#Alex Rider background props

[akilah12902]

More background props time!

From S1E4, Wilby snooping in Ian's file and realizing 'oh shit why is the info on dependents classified'.

This would suggest the first season of the show takes place in February or early-mid March 2020 (Ian's stated age here and his birthday), but... argh, is the short version. I don't think the weather and the cherry trees match that.

Also I believe his weight is being given in stones and pounds; the total would be 159lbs

Name>> /// Ian Rider

Date of Birth>> /// 20/03/1977 - Deceased

Age>> /// 42

Place of Birth>> /// London, UK

Gender>> /// Male

Current Address>> /// 42 Collbridge Road, London,SE1 5CC

Alias>> /// N/A

Nationality>> /// British Citizen

Country of Residence>> /// United Kingdom

Occupation>> /// Senior Field Agent (MI6 The Department)

Dependents>> /// 01 Guardian to filial nephew - see separate files

Key Facts>> /// Weight 11ST 5lb /// Height 6'01" (185cm) /// Hair Colour: Dark brown /// Eye Colour: Blue

Like his brother John, Ian went to Oxbridge before joining the parachute regiment where he served successful tours in Afghanistan and Iran. He subsequently progressed onto MI6. During his military career he was awarded a medal for gallantry after saving the life of a wounded soldier whilst under intense enemy fire.

[truly-sincerely]

Alex Rider S3 timeline

Season 1 Timeline | Misc Timeline Notes

Some facts:

For time of year we know s3 takes place in the winter, based on dialogue from Blunt and Smithers

The trees in the background during establishing shots are just as unreliable as in s2 but during actor shots they're a mix of green and barren (most notably the cherry tree in front of the Rider house), implying late winter, probably February.

I don't know anything about the British school system, but Tom mentions having taken his GCSEs in ep1 so they're presumably on holiday from whatever comes after that (sixth form? A levels? it's Maltese to me).

Now we look at the elephant in the room. John Rider:

There are two different timestamps on the recording of the bridge exchange. 06/01/2005 and 2005-05-21. Not sure what the discrepancy means but since the latter has to be May we can assume that the former is formatted for June (as opposed to January). Also, Alex wasn't born yet in January 2005.

Alex's birthday is 13 Feb, 2005 (according to a prop from s2ep8)

Julia says that Alex was six months old, but based on the time stamp he was closer to three months old (easy mistake)

John and Helen Rider's gravestone puts their deaths in 2006 and Julia says it took her six months to track them down after the bridge exchange, so that checks out

Now in the present Mrs Jones says that it's been 17 years since Scorpia was destroyed, which would make s3 take place in early 2023

Alex is about to or just turned 17 years old

And therefore he was 15 in s1 and s2

S3 takes place over the course of nine days, which I think we can all agree is absolutely ridiculous, but that's how it works out.

Day 1: Boat ride; find Julia Rothman's house; Kyra's soup accident

Day 2: Identify and research Julia; Museum art showing

Day 3: Scorpia sends threat to Kellner; Tom and Alex go to Julia's villa; Pritchard gets blown up; Alex sneaks into Consanto and it blows up too; Alex goes to Malagosto

Day 4: Scorpia kills the footballers; Tom and Kyra get arrested; Julia tells Alex about his dad getting killed on the bridge; and Yassen! Is here!

Day 5: The assault course and the water bottle; shooting challenge; getting beat up by the other trainees; Pritchard's funeral; Tom and Kyra trace the call to Malagosto and Nile tries to send them home; the incursion assessment

Day 6: Shinai (Bokken) 5 on 1; Department calls Scorpia back and Scorpia gives them three days; Kyra and Tom find Malagosto; Smithers and Crawley find Julia's litter; Syl graduates; Jack gets a delivery from Tom; Max Grendel gets Yassassinated

Day 7: Everyone gets back to London; Blunt asks the CIA for help; Alex and Yassen surveil Jones' flat; Jack, Kyra, and Tom go to the Department; Navy Seals raid Malagosto; Alex doesn't kill Jones and gets sent back to the Department

Day 8: Nile sets up in the big church; Crawley takes Alex home; Blunt and Julia do storytime for Alex and Yassen

Day 9: Alex goes back into the Department; MI5 try to take Alex; Alex calls Julia for a pickup; a bunch of people in Bath don't die; Blunt retires; Alex comes in and gets John's medals; Nile gets Yassassinated

[akilah12902]

Point Blanc Assessment

(from the very end of s1e2 Interrogation)

I am astonished that I managed to make out the text on the second half of this page. Like, genuinely, it's blurry as hell even in the close-ups. I've only got the first two bullet points under the "Profile Information".

Notes: I think I'm seeing Pfeffel rather than Pfeffer, as I thought I saw on the POINT BLANC STUDENT OVERVIEW from later on. I also see Fiona isn't on the list of relations And the line 'excessive age' should probably have been 'excessive rage' or something like that

POINT BLANC STUDENT ASSESSMENT

PROFILE ID>> //PBSA-3211AF-LON-UK

NAME>> //Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Friend

DATE OF BIRTH>> 08/04/2004

PLACE OF BIRTH>> //London, United Kingdom

EYE COLOR>> Blue / Green

RELATIONS>> //Sir David Friend (Father) //Lady Caroline (Mother)

HISTORY>> //St. Eustace's Boarding School, Berkshire (expelled) Prep: The Burt Morris School for Boys (Independent)

[...] PROFILE INFORMATION>>

Subject displays a high level of intelligence that is at times negated by an excessive age and self-destructive tendencies

Obvious physical prowess is evident but a general complacency and unwillingness to engage in both exercises and individual engagements reveals an underlying indifference to general well-being.

[akilah12902]

Props Department!!! (Appreciative)

Okay so I've been giving the props department some shit for their timeline fuckery but GUESS WHAT

THEY DID SOMETHING SUPER COOL

So I was rewatching the last several minutes of s2e3, as you do when you're obsessed with Yassen and Alex's whole dynamic, and I was counting shots (17 over the course of the warehouse scene) and wondering what gun Yassen had.

We do get a pretty good shot of it! (First image below)

So I asked a friend who knows some people who know guns, but then I had a moment of curiosity: in Eagle Strike, we get one of Horowitz's loving product placement descriptions of Yassen's gun.

And guess what props department found a Grach MP-443 for this scene. :D

(and, also in super fucking cool, the Grach has either 17 or 18 shots! Either exactly the number that Yassen fires during that scene, or just one less!)

[akilah12902]

Oh goddamn it, props department.

So maybe it could be April in the context of this season specifically: The first episode mentioned half-term (so let's go on holiday in Cornwall), which would happen around mid-February, and according to a friend it could easily take up to six weeks for Ed Pleasance to be moved to long term care.

Did season 1 take place in 2020? Because it also REALLY does not seem like a whole year has passed (Alex talking about his PTSD hallucinations to Dr. Lambert does NOT seem like a conversation they would be having a whole goddang YEAR into therapy, and if he hasn't had any contact with MI6 post end of S1, it can't be that he only just started with her recently, because how did MI6 recommend her—), and given the setting in spring in season 1 and the mention of end of term dance (and end of spring term is around Easter, which is usually IN APRIL), unless there's been a whole year between seasons (which again really doesn't feel like it's that long) then it would not be possible to have all the events of season 1 and season 2 during this time period.

Was Alex supposed to be 14 in season 1 (if for some reason it had been a year)? He just. Does not look 14. Although this does potentially fit with one point where a teacher gestures after Tom while saying the year 10s (ages 14-15) are in charge of the dance, as opposed to my original assumption that he was 16.

MAYBE they just backdated this to Ian's death, that would at least put things in a vaguely correct place, though that makes Alex 15 during these seasons (maybe he's just 15).

Anyway s2 is kinda a lot worse with where the heck it is in time guys

[akilah12902]

Also in staring too long at props, here we have several nationalities for the other kids at Point Blanc!

The British passport is confirmed to be for Alex's cover identity (it gets opened), and given Kyra's parents are mentioned to be in Singapore I think we can conclusively call her Singaporean.

James is probably the Australian passport (the one with the text that only says "passport" and the kangaroo and emu on the coat of arms), and we have a passport from Jordan (likely Arresh), an American passport (can't be Parker! He "went home", so the passport went with him—making this likely Sasha's), and one underneath the Australian passport which I would hazard a guess is Laura's. (Which suggests she's not necessarily a French citizen, since she wouldn't have needed it to travel within the country? Possibly it's another mild prop error, possibly they asked for it as ID.)

[akilah12902]

I spent so long squinting at this I figured I would share it with everyone. This prop is for Alex's cover identity at Point Blanc as Alex Friend, but there are some inconsistencies between the prop and the answers Alex gives as/for Alex Friend when he's being quizzed in Episode 3. For example, he gives Alex Friend's birthday as December 8th to Mrs. Jones, who confirms that is correct for his cover (as opposed to the April 8th birthday here), and he tells Fiona Friend he was born in Monaco (when the prop here says he was born in London). I have included some bad phone photos of these below the cut.

Overall though, still a pretty neat bit of background, useful in some ways (I am willing to believe the birth year is accurate, for example, setting show!Alex firmly two years older than book!Alex, going by this show coming out in 2020)

---

POINT BLANC STUDENT OVERVIEW

PROFILE ID

//PBSA-3211AF-LON-UK

NAME

//ALEXANDER BORIS DE PFEFFER FRIEND

DATE OF BIRTH

08/04/2004

PLACE OF BIRTH

//LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

EYE COLOR

BLUE / GREEN

HEIGHT

5ft 10inch

WEIGHT

69 kg

PLANNER

MONDAY - INTRODUCTION & BRIEFING

TUESDAY - SELF ASSESSMENT & PHYSICAL ASSESSMENT

WEDNESDAY - DR BAXTER - OPENING THE MIND

THURSDAY - DR GREIF - CLIMATE & DEPLETION OF RAW MATERIALS

FRIDAY - POPULATION GROWTH IMPACT & WORD ASSOCIATION

SATURDAY - BUSINESS STRATEGY

SUNDAY - DR GREIF - POLARIZATION OF SOCIETY

OVERSEERS

Dr. GREIF

E. STELLENBOSCH

Dr. BAXTER