"Eddie Bernard" <spambox@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote in message
news:Xns93F0E1665C52Fofficialpostofeddieb@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Over the hills and far away in alt.tv.malcolm-in-themiddle, Santa Claws
> came to play...
>
> >>the fact that Malcolm is learning to drive in season 4, he must be 14
at
> >>the start of the season, and 15 as the season progresses.
> >
> > They don't say what state this is set in. I figured driving age was
> > 16. As I understood it, Malcolm's birthday is early in the season. He
> > will be 16 in season 5. That would make him able to get his learners
> > permit some time over the current break between seasons 4 and 5 (about
> > now actually!). I kind of expected them to deal with this in season 5.
>
> I'm not privy to the laws in the States, but I do understand from the
> sources of other people that there are some states where the age is 15.
It varies from state to state. In my state, I believe it's 15.5 In some
states it's 15, some states it's 16, and several states essentially bar
kids
from being behind the wheel (unless they're running to the store for their
parents) till they're 18. At one time, on the other end, Montana had a
learning legal age set at 13.
> > Where in season 4 is Malcolm learning to drive?? I don't remember this
> > at all. If he was it would mean whichever state this is, driving age
> > is 15... are there any?
>
> I'm not sure if he's actually learning, but in the first episode, IIRC,
> there are specific mentions to him raising the money for the insurance.
> Unless I'm getting confused. In the 2nd episode as well, he actually
> drives Hal's car when he's attempting to smash it into Lois' car.
This is 2 different episodes. Episode "Reese's Job" in season 3 had Reese
taking a fast food job to pay for auto insurance. It was the "Humilithon"
episode of season 4 where Malcolm wanted to essentially be removed from
his
loathful high school experience on his first day by getting in trouble
from
sma****ng Hal's car into Lois's and get sent to military school like
Francis.
If you haven't seen that one yet I won't spoil it.
> > Now to complicate the issue I remember Reese taking his first and only
> > driving lesson in season 3. In season 4 they point out that his public
> > defender wouldn't even try the insanity plea, so he has no license.
> > Malcolm is pissed because he figures there is no chance he will ever
> > be allowed to drive after that...
>
> Yes, Reese never passed his test. He probably was never allowed to take
> another lesson again by his parents after the way things turned out in
> that episode !
Hard to tell. In many cases here in the US, if a juvenile commits a crime
serious enough - especially one involving a vehicle - that can be banned
from driving till age 21.
And for the record, Reese actually passed the test, but sadly for him it
wasn't official since it was after he was on the run and all. ;)
> > If the age for driving is 15, Reese driving in season 3 and being in
> > his freshman year works. So Malcolm should have been driving all of
> > season 4, unless of course Reese's actions did indeed mean he was
> > never allowed to drive). BUT, that would mean 'Flashback' is wrong,
> > because there would only be a 9 month (!) age gap between Malcolm and
> > Reese.
> >
> > The truth is I think they tried to keep the characters ages vague in
> > the early seasons, and they have no choice but to contradict
> > themselves now.
>
> I think that's probably the best way of looking at it. Yes, they've
tried
> hard and have usually been pretty good with the character ages and
> history, but some of that continuity is not following now, so they're
> making minor corrections. Their prerogative, I suppose :-)
They don't want to be too definite so they don't get caught in direct
missteps. The way they're doing it now, fans like us can have discussions
like this. ;)
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