Don't get me wrong... I think the concept's okay. The ultimate in wish
fulfillment sends 34-year-old Joel Larsen in 2002 back in time to when he
was 14-years-old in 1980. Okay... right off the bat there's a problem. It's a
failure to do basic 9th~grade math. If Joel was 14 in 1980, then he'd be 36
today in 2002... not 34 (as stated in the pilot).
Am I missing something here? Is there some reason the writers and other
personnel felt the need to use poetic liscenseing here?
I can't state for sure, but I think he's been taken back to the 80'S emphisis on the s. In another thing I read it said '81, but correct math would sugguest '82. Plus there is another show with a similar, although more dramatic, premise and the the time displacement is different (Goes back less and is older or something, I hear ABC is probably going to cancel that one.)
shareYes, this bothers me too! In the opening credits, the clock rolls back to 1980. If he's 34 in 2002, he would only be 12, or at most 13, assuming he has a birthday later in the year, in 1980! I still remember how to subtract two 4 digit numbers, I learned it at the end of 2nd grade! Apparently the people who make this show missed those lessons, and the lessons on how to use a calculator! :) Although in the comments section, people are writing that the show is set in 1981. If so, then he could well be 34 in 2002 and 14 in 1981. I was 34 in 2002 until my September birthday. And I was 14 in 1981 after my September birthday. But if this is so, perhaps the clock needs to be changed in the opening credits. Some kind of explanation needs to be given for such a glaring error in basic arithmetic, because it makes it hard to take a show seriously if it can't get basic details correct. If I've noticed it, and others have noticed it, so will the critics. I'd hate to see another wonderful show that is a walk down Memory Lane for those of us who were children in the 70's and teens in the 80's be cancelled. I loved Freaks & Geeks, because I was a geek in those days and I knew those kids & teachers & parents--all of them, freaks, geeks, jocks, bullies, and all--the characters on Freaks & Geeks were carbon copies of the kids I went to Middle School and High School with, and of the teachers I had and the adults I knew. The kids, teachers, and other adults in Do Over are the same way! I'd sure hate it if Do Over were also cancelled!
shareThe show definitely takes place in 1980, since that's when "Empire Strikes Back" came out (I think they reference this in the second or third episode). Yeah, that is a glaring math error, I'd like to see them come up with an explanation. Maybe they'll just change the intro to him being 36 and wearing parachute pants. I hope the show doesn't get canceled because I think it's pretty funny and entertaining, but what happens next year? After he's solved all of the apparent mistakes in his life this year, would that have a positive cascading effect or am I just over-analyzing too much?
shareYeah...the math is screwed up. The reason for this is b/c on the Pilot, Joel was 34 and then he was sent back to ***1981*** and then like after they shot the 2nd episode, they realized that the Star Wars movie had came out in 1980, so they moved it back a year. But, even so, the math was a little screwed up on the 1st episode. He was 34 in 2002, and he was then 14 in 1981. He hadn't had his birthday yet, either. That's in December. SO, if he was 34 in 2002, then he really should have been 13 in 1981. Well, after they moved the time that the shows take place back to 1980, his age didn't change. He was still 14, about to be 15 in 1980. If that was really the case, then he should have actually been turning 33 in 2002, not 35. therefore, he should have been turning 13 on the show.
-Adrien
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