When is placed Monkey Island 1?

Okay, some updates:

  1. Though grog is thought to have gotten its name around 1749-1770, according to Wikipedia, that isn’t 100% known, and the beverage itself was drunk long before that, anyway, so I think it’s safe to pretend that all fits non-anachronistically with MI, too. Not to mention the fact that MI’s grog is very different than real-life grog.

  2. I finally found the thing that mentioned when SMI took place! In the original press release for the game, they describe it as “a comedy set during the ‘golden age’ of piracy in the Caribbean.” So that limits us to around 1650-1726, broadly speaking, according to Wikipedia (piracy continues before and after that period, but that specifically is the golden age). Then take into account the coin from CMI, and that brings the earliest possible time for SMI to probably 1684 (or possibly 1683, but I think that doesn’t fit the intended implication of the time jumps in the games). In addition to that, the press release also indicates that Guybrush’s adventure starts in “The late 1600s,” so that means SMI can be no earlier than 1684 and no later than 1699. But it’s probably safe to assume it was also the team’s intention for MI2 to still be in the late 1600’s, too, so, since that game is 3 years after SMI by my calculations, SMI must be within 1684-1696, at least. And if we make the jump to assuming ALL the games are supposed to be in that time frame, since TMI is supposed to be 10 years after SMI (based on developer and in-game comments), that limits it to 1684-1689!

  3. I think the year on the coin is supposed to be the year of CMI. The year ending in 7 seems too specific to just be a coincidence that game was also released on a year ending in 7, so the idea would be that CMI takes place 310 years before its real-world release date. Plus the fact that they just so happened to pick a year that was in the late 1600’s when it was known that the MI games were supposed to take place in the late 1600’s. And it’s not an actual coin in the world of the game, anyway; it’s an out-of-universe design, so why would we assume that it might’ve been coined decades earlier and been in circulation since that until the time of CMI? It seems more likely it’s stamping the current date for the player - plus who’s to say, under the assumption it is a real coin, that it wasn’t coined that year? So that would put CMI - and likely MI2 and EMI, as well, since they’re each 3 months apart from CMI - in the year 1687. SMI would be in 1684, then, and TMI in 1694.

[SMI press release: https://scummbar.com/games/index.php?game=1&sub=info&todo=14]

The secret of Monkey Island takes place in 2187. Monkey Island 2 takes place in 2189.

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Right around the time of the 17th 1980s retro wave. Which explains Guybrush´s rad mullet.

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LOL! Ah of course, that explains the anachronisms!

But in seriousness, is that indirect confirmation that SMI and MI2 actually take place 2 years apart (as opposed to 3), whatever years they take place? ‘Cause I’m taking it as one unless you say otherwise, lol

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:open_mouth:

So Big Whoop Amusement Park is just a virtual reality server that Guybrush and his creepy brother Chuckie are playing on to pass time during their generation ship journey to the Monkey Head Nebula!

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In the year twenty-one eighty-nine
Will Guybrush Threepwood finally buy some wine
Or will he still struggle on the Hook Isle line
Because he’s only barely nine…

In the year seventy-five ten
Threepwood’s descendants still won’t be men
They’ll want Elaine, but they’ll get Madeleine
Time and time and time again…

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If the secret of monkey Island takes place in 2187 (note the obsession with the number 87!), then the Secret must be that the game is actually part of the Space Quest series and Guybrush is Roger Wilco’s grandfather!

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OR in the alternate timeline where SMI, MI2, and MI3a are canon, it’s a post-apocalyptic world where only remnants of our technology still exist and everything else has reverted back to more or less pirate times, taking place in either 3014 or 2187-2189 depending on what mood Ron Gilbert is in… But I’m gonna stick with 1685-1695 for the official timeline where SMI, MI2, CMI, EMI, and TMI are canon, lol…

Oh no!! Guybrush slept too long!

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:stuck_out_tongue: I don’t think so!

Ron Gilbert has the power to make things canon.
Objection overruled. :grin:

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This will be your reaction to him revealing the actual Secret of Monkey Island, mark my words.

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No, it wasn’t:

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But that wasn´t the real one anyway.

As we all know by now:

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Both answers are correct: Guybrush is a Banana and that ending is “really not that good”.

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I´d say they even might be co-related.

According to the first design document called “Mutiny on Monkey Island”: the game takes place on the evening of September 15, 1590

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Okay, now the information in those Tweets are VERY interesting! However, these early design documents are still talking about a “Smear West” instead of Guybrush and such, so they cannot be said to be canonical. I say whatever information still fits with the officially released games and such made after those documents could be considered still potentially canonical, but the year being 1590 does not fit with the dates given in the SMI press release and in CMI and such, so I’m gonna say that has been retconned.

How did this individual get their hands on these documents? Are they legit?

Those documents are from Aric Wilmunder. There was a forum post about them two years ago:

The documents can be found at the Internet Archive:

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Ah, thank you very much!