Friday the 13th: Series Continuity/Timeline

[Fan of Freddy]

Here's something I thought would make an interesting disscussion point. Everyone knows that a series like F13 is never going to have perfect continuity. Something is always going to be off. Jason's look, the plot, the series of events, etc...

What do you guys notice about the series that bothers you or you maybe would have done differently continuity wise? Or maybe you have a theory about the overall timeline. Here's the place to disscuss it.

[Deathscythe]

What always bothered me is how Tommy Jarvis looked so different in Jason Lives.

[JVY2K]

What always bothered me is how Tommy Jarvis looked so different in Jason Lives.

I actually thought the choices for the older Tommy Jarvis's were great. John Shepherd was way off if you look at how Corey Feldman looks now, but it was a beliavble choice. And Thom Matthews could easily have passed for a much older John Shepherd.

As for the topic, I've pieced together all the continuity holes over the years with theories. There's not much left in the films that bother me as from the time I was 16, I've come up with enough theories that I don't really even think about the holes in the continuity anymore. But there are lots ;)...

[Darth Sinister]

I only wish that when it came to continuity, is that they give us an idea of how much time is supposed to have passed following the fourth film. In those early films, continuity is tight and the overall look and tone still fit. There's nothing that says it's not 1984 in the second and third films. By the fifth through seventh films, it's hard to tell how much time passed between each entry.

[Wheatjedi]

The two things that really get to me in a continuity sense are:

1. Jason being chained to the rock in the beginning of Part VII when Tina is a little kid. It always makes me think, "Hold on.... wasn't there a large campsite where Tina's house is sitting?"

2. Little-kid Rennie being attacked in Crystal Lake by little-kid Jason. Unless she was imagining the whole thing, that just messes up the timeline soooo much.

[Darth Sinister]

Yeah, I can chalk up the jump to six and seven as the fact that the campground was torn down and replaced with simple cabins. That it was supposed to be a couple of years later during Tina's dream and then we go a few years later for the present.

[Wheatjedi]

Okay... I can go with that. But what about Part VIII when it looks like the camp is suddenly there again (in the beginning)? And then it's there again in FvsJ.

That silly camp just keeps popping back up!!

[Darth Sinister]

In JTM, Rob Hedden ignored the fact that the camp ground was torn down. In fact, he ignored a lot of stuff. In JGTH, the camp had already been torn down. FvsJ showed that the place was being remodeled. Which makes me think that the place was being rebuilt, though they were more than likely ignoring the fact that the place was demolished.

[JVY2K]

The two things that really get to me in a continuity sense are:

1. Jason being chained to the rock in the beginning of Part VII when Tina is a little kid. It always makes me think, "Hold on.... wasn't there a large campsite where Tina's house is sitting?"

2. Little-kid Rennie being attacked in Crystal Lake by little-kid Jason. Unless she was imagining the whole thing, that just messes up the timeline soooo much.

For the first one, I always just put it up to Tina's house being beside the camp but a ways away. Built somewhere between 4-6. It wouldn't be a stretch for the current in the water in slowly push Jason along the bottom over the years to have him end up over in front of Tina's house. Which would bring us to the opening of TNB where we see Jason still chained while Tina's little. After all, the Jarvis's lived right on the lake almost. Proves there were properties there and not just a camp.

As for Rennie, to me I take all that stuff as simple dream sequences. I've never much too much stock into those scenes of her and kid Jason. I mean he's pulling her down when she lands in the ocean. It's imaginary. In my opinion.

[Wheatjedi]

Okay.... I can go with the Part VII explanation.

As for the Rennie thing, I'm good with the whole "she imagined the whole thing" idea. It was just so badly executed in the film. Rob Heddin really didn't give a crap about continuity or logic (such as it exists in the F13 "world"), did he?

[SoulOnFire]

The only way I could sort out the whole timeline after pt. 4 is like this: The opening of pt.VII with Tina as a kid takes place between IV and VI. Jason is just shown to establish what had happened in the previous film. After they show him in the present, we get a flashback to Tina's father's death.

If done by year, I guess it would like this:
1984 - Pt. 2,3,4
1986 - Tina's father dies
1987 - Pt. 5
1993 - Pt. 6 (I'm guessing Tommy is 21 here)
1996 - Pt. 7 (Guessing Tina was 7 in the flashback)
1997 - Pt. 8
1999 - JGTH
2003 - FvsJ

As for the whole campgrounds thing, perhaps we're looking at Jason's resting place in pt. 7 from across the lake. Remember Crystal Lake is supposed to be big. I would love for someone to draw out a map pointing out the locales of each film.

[Utellme]

part 8 and 9 just made me give up on continuity.I think the only way to fix it is having Jason wake up and it be a dream he had and fix it then.Taking off from the last point the time line was correct.

[sCabbOy]

Timeline wise at 7 the timeline starts to be a little fucked up.

[Autobotsdie]

Well if the lake is supposed to be big then why do they make it look so small?

[sCabbOy]

There's no way the lake is big in part 1 we see just about every side of it. Same with part 2.

[Autobotsdie]

I still don't get how the hell when Tina reserected Jason and you see Jason pop out of the water in front of her and Tina faints that Jason doesn't attack her then but instead goes to dry land in a different part of the lake and goes after everyone else.

[Utellme]

I still don't get how the hell when Tina reserected Jason and you see Jason pop out of the water in front of her and Tina faints that Jason doesn't attack her then but instead goes to dry land in a different part of the lake and goes after everyone else.

Yeah i don't understand that either ?

[Autobotsdie]

That scene has always bugged me

[The Tall Man]

Jason appears to fear or have some kind of fore-knowledge about Tina. Notice at the end duel, Jason does NOTHING to Tina. He just stands there watching her. Tina draws first blood.

And even later, Jason doesn't charge ahead at her. He just stands there watching her. Or dashes forward... to keep an eye on her.

T.M.

[CampNewBlood]

Yeah i don't understand that either ?

Yea, especially when she is lying right there in front of him....easy prey.

lol

[Darth Sinister]

Yeah, but like Chris, he assumed that she was already dead when she had fainted. She wasn't moving so he went off.

[Toejam]

I have always been a little fuzzy on which sequel actually happened on Friday the 13th; 2, 3, or The Final Chapter.

The three basic choices are:

A:
July 08-09 - (Friday the 13th Part 2)
July 10-11 - (Friday the 13th Part 3)
July 11-13 - (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)

B:
July 10-11 - (Friday the 13th Part 2)
July 12-13 - (Friday the 13th Part 3)
July 14-16 - (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)

C:
July 12-13 - (Friday the 13th Part 2)
July 14-15 - (Friday the 13th Part 3)
July 15-17 - (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)


For a long time I thought it was A,
but I noticed in part 3 Chris and Andy refer to a "weekend" in the country,
and in The Final Chapter, one of Rob's clippings calls Jason the
"Friday the 13th Murderer".

That would seem to rule out A, and probably point to C.

What are your thoughts?

[Darth Sinister]

I'd probably say C as well. It makes the most sense based on what is and isn't said.

[Ron]

JGTH screwed everything up for me.

[JVY2K]

Okay.... I can go with the Part VII explanation.

As for the Rennie thing, I'm good with the whole "she imagined the whole thing" idea. It was just so badly executed in the film. Rob Heddin really didn't give a crap about continuity or logic (such as it exists in the F13 "world"), did he?

He did and he didn't. If you read some of the interviews done with him he seems to have cared somewhat about the continuity but at the same time he said he wanted to make his own movie. I have the original script saved somewhere that has stuff that never made it into the film. You word it pretty well in that it was executed very poorly. I love it and enjoy it because it's Jason there's allot left up to the imagination, which in some ways is good (for people like us who like to come up with theories) and bad for the general public that walk thinking, "What the fuck did we just watch?"...

The only way I could sort out the whole timeline after pt. 4 is like this: The opening of pt.VII with Tina as a kid takes place between IV and VI. Jason is just shown to establish what had happened in the previous film. After they show him in the present, we get a flashback to Tina's father's death.

If done by year, I guess it would like this:
1984 - Pt. 2,3,4
1986 - Tina's father dies
1987 - Pt. 5
1993 - Pt. 6 (I'm guessing Tommy is 21 here)
1996 - Pt. 7 (Guessing Tina was 7 in the flashback)
1997 - Pt. 8
1999 - JGTH
2003 - FvsJ

As for the whole campgrounds thing, perhaps we're looking at Jason's resting place in pt. 7 from across the lake. Remember Crystal Lake is supposed to be big. I would love for someone to draw out a map pointing out the locales of each film.

I still like to think the opening of 7 is after the events of Part 6. Like I said, wind and the currents in the water could easily have shifted Jason's position from directly infront of the cabins to over a ways infront of Tina's house. He appears to be a bit further out in the lake anyway in 7 then where he was left resting in 6.

As for the campground, I always just figured they built over the land where Tina's house blew up and made another attempt to get a camp going. Whether it was called camp Crystal Lake or not, we don't know. I'd doubt it though...Probably just another camp like in Part 2. Torn down because no money was made off this new attempt due to the violent history there even in Jason's death.

[French Friday]

B:
July 10-11 - (Friday the 13th Part 2)
July 12-13 - (Friday the 13th Part 3)
July 14-16 - (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)

but I noticed in part 3 Chris and Andy refer to a "weekend" in the country,
and in The Final Chapter, one of Rob's clippings calls Jason the
"Friday the 13th Murderer".



B is my choice. They arrive early morning of that Friday the 13th, for the week-end and most of the murders take place that day, hence the clipping "Friday the 13th Murderer".

And now my latest timeline :

1979 Friday, June 13th (part 1)

Thanks to the tombstone and the first movie.

1984 around Friday the 13th, June (part 2, part 3, TFC)

"5 years after", plus June 13th is Jason's birthday. That's great. Tommy is 12 (said in ANB).

1987, Friday the 13th, May (ANB)

The weather is spring/summer-like. And our Tommy looks like your usual 15 years old teen, when played on TV by older actors...

1990, Friday the 13th, June (JL)

Tommy now 18. Again, usual older actor to play a teen. Again, Jason's birthday for his resurrection.

1993, Friday the 13th, October (TNB prologue)

The calendar at the beginning says it's a Friday the 13th of October.

Tina said she was 8 during that event.

Jason is chained underwater, post-JL. I can't play around that, Jason's there.

2000, Friday the 13th, September (TNB)

The weather is more Fall-like this time. Tina is 15. Usual older actress to play a teen. She also seems younger than the neighboors here. We have also to use JTM, JGTH and FvJ to choose the right date. A lot of time is needed between JL and TNB to respect the "everyone has forgotten" of the opening.

2001, Friday the 13th, June (JTM)

It's graduation. It's again Jason's birthday.

ONLY "error" of that timeline (but there's always one whatever timeline I try) : Jim says the drowning took place around 30 years ago (1971, whereas it's exactly 44 years, so around 40 years ago). But Jim is a 18 years old teen, so everything older than him is very old, and 30 or 40 is the same thing for him, and the human error is very acceptable in that case (he's not any "expert" on Jason's history, neither a journalist, he's just a normal kid who heard the legend and like it).

2003, Friday the 13th, August (JGTH)

2 years after the camp was torn down (last seen in JTM) and before FvJ. More than 20 years after the first massacre in 1979 and if you take Chris's attack in 1982 (2 years before Part 3) and Alice's death in 1979 again, that's always close to these "more than 20 years ago", even when counting just Jason and not Pamela.

2003, October (not a Friday the 13th, hey, it's more a Nightmare than a Friday) (FvJ)

Year of release (finally, the timeline is back to normal !). School is open. Weather more fall-like. It explains why Freddy didn't find Jason earlier, Jason just arrived in Hell 2 months ago !

[Melanie Jarvis]

I would have held off until Corey Feldman was available to do part 5, that way they didn't have to jump forward 8 or so years.

[Darth Sinister]

Tommy was 12 in the fourth film, according to the fifth film. Though John Shepard was older, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Tommy was supposed to be 16 in ANB.

[Lammert]

according to an old VHS copy I have, Tommy is 18.

[Darth Sinister]

I'll have to rewatch the fifth film. It's probably on the DVD, but I haven't watched it in a while.

[Utellme]

So what exactly is the time line for this series is there a link to view it at or does someone know it ?

[Wheatjedi]

So what exactly is the time line for this series is there a link to view it at or does someone know it ?

There's a pretty good timeline at fridaythe13thfilms.com.

[Utellme]

Ok thank you 2 things on time line confuse me cause they was never in the Friday the 13th movies.

1.Alice returns to camp gets killed by Jason yet at the beginning of part 2 Alice is killed in her house ?

2. Alice's body was found in Jason's shack this was never shown ?

[Wheatjedi]

Ok thank you 2 things on time line confuse me cause they was never in the Friday the 13th movies.

1.Alice returns to camp gets killed by Jason yet at the beginning of part 2 Alice is killed in her house ?

2. Alice's body was found in Jason's shack this was never shown ?

1. The house Alice was killed in was not her house. I believe she was renting it, but she didn't own it.

2. Alice's rotted corpse is seen resting against the altar Jason built for his mother's head at the end of Part 2. You can still see the icepick in Alice's skull if you look closely.

[The Dream Master]

Alice is back at Crystal Lake at the beginning of Part Two. That's what the timeline is referring to.

Also, you can see Alice's corpse in Jason's shack at the end of the film. It still has the ice pick in the skull, I think.

[Wheatjedi]

Oh.... I thought he was talking about the camp itself. But yeah.... the house was in Crystal Lake.

[Utellme]

Alice is back at Crystal Lake at the beginning of Part Two. That's what the timeline is referring to.

Also, you can see Alice's corpse in Jason's shack at the end of the film. It still has the ice pick in the skull, I think.
Ok so was the whole thing with Alice in her apartment yet another dream or is that timeline wrong ?
ADDED:
Oh.... I thought he was talking about the camp itself. But yeah.... the house was in Crystal Lake.
The house Alice is killed in looks like it's in the city down town.It does not look like any area of Crystal Lake

[The Dream Master]

During her conversation with her mom, Alice says something to the effect of "coming back here," which indicates that she went back to Crystal Lake to exorcise her demons. Jason killed her there. Everything you see at the beginning of part two actually happens.

[Wheatjedi]

Utellme....

Alice getting killed was very real. She was staying in a house that was in the town of Crystal Lake.

The Dream Master....

Exactly. :)

[Utellme]

Ok thanks guys and thanks for merging them 2 post of mine i messed up.Wheat was it you that mention before that you would like to see a Friday the 13th take place in the town of Crystal Lake ? All and apparently exorcising her demons did not workout to good for Alice.

[Wheatjedi]

I'm not sure if I mentioned that or not, but I would really like to see a F13 in which a fair amount of the film takes place in the town of Crystal Lake itself. I know JGTH kind of did that, but I wish it could have had that classic "Blairstown" of "Kent" feel to it.

[SmiTheReeNs*]

Id consider Alice real dumb by goin back to CCL lake area and "excorcising her demons" she knew Jason was still around yet she went back to get herself icepicked! she was prolly the dumbest survivor in friday the 13th

[Darth Sinister]

Actually, Alice realized that it was a dream since no one else saw the boy that attacked her. That's why she went back to Crystal Lake. She didn't think that she had anything to worry about, other than her memories and nightmares. What she didn't realize was that Jason was alive this whole time and saw his mother's death.

[Utellme]

You think that would be a cool scene for a remake or prequel to have Jason's POV when Alice takes out Mrs.Voorhees ?

[Rich]

ONLY "error" of that timeline (but there's always one whatever timeline I try) : Jim says the drowning took place around 30 years ago (1971, whereas it's exactly 44 years

Yeah, but you don't have to take what Jim said as 100% aqurate. That is like me saying that Friday the 13th is 30 years old. We know that is not excactly true, but we know it is pretty old. This is the same thing. It doesn't matter whether Jim said 30, 35, 40, or 45 years ago. His point was it happened a long time ago.

[French Friday]

Yeah, but you don't have to take what Jim said as 100% aqurate. That is like me saying that Friday the 13th is 30 years old. We know that is not excactly true, but we know it is pretty old. This is the same thing. It doesn't matter whether Jim said 30, 35, 40, or 45 years ago. His point was it happened a long time ago.

That's the way I take it and it allows my timeline to work.

It wouldn't be the same if Jim was a journalist or someone appearing as the "best guy" on the Jason Voorhees subject. There, he's just a teenager who loves the legend, so he can be blurry on the years.

[Utellme]

You think that would be a cool scene for a remake or prequel to have Jason's POV when Alice takes out Mrs.Voorhees ?
Guess not....

[Darth Sinister]

You think that would be a cool scene for a remake or prequel to have Jason's POV when Alice takes out Mrs.Voorhees ?

Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to see Jason hearing a scream and then going out to check it out. The splicing old and new footage together, show Jason's point of view. Kinda like in "Back To The Future".

[johnboy3434]

Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to see Jason hearing a scream and then going out to check it out. The splicing old and new footage together, show Jason's point of view. Kinda like in "Back To The Future".

Except the Back to the Future films weren't separated by 29 years of film-making technology. Even if they took the original negatives and gave them a Star Wars Trilogy-level cleaning up (a pipe dream if there ever was one), the difference in film quality would be glaringly obvious.

[James M]

Except the Back to the Future films weren't separated by 29 years of film-making technology. Even if they took the original negatives and gave them a Star Wars Trilogy-level cleaning up (a pipe dream if there ever was one), the difference in film quality would be glaringly obvious.

I think it'd be cool if a new Friday film went for the classic style and feel, right down to making it look like the film quality of the early Fridays on purpose. It's possible. Just use the same equipment as they used on the original.

[Ron]

I think it'd be cool if a new Friday film went for the classic style and feel, right down to making it look like the film quality of the early Fridays on purpose. It's possible. Just use the same equipment as they used on the original.

That would be cool, but I don't see hollywood ever doing it.

[Utellme]

There's no way the lake is big in part 1 we see just about every side of it. Same with part 2.
Looks big enough to me

[johnboy3434]

Is there anything wrong with the timeline as presented in Fangoria #130? It goes like this:

1958: Friday the 13th prologue
1979: Friday the 13th and Part 2 prologue
1984: Part 2, Part 3, and The Final Chapter
1989: The New Blood prologue
1992: A New Beginning
1997: Jason Lives
1999: The New Blood and Jason Takes Manhattan
2000: Jason Goes to Hell

Granted, the whole concept of the movies taking place on Friday the 13th goes out the window, but since two movies have had the word "Final" in them, only to be followed by a sequel, I think trusting the titles may not be wise.

Come to think of it, what exactly do we know for certain about the timeline?

1.) Ft13 takes place in 1979 (tombstone in TFC)
2.) Parts 2, 3, and TFC take place in 1984 (dialog in part 2)
3.) The "30 years" quote from JTM is unreliable (it's simply not possible for ANB, JL, TNB, and JTM to take place within 3 years of TFC)
4.) ANB, JL, TNB, JTM, JGtH, and FvJ must all take place before Spring 2004 (construction sign in FvJ)
5.) Jason X takes place in 2455 (caption indicates this, despite dialog indicating 2465 or later)

[Utellme]

What days does part 2,3,4 take place ? Part 2 start on thurs, Fri,Sat ? Part 3 sun , Mon ? TFC C ?


This is another thing i like about part 1 and part 6.They let it be known that its the day F13th i like that.

[VictorC]

What a great topic.

From 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 they're all basically part of one "episode". At the beginning of 3 the first thing Jason does is steal some clothes. I always presumed this was because of the rip caused by the machete strike to the shoulder he took at the end of 2 and that he had enough intelligence to realize the need to change so as to avoid being spotted by the authorities who no doubt had been given a description by Jinny. Wasn't he wearing overalls when we first see him walking around at the outset of 3? And maybe he ripped the few strands of hair out of his head too.

At the beginning of 4, the first thing he does is get moved from the barn where he took the axe shot in 3. One big episode. No continuity problems for me. And I don't consider anything after part 4 as being anything other than bad ideas that shouldn't have become movies.

I got a question. When Tommy shaves his head to look like Jason as a child in 4 and successfully distracts him from choking Trish with his one good hand (you can hear him "aarghing" there by the way), as Jason is walking toward him, arm outstretched and clearly having no malicious intent as Tommy softly repeats "Remember. Remember", why is Jason so calm? Is it because he honestly believes his former "child self" is actually standing there in the flesh? Is he that impressionable?

[Darth Sinister]

Looks big enough to me

The lakes used in each film looks big, but because of the different locations used in each film, there's no way it is big enough to accomidate everything. This is one of those things that you need to take with a grain of salt.

[Timberwolf Entertainment]

I made a Friday The 13th role playing game back in like 1988 and I had a map of the lake the incorperated all of the elements.

It was by no means official but it was pretty acurate as far as taking into account all of the films.

In 1989 I even revised part of it since it was implied you could get to the ocean via the lake (Part 8) BUT I had to include a bridge over that river because Trish and her mom say in part 4 they jog 'once around the lake'

I also felt that part 3 and 7's lake swere WAY to small.. looking almost like ponds.. so on my map Part 3 is a pond and is on a offshoot the the lake called "Higgins Haven" I did the same with part 7 and the two house in that. However I was never able to rationalize why Jason was put in the lake in front of the camp, and ended up in front of Tina's house....lol. Maybe he drifted. Can't win em all.


I think I remade the map for online like 10 years ago.. but Ive long since lost it.

[sambob25]

This was my thing on the old board! So glad to discover the community back together again … only took me two years!

OK, so during the climax of “The Final Chapter,” Tommy pulls a bunch of newspaper clippings out of Rob’s backpack. This is the closest thing to true continuity we get in the entire series. It’s been pretty well documented that Joseph Zito (director of “TFC”) was a stickler for continuity since it was assumed that this was, well, the final chapter of the series.

After “TFC,” it was easy to make 5 and 6 fit into a timeline. But after that, it became impossible without a WHOLE BUNCH of rationalizing. I’ve just always been of the school of thought that the townsfolk of Crystal Lake chalk up Parts 7 through 11 as legend. Basically, you just say since the first murder spree, there have been "Jason" sightings for over 20 years, but no proof can be found.

ANYWAY … the original murder spree: when the box set came out, I actually watched the DVDs with a pad and a pen, noting the cycle of days, the victims (or crime scenes, if you will) and Jason’s wounds in his original spree, since he was still human (Kane Hodder hadn't ruined him yet … I HATE the zombie Jason!). This is what I came up with:


==================================================


THE HEADLINES IN ROB'S BACKPACK
"Body of 'Friday the 13th Murderer' Missing; Feared Stolen From
Wessex Morgue"
"Massacre at Camp Crystal Lake Leaves One Survivor"
"Murderer Strikes Cafe; Cafe Owner and Wife Found Slain"
"Camp Crystal Lake Massacre: Seven Camp Counselors Killed By Local
Woman in Brutal Mass Murder"

THE WEEKLONG MASS MURDER AROUND CRYSTAL LAKE
Thursday the 12th
Day: The counselors arrive at Packanack Lodge.
Night: Jason kills Crazy Ralph.

Friday the 13th
Day: Jason kills the cop at his shack.
Night: Jason kills Scott, Terri, Mark, Jeff & Sandra and Vickie
before Ginny nearly severs his left arm with a machete. Jason
returns to attack Ginny and (probably) kill Paul.
(I believe this day was, in fact, Friday the 13th because he is
referred to as the "Friday the 13th Murderer" in the first headline.
The nickname would likely originate with the original crime.)

Saturday the 14th
Day: The police rescue Ginny and discover the first crime scene.
Night: Jason kills Harold and Edna at the truck stop.
(Obviously, this is where the "Murderer Strikes Cafe" headline comes
from.)

Sunday the 15th
Day: Chris and her friends arrive at Higgins Haven, where Jason
kills bikers Fox and Loco and leaves their leader, Ali, for dead.
Night: Jason kills Shelly, Vera, Andy, Debbie, Chuck, Chili, Rick
and Ali before Chris buries an ax in his head.

Monday the 16th
Day: The police rescue Chris and discover the second crime scene.
Night: Jason is taken to the Wessex County Morgue, where he kills
Axel and Nurse Morgan and makes his escape.
(The "Feared Stolen from Wessex Morgue" subhead comes from this.
Also, earlier in the movie when Mrs. Jarvis is reading the Wessex
County Register, the page's main headline reads "Mass Murderer's
Body Missing." It looks like the subhed says "Police Investigate
Missing Body," but I can't be sure.)

Tuesday the 17th
Day: Jason kills the hitchhiker.
Night: The kids arrive at the cottage next door to the Jarvis
family.

Wednesday the 18th
Day: Trish and Tommy meet Rob, the man hunting Jason for murdering
his sister, Sandra.
Night: Jason kills Sam, Paul, Terri, Mrs. Jarvis, Jimmy, Tina, Ted,
Doug, Sara and Rob before Tommy whacks him the face with a machete
and chops him into chum.

Obviously, the big "Camp Crystal Lake Massacre" headline come from
the first movie, since it had the artist's rendering of Alice's
description of Jason. Also, you could make an very strong argument
that the "Massacre ... Leaves One Survivor" headline could be referring
to Ginny, but I personally think it's another clipping surrounding the
events of the first film.

Now, for the sake of argument, if you start the timeline on Wednesday instead
of Thursday, it would make a lot of stuff much more logical:

1. Chris and her friends would take off for their weekend of fun on
Saturday morning, which makes much more sense.

2. The kids arrive at the cottage on Monday. Don't you think a house
rental should start at the beginning of the week, a la Monday?

The only question is this: If you start the week on Wednesday, that makes
the biggest event on Friday the 13th the discovery of the first crime scene.
Well, again I bring up the fact that I'm a journalist ... here's a little scenario
(imagine, if you will, that I’m the writer of the “Friday the 13th Murderer” headline):

Editor: "I need you to get your butt out to Crystal Lake."
Me: "Why, what happened?"
Editor: "They found 10 bodies and, get this, a rundown shack with a
head on an altar surrounded by candles."
Me: "Wow! Well, I guess they pulled the right day for this
shit."
Editor: "What?"
Me: "Happy Friday the 13th."


==================================================


FIRST CRIME SCENE (the area in and around Packanack Lodge):
10 dead – seven kids (assuming Paul was killed), one crazy old man,
one police officer and one long-dead and decayed body (Alice). Also,
a severed head was discovered.
01: Alice - stabbed in temple with ice pick five years earlier
02: Crazy Ralph - garotted with barbed wire
03: Policeman - hammer claw to head
04: Scott - throat slit with machete
05: Terri - knifed
06: Mark - macheted in face
07: Jeff and
08: Sandra - double impaling with spear
09: Vickie - knifed
10: Paul - disappears, presumed dead

DINER:
2 dead – cafe owner and wife.
11: Harold - meat cleaver to chest
12: Edna - knitting needle to back of head

SECOND CRIME SCENE (Higgins Haven):
10 dead – seven kids and three bikers.
13: Fox - pinned to rafter with pitchfork through neck
14: Loco - pitchfork to stomach
15: Shelly - throat slashed (offscreen)
16: Vera - spear fired into eye
17: Andy - macheted lengthwise while walking on hands
18: Debbie (pregnant) - knifed in throat
19: Chuck - electrocuted on fuse box
20: Chili - impaled with fireplace poker
21: Rick - head crushed until eye pops out
22: Ali - bludgeoned with a wrench; later recovers and is macheted.

WESSEX COUNTY MORGUE:
2 dead – coroner and nurse.
23: Axel - surgical hacksaw to throat, neck broken
24: Nurse Morgan - gutted with scalpel

ROADSIDE:
1 dead – hitchhiker.
25: Hitchhiker - knife through neck

THIRD CRIME SCENE (the area in and around the Jarvis residence and
the cottage next door):
10 dead – eight kids and two adults.
26: Samantha - knife through torso
27: Paul - spear to groin
28: Terri - spear in back
29: Mrs. Jarvis - killed offscreen
30: Jimmy - corkscrew through hand, cleaver to face
31: Tina - thrown from second-story window
32: Ted - knife to head
33: Doug - head crushed
34: Sara - axe to chest
35: Rob - garden harrow to throat


==================================================


JASON'S AUTOPSY REPORT
Mortal wounds:
-- Major head trauma (deep penetrating ax wound to left side of head
from Chris; deep penetrating machete wound to left eye and temple
from Tommy).

-- Major shoulder and vascular trauma (left arm nearly severed by
machete from Ginny).

-- Broken neck (hanged by Chris).

Defensive wounds:
-- Left hand (punctured clear through with carving knife by Chris;
whacked at several times with machete by Trish after punching
through stairs; split down the middle with a machete between his
middle and ring fingers by Trish).

-- Right arm (a chainsaw wound inflicted by Ginny).

-- Chest (a machete slash by Trish).

-- Right thigh (stab wound from a carving knife by Chris).

-- Neck (pierced by a claw hammer by Trish).

-- Head (previously inflicted blunt-force trauma; blows from a
fireplace log and a shovel (Chris), several blows to the face with
a claw hammer (Trish), as well as a couple hundred books rained
from an overturned bookcase (Chris) and a TV (Trish) smashed over it).

[sambob25]

From 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 they're all basically part of one "episode". At the beginning of 3 the first thing Jason does is steal some clothes. I always presumed this was because of the rip caused by the machete strike to the shoulder he took at the end of 2 and that he had enough intelligence to realize the need to change so as to avoid being spotted by the authorities who no doubt had been given a description by Jinny. Wasn't he wearing overalls when we first see him walking around at the outset of 3? And maybe he ripped the few strands of hair out of his head too.

At the beginning of 4, the first thing he does is get moved from the barn where he took the axe shot in 3. One big episode. No continuity problems for me. And I don't consider anything after part 4 as being anything other than bad ideas that shouldn't have become movies.

First of all, someone on the old board posted the screencaps of Part 3 when Edna looks outside and sees Jason lurking in her clothesline, and he is clearly wearing the Part 2-flannel shirt and overalls outfit (his long red hair is gone at this point, though). And right in front of him, you can clearly see the green work shirt and gray pants hanging on the line. Then, she turns back to the TV for a second before quickly looking outside again ... Jason is gone and the shirt and pants are missing.

As for your second paragraph ... dude, I completely agree. For the most part, at least. Part 5 was a valiant attempt but mostly a failure (I do blame the MPAA for a lot of it), but I've always been a huge fan of Part 6. The continuity of the series, for the most part, worked well through the end of that one.

But starting with Part 7, it all went to hell in the linear sense of storytelling. There are elements of all those sequels that I do like, but once Kane Hodder took over the role, Jason became the hero and I hated that. Part 7 was the first time you always saw him coming, almost from his first frame on screen. Part 2? Part 3? Most of Part 4? He'd killed everyone but the heroine before we got a really good look at him. I wanted to be scared of Jason ... I didn't want to cheer for him. The only time that EVER happened for me was "Freddy Vs. Jason" and I was OK with that.

[Rich]

Jason became the hero in Part 3 if you ask me. Although you didn't see him on screen as much as you do in Jason Lives and on, I lost count on how many times they mentioned the name Jason in the trailer and exploited the hockey mask look and the 3D gimick.

I like how people are biased and try to make the films they like in the series somehow look better then the others, but the fact of the matter is that after Part 2, there was no more suspense/mystery/mystic, people just came to see Jason so what he does. The story telling was over and it became an assembly line product. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I like them all, but Jason was the "anti-hero" way before Part 7. That all started with the third one.

[sambob25]

Jason became the hero in Part 3 if you ask me. Although you didn't see him on screen as much as you do in Jason Lives and on, I lost count on how many times they mentioned the name Jason in the trailer and exploited the hockey mask look and the 3D gimick.

I like how people are biased and try to make the films they like in the series somehow look better then the others, but the fact of the matter is that after Part 2, there was no more suspense/mystery/mystic, people just came to see Jason so what he does. The story telling was over and it became an assembly line product. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I like them all, but Jason was the "anti-hero" way before Part 7. That all started with the third one.

Dude, I respectfully disagree. I watched "the Final Chapter" the other night, and I was totally pulling for Trish, even after over 20 years. I was the first "Friday" I ever saw, and it's still my favorite. I was sad when Sara died, shocked when Jimbo died (he was still George McFly to me at that point). Rob was a great hero to me, trying to avenge his sister, and I remember being pissed that the filmmakers didn't have him put up more of a fight.

I still think the scariest sequence in the entire series is when Jason chases Trish out of the Jarvis house back over to the teens' cottage (yes, with Jason running the WHOLE time). She stops and looks back in disbelief and he's standing there in the doorway, takes two steps, then sprints up the stairs. She's absolutely hysterical at this point, but he charges her and she jumps out the window. It's just relentless.

But I was on Team Trish the whole time, and cheered when she fucked him up over and over again ... with the hammer, with the machete, with her fists. Awesome.

I don't think he began being the anti-hero until Buechler and Hodder took over for Part 7, because everything is from Jason's point of view at all times. I don't know how to put it into words, so compare Jimbo's death scene in 4 to Maddy's death scene in 7 sometime -- that's the difference between the first four films and all that came after.

[Lammert]

I think the anti-hero Jason started with Part 6, when everything became a cliché. And suddenly Tommy Jarvis was a 'normal' guy, while in 5 he was a true mental patient.
I think even Part 5 had suspense. And I always liked the fact it's not Jason..., kind of going back to the first, but still following the story that started at Camp Crystal Lake.

To me the whole 2-3-4 trilogy is perfect... minus a few make-up and geographic errors.
One of the few things I didn't like about those is Chris's flashback.

If only Joseph Zito had made more Fridays, I think he would've made a great Part 6.

[Joe Karlosi]

Jason became the hero in Part 3 if you ask me. Although you didn't see him on screen as much as you do in Jason Lives and on, I lost count on how many times they mentioned the name Jason in the trailer and exploited the hockey mask look and the 3D gimick.

I like how people are biased and try to make the films they like in the series somehow look better then the others, but the fact of the matter is that after Part 2, there was no more suspense/mystery/mystic, people just came to see Jason so what he does. The story telling was over and it became an assembly line product. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I like them all, but Jason was the "anti-hero" way before Part 7. That all started with the third one.


I agree completely, as someone who was there and went to see every movie when it was released in the theater. It was all about going to see Jason slaughter as many teens as possible, in as many different ways as possible. That change of priority started with Part 3, and certainly was now complete by Part 4 and 6.

BUT that's not to say we weren't still rooting for Trish in THE FINAL CHAPTER; we certainly were, and still do.

[The Dream Master]

I don't think Jason becoming the anti-hero has anything to do with the fact that people were coming to see him slaughter teens because that dynamic was always there. I think it was Cunningham that sold the pitch as "The Pepsi Generation getting brutally murdered on-screen" or something like that for the original; to me, the biggest shift with part 6 that changed things was the fact that Jason was very much front and center all the way through, and there were so many moments where it seemed like he was essentially posing for the camera. To me, the scene that embodies this the most is when he stands triumphantly on top of the RV because that's the first time that I can think of where an audience member would say "holy shit, that was bad ass!".

[johnboy3434]

EDIT: I'm renovating my timeline. It will be up whenever I finish it.

[Germaniac]

Now, for the sake of argument, if you start the timeline on Wednesday instead
of Thursday, it would make a lot of stuff much more logical:

1. Chris and her friends would take off for their weekend of fun on
Saturday morning, which makes much more sense.

2. The kids arrive at the cottage on Monday. Don't you think a house
rental should start at the beginning of the week, a la Monday?

If you let the events start on Tuesday then it would mak more sense for Part 2: the counselors are there for work and not for a weekend of partying, so they would not arrive on a weekend or very late in the week (starting on Monday wouldn´t fit with the rest of the timeline). Then the Higgin´s Haven killing would happen on Friday the 13th. Since Friday is the start of the weekend it would make sense for Chris and her friends. That would also allow us to use that F13-date with a day of mayor killing!
That would mean the kids from TFC would arrive at the house on sunday night. We actually have no idea how long the kids have rented that place. Judging from the amount of bags they have in their car I´d say they used rented the place for a weekend ... but for the sake of the timline I tweak it for a week (maybe they don´t like to change their clothes). So if the kids arrive on Sunday night that would allow them to enjoy the entire Monday. Maybe they had an agreement with the rental service for that night. Sure , you could say that the kids planned to arrive early in the morning and arrived so late at the house because they got lost on the way (remember the scene when they are in front of the graveyard). But it seemed to me that they only lost a couple of minutes because they missed a street. They must have been already near their destination at Crystal Lake, because of the Pamela-tombstone ( it would be a huge coincidence if Pamela was buried miles away from Crystal LaKe and the kids parked right in front of the Pamela-tombstone!)
So yeah, my 2-4 timeline starts on Tuesday and has Jason getting killed on Monday!

[Rich]

But I was on Team Trish the whole time

Okay, so you were in your living room watching the DVD and rooting for Trish 30 years after the fact. Watch the trailer though. Look at the way the film was advertised and marketed. Hell, look at the official poster. By then it was all about Jason. Even if he was still scary and meanacing, it was all about seeing Jason do what he does.

[Hypnocil]

Joe Zito specifically wanted TFC to be a story about Jason's death, so yes this was the first movie where Jason had an actual focus throughout. And Jason's death was an "event". However, that movie also gives enough time to develop the characters, specifically the Jarvis family.

IMO, the audience was supposed to be on Tommy and Trish's side...not Jason's. Jason was portrayed in a much scarier light than some other sequels.

[sambob25]

Hyponocil said it best. I second everything he said.

Also ...
Jason became the hero in Part 3 if you ask me. Although you didn't see him on screen as much as you do in Jason Lives and on, I lost count on how many times they mentioned the name Jason in the trailer and exploited the hockey mask look and the 3D gimick.
Well, you're not wrong about the trailer, but isn't it true that the name "Jason" is not uttered once for the entirety of Part 3? I mean, the actual movie? Trailers don't hold weight over time the way the actual movie does, since the trailers didn't truly become accessable until they started getting included as DVD extras, or on Youtube or the internet at large before that?

Okay, so you were in your living room watching the DVD and rooting for Trish 30 years after the fact.
Fuckin' A! Just watched it last week and I love how she fucks him up over and over again. Now, it is also true that Ted White is the scariest, most menacing Jason ever. But that's what makes the storytelling so effective ... he's terrifying, so you're worried about Trish. At least I was. The trailer catered to the fans who wanted to see what might be in store scare- and gore-wise, but once you're there, the movie better have a story or else it's all for naught.

[Rich]

Well, you're not wrong about the trailer, but isn't it true that the name "Jason" is not uttered once for the entirety of Part 3? I mean, the actual movie? Trailers don't hold weight over time the way the actual movie does, since the trailers didn't truly become accessable until they started getting included as DVD extras, or on Youtube or the internet at large before that?

But that's just it. The trailer was the marketing for the film, and by 1982, Jason was indeed a household name and people knew who he was and wanted to go to the movie to see him.

[Darkest Side of the Night]

Utellme....

Alice getting killed was very real. She was staying in a house that was in the town of Crystal Lake.

The Dream Master....

Exactly. :)


yep!! I figured it was downtown somewhere in Crystal Lake @ her apartment. Many are still confused by that! To illustrate, on the new dvd "His Name Was Jason, one of the commentators ask how did Jason get a plane ticket to go and find Alice?

It makes mores sense that Alice came back to Crystal Lake to battle her demons and Jason just found her there.

[johnboy3434]

Well, after much grueling effort (read: hitting the pause, rewind, fast-forward, and slow-mo buttons on my remote countless times), my analysis of the Ft13/NoES timeline is complete. I went into this without preconceptions, throwing out everything I thought I knew about the timeline and relearning it. The films are listed in chronological order because that's the order I watched them in. Note that, as we all know, it's impossible for a Ft13/NoES timeline to fit all the evidence (mostly due to incompetent writing or propmasters), so this won't please everyone. But just read it with an open mind and you might like it. For those who don't want to read through the stupid analysis and just want the results, there's an easy timeline in the end.



Friday the 13th (1980)

The prologue is simply identified as taking place in 1958. The main events are more specific. We know it's Friday, June 13th in the "Present Day" when Pamela goes medieval on everyone, which makes it pretty fucking clear that it's supposed to be 1980. The movie ends the following morning, putting the main events of the film on June 13-14, 1980. The little flashback to Jason drowning took place in 1957, we are told. Enjoy how easy this was. It's about to go right down the shitter.


Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

According to Paul's campfire story, Alice was killed two months after Pamela's rampage. This pins the prologue to August, 1980. Assuming the title is relevant, the largest portion of the main action (the day that the cop and counselors are killed) would take place on Friday the 13th. Hence, the counselors arrive on Thursday the 12th, and the final scene takes place on Saturday the 14th. The following movies will suggest otherwise, though. As for the year, Paul also says it's been 5 years since the first film, placing this in 1985. In this year, Friday the 13th fell during September and December. This sort of screws up the idea of Packanack Lodge being a Summer Camp until you remember that this is just supposed to be counselor training. If you consider that the trees are not dead from the ravages of Fall, yet, I think most people would pick September. Hence, the film would seem to cover September 12-14, 1985.


Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

Okay, this movie takes place immediately after the last one, as we all know. Harold and Edna bite the big one the night following Ginny's confrontation with Jason, which would make it seem like Saturday the 14th, with Chris and friends arriving at Higgins Haven the next day, and Chris being carted off the morning after that. However, Andy makes reference to a "weekend in the country", suggesting that it's at least Saturday, if not earlier, when the kids arrive. This moves the events back a day. So Part 2 now covers September 11-13 and Part III covers September 13-15, still in 1985. This also pins Chris' flashback to 1983, as it is implied to happen two years prior. The magazine Debbie reads talks about celebrating 25 years of Godzilla. Since Godzilla's first film was in 1954, this pins the magazine to 1979. I believe it's safe to say that the magazine was not current at the time.


Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Well, the film starts off the night following Chris' breakdown, the kids arrive at the cabin the next night, and the night after that is when everything goes to Hell. Since there's no indication that we should shift the dates anymore, that pegs this film's events to September 15-17, 1985. This is going to be the last easily dated movie for a while. The tombstone of Pamela Voorhees brings us to our first big continuity problem. From hereon out, I'm establishing a hierarchy to help deal with these inconsistencies. Onscreen text takes priority, followed by dialogue, followed by props, followed as a last resort by using the actors' ages and other guesses. Since the onscreen text in Ft13 trumps the tombstone (a prop), and since the date on said tombstone contains an error (June 13th, 1979 wasn't a Friday), I stick to my placement of Ft13 at 1980.


A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

There are, frustratingly, absolutely no hints as to what year it is in this film. The watch Nancy uses to time her awakening says August 24th, but fails to mention what year. Then again, it is also inconsistent with the actual time mentioned in the dialogue, so even the date might be questionable. It would seem we should pin this to its release year and say August 17-24, 1984, since the events cover at least seven days (Nancy says that the day after she confronts Krueger will be her seventh day without sleep, the first being the day Tina died, and the previous night being Tina's dream). However, the 18th and 19th, which would have to be school days for the movie to make sense, were a weekend in 1984. Combine this with the fact that schools don't usually start until around the day after Labor Day (September 4, in this case), and all we're left with is 1984 until the sequels change things up.


Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

This is where things get fuzzy. The only indication for any date that we're given are those seen in Tommy's medical file. From what I can tell, these are simple months and days, with no years given, but the look we get at them isn't the greatest. As a last resort, I will use the ages of the actors. Tommy was said to be 12 years old during TFC, and John Shepherd, the actor playing Tommy in ANB, was between 23 and 25. Going with the former to keep the film as close to the 80s as possible (the fashions make no effort to disguise the decade), that places the film in 1996, where Friday the 13th falls during September and December. Lana complains of it being cold, but it doesn't seem to be that close to winter, so I'll go with September (if anyone from New Jersey or Connecticut would like to correct me on what either looks like during the Fall, feel free). As far as days go, we have the day Tommy arrives at Pinehurst, and the day where just about everyone is killed. Since the latter gets more screentime and is more significant to the plot, I'll say this was the titular Friday. So this film covers September 12-13, 1996.

UPDATE: The mockumentary The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited has new timeline information for ANB. Tommy is said to be 18 during the events of ANB, placing the movie in 1991. However, they also screw up by saying that it had been seven years since TFC, in which Tommy was 12. The only way to reconcile this is to say that it is 1992 and Tommy hasn't had his birthday yet. Friday the 13th falls on both March and November this year. If Tommy hasn't had his birthday yet, it's most likely March. So I revise my date to March 12-13, 1992.


A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

Well, this film has absolutely nothing to even suggest when it takes place. All we know is that it's been 5 years since NoES, the date of which we don't really know, anyway. In fact, the range of dates I figured above is proven wrong in this one, as the diary entry from what had to be the day that Nancy confronted Krueger is dated March 15th. Since this was spoken, it trumps the prop watch that gave us the August date. This means the 10th and 11th had to be school days, and that works with a number of years. If we assume that FR takes place in the year of its release (and NoES doesn't), this places NoES on March 9-16, 1980 and FR somewhere in 1985.


Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)

We've actually got a bit of help here! The calendar on the wall of the sheriff's office is too blurry to read the name of the month, but we can see that it starts on a Sunday (like any month with Friday the 13th) and that it has 30 days. Since the film was made in 1986, this had to be June. Now, Thom Mathews, the actor playing Tommy, was 27 during filming. When compared to the age given for Tommy during TFC, that puts the film in 2000. Unfortunately, June 13th, 2000 was not a Friday, so we need to find the nearest year where it is. Our choices are 1997 or 2003. A form of some sort in the police station also had the date 1986 on it, but that's impossible. Still, I consider it a reason to go with the earlier date. The script for JL says Tommy is in his late teens, meaning the film can't take place later than 1992. Unfortunately, there are no dates after ANB that could coincide with a Friday the 13th and kids visiting summer camp. 1997 is still the earliest year that works. As for days, we have the night Jason is resurrected, the day of basically all the killing, and the final scene takes place the following morning. So JL takes place on June 12-14, 1997.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

The Nightmare movies have, so far, been uncanny in not giving you the slightest fucking clue when they take place. This movie says it's been 6 years since NoES, putting it a year after FR. Beyond that, all we know is that it has to take place before May 1989, because that's when Nancy's Hypnocil prescription expires. The pick-up date is listed on the bottle, but the year is obscured, so we can only make out that it was picked up on April 7th. Considering the size of the bottle and the fact that it's a daily drug, I wouldn't call it more than a month's supply. With nothing else to do, I'll pin it to April in its year of release, 1987. A calendar that has 31 days and starts on Sunday supports this as taking place in March 1987 (given the dates the film was being worked on), but that doesn't jive with the Hypnocil bottle. This moves NoES to March 9-16, 1981 (the 10th and 11th are still school days, so it works) and FR to some time in 1986.


Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

Those calendars are really coming in handy. There's one in Dr. Crews' makeshift office and in the kitchen of the kids' cabin. It, again, starts on Sunday, but has 31 days. Considering the year in which the film was made, this is obviously May. However, the prologue is simply impossible to make sense of without being creative. While the implication is certainly that Jason was already chained down in the lake when Tina killed her father, the timeline simply cannot accommodate that. Thus, we can only assume it is a flashback. The calendar (yay, calendars!) near the front door says Friday, October 13th. The earliest year that makes sense for this is 1989. Jennifer Banko, who played young Tina, was 9 at the time of filming, while Lar-Park Lincoln was 26. This places the main events in 2006, but May 13th wasn't a Friday that year. The closest year that it was was 2005. As for days, we have the day Tina arrives, the day everything goes to Hell, and the morning that Tina and Nick are carted off. So I pin this film to May 12-14, 2005. This will change soon.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Finally, something concrete! It's not much, but it's there: a calendar! Granted, the calendar on Alice's wall shows what is obviously May 1988, which doesn't jive with the statement of 93 days until summer vacation, but I'll take a year when I can get it. This is backed up by the fact that Hairspray is playing at the theater Alice visits in her dream. The span of time since DW is not given, but since they share some actors, who have all aged one year, I'll say DW was one year prior, which is where I already have it. So DM takes place around March 1988 (assuming a June end to the school year).


Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

Well, the main title for this film is entirely irrelevant. It cannot take place on Friday the 13th because, as the DJ says, Lakeview High's senior class will be graduating on "the 13th of this month". The intent is obvious. Given that Tamara's biology project was still due, I think it's safe to assume that they weren't graduating on the boat (or at least not that night). As for what month it is, most New Jersey school years end in June. Unfortunately, we're seriously running out of space on the timeline (to be explained later). There are no suitable years that fit this when TNB is pinned to 2005. In fact, the only June 13th that does work is in 2003. This is imperative if the dating is to make any sense, so we'll have to move TNB. Unfortunately (again), there are no instances of Friday, May 13th, within the interval from 1997 to 2003, so we must simply choose a Friday the 13th that fits. The name of the month on the calendar in TNB was never seen, so even if it isn't May, as long as it still has 31 days, the movie wouldn't technically be wrong. With these restrictions, the eligible Fridays fall in March 1998, August 1999, October 2000, July 2001, or December 2002. My decision ties into Rennie's flashback. No span of time is given between the flashback and main events, and I cannot find the young actress's age, so I will defer to the script, which says it was the summer of four years prior, or July-September 1999. Now, normally, the concept of Jason dragging her under makes no fucking sense at all, but if Jason were, say, chained to the bottom of the lake and grabbed her, while her weird psychic visions made him look like a little boy... you can see where I'm going with this. For this reason, I put TNB in August 1999 (and Rennie's flashback in July), because if Jason could pull Rennie down under the water after TNB, he would have better things to do than just sleep under the ruins of the dock. This would allow enough time for the town to change its name back to Crystal Lake, the furor over the TNB murders to cool down, and Suzi to apparently transfer to Lakeview High, since no one born and raised in Crystal Lake would be unaware of the Jason murders. It just wouldn't happen. Oh, and while I don't think I really need to say this, Jim's figure of "thirty years" (since Jason's drowning) simply can't work under any circumstances. In my timeline, it's more like 46 years. Just as with the first film, the flashback to Jason drowning took place in 1957.


A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989)

Well, we finally have a solid year. DC takes place in 1989, and considering that it involves a high school graduation, it most likely takes place in June of that year. We know that the days covered are Friday-Sunday, but there's no indication of which dates these refer to. The epilogue takes place after Jacob is born. We know Alice has been pregnant for at least 6 weeks because Jacob's gender has been determined, and most pregnancies are 38 weeks in length. That places the birth of Jacob in January 1990. Since the baby smiles in the epilogue, that means it is probably a month old, placing the epilogue in February 1990. There is a calendar in Mark's room for January 1989, but that makes no sense.


Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

We're given a concrete year in this film, as well. It is said to take place ten years from "now" (meaning 1991, the year of the film's release). So the year of the film is 2001, but we can specify further. Assuming Maggie's "happy Father's Day" is to be taken seriously, Freddy dies on June 17th, a Sunday. Counting backward, that means the film started the prior Thursday. So FD takes place from June 14-17, 2001. This is going to cause problems in the near future.


Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

The television program says that Jason Voorhees has been striking fear blah blah blah "for over 20 years". Now, it was never confirmed that Jason was a dangerous killer (or even alive) until the events of P2, P3, and TFC, back in 1985. Now, the only Friday the 13th in 2005 was in May, less than 20 years later. So, we look to 2006, where Friday the 13th falls in January and October. Again, I don't know what either New Jersey or Connecticut looks like in the Fall or Winter, but to me, this looks more like Fall, so I'll go with October. One of the days takes up nearly half the movie, so that will be the titular Friday. That is, of course, the day that Jason goes to Hell, with Freddy dragging his mask over on the morning of the next day. Duke arrives and Diana is slain the prior day, Duke was interviewed (and Jason escaped) one week before that, and Jason was overkilled to oblivion one week prior to the interview. So, Jason was blasted to pieces on September 28th, he transferred his soul to the Coroner on October 5, and the main events of the film take place on October 12-14, 2006.


New Nightmare (1994)

This obviously takes place in a separate timeline from all the other films, but the date is easy to tie down thanks to a real world event that is referenced. It starts in the week following the '94 LA earthquake, and proceeds only a few days from there. So we can safely say it takes place in January 1994.


Jason X (2002)

Well, we have problems of a different kind here. While I said I was going into these films without preconceptions, I broke that rule up in JTM because it was pushing things past 2008 (the year Jason had to have been captured by). We're given a year for the main events of JX: 2455. As for the prologue, things are a little hairy, mainly because the writers are stupid as all Hell. Rowan is said to have been in stasis for 455 years, but the cryogenic chamber was manufactured in 2010. Since the years 2455 is given explicitly, with no need for calculation, I'll go with that, and I'll use 2010 for the prologue since it minimizes the amount of stupidity in the other figures given. I can't tell you how glad I am that this is almost over. Just one more hump to skin.


Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Remember how I said FD was going to cause problems? Well, it just did. The Sheriff speaks of "four years of peace" (meaning without Freddy running free), and Mark and Will were both institutionalized four years prior to the film. This, combined with the fact that clips from FD are shown in the prologue, means it has to be at least 2005, and that's assuming Springwood recovered almost instantly. JGtH helps things by having to take place in at least 2006. Also, a deleted shot shows a re-enactment of Freddy's glove dragging Jason's mask underground, which makes it obvious that FvJ is an immediate sequel. So, Freddy found Jason on the morning of October 14th, with Jason waking up and heading off that night. Now, considering that Jason has to cover over 450 miles or so before reaching Lori's house on a weekend, I'm going to reasonably assume Jason arrived the Sunday of the next week, instead of the day after he woke up. It has to be a Sunday because Lori goes to school the following day. That night, the rave occurs and Lori runs off with Will. Stubbs finds them the next day and all but the final scene takes place on that day. The scene with Freddy and the little girl in the beginning had to take place in 1968, the year of his death. Apparently, he got one last victim after being released before the parents caught up with him. Also, Will's flashback to the death of Lori's mother is said to take place four years earlier, so sometime in 2002. Now to address the issues FD brings up. The construction site for Crystal Lake Resorts (worst. idea. ever.) is obviously unfinished, with a completion date of Spring 2004. This obviously doesn't jive with 2001 being over 4 years ago. I'm invoking the rule I set forth above, and so the onscreen text from FD (and the dialogue from JGtH, now that I think about it), overrules the prop from FvJ. This will be one of my most controversial decisions (after all, we are only given a few explicit years; to turn one away must seem like madness), but I tend to believe the word of an omniscient narrator before I believe a sign that could very well be obsolete thanks to the myriad amounts of legal and financial problems that come with building a resort on the site of multiple mass murders. Oh, and as a bonus, the deleted alternate ending took place two months after the main events, so sometime in December.



Sweet mother of mercy, am I glad that's over. Now, I specifically arranged this so that each installment of the Friday series follows the other chronologically, since most of the people here tend to not split the timeline like in Halloween (with the exception of NN, which is placed in its own timeline). So, here's my timeline in one, unified piece. If you believe in timeline splits, like me, just chop out the relevant sections. Italics indicate main events.



MAIN TIMELINE

1957
-Unspecified date: Ft13/JTM [Jim's] flashbacks

1958
-Unspecified date: Ft13 prologue

1968
-Unspecified date: FvJ prologue [Freddy segment]

1980
-June 12-13: Friday the 13th
-August: P2 prologue

1981
-March 9-16: A Nightmare on Elm Street

1983
-Summer: P3 flashback

1985
-September 11-13: Friday the 13th Part 2
-September 13-15: Friday the 13th Part III
-September 15-17: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

1986
-Unspecified date: A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

1987
-April: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

1988
-March: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

1989
-June: A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child
-October 13: TNB prologue

1990
-February: DC epilogue

1992
-March 12-13: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

1997
-June 12-14: Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI

1999
-July: JTM [Rennie's] flashback
-August 12-14: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

2001
-June 14-17: Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

2002
-Unspecified date: FvJ flashback

2003
-June: Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

2006
-September 28: JGtH prologue
-October 5: JGtH "American Case File" interview
-October 12-14: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
-October 14: FvJ prologue [Jason segment]
-October 22-25: Freddy vs. Jason
-December: FvJ deleted epilogue

2010
-Unspecified date: JX prologue

2455
-Unspecified date: Jason X


ALTERNATE TIMELINE

1994
-January: New Nightmare



That's it. I'm done. I welcome any discussion/debate.

[Rich]

yep!! I figured it was downtown somewhere in Crystal Lake @ her apartment. Many are still confused by that! To illustrate, on the new dvd "His Name Was Jason, one of the commentators ask how did Jason get a plane ticket to go and find Alice?

It makes mores sense that Alice came back to Crystal Lake to battle her demons and Jason just found her there.

There was no plane ticket involved. Most of those "horror jornalists" that were on His Name was Jason had no idea what they were talking about. Hell Jeff Katz who actually writes the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash comics (which suck by the way, Jason has a machette for an actual hand now...come on!) said that Part 3 was the one where he runs and after that he kind of lumbered around. So, he didn't run in Parts 2 and 4? The guy writes the current canon comic book series and doesn't even have a handle of the history of the character. :mad:

It really makes you wonder why these companies hire people like this to write their products when people like us can make it not only 100x better but also more accurate and respectful to everything that it is built upon.

[Steven Lloyd]

Hey, guys!

I am watching the entire Friday series for the first time and trying to make it fit into a timeline, along with the Nightmare and Evil Dead series (I'm including Freddy vs Jason vs Ash). The first six films were pretty easy to place, based on Tommy Jarvis' relative ages (12 in TFC, 15ish in ANB, about 17 in JL)...

The question I have is, how old is Tina Shepard supposed to be? I have the opening of The New Blood taking place the October after Jason Lives, which for me is in 1989. Jason, looking exactly as he did in Part 6, is chained under the lake when Tina is young. When she returns to Crystal Lake, Jason is rotting and decomposed. I'd like to know if anyone has a copy of the TNB script or another official source that states how old Tina is. The French dub on the DVD says she was eight when her father drowned, but that puts the film in at least 1997, which is too far from the 80s for my tastes. I'd really appreciate it!

I'll post my full timeline when I've finished all three series.

[The Dream Master]

If you go by the idea that the prologue of VII takes place after part VI, there's really no way around setting most of the action in the 90s because there's a decent gap there. I believe Buechler once said that it was supposed to take place ten years after Jason Lives, but that never really showed up in the film itself. My guess is that Tina is anywhere between 16 and 18.

[Steven Lloyd]

If you go by the idea that the prologue of VII takes place after part VI, there's really no way around setting most of the action in the 90s because there's a decent gap there. I believe Buechler once said that it was supposed to take place ten years after Jason Lives, but that never really showed up in the film itself. My guess is that Tina is anywhere between 16 and 18.

I have no problem with TNB taking place in the 90s... just not as far as 1997 into it.

Ah, well, I guess I'll just make Tina 10 in the prologue and and have her be 16 in the main part of the film. 1995 isn't so bad. Of course, JTM just has to be so damn 1989...

[Rich]

This is why I don't really bother with timeline too much. I just see it as every film happens after the one before it, but don't put too much thought into what year it actually happens in. Then again. JTM could have been late 90s. I mean, why could it not be? They had a Batman symbol in Times Square, but it could have been for the film Batman & Robin from 1998. That movie was extremely hyped and publicized dispite how it actually turned out.

[Steven Lloyd]

Okay, here's my timeline. I've given up on trying to shoehorn anything besides the films in, because it's impossible. My dates are based on the fact that the in-universe calendar is off by two days, due to the "Friday June 13, 1979" placement of the first film.

1957, Summer: Jason drowns
1958, July 4: Ft13 prologue (Date from script.)
1979, June 13-14: Friday the 13th
1979, August: Part 2 prologue
1981, March 9-16: A Nightmare on Elm Street
1982, Summer: Chris is attacked
1984, June 10-16: Parts 2, 3 and The Final Chapter
1986, September 10-20: Freddy's Revenge
1987, April: Dream Warriors (Nancy's Hypnocil bottle)
1988. March: The Dream Master
1989, June 14-16: The Dream Child
1989, September 11-13: A New Beginning
1990, June 12-14: Jason Lives (Script says Tommy is in his late teens. Camp is open.)
1993, October 13: John Shepard drowns
1999, January 18: Bobby's death
1999, Spring: Mrs. Campbell's death
1999, June 14-17: Freddy's Dead (Maggie's "Happy Father's Day" line.)
1999, October 12-14: The New Blood (Weather is fall-like. Calendar in party cabin has 31 days.)
2001, Early June: Jason Takes Manhattan (Takes place before the 13th.)
2003, July 29-August 14: Jason Goes To Hell (At least two years after cabins torn down, last seen in JTM.)
2003, September: Freddy vs Jason (According to the novel, Jason was in hell less than a week.)
2010: Jason X Prologue
2455: Jason X

[johnboy3434]

I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on this. I HATE placing JTM in 2003 when it is so clearly 1989, and was thinking about how to move it further back in the timeline. In addition to this, the script for JL says that Tommy was in his late teens, while he's 24 in my timeline. Considering that ANB is more or less fixed to March 1992, I figured this was impossible to achieve.

However, I noticed that August 13, 1993 was a Friday. In addition, it could be a few weeks shy of Tommy's 20th birthday. Problem with this is that we see kids arriving at what is clearly meant to be a summer camp. If it was just a three-week affair ending the Friday before school starts (traditionally the day after Labor Day, meaning September 7 in this case), though, it could work. I never went to summer camp, so I don't know if it's remotely plausible or not. Your thoughts?

If that's plausible, I was thinking of putting JTM in June 1997, which is a little better. But there's also a problem with TNB. There's a scene where a couple goes skinny dipping, and I don't know what the seasonal weather is like in New Jersey/Connecticut. The only summer month that works in the interval from '93 to '97 is May 1994. Problem is, Tina is clearly supposed to have aged more than 5 years since the flashback. The only other viable months are January, September, October, and December. Of those, September seems the most likely of the four to get skinny dippers that aren't suicidal (not to mention that we saw September skinny dipping in P2, P3, and TFC). If anyone here lives or has spent some time in New Jersey or Connecticut, could you tell me if any of those months is plausible?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[CrystalLake]

How Jason swam all the way to Manhattan, how Jason Goes To Hell has absolutely NO continuity with Part 8, and the same thing with Jason X.

[johnboy3434]

How Jason swam all the way to Manhattan, how Jason Goes To Hell has absolutely NO continuity with Part 8, and the same thing with Jason X.

The way I see it, there are four distinct Ft13 timelines in the original series.

Timeline 1: Ft13---P2---P3---TFC---ANB
Timeline 2: Ft13---P2---P3---TFC---JL---TNB---JTM
Timeline 3: Ft13---P2---P3---TFC---JL---JGtH---FvJ
Timeline 4: Ft13---P2---P3---TFC---JL---JX

That helps clear up some of the messy continuity between movies. The one glaring flaw is that there's no explanation for Jason escaping the lake after JL in the third and fourth timelines, so you sort of have to fill in the blanks. All things considered, though, the chain noose wouldn't be the least bit difficult to escape in real life. It can't be tightened like a rope noose can, so if it can fit around your head going on, it can fit around your head going off. The only thing that kept Jason from immediately escaping was his own buoyancy, the fact that he was trying to kill Tommy, and later the fact that his neck was broken. Once he woke up the following day, it should have been back to business as usual.

[The Source]

Why are you skipping parts VII and VIII?

Also, there's nothing to indicate ANB didn't happen in JL. So what if Tommy is written differently.

The ending of JTM is clearly another one of the hallucinations that Rennie had been having the whole movie. He was washed back to sea and traveled back to Crystal Lake. No different than how he traveled from Ohio to Crystal Lake in JGTH. Then he's resurrected in FvJ and after winning the war with Freddy goes back to killing until sometime in 2008, he's captured by the US government setting up JX.

[heavymetal]

Goodness, Johnboy. Do you ever quit? We get it. You think you're right and better than everyone. Move on with your sad little life, please. Since I've seen all the actual scripts ... including multiple drafts of some, I figure I'll unload a little heavier artillery on you than what I did previously in our 'discussions'.

FRIDAY THE 13th - June 13, 1979. NINETEEN SEVENTY FUCKING NINE. Got it? You know why? Because it is made so in The Final Chapter. Call it a fuckin’ prop error if you want, but I have seen drafts of the Final Chapter's script. EACH of them says RIGHT in the script “the tombstone reads Pamela Voorhees … died June 13, 1979”. End of story. Cleared.

FRIDAY THE 13th PART II - Obviously sometime in 1984. I’ll say Wednesday, July 11th, 1984; and Thursday July 12th, 1984.

FRIDAY THE 13th PART III - Friday, July 13th, 1984. My evidence her for this judgment is all of the lines referring to a whole weekend ahead of them.

FRIDAY THE 13th: THE FINAL CHAPTER - Saturday, July 14th, 1984 - Monday, July 16th. Guess what? The script ALSO says that Tommy is 12 here. 12. Keep that in mind.

A NEW BEGINNING: FRIDAY THE 13th PART V - Somewhere in 1987. I seem to remember the script saying he's 15 ... which places it a year before VI. Good enough.

JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13th PART VI - Friday, May 13th, 1988. Why 1988? Because ONE draft of the script said Tommy is in his late teens … which places it at 1991 at the latest. However, at LATER draft of the script that I SAW WITH MY OWN EYES says Tommy is 16. SIXTEEN. FOUR YEARS AFTER THE FINAL CHAPTER. It’s also Friday, May 13th, because it looks like mid to late spring in the film AND Rick says it’s Friday the 13th RIGHT IN THE FILM.

THE NEW BLOOD: FRIDAY THE 13th PART VII PROLOGUE - Somewhere between 1989-1991 - I’ll say 1990. Making Tina 14, and giving Jason’s body enough time to have deteriorated a bit.

THE NEW BLOOD: FIRDAY THE 13th PART VII - Either August 12-13, 1994, Not really a concern to me, since there isn’t much to go by in the script. BUT, I’ll go with this since the film LOOKS like Summer, and it’s a plausible date. This makes Tina 17. Good enough for me.

JASON TAKES MANHATTAN: FRIDAY THE 13th PART VIII - May 12-13, 1995. Perfectly fitting for graduation back then. Again, not much of a concern, since there’s not much to go by.

JASON GOES TO HELL - Anywhere between late 1995 and 2000. I’ll take 2000 since Freddy’s Dead wasn’t until 1999. YES 1999, because the “ten years” bit at the beginning fucking means ten years after Dream Child, which is clearly 1989. I’m not even going to listen to all your opinions about “ten years” being from the release date, Johnboy. You fail in that department and will continue to fail.

FREDDY VS. JASON - September 13, 2003. I’m not going much by all the dialogue here. I’m going by the sign that says “Opening Spring 2004” RIGHT IN THE FILM. Whether you like it or not, that places it in late 2003 at the latest. Also, 4 years of peace from 1999 for Springwood fits PERFECTLY.

Jason Is Captured and whatnot in 2008

Jason is frozen in 2010

JASON X - August 13, 2455. I don’t have to say much here.

[The Dude]

i like your style, heavymetal.

[heavymetal]

He's always refused to budge on his stubborn opinions (whether it be Part I being in 1979, or FVJ being set in 2003), so I figured it was time to bring in the cavalry ;)

Or do you just like my style because of what's in my signature? ;)

[The Dude]

little of both.

[heavymetal]

He was basing his ENTIRE timeline at one point ... off of Freddy's Dead saying "10 years from now" or whatever at the beginning ... saying that it was 10 years from release date and subsequently placing Freddy vs. Jason in 2005-2006.

Big error. By placing it the way I've suggested, then you get a matching timeline even to the dialogue said in Freddy vs. Jason. He was also saying that Jason Goes To Hell had to be in 2004 because the TV announcer said something along the lines of Jason being a killer for 20 years. Oh well, it was a figurative rounded statement, not meant to be taken to the exact words spoken, as it is.

Writers can't always get everything right, but either my timeline or The Source's seems to be the most plausible.

And I repeat what I said to you at one point, Johnboy ... "Your timeline is the only sensible one? Which asylum did you jump the fence of?"

[Steven Lloyd]

Wow, heavymetal, thanks a lot! Would it be so much trouble to provide access to these scripts, perhaps? I like reading scripts.

Goodness, Johnboy. Do you ever quit? We get it. You think you're right and better than everyone. Move on with your sad little life, please. Since I've seen all the actual scripts ... including multiple drafts of some, I figure I'll unload a little heavier artillery on you than what I did previously in our 'discussions'.

FRIDAY THE 13th - June 13, 1979. NINETEEN SEVENTY FUCKING NINE. Got it? You know why? Because it is made so in The Final Chapter. Call it a fuckin’ prop error if you want, but I have seen drafts of the Final Chapter's script. EACH of them says RIGHT in the script “the tombstone reads Pamela Voorhees … died June 13, 1979”. End of story. Cleared.

FRIDAY THE 13th PART II - Obviously sometime in 1984. I’ll say Wednesday, July 11th, 1984; and Thursday July 12th, 1984.

FRIDAY THE 13th PART III - Friday, July 13th, 1984. My evidence her for this judgment is all of the lines referring to a whole weekend ahead of them.

FRIDAY THE 13th: THE FINAL CHAPTER - Saturday, July 14th, 1984 - Monday, July 16th. Guess what? The script ALSO says that Tommy is 12 here. 12. Keep that in mind.

A NEW BEGINNING: FRIDAY THE 13th PART V - Somewhere in 1987. I seem to remember the script saying he's 15 ... which places it a year before VI. Good enough.

JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13th PART VI - Friday, May 13th, 1988. Why 1988? Because ONE draft of the script said Tommy is in his late teens … which places it at 1991 at the latest. However, at LATER draft of the script that I SAW WITH MY OWN EYES says Tommy is 16. SIXTEEN. FOUR YEARS AFTER THE FINAL CHAPTER. It’s also Friday, May 13th, because it looks like mid to late spring in the film AND Rick says it’s Friday the 13th RIGHT IN THE FILM.

THE NEW BLOOD: FRIDAY THE 13th PART VII PROLOGUE - Somewhere between 1989-1991 - I’ll say 1990. Making Tina 14, and giving Jason’s body enough time to have deteriorated a bit.

THE NEW BLOOD: FIRDAY THE 13th PART VII - Either August 12-13, 1994, Not really a concern to me, since there isn’t much to go by in the script. BUT, I’ll go with this since the film LOOKS like Summer, and it’s a plausible date. This makes Tina 17. Good enough for me.

JASON TAKES MANHATTAN: FRIDAY THE 13th PART VIII - May 12-13, 1995. Perfectly fitting for graduation back then. Again, not much of a concern, since there’s not much to go by.

JASON GOES TO HELL - Anywhere between late 1995 and 2000. I’ll take 2000 since Freddy’s Dead wasn’t until 1999. YES 1999, because the “ten years” bit at the beginning fucking means ten years after Dream Child, which is clearly 1989. I’m not even going to listen to all your opinions about “ten years” being from the release date, Johnboy. You fail in that department and will continue to fail.

FREDDY VS. JASON - September 13, 2003. I’m not going much by all the dialogue here. I’m going by the sign that says “Opening Spring 2004” RIGHT IN THE FILM. Whether you like it or not, that places it in late 2003 at the latest. Also, 4 years of peace from 1999 for Springwood fits PERFECTLY.

Jason Is Captured and whatnot in 2008

Jason is frozen in 2010

JASON X - August 13, 2455. I don’t have to say much here.

The only thing I'd like to contest you on is the date for TNB. I really can't fathom Tina being being 14 in the prologue. Especially since in the French dub, she said she was 8. Even if it's a dub, it was still onscreen.

[johnboy3434]

Goodness, Johnboy. Do you ever quit? We get it. You think you're right and better than everyone. Move on with your sad little life, please. Since I've seen all the actual scripts ... including multiple drafts of some, I figure I'll unload a little heavier artillery on you than what I did previously in our 'discussions'.

FRIDAY THE 13th - June 13, 1979. NINETEEN SEVENTY FUCKING NINE. Got it? You know why? Because it is made so in The Final Chapter. Call it a fuckin’ prop error if you want, but I have seen drafts of the Final Chapter's script. EACH of them says RIGHT in the script “the tombstone reads Pamela Voorhees … died June 13, 1979”. End of story. Cleared.

FRIDAY THE 13th PART II - Obviously sometime in 1984. I’ll say Wednesday, July 11th, 1984; and Thursday July 12th, 1984.

FRIDAY THE 13th PART III - Friday, July 13th, 1984. My evidence her for this judgment is all of the lines referring to a whole weekend ahead of them.

FRIDAY THE 13th: THE FINAL CHAPTER - Saturday, July 14th, 1984 - Monday, July 16th. Guess what? The script ALSO says that Tommy is 12 here. 12. Keep that in mind.

A NEW BEGINNING: FRIDAY THE 13th PART V - Somewhere in 1987. I seem to remember the script saying he's 15 ... which places it a year before VI. Good enough.

JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13th PART VI - Friday, May 13th, 1988. Why 1988? Because ONE draft of the script said Tommy is in his late teens … which places it at 1991 at the latest. However, at LATER draft of the script that I SAW WITH MY OWN EYES says Tommy is 16. SIXTEEN. FOUR YEARS AFTER THE FINAL CHAPTER. It’s also Friday, May 13th, because it looks like mid to late spring in the film AND Rick says it’s Friday the 13th RIGHT IN THE FILM.

THE NEW BLOOD: FRIDAY THE 13th PART VII PROLOGUE - Somewhere between 1989-1991 - I’ll say 1990. Making Tina 14, and giving Jason’s body enough time to have deteriorated a bit.

THE NEW BLOOD: FIRDAY THE 13th PART VII - Either August 12-13, 1994, Not really a concern to me, since there isn’t much to go by in the script. BUT, I’ll go with this since the film LOOKS like Summer, and it’s a plausible date. This makes Tina 17. Good enough for me.

JASON TAKES MANHATTAN: FRIDAY THE 13th PART VIII - May 12-13, 1995. Perfectly fitting for graduation back then. Again, not much of a concern, since there’s not much to go by.

JASON GOES TO HELL - Anywhere between late 1995 and 2000. I’ll take 2000 since Freddy’s Dead wasn’t until 1999. YES 1999, because the “ten years” bit at the beginning fucking means ten years after Dream Child, which is clearly 1989. I’m not even going to listen to all your opinions about “ten years” being from the release date, Johnboy. You fail in that department and will continue to fail.

FREDDY VS. JASON - September 13, 2003. I’m not going much by all the dialogue here. I’m going by the sign that says “Opening Spring 2004” RIGHT IN THE FILM. Whether you like it or not, that places it in late 2003 at the latest. Also, 4 years of peace from 1999 for Springwood fits PERFECTLY.

Jason Is Captured and whatnot in 2008

Jason is frozen in 2010

JASON X - August 13, 2455. I don’t have to say much here.

Hate to say it, but you just wasted that caustic diatribe. I've posted my revised timeline in another topic, and it is a tad more orthodox. Whereas my previous methodology had been to take onscreen text over dialogue over props, regardless of which films said evidence appeared in, my new methodology was to take a conflicting reference from a later film as gospel, regardless of how prominently it displayed itself. Here is the post where I revised it:

Okay, so if we assume that a conflicting reference from a later film constitutes a retcon and always trumps the original reference, then:

1.) Ft13 takes place in 1979, which means it cannot take place on Friday, June 13th, as per the first film. The most appropriate substitute is Friday, July 13-14, 1979 (the other option was in April, which I think is too early for a summer camp to begin). It's notable that, either way, Tierney is wrong when he says that it's a full moon. The prologue stays in 1958. Jason still drowns in 1957.

2.) Due to #1 above, P2, P3, and TFC take place in 1984. The script for P3 places its main events on Friday the 13th, so the most appropriate month for the films is July (the other options are January and April, which are too early for the summer camp seen in P2). As such, P2 covers July 10-12 (with the prologue taking place in September 1979), P3 covers July 12-14 (with Chris' flashback taking place no later than 1982), and TFC covers July 14-16.

3.) FvJ taking place in 2003 necessitates that the prologue to TNB take place on Friday, October 13, 1989. As such, ANB and JL need to squeeze into this five-year period. JL takes place on a Friday the 13th, there's a summer camp in session, and the script places Tommy in his "late teens". If one's teen years were divided into "early" and "late", then "late" would be anything after 16.5 years. ANB says Tommy was 12 in TFC, so if we make him as old as possible, we can say his 13th birthday was on July 17th, 1984. This means he hits his "late" teens no earlier than January 17th, 1988. The latest Friday the 13th before the TNB prologue is in January 1989, but this is incompatible with the summer camp idea. The latest before that is in May 1988, which, while still somewhat early for a summer camp, is the only really feasible date left. So JL covers May 12-14, 1988.

4.) While nothing explicitly places ANB on Friday the 13th, I'll do it just to keep the title relevant. Since Tommy already looks much too old, I'll place it as late as possible, meaning November 12-13, 1987. Lana complains about it being cold, so a Fall month is feasible.

5.) TNB's prologue is addressed above. JTM would ideally take place in June (due to the high school graduation) and on a month with a Friday the 13th (the DJ says that they graduate on the "13th of this month", so the intent is pretty obvious). With FvJ taking place in 2003, the latest viable date is June 1997. The script says Rennie's flashback is from four years prior, so Summer 1993. Since Tina suffers from looking much older than her character is supposed to be, I'll place the main events as late as possible before this. Again, there's no real evidence that TNB takes place on Friday the 13th, but I try to keep the title relevant. This is somewhat complicated by the skinny-dipping scene, which means that the temperature must be at least marginally comfortable to swim in. I proved that I care far, FAR too much about this subject by looking up the average monthly temperatures in New Jersey and Connecticut during the viable time periods, and the latest date that hits the 70-degree-Fahrenheit range is August 1993, which is far, far too early for my tastes (feel free to share your thoughts). After that, the month that comes the closest is September 1996 (66.8 degrees, in case you were wondering), which I am much more comfortable with. So I'll place TNB's main events on September 12-14, 1996.

6.) JGtH is a direct prequel to FvJ, so I'll place it on the latest possible Friday the 13th before FvJ (the "over 20 years" quote would place it in 1999 at the earliest, anyway). Considering that the kids are in school and the corn stalks are just about ready to harvest, FvJ seems to take place in Fall 2003. That would pin JGtH to June 12-14, 2003, with the Creighton Duke interview taking place on June 5th and the prologue taking place on May 29th.

7.) The script of JX suffers from incredibly lazy editing. The year 2455 is given explicitly for the main events, and the cryogenic chamber Jason was kept in was constructed in (again, explicitly) 2010, but Jason is said to have been frozen for 455 years. To minimize the stupidity, I'll place the prologue in 2010 and keep the stated year for the main events.

8.) The first five ANoES films are a bit less troublesome. TDC takes place in June 1989 (due to the high school graduation) and the smiling baby places the epilogue in February 1990 or later. The time between TDM and TDC is never stated, but the poster for Hairspray and the statement of 93 days until summer vacation suggests March 1988. The time between DW and TDM is also unspecified, and there's really no indication as to how long it's been. Since the common cast members have all aged a year, I'm (admittedly arbitrarily) placing DW in April 1987, the month coming from the pickup date on Nancy's bottle of Hypnocil. DW is said to be six years after ANoES, and FR is said to be five, so FR takes place in 1986. This places ANoES on March 9-16, 1981, with the dates suggested by the diary in FR. There's still the issue of Nancy watching The Evil Dead on TV, but there's nothing to be done about that. FD proves a bit more problematic. No matter what anyone says, I will not back down on the fact that the "10 years from now" indicates a 2001 placement. That said, I'll say FvJ retcons that date by saying that Springwood has been at peace for four years, setting FD on June 17-20, 1999 (the date coming from Maggie's "Happy Father's Day" remark).

9.) NN takes place in its own continuity, and the earthquake mentioned in news reports at the beginning was a real event, so the film takes place in January 1994.

10.) The reboot of Ft13 never gives a specific date in the movie itself, but a deleted scene has a calendar prominently displaying the date of Friday, June 13th, 2008. I don't like using a deleted scene, but it's the only real indicator there is. So the main events cover June 13-14, 2008, with the pre-title sequence taking place six weeks earlier on May 2nd, 2008, and the prologue explicitly taking place on June 13th, 1980.

There you go.The only points of importance (read: the ones that aren't just our interpretations on the passing of time) where our timelines differ now is that I placed Ft13 on July 13th to line up with a real calendar and Tommy would have JUST (and I mean, just days prior) turned 16 in ANB. You placed JTM in a May month, while I placed mine in a June. Graduations take place in either month, so it's just a matter of preference. I assumed Tina was 9 in the TNB prologue, making her 16 in the rest of the movie, but she could easily pass for 10. I admit the placing of JGtH so late in the timeline was somewhat arbitrary on my part, but the fact that they redid the final shot of JGtH while filming FvJ gave me the impression that FvJ was a direct sequel.

With that out of the way, though, I would like to point out that I have done absolutely nothing to deserve the tone of your post. The "most sensible timeline" remark is the only thing I've said that anyone could even begin to construe as arrogance. The rest of my discussions about the timeline were nothing more than disagreements on how to interpret the evidence as presented. Whether you like it or not, "10 years from now" meaning 10 years after the film's release is not only a valid interpretation, but the most obvious one, and not a single person would argue against that if it weren't for FvJ. You come across as far more condescending and mean-spirited than I ever did.

[The Source]

The only thing I'm going to say is Rachel Talalay didn't have a set date in mind. That reference to ten years from now means just that... ten years from now so if I put in FD right now it would take place in 2020. Of course that isn'tt the case anymore with FVJ so we have set FD in 1999 and it's really not debatable as it fits with the evidence given in all films. At the end of the day we can just blame Rachel for not liking parts 3-5 and wanted nothing to do with them and if you don't believe me, track down her interviews. She says flat out that she gives Freddy's Dead no real date to kill the connection to parts 3-5.

[heavymetal]

If I can dig up those scripts for you, man, I will @ Steven Lloyd

Now, just for those still lingering on when FVJ takes place, I WILL be taking the liberty of messaging Damian Shannon or Mark Swift when I can to get their comments on when they meant for it to take place.

:)

[johnboy3434]

Now, just for those still lingering on when FVJ takes place, I WILL be taking the liberty of messaging Damian Shannon or Mark Swift when I can to get their comments on when they meant for it to take place.

Umm, I'm the only one here who doubted its 2003 placement, and I don't anymore.

[heavymetal]

But just to clear it up, I think it'd be fine to try and get in touch with them and find out for sure what their full intentions were.

Like I've said, I believe my timeline for I-VI are perfectly placed. Parts 7-9 are give and take.

[Steven Lloyd]

If I can dig up those scripts for you, man, I will @ Steven Lloyd

:)

Thanks so much! Anyway, revision time due to heavymetal's new evidence. And yes, I will be using an internally consistent calendar. Meaning that the calendar of this universe is off by two days.

Ft13 - June 13-14, 1979
P2 Prologue - August, 1979
Chris' flashback - Summer, 1982
P2, PIII, TFC - June 10-16, 1984
All obvious.

ANB - May 11-13, 1987
JL - April 12-14, 1988
Due to Tommy's relative ages and the number of days on Garris' calendar.

TNB Prologue - October 13, 1993
Earliest time this can possibly happen.

Rennie's flashback - Summer, 1995
TNB - May 12-14, 1998
Fits well. This salvages the ten-year gap that JCB insists on and allows the timeline to flow well. If Tina is 17, she was 12 in the prologue. The script tells us Rennie's flashback was 4 years prior.

JTM - June, 1999
JGtH - May 28-June 14, 2001
FvJ - September 11-14, 2003
JTM can't be a Ft13 anyway. JGtH has to be in at least 1999, allowing two years for Jason to return to CL and for the FBI to track him there. FvJ obvious.

[The Source]

Thanks so much! Anyway, revision time due to heavymetal's new evidence. And yes, I will be using an internally consistent calendar. Meaning that the calendar of this universe is off by two days.

Ft13 - June 13-14, 1979
P2 Prologue - August, 1979
Chris' flashback - Summer, 1982
P2, PIII, TFC - June 10-16, 1984
All obvious.

ANB - May 11-13, 1987
JL - April 12-14, 1988
Due to Tommy's relative ages and the number of days on Garris' calendar.

TNB Prologue - October 13, 1993
Earliest time this can possibly happen.

Rennie's flashback - Summer, 1995
TNB - May 12-14, 1998
Fits well. This salvages the ten-year gap that JCB insists on and allows the timeline to flow well. If Tina is 17, she was 12 in the prologue. The script tells us Rennie's flashback was 4 years prior.

JTM - June, 1999
JGtH - May 28-June 14, 2001
FvJ - September 11-14, 2003
JTM can't be a Ft13 anyway. JGtH has to be in at least 1999, allowing two years for Jason to return to CL and for the FBI to track him there. FvJ obvious.

I have to say this is one of the best timelines I've seen from you or anyone in here. I like that you included Rennie's flashback during the time Jason was chained underneath, I've been doing that too. All in all good job.

[Steven Lloyd]

I have to say this is one of the best timelines I've seen from you or anyone in here. I like that you included Rennie's flashback during the time Jason was chained underneath, I've been doing that too. All in all good job.

Thanks! The only film I had no basis for at all is Part 9. All I know is it's after 1999 and before fall of 2003 and at least two years after JTM, which is in 1999 already. So JGTH was a blind guess. I put it in 2001. Apparently, there's a deleted scene in JGTH where Duke mentions the Manhattan murders.

[heavymetal]

Even with 'Late teens', Jason Lives can only be placed in 1991 at the latest, which still leaves PLENTY of time for The New Blood and Jason Takes Manhattan while still leaving a lot of room open for Jason Goes To Hell.

But the script I saw, for sure said 16. Might have been an earlier draft, might have been a later draft. I don't recall if it had the Jason's Father ending or not, which leaves a lot to be known. When I can check in with the owner of that script I'll let you know.

If it's an early version of the script, then I'd say Jason Lives is anywhere between 1988 and 1991. With this version of the script being the latest and shooting script, then I'd say Jason Lives is perfectly placed in 1988.

Wow, who'd have thought that you CAN make a near perfect timeline for a series that doesn't have much flowing continuity.

[johnboy3434]

Yeah, the Ft13 timeline isn't nearly as flawed as some make it out to be. It just requires a bit of thought. I'm undecided about using the offset calendar method. If I were to use it, my timeline would end up like this:

Ft13: June 13-14, 1979
ANoES: March 9-16, 1981
P2: June 10-12, 1984
P3: June 12-14, 1984
TFC: June 14-16, 1984
FR: 1986
DW: April, 1987
ANB: May 12-13, 1987
TDM: March, 1988
JL: July 12-14, 1988
TDC: June, 1989
FD: June 15-18, 1999
TNB: September 12-14, 2000
JTM: June, 2001
JGtH: August 12-14, 2003
FvJ: Fall 2003
JX: 2455

[The Source]

Thanks! The only film I had no basis for at all is Part 9. All I know is it's after 1999 and before fall of 2003 and at least two years after JTM, which is in 1999 already. So JGTH was a blind guess. I put it in 2001. Apparently, there's a deleted scene in JGTH where Duke mentions the Manhattan murders.

I usually place JGTH in 2000 but 2001 is fine, anything after that is pushing it.

[heavymetal]

Johnboy, I'm not sure about that Jason Goes to Hell date ... I mean ... it looks like Jason's been rotting in hell for quite a bit by the looks of him in FvsJ.

And, who care's about Freddy's Revenge? It sucked :p

[johnboy3434]

Johnboy, I'm not sure about that Jason Goes to Hell date ... I mean ... it looks like Jason's been rotting in hell for quite a bit by the looks of him in FvsJ.

And, who care's about Freddy's Revenge? It sucked :p

Like I said previously, the only reason I put JGtH so late in the timeline is the fact that they redid the final shot while making FvJ, which (even though it didn't make the final cut) seems to imply a very short time between the two. If you really do have a contact with the writers, that would be an interesting question to ask.

Yes, Freddy's Revenge sucked, but Jason X sucked harder, and I was nice enough to keep that in, wasn't I? :p

[heavymetal]

Erm ... I just think that it's more fitting around 2000-2001.

[The Source]

Erm ... I just think that it's more fitting around 2000-2001.

I agree. He's been dead too long for it to be the same year.

[heavymetal]

Much less a few months in between them.

[Fran Fine]

Here's my timeline:

1957: Jason drowns in Crystal Lake.
1958: Two Crystal Lake counselors are murdered.
June 13, 1979: Friday the 13th (the original setting of the first movie was present day 1980 before Part 4 messed this up)
August 1979: Friday the 13th Part 2 prologue
1982 (Part 3 flashback): Chris Parker is attacked by an unknown assailant.
July 10-11, 1984: Friday the 13th Part 2
July 12-13, 1984: Friday the 13th Part 3
July 14-16, 1984: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Summer of 1989 - Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Summer of 1990 - Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI
October 13, 1990: (Part VII Prologue) Tina Shepherd accidently kills her father John by collapsing the deck he is standing on. (I like to think this took place after Part VI)
Summer of 2000: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
2001: Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Spring of 2003: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
August of 2003: Freddy Vs. Jason
2008: Jason is captured by the US government.
2010: Jason X prologue.
2455: Jason X

[heavymetal]

Considering we've nearly established that Jason Lives takes place in 1988 ... Depending on which draft of the Jason Lives script my friend has, we shall see. Also ... look at that film. There's NO way it's in the Summer. It looks WAY too dried out and cold. Rethink a little.

And parts 7-9 in your timeline are ridiculous.

[Fran Fine]

Ridiculous to you, but I don't find anything wrong with where they are.

[Steven Lloyd]

Here's my timeline:

1957: Jason drowns in Crystal Lake.
1958: Two Crystal Lake counselors are murdered.
June 13, 1979: Friday the 13th (the original setting of the first movie was present day 1980 before Part 4 messed this up)
August 1979: Friday the 13th Part 2 prologue
1982 (Part 3 flashback): Chris Parker is attacked by an unknown assailant.
July 10-11, 1984: Friday the 13th Part 2
July 12-13, 1984: Friday the 13th Part 3
July 14-16, 1984: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Summer of 1989 - Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Summer of 1990 - Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI
October 13, 1990: (Part VII Prologue) Tina Shepherd accidently kills her father John by collapsing the deck he is standing on. (I like to think this took place after Part VI)
Summer of 2000: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
2001: Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Spring of 2003: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
August of 2003: Freddy Vs. Jason
2008: Jason is captured by the US government.
2010: Jason X prologue.
2455: Jason X

Allow me to critique this...

- Chris's last name is NOT Parker. It's Higgins. Where the hell does this misconception come from.
- In a world where June 13, 1979 is a Friday, the same cannot be true for July 13, 1984. This is my main beef with the website timeline.
- Heavymetal has addressed the issue of Tommy's age. He's 15 in ANB and 16 in JL. Putting those films in 1987 and 1988.
- Tina's flashback absolutely cannot take place before 1993, again invoking the alternate dating rule.
- TNB is apparently supposed to take place 10 years after JL, so you might have to move that to '98 to accomodate the 1988 dating for JL.
- JTM is fine. The reason it should be in 2001 is that it's the first year after TNB that would have a Friday the 13th in June. And Friday the 13th is in the title.
- I tend to agree with JohnBoy that JGtH takes place shortly before FVJ, so you're good as to the year. But the Friday the 13th in this year would in August ("The Final Friday" again insinuates a Friday the 13th.)
- FvJ can't be in August. School is in session.

Sorry if this sounded critical, but these are the facts. The points you could contest me on are the placements of TNB and JTM, but it's strictly a matter of opinion.

[Fran Fine]

Allow me to critique this...

- Chris's last name is NOT Parker. It's Higgins. Where the hell does this misconception come from.

I copied and pasted this from one else's timeline and changed a few parts so I did not put that last name there.

- In a world where June 13, 1979 is a Friday, the same cannot be true for July 13, 1984. This is my main beef with the website timeline.

The events of the first movie was orginally set on Friday June 13, 1980 before Part 4 pushed it back to 1979. That would have fitted in with the 1984 date if Part 2 is set four years after Part 1 instead of five so that doesn't work still. Besides, it's not like I made up this date.

- Heavymetal has addressed the issue of Tommy's age. He's 15 in ANB and 16 in JL. Putting those films in 1987 and 1988.

He looks kind of old to be 15 in A New Beginning. He looks around 17-18. And I know for sure he is not no 16 year old in Jason Lives. He obviously looks around 19-20 in that movie, but I put him at 18 so the ten year gap of The New Blood isn't condradicted.

- Tina's flashback absolutely cannot take place before 1993, again invoking the alternate dating rule.

Well it looks as though I have to change the date and just leave the month then.

- TNB is apparently supposed to take place 10 years after JL, so you might have to move that to '98 to accomodate the 1988 dating for JL.

I think the placement for Jason Lives and The New Blood are fine where they are. Tommy does not look 16 in Jason's Lives at all, especially when he was played by a 28 year old at the time who only looked a few years younger.

- JTM is fine. The reason it should be in 2001 is that it's the first year after TNB that would have a Friday the 13th in June. And Friday the 13th is in the title.

Actually there's not Friday the 13th in June of 2001. There's one in April and July.

- FvJ can't be in August. School is in session.

Again, copied and pasted this from some one else's timeline and changed some years around. Didn't notice.