O'BSERVATIONS: THE AXIS OF E.B.E.-VIL

Strange lights are seen in the sky, and in the days following there are reports of mysterious life-forms in the water.

In a way, that one line description could be applied to all three of the new spooky shows on the major networks - ABC's 'Invasion', 'Threshold' on CBS, and the NBC drama formerly known as 'Fathom', 'Surface'.

(It looks like 'Lost' was the inspiration for the influx of moody suspense dramas, although it doesn't have the alien angle - at least as far as the producers are claiming. And it may have inspired the use of one-word series titles as well, with 'Supernatural' on the WB and the FOX show 'Bones' - which I would have called 'Dem Bones' just for a lark.)

After that initial premise, however, the shows go off in their own directions.

On 'Threshold', it was probably the glowing 4-dimensional spaceship that went into the water, after infecting Navy personnel with a mutation caused by harsh harmonics.

In a similar fashion, alien entities entered the Everglades under the cover of a hurricane. But just like in 'Threshold', humans are either being replaced or inhabited or manipulated to serve the architects of this 'Invasion'.

As for the menace in 'Surface', what it is ain't exactly clear as the song goes. Could it just be some new kind of aquatic life brought forth from the ocean depths via that network of craters? Did they arrive from outer space? Or are they rapidly evolving mutations due to the radiation from the meteor showers?

Whatever the 'Surface' mystery, it does show that the potential threat is not as localized as in the other two shows. ('Invasion' takes place in Homestead, Florida. The aliens of 'Threshold' obviously knew what they were doing when they initiated first contact for their conquest within easy reach of the nation's capital.) In its first hour alone, 'Surface' ran the gamut from A to B (Antarctica to Belize), with stops in North Carolina, California, and Louisiana - as if those folks didn't have enough trouble from Katrina and its waves.

Whatever its strange lifeforms may be, whether home-grown or extra-terrestrial, the creatures of 'Surface' come in a variety of shapes and sizes. AS David Bianculli describes them in the New York Daily News, they "range in size from leviathan to pint-size, and some are amphibian in nature, venturing onto dry land."

Paging Steve Zissou! [This would be the perfect opportunity to give Bill Murray's character a tele-version!]

So after a similar initial premise, all three new series are venturing off to explore the storyline tangents that will differentiate them from each other.

But this is Toobworld, and in this TV Universe 'Threshold', 'Invasion', 'Surface' should all be taking place at the same time.

So could it be that we can make a theoretical case for them to all be linked together despite their differences?
I think so. But then I would, wouldn't I? (Cripes, I wouldn't have typed this much otherwise!)

'Threshold' aired first, and as such its close encounter could be seen as the opening salvo of the 'Invasion'; while the next waves would be more subtle, just under the 'Surface' of general notice. (As an alien/human hybrid I know would say "T'hee!")

Major differences between the shows will eventually make it nearly impossible to reconcile future plotlines for linkage. But that's... okay, because I think it's only the initial "Spearhead From Space" that will matter for this purpose.

I think the reason why three such similar shows are veering off into distinct permutations of their premise is because they are all separate alien species. But their common arrival on Earth was due to an alliance between those species; pooling their resources and their technology to make the interstellar voyage to Earth. Once they got here, of course, all bets were off (no matter how many quatloos you doubled down) and it was every ET-equivalent man for itself.

We certainly have the precedent for such an alliance right here on Earth. Had the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan eventually emerged victorious, they would have probably turned against each other to gain total world domination.

Should these alien species ever cross over to each other's series, which as we know is highly unlikely, we would probably see these ETs not only cross paths but also cross swords. Figuratively, that is.

But since I'm only concerned with their initial arrivals, and that's already a page right out of History, I feel confident in declaring this missing link to be a valid theory.

Now alls we need is for Fox "Spooky" Mulder to get called in for a consult.

That and the materialization of a blue Police Box in the middle of the Everglades!

[For my sister's sake, Mulder better be wearing Speedos at some point if he shows up on (or beneath the) 'Surface'!]

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

Addendum: I've just finished watching my tape of last night's episode of 'Threshold' ("Blood Of The Children"). And the possibility was raised that the 4-D "spaceship" might have also mutated the Life Aquatic. So the door is still open for us to assume a possible link between at least 'Threshold' and 'Surface'.

"Don't think you can form an empathic bond with it
Just because you fed the beastie.
It doesn't see you as its friend, Dr. Ramsey; it sees you as a meal.
Well... in your case, as a light snack before nappies.

Now then! I fancy a ride in one of those air-boats, Sheriff."
The Tenth Doctor

'Threshold'/'Surface'/'Invasion'/'Doctor Who'

"The Crossover Special"
(Not really, but I can dream, can't I?)

TIP O' THE HAT SQUAD: SHIRLEY JORDAN

Usually, the "Tip O' The Hat Squad" feature serves as a memorial to the Television work of a recently departed actor.

But not this time.

This time it is a celebration.

Andy Millman, an actor played by Ricky Gervais in the new series 'Extras', calls himself a "background artiste". Those actors who do a lot of character work in small roles are sometimes called "atmosphere people" as well. Sometimes they prove to be of more interest than those main characters in the foreground

But don't blame it on the extras. Blame it on the lack of talent in the so-called stars.

Many times an actor will get to showcase their skills for playing a particular kind of role. Off the top of me head I can think of Richard X. Slattery as a beat cop, and Bryan O'Byrne as a member of the clergy.

Shirley Jordan has played a variety of roles in recent years - as reporters, cops, correctional guards, patients, and FBI receptionists. But many times her characters are in the medical profession, and usually a nurse at that.

And best of all - most of them remain unnamed. That way I get to have some Toobworld fun and link them all together as one character.....

[Mary Alice approaches the nurse’s station with a file folder. A younger Felicia Tilman is talking to a nurse who is looking at a calendar at the desk.]
Nurse: "What a lovely calendar. Was this taken around here?"
Felicia: "Oh, no. That's way out in Fairview. I have family there. Isn't it idyllic?"

That was the opening scene for the season finale of 'Desperate Housewives' back in May. It was a flashback to sixteen years ago; before Mary Alice killed herself in Fairview. And if you hadn't guessed yet, Shirley Jordan played the Nurse.

The Nurse didn't know that calendar scene wasn't in the Los Angeles area, because she had only recently moved out there. During the 1980s, she lived in Pine Valley where she worked at the local hospital. During one of her shifts, she helped remove a bullet from Palmer Cortlandt. ('All My Children')

After getting her credentials and resume updated by working at that women's health clinic, she then went to work at Community General. She was working in the emergency room there in 1996 when a noted cardiologist committed a murder. ('Diagnosis Murder')

It could be that Community General was also the same hospital where a member of the Forrester Family was brought in, after he drove his car over a cliff. As a trauma nurse, she helped save the life of one of the leading figures in L.A.'s world of high fashion. ('The Bold & The Beautiful')

Although Shirley filmed a scene with Vivica Fox for 'City of Angels' back in 1999, in which she again played a nurse, it was edited out of the final version. So since it was never broadcast, it can't be included. And that's a shame, because her nurse character had a name in that one - Eloise Martin.

If we were able to use that as her name, it's quite possible then that we'd know the last name of Phoebe Buffay's first OB-GYN back in New York City, when she was pregnant with her half-brother's triplets in 1998. Trust me, it's a long story, but one with free porno! ('Friends')

It's my belief that both the Nurse and the Doctor were twins who lived near each other in New York state; one in Manhattan, the other in Pine Valley. I don't have any theories as to why the Nurse would have left for the West Coast near the end of the 1980s, but I don't think it was due to any enmity between the twin sisters.

That's because by the dawn of the new Millennium, both of the sisters were living in Chicago. There, the Nurse worked in a homeopathic clinic for cancer patients to support them both while the Doctor went back to school to change her area of study. ('Andy Richter Controls The Universe')

She was obviously a quick learner, because by 2002, she had gone to work as an analyst for the IDC. ('ER') But she also continued to practice medicine, as she was the attending physician who treated Mary-Kate and Ashley Burke after a brawl at a Chicago hockey game. ('Two Of A Kind')

Once her sister was re-established in her new profession, the Nurse headed back to Los Angeles and worked for a short time as a nurse in a high school. ('So Little Time') But she must have finally felt homesick and headed back East. There she got a job as an assisted-living nurse at a nursing home in the town of Harmony. ('Passions')

And that's where we stand at the moment with those two medical professionals.

As for the woman who played them......

Shirley Jordan is one of my dearest friends; my soul's twin as I used to say. And I'm so thankful she answered my casting call for a scene I was directing back in college. That's how we met, too many years ago for either of us to mention.

And this week, she celebrates her birthday. Soooooo.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHIRLEY!

Notable TV Guest Appearances
"Monk" playing "Second Reporter" in episode: "Mr. Monk Gets Fired" (episode # 3.4) 16 July 2004
"ER" playing "IDC Analyst" in episode: "Chaos Theory" (episode # 9.1) 26 September 2002
"The District" playing "Sandra Rooney" in episode: "Shades of Gray" (episode # 2.18) 20 April 2002
"Andy Richter Controls the Universe" playing "Nurse" in episode: "Gimme a C" (episode # 1.5) 16 April 2002
"Ally McBeal" playing "Nancy Sosha" in episode: "Blowin' in the Wind" (episode # 5.9) 14 January 2002
"Yes, Dear" playing "Woman" in episode: "The Ticket" (episode # 2.5) 22 October 2001
"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" playing "Deputy" in episode: "Evaluation Day" (episode # 1.22) 10 May 2001
"The West Wing" playing "FBI Receptionist" in episode: "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail" (episode # 2.16) 28 February 2001
"Angel" playing "Internal Affairs Woman" in episode: "Reprise" (episode # 2.15) 20 February 2001
"Judging Amy" playing "Aunt Billie" in episode: "Waterworld" (episode # 2.8) 19 December 2000
"Malcolm & Eddie" playing "Jackie" in episode: "Radio Daze" (episode # 4.17) 20 March 2000 and in episode: "Clubbed" (episode # 4.4) 27 September 1999
"Friends" playing "The Doctor" in episode: "The One with the Free Porno" (episode # 4.17) 26 March 1998
"Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" playing "Cop" in episode: "Meet John Doe" (episode # 4.14) 2 March 1997
"Diagnosis Murder" playing "Nurse" in episode: "Murder Can Be Murder" (episode # 4.7) 24 October 1996
"General Hospital" (1963) TV Series .... Kate Wilkerson (1994)

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES: KEVIN SMITH

Kevin Smith. Director. Writer. Actor.

Future member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, League of Themselves Wing.

Tonight, Kevin Smith, director of 'Clerks', completed the trifecta needed to qualify for induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

Recently, he played himself in three episodes of 'Degrassi: The Next Generation' - "West End Girls" and "Goin' Down the Road: Parts 1 & 2". And over a year ago, he also appeared as himself in an episode of 'Yes, Dear' entitled "The Premiere". But tonight he got that all-important third series - the season premiere of 'Joey'.

Too bad this show smells like over-ripe cheese in Lance Armstrong's sneaker.

I gave up on it last season even before something better came along with 'Jake In Progress' on ABC. But faced with a variety of so-called reality competition shows and the premiere of 'Everybody Hates Chris' (which I had already seen on DVD), I decided to give it another shot.

After all, the producers promised that they had overhauled it.

Didn't I learn anything from Bialystock & Bloom? Liars!

I kept thinking, as I rocked myself incessantly to prevent me from gnawing my own foot off, that it wouldn't be much longer. It was, after all, only a half-hour sitcom.

And then I discovered that it was a double-header two-parter. And Job thought he had it tough!

By that point, I realized there was a chance to see Kevin Smith appear in the episode. There was no turning back then; not if I wanted to keep my accreditation as a televisiologist.

I just had to lie back and think of Toobworld.

So, Kevin Smith is an elite member of the League of Themselves, and will one day be inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

And 'Joey'? Still stinks on ice.

There you have it, America!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

LIVE ON - AND IN! - THE AIR!

It's one thing to get yourself transformed into a citizen of Toobworld by submitting a video of yourself getting hit in the crotch by a rake to 'America's Funniest Home Videos'.

But imagine sitting there on an airplane and watching TV in real time as your very flight experiences a potentially life-threatening emergency.

Ever since JetBlue first started up in 1999, one of their signature features has been letting their passengers watch TV at their seats. And last night, many of those on board Flight 292 were doing just that when breaking news reports interrupted with the story that their flight had a crippled nose wheel. As they prepared for an emergency landing back at LAX, many of them continued to watch their personal drama unfold on the Toob.

"It became this television show I was inextricably linked to.
It was no longer my situation;
It was broadcast for everyone to see."
Zachary Mastoon, passenger

And after all that they went through, they never even got the chance to meet Harley Random, Heather Locklear's character from 'LAX'!

Pretty strange to see the news bulletins on the East Coast during the season premiere of 'Lost'. Stranger still when a JetBlue blipvert popped up during the show!

Could there have been some stone-hearted network exec (May they be nibbled to death by ducks!) who was bleeped off that it wasn't a plane lost at sea or broken up in mid-flight, rather than a crippled nose wheel?

I'll bet there must have been at least one ABC Suit who wished it had been one of their network's actors on board the flight to get that promotional benefit, rather than Kelly Carlson of 'Nip/Tuck' on FX.

Or would that only happen at TBA - Total Bastard Airlines?

Just sayin', is all......

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1150212

Buh-bye.....
Tele-Toby

"LOST" IN THOUGHT O'BSERVATIONS

Now that I have to wait until the day after Christmas - well, actually for me, probably a week after that! - for the 'Doctor Who' Christmas special, I can go back now to fixating on my other TV obsession: "Lost".

The second season premiere "Man Of Science, Man Of Faith" didn't waste any time, picking up probably no more than a minute before the first season finale. And from there, the show gave every indication that there will be no curse of a sophomore slump.

As you might expect, since the season premiere was broadcast only last night - THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BELOW!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A techno-wiz on one of the message boards for 'Lost', who goes by the name of Broccoli Man took the sampling of what Walt was saying and then remixed it to play backwards. And that's how it makes sense.

Walt Forward:
http://_lost.visaliarealestate.org/waltforward.mp3
Walt Backward:
http://_lost.visaliarealestate.org/waltbackwards.mp3
The two back to back (forwardbackward)
http://_lost.visaliarealestate.org/walt.mp3

"Broccoli Man" - no relation to my friend Asparaguy - remixed his samplings and got the following:
forward:

http://_lost.visaliarealestate.org/waltforward2.mp3
backward:
http://_lost.visaliarealestate.org/waltbackwards2.mp3

Also he got the whisperers before Shannon saw Walt. It was indescript except at the very end, where it says "Shannon".

http://_lost.visaliarealestate.org/whispers.mp3

It's my thinking that the one lone, most intelligible whisper of "Shannon" was from the ghost of Boone, but what do I know? I'm just along for the ride.

Not that you can tell anything useful about it, but Broccoli Man also remixed the whispers backwards:

http://_lost.visaliarealestate.org/whispersbackwards.mp3

~~~~~
It always leaves me uneasy whenever Claire Littleton is not in an episode. I just get a bad feeling about the eventual fate of the character. And the fact that Emilie de Ravin did not appear in the season premiere certainly compounded that.

I'd think that with her baby Aaron as possibly a major factor on the island, the producers would have at least included her in a crowd shot in the caves.
~~~~~~
We did get another Mama in the episode though: Mama Cass! Her recording of "Make Your Own Kind Of Music" easily is the best use of a pop song in a techno-cavern since 'The Prisoner' filled its underground headquarters with juke boxes playing "All You Need Is Love".

The song opened and closed the episode and made for a startling, refreshing comment on Destiny, which is the major contention between Jack and Locke:

You're gonna be nowhere
The loneliest kind of lonely
It may be rough going
Just to do your thing's the hardest thing to do

But you've gotta make your own kind of music
Sing your own special song
Make your own kind of music
Even if nobody else sings along

~~~~~~~~
I'm grateful there are message boards to visit for this show. Usually I avoid such places so that my own Toobworld theories can be free and clear, all my own.

But 'Lost' is so densely packed with symbols, coincidences, and trivia, sometimes - most of the time! - it sails right past me.

Luckily there are the "Others" who find these things for me.

Among those things this week:
The name of the patient who died in the ER because Jack chose to work on Sarah was "Rutherford".

As in "Shannon Rutherford"?

Could it be that he was her father, the man who married Boone's mother?

Did Jack pick up on that possibility? Was that an added reason - not that he would have needed one - as to why he worked so hard to save Boone's life?
~~~~~~~~
It occurs to me that we never got a proper "Shannon-centric" episode last season, while some - like Jack and Kate, etc. - got more than one. The best we got was her addition to Boone's flashback episode, which makes me think that Ian Somerhalder will be needed when they finally do an episode for her.

Or maybe not.
~~~~~~~
Another possibility from The Fuselage (the official board from the show's creators) -
A character named Desmond might now start appearing in many of the flashbacks for the other characters as well.
~~~~~~
One of my own little contributions to the board - Could there have been something in that water bottle which Desmond offered to Jack during one of the flashbacks?
~~~~~~
Temptation overcame me this week and I read every spoiler I could find. Considering how many people who had seen the sneak peak on the beach in Oahu last week, there were plenty and all were quite detailed.

Not that it spoiled the episode for me. Even though I knew what was coming, I still was pulled in and my attention held without mercy. (At one point, I needed to pee and the commercial break seemed too long a wait before I went!)

But even so, I've already made the vow - to avoid the spoilers until after I watch the program.
~~~~~~
Even though it's on the same network as 'Lost', I think 'Invasion' might suffer the same fate as 'The West Wing' did last season. That is, - at least for me! - I was still too keyed up in what I had just seen on 'Lost' to watch another show. I needed to get online and talk about it.

So last season I taped 'The West Wing' for eventual viewing as I wasn't about to give that up.

I taped 'Invasion' as well, but I'm not sure I'm going to find it can hold my attention after 'Lost'.

Anyway, those are my first impressions about the seasn premiere....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

ALL PLAYED OUT

Producers of "All Shook Up," the musical comedy made up of Elvis Presley songs, will close the show on Sunday after 246 performances.

At least they waited until performers from the show finally appeared on Erica Kane's talk show within 'All My Children', not that it did any good for the box office. I guess there's not enough people in Pine Valley who go to the theatre in NYC.

But by staying open until after their 'AMC' appearance on or around September 14th, it helped to keep Toobworld chronologically aligned with the Real World in that respect.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

HUGH: "WHO"

Now that I've run the course of the episodes from Christopher Eccleston's reign as the Ninth Doctor in 'Doctor Who', I'd like to share an email I received from my online amigo Hugh D. back in June:

Hi Toby.
I've seen some online clips from the last episode of Doctor Who.

The Bad Wolf sequence was good--definitely bringing DW to the sort of story arcs that made Buffy so interesting over the years. They had the Perivale trilogy in the last season of the original series, and many fans are speculating that Bad Wolf will still connect to Fenric from that sequence.

[From me: As we've seen, that wasn't the case, but it made for one of the best theories during the season.]

The regeneration was also good--I think Tennant will make for a strong Doctor. I would have liked them to go to Richard E. Grant, just so the Scream of the Shalka story from the webverse would become canon. Of course, three stories have been online from the BBC before that one: Real Time, a 6th Doctor story with Cybermen, and two which cause major continuity debates--Shada, an 8th Doctor story revisiting the original strike-up-ended one, and Death Comes to Time, with the 7th Doctor dying at the end.There are plenty of online theories that attempt to reconcile DCtT, but I won't go into those now.

The Shada one I think is brilliant. As I'm sure you know, the scenes of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward in The Five Doctors serial were from the aborted serial Shada, which was never finished, since Baker didn't come back for the reunion broadcast. The 4th Doctor got trapped in a time eddy, instead of being brought to Gallifrey. The web version had the 8th Doctor going to Romana (now president of Gallifrey) to try and uncover a hole in his memory, created by that point [when] his 4th incarnation was trapped in time. Personally, I think this version should count then as the main version of the story (since the only other version out there is a video with linking narration by Baker).

Anyway, I digress...

I was trying to think of connections from Doctor Who to other shows. I know you've picked up some ideas from the latest series for some ties.

The main series link I can think of offhand is to A Man Called Sloane, as Robert Conrad's spy worked for the international agency UNIT. Since I cannot find anywhere on an episode guide what UNIT stood for on this show, I hold it is United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, the military group the Doctor aided on so many occassions.

During its history, DW made no official crossovers, although they did discuss links with Z Cars (the Feast of Steven episode of Dalek MasterPlan was at one time to feature the two series) and Blake's 7. The closest straight link then is the 1993 Dimensions in Time "special", a two-part hodgepodge of Doctor Who & Eastenders, with virtually the entire cast of the Cockney soap mixing with all living Doctors and many former companions. Most fans, however, discredit it and bash the serial as dreadful (of course, quality is not always a factor, unfortunately). In terms of any continuity, however, this isn't counted.

Jon Pertwee's last performance was in a commercial for a kind of mobile phone. This was a British series of ads with Kyle Machlachlan playing an agent investigating strange phenomenon, normally explained because of use of these "wonderful" phones. In this one, Machlachlan and his partner came to talk to Pertwee, an English inventor conducting experiments in time travel. Having once again solved that the phenomenon were actually the result of the phones, the pair walk off, while the familiar sound of the Tardis dematerializing is heard.

While these ads apparently were playing at an X-Files feel, Kyle Machlachlan I contend was actually Agent Cooper, so this commercial links Twin Peaks and DW.

I've read that Tom Baker played his Doctor on a British "Disney Time" series, which might tie to other shows.

Also, there's a possibility of the Daleks making the links--one "appeared" on Red Dwarf, and one is in _The Loony Toons Movie_, thus making some cineverse ties possible (or perhaps that was the Dalek from the Peter Cushing movies in the 1960s?).

Let me know the connections you find. I didn't get into the historical ones or even the fact a Patrick Troughton story was set on the planet Vulcan.

Hugh

TIP O' THE HAT SQUAD: SIMON WIESENTHAL

Simon Wiesenthal, the death camp survivor who dedicated the rest of his life to tracking down fugitive Nazi war criminals, died Tuesday at his home in Vienna. He was 96.

In Toobworld, Oscar winners Ben Kingsley and Martin Landau both had the honor of portraying his tele-version. In 1989, Kingsley was Wiesenthal in "Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story", while Landau played the role a year later in "Max And Helen".

BCnU.....
Tele-Toby

CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK!

'Doctor Who' is back on Earth!

Fifteen years after the last regular episode, six years after the one TV movie for the Eighth Doctor, we've had a full series of thirteen episodes featuring Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Incarnation.

The final episode for this year has aired, signaling the end of Eccleston's tenure and marking the debut of David Tennant in the role.

And so to celebrate, most of my essays and all of the Crossovers will be dedicated to the Doctor for the rest of the summer.

Be forewarned: In my essays during this summer salute to 'Doctor Who', there will be spoilers for each of the episodes, especially in regard to summaries.....

This part hasn't changed from last week.....

Location: The Gamestation (formerly Satellite 5)
Date: 200,100
Enemy: Daleks

With the fate of the Universe hanging in the balance as the Dalek fleet begins their invasion of Earth, the Doctor needs to decide if he has to sacrifice every human being on Earth so that every other living being in the universe is safe from the Daleks.
[Thanks to TV.com]

The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) faces the Daleks as he fights for Rose's life. He and Jack (John Barrowman) materialize the TARDIS on board the Dalek command ship outside the Solar System, where they find Rose (Billie Piper)... and the Daleks’ master, the Emperor Dalek, who reveals that he also escaped destruction at the end of the Time War, and has slowly been using humanity to rebuild the Dalek species. Except now, the Dalek Emperor believes he’s a god.
[Thanks to Outpost Gallifrey]

CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK
'DOCTOR WHO' - "PARTING OF THE WAYS"
&
'ENTERPRISE'

So here we are, dealing with the last episode of 'Doctor Who' for his ninth regeneration, as played by Christopher Eccleston. And as "Parting Of The Ways" wrapped up a lot of the mysteries from his tenure, it probably stood to reason that this theoretical crossover would the most complicated.

The Doctor and Rose, with Captain Jack Harkness and their other allies, make a final stand against the greatest enemies ever faced by the Doctor and the other Time Lords of Gallifrey - the Daleks.

Until he met that lone Dalek captive, a prisoner of Henry Van Statten, the Doctor believed that all of the Daleks had been destroyed - along with his own people, the Gallifreyans, - in the great Time War. This war triggered an "Armageddon Factor" which brought an apocalyptic end not only to the Dalek race but also to the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey.

Of all the Time Lords, only the Doctor survived. And that was not by choice.

[If he was left behind to trigger the great conflagration, then that was probably the cause of his regeneration from his eighth incarnation, as played by Paul McGann.]

In the third episode, "The Unquiet Dead", we learned from the Gelth that the great Time War was not limited to just the Time Lords and the Daleks. And the Doctor told the Nestene Consciousness that he did his best to save their protein planets during the war in "Rose", the first episode.

But the Time War raged across the cosmos, sweeping up many of the species of higher intellect without regard as to who was truly involved. So that would mean that the humans of Earth, the "Tellurians", would have been affected as well.

At least... I HOPE that we're considered of high intellect in the grand scheme of things!

Jack Harkness, who came from the 51st Century, knew of the Time War. Their allies from the year 200,100 thought of the Daleks as the stuff of legend, which to my mind would mean that they knew the sinister canisters should have been expunged from existence.

So the human race must have had some involvement in the great Time War.

And we saw that as the original storyline arc for 'Enterprise'.

For that 'Star Trek' prequel, the conflict was known as the Temporal Cold War, and it was/will be fought between several time-traveling species in different time periods as they were all trying control Time for their own purposes. So although they were never mentioned in the series, the Time Lords and the Daleks fall into that general description of the chrono-combatants.


[Among those whom we do know to be adversaries in the war:
The Suliban Cabal of the 22nd Century
the Na'kuhl of the 29th Century
The Sphere Builders of the 21st and 22nd Centuries, also known as the Guardians*
The Xindi in the Delphic Expanse of the 21st and 22nd Centuries
And the Andorians, the Klingons, the Tholians, and the United Federation of Planets in the 22nd Century]

On the first mission for the starship Enterprise, Captain Jonathan Archer found out from a Suliban renegade that the 22nd Century would prove to be a major battlefront for the Temporal Cold War. [As such, the correct title for the conflict would be Time War, as it had now escalated into being "hot".]

Because of the involvement of Archer and the crew of the Enterprise in assisting a temporal operative named Daniels (who lost his own life as they stopped the Suliban Cabal, the Na'kuhl, and the Sphere Builders), the ravaged and altered timeline reset itself so that the Na'kuhl never wiped out Daniels' faction and the Cold War never went hot as a result.

Most of the major combatants with whom the Enterprise came into contact were from no farther into the Future than the 31st Century. So I'm not sure if this would have affected the war on a different temporal front, where the Time Lords and the Daleks were waging their own campaigns to destroy each other.

Daniels told Captain Archer that by destroying the temporal conduit in the altered New York City of 1944, the Temporal Cold War was "coming to an end because of what you did. You don't know how many lives you saved."

But on that other front, the battle between the Daleks and the Time Lords led to complete annihilation of both races - or so survivors on both sides thought - before they could consider the Time War to have concluded.

I see no contradiction between these two resolutions. I compare it to World War II, "the Big One" as Archie Bunker would call it. There were several fronts in that war - the invasion and liberation of Europe, the Pacific Theater, the Russian Front. The Axis powers were bound by an alliance in which they had nothing more in common than an interest in defeating their enemies. Had they been successful, I'm fairly certain they would then have turned on each other; the snake vs. the rat, in Susan Hawk's imagery.

It would have played out like 'Survivor', wouldn't it?

So if each faction was trying to subvert the Timeline for its own purpose, then there's no contradiction in the two different outcomes. But if the destruction of the temporal conduit did cause the Timeline to reset itself, perhaps it had an effect on the war being waged between the Daleks and the Time Lords.

It might be that was the reason the Emperor Dalek was able to fall through a temporal wormhole and escape into the past so that he could regroup and create a new race of Daleks from the pulped refuse of the human race throughout the galaxy.

Personally I'm hoping that it also caused a linear loophole of some kind in which the Gallifreyans and their planet can be resurrected. I think their loss made for a great - no, a "fanTAStic"! - mantle of tragedy which the Doctor wore throughout his ninth incarnation. But as the show's producers realized as they went into the "Key of Time" season, the Doctor shouldn't be devoid of attachments to higher powers through which would derive his moral responsibilities.

So I'm hoping there will be some way to negate the results of the great Time War as there was for the Temporal Cold War. After all, by absorbing the Time Stream, Rose was able to bring at least Jack back to Life. (Although unseen, I'm guessing she was also able to save the others on the Gamestation and down on Earth itself with her godlike powers.)

So why not the Time Lords? That way we might one day meet Romanadvortalundar and Susan again.

But that's another topic for another day. Just because I finished with the Crossovers for each individual episode of this new 'Doctor Who, that doesn't mean I'm done with the topic of the Time Lord. I want to write about my ideas for new Doctors and old Companions. I want to write about my theories about what the future holds for these characters. I want to write about crossovers for past 'Doctor Who' storylines.

But there's no rush. After all, I have all the Time in the wor -#

Aaaaah! I broke my glasses! I can't see!

It's not fair.... It's not fair....... I had all the time in the world!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

*More than likely not to be confused with the White and the Black Guardians, who were able to trump even the powers of a Time Lord.

NO "BONES" ABOUT IT

Premiere month is in gear and already there were attempts to Zonk! 'The X-Files' in two new series.

Luckily, I can splain them away!

On 'Bones', Dr. Temperance Brennan demanded to be kept in the loop and to be allowed to join in the field work for any of the cases she helped the FBI on. Seely Booth, the FBI agent who was trying as best he could to make sure she was happy with the working relationship said:

"What, you want me to spit in my hand? We're Scully and Mulder."

[This may be para-phrased.]

Yes, it could be considered a reference to the TV show which should exist as reality in the same universe as 'Bones'... especially when Agent Booth was so specific as to refer to something that actually happened on the show.

But Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were FBI agents working out of Washington, D.C. just as Seely Booth was. Over the last decade there were countless opportunities for the two agents from 'The X-Files' to have socialized and/or conferred with Booth out of sight from the prying eyes of the audience viewing at home. It's quite possible that at some point, either Mulder or Scully could have related that anecdote to him.

No points scored for that Zonk! attempt.

Just an hour later, switching networks from FOX to The WB and its new show 'Supernatural', Dean greeted two FBI agents with:

"Agent Mulder. Agent Scully."

Dean and his brother Sam are traveling across the country doing the "Brothers Kolchak" routine - investigating incidents of the supernatural as they go in search of their missing father who also followed a similar line of work.

The brothers would not be going off half-cocked on such a mission. They would have studied their father's work as well as done their homework on the types of cases that might have been checked out in the past. And I'm sure that in the course of their studies, the names of FBI Agents Mulder and Scully occurred quite frequently.

So even though this was an apparent riff on the characters from the FOX show that is the main influence on all these types of shows that have come out the last few years, within the reality of 'Supernatural' it was a riff on the actual people known as Agent Mulder, Agent Scully.

No Zonk! for you!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

BLACKADDER 2006!

In an interview with the Daily Express, Richard Curtis (who wrote the 'Blackadder' series with Rowan Atkinson) said that the characters will return in 2006. In the first four series we met a Blackadder from four different time periods, but apparently this time we'll be revisiting Blackadder, Baldrick, and the others from 'Blackadder Goes Forth' which was set in during WWI.

And that means Curtis and Atkinson will have to work around the fact that the characters were rushing headlong into death (the fate for just about every character in all of the previous 'Blackadder' series).

But as that Kid Having Kids Sean Shoehand reminded me, Tony Robinson (Baldrick) mentioned in an interview a few years ago that the original plan was to set the next series in the 1960s.

I think this is the way to go, myself. First off, with the zeitgeist of those times, they can go in several different directions to fit in with the pop culture and still cleverly work in the combination of 'Blackadder' with 'Five'.

For example, the sixties were the height of spy adventures on TV. 'The Avengers', 'Danger Man', 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', 'Get Smart'. So why not a show about 'Blackadder MI5'?

On the other hand, although I once thought Rowan Atkinson would be perfect for a spoof on the spy game, I've since seen "Johnny English".

And then there's the music scene, the British Invasion that brought us the Beatles, the Stones, The Who, and the Rutles.

So why not 'The Blackadder Five'? Of course, Baldrick would have to be the skanky drummer of the group. Think Animal of the Electric Mayhem. Any of the drummers for Spinal Tap. Drummers never get the respect. Or the girls. (Well, okay, Ringo got Barbara Bach, but look what happened to John Bonham and Keith Moon!)

It's unclear if Hugh Laurie would be available for this series since he's pretty busy these days as Doctor 'House'. (And by the way? Regarding the Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Actor? ROBBED!) But Tim McInerney and Stephen Fry should be able to join Atkinson and Robinson in the new series, no matter what incarnation it takes.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

FAWLTY RECKONING

Happy anniversary, Basil and Sybil!

Today marks the 30th anniversary for comedy classic 'Fawlty Towers'.

There's a great story about the show - its history and impact - on the BBC's website. And there I found the following excerpt which touched on principles of Toobworld-building: Prunella Scales theorizes about the past history for Mr. and Mrs. Fawlty, and John Cleese offers an opinion on what the future held for Basil after the series ended.

'Prunella Scales said she had firm ideas about their dynamics as a couple. "I think it was my idea that she (Sybil) should be less posh than he was.

"I thought what she went for in him was his poshness, but that her parents had run a small boarding house and therefore knew about hotel management which he didn't.

"She was the professional one, but he had grander plans than hers.

"I don't remember ever talking to John about this, but my idea was that Basil had completed his National Service and, with his de-mob money, went out and met Sybil in a bar in Eastbourne or somewhere.

"He thought she was a glamorous barmaid, she thought he was posh, and it went from there."

And what would Basil be doing now, 30 years after Fawlty Towers first opened its doors?

"Still trying to run a hotel and getting it wrong," Cleese concluded. '

I think that when such speculation comes from key people involved in the creation of the characters, then I think their theories should be given full credence over others that might be found - in fanfic, for example.

Here's the full text of the article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4246904.stm

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

CUCKOO FOR COCOA BEACH

This weekend, in the mythical town of Cocoa Beach, in the mythical state of Florida, the townsfolk are embracing their inner genies and celebrating the connection between their hometown and the magical sitcom 'I Dream Of Jeannie'.

Today marks the 40th anniversary for the broadcast of the very first episode.

Even though none of the three main cast members - Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman, and Bill Daily, - were going to be there, and even though the show never actually filmed there, that wasn't going to stop the good citizens of Cocoa Beach from throwing a grand party in honor of that bottle-star gal, complete with look-alike contests.

Actually, had Toobworld more of an accurate portrayal of the life of an astronaut, then Major Tony Nelson would have been living in or just outside of Houston, Texas. In the Real World, that's where all the astronauts live as they train for their missions.

But then again, had it really been the Cocoa Beach as seen in the Real Florida, and not the one as seen on TV, you never would have seen the Hollywood Hills in the background. And the Kennedy Space Center must have shared the same architect as the Edwards Air Force Base in California, as their buildings all looked exactly the same. [Gee.....I wonder how that happened......!]

Many of the shots of local streets actually turned out to from the back lots, so that 1020 Palm Drive, the street on which Jeannie lived with her "Master", Major Nelson, could also be seen as Morning Glory Circle in Westport, Connecticut, on 'Bewitched'.

The TV show contributed a fictional newspaper to the library of Toobworld media - the Cocoa Beach Herald. And there's the book Jeannie wrote (using Tony's name) - "How To Be A Fantastic Mother", which was published by Woodhouse Publishers in NYC. Also there is the home-made candy which could bring out the hidden fantasies of people - Pip Chicks.

Yet even though the televersion of Cocoa Beach is just as fictional as Hooterville and Fernwood, the identification of the town with the TV show is practically universal. Said a local lawyer, "When I tell people, in almost every place I go — Europe, South America — that I'm from Cocoa Beach, they say 'I Dream of Jeannie'!"

BCnU!
Tele-Toby