Suppose the events of the movie took place in the show. During the pilot when Virgil introduced Althea to the chief she said she Virgil had described him as colorful. While watching the show do any of you imagine it as within the same universe as the movie or completely different entities?
shareEverything is a separate universe.
shareI believe the show is suppose to pick up where the movie left off, but just 21 years later but made as if the trip Virgil took to Sparta and helped Gillespie is suppose to be a few years prior. Because in the 1967 movie Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Pointer) went to Sparta to visit his mother, and on the 1988 show he came back for his mother's funeral.
My job is to inform, not persuade- Dan Rather
I've wondered that myself since Rod Steiger and Carroll O'Connor were roughly the same age. However, Sidney Poitier and Howard Rollins are about 20 years apart so I doubt it.
Wasn't the movie Tibbs just passing through Sparta? he didnt grow up there if i recall correctly. i like to think the events of the movie are what Althea is referring to in the pilot, it just happened in a bit of a different context. i dont think Virgil was arrested at the train depot and accused of murder. he probably came to Sparta to visit and became involved in a case.
of course, when it came to Virgil there are alot of inconsistencies with his character throughout the series. many times, even in the pilot episode the Chief tells him about people or families in Sparta that someone who grew up there should know about. also, its treated like he and Bubba had never met before but later on they have mutual acquaintances who they knew in their younger years.i get that they wanted to make Virgil seem like an outsider early on, but in reality he really wasnt.