"After The Fall" And "Season 8" Timelines (SPOILERS FOR BOTH)

[white avenger]

Okay, now, we've been told that the Season 8 is about a year and a half after the end of Season 7, which would put its time line as much as a year or more AFTER the events in "After The Fall." That means that LA went to and returned from hell that long BEFORE Harmony's tv show, which is supposed to make the existence of vampires and demons common knowledge. My question is, why has it taken that long for the word to get from LA to the rest of the world? We're talking about the heart of the entertainment industry of the United States. There must have been literally hundreds of movies, books, interviews, and tv shows about the time in hell and what happened there. Pr Phil alone must have done at least a whole series interviewing people and discussing their "post hell traumas," Jay Leno must have had a field day, and lord only knows what liberal threat Rush Limbaugh might have found to talk about. The citizens of Los Angeles had been to and returned from hell a year before anyone in the rest of the world, as in Season 8, knew about it? Does that not seem like a major screw up or extreme closterflop in the Buffyverse?

Also, if there ever is that oft promised Buffy/Spike reunion, how can Buffy be in any way surprised to learn that Spike once more walks among us?

 

[Clem Rocks]

1. We already knew S8 takes place a year and a half after S7
2. How do you know Harm outed vamps and demons? She could have just made them popular
3. I believe someone has said that Buffy already knows about Spike

 

[AndrewCrossett]

The Buffyverse timeline is currently screwed up beyond repair, I believe. Just this week, in the very same issue (#23), we had Andrew making reference to Heath Ledger's death (placing the time no earlier than 2008) and Buffy saying she'd known Xander for eight years (making it 2005).

It's also been strongly hinted at (in this issue and in a Q&A with Scott Allie) that Buffy knows that Spike is alive.

We know that some time passed between "Chosen" and season 8 (Angel season 5, for starters, and Xander's little vacation with Dracula)... but how much time is impossible to pin down. I think we're safe in saying the events of After the Fall took place before the start of season 8, but that's all we can say.

And note that the events of AtF (in which vampires and demons openly preyed on the populace for several months) would make it literally impossible to convince people... at least the people of L.A., where Harmony's show is based... that vampires are cool and romantic people. There are hundreds if not thousands of people walking around L.A. right now who were personally killed by vampires during the Hell-A episode.

If the events of AtF are going to be in continuity with season 8, then somebody must be playing around with humanity's perceptions on a Jasmine-like scale.

(It's worth noting that just today, Scott Allie told me in a Q&A that there is in fact more at work here than simply media manipulation. "There may be demons involved. And magic too, in some cases" he said.)

 

[white avenger]

The Buffyverse timeline is currently screwed up beyond repair, I believe. Just this week, in the very same issue (#23), we had Andrew making reference to Heath Ledger's death (placing the time no earlier than 2008) and Buffy saying she'd known Xander for eight years (making it 2005).

It's also been strongly hinted at (in this issue and in a Q&A with Scott Allie) that Buffy knows that Spike is alive.

You can also add Buffy dreaming of lying on a beach talking to Daniel Craig despite the fact that he wouldn't be the new un-James Bond for at least a couple more years.

And as for Buffy knowing that Spike is back, that's my point. I was looking forward to seeing her reaction when she finally found out that he wasn't still at the bottom of the hellmouth AND that he and Angel are somehow going steady now.