JDHJANUS Posted September 21, 2014 Report Share Posted September 21, 2014 Hey guys! I know I suck at checking this forum on a regular basis, but I am trying to get better at it! Anyways, I was talking to my friend Taylor about this, and then after getting Troels' perspective, he suggested I post here and see what everyone here thought. What would you say is the relative timeframe of the Space Quest games in relation to our timeline/universe? Do you think that the Space Quest games are set in the same time/space as our own timeline? The only intersection we truly have is in Space Quest III, where Roger drops off the Two Guys of Sierra's HQ in 1989, but then again, this after going through a BLACK HOLE, so who knows how that warped space/time! Could the Space Quest games be set in an entirely different dimension or universe? Far in the future like Star Trek, far in the past like Star Wars, or on the same time and space as our own universe? Looking through the documentation of the SQ games, SQ1's manual makes it sound like it's set in present day time (i.e. 1986 when the game was first released), as it says that this takes place in a galaxy light years from Earth. SQV's "Galactic Inquirer" has the date of 3009, but there's no clarification if that's BC/AD, or some other time frame altogether. Any thoughts you guys have would be appreciated! Have a great day! Talk to you later! JDHJANUS Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collector Posted September 21, 2014 Report Share Posted September 21, 2014 Nothing that I ever consider for a comedy. BTW, I just noticed your location. I thought you were in Denver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Well, time is very loosely defined in Space Quest, owing in great part to that phrase "indeterminate amount of time" in the opening of SQ3. Roger floating for an "indeterminate amount of time" really screwed up the timeline in all sorts of ways, and the unexplained time between SQ4 and SQ5 didn't help much, either. We know for a fact that Space Quest doesn't take place anywhere near our own galaxy. So, technically, Roger's really not even human. The only time he's ever visited our galaxy was when he went through Black Hole Bertha at the end of SQ3, and, thanks to the magic scifi trope that wormholes have become, that means he could've gone through time as well as space. So we really have no way of knowing. Actually, that whole business about Roger not being human made me wonder, when playing Boston McShew's "Decision of the Elders" ... what's up with the story being described as taking place "on Earth"? What's Jerry Wilco even doing there? Okay, I know this is fan fiction, sure, but ... okay, better not think too much about this. WilcoWeb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDHJANUS Posted September 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Ack! Thanks, Collector, for noticing. I guess that shows you how long it's been since I've really posted here (I mainly lurk), and I didn't even realize I hadn't updated my profile. O_o Although it is not canon, DOTE brings forth an interesting point: 1. Perhaps the Wilcos are originally from earth and ended up going through Black Hole Bertha to end up on Xenon... 2. Maybe there's another planet in the Earnon galaxy that happens to be named Earth as well? I'll be honest, I don't remember him saying anything about being on earth in DOTE, but I've played several games since then! Talk to you later! JDHJANUS Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted September 24, 2014 Report Share Posted September 24, 2014 1. Perhaps the Wilcos are originally from earth and ended up going through Black Hole Bertha to end up on Xenon... Doubtful -- Roger's home planet is numerously times given as Xenon, first in the original SQ1 manual. Also, everyone else on Xenon looks humanoid. Also-also, if Space Quest takes place concurrently with our time (let's just say that for argument's sake), that would mean Roger somehow fell through a wormhole in the early 80's at the least. How'd he manage that? 2. Maybe there's another planet in the Earnon galaxy that happens to be named Earth as well? I don't think we've ever been given a list of planets in the Earnon system -- in fact, we had a bit of fun trying to find out if Kerona is even in the Earnon system, or somewhere else entirely. But it'd be a pretty big coincidence if one of them was named Earth. And, just to be pedantic, our planet's name isn't even Earth. At least not if we insist on calling our planets by Latin names. ;) I'll be honest, I don't remember him saying anything about being on earth in DOTE, but I've played several games since then! I think it was during the chat with the professor dude. Or perhaps it was in the note Julia left you. At any rate, it's definitely in there and I was not hopped up on cheap over-the-counter smack when I saw it, or at least I don't recall being so. JDHJANUS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDHJANUS Posted September 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2014 Well, then, I guess for argument's sage, what do you guys as a community think when you consider the SQ games? Do you think they're set far in the past, like Star Wars, in the present (i.e. late 80's/early 90's), or sometime far in the future? Talk to you later! JDHJANUS Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capn_Ascii Posted September 30, 2014 Report Share Posted September 30, 2014 Roger floating for an "indeterminate amount of time" really screwed up the timeline in all sorts of ways Not as much as you might think. Beatrice explicitly mentions in SQ5 that Roger defeated the Sariens "a few years back". Assuming Roger had a year or two to attend Starcon Academy priot to the start of SQ5, that means he likely didn't spend more than two or three years in there, tops. So, no wishful thinking that he was out for decades and the previously-unmentioned Star Confederacy arose during the intermittent years. ;) As for the black hole issue, I'm pretty sure that the text in SQ3 says that it sent them to a parallel universe (ours). He's quite obviously back in his home universe by the start of SQ4, so we can assume that whatever trans-dimensional opening he slipped through, he was able to return the same way. Assuming it *is* a parellel universe, that actually makes the explaination for Xenon itself simple - it's the Earth of their universe. That is, their universe got an Earth-like world (and a human-like species) through evolutionary development just like ours did. The difference being that their universe's tech level is light years beyond our own. Variables and constants, indeed. JDHJANUS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted September 30, 2014 Report Share Posted September 30, 2014 Now that's an interesting idea. I always assumed Black Hole Bertha transported the Mallard thousands of light years to our galaxy, and possibly through time as well. I hadn't considered the idea that it might have transported Roger and the Guys to an alternate universe. Can black holes even do that? Will someone get professor Hawking on the phone? JDHJANUS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcj Posted September 30, 2014 Report Share Posted September 30, 2014 Can black holes even do that? Will someone get professor Hawking on the phone? There's a lot about black holes that is still theoretical, for obvious reasons. Troels Pleimert 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capn_Ascii Posted October 1, 2014 Report Share Posted October 1, 2014 Out of curiosity that my memory might be spotty (a common occurance), I just went back and re-played the ending sequence of SQ31. The text does explicitly say they came out into a parallel universe. Assuming no time-travel shenanigans were involved, that would put SQ3 occuring in the mid 80s - the Guys would arrive on Earth just in time to pitch SQ1 to Ken. But, given the whole 'black whole futzing with spacetime' thing, there's no real way to be sure. It doesn't really matter much, anyway; since it's a whole different universe, the timeframe relative to ours could be almost anything and it wouldn't change much. 1) Which meant playing the space dogfight sequence again, as SQ3 won't let you save once that part's over. Whoo, glorious green-on-black viewed-entirely-on-radar-screen action! JDHJANUS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Ah, okay - thanks! So we have now established that Space Quest does, in fact, take place in a parallel universe to our own. That does lend credence to the theory that Earnon could be the Milky Way and Xenon the Earth of this parallel universe. Okay, mind officially blown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicallyInspired Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 What I don't understand is the intro of SQ4 states that Roger is returning to Xenon from his last adventure. Did he go through another black hole? What are the chances he'd end up back in his original dimension and not some random one of infinite possibilities? /overanalyzing suejak, WilcoWeb and Troels Pleimert 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drdrslashvohaul Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 Perhaps SQ invented "timey-wimey" as an explanation decades before the Dr Who reboot. JDHJANUS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Maybe Black Hole Bertha was really a wormhole. Meaning that the destinations on either side remain the same. Of course, that doesn't jive with the alternate dimension thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capn_Ascii Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Maybe Black Hole Bertha was really a wormhole. Meaning that the destinations on either side remain the same. Of course, that doesn't jive with the alternate dimension thing. Why not? There can be Einstein-Rosen bridges wormholes to other dimensions. Don't tell me you never watched Sliders? drdrslashvohaul 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 I, uh ... haven't. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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