Timestamp

An example of the show's signature timestamps.

The timestamp is a device used in both the Young Justice TV series and the comic tie-in to indicate date, time, and location. Locations are usually "stamped" on their first appearance in the episode, or a second time if the action has crossed over into another calendar day.

History

Greg Weisman had first used timestamps on three issues of the Gargoyles comics by SLG: "The Rock", "Rock & Roll" and "Rock of Ages". The first two of those issues did not include locations. However, the third did, continuing the sense of progression. Weisman explained that they are meant to ground the show in the moment, allowing viewers to realize how much time has passed between episodes. It is also the next logical step from what he tried to do on The Spectacular Spider-Man", in which the timeline could be inferred by seasonal holidays.

There has been one instance where timestamps were incorrect. The issue was subsequently resolved by Greg Weisman and the production team, who said "I'm seriously not at all sure how this happened. We did review the timestamps, and they were correct, but obviously at some point during the process of post-production they were changed and nobody noticed it." The timestamps were fixed for future airings and DVD releases.

Weisman has since expressed regret over the use of this device, due to the hardship of keeping track of timezones and having to do calculations.

Characteristics

Gotham City January 1, 16:16 EST FIVE YEARS LATER

Timestamps are made up of five basic elements:

• Location: This can be a town or city, a county or parish, a state, or a general description, such as Atlantic Ocean, Northern India, or Geosynchronous orbit.
• Date: This allows for the action to be placed in the timeline. In seasons one and two, as well as in the tie-in comics, single digit days do not have a leading zero (e.g. "January 1"). When the timestamp font had to be changed for legal reasons going into season three, it was decided to add the leading zero (e.g. "January 01"), as it looked better with the new font.
• Time: An indication of the time using a 24-hour clock.
• A timezone: A two, three or four letter abbreviation, indicating local time, taking into account daylight savings time. If no standard name is used, there is an offset off UTC. Thus far, the following have been used:

• AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time, UTC + 10:00
• AST = Atlantic Standard Time, UTC - 4:00
• BST = British Summer Time, UTC + 1:00
• BT = Bhutan Time, UTC + 6:00
• CAT = Central Africa Time, UTC + 2:00
• CDT = Central Daylight Time, UTC - 5:00.
• CEST = Central European Summer Time, UTC + 2:00.
• CET = Central European Time, UTC + 1:00. (after November 7)
• ChST = Chamorro Time Zone, UTC + 10:00
• CST = Central Standard Time, UTC - 6:00. (after November 7)
• ECT = Eastern Caribbean Time, UTC - 4:00.
• EDT = Eastern Daylight Time, UTC - 4:00.
• EST = Eastern Standard Time, UTC -5:00. (after November 7)
• EEST = Eastern European Summer Time, UTC + 3:00.
• EET = Eastern European Time, UTC + 2:00.
• HAST = Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time, UTC - 10:00.
• HST = Hawaii Standard Time, UTC - 10:00.
• ICT = Indochina Time, UTC + 7:00.
• IST = Indian Standard Time, UTC + 5:30.
• KST = Korea Standard Time, UTC + 9:00.
• MDT = Mountain Daylight Time, UTC - 6:00.
• MSK = Moscow Time, UTC + 4:00.
• MST = Mountain Standard Time, UTC - 7:00. (after November 7)
• NST = National Standard Time, UTC + 8:00.
• OMSST = Omsk Standard Time, UTC + 7:00.
• PDT = Pacific Daylight Time, UTC - 7:00.
• PST = Pacific Standard Time, UTC - 8:00. (after November 7)
• VLAT = Vladivostok Time, UTC + 10:00.
• UTC-2, UTC - 2:00.
• UTC-03, UTC - 3:00.
• UTC+2, UTC + 2:00.
• UTC+3, UTC + 3:00.

• Year: With the time skip between season one and season two, notes are sometimes appended under the timestamp to identify the year. This has been done by adding "Five Years Later", or "Team Year Zero" or "Team Year Five", where Zero equals 2010, One equals 2011, and Five equals 2015.

See also

• {{TS}}