"Final Crisis".Another Reboot?

[Johnny Nevada]

Thanks Johnny Nevada !  I'll have to look for that.

I'd like to bring to mind three examples of where the action takes place in the "present", The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and the no longer running Dondi.

At some point, all of the above made specific reference as to what era it was set in, I recall that Homer (and Hank Hill) graduated High School approximately the same year I did, the mid seventies.  and Dondi was a five year old WW2 Italian orphan.

However, doing so fixes a specific age of the characters, and in a format where the characters don't physically age, this causes problems.

Dondi solved the problem by ceasing mention of his background, and I think  that The Simpsons and King of the Hill will probably do the same, just not reference it anymore.     

Ignoring the "Simpsons have no continuity d00d!" crowd (which isn't true... least far as the 90s episodes seem concerned, before I stopped watching), the Simpsons' solution is mainly either ignoring it or following the "sliding scale" bit that comics do---Homer graduated from high school "20 years ago" and Lisa was born "8 years ago", simply of depicting the world as being whatever things were like "x" # years ago, despite any earlier examples to the contrary.  Thus the "oddity" of an earlier episode (The Itchy and Scratchy Movie one) showing Homer as a teenager during the moon landing of 1969, but a circa-2000 episode (Homer becomes a hippie) shows him attending Woodstock in 1969 with his parents, only as a very young child. :-)

[jamespup]

Homer was like 10 years older than me when the show started, now I'm 10 years older than him

[Johnny Nevada]

Homer was like 10 years older than me when the show started, now I'm 10 years older than him

That's nothing---I was five years older than Bart when the show debuted, and now I'm 4-6 years younger than Homer!

[DoctorZero]

The Simpsons has always made it obvious that they ingore continuity totally.  It's part of the "in joke" that they occasionally reference.

As for Final Crisis, I suspect is will not eliminate the 52 earths as some want to believe or expand them to infinite earths.  Instead, my opinion is that it will be the final crisis for one of these earths, probably Earth 1, which I think will be revealed as the Silver Age DC Earth.

[Johnny Nevada]

The Simpsons has always made it obvious that they ingore continuity totally.  It's part of the "in joke" that they occasionally reference.

Assume you meant "ignore"---don't think they're goring the concept. ;-)

As I stated before, not (completely) true that it's ignored *totally*---a complete lack of continuity would make it "The Far Side" or "Looney Tunes". Last I checked, Maude's still dead and Apu still has those 87 (or whatever) kids... ;-) 

Do think it fits the "sitcom continuity attitude" mold, though---i.e., self-contained stories that generally don't refer back to previous episodes...except that the "Simpsons" does do that on occasion (the various Sideshow Bob episodes for one, or the episodes with Homer's half-brother Herb). (Though like I said, my sentiments are based on the first 8 or 9 seasons' episodes, before I stopped watching...not wasting brain cells pondering any of the 2000s-era episodes I've heard about... :-p ).

As for Final Crisis, I suspect is will not eliminate the 52 earths as some want to believe or expand them to infinite earths.  Instead, my opinion is that it will be the final crisis for one of these earths, probably Earth 1, which I think will be revealed as the Silver Age DC Earth.

[DoctorZero]

I think even some of the Sideshow Bob episodes don't follow one another.

I remember seeing one recently in which Bob is sentenced to death.  I don't recall if they ever explain why he wasn't executed. 

Simpsons makes fun of the fact that continuity is forgotten.  An episode where the children are trapped by snow in the school demonstrates this.  Ned mentions Homer's "Mr. Plow" business from a previous Christmas show.  Homer acts like he never heard of him owning a snow plow.  Ned points out that Homer even has his "Mr. Plow" jacket on, with the writing on the back. 

I think the Simpsons remembers what they want to and forgets that they don't.

[carmelo]

Continuity is a disease,we not need continuity,but good stories.

[Permanus]

Continuity is a disease,we not need continuity,but good stories.

Thanks, Carmelo! This is what I always feel. Obsessive attention to continuity often gets in the way of a good story, and it's unnecessary when you're writing about emblematic characters. You got a karma point for that.