Stargate timeline and real life elections discrepancy?

[Tinah]

Wanting to figure out just when the whole Atlantis story started/happened, I've been doing a bit of research. But based on the election years of US Presidents and when they happened in the SG-1 series, and comparing with the Gateworld timeline, I can't seem to get it to match. I have tried to search the forum, but can't find any discussion on this, so please, if you know something, direct me there instead of yelling at me, ok?

The Gateworld timeline says:

SG-1 s. 7 = 2003-2004
SG-1 s. 8 / SGA s. 1 = 2004-2005
9/2 = 2005-2006
10/3 = 2006-2007
4 = 2007-2008
5 = 2008-2009

However, my research ( No, I'm neither American nor interested in politics, so I might be way off here! ) says that 2004 and 2008 are Presidential election years, and inauguration happens in January the following year. Thus, the season 7 episode "Inauguration" should logically be set in late January 2005, and "Lost City", "New Order" and "Rising" would need several weeks, if not months, to happen up until the point the Atlantis Expedition leaves Earth.

Also, in the season 10 episode "The Road Not Taken", "the election last year" is mentioned ( it never happened, due to the martial law, but it would have normally ). This would, if I'm calculating this correctly, put this episode in either 2005 or 2009.

I somehow suspect I've made a big mistake somewhere here, but since I can't seem to work it out on my own, I had to ask.

[SaberBlade]

The SG1, even SGA and SGU timeline has never followed a strict calendar. Some episode events are back to back rather than a week apart, others are weeks apart from the previous episode. Other episodes are delayed due to Thanksgiving (late november), Christmas, New Year and others are just given an ungodly delay of three to six months simply because Scifi wanted to show something else.

Now with that said...

What was cancelled in the in 'The Road Not Taken' wasn't the Presidential election, but the midterm election, which happens two years after the Presidential Election. It is used for other officials in the US to be elected, Congress, I think Senators, Governors, etc, etc.

So in 'Inauguration', they have are one year behind as it happens 2004, the real Inauguration wouldn't happen until 2005. Two years later the midterms would happen, putting it during 2006 but in the 2007 episode 'The Road Not Taken', it's said last years midterms were cancelled. So it evens out, even if the fictional and midterms are a year off.

[Tinah]

What was cancelled in the in 'The Road Not Taken' wasn't the Presidential election, but the midterm election, which happens two years after the Presidential Election. It is used for other officials in the US to be elected, Congress, I think Senators, Governors, etc, etc.

Thank you! That makes more sense!

But is there anything in show canon that says the air date is the actual date it happens, or even close? Where did whoever wrote the official Gateworld timeline get this information from? I think if it was just conjecture based on air dates, it would be stated. Now it looks like it's actual canon dates/years.

PS: If anybody working on the timeline reads this... Rodney has a canon birth year of 1968 ( as said in the episode "Quarantine" ). You've added everyone else...

[SaberBlade]

There is no official rule to say that episodes take place on airdates, and there are certain episodes where this is impossible. A season of SG1 can end during May on a cliffhanger, the next season and second part of that cliffhanger can happen in September or October, so it's impossible for both episodes to take place during the months they were aired since they happen at the same time.

As a result, small bits of dialogue can be thrown in to an episode that follows which adds in a comment about a few weeks having passed since something happened. 'Window of Opportunity' is a good example. Season 3 ends, a few months later Season 4 starts and carries on where 3 ended. A few episodes into season 4, 'Window of Opportunity' happens and we learn that the Tok'ra have been trying to contact Earth for several weeks. This episode allowed the previous season 4 to happen during the time SG1 was off air, and then it ends with series 4 caught up to real time.

The same thing can happen without it taking an entire episode dedicated to it. The Daedalus leaves Atlantis, is said to be arriving in three weeks, in the next episode it's arrived or even said to be leaving again back to Atlantis, showing that weeks have passed. Someone can be injured, like Daniel or Jack, it will take a few weeks to heal, next episode they are off on some planet.

So that is basically how it works. While it's not expressly said that it is real time, events, comments or even injuries are used to help catch the show up to real time. It's sort of harder for a show like Stargate to do this, as they never have holiday episodes to show the real time aspect, like a Halloween episode, or a Christmas episode. Things like that to help show exactly when an episode is taking place.

[Tinah]

Thank you! Then I intend to pretend that the Atlantis Expedition left Earth in the spring of 2005 ( since that would fit with the inauguration of President Hayes )!

[Ben 'Teal'c would WIN!!' Noble]

Aren't the gaps between seasons like longer than between episodes. Most gaps between eps are 1-3 weeks whereas between seasons its 'longer'. E.g in 'Revalation' they are still in shock from Daniels death but in 'Redemption' they seem to have accepted it a bit more (Carter anyway) and you got a sense alot more time had passed. However in cliffhanger eps like SGAs 'last man/search and rescue' the 'season gap' if you will has been offset to next ep. In SGAs 'the seed' its stated (I think) a month or so has passed since the events of search and rescue.

[SaberBlade]

Aren't the gaps between seasons like longer than between episodes. Most gaps between eps are 1-3 weeks whereas between seasons its 'longer'. E.g in 'Revalation' they are still in shock from Daniels death but in 'Redemption' they seem to have accepted it a bit more (Carter anyway) and you got a sense alot more time had passed. However in cliffhanger eps like SGAs 'last man/search and rescue' the 'season gap' if you will has been offset to next ep. In SGAs 'the seed' its stated (I think) a month or so has passed since the events of search and rescue.

Gaps between seasons are longer than the gaps between episodes, because it helps the events taking place during each episode to also take place the week each episode is aired.

If their is a cliffhanger, the offset is corrected in the following episodes with comments about something happening in several weeks or something has happened and several weeks have passed. Do this occasionally over the first few episodes (or all it once in some cases) and it's corrected easily enough. If there is no cliffhanger, then the offset can be fixed in the first episode of the new season, which is what happened with season 6. Carter said it had been 3 months since Jonas had arrived on the base.

So it's as simple as that really, a longer gap between seasons can be explained at once in a non cliffhanger premiere, or over the course of several episodes with comments about time. Between normal episodes, if no one mentions weeks having passed, then it's simple enough to presume that a week has passed within the show.