TODAY'S TWD: HARRY REEMS

'New Amsterdam', 'Journeyman', and 'Doctor Who' were not the only series this season to give us history lessons about the real world. With the historical Tiddlywinkydinks, we've looked at Walt Whitman, HG Wells, Bill Buckner, and lots about Agatha Christie.

But who'd ever guess that we'd be covering Harry Reems in Toobworld?
'Swingtown' is turning into a goldmine for trivia about what was going on back in the mid-1970s, and a great example happened this past week with the arrival of Harry Reems to the swinging neighborhood.

It was the televersion of Harry Reems, of course, in Chicago to raise awareness and money in order to fight the obscenity charges against him because of his involvement in "Deep Throat".

Allison Waldman of TVSquad did her research for her review of "Go Your Own Way", the latest episode of 'Swingtown':

The actor playing Harry Reems (Rick D. Wasserman) was quite good, but the standee of Harry was all wrong. The moustache was right, but Harry had a very hairy chest. I don't know about you, but I demand accuracy in the depiction of porno stars from the era.
I've only seen one Reems movie - "Wet Rainbows". I probably should expand my knowledge on his work. Ha!

But in the meantime, here's info about him from Wikipedia:

Harry Reems was born Herbert Streicher to a Jewish family in Bronx, New York on August 27, 1947. He served briefly in the United States Marine Corps before electing to pursue an acting career, principally in off-Broadway theater.

Looking for ways to support himself, Streicher began to appear in dozens of short, silent stag films, often referred to as "loops", during the early 1970s. He eventually went on to appear in approximately 140 feature-length sexploitation and hardcore films between 1971 and 1989, with Deep Throat (1972) and The Devil in Miss Jones (1973) being the best known.

For the production of Deep Throat in Florida in January 1972, Streicher was hired to be part of the lighting crew, but the director was unable to cast one of the roles and asked him. He was paid $100 for the one day of acting work. Streicher was unaware that the director had given him the name "Harry Reems" until he saw the movie.

Reems's appearance in Deep Throat led to his arrest by FBI agents in New York City in July 1974, and indictment in Memphis, Tennessee in June 1975 on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute obscenity across state lines. He was convicted in April 1976 with 11 other individuals and four corporations. His conviction was overturned on appeal in April 1977 because his activities in making the film occurred before a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on obscenity in 1973 (Miller v. California), and Reems was granted a new trial. The charges against Reems were dropped in August.
Reems's defense claimed that he was the first American actor to be prosecuted by the Federal government merely for appearing in a film, and he received considerable support from established Hollywood and New York celebrities during his trial. His successful appeal was handled by attorney Alan Dershowitz.

Today, outside organized religion, he continues to meditate, pray and offer gratitude to God. "If I didn't put God in my life, I'd be dead now," he said. "I am not religious. I'm spiritual, 100 percent."

He continues to identify himself as "Harry Reems".

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE HAT SQUAD: LARRY HARMON

Larry Harmon, the man who owned the rights to Bozo the Clown and made a fortune with the franchise, has died at the age of 83.

I don't think we could say that Bozo died as well. I think he'll be one of those characters who will live forever in Toobworld.

In fact, since there were so many different Bozos across the country, perhaps it's an early example of cloning? So maybe there'll be more Bozos in the future.....

But Mr. Harmon did play other roles in Toobworld, and here is a list of them....

"Matt Houston" .... Richard Hunter aka Stan Laurel

- Here's Another Fine Mess (1983)

"Letter to Loretta" .... Voices (1 episode, 1954)

- On Your Honor, Your Honor (1954) TV episode .... Voices

THE TOONIVERSE

"The New Scooby-Doo Movies"

- The Secret of Shark Island (1972) TV episode

- The Ghastly Ghost Town (1972) TV episode (voice)

"A Laurel and Hardy Cartoon" (1966) TV series .... Stan Laurel

"Aventures de Tintin d'après Hergé, Les" (1962) TV series .... Announcer (English Version)

Geval Zonnebloem, Het (1959) (TV) (voice: English version) .... Announcer

Geheimzinnige ster, De (1959) (TV) (voice: English version) .... Announcer

BCnU....
Toby OB

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

HOORAY FOR THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE!

TODAY'S TWD: THE BIG BANG

The great thing was to do it yourself — just the nudge of a lighted punk to a fuse, a small commitment that seemed such an insignificant act, and yet the result was so decisive and visible…the sudden puff of a colored ball emerging from the long tube of a Roman candle, the quick rush and fading hiss of a rocket, the popping busyness of lawn fountains that smoked and sputtered and sent the family cat scurrying under the upstairs bed. Anyone could do it. Even "the snake in the grass," that curious pellet that elongated and convoluted into a length of gray black ash, had its quality of mystery. Whoever lit it suddenly had that extraordinary alchemist's gift of turning an inert object into something else.

And fireworks provided a sort of equalizer, especially for those kids who were not good at sports, and were taken last on the pickup teams, and knew they were doomed to spend most of the long summer afternoons in the far reaches of right field when they were not stepping up to the plate and striking out. They too on the Fourth of July had the capacity to create something just as satisfactory as a ball caught up against the fence, or a base hit — and make a big racket about it besides…with only the requirement of nerve enough to reach forward with the punk to the brightly papered device on the lawn and touch it to the fuse to set the thing off.

I always thought it was the best day of the year. It was in the middle of the summer, to begin with, and when you got up in the morning someone would almost surely say, as they did in those times, that it was going to be a "true Fourth of July scorcher." School had been out long enough so that one was conditioned for the great day. One's feet were already leather-hard so that striding barefoot across a gravel driveway could be done without wincing, and yet not so insensitive as to be unable to feel against one's soles the luxurious wet wash of a dew-soaked lawn in the early morning. Of course, the best thing about the day was the anticipation of the fireworks — both from the paper bag of one's own assortment, carefully picked from the catalogues, and then after a day's worth of excitement of setting them off, there was always the tradition of getting in the car with the family and going off to the municipal show, or perhaps, a Beach Club's display…the barge out in the harbor, a dark hulk as evening fell, and the heart-pounding excitement of seeing the first glow of a flare out there across the water and knowing that the first shell was about to soar up into the sky.

Christmas was all right, but it was over too quickly, and was almost inevitably fraught with dashed hopes. Rather than the Savage .475 Special rifle (complete with barrel scope) that one had specifically asked for, the "big present" turned out (the heart sank as one noticed the conformation of the package under the Christmas tree) to be a dartboard. Grandmother — one had counted on her — inevitably turned up at the house with a Norwegian sweater she had bought "especially" on a cruise that summer through the fjords.

The Fourth of July had none of these disappointments…unless it rained, which I do not ever remember happening until fireworks were banned and when it did not make any difference. The day was always bright.

A big part of it when I was growing up were what rightfully became the bane of the fireworks industry — the cherry bombs and silver salutes. They were the first objects, after a scout knife, matches, and one's first BB-gun, that a youngster was truly lectured about — vociferously, the admonishing tone, the dire warnings about what the cherry bomb could do to fingers or eyes. I can remember the helter-skelter flight after nervously lighting my first cherry bomb off a stick of punk, peering around the corner of the tree at the steam-like smoke in the grass, and starting at the violent report.

There were various accessories that could be used with a cherry bomb. I remember an iron device like a football kicking-tee on which one blanced a tennis ball; when the cherry bomb went off underneath, it knocked the ball straight up, far above the elm trees and the roof tops, finally just a speck in the sky; the great thing was to circle under the ball with a baseball glove as it began to rematerialize; there was time enough to construct an entire mental scenario — the last out of the World Series, a "loud" foul as they used to say, and a lot depended on its being caught because the bases were loaded, and there was the business of waving everyone off that responsibility, shouting out to one's five-year-old sister, standing by on the lawn, wide-eyed, with a lollipop in her mouth, "I've got it! I've got it!"

There were other uses for the cherry bomb that I heard about among school chums but never had the nerve to try: with its lacquered and thus waterproof fuse, the cherry bomb was a favorite for lighting and flushing down a toilet at school to see what would happen; the inevitable was a pipe bursting a floor or two below with devastating effect, particularly if a class happened to be in session. Fortunately, the bulk of those devices were around in the mid summer when schools were not in session. It was obviously not an an experiment one wanted to try in one's own house.

On the Fourth, there were other, more refined items that also utilized a sharp bang. One of my favorites was the SOS Ship — a squat, cardboard ocean liner, about five inches long, with people painted standing along the rail; belowdecks their faces peered out of round portholes; it was a craft quite suitable for launching in a pond or a swimming pool; it had a single funnel with a fuse sticking out of the top which, when lit, caused (according to the catalogue) "A Shrill Siren Whistle Followed by Several Loud Reports Ending in Complete Destruction of Ship." For a young boy, there was something agreeably satanic to hold the destiny of these painted people in his hand and to launch them on their last journey — one could see their immobile passive faces staring imperturbably out of the portholes as the liner bobbed out into the pool while above them the ship's funnel began to send out its last despairing shriek.

There was a whole series of self-destruct items — a "Gothic Castle," among them and perhaps the most bizarre — "A Wild Elephant — A Ferocious Beast That Belches Fire, Goes Mad and Destroys Itself!" The prices were within a youngster's fiduciary parameters.

For example, for five dollasrs in 1935, from the American Fireworks Distributing Co. in Franklin's Park, a suburb of Chicago, one could order a "Children's Assortment," which included four boxes of sparklers, twelve Python Black Snakes, twelve pounds of various-sized firecrackers, a Catherine Wheel, firepots, and Roman candles — a total of fifty-six listed items!

What one chose was carefully culled from brightly colored pamphlets printed on cheap straw-colored paper with illustrations that could hold the attention of a boy for the better part of a day. Once again, they were at least as exciting as those that arrived in the weeks before Christmas. The Christmas catalogues were geared for adults and they seemed to emphasize kitchen appliances and chinaware, all at enormous expense, whereas the items in the Fourth of July catalogues were not only mostly within one's own means but they were absolutely consistent and to the point: everything in there was calculated to terrify mothers.

- From "Fireworks: A History And Celebration" by George Plimpton, which was published in 1984. [Plimpton holds the lifetime ceremonial title of New York City's Fireworks Commissioner.]

That excerpt from his book can be found on the PBS page for "Boomtown", an episode of 'P.O.V.' which was a look at the Native Americans of Washington State and how they feel about the Fourth Of July and their place in America.... even when they make most of their living from selling fireworks.

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE HAT SQUAD: DON S. DAVIS

Don S. Davis had that look to fill a particular need among characters - a man in power, perhaps a bit full of himself, somewhat stuffy and officious, and yes, a bit dull. I'm not saying this as an insult. There are characters out there like that in Toobworld, and Don S. Davis could capture that description in just moments upon entering the scene. It was that stocky, bald image with the deep monotone of a voice, I think.

It was with his role as General George Hammond on 'Stargate: SG-1', however, that we got to see the fully rounded portrayal he was capable of.

Don S. Davis passed away the other day. He was 65 years old. The 'Stargate SG-1' website "Gateworld" marked the sad news:

"With great sadness we must report that veteran actor Don S. Davis passed away on June 29, 2008. He was 65 years old.Don co-starred on Stargate SG-1 for the show's first seven years, helping to launch the enduring science fiction franchise. Davis played Major General George Hammond, base commander and a father figure to many of the show's characters.He is also well-known for his portrayal of Major Garland Briggs in Twin Peaks."

I would add to this that he was also well-known in the TV cult community for his portrayal of Scully's father in 'The X-Files'.

Although I watched 'Wiseguy' and 'Northern Exposure', it wasn't until 'Twin Peaks' that I really noticed Don S. Davis. In fact, he is responsible for the one quote from that show that I still remember:

"The owls are not what they seem."

I always wished we could have found out what that meant.....

Here are the list of TV series roles Don S. Davis added to the registrar of Toobworld:

"Stargate SG-1" - Major General George Hammond

"Stargate: Atlantis" - Major General George Hammond

Home (10 September 2004)

"Twin Peaks" (16 episodes) - Major Garland Briggs

"Broken Badges" - Chief Sterling

Pilot (24 November 1990)

Westside Stories (1 December 1990)

Chucky (22 December 1990)

"Madison" - Mr. Winslow

Family Passions (1 January 1994)

Learning Curves (1 January 1994)

Can't Get No Satisfaction (1 January 1995)

Taking Care of Business (1 January 1995)

House of Cards (1 January 1995)

Family Affairs (1 January 1995)

Love You Forever (1 January 1996)

"The Guard" - Chuck

When I'm Sixty Four (12 February 2008)

"Supernatural" - Trotter

Sin City (25 October 2007)

"Flash Gordon" - Mr. Mitchell

Conspiracy Theory (19 October 2007)

Revolution: Part 1 (1 February 2008)

"Psych" - Mr. McCallum

Pilot (7 July 2006)

"The Dead Zone" - Senator Harlan Ellis

Vanguard (7 August 2005)

Saved (28 August 2005)

Forbidden Fruit (18 June 2006)

"The West Wing" - Reverend Don Butler

In God We Trust (23 March 2005)

"Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service" - MTAC Control Officer

Chained (14 December 2004)

"Andromeda" - Avineri

The Eschatology of Our Present (22 October 2004)

"The Twilight Zone" - Dr. Tate

Memphis (26 February 2003)

"The Chris Isaak Show" - Del

Farm Boys (4 June 2002)

"Just Cause" - Thornton

Pilot: Part 1 (1 January 2002)

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show" - Mr. Washington

Honey, It's No Fun Being an Illegal Alien (28 November 1998)

"The Sentinel" - Wilton Fisker

Crossroads (22 April 1998)

"Viper" - Lloyd

Street Pirates (25 November 1996)

"Poltergeist: The Legacy" - Harold Taggart

The Inheritance (30 August 1996)

"Profit" (2 episodes) - former Sheriff Crew

Pilot (8 April 1996)
Hero (15 April 1996)

"The Outer Limits"

Living Hell (12 May 1995) - Detective Wilson

The Voice of Reason (20 August 1995) - General Callahan

"The Marshal" - Tiger Larkin

Pilot (31 January 1995)

"M.A.N.T.I.S." - Admiral Farallon

Tango Blue (2 September 1994)

"Northern Exposure" - Lloyd Hillegas

Blood Ties (16 May 1994)

"Cobra" - Thorne

A Few Dead Men (17 February 1994)

"Birdland" - Birdwell

Grand Delusion (9 February 1994)

"The X Files" - Captain William Scully

Beyond the Sea (7 January 1994)

One Breath (11 November 1994)

"Highlander" - Palance

The Return of Amanda (8 November 1993)

"Street Justice" - Sargeant Pritchard

Honor and Trust (13 February 1993)

"Knots Landing" - Warden Vernon Howard

Little Girl Lost (9 April 1992)

"Nightmare Cafe" - Sheriff Dan Filcher

Aliens Ate My Lunch (3 April 1992)

"L.A. Law" - Judge Richard Bartke

Bound for Glory (22 March 1990)

"Booker"

Flat Out (12 November 1989) - Prison Guard

Crazy (15 April 1990) - Judge

"Unsub"

Burn Out (14 April 1989)

"Bordertown" - Josiah Richmond

Over the Line (18 February 1989)

"Wiseguy" - Dr. Morris

Stairway to Heaven (1 February 1989)

"The Beachcombers" - Howard Usher

The Bay Mystery (1 January 1988)

"MacGyver"

Blow Out (21 December 1987) - Cement Truck Driver

The Endangered (2 May 1988) - Wyatt Porter

"The New Adventures of Beans Baxter" - Agent Ruck

Beans Finds His Dad But...: Part 1 (26 September 1987)

"21 Jump Street"

Blindsided (31 May 1987) - Principal Harris

Chapel of Love (14 February 1988) - Frank

School's Out (22 May 1988) - Principal

2245 (5 February 1990) - Prison Warden

Film at Eleven (9 February 1991)

"Joanie Loves Chachi" - Benny

Goodbye Delvecchio's, Hello World (25 November 1982)

Just a few O'Bservations.....

1] Behind the scenes back in the real world, Davis did stand-in work for Dana Elcar on 'McGyver'. So the argument could be made that his character of Thornton in the pilot episode of 'Just Cause' could have been related to Pete Thornton.

2] Could it be that Lloyd Hillegas of 'Northern Exposure' might have also been Lloyd in an episode of 'Viper'?

3] Could the prison warden he played in '21 Jump Street' have been Vernon Howard, the warden he played in an episode of 'Knots Landing'?

4] As General Hammond, Davis is eligible for entry into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, although perhaps on an honors list. After 'Stargate SG-1' and 'Stargate: Atlantis', his third qualification is due to his participation in the upcoming direct-to-video "Stargate: Continuum".

5] The judge played by Davis on 'Booker' could be Judge Bartke from 'L.A. Law'.

6] Did his prison guard in an episode of 'Booker' could have landed his job thanks to his family ties - specifically to Warden Vernon Howard of 'Knots Landing'.

7] I think it's a fair assumption to make that the two principals he played on '21 Jump Street' are one and the same man.

I'll have a second part to this Hat Squad tribute soon, with his other Toobworld roles from TV movies.

But for now, as Red Skelton would say, "May God Bless...."
BCnU...
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: ECCE PROMO

No matter how many shows it might contain, every alternate dimension of the TV Universe is as vast as the original dimension, Earth Prime-Time. It just may seem not quite so expansive with so few shows in it.

I've been toying with the idea that there's an alternate TV dimension out there which could be the smallest of all. It doesn't contain actual TV shows per se, although it would be implied. Instead, it's made up of the promotional blipverts that advertise upcoming TV series.

Most of the occupants for this dimension, - which I've dubbed Earth Prime-Time Promo, or the Promoverse - are the characters from such USA Network shows as 'Monk', 'Psych', 'The Dead Zone', and 'The 4400'. Because of events that may have happened during their runs (like having a different President and Vice President than those established in the real world and Toobworld), some of those USA Network shows can't be housed in the main Toobworld while others can. So when their characters interact with those from TV shows that still exist in Earth Prime-Time, then we're viewing the alternate dimension of the Promoverse where both can exist.

I've got a new candidate for inclusion in the Promoverse, which doesn't involve the USA Network. Not directly anyway. See, USA Network is a division of NBC, and the TV show involved in this promo blipvert is an NBC program. But it crosses over with a movie, not another TV show, and that movie is being released by Universal... which also produces the TV show.

Basically, the promo could be called "Chuck vs. Hellboy II". In it, Chuck Bartowski, the guy whose brain contains all of the information from the super-computer Intersec, is playing video games with Hellboy, the demon who also works for the government.

Hellboy has a new movie coming out, "Hellboy II: The Golden Army", and Chuck's sophomore season begins in the Fall. This was a great way for Universal Studios to advertise both.

But neither - so far - technically exists in the other's dimension. Chuck is part of the TV Universe, while Hellboy is in the movie world. (Author Craig Shaw Gardner has dubbed this world the Cineverse.) Therefore, they may as well take up residence in the Promoverse.

And if either one of them crosses over into some other show in the Promoverse just to engage in fornication, that would make them Promosexuals.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Click if you want to see "Chuck vs. Hellboy II".

BCnU!
Toby OB

NEW @ TOOBWORLD CENTRAL

Remember 'Mystery Science Theater 3000'? Although the characters live on in Toobworld (without us able to see them of course), the show itself has gone on to cathode heaven.

But the original gang - including Joel and TV's Frank - has regrouped online to become Cinematic Titanic and they're now providing commentary on old movies, basically as themselves.

And now they're offering their first DVDs of their efforts.

I picked up the first two:

"The Oozing Skull"
&
"Doomsday Machine"

I watched "The Oozing Skull" last night and as Andrew Wycke would have said of St. John Lord Merridew the great detective: "Yet their old skills have not deserted them." The one thing that struck me was that Time has indeed marched on with the topicality of the references.

Just one downside and it was unavoidable - I miss the 'bots.

I also got Comedy Central's "Home Grown", thanks to J.B. That just came today. That looks to be a fun way to spend my overnight lunch hours. Muchos gracias, J.B.!

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: MARSHALLING A ZONK

Looks like with today's Tiddlywinkydink, we've got some splainin to do.....
It took only three weeks for 'In Plain Sight' to ingratiate itself into the official version of the TV Universe. US Marshal Mary Shannon did a quick cameo in an episode of 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', appearing with Detective Mike Logan, his partner, and their boss.

Two weeks after that, her partner, Marshal Marshall Mann, punctured the dream when he mentioned that their current situation was right out of an episode of 'Law & Order', the parent series.
This could be salvaged from being a Zonk. Luckily, no other details were given; sometimes the scriptwriter throws in a reference to an old TV show and then has to beat it over the head to make sure the audience understands what it meant. To me, it doesn't even make sense to bother if you have to make that kind of effort.

Of course, if the TV Universe was supposed to make sense, we wouldn't have parental units reincarnated as pick-ups.

What could save the integrity of the Toobworld mosaic is that 'Law & Order' is such a generic title. It really could be about anything in the criminal justice system. Hell, if it hadn't been for the context, it could have been the title for a show on cosmic balance.

So, fine. Let there be a show called 'Law & Order' in the TV Universe. Let Dick Wolf produce it, for all I care.

So long as Marshall didn't throw in the "chu-chung" sound effect, I think we're good.

BCnU!
Toby OB

FANFICCER'S FRIEND: COWBOY BONES

Since July is traditionally a month in which we celebrate the TV Western, I figured to do the same with this new feature of the Fanficcer's Friend.

First off, I should recap what Fanficcer's Friend is all about. With this feature I offer up a picture from a theatrically released movie, which should be only in the movie universe, but one that has actors we'd recognize from TV shows. From there, I leave it up to those out there who enjoy writing fan fiction to come up with a story to go with the picture.

By the way, if anybody out there has been so inspired to use any of the pictures I've posted since the beginning of this year for their fan fiction, please send it along. I'd love to see what you came up with!

I didn't have anybody specifically in mind for this month's feature, but I happened to stumble across a picture of DeForest Kelley in my web surfing earlier this week. It was of him as a killer named Toby Jack Saunders in "Apache Uprising". (And NO! I was not googling my first name!)

From there I found a fun little blog that housed several pictures from his Western roles. Best of all, many of them were from the same period in Kelley's career, so that there was not much variation in his appearance due to age.

And with these pictures of Cowboy De, I only snared the ones which had fellow actors with established TV Western credits. What I have in mind is that here we'd have scenes from a never filmed Toobworld adventure in which Dr. Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy of 'Star Trek' found himself once again catapulted back through Time, perhaps via the Guardian At The Edge Of Forever, to the days of the wild, wild West.
Until he could be rescued by his friends from the Future, McCoy would have had to blend in with his surroundings in the old West. And during that time, he could have encountered several TV Western characters.

The situation would be quite similar to that Spock found himself in when he was transported back in Time to Seattle of the 1870s. (This happened in a tie-in novel by Barbara Hambly, "Ishmael".) Spock met many of the characters from the TV series 'Here Come The Brides'; and in a segment set in Frisco, he also met characters from 'Maverick', 'Bonanza', and a few other Westerns. (Only in their case, none of them were actually named, unlike the residents of Bridal Veil Mountain.)
One of those encountered by Leonard McCoy back in the 1870s might have been 'Whispering Smith', as eponymously played by Audie Murphy. These are two pictures of Murphy with Kelley from "Gunfight At Commanche Creek". But it could be that Dr. McCoy was able to get Whispering Smith out of a dicey situation in a Denver saloon, and then the two of them rode off together.

And where did they ride to? Perhaps to Silver City in the Arizona Territories, where they would find Marshall Simon Fry... as played by Henry Fonda in the TV series 'The Deputy'.
From the looks of things in this picture of DeForest Kelley, Henry Fonda, and Dorothy Malone in "Warlock", this could be an epilogue shot if I've ever seen one. It looks like Simon Fry is about to ride off into the sunset with his bride and McCoy is returning something that he recovered for the Marshal, something that would not have significance until sometime in the Future. Soon after this, Kirk and Spock would probably show up, having tracked down the Doctor through the Guardian and bring him back to his proper place in Time.

Maybe by his intervention Dr. McCoy was able to prevent the murder of Simon Fry and therefore kept a key event in the Future from being altered.

If this had been the Tooniverse, we could have tied it in to 'Futurama' and claimed that Simon Fry was the ancestor to Phillip J. Fry!

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

So for all of you fanficcers out there, I hope you'll find some kind of inspiration in these pictures to write up a story about Dr. Leonard McCoy and his Wild West adventures!
By the way, I've cropped these pictures just to get the meat of the situation in these scenes of DeForest Kelley. If you'd like to see them in all their glory, click here.

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: THE ALBUQUERQUE ISOTOPES

When I first began dabbling in the Toobworld concept, I figured that TV cartoons should exist within the same dimension. (I guess I was inspired by Sgt. Whiskers of "Last Action Hero" at the time.) My plan was to say that cartoons were just artistic representations of the "real life" in the TV Universe.

But I soon learned that it would be nothing but a headache, what with all of the talking animals and other logistical problems which would have to be integrated into Earth Prime-Time - like the fact that Superman is dead in the main Toobworld, but alive in present day cartoons.

And so the Tooniverse was born.

The people in the main Toobworld are aware of the existence of these cartoon characters and that they actually exist. This helps splain why flesh-and-blood humans don't freak out when pen-and-ink characters show up in their lives (Daffy Duck on 'The Drew Carey Show', Superman in Amercian Express blipverts).

But the majority of the human population of Toobworld knows about cartoons AS cartoons, just as they do in the real world. This is why there are so many references to Scooby Doo, from 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' and 'Lost' to 'Doctor Who'.

In a roundabout way, 'In Plain Sight' touched on this with their character Raphael Ramirez.
Mary's on-again/off-again boyfriend is a shortstop, who was playing Triple A ball in Albuquerque when he got called up to play the "Show" with the Florida Marlins. (He's back now, however, since he tore his ACL.)

This means that he was playing for the Isotopes in Albuquerque, which is the Triple-A affiliate for the Marlins.
The Albuquerque Isotopes got their name after respondents to a contest held by the team overwhelmingly chose the same name for the team found in the Albuquerque of the Tooniverse. Previously they played in Springfield on 'The Simpsons', but then moved to New Mexico. So when a team was established there and they asked the general public for a name, fans of 'The Simpsons' made their voices heard.

More than likely that splainin for the name of the Albuquerque Isotopes stands in Earth Prime-Time also, so that 'The Simpsons' is considered a cartoon there as well. We've also seen this addressed in an old episode of 'L.A. Law' when a guy dressed as Homer Simpson (played by Dan Castelleneta, by the way, who also plays Homer on 'The Simpsons') needed the services of MacKenzie-Brackman.

And yet, Bart and Lisa Simpson dropped out of the Tooniverse in one episode and ended up in the Real World, right on the set for 'Live With Regis And Kathy Lee' ("Treehouse Of Horror IX").
So US Marshal Mary Shannon must know about 'The Simpsons' as a cartoon. But in a perfect Toobworld, she may one day have to transport Fat Tony across the dimensional vortex and get him into the WITSEC program.

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

BCnU!
Toby OB

CONN. JOB

In connection to Today's TWD post earlier, here's a little something that could have been from Skitlandia......

I'm Toby OB, and I approve this message.

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: A NUTMEG STATE OF MIND

"Connecticut:
Green trees framing the homes of the weatlhy and the near-wealthy;
Gracious living with roots deep in the past."
Narrator
'The Fugitive'

One of the major differences between the movie version of "Death On The Nile" and the TV adaptation for the 'Poirot' series concerned the characters of Cornelia Robson, the niece of Miss Van Schuyler, and Miss Bowers, Miss Van Schulyer's nurse. Apparently there wasn't enough room for both of them aboard the Karnak in either production - Miss Bowers (acidly portrayed by Maggie Smith) is in the movie, while the 'Poirot' series dropped her and let Cornelia fill that function as well as being her aunt's traveling companion... but without the venomous comments, sadly.

(As an example:

Miss Van Schuyler: "Come Bowers, it's time to go. This place is beginning to resemble a mortuary."
Miss Bowers: "Thank God you'll be in one yourself before too long, you bloody old fossil!")

Cornelia Robson was a sweet girl who still had the capability to be suspected of murder in the Linnet Doyle case. She hailed from Bellfield, Connecticut, which apparently is a fictional town in my home state. (At the very least, I can't find any mention of it in Gooogle's maps. A Google search only leads me back to foreign translations of "Death On The Nile" and to an online reprint from a 1913 book by Julia Redford Tomkinson. According to Donna Albino, the narrator of "Doris: A Mount Holyoke Girl," lived in Bellfield. The book concerned Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary during the 1840s.)

Bellfield would join my little collection of fictional Connecticut towns which serve as tenuous connections for the Nutmeg State of the TV Universe. There are the actual locations as well - Hartford from 'Judging Amy', New Haven in 'Scorch', and of course Yale University in so many different shows. Westport was home to Lucy Ricardo and Samantha Stephens and John Monroe (from 'My World And Welcome To It'). Even my own hometown got a shout-out in 'St. Elsewhere'! But it's for those towns only to be found on the maps from 'The Twilight Zone' (and Toobworld in general), that I have the most affection.

Among them would be:

Joyville - 'The Hap Richards Show'
(This was a local kids show back in the early sixties; only fifteen minutes long if I remember correctly. I still have my original certificate of citizenship!)

Stars Hollow - 'Gilmore Girls'
(The Chilton Academy is located about thirty minutes away, and is probably situated just outside of Hartford.)

Danfield - 'The Lucy Show'
(There are those who believe that Danfield was actually in New York State. O'Bviously I'm in the Connecticut camp.)

Dunn's River - 'Soap'

Ellendale - 'The Loretta Young Show'

Northcross - 'Where The Heart Is'

Stepford - "Revenge Of The Stepford Wives"
- "The Stepford Children"
- "The Stepford Husbands"

Cedar Heights - 'Murder, She Wrote' ("If The Frame Fits")

Westborne - 'The Fugitive' ("The Garden House")

Willoughby - 'The Twilight Zone' ("A Stop At Willoughby")

(This would be from the Connecticut of the mind; "wishful thinking nestled in a hidden part of a man's mind"... "Whatever it is, it comes with sunlight and serenity, and is a part of the Twilight Zone.")

I know Bryce Larkin, master spy from 'Chuck', was from Connecticut, but I have no clue where he actually grew up.

One fictional Connecticut town I'd love to add to the mix would be Harper, which can be found in the 1946 movie "The Stranger". It starred Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, and Richard Long and it concerned a fugitive Nazi hiding out in small-town Connecticut. Now that's a movie I'd like to see adapted for Television!

Any other fictional Connecticut towns you can add to my Toobworld map?

BCnU!
Toby OB

SAM COGLEY WHO?

My one regret about that two-part 'Doctor Who' story by Stephen Moffat which was set on the planet Library, was that it took place in the 51st Century and stemmed from an incident which occurred in the TV Universe during the 50th Century.

Had it been set during the 23rd Century, we could make the assumption that Samuel Cogley, a civilian lawyer who loved books, might have been one of the 4022 visitors to The Library who had been saved into the computer data storage banks one hundred years earlier. (Sam Cogley is pictured here with his client, Captain James T. Kirk in the "Court Martial" episode of 'Star Trek'.)

But all of the books he owned - from the Hebrew Bible to the Tribunal Statutes of Alpha III in its original language - would have been found in The Library........

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: ON THE BOOKS

"Silence In The Library" and "Forest Of The Dead" made up a two-part story on 'Doctor Who' recently, in which an entire planet was turned into a library, with the planet core replaced by the largest data storage computer in the universe. Known simply as "The Library", the planet offered newly printed copies of every book ever written. And this would include not only the books that also exist in our world, but also those books one can only find within episodes of TV shows.

And of course, those are the ones of interest here at Toobworld Central!

I can't speak for the other worlds in the TV Universe, but those authors to be found from Toobworld would include the following:

First up, we have quite a few mystery and thriller writers:

Ben Coleman - 'Duet'
Jessica Fletcher - 'Murder, She Wrote'
Glynis Granville - 'Glynis'
Ian Stark - 'Stark Raving Mad'
Bram Shepherd - 'Bram & Alice'
Doug Kirkfield - 'The Boys'
Patrick Glover - 'Father, Dear Father'
Jason King - 'Jason King'
Robin Masters - 'Magnum P.I.'
Maxwell Beckett - 'Over My Dead Body'
Paul Temple - 'Paul Temple'
Nicholas Fleming - 'Sable'
Ernesta and Gwendolyn Snoop - 'The Snoop Sisters'
Daniel Stone - 'Stone'
Dorothy McNab - 'Two's Company'
Rupert Wilde - 'The Wilde Alliance'
Abigail Mitchell - 'Columbo' ("Try And Catch Me")
Franklin & Ferris - 'Columbo' ("Murder By The Book")
Allen Mallory - 'Columbo' ("Publish Or Perish")
Ariadne Oliver - 'Poirot' ("Cards On The Table")
Clarissa Naughton - 'Poirot' ("The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge")
Jose Chung - 'The X-Files' & 'Millennium'
Terrance Sterling - 'Stark Raving Mad'
And there would be the romance writers:
Salome Otterbourne - 'Poirot' ("Death On The Nile")
Crystal Love aka Charlie Wayne - 'Oh, Madeline'
Definitely all of the self-help books would be there, except for those by Dick Loudon. Any books mentioned in the TV series 'Newhart' - including "Murder At The Stratleigh", in which you could hear a pig drop - were all part of a fever dream suffered by Dr. Bob Hartley after eating Japanese food just before bedtime.

A few authors of children's stories:
Professor Huggles - 'Stark Raving Mad'
Margot Foster - 'Double Trouble'
Nancy Krieger Weston - 'thirtysomething'

And among the millions of others:
Rob Petrie - 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' (to be found in the biography section)
Harper Worthington Yates - 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' (a collection of his plays, including "Baby Fat")
Henry Walden - 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' (in the history section)
Maurice James Kingsley - 'Blackeyes'
Clara Burrell - 'No, Honestly'
Max Harlow - 'Normal Life'
Roger Thomas - 'What's Happening Now!'
Cameron Garrett Brooks - 'Window on Main Street'

My thanks to the website "TV Acres" (link to the left) for help in this research.

BCnU!
Toby OB