TODAY'S TWD: MOLDAVIA

December 15, 1467:
Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the Battle of Baia.

Moldavia no longer exists as an independent state in the real world. In the cartography of Toobworld, however, it's still a principality.

As for the real Moldavia:

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between Eastern Carpathians and Dniester river. An initially independent and later autonomous state, it existed from the 14th century to 1859, when its western part united with Wallachia as the basis of the modern Romanian state; at various times, the state included the regions of Bessarabia (with the Budjak) and all of Bukovina. The western part of Moldavia is now part of Romania, the eastern part belongs to the Republic of Moldova, while the northern and south-eastern parts are territories of Ukraine.

(from Wikipedia)

As for Toobworld, Moldavia first came into real prominence in 1966, with the first two-parter of 'Batman', in which we were introduced to the Riddler:

'Batman'
{Hi Diddle Riddle (#1.1)}
The Riddler leaves a clue at a Moldavian reception at the Gotham City World's Fair.

'Batman'
{Smack in the Middle (#1.2)}
Batman must solve additional riddles to find the villain's target -- the Moldavian pavilion at the world's fair where an ancient mammoth -- with jewels on the outside and priceless postage stamps inside -- is on display.

(Descriptions from the imdb.com)

During the 1980's, there was a long-running storyline in 'Dynasty' in which Amanda fell in love with Prince Michael, son of Moldavia's King Galen. The wedding party massacre in Moldavia by revolutionaries at the end of one season is generally perceived to be the series' shark-jumping moment. Even so, Prince Michael remained for awhile into the next season, only to walk away once he realized that Amanda loved Dex.

In 'Bottom', a series I'm not yet familiar with, characters Richie and Eddie joined Lily Lineker's Love Bureau dating service in the episode "Digger". Eddie got a date with Sarah Ferguson, and Richie found himself on a date with Lady Natasha Letita Sarah Jane Wettesley Olstomsky Ponsonsky Smythe Smythe Smythe Oblomov Dub, Countess of Moldavia.

Moldavia showed up in the Tooniverse as well, thanks to a cartoon from either Canada or France.....

"Lucky Luke"
{The Clown Princes (#1.9)}
When Lucky attends a small-town horse rodeo, two fat wallets convince several contenders to bow out with 'leg cramp', leaving the Moldavian twins Bogdan and Todor, mistaken for Canadians, who are knocked down and out in no time. After the brothers bribe the sheriff for a chance to hunt down a criminal, Lucky takes charge and finds out they are rival crown princes on a contest for the right to succeed their uncle, king Slobko of Moldavia, consisting of three parts: rodeo, arresting a crook and scalping an Indian, but Lucky protects the peaceful No Joke tribe...

(Description from the imdb.com)

But there was one reference to Moldavia that doesn't count......

'Roseanne'
"Someday My Prince Will Come" [1996]
A Moldavian prince descends on Lanford with one purpose in mind: to romance Jackie. After the losers that she has been dating, Jackie has a big laugh when he announces that he is a Prince. After a few minutes of convincing, Leon saves the day by recognizing the Moldavian Royalty. It seems he's developed a royal crush on her after seeing her briefly on TV, and has traveled to the states to romance her. Roseanne urges caution until the potentate invites the entire family to fly on his private jet for a whirlwind trip to New York.

When all was said and done, it turned out to be only the fantasy of the show's main character... captured in a novel she was writing.

(Description from TV.com)

So the fictional Moldavia can geographically link 'Dynasty', 'Batman', and 'Bottom'; and since former First Lady Betty Ford showed up in Denver during one 'Dynasty' episode, we get the full splendor of the shows linked by 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' as well!

BCnU!
Toby O'B