working on timelines...

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Some of you may have paid attention to a recent trend in my stories that have to do with validating the Return Movie, that most vilified of MFU non-episode yet solidly canon film in which we have Messrs. Solo and Kuryakin no longer with UNCLE but out having a life elsewhere.


I'm also delving into pre-New York life, particularly Illya's, in which there must be a reasonable timeline established for his remarkable assortment of degrees, accomplishments and general Illya-ness.
The other night I watched the Gazebo in the Maze Affair, in which Napoleon states that he and Illya encountered Emory Partridge seven years prior.  Now, the episode was shown in the spring of '65, so I'm going to go with that, which means they would have been in South America routing Emory sometime in 1958.  
Illya graduated Survival School in '56, correct?  He would have already had his Bachelor's from the UG in the Ukraine by then, and before heading off to South America he should have finished the Master's at the Sorbonne.  He would then, after ruining the Partridge's party, have needed to head straight for London and start on his doctorate at Cambridge while working, we have all surmised, for Harry Beldon.  Now, I'm not sure how long it takes someone to gain a PhD in Quantum Mechanics from Cambridge, but I'm thinking he's going to just make it to New York in time to film the pilot in 1963... tongue in cheek here.
Does that track with people here, or am I missing something?  Those writers in Season 3 should have checked on what happened in Seasons 1&2 before they started handing out doctorate degrees to a man on such a tight schedule.  No wonder Illya doesn't show a lot of interest in women, he's probably still pooped from all of that academic overload.

''Can I just rest now?''

Comments

[carabele.livejournal.com]

With trying to timeline anything in MFU, you have to just go with what little was given and then create a timeline that works for your own MFU fiction universe.

The series' writers were freelance and paid little attention to logical continuance of what other writers had previously done. (And that PhD given Illya in Season 3 was really ridiculous anyway considering not only timeline, but the fact that in Season 2 in VIRTUE he was shown as not even knowing how to talk to scientists in a "scientific" way. And then again in Season 4, in MAZE he makes a comment about it being valuable to have a physicist as a fellow captive with regard to Fabray. So obviously he didn't consider himelf such.) So honestly go with what works for you. As long as there are no glaring time-goofs, it's really hard to question whether this or that is a year or so off to one side or the other.

Also remember, in GAZEBO IN THE MAZE, though Illya is mentioned by Solo as having been part of the original Partridge mission, Illya himself does not recognize Partridge during that initial bus setup at the start of the episode. So, as I've mentioned before, it is quite possible Illya played a very minor role in that mission, perhaps in some sort of technical capacity. And more than likely he was working under Beldon, not Waverly, at that time. If the mission was big enough, no reason agents from several different U.N.C.L.E. offices might not have been working in tandem on it. Thus, though Solo was working out of New York, Illya didn't have to be in order to be involved in the same mission. (And Partridge was a Brit, so the initial investigation regarding him and his antics in South America could very well have been initiated in U.N.C.L.E.'s London office.)

And sorry, just have to say this, the RETURN movie to me is no more canon than the silly ACE novels. It, like the novels, was done strictly with commercialism in mind. There was no real effort to make either conform to the setup of the original series. With the movie, CBS (not even the same network as the original series) was trying to capture "lightning in a bottle" for a second time. It didn't work (basically because they didn't get it even halfway right), so they moved on and the movie has blessedly been mostly forgotten.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I did notice that Illya failed to recognize Partridge, whereas Napoleon knew him immediately, and vice versa. Interesting then that Illya was the first target in Emory's little plan of retribution. Is it only because he was Solo's partner, I wonder?
Oh, the challenge of making believers out of those who scoff at the Return Movie. It is now a quest of mine, and once directed I am unlikely to falter. Like those who climb to the highest peaks, I shall do it simply because it is there to conquer. ;)

[carabele.livejournal.com]

I would say that targetting of Illya by Partridge was indeed strictly because he was Napoleon's current partner. We are given that impression by the storyline, as Partridge wanted to get Solo to "come to him" and grabbing Illya was the easiest way to attain that goal. Remember, GAZEBO IN THE MAZE is Season 1, and Napoleon was definitely the main focus in that season.

Sorry though, hon, you will never make me a believer of the RETURN movie. I loathe, hate and abominate that piece of cheap swill more than any even of the worst Season 3 episodes. Yes, even GORILLA. [chuckle]

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

It's all right, I'm not in the convincing business ;)

[carabele.livejournal.com]

On a different subject, wendiez shared the cover art you created for her manuscript. Really excellent work. Has a bit of an Illya vibe, huh? [chuckle]

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. Yes, it's getting exciting. And yes, the sketch I originally showed her was one that had Illya as an inspiration. Not that the man actually looks like my image of him, however. In all honesty, I think the reason they cut all of his shirtless scenes out of Around the World was because he was too skinny next to the other actors. Shhh.. don't tell anyone I said that. ;)

[avery11.livejournal.com]

In MAZE, when Napoleon says that "we" encountered Partridge seven years earlier in South America, perhaps the "we" he refers to is UNCLE, not himself and Illya. Clearly, Ilya has never seen the man before. Although he probably should have recognized him from file photos of prominent THRUSHIES.

There are always going to be holes that can't be filled, both here and, as the Beatles claim, in the Albert Hall. Good luck trying, though.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a possibility isn't it, that Illya wasn't event there... hmmm...
Filling holes is the work of those of us who can't let go of the bone we've picked up. I used to play tennis quite a lot, and it took me a while to give up wood rackets. I believe it finally happened after I nearly knocked myself out in a follow through motion that completely missed the ball, but on making contact with my forehead caused me to see stars. Wood was formidable.
I may fall into a hole eventually, but I shall always try to make them line up :D