Well, the time has come to reveal the answers. And persistence obviously pats off because we have a winner!! And that would be:
One more time: were the episodes shown on July 3, 8, and 9 (548-553) listed as July, 1968 even though they originally aired in August? The first montage in the series, July 3, contained episodes from two different months as did the 1000th montage last week.
ProfStokes
How can this be? you may be asking yourselves. Well, I'll tell you.
First off, all of you should have realized by now that the answers for these custom title games will
NEVER be as obvious, or even as logical, as they might at first appear. Each and every one of them has been a mind game. My test of wits against yours, if you will, in which you often have to read between the lines to come up with the correct answers.
![[wink2]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/wink2.gif "Wink #2")
Many people seemed to get hung up by the word "consecutive" - and that's exactly as I intended.
![[vryevl]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/vryevl.gif "Very Evil")
In my original post I said:
Almost three weeks ago, I deliberately did something to three consecutive montages that I've never done before or since.
Emphasis there on the
I and
did - nowhere have you seen me state that the montages were actually displayed on the forum consecutively. You may have assumed that was implied. But if past contests have taught anything, they should have taught
NEVER to assume anything.
And if you've paid attention to past montages (including those on VN) and how I've often explained the way I approach the montages (which I'd often explained on VN), you'd know two things:
- 1) the July 4th montage was NOT a NEW montage - it was displayed last July 4th on VN - so it should have been immediately eliminated from the equation.
- and 2) I approach the weekend montages and the weekday montages completely separately, so the weekend montage that was on display July 5-7 also should have been eliminated from the equation.
Evil? Most assuredly, YES!! But in my defense, when I've explained the answers to these questions, I've never said otherwise. In fact, I've made a constant point of saying that these answers will
NEVER be easy and that you have to work hard to get them because custom titles
have to be earned.
Now, the thing that I went out of my way to stress this time around was that:
- "you were probably just too polite to say anything at the time
which should have been a dead that something was wrong in all three of the montages that I was looking for. And that was indeed the case. You'll recall that at the conclusion of my initial post and once again when I stressed portions of it in this topic, I said:
Good luck!! (But if you know you're DS episodes, you won't need luck because you already know the answers, and you were probably just too polite to say anything at the time (which worked right into my plans) - but now is certainly your time to speak up! 
That was perhaps the biggest clue I'd initially dropped. Why? Because if you know when the DS episodes originally aired on ABC, then you were already aware of the fact that three montages were displayed on the board that incorrectly identified the month that at least one of the episodes in all three montages originally aired.
Now, did I expect everyone to be aware of that? Hell, no! In fact, I hoped that only a handful of people might be aware of it. However, through a process of trial and error, ProfStokes thought to look up the episodes' original air dates from the beginning of this month. And Ringo hit on the idea that I might have used episodes from one month but labeled them as having been from another month. ProfStokes also realized that there should have been a montage that was labeled July-August because the episodes that ran on Sci-Fi on July 3rd where originally aired on July 31st and August 1st. And I made sure in two of my own posts that anyone who was paying attention to what had been said in their posts was vitally important.
So, for the record, here are miniaturized copies of the three montages in question, and an explanation of what was wrong with each:
This montage, featuring the two 1968 storyline episodes that ran on Sci-Fi on July 3rd, is labeled "July, 1968," whereas it should have been labeled "July-August, 1968" because episodes #548 & #549 originally aired on July 31, 1968 and August 1, 1968, respectively. And this montage related to the 1000th montage because that montage was labeled August-September, 1968 because episodes #570 & #571 originally aired on August 30, 1968 and September 2, 1968, respectively.
This montage, featuring the two 1968 storyline episodes that ran on Sci-Fi on July 8th, is labeled "July, 1968," whereas it should have been labeled "August, 1968" because episodes #550 & #551 originally aired on August 2, 1968 and August 5, 1968, respectively.
And this montage, featuring the two 1968 storyline episodes that ran on Sci-Fi on July 9th, is labeled "July, 1968," whereas it should have been labeled "August, 1968" because episodes #552 & #553 originally aired on August 6, 1968 and August 7, 1968, respectively.
And here's the first montage that was again labeled correctly:
It features the two 1968 storyline episodes that ran on Sci-Fi on July 10th, and is labeled "August, 1968" because episodes #554 & #555 originally aired on August 8, 1968 and August 9, 1968, respectively.
So, ProfStokes, in a battle of wits, you've become the second person to prove themselves as my worthy adversary.
![[thumb]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/thumb.gif "Thumb Up")
And a custom title (major restrictions apply - see post 1 in this offer's original thread for details
) is yours for the choosing!
Now, lest any of you think you'll never be able to win the chance to a custom title (though not of your own choosing - the people who've successfully sweated out these first contests deserve some distinction, after all.
![[winkb]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/winkb.gif "Wink(Blue)")
), don't despair. Some of you may recall that when I first announced that there was a Members' Archive in the works, I said that it was only the
first of some exciting new features Midnite and I have up our sleeves. It's still a bit premature to actually announce exactly what the next one is - but I will say that it will figure prominently in an
all-new, and you'll no doubt be happier to hear,
easier (thought not necessarily simpler) way to earn a custom title. In fact, you may be able to earn more than one title. And I'll leave you all to contemplate that teasingly tantalizing tidbit of information as I end this post.
