UP IN SMOKE

The preceding post, "Across The Multiverse", was presented as just a statement of fact for Toobworld - something that might be found in some kind of encyclopedia for the TV Universe.

But originally it was the opening for an article entitled "Burning Zone". It was to be about Meredith Gordon, the character recently introduced in 'Heroes'. As played by Jessalyn Gilsig, Meredith is the birth mother for cheerleader Claire Bennett, and she has the power to summon fire.

It was going to be my splainin that Meredith was actually Charlene "Charley" McGee, the televersion of Stephen King's character from "Firestarter", who was played by Drew Barrymore in the movie of the same name. I was going to claim that in her Toobworld life since the the early 1980s (The book was published in 1980; the movie came out in 1984), Charley had gone on to change her name to Meredith Gordon in order to protect her identity and that she gave birth to Claire fourteen or so years before.

It would have been a sweet splainin. It probably couldn't be disproved, since I don't think Meredith Gordon is the type of character that's going to be around long on 'Heroes' - one way or the other...... And it could never be proven since there was a major stumbling block in the real world against making that claim; a reason that kept Patrick McGoohan and the other producers of 'The Prisoner' from ever stating outright that Number Six was indeed John Drake of 'Danger Man' - royalties.

Somebody would have to be paid royalties for those characters, and in this case, it would have been Stephen King. And you don't want to hassle with Stephen King. Like Homer Simpson once said about the Dead, he's got weird powers.

I wrote up the rest of that splainin last night at work, where I've been denied access to the web at my desk since last week. So I had to wait until I got home to fill in the blanks with details gleaned from the Internet. Thus, while I was at Wikipedia looking into when the novel was published, I discovered that back in 2002 a TV sequel to "Firestarter" was televised, starring Marguerite Moreau as a grown-up Charley McGee - "Firestarter 2: Rekindled".

Well, that was that. "Firestarter" already existed in Toobworld, and there was no way Meredith Gordon could be Charley.

Oh well, what the hell, as they said in "Catch-22". It was a nice idea while it lasted, until it all went poof! in a puff of smoke.

Oooh! I just elected a new Pope!

BCnU.......
Tele-Toby