ON THE FITZ AGAIN

Tonight BBC-America presents "Cracker: A New Terror", marking the first appearance of Fitz, as played by Robbie Coltrane, in ten years.

In England, the title was "Cracker: Nine-Eleven". I guess it was assumed we can't handle the subject matter displayed in the movie's name.

I'm fairly certain the movie takes place in 2006, but I'm not sure yet as to exactly when this year it's supposed to have occurred. I wonder about this because it was first shown in Israel back in June, Germany in August, and I think just a few weeks ago in Great Britain.

As it's been ten years since we last saw the forensic psychiatrist in action, this TV movie serves as an excellent example of Toobworld's basic premise:

Even though a show may be cancelled, or a character leaves a series (alive, of course), that doesn't mean that they cease to exist in the TV Universe. Their lives continue even though we don't get to watch.

The best example of this, of course, is 'Star Trek', which lay fallow for about ten years (save for the animated series, but that's set in the Tooniverse) before those characters were pressed back into service with "Star Trek: The Motion Picture".

Yes, it is part of the Cineverse, but it's one of those rare occasions when Toobworld absorbs cosmic material from another universe created from Mankind's imagination.

Since the last time we saw Fitz, he and his wife have retired to Australia, and have only returned to England to attend their daughter's wedding. And as would happen to Jessica Fletcher in these situations, Fitz gets dragged into a murder investigation that pulls in elements from the 9/11 attacks and the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland.

I'm not that familiar with Australian TV series, so I don't have any theoretical crossovers to make based on Fitz's new homeland. I don't even know yet in which city he lives Down Under, which is an important factor in choosing such crossovers. Could he have been involved with the 'Water Rats' crew, for instance? Can't say without knowing where he lived.

But there's one hypothetical link I'd like to propose: In flying from Australia back to England for the wedding, perhaps Fitz and his wife booked their passage with Oceanic Airlines as seen in 'Lost'! Maybe the Sydney-L.A. route is still grounded because of the bad publicity from the September, 2004 crash of Flight 815, but that doesn't mean they had to indefinitely suspend all their air traffic routes.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby