Did you and the writers decide early on that alien colonization will be set in 2012 or was it a last-minute decision? As late as Season 5, in “Patient X,” the second elder (first elder? err… the chunky fellow) in the consortium, said that colonization will happen in 15 years. That episode aired in 1998, so that would put the colonization date some time in 2013.
Rosy
San Francisco, CA

I don’t recall what the Elder said precisely in “Patient X,” but I do remember that when I first joined the show in Season 2, Chris was already imagining the alien invasion would take place in 2012.