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Post by AR15 on May 15, 2009 16:48:51 GMT -5
In the episode The Hero from series 5 we find out about Sherrif Bridges history during WW1. In the episode he meets up with an old love he met during the war "19 years ago", she also asks him "Did you every marry?" and he replies that he did and had children who had now grown up and moved away. Now 19 years is a very short time for somebody to meet a woman get married have at least one child and have them grow up and leave home don't you think? Also John-Boy says to John he remembers seeing him for the first time returning from the war when John-boy was "Only 4", so assuming that was 19 years ago too (The woman, Sarah I think her name is, who reunited with Sherrif Bridges met him in 1918 the end of the war and says that was 19 years ago) that would mean John-Boy by Series 5 is 23 years old and I was sure he was ment to be younger than this at this time, 19 or 20 prehaps... Discuss!
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Post by stldan on May 15, 2009 18:45:47 GMT -5
I think that The Waltons- and shows in general back then- did not pay much attention to continuity. People didn't have VCRs, so the ability to rewatch episodes and pay attention to details was much less.
I just read that Gene Rodenberry was often quoted as saying that "canon" (internal consistency within a show) should not take priority over telling a story. That's why there are apparently any number of contradictions in the original STar Trek. That's pretty strange, given how attentive Star Trek fans are to detail and continuity.
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Post by AR15 on May 16, 2009 6:31:45 GMT -5
Ah, fair enough, it's still quite a good episode!
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Post by ncwaltonsfan on May 16, 2009 8:15:57 GMT -5
In "A Walton Easter",which takes place in 1970,John and Olivia celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary,which means they were married in 1930. In the original series, they were married in 1916 so it seems as if continuity took a back seat to the storyline but it does not take away from "The Waltons" being a wonderful series and one of the best-produced and most well-written shows of all time with the best actors and actresses.
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Post by Tonyray on May 17, 2009 8:30:36 GMT -5
In "A Walton Easter",which takes place in 1970,John and Olivia celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary,which means they were married in 1930. In the original series, they were married in 1916 so it seems as if continuity took a back seat to the storyline but it does not take away from "The Waltons" being a wonderful series and one of the best-produced and most well-written shows of all time with the best actors and actresses. Another thing in A Waltons Easter was they were watching the moon landing at easter time the moon landing was in July 20 1969 but easter was April 6. |
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Post by dfnmeows44 on May 17, 2009 13:39:42 GMT -5
The one which had totally mixed up dialogue was The Idol. The episode took place in the early spring of 1944. Hazel said she went to Thailand and Egypt. These countries had been in a war zone for years so they
weren't letting any women visit those countries(CF The Revelation when John Boy says that because of the
blitz in England they were not letting any women enter England. ) Also someone previously posted that Curt
if he was not killed at Pearl Harbor(CF Day of Infamy)how could he have made it to Florida once he
recovered sufficiently to travel.(CF The Tempest and The Whirlwind)Both coasts did not let in anyone from Hawaii unless they were active
military personnel and Curt was in no ccndition to be active.
We also hear that Ben is older than Erin in one episode then later we hear that Erin was born before Ben. So figure that out----
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herb
Newspaper Vendor
Posts: 20
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Post by herb on May 17, 2009 15:59:55 GMT -5
I've been finding that since I started watching the Waltons on DVD that there are a lot of timeline problems. The Hero is one of my favourite episodes as well. With Ep having two grown sons, and meeting Sarah is 1937, the time doesn't work out at all. In the next season, when Sarah says she wants to have children, Ep makes a reference to John that "I did all this 25 years ago".
Now, the US didn't get into WW1 until 1917, and a lot of the troops that went overseas didn't get back to the States until 1919, so the earliest Ep's kids could have been born would have been 1920.
Still, part of the trick to watching the Waltons is willingly suspending scepticism for awhile.
As far as the Curt situation goes, from what I recall, Curt had his unmentionables shot off at Pearl Harbour, but the Waltons were told that he was dead. As a wounded soldier, he would have been shipped back to the States.
Have to admit, that storyline, and for that matter, the whole Curt/MaryEllen story made it very hard for me to willingly suspend cynicism.
To my way of thinking, Curt's character was bang on as a crusty country doctor who knew his stuff, but Curt and Mary Ellen as a couple never ever worked for me, not in the 70s, and not now.
Herb
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Post by Tonyray on May 20, 2009 11:51:18 GMT -5
I've been finding that since I started watching the Waltons on DVD that there are a lot of timeline problems. The Hero is one of my favorite episodes as well. With Ep having two grown sons, and meeting Sarah is 1937, the time doesn't work out at all. In the next season, when Sarah says she wants to have children, Ep makes a reference to John that "I did all this 25 years ago". Now, the US didn't get into WW1 until 1917, and a lot of the troops that went overseas didn't get back to the States until 1919, so the earliest Ep's kids could have been born would have been 1920. Still, part of the trick to watching the Waltons is willingly suspending skepticism for awhile. As far as the Curt situation goes, from what I recall, Curt had his unmentionables shot off at Pearl Harbor, but the Waltons were told that he was dead. As a wounded soldier, he would have been shipped back to the States. Have to admit, that storyline, and for that matter, the whole Curt/Mary Ellen story made it very hard for me to willingly suspend cynicism. To my way of thinking, Curt's character was bang on as a crusty country doctor who knew his stuff, but Curt and Mary Ellen as a couple never ever worked for me, not in the 70s, and not now. Herb Curt would have been shipped back to San Francisco but the next of kin ( Mary Ellen) would have been notified that he was wounded and when he was going to be arriving in San Francisco also all military personal had to were dog tags at all times so they would have been able to identify him. |
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Post by Marilyn on May 22, 2009 1:30:59 GMT -5
Yeah, but what I want to know is did Grandpa REALLY charge up San Juan hill with Teddy Roosevelt??
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Post by Marilyn on May 22, 2009 1:32:50 GMT -5
P.S. I also thought it was pretty odd that John Boy was just getting married at the time that JFK was killed.... (if I remember correctly) or was it that they were having their first child then....
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Post by ncwaltonsfan on May 22, 2009 21:56:58 GMT -5
In "A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion",which took place the week of and following JFK's assassination,John Boy proposed to Janet. They were married in "A Walton Wedding". Janet gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy, in "A Walton Easter".
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Post by dfnmeows44 on May 23, 2009 14:56:46 GMT -5
Ok Johnboy proposed to Janet in November of 1963 and married Janet in February of 1965,That was fine.
Then Janet gave birth to twins in April,1970. Nothing was out of the ordinary here---
However Grandpa in The Hero finally 'confessed' that he had made up the story all those years---he never
charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt.
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Post by Brennan on May 26, 2009 8:36:09 GMT -5
I think the general timeline started to get wacky in a couple of places. One was during WWII. in 1979 the war had just started and it was supposed to be 1941 but by 1981 it was 1945. The first reunion movie should have been set in about 1957 but instead, was 1963. Then 3 years later it's 1969. The problem is they insisted on adapting the plots of the reunion movies around major national events, which now seems to be a little pointless. They really didn't need to "hook" the plot on some major national catastrophe to get the cast back together and tell a family story.
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Post by dwhill7478 on May 28, 2009 7:51:34 GMT -5
Consistency in timelines is always a problem when a series treats people and events of particular eras such as the Great Depression and World War II. Suspension of disbelief is an absolute necessity when a show is based around certain actual events. As long as the inconsistencies are not glaring I think most people can handle it. It also makes the show more enjoyable when the scripts concentrate on the characters rather than on events. I agree with brennane when she said the plots did not need to be tied to major national events.
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Post by ikemeister on Jun 2, 2009 11:36:28 GMT -5
My favorite continuity problem was how the family would continue to retrieve precious heirlooms from the attic after the fire. Unless they had a hidden room they had been storing things in......
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