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Posted by ChrisW on 10-06-2012 at 04:07:
BOTP Dates
I'm not finding any references to what year BOTP is supposed to take place in, but maybe I've missed it. Anyone know? If there's no canon reference, is there a fanon accepted one?
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Posted by ElectricWhite on 10-06-2012 at 04:14:
Unfortunately, my DVDs got packed away, so I'm going on memory (for what it's worth.) Anyway, I was under the impression that it was a generic "sometime in the near future" setting.
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Posted by Becky Rock on 10-06-2012 at 15:53:
I seem to remember reading somewhere 2001, but I couldn't tell you where I read it.
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Posted by KT1972 on 10-06-2012 at 22:51:
somewhere around here there's a thread with the teams dates of birth...
I believe the agreement was that Ken and Joe were both born in 1984, which if you add 18 years on, ( I believe that's the canon age for them at the start of series 1) takes you to 2002.
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Posted by lborgia88 on 10-06-2012 at 23:00:
It's this thread:
http://www.gatchamania.net/print.php?threadid=1880&page=1&sid=
With this info, from Tatsunokofan:
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I also recall him saying that the creators of Gatchaman, in 1972, had 2001 in mind as the date for when it was occurring -both because it seemed (then) far enough into the future for the technology to be possible, while still looking more or less like the current world of 1972 -and it was something of an allusion to the movie, "Space Oddyssey 2001."
As so many things from Gatch canon/fanon get carried over into BOTP, I could see why many might select 2001 as a date to use for BOTP.
Me, for BOTP and Gatch, I just keep a vague notion of "sometime in the not-too-distant future" in my head and go with that.
I do recall though, with my first fic, scratching my head as to whether the Ninjas should have cell phones. They obviously didn't have them in the original series (no one did, in the early '70s, after all) but we have them now...
In the end, I didn't mention anyone having cell phones. Since then, though, I've pretty much decided that it's okay for them to have any current technology of our present day -as well as "futuristic" gadgets and technology we don't have. (Yet.)
Posted by clouddancer on 10-06-2012 at 23:49:
I am glad you could locate the answer LB.
I suspect TJ would have known the answer as well, only I also know TJ is away at the moment.
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Posted by ChrisW on 11-06-2012 at 02:58:
I've gone through the same thought processes, lborgia. 
I suppose I'll just keep it "in the future." I also decided that while it would be fun to stick them with 1970s tech, in general I'm letting them have modern and futuristic tech, so they get stuff like cell phones.
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Posted by Becky Rock on 11-06-2012 at 13:18:
I've written fics specifically taking place today or in the future, but I don't give a date. I let the readers decide.
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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 11-06-2012 at 21:18:
In the 'cuttlefish' episode, Zark says Arcturus was colonized 200 years ago.
So, unless you believe the Illuminati (or Masons, or whoever) pioneered spaceflight centuries ago, this means at least the 22nd Century or so for BotP, perhaps more along the lines of 23rd or 24th.
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Posted by Tengu on 11-06-2012 at 21:45:
And both Mars and Venus have been terraformed.
(Ill give it terraforming for Mars, yes, but a complete Alternative Reality for Venus!)
I think it is a `long` way in the future
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Posted by clouddancer on 11-06-2012 at 22:33:
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Ahhh, but by who? It is possible the planet was colonized by another species of humanoids who are members of the Federation. Then as Earth gained space capabilities, 200 years later, they began to populate the planet as well.
Okay, so I am stretching things - a lot - but that is the way my mind works.
It doesn't have to be only Earth's history that Zark is reporting on - he could have knowledge from other species as well.
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Posted by ElectricWhite on 11-06-2012 at 22:56:
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And that's assuming you can rely on Zark for providing accurate information.
Yes, I firmly hold on to the possibility that Zark's an unreliable narrator -- if he can develop obsessions and neuroses, why couldn't he also be a little delusional?
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Posted by ChrisW on 11-06-2012 at 23:08:
Funny I for some reason was thinking maybe the 23rd century. Now I can point to UW to back me up.
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Posted by Becky Rock on 11-06-2012 at 23:15:
I like the idea we found out we weren't alone in the near universe and maybe learned from those groups. There's Riga, too.
At the end of the OAV, they show a winged figure that Nambu sees that mirrors birdstyle. I always thought that was an alien who provided Nambu with the birdstyle technonolgy to save Earth. A new interpretation?
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Posted by amethyst on 12-06-2012 at 04:06:
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Maybe a carry over from Star Trek?
I think the actual dates are less important in the long run. While dates do help establish setting, this is more important when something is set in the past where specific events or customs would be expected.
With stories set in the future, if it is short term future then the advances need to be written so that they can believed by the reader or so well that the reader is willing to ignore that society does not advance at that rate.
It is conceivable that contact extraterrestrial lifeforms, humanoid or not, would significantly alter that rate, too. With that in mind, maybe the Mayans have it right and we are just interpreting it wrong. Life as we know could end as soon as we learn for a fact that we are not the only planet with life. Perhaps the Mayan are expecting someone to return this December and significantly alter the course of human development.
The point is don't focus so much on specific dates, but dates that work within the universe and your story. If you want/need a specific date, find a way to make it, but don't lock yourself into the idea that it is the only right possibility.
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Posted by ChrisW on 12-06-2012 at 04:31:
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Indeed. I like to sometimes amuse myself (or drive myself crazy) and stick as close to canon as possible. When I'm doing that, I get curious about fussy little things like this.
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Posted by amethyst on 12-06-2012 at 17:41:
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I thoroughly understand. It's one of the things that drives me crazy about the HP universe. JKR messed up her own timeline both in canon and in statements. As someone else who likes staying as true to canon as possible, I also like to find way to expand from canon without breaking it. I assume if there are no canonical references or source support material that reference something as a fact, then that gives me license to play with it.
It is one of the reasons why in this fandom I've grown more tolerant, and even started experimenting with OCs. In HP there are so many minor characters to play with and expand, I never saw the need to create new characters. In Gatch/BotP there are new characters every week, so in away OCs are supported within canon and it is up to the writer make the reader believe things could have happened that way in the show.
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Posted by lborgia88 on 14-06-2012 at 04:03:
I want to think I've come across suggestions, somewhere, that maybe all of Gatchaman is really taking place in a parallel universe where the Earth is somewhat different because its entire history (and future) aren't quite the same as in this universe. That would be one way around the "What year is it taking place in? issue. And the fact that maps shown often don't seem to correspond to real geography, and there are so many places (Utoland, Hontworl, Ameris etc.) and countries that don't exist here, though they often look very familar.
Doesn't help so much with BOTP though, as it seems like it is meant to be our world. I guess the essence of the "What year is it taking place in?" problem stems from the fact that they took a show that pretty believably could have passed for about the year 2001, in 1972, and then added in interstellar travel to planets that appear to have been long-settled by humans (or very human-looking humanoids) with Earth-like architecture and culture. So it only makes sense that it's taking place much further into the future than 2001 (23rd or 24th century seems about right) -but then they never seemed to clearly address that! 
Posted by Transmute Jun on 26-06-2012 at 21:39:
I don't think there is a canon 'year' for BOTP. Sometimes it seems as if it's supposed to be very far in the future, but then the way everything looks, it seems closer to our time.
However realistically I'd have to go with UW's statement for a few hundred years in the future. It would take that long to develop space travel enough to meet our closest neighbors, even if after that we traded for more advanced tech to build bigger and better things. And then there's the time to contact all of these other planets and for an alliance like the Federation...
As for cell phones, I try to keep that out of my fics. First, it's not canon in any way. Secondly, in the future they may not be necessary. Third, and most important, the Team communicates on their bracelets/communicators, so that's clearly all that's necessary for them.
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Posted by Becky Rock on 26-06-2012 at 22:08:
That's one thing that bugged me in the comics, the conversation between Mark and Jason in the first comic on a cell phone instead of their bracelets.
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