TODAY'S TWD: NO ANGELS THIS TIME

From the Associated Press:

ARAPAHO, Okla. (April 18) - Authorities have charged a western Oklahoma sheriff with coercing and bribing female inmates so he could use them in a sex-slave operation run out of his jail.

Custer County Sheriff Mike Burgess resigned Wednesday just as state prosecutors filed 35 felony charges against him, including 14 counts of second-degree rape, seven counts of forcible oral sodomy and five counts of bribery by a public official.

Burgess, the top officer in the county of 26,000 since 1994, appeared in court Wednesday was released after posting $50,000 bail.

"We are stunned," Undersheriff Kenneth Tidwell said Thursday.

Among other things, Burgess is accused of having sex with a female drug court participant who was in his custody. The crimes are to have occurred between October 2005 and April 2007.

A federal lawsuit filed in October claims Burgess told one drug court participant he would have her sent to prison if she didn't comply with his sexual demands.

The lawsuit, filed by 12 former inmates, alleges the sheriff's employees had them engage in wet T-shirt contests and offered cigarettes to those who would flash their breasts.

One prisoner alleged she became a jail trusty with more freedom after agreeing to perform a sex act on Burgess, but lost that status when she later refused.

Burgess also faces two counts each of sexual battery, rape by instrumentation and subornation of perjury, and one count each of engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, indecent exposure and kidnapping.

He could be sentenced to 467 years in prison if convicted on all counts, special prosecutor James Boring said, though a lesser sentence would be more likely.

Life imitates Toobworld.
On October 20th, 1976, ABC aired the infamous 'Charlie's Angels' episode "Angels In Chains", in which the Angels went undercover as petty criminals to go undercover at the Pine Parrish County Prison. (To get into the prison, Kelly and Sabrina were supposedly on probation when they picked up Jill as a hitch-hiker - thus giving Sheriff Clint an excuse to take them in as prisoners.)

While searching for a missing inmate (who turned out to be murdered), Jill, Kelly, and Sabrina were hosed down by the dreaded "evil lesbian guards" and were destined to be auctioned off by the female warden who pimped her prisoners out to local businessmen. But what really made the episode infamous was the legend of the exposed nipple on the part of Farrah Fawcett as Jill, which supposedly could be seen as they slogged their way through a bog to escape from the prison.

Among the guest stars were:

Neva Patterson as Warden Sorenson

Lauren Tewes as Christine Hunter

Kim Basinger as Linda Oliver

Mary Woronov as Maxine

(I can't think of anybody more perfect to play that role back then!)

and
David Huddleston as Sheriff Clint

It's a shame the timing is all off - Sheriff Burgess would have been a great role for the late Graham Jarvis!

BCnU!
Toby OB

PS:
One interesting side note to the similarities between the two cases - here in the real world, Sheriff Burgess is being represented by attorney Steve Huddleston. In "Angels In Chains", the dastardly Sheriff Clint is played by David Huddleston.

CROSSING AT 11th....

They waited until the season finale of 'New Amsterdam' (which may also be the series finale), but the producers threw a bone to ol' Toobworld by providing a link to another series.

Although they might not have realized it.

Near the end of the episode "Love Hurts", Detective John Amsterdam stormed out of the stormed out of New York's 11th Precinct where he worked. He was closely followed out by a suspect, Inga Skolls.

There must be something about the place that draws in those cops with a touch of the supernatural about them, because that's also the same precinct where Detective Sara Pezzini worked, as seen in the series premiere of 'Witchblade'.

John Amsterdam joined the force soon after 9/11/2001, which was established in the episode "Reclassified". The last episode of 'Witchblade' aired in August of 2002. So there's a possibility that their paths have crossed at the 11th, but they may have been on different shifts. And "Pezz" may have left the NYPD before then. (I never did stay with the series until its end....)

Still, it does give the fanfic folks something to work with. (I know, I know, I shouldn't be encouraging them, but they look so cute when you give them scraps.)

An interesting side note: Nestor Serrano had roles on both series. In 'Witchblade', he was Captain Dante, at odds with Detective Pezzini. (Perhaps with a bloodline connection to the supernatural doings at 'Dante's Cove'?) And he was the legendary ex-cop Eddie Marquez, estranged father of Amsterdam's partner, Eva Marquez.

So if that's the series' legacy, not a bad way to end all in all.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

"Common sense has never been a reliable guide
To understanding the universe."
Kenneth Irons
'Witchblade'

TODAY'S TWD: BILL BUCKNER

On Opening Day at Fenway this year, former Red Sox player Bill Buckner threw out the first ball. It was an emotional moment, seeing how well-received the old Number Six was as he walked out to the mound; especially so considering how reviled he was after he flubbed that Mookie Wilson grounder during Game Six that pretty much led to the Mets winning the 1986 World Series.

Those Beantown Idiots have won two World Series since then - in 2004 and 2007. So maybe that's why the fans were willing to cite "Bygones", a la Richard Fish of 'Ally McBeal'. But I would hope they would have been just as forgiving and welcoming if the drought had continued. After all, 20/20 hindsight shows that it was a managerial error at the base of it - MacNamara should have pulled him out of the game earlier since he was so visibly hurting.

I know I would have been more forgiving even without the two championships, and I was a guy who was merciless on him back then. That play left me in a fetal position on my friend Robin's floor that night. It would have been fun to do that anyway, but for a more... interesting reason. But if you can't let something like that go by the next season, you're the one with a problem.

Of course, don't get me started about New York's channel 5 yanking 'Forever Fernwood' off the schedule back in 1978 in favor of 'Hogan's Heroes' reruns! But that's different.....

All of that venom from the fans took its toll on Buckner and he almost turned down this opportunity to come back to the Red Sox Nation.

"Yes, it was the World Series, and yes, it was a dramatic moment, but one play shouldn't define the legacy of a man who was a great player and a great hitter," said Ron Cey, a friend since they joined the Dogdgers together back in 1968. "Billy was a gritty player, a determined player and an emotional player, and this comes from someone who was his teammate in the Minor Leagues, with the Dodgers and then with the Chicago Cubs."

Here's why Bill Buckner should never be known only for that one play. In his 20 years of Major League Baseball from '70 to '90:

2,715 career hits

54th on the all-time list

more hits than Ted Williams, Billy Williams, and Steve Garvey

.289 batting average

1,208 RBIs

1,077 scored runs

498 doubles

174 home runs

450 walks and only 453 strike-outs

.991 in career fielding

So here's to you, Bill Buckner. Thanks for being patient with us as we finally came around.

BCnU!

Toby OB

AMSTERMULDER

During the 400 years of his life, John Amsterdam (under all of his aliases) had 63 children. So we could make the claim that he's related to a lot of previously established TV characters. And unlike the protagonist Cormac O'Connor in Pete Hamill's novel "Forever" which had a similar theme, John could leave Manhattan. So these children could be spread all over Toobworld.

And they don't have to be directly father and son or daughter either. We could suggest that somewhere farther back in the family tree, John sowed the seed that would eventually lead to the TV character in question.

And I have the perfect first candidate for this:

I wouldn't stretch the genealogical distance between John Amsterdam and Fox Mulder too far. I think we'd be safe in making the claim that John was Fox's great grandfather, perhaps even his grandfather on his mother's side.

But the resemblance is close enough there to make the claim that they're related; much better in fact than in some established cases in TV - like Jerry Stiller and Leah Remini!

[The picture of Nicolaj Coster-Waldau is one of the basic photos for 'New Amsterdam' publicity shots. So I knew just where to look to get a similar shot for David Duchovny - the "Leonard Betts" episode of 'The X-Files'!]

BCnU!
Toby OB

MORPHIN' FREEMAN

As part of his week-long celebration of his 26th birthday, my friend Michael (uncle to my god-daughter Rhiannon) showed me the 1990s version of 'Gypsy' which starred Bette Midler as Mama Rose. As big a fan of Stephen Sondheim as I am, I had never seen the show before. (If I'm going to get Sondheim, I want words AND music!) And although it wasn't really to my taste, there were some really great moments and the song "Rose's Turn" was really powerful.

During the big fight scene near the end between Rose and her daughter Louise (now known professionally as "Gypsy Rose Lee"), it suddenly occurred to me that if there was ever a reason for the late Kathleen Freeman to be portrayed in a TV show or movie, then Bette Midler would be perfect in the role.

But then again, I just re-upped on my meds for my knee, so maybe I'm the only one who sees it.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

LOST ON MARS

In the first season of 'Life On Mars', Sam Tyler visited the flat in which he grew up (one of them, anyway) back in 1973. He didn't actually see his younger, 4 year old self as he was upstairs with the mumps (or maybe chicken pox or measles, can't remember).

But what was interesting was that even in this strange new world in which Sam found himself (so as not to spoil it for anybody!), even here "The Numbers" from 'Lost' held sway!

BCnU!
Toby OB

[My thanks to NYMarkie for the screen captures!]

ADAMS: WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

If the HBO mini-series 'John Adams' had been produced over thirty years ago, I would have nominated the late Ed Flanders to play the role of the country's second President. I think he definitely looks the part....

Just a bit of "wish-craft" as I continue to clean out the Augean stables of my hard drive.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

STANFORD... YET AGAIN!

In this truncated TV season, we're still racking up TV connections for Stanford University.

Already we've had mentions in:

'Chuck'
'Journeyman'
'Reaper'
'Knight Rider'
'Boston Legal'

And that's just the '07-'08 season.

The latest mention comes from "The Jerusalem Duality", this week's episode of 'The Big Bang Theory'. It turns out that Dennis Kim, a fifteen year old who was considering CalTech as the place where he could work on his doctorate, had just the year before graduated from Stanford as their valedictorian.

So tough noogies there, whoever you are who was the valedictorian at Stanford in 2007 here in the real world! Over in Toobworld, Dennis Kim has snatched that honor away from you!

BCnU!
Toby OB

TATTOOED ON THE CHEKOV LIST....

On the left is a picture of Walter Koenig as Leo in the 'Ironside' episode "The Summer Soldier". On the right is Herve Villechaize as Tattoo in 'Fantasy Island'.

I'd say they could be brothers in Toobworld. Or is it just the meds talking?

It's not like we learned that much about the life of Tattoo during the run of the series. We barely got to learn anything about Mr. Roarke - only that he was over 300 years old and had supernatural connections with mermaids and Satan. (With the added information... information... information from the remake, Toobworld Central stands by its theory that Mr. Roarke was a Gallifreyan Time Lord.)

An added benefit to this "Theory of Relateeveety" is that we never learned the last names of either Leo or Tattoo.......

BCnU!
Toby OB

FLASHES BEFORE YOUR EYES

A few weeks ago, 'Guiding Light' changed the way they tape the soap opera, and in doing so, changed its very look. There's an immediacy to the scenes and some kind of video verite in effect because of the use of hand-held cameras and more location shooting (mostly in Peapak, New Jersey).

As a result, a lot of die-hard fans of 'Guiding Light' have been complaining about the new look, and the ratings haven't yet displayed the upwards bump the producers were hoping the experiment would create.
Not that it matters to Toobworld, of course. No matter what type of image ultimately ends up on the screen, it's still a broadcast from that alternate dimension; it is NOT a new TV world. The same holds true for colorization of old TV shows (as seen with this test frame from an 'I Love Lucy' episode) - it's a given that Toobworld should have always been in color, we just never had the chance to see it. Otherwise we'd have to say that once 'The Andy Griffith Show' began broadcasting in color, it had to be an alternate version from some other dimension.

(When it comes to the Turnerizer of 'Hi Honey, I'm Home'... okay, well, that's an alternate TV dimension!)

When are these pain pills going to take effect, anyway......?

BCnU!
Toby OB

AND WOULD SHE BE FROM STEPFORD, CT.?

(I'm cleaning out my hard drive of pictures I've been storing until I had the chance to write them up. As I'm pretty much hobbled here on my days off with a bad knee, now's as good a time as any.....)

First off, I hope they don't do this because John McCain wins the election, because Toobworld Central is throwing its support behind Obama.

But should Lifetime or Oxygen or We ever decides to film the Cindy McCain story, I think Laura Harris ('Dead Like Me', 'Women's Murder Club') should get the lead role.
For McCain himself? I don't know... Richard Dreyfuss, maybe?

It would be a story that had something for everyone - for the supporters, it's the story of a woman who stood by her husband as he buffetted the scandals and the illnesses in his quest for the White House; while for the detractors, it has the story of a man who ditched his first wife for a liquor company heiress and again, had to deal with the scandal about an alleged mistress.

Just sayin', is all.

BCnU!
Toby OB

I'M A BAAAAAAD BOY....

I should have run this on April 14th, but it's too good to leave off until next year. Besides, with my "swiss cheese memory" as Al would call it on 'Quantum Leap', I can't take that chance! This was from the Photoshop Phunnies at SomethingAwful.com......

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE HAT SQUAD: PAW PAW

Because he was such a familiar face on his mistress' TV show, we at Toobworld Central felt it only right that the death of Martha Stewart's dog Paw Paw should be noted here in the Inner Toob blog.

"Paw Paw was a spectacular chow and an even more spectacular dog," Stewart wrote in a blog post on his death Saturday. "He was always my loyal companion, displaying the most agreeable temperament."

Apparently he was a willing model for the camera (although the picture above looks to be otherwise), appearing in TV commercials as well as on 'Martha Stewart Living'. His full name was Kublai Khan Paw Paw Chow Chow Chow, but everyone just called him Paw Paw because of his huge paws.

At the time of his death from renal failure, Paw Paw was 13 years old.

BCnU....
Toby OB

KEENAN KIN

Carl Sarnac was the grandfather of the Sarnac family back in the 1960s on 'Call To Glory" (broadcast in 1984). If I'm not mistaken, he served during the Big One, World War Two. But he at least was a pilot, as his son Raynor became.

Flying runs in the Sarnac family. If Carl didn't serve in WWII, we're still ready to claim that his uncle on his mother's side of the family did - and he was a pilot as well.

Lt. Brannigan signed up to serve as a pilot during the war - but only if he could fly an old-fashioned barn-stormer. He worked with Lt. Hanley on a recon mission in the episode "The Flying Machine" during which they both nearly got killed.

And it was his love of flying which he passed on to his nephew who in turn instilled it in his son Raynor and then tried to do the same for his grand-daughter.

As a Theory of Relateeveety, this is all supposition....

BCnU!
Toby OB

ps
I'm also willing to entertain the theory that Brannigan and Carl Sarnac are the same man, with a 20 plus year age difference. Perhaps he had to change his name to avoid prosecution for something he did during the war.

But having never seen 'Call To Glory', I can't propose that theory in case something came up in the show to contradict it.....

"LOST" IN "THE BIG BANG THEORY"

Thanks to the "I Am A TV Junkie" blog (link to the left), I have another example of "The Numbers" from 'Lost', found in a different TV show!

This is Rajnesh Koothrapalli from 'The Big Bang Theory' (and whom I've linked earlier to a character in the first episode of 'The George Carlin Show').

As he is a scientific genius, Rajnesh probably knows that "42" is the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. But NOT because he saw it in 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy', because they share the same TV dimension.

No, it's probably an established scientific principle (but one not known to the general public) ever since Arthur Dent went back in Time and altered Earth's history by crash-landing on the planet with the Golgrafrinchans circa 2,000,000 BC.

Speaking of BC....

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: EYE ON ARABIA

Here's a medical affliction in Toobworld that you'll never see addressed in TVMD....
Affecting only those living in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, this rare form of lazy eye is caused by a severe deficiency in Showtime viewing. The only remedy is to - as the blipvert will tell you - "entertain your eyes before they entertain themselves".

BCnU!
Toby OB

TRIBUTE TO A STONEY FIGURE

Sometimes it takes me awhile to track down a decent picture for a particular topic here at the Inner Toob. But I'm a patient fellow; I went many years without any pictures at all. Probably not the best thing for a blog about such a visual medium as Television, but there you are.

In January of this year, actor Kevin Stoney passed away at the age of 86. He is perhaps best known in TV for his roles in 'Doctor Who' and 'The Prisoner', both of which were easy enough to find pictorial evidence. But he also came quite close to capturing a berth in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame for two different productions, nearly ten years apart.

In episodes of 'The Caesars' in 1968 and in 'I, Claudius' from 1976, Stoney appeared as the oracle Thrasyllus, advisor to Tiberius while in exile. I'm not sure if I'll ever track down a copy of the earlier mini-series, but I borrowed my brother's copy of the 'I, Claudius' boxed set while I was last home in Connecticut. Although it was in order to get a few frame grabs of Kevin Stoney, it had been too long since I last saw this series. So I've started watching it again tonight.

So here's a picture of the late Mr. Stoney as Thrasyllus. Had he only played the role one other time in some other Roman epic, Thrasyllus might have been a contender for inclusion in the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: PEST IN SHOW

In Toobworld, we know bugs can talk. It's a given over in the Tooniverse - Atom Ant, Fearless Fly, those Raid commercials..... But even in the live-action dimension of Earth Prime-Time, insects and other creepy crawlies have been known to speak up.

But when that termite turns out to be about six feet tall and knows how to drive a get-away car, you have to figure there's more going on in these shots from the latest commercial for Orkin:

You've got to give the guy credit though - he keeps his head in a crisis and doesn't scream like a little girlie-man upon seeng a six-foot-tall termite on his doorstep, asking to use the phone!

This particular pest is probably the lead scout for some invading army of insectivorids on Earth. Maybe it's connected to the Wirm of "The Ark In Space", or the Menoptera and the Zarbi of "The Web Planet" on 'Doctor Who' or those Martian buggies of 'Quatermass'. But no matter where it's from, luckily the Orkin Man was ready to take on that giant termite.
My friends Gene and Ivy aren't so fortunate - they've got thirty holes along each wall in the baseboard as their building's owner fights the real thing. They should have been so lucky to face off against a much larger [and therefore easier to kill] termite like the one in the Orkin blipvert.

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE ART-FULL DODGE

That corner of the Tooniverse in which you can find the sketched inhabitants from such productions as the a-Ha video "Take On Me" continues to exist. And people and things from the live-action main Toobworld can still cross over into their plane of existence.

The latest example is in a new Dodge blipvert, as seen in the picture below.
BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: HI KARACHI

Right at the beginning of "The Karachi Story", private eye Michael Lanyard (AKA 'The Lone Wolf') said that "The flying time from New York to Karachi is approximately 40 hours."

That was back in 1954. Today the flight duration could be anywhere from just over 16 hours to over 51 hours - at least based on a website I just checked out....

But here's the thing - when Lanyard flew to Karachi, it took him even longer than 40 hours because of flight problems which kept him bogged down in New Delhi.

I'm not the greatest with maps, but if you were flying to Pakistan, wouldn't you be flying East to save time? And if so, wouldn't the plane - which probably had to refuel at least in England - be closer to Karachi than to New Delhi if it developed problems?
Maybe there was some angle to the approach route that kept the plane farther north for a time (due to which countries they were going to be flying over?). Or maybe the flight headed west from New York, across the United States and then down across the Pacific. (Which might splain why some flights even today seem to take 51 hours!)

At any rate, just another bit o' trivia from an old show that I didn't let slip past me.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

DEAR GOSIA.....

生日快乐小女神母亲

Luff,
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION

On April 14th, 1865, one of the most defining and most tragic of events happened in American history - President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, as the Civil War was drawing to a close.

Here's how the New York Times headlines announced the news:

President Lincoln Shot by an Assassin

The Deed Done at Ford's Theatre Last Night

THE ACT OF A DESPERATE REBEL

The President Still Alive at Last Accounts.

No Hopes Entertained of His Recovery.

Attempted Assassination of Secretary Seward.

DETAILS OF THE DREADFUL TRAGEDY.

And here's how their dispatch began:

Washington, Friday, April 14, 12:30 A.M. - The President was shot in a theatre tonight, and is perhaps mortally wounded. Secretary Seward was also assassinated.

Second Dispatch.Washington, Friday, April 14 - President Lincoln and wife, with other friends, this evening visited Ford's Theatre for the purpose of witnessing the performance of the "American Cousin."

It was announced in the papers that Gen. Grant would also be present, but he took the late train of cars for New-Jersey.

The theatre was densely crowded, and everybody seemed delighted with the scene before them. During the third act, and while there was a temporary pause for one of the actors to enter, a sharp report of a pistol was heard, which merely attracted attention, but suggesting nothing serious, until a man rushed to the front of the President's box, waving a long dagger in his right hand, and exclaiming "Sic semper tyrannis," and immediately leaped from the box, which was in the second tier, to the opposite side, making his escape amid the bewilderment of the audience from the rear of the theatre, and mounting a horse, fled.

The screams of Mrs. Lincoln first disclosed the fact to the audience that the President had been shot, when all present rose to their feet, rushing toward the stage, many exclaiming "Hang him! Hang him!"

The excitement was of the wildest possible description, and of course there was an abrupt termination of the theatrical performance.

Over the years since Television began, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln has been addressed in many TV shows, mini-series, and TV movies. And not just those of a historical bent, like "The Great Man's Whiskers" and "North & South", but also series like 'The Time Tunnel', 'The Twilight Zone', and 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'.

On February 9th, 1956, 96 year old Samuel Seymour appeared as a guest on 'I've Got A Secret'. (The celebrity guest that night was Lucille Ball.) Mr. Seymour was the last surviving witness to the assassination of President Lincoln, and he was five years old at the time. He had gone with the family of one of his young friends.

All Mr. Seymour remembered of that fateful and fatal night was that a man fell out of the balcony and onto the stage. It wasn't until after they had escaped the pandemonium in the theater did the little boy find out that the President had been killed.

Mr. Seymour lived in Maryland and he died in April of 1956, 91 years after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

If you want to see Mr. Seymour's appearance on 'I've Got A Secret', click here or here.

BCnU!

Toby OB

AN UGLY TOON OF EVENTS

The Tooniverse has had many of its own versions of live-action TV series in its dimension over the years. Gilligan, Mork, Fonzie, Punky Brewster, Ed Grimley, Jeannie, Mr. Spock, the Brady Bunch, and Batman and Superman. Their situations may have changed from the original - Gilligan is in outer space! The Brady Bunch hang out with pandas! - but these are their lives in the world of animated cartoons.
'Yo Soy Betty, la Fea' of Colombia, which has a live-action version in at least eleven different countries, including 'Ugly Betty' of the United States (Mexico remade the series twice!), now also has an animated version called 'Betty Toons'.

Like those other animated series mentioned above, the cartoon version of Betty also has a gimmick - the stories chronicle Betty's exploits as a little girl, much like those recent minisodes about Shawn and Gus of 'Psych'.

'Betty Toons' is televised in the USA on the Tele-Futura network on Saturday mornings.

BCnU!
Toby OB

KA DOOM!

According to a new Ford Ka commercial from Argentina, there is a species of monster, looking like some Muppet gone horribly wrong, living in the South American jungles just outside of Buenos Aires.

In the blipvert, a fully-grown male is trying to pacify its colicky infant and resorts to feeding it the many passengers which can be held in a state-of-the-art Ka. The baby monster keeps crying, so the father keeps shaking out the contents of the Ka. It looks like it can easily seat ten humans.

Finally the infant is sated, which leaves just one last human for the adult male to gobble down.

What a great way to sell cars!

It may seem stupid, but hey - if it was broadcast, then it must have happened in Toobworld.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

HOT OFF THE PRESS - 27 YEARS LATER

Thanks to Sleuth TV running old pilots as their morning movies, Toobworld can bring another production into the list of subscribers for the Los Angeles Tribune.

Near the end of "The Chinese Typewriter" that could have launched a series with Tom Selleck and James Whitmore, Jr., we saw the front page of the Trib with a headline about William Daniels' character skipping bond and fleeing the country.

The screen shot adds "The Chinese Typewriter" to a collection of shows that includes 'Lou Grant', 'Burke's Law', and the 'Lookwell' pilot.

BCnU!
Toby OB

BORN TO RERUN: BONNIE, GRETA, EMILY, AND ALICE

In the penultimate episode of the second season of 'Torchwood', we glimpsed "Fragments" of the team's past, specifically how each of them joined Torchwood. (All but Gwen that is, as her story was the basis of the series premiere.)

With Jack Harkness, we saw how he was kidnapped by the two women who ran the Cardiff branch in 1899 - Alice Guppy and Emily Holroyd. Emily was the more reasonable of the two, but not by much; she was just as willing to keep killing the immortal Jack until they got what they wanted - either the location of the Doctor and/or Jack's servitude to Torchwood. Alice was the more headstrong member, shooting a young "blowfish" alien to death just to spare herself the tedium of keeping him in custody.

Eventually they died, perhaps in the line of duty, as did their replacements down through the decades. After some time, the souls of Emily Holroyd and Alice Guppy were reincarnated, which is a common enough experience in Toobworld. And as happened with Ross and Demelza Poldark, they were reincarnated so that they would eventually meet up again. (Ross and Demelza came back as Greg Montgomery and Dharma Finkelstein.)

Now with most reincarnated souls, they should have advanced in some way in their next life; stoked up on their karma to make themselves better persons.

Unfortunately, when Emily and Alice were reincarnated, they hewed closely to the way they operated in the past......
(Seen here: Bonnie, Greta, and Charlie Pace in the Looking Glass Hatch underwater from 'Lost.)

Even their personalities seem to match up - Like Emily, Bonnie was more even-handed and probably could have listened to reason had it not been for Greta. Greta was the blonde who was more than willing to keep beating Charlie until the sea cows came home.

Unfortunately, Bonnie and Greta were dispatched by Mikhael. Hopefully before they are reincarnated again, they'll work on the basic nature of their souls to move on to a better level.'

BCnU!
Toby OB