birthday is earlier in the year. Although I had forgotten about her having moved out during her senior year; that just makes things even more complicated!

Random tidbit:

Defining the usual practice of September-May mapping that can be applied to TV shows, Neverending Battle ended on May 7th, 1993, according to the flashback in Super Mann.



Michael

Consistency about details was never a strong point with this series. As producers and writers changed from year to year, the new ones didn't seem to know or care about the little things that happened in previous years. It's one of the things that Folc love to discover and laugh about. A good example is trying to figure out just how long Clark's parents have been married.

Long time Folc writers have pretty much accepted that Lois is a Libra and, like the aforementioned producers and writers, not worried about it. Unless you enjoy spending the time trying to track it down, it doesn't really pay to obsess over the details.

By the way, the explanation for the number change on Lois's apartement door is that the crew took it down to paint it and put the numbers on backwards when they put the door up again.

Jude

My thought was that the pilot occurred in the spring during 'pilot filming season' and that the time was made up at some point during the course of the first season so that S1 also ended in spring, specifically May. Given the taxes in Fly Hard [though Clark waiting until the last minute doesn't really seem in character - more like he'd have his ready to go as soon as he got the paperwork but whatever ], they were caught up by then. I forget which ep is considered the 'Christmas ep', not because of the plot line like the other three seasons but because there's some sort of decoration in the background. According to wikianswers [yeah I know] corn is often harvested in mid-late summer so the Corn Festival could be August or September. A gradual catch up kind of thing until Christmas?

Or no one just expected anyone to look at it so closely .

There's Lois's trademark darf tree in Witness.

Re the door number. That one was also as 105 in Witness and at least the Pilot. But at the same (!) time, her apartment is clearly not on the first floor. After all, in the Pilot, Clark hovers in front of it and then rises only one floor before he reaches the roof. So either he hovered on the first floor, which sounds like a stupid thing to do even at night, *and* her building is only a two story building, or the entire apartment number has been a goof since day one. (There's also the fire-escape-bonding scene in Battleground Earth) And the scene in S1 where Lois takes a dive out of her window to fall at least twenty stories, well, nobody can explain that. Except by applying the shrinking potion from Small World.

Michael, who's just realized fact-tracking gives worse headaches than figuring out time travel.

Wow, I had no idea my little question would elicit so much discussion, lol!

Argh! Sheesh, you'd think all of these episodes were written by different people or something! Silly writers, not communicating to keep things consistent :p

I'm beginning to notice that, lol! But wait, so what's the deal with Clark's parents and how long they've been married? More inconsistencies?

Hmm...I might just do that too, then...I don't know, if that's pretty established, do you think it would bother readers if I wrote it differently?

That's pretty much what I was thinking...and ditto about Clark waiting until the last minute, it's not like it would take him more than a minute anyway! :p

LOL, now I'm sure about that! :p I'm just weird like that, what can I say?

Oh gosh, I know what you mean! I'm trying to plot out another fic at the moment, not L&C related, involving time travel, and that's been a pain...but this is at least as bad, lol! :p

Plotting Unanswered Prayers which has 6? different timelines gave me headaches like you wouldn't believe - so I understand!

Actually, Lois Lane was an adult reporter when she debuted in 1938. So if you accept that she was say... 26 when she first meets Clark Kent then that would mean that she was born in 1912 or 1913. That would make her really old now.

Tank (who thinks that Lois looks really good for her age)

LOL!! Thanks for clearing that up for us once and for all, Tank...now I know who to come to with any more questions!

Eeeek, six timelines?? Mine only has two - the original timeline, and then one person jumping back around 250 years and staying there to fix things - and it's still driving me crazy! I don't know how you do it, I really don't!

Here's a question:

Is she really 26 in the Pilot? Maybe she's 25 and a half? Maybe the Pilot takes place in May, and she'll be 26 in September?

Lucy says '26 today, 36 tomorrow' when talking about Lois' lack of plausible suitors.

There was another line in the same convo about Lois being 26 iirc, but I'm at the hospital with DS3 so not looking up the exact dialog.

I found the script, Carol. There was no other mention, just this:

---

LOIS
Will you stop? You sound like Dad.
Jeez, I'm only twenty-six.

LUCY
Twenty-six today. Thirty-six tomorrow.

LOIS
Give it a rest, Luce.

---

And, I don't know what DS3 is, but I hope you feel better soon!

DS is dear son. My 3yo had his tonsils and adenoids out on Thursday. Surgery went fine. Recovery was going fine. You know. Until he stopped breathing :p . He started again rather quickly but by then I was on the phone with emergency services and we've been in the hospital since Thursday night. He's doing better but did have another 'apneic episode' earlier today. We'll be here until at least tomorrow.

He's okay, really, but Mom was more than a bit freaked out several times.

Awww, I see. Good luck with that!

Yipes! Have they figured out what caused that and whether it is likely to recur?

May his recovery be swift and complete. (And may your heart rate return to normal soon, too...)

Joy,
Lynn

We think it was a combination of anesthesia still in his system and the Tylenol with codeine being too much for him. We're not 100% sure yet, but that's our current working hypothesis and he's on regular Tylenol now to see if a. it helps with the breathing stuff and b. if it's enough as far as pain meds go.

He's doing fine now [and enjoying some chocolate cake ]. Staying to be on the safe side though - esp after this afternoon.

Since Lois was in the Math club when she was in high school, maybe she just rounds up. After the midpoint of my birth year, I have to consciously stop and think of how old I am. I may not turn the next year older until November, but all summer and fall, I'm always thinking that next higher number because rounding is as natural as breathing.

<shrug> It's a way of explaining the discrepency.

PS: Carol, thank God your little one is okay.

You know, that does make sense...I hadn't thought of that, maybe b/c I don't do that myself lol; the older I get, the less I want to make myself that next year older until the day actually arrives. Well, I guess I do tend to say "I'm almost [insert age here]," so I guess that counts lol. Yeah, if she's not actually 26 yet in the pilot, that does solve the problem; thanks for the suggestion!