Here follows a timeline of suggested vital statistics and key events for the RP expanded universe, assuming the period of portrayal is prior to the time of release thanks to evidence about Ray's past (Scott's biographical timeline assumes that the time that the show released was the time that the show was set in).
This is different from Scott's biographical timeline in a few key areas, thanks to observations I made while watching the episodes.
1930s[]
- 1933: Merv Stimpleton born
- Merv makes occasional reference to his service in the Korea conflict. Many men who fought there were born around this time.
- Mid 1930s: The bearded man could have been born around this era.
- 1937-07-07: World War II started (Asia)
- 1939: Earliest possible year for Tice Ryan to have been born
1940s[]
- 1945-09-02: World War II ended
1950s[]
- 1950-06-25 ~ 1953-07-27: Korea conflict
- 1950: Raymundo Rocket born
There is a good reason that supports this. In the episode "Sim Sammy," Sam programs Raymundo as saying "Back in 1968..." implying that 1968 was Ray's formative years. Ray's flashback in "Beach Boys and Girls" shows hippies dancing while Ray and Tito sing Surftown USA. Hippies were most prominent in the late 1960s. Also, Ray is shown in numerous episodes to be a surfing champion in the late 1960s. Considering that the peak performance of humans is in their late teens, I conjecture that Ray was 18 in 1968, which would make his birthdate 1950. The reason that I'm pushing for an early 90s timeline is because it makes no sense for Ray to have been born in 1957 (like in Scott's timeline) when he was a surf legend in the 1960s. If Ray was 18 in 1968, then he would have been around Otto's age in the early 60s, a much better fit than if Ray was 11 in 1968, and in his frequent 60s flashbacks, he definitely seems like he's at least a teenager with a deep voice, not someone who's Otto's age).
- 1951: Tito Makani born
Born the same age as Ray, as in the late 1960s flashbacks, Tito looks just as old as Ray.
- 1954: Danielle born
- Mid to late 1950s: Merv marries Violet
- 1959-09-26: American phase of Vietnam War started
1960s[]
- Early to mid 1960s: Noelani Makani born
- Mid 1960s: Conroy Blanc born
- Noelani probably thought herself as too young to marry in the mid to late 1970s when she and Ray met the first time.
1970s[]
- Probable 1970s: Raoul Rodriguez marries Sandy
- Mid to late 1970s: Chester McGill wins Prince Waikikamukau competition by cheating; the victory rankles Raymundo for many years afterwards.
- 1975-04-30: Vietnam War ended
- 1979: Raymundo and Danielle get married
1980s[]
- 1980: Lars Rodriguez born to Raoul and Sandy
- 1982: Reggie Rocket born ; Trent born
Ray was "around 30" when he had Reggie. If Ray was born in 1950, then Reggie can be born in 1982, when Ray was 32 years old. In the very first episode of the series "New Squid on the Block," Sam remarks that he is 9 years old. Reggie implies that Otto and Twister are also 9 years old at the time, and she is one year older, or 10', and that would put the beginning of the series ten years after 1982, or 1992.
- 1983: Otto Rocket, Twister Rodriguez, and Sammy Dullard born different places and dates
- Early to mid 1980s: any children raised by Merv and Violet would probably have come of age, completed their education, and left home by this time
- Early 1980s ~ Mid 1980s: Clio Rodriguez, Sherry, and Trish are born to their respective families
- Mid 1980s: Oliver van Rossum, Eddie Valentine and their contemporaries born.
- 1987: Danielle passes away
- 1988: Gung-Ho Gopher may have started on marketwide television channels
1990s[]
- 1990: Doug Dullard and Paula Dullard separate
- 1990-08-02 ~ 1991-02-28: Persian Gulf War
- 1992: Paula and Sammy move onto Ozone Street, having arrived from Kansas
- Circa 1992: Founding of Madtown Skatepark
- Early 1992 ~ Season 1 of Rocket Power - When the season begins, Ray is 42 years old, Reggie is 10 (going into 6th Grade in the fall), Otto and Twister are 9 (going into 5th Grade in the fall) and Sam is 9 (going into 6th Grade in the fall).
I assume that when the show started, the kids were in 4th and 5th grade, going into 5th and 6th grade for the coming school year (fall 1992), as 5th grade comprises of ages 10-11 and 6th grade is ages 11-12'). As Otto had the latest birthday out of the gang, he must have just made the cutoff for 5th grade. See below for details.
In the Season 1 episode "Happy Luau To You-Au," it's Reggie's birthday. Violet remarks that Reggie "is a teenager now." Although the conventional definition of a teenager is 13-19, it is sometimes used as 11-19, which would be more likely. Therefore, Reggie would be turning 11, while Otto, Twister and Sam would still be 9.
Please note: all of the conventional technology shown in Rocket Power works for an early 90s timeline. In "New Squid on the Block," Reggie remarks that she has a "486," a processor that was available beginning in 1989. Sam responds that the 486 is ancient. Considering technology moves at such a fast pace, and nerds like Sam tend to consider anything more than a couple years old to be "ancient," it makes sense for the technology to not actually be that old. Reggie doesn't seem like the person who would buy a computer that was ridiculously out of date. The computer shown in the garage of Otto and Reggie's home fits the perfect definition of an early 90's computer. Sam references "the internet" in multiple episodes; the internet had just begun in selected, techie circles by the early 90s. Sam and Reggie both have laptops but there's never any operating system shown, implying that their laptops predate Windows 95 (for example, in "Island of the Menehune," Sam's laptop displays only a text editor). Also, in the same episode, if you take a closer look at Sam's computer you can see that it doesn't have a CD drive. CDs were around in the early 90s (in "Shack Attack," Otto's dream home has a remote-controlled CD player), but they're not shown to be prevalent, suggesting that tapes were still popular at the time. Twister looks like he's carrying around a Hi8 camera, a camera available in the early 90s, VHS were still used to record shows (very popular in the early 90s), and the TVs from the time all support the early 90s timeline of the original show. However, the most convincing evidence comes from "Reggie's Big (Beach) Break," when Sam remarks that he researched Shaffika's schedule on the Internet, Reggie replies that he should have just looked on the paper instead. None of the Rocket team is ever really shown to use the internet extensively (besides Sam, of course). Reggie only uses computers to publish her Zine, and Otto and Twister are never shown using them. In the Season 3 episode "Sim Sammy," Sam was excited to see that his video game (which has the graphics and the sound quality of an early 90s game programmed by a talented child), has received only 5,000 views, a phenomenon which supports the notion that the Internet isn't very widespread at the moment). However, the notion that Sam's game was seen by others across town imply that the internet is beginning to boom with the dot-com bubble, placing Season 3 is around 1995. Also, in the Season 3 episode "Island of the Menehune," Sam's laptop is shown to have a touchpad. Touchpads were first introduced to the retail market in 1989, and considering that Sam likes to be state-of-the-art, it wouldn't be a surprise for him to have one, even though they didn't start to become widely available on laptops until 1994.
- Early 1993 ~ Season 2 of Rocket Power - When the season begins, Ray is 43 years old, Reggie is 11 (6th Grade, going into the 7th grade in Fall 1993), Otto and Twister are 10 (5th Grade, going into the 6th grade in Fall 1993) and Sam is 10 (6th Grade, going into the 7th grade in Fall 1993).
- Mid 1993 - Early 1994 ~ Season 3 of Rocket Power - When the season begins, Ray is 43 years old, Reggie is 12 (6th Grade, going into the 7th grade in Fall 1993), Otto is 10 (5th Grade, going into the 6th grade in Fall 1993), Twister is 11 (5th Grade, going into the 6th grade in Fall 1993) and Sam is 11 (6th Grade, going into the 7th grade in Fall 1993).
- Early 1994 - Events of The Big Day; Raymundo and Noelani get married, last events accounted for in series canon - At the end of the series, Ray is 44 years old, Reggie is 12 (7th grade), Otto and Twister are 11 (6th grade), and Sam is 11 (7th Grade).
Sam's laptop shown in Season 3 looks quite similar to laptops that were released in 1994, like the Toshiba Tecra 700CT.
In the Season 3 episode "Otto Hangs 11," Otto officially turns 11. If Otto was born in 1983, it would make perfect sense that he turns 11 in 1994, placing Season 1 in 1992, Season 2 in 1993, and Season 3 in 1993-1994.
This is how birthdays break down in chronological order:
1. 1992 begins
2. (Ray turned 42)
3. Early 1992 - Season 1, first episode - Ray 42, Reggie 10, Otto 9, Twister 9, Sam 9
4. Early 1992 - Season 1, Reggie's birthday - Reggie turned 11, Otto 9, Twister 9, Sam 9
5. Mid to Late 1992 - (Otto turned 10, Twister turned 10, Sam turned 10, Reggie's birthday is before the rest of the gang)', Otto and Twister go into 5th grade (10-11 year olds), Reggie and Sam go into 6th grade' (11-12 year olds, exception for Sam).
6. 1992 ends
7. 1993 begins
8. Early 1992 - (Ray turned 43)
9. Early 1993 - Season 2 begins - Ray 43, Reggie 11, Otto 10, Twister 10, Sam 10
10. Early to Mid 1993 - (Reggie turned 12, Twister turned 11, Sam turned 11)
11. Mid 1993 - Season 3 begins - Ray 43, Reggie 12, Otto 10, Twister 11, Sam 11
12. Mid to late 1993 - (Twister's voice cracks), Otto and Twister go into 6th grade (11-12 year olds), Reggie and Sam go into 7th grade' (12-13 year olds, exception for Sam).
13. Late 1993 - Season 3, Otto's birthday - Ray 43, Reggie 12, Otto 11, Twister 11, Sam 11
14. 1993 ends
14. 1994 begins
15. Early 1994 - (Ray turned 44)
Early 1994 - (Ray gets married, the series ends)
Twister's voice cracking in the 3rd season supports the evidence that he's going through early puberty (because Otto's voice only briefly cracks in one episode, and Sam's never cracks). Early puberty for boys would be around 11 years old. Also, there's no evidence by the end of the series that Reggie has hit any kind of puberty yet, implying that she's still relatively young (12 or so) by the end of the series. If she was 14 (like some theories state), it would be really rare to find someone in pre-puberty who is that old.' Ray is 44 when the series ends.
2000s[]
Conjectured or predicted events[]
- Lars pursues a career in visual arts or hockey
- 2000: Reggie and Sam graduate high school and matriculate to university; Reggie into a letters or humanities major (most likely journalism), Sam into physics or technology
- 2001-2002: period sees Otto and Twister graduating high school; Otto's further education going to business, maybe health and fitness (even chiropractic!), Twister's staying involved with visual arts
- periodic reunions of the kids for some adventure, say a climb of Everest, a dive on the Lusitania, involvement with some emergency relief project, etc
2010s[]
- ♦ Many fanfics dealing with the foursomes' post-collegiate lives are set in this and later periods.
Distant future[]
- Circa 2500: Time capsule installed at Rocket Beach scheduled to be opened; dream sequences in Welcome to OttoWorld are set in this period.
- This page is a work in progress.