http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/That70sShow

Fez is Indian South African

As laid out in this very detailed Reddit post

Without even watching Zack and Cody, I find this WMG interesting. Combined with the WMG below, any difference between Fez and Esteban can be the result of poor memory on the part of the other '70s Show characters. It's possible that F.E.Z. were Esteban's initials, with Esteban being his middle name, but he changed his last name later.

I'd be willing to venture that Esteban, instead of being Fez, could be Fez's son. That would explain the age, similar behavior and looks. Whoever Esteban's mother was (who probably isn't Jackie, given her appearance [1] in an episode of The Suite Life on Deck) Fez easily could have met and/or married in the 80s after the show ends. Advertisement: A nice bonus for Zenmaster/Jackie x Hyde shippers because it opens up a possibility for Jackie and Hyde to have gotten back together.

in an episode of The Suite Life on Deck) Fez easily could have met and/or married in the 80s after the show ends.

They look and act almost like CLONES! The only major difference being, while Fez is a pervert, Esteban is just clumsy. Maybe he grew out of being pervy and ran away at some point in the 80's, and worked at The Tipton Hotel as a bellhop and both him and his mother are rather severe examples of Older Than They Look . Plus, like Esteban, Fez's name is really long, and it's never mentioned, so it's possible they called him Fez because they didn't care for the name Esteban and he just went along with it until he realized he hated them and ran off.

The inconsistencies in the timeline are because the show is the memories of the characters.

Or, since Donna did write a short story before about Eric and her relationship, having it set in the Victorian Age, in one of the episodes, maybe this is a novel that Donna is writing as a means of preserving her past and possibly trying to make sense of everything (and maybe the real events actually happened in the mid-to-late 1990s, and the real Donna chose to set it in the 1970s for aesthetic reasons).

The gang from the show did a LOT of toking back in the 70s. It could very well be that what we see on the show are the memories of the characters in modern day trying to remember their experiences as teenagers in the 1970s—except that they fail in many respects due to their hazy memories.

Under this "hazy memories" umbrella:

T7S had eight Christmases from 1976 to 1979. The plot of each could have happened around the same time as each other, or some not at all.

Advertisement: The gang went skinny dipping and had their clothes stolen, and all rode home naked together in the Vista Cruiser; yet in a later episode Kelso makes a big deal about never having seen Donna topless.

Jackie's mother is played by Eve Plumb in a Season 1 episode, then is replaced with Brooke Shields in later episodes. This could be because the characters (particularly the guys) didn't notice her or her perceived hotness until she started dating Bob. Ditto with Laurie, who was also Other Darrin-ed before departing.

There are various birthday and age inconsistencies.

The characters go to see Star Wars midway through the first season (late 1976) even though it didn't premier until May 1977.

The overall timeline of the 70s isn't adhered to with any major structure, aside from the final episode. It's all a blur to these guys!

Also, didn't Donna used to have a sister? Maybe they're all Fez' memories of his time in America, and any time the details are hazy, it's because he wasn't present and someone told him about it.

I suspect nobody remembers Fez's homeland because he was originally several different people, none of which as close to the gang as Fez is depicted.

Advertisement: In "Jackie Says Cheese" they reference "Sophie's Choice" even though the movie didn't come out until 1982 and the book until 1979 while the episode was set in 1978 (and they all seemed to recognise it suggesting it was already in popular culture by the time). Also, it's ambiguous whether the events of "It's a Wonderful Life" actually happened or were all in Eric's mind. If they were in his mind, the only way to explain how he somehow predicted musical trends that wouldn't happen for years would be if what we saw were a memory/recreation of what he imagined which was made once he already had knowledge of the future.

Additionally, the memories idea could explain the way celebrities would sometimes show up but look much older than they did in the 70s. For example, Jamie Farr in "The Girl I Love" mentioned wearing a dress on M*A*S*H (speaking in the present tense) but clearly looked much older than he did in 1978 while the show was being made. It's possible that when the characters remembered things from when they were younger, they added the image of the celebrities looking older into the memories because that's how they'd gotten used to them looking now (or I should say then, since they presumably would have been remembering the 70s in the late 90s and early 2000s when the show aired, which is no longer now and is instead then).

When Donna's thinking about marrying Eric, she gets cold feet, saying "half of all marriages end in divorce". Except, they didn't back in the seventies. She probably added that line during "present day", after she did get a divorce...

Season 8 was one big middle finger from the writing staff to the show's renewal.

Think about it: Season 7 was originally meant to be the end. It was planned out in such a way to end the series on a positive/bittersweet note wih Eric leaving for Africa. Everything was planned out... and then it was confirmed that the series was picked up for another season. The writing staff, after working on the show for 8 years, would be pretty pissed off that their "grand ending" was now a season finale, right? So, in retaliation, they decided to take this last season and structure it in such a way that pisses off enough fans to question WHY the show was renewed. ... If you question this, go ahead; I've been awake for 24 hours and was just rambling here. The start of darkness for the writing staff begins right at the end of the season 7 finale. Once told that the show is continuing, the writers rewrite the script and come up with an intentionally horrible hook for the following season: they break up Hyde and Jackie. And then, learning that Ashton Kutcher forgot to renew his contract, came up with an annoying replacement for him and Eric, further twisting the knife: Randy Or...



The whole show was just a purgatory for each character, where they tie up their unresolved conflicts in season 8.

That's probably the reason the timeline was cursed with inconsistencies (like 8 christmases in only 4 years). The 70s era was going to continue on forever, and ever, until the gang resolved their conflicts.

Maybe the first few seasons were real, then the watertower killed them, and they just sorta lived out the remaining seasons in their mind, when they were dead or in a coma. It explains how others seem to be killed by it, but they never do, because they're already dead.

This works especially well if we see it through a Buddhist mythology (as opposed to Christian). The characters are stuck between 76-79 in a endless loop of time until they can relinquish their desire and achieve nirvana, or the end of existence. Kelso gives up his desire and submits to adult responsibility and is removed from the show. Eric relinquishes his sloth and cowardliness by deciding to teach in Africa and is removed from the show. And his archetype is reincarnated as randy, who will be next in this eternal play to play the role of Eric. This is similar to the reincarnations of Midge and Laurie which is show through the different actors. Since Eric was still needed to end Donnas reincarnation, It was necessary to change the reincarnations name to Randy, although he would fill the role as the Eric archetype. Eric later returns to the show so that Donna can free her self from will through him, and once all the characters have given up their desires the series ends, but life will continue with the next set of actors as the reincarnation of these characters. Which also explains why the geography is different, the world will adapt to the needs of the characters, such as changing the geography of the world, or any other anachronisms or oddities. Another way to say this is; they are hanging out down the street, cursed to do the same old thing they did last week, with out a thing to do but talk to each other again and again and again until they're all alright. Adding an ominous undertone to the opening song.



The gang had been living pretty comfortably for 7 seasons, a status quo became established. Them BAM, season 8 shakes everything up. The cast face scenarios that entirely clash with what they identified themselves with, for 7 past seasons. Kelso finally has to finally grow up and accept responsibility, with his job and daughter etc. Hyde found himself slipping into a systematic routine of normality of having a wife. Eric had to face up to the realization that he couldn't hide away from life in his parent's basement forever, and begun experiences in Africa. Jackie found herself attracted to an ethnic minority, conflicting with her family's traditional conservative values. Donna found herself technically cheating, and thus displaying the same characteristics she would criticize a man for under Feminist doctrine. Fez I'm still struggling with, but I'm presuming Randy was an aspect of Fez' unresolved conflict that he was no longer the new stranger, and that Randy was achieving more than Fez did even as an obscure newbie. They all become changed people as a result of certain realizations, and when the clock hit midnight on new years' eve, and the 80s started, the gang all ascended to heaven. Season 8 might be a poor season from the fandom's perspective of what they're comfortable with, and certain aspects of it may have been painful to watch, but the purpose behind it could be the greatest thing That 70s Show has ever done

Donna's younger sister, Tina had an active social life that kept her away from the house a lot.

And when Midge left, Tina went to live with her. Hey, it sure as hell beats her just vanishing from existance after 1 episode . As for Valerie (Donna's older sister who was in college and was mentioned once) she just never visited.

Donna got slut rabies.

Ok here me out. In the episode called "Cat Fight Club": Donna tried to break a catfight between Laurie and Jackie and got bit by Laurie. She makes a remark after that she hope she didn't get slut rabies. In that episode her hair was red. In the later seasons her hair became blonde. Coincidence or Brick Joke? Coincidence; she dyed her hair blonde. ...although, considering how she acted during Season 8...



Sometime in the next couple of years, there's gonna be a show similar to this one about life in The '90s

The final season's change in cast and shift in focus occured because it's like every other show in the 70s.

I always thought the show kept on running even into its final season with the changes in casts and shifts in focus because like any other show in the 70s it would actually do that.

Fez is really from somewhere ordinary but is really exaggerating

I think Fez is Venezuelan (like his actor) but he keeps it a secret and makes things up about his homeland to make himself seem more interesting to his friends.

Like Panama. Or Cuba. Or Curacao. He's just making up the stuff he says because he's embarrassed. And anyway it's part of his personality to be enigmatic.

The country Fez is from, isn't one that is real in real life

It's a fictional show. Nothing says that the country HAS to even be one that's real. It's a fictional location, nothing more.

Fez is from an island off the coast of Guyana or Surinam

Because he's obviously of some kind of hispanic or latino heritage but his home has extensive Dutch and English influence. He also claims that they won a war against Britain, but that could be the "fictional" bit.

Fez is a child of (what we think is his) his host families extramarital affair

Fez's insane sex drive is a manifestation of his looking for approval from anyone since he doesn't get it at home.

Fez's host parents were missionaries in his nation

We know little about his host family except for they are extremely religious.They are shown to be over-zealous even freakishly devout- the kind of religious people that take all of Fez's money and kick him out with just a bible. Fez seems confused about his background and can never tell a consistant story about where he's from or divulge almost any details about his life before moving to point place. It would be very possible that the religious couple he thought was his host family is so ashamed they lie to him about his origins and then are relieved to get rid of him once he is old enough for them to no longer be held liable for him. Fez may know that, which would explain why he never says where they are from, and is happy to be the butt of jokes if it means he doesn't have to face the shame of being an unwanted child.Would work with their characters, and it makes sense that they'd want to take someone in temporarily, to send him back in hopes he would become a preacher, kinda backfired though...

Steven Hyde is bipolar.

Hyde doesn't really act like it though. In fact, he's probably the most emotionally stable character on the entire show. However, Jackie and Hyde... Jekyll and Hyde... anyone?

Maybe the whole show is from Hyde's POV, with the exception of a few episodes like "That 70s Musical". He seems to do the most drugs out of everyone (except Leo) as far as the audience can tell, which would explain the issues with the timeline. An additional bit of wild speculation, but the things that Jackie does is actually Hyde doing it; he just refuses to believe he could be that feminine or you know, bi. Those conversations and fights he and Jackie have? They're actually just happening when he's alone in the basement. When Eric and co. say that they don't really like Jackie they're talking about certain bits of Hyde's behavior and Hyde just filters it out to "They hate Jackie".

The clues are in his name: Steven Hyde. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson.

"Halloween" was all Hyde's dream.

At the end of this episode, Hyde wakes up from a nightmare. Who is to say that everything in that episode up until he woke up wasn't a dream? This would mean that there were not two Halloween episodes that took place in 1977. (The other episode was "Too Old to Trick or Treat, Too Young to Die.")

Red was a Underwater Demolition Team frogman in the navy.

He could be in a Naval Construction Battalion (a Seabee). They performed a lot of Army actions and I believe they were active in Korea. On the other hand, he doesn't display a whole lot of engineering talent (bar auto mechanics).

Despite being in the Navy, Red's war stories almost always take place on land. He refers to a foxhole in Korea, putting his foot in someone's ass on Iwo Jima (he doesn't like to talk about it) and is always talking about how many men he killed. He also once tells Hyde he could kill him without making a sound. All of this is very unusual for a normal sailor (even a chief petty officer like Red) but would not be unusual for a Demolitioner. UDT frogmen were the predecessors to the Navy SEALs and served in both WWII and Korea. Helps explain why he's such a hardass.

Eric is going to freak out at certain revelations in the Star Wars sequels.

Fez is English

Especially Return of the Jedi , considering along with everyone outside of Kelso, he thought Luke and Leia would make a good couple and not only was Kelso right about Han and Leia, but Leia turns out to be Luke's sister.While his ancestry would of course be from somewhere else, Fez grew up in England. His native accent is in fact English. However, when he came to America he decided to reinvent himself as being from somewhere he considered to be more exotic both to attract the ladies and so he didn't have to explain his accent to people whenever people were surprised to see someone who looked like him speaking in BBC English (which can still happen today and would have happened even more in the 70s). This would explain why in "Love of My Life" his friend from back home had an English accent. Fez explained it as being because he was from the other side of the island but if they are old friends it's reasonable to think his friend would be willing to play along with Fez's ruse. They claimed that the British hate their island which could have been an inside joke if they were English. Similarly, this would explain some of Fez' more extreme statements about his homeland and the fact that he's never, even casually, mentioned its name. He was making it up, pretending to be from somewhere (but never actually committing to anywhere in particular). The fact that he speaks to himself in his own head with the accent would just be Becoming the Mask