Time

[The Huntsman]

Would anybody happen to know just how much time has passed through the course of the series? I?ve missed a lot of episodes, but it seems to me that Bloo is around his second year at Foster?s, and is about to enter his third. He?s been through two Halloweens, if not more, and one Christmas, as far as I can tell. I?m not sure if any other episodes revealed any other specific dates, but I?m hoping some users can reply to this if they do have any additional information.

However, this brings up some more questions. How old is Mac? What grade is he in? Wouldn?t Terrence be maturing a little bit more at this point? Or does time not exist in the same sense that it does in our world?

Foster?s has some amazing depth and continuity, but I have to wonder whether the series is moving along quicker than the characters are. Holiday specials typically make for some great episodes, but they, more than any other episode, are proof that the time has really passed in the series.

[Ub3rD4n]

One just has to take time with a grain of salt. I doubt if Mac will ever be anything other than eight, he'll never "hurry up and have a birthday". I was vaugely surprised that they even mentioned a "last halloween at the house". This means, as you said, Bloo's on his second year, although maybe just barely, it was, after all, autumn when he arrived, so Halloween may have been shortly after that. Either way, I think we won't see any actual aging during the show's run, interesting though that may be. We should pretty much be thankful they even have continuity in a kid's show like this, where kid's are supposed to have a 10-second memory span, or something.

[Sparky]

I agree with D4n...Foster's is one of those shows where they mention the passing of time and yet no one gets any older etc. So you can say you think you know how long its been since Bloo arrived at the house, but at the same time the fact that say, Mac hasn't aged disproves it. *shrug*

[Zeitgheist]

I think it's a joke by the writers, the fact that Mac states in the halloween episode that "You do this trick to the house every year, Bloo" and then the little montage, despite the fact that noone ages... I mean, IRL the show has been running for YEARS, but in the Foster's universe noone gets any older

[Scrawffler]

The thing is, if time actually passed they would have to constantly come up with new character designs so that they all looked their age (for example, a teenage Mac would look totally different to an 8-year-old Mac). However, I get the impression that imaginary friends don't age as such - they're just created as a certain age and stay like that forever.

There was an episode in Billy & Mandy where a recurring minor character aged over the years, yet the main characters never did - they actually made a joke of it. I guess that's one way to get around it

[jekylljuice]

It seems to be quite a common technique in animated shows that time supposedly elapses but the characters themselves appear to be frozen in their current age...particularly those in which some of the most prominent characters are children or young people who would be continously changing over that period. The Simpsons is probably one of the best examples - if the characters aged accurately with every passing year, then Bart Simpson would be, what, in his late twenties by now? And how many truck-loads of anti-growth hormones must those danged Rugrats have gotten through in order to remain babies for all that time?

You can look at it as a paradoxial way of both ensuring continuity and completely disparaging it at the same time...did that make any sense at all? No? Well, maybe "constancy" is a more appropriate term than continuity. And personally I like it. So delightfully Beckettian.

At any rate, it's one of those things which you can get away with in animation but basically couldn't in a long-running live action show, wherein you can see the flesh-and-blood cast visibly aging with each season, and the problem would eventually need to be addressed. Make-up and prosthetics can only do so much.

[Bloonan]

I'd have to go with the happenings of Bloo's "Time machene" idea in the big picture is true.

[Lynnie]

I agree with everyone in saying that Foster's is in it's own time zone, where time passes, but no one ages. But it's still a good question, how much time has gone by since the show started? Putting the the numbered seasons aside-

In "Berry Scary" it must be summer since we see Bloo and Mac swimming. In "Cookie Dough" Mac says "It's the middle of winter". Then in "My So Called Wife" is clearly summer time again given everyone's swimming in the pool. "Camp Keep a Good Mac Down" also feels "summery" to me, which aired not long after "MSCW", so it must be the same summer. Same with "Foster's goes to Europe", since it's hard enough understanding how Mac's mom is letting him go to Europe with people she doesn't know, I imagine it must be summer in that episode too because he's not needed at school. Then comes "A Lost Clause". But then, "A Lost Clause" was suppose to be Bloo's first Christmas at the house (Wilt says so), so it must have been a "flashback" to the previous year. In "Go Goo Go", apparently a whole year had gone by since she first came to the house and got the hint that she really wasn't wanted there. But maybe that could have been a "flashback" type episode, too. But if that was a flashback episode, Bloo would have been at the house over a year by then. Then we have to take into account all the episodes where Mac is in school, so the school year must be in progress. Later comes "Squeeze the Day" , which is also summer, or at least late spring (I feel a Memorial Day vibe personally). "The Big Cheese" feels like fall to me, probably because Cheese brings up the fair, and my experience is county fairs are usually in the fall. But not long after comes "Say it isnt' Sew" when the fair comes up again. Is it the same fair? Enough time has gone by it doesn't feel like the same season. I'm not so sure about that, I suppose... And finally "Nightmare on Wilson Way", clearly it's Halloween, and it's official that Bloo has been in the house for at least one year with the flash backs from last Halloween.

Soooo.... the way I see it, Blooregard has been at Foster's for between two and two and a half years now.

[Sparky]

Don't forget that production order isn't the same as airing order - unless you were using production order in your list and if you did I didn't notice because I don't have the airing order memorised.

[Zeitgheist]

I remember the show that used to confuse me the most regarding how much time had passed by was Hey Arnold. Either the show jumped a little back and forth between different happenings during the year instead of progressing slowly forwards, or... I don't know. They all stayed 9 years old, but there was a lot of HelgaxArnold happenings confusion that occurred, especially after the April Fools episode since it obviously takes place in April. Did they turn 10? They mention Helga's birthday passed a week earlier... oh well... ranting XD

The MOST confusing is The Emperor's New Groove/School, though!

I can not for the love of all the gods figure out when the Emperor's New School tv-series is supposed to take place. It can't be before the movie, because Kuzco lives with Pacha. It can't be in between the first and the second because Yzma isn't a cat. It feels strange if it's after the movies because Birdwell is nowhere to be seen D:

Kuzco even implies in one episode that directly after he was kciked out of the palace he "met Pacha"... does that mean it's an AU version? D; OR... they mention once that Kuzco in fact went through the whole llama movie ordeal... but still... *head explodes*

Originally Posted by Scrawffler

There was an episode in Billy & Mandy where a recurring minor character aged over the years, yet the main characters never did - they actually made a joke of it. I guess that's one way to get around it

The Harry Potter spoof character, wasn't it? XD

Last time he was on he had been kicked out of school and was running a joke shop as an older teen