Saturday, February 27, 2010

REDJAC AND THE WILHELM SCREAM

It's only been in the last year that I learned about the Wilhelm Scream. Not that I had never heard it before, but that it had an established history... and a name.

For those out there who still may not know what the Wilhelm Scream is, it's a sound bite of a man's death scream that apparently originated in the movie "Distant Drums". Legend has it that it was provided by Sheb Woolley and it's named after the character Private Wilhelm in the movie "The Charge At Feather River", which was the second movie to use it.

Although sound editors have been using it for fifty years, the Wilhelm Scream had a major resurgence when Ben Burtt added it into the original "Star Wars" movie (when Luke shoots the stormtrooper across the chasm in the Death Star). A lot of times it's tossed into the sound mix as an in-joke.

Here is a video clip of some of its uses over the years:



The most recent use of the Wilhelm Scream - to my knowledge at any rate - was in the new series "Human Target". Chance tossed one of the bad guys out of an aerial tram:



Thanks to Wikipedia, here's a list of TV shows which have utilized the Wilhelm Scream*:

Battlestar Galactica

Young Indiana Jones

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Angel

Lost

Chuck

Primeval

The Middleman

CSI: NY

The Day of the Triffids

Human Target

Masters of Horror

('Community' was in that list as well, but it was used in a fictional movie, "Kickpuncher".)

I've rearranged that list so that it's in some sort of historical order. (But since 'Masters Of Horror' was an anthology series, I have no idea when the episode concerned took place.)

Why the timeline? Because I think it comes into play as a theoretical link between all of those shows and the most famous sci-fi TV series of all time, 'Star Trek'

I'm proposing that we hear the exact same death scream in all of those examples because it was emanating from the same source - not the victims, but from an entity that was possessing each of them before their deaths. The Wilhelm Scream is the sound it makes as it leaves the body at the moment of death. And it's off to find a new host to begin anew.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

I think it's Redjac, from the 'Star Trek' episode "Wolf In The Fold".
From Memory Alpha:
Redjac (also known as Jack the Ripper, Beratis and Kesla) was a non-humanoid life-form that existed for centuries by journeying from planet to planet and feeding on the pain and fear he caused by committing serial murders. It was similar to a parasitic organism, and required a humanoid host to inhabit in order to commit crimes. It's already an established Toobworld theory that Redjac left the body of the original Jack the Ripper before the Vorlons abducted him, as revealed in an episode of 'Babylon 5'.

Here's the established timeline for Redjac:

1888 - 1891: 17 women in London, Great Britain

1932: Seven women in Shanghai, China

1974: Five women in the city of Kiev, USSR

2105: Eight women in the Martian colonies

2156: 10 murders in Heliopolis on Alpha Eridani II

In 2266 (as "Beratis") on Rigel IV

In 2267 (in the form of Hengist) on Argelius II**
But these were only the monster's greatest hits. In between the those long stretches of Time, Redjac had plenty of time to possess other victims.

Redjac claimed to have existed since the Dawn of Time, so if the remake of 'Battlestar Galactica' can exist in Earth Prime-Time, then somehow Redjac escaped their home star system in somebody's body in that ragtag fleet of spaceships. But eventually that person (or the next body inhabited by Redjac) was chucked out of the airlock in the episode "Revelations". Either it made it back into the Galactica to possess someone else, or else it waited until its path crossed with another humanoid traversing the stars.

Perhaps the Master in his TARDIS? He'd make for a perfect host for the entity.

And then Redjac abandoned him once the Master arrived on Earth at some point before its manifestation in Sebastian's body to become Jack the Ripper....

When it re-inhabited the body of Mr. Hengist, the Enterprise crew beamed it off the ship with the widest dispersion possible. According to Mr. Spock, "its consciousness may continue for some time, consisting of billions of separate bits of energy, floating forever in space, powerless." But Kirk was convinced that it would eventually die.

(Tie-in novels and comic books have brought Redjac back, but those don't play any role in the TV Universe.) SHOWS CITED:
'Star Trek'
'Doctor Who'
'Babylon 5'
The "Wilhelm Scream Shows" listed above.

BCnU!

*
We didn't hear the Wilhelm Scream as Redjac left its final host, Mr. Hengist. But that could be attributed to it inhabiting a body that was already dead. As for when it left the body of Jaris, who remained alive? Well.... Hey, in space nobody can hear you scream, right?

Of course, you could hear the scream in 'Battlestar Galactica'.....

Ahem.

**
The Wilhelm Scream also appeared in these shows but as they were either cartoons or some sort of reality shows, they weren't considered for this theory.

THE TOONIVERSE

Out of Jimmy's Head

The Life and Times of Juniper Lee

Back at the Barnyard

Family Guy

American Dad

Ed Edd n Eddy

Class of 3000

Star Wars: Clone Wars

The Batman

Squirrel Boy

Chowder

George of the Jungle

Drawn Together

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack

Macross

The Venture Brothers

Zeke and Luther

The Simpsons

The Cleveland Show

OTHER

Mythbusters

The Girls Next Door

1000 Ways to Die

American Idol

QI

Embedding of the video is forbidden at YouTube, but you can see
"Wolf In The Fold" there in its entirety.

PONDEROSA SLASH

I caught a 1961 episode of 'Bonanza' Thursday, which had as the guest stars Dean Jones, Rusty Lane, Norman Alden, Edward Faulkner, Janet Lake, and Stafford Repp (the future Chief O'Hara on 'Batman'). It was called "The Friendship", but with a bit of tweaking and the right romantic music, it should have had quotations marks directly around the word "Friendship", because this episode would make a great springboard for slash-fic.

I'm assuming most of my readers know what slash-fic is. From the Urban Dictionary: "Slash Fiction is the portrayal of a perceived homosexual relationship between two lead characters in a popular continuity."

In this case, the couple would be Little Joe Cartwright, one of the main characters of 'Bonanza' and Danny Kidd, played by guest star Dean Jones. 23 year old Danny had been in the Yuma Territorial Prison since he was thirteen. One day he was able to save Little Joe's life and the youngest Cartwright repaid the debt by getting Danny released with an amnesty as his responsibility.

From that point on, if edited correctly, one could get a very romantic, very gay, music video out of it.

Some of the dialogue could be mixed into the loop as well.....

Danny:
What do you think you can do for me?
Little Joe:
You just try me.

Little Joe:
Danny and I are going to get along real fine.
Danny:
I don't like anybody coming up behind me, quiet-like.
Little Joe:
We're having a party up at the house for Old Man Carter....
You gonna be there?
Danny:
You askin'?
Little Joe:
Yeah, I'm askin'.
Danny:
I'll be there.

Danny:
I'm not too good at socializing with girls.
Teller:
Looks like they taught that boy lots of things in prison.
Little Joe:
Come on, I'll get you some punch......
Adam:
I'm for bed. How about you guys?

Danny:
You want it real bad, dontchu?
Bob:
That's what I'm here for, little friend.
Ann:
I bet you never held a girl in your arms... or kissed.
Danny:
No, Miss Carter. I've never kissed a girl.

Hoss:
You're always set on going off half-cocked, ain't ya, little brother?

I'm not a fanficcer myself, certainly not a slash-ficcer. (At least not since I was a teenager and wrote up a story where the crew of the Enterprise got it on with the Robinsons on board the Jupiter 2!) I'm just an enabler; if someone wants to take this idea and run with it, be my guest.

For alls I know, somebody already has!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: STEVE JOBS

It was Steve Jobs' birthday earlier this week......


STEVE JOBS

AS SEEN IN:
"Pirates Of Silicon Valley"

AS PLAYED BY:
Noah Wyle


From Wikipedia:
Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is an American businessman, and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs previously served as CEO of Pixar Animation Studios and is now a member of the Walt Disney Company's Board of Directors.

In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula and others, designed, developed, and marketed some of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series and later, the Macintosh. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. NeXT's subsequent 1997 buyout by Apple Computer Inc. brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he has served as its CEO since then.

In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios. He remained CEO and majority shareholder until its acquisition by the Walt Disney Company in 2006. Jobs is currently a member of Walt Disney Company's Board of Directors.

Jobs' history in business has contributed much to the symbolic image of the idiosyncratic, individualistic Silicon Valley entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of design and understanding the crucial role aesthetics play in public appeal. His work driving forward the development of products that are both functional and elegant has earned him a devoted following.

Beginning in mid-January 2009, Jobs took a five-month leave of absence from Apple to undergo a liver transplant. Jobs officially resumed his role as CEO of Apple on June 29, 2009.


[with Bill Gates onscreen]

BCnU!

Friday, February 26, 2010

SON OF BIG RED

I've written before about how situations and characters are echoed in other shows and yet don't have to be relegated to the remake dimension because they aren't carbon copies. 'The New Addams Family' would have to be sent to that other TV dimension; all of the variations on 'Betty de Fea' (like our own 'Ugly Betty') can stay in Earth Prime-Toon. (Well, except for the cartoon version of little Betty....)

Mark Evanier has pointed out that a 1980's blipvert for Big Red chewing gum is now being mimicked in a Verizon ad. Despite the similarities, all of the little scenarios within both commercials can share the same TV dimension.

See his comparison
here.

Well, I'm off to watch YouTube on a horse....

BCnU!

"DOCTOR WHO": THE COMPANION FROM "ROSWELL"

This is one of the best mash-ups I've seen on YouTube, if only for getting the Doctor and Tess into the same shot. (Granted, the quality isn't the best for that composite shot, but we can always come up with some Toobworld techno-babble to splain it away. Illumination from some alien source, perhaps; or a flare-up of Tess' own alien powers which causes her skin color to change?)



One of my favorite Doctors and one of my favorite women from 'Lost'.... Now I REALLY want to see David Tennant and Emilie de Ravin work together in some project!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JOSEPHINE BAKER

Concluding our "Black Friday" series of "As Seen On TV" portraits for Black History Month.....
JOSEPHINE BAKER

AS SEEN IN:

"The Josephine Baker Story"

AS PLAYED BY:
Lynn Whitfield
Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 РApril 12, 1975) was an American expatriate entertainer and actress. She became a French citizen in 1937. Most noted as a singer, Baker also was a celebrated dancer in her early career. She was given the nicknames the "Bronze Venus" or the "Black Pearl", as well as the "Cr̩ole Goddess" in anglophone nations. In France, she has always been known as "La Baker".


Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down, for assisting the French Resistance during World War II and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de Guerre. [Wikipedia]

Click for more on
Josephine Baker in Toobworld.....





BCnU!

A TOOB FULL O' SUNSHINE

I usually avoid commenting on TV pilot news - if the shows don't get picked up, then there's nothing that affects Earth Prime-Time. But A&E is going into production with a new series to debut this summer, based on its pilot (giving it a 13 episode commitment).

'Sugarloaf' is a one-hour drama starring Matt Passmore as detective Jim Longworth, transplanted from Chicago to Florida. And it will have a small impact on Toobworld.....

Here's the description from The Hollywood Reporter:
The Fox TV Studios drama centers on Jim Longworth (Passmore), a brilliant-but-difficult Chicago homicide detective who's wrongfully accused of sleeping with his former captain's wife and forced into exile. Longworth relocates to Sugarloaf, a sleepy Gulf Coast resort town in Florida where life can be less beautiful than it first seems.
So tele-Florida gets itself a new town, Sugarloaf.
It already has:

Fort Bendix ('The Army Show')

Truro ('Flamingo Road')

Coral Key Park ('Flipper')

Deepwater ('Maximum Bob')

Magic Beach ('Safe Harbor')

Key Mariah ('Sweating Bullets')

I don't think the location of 'Cougar Town' has ever been identified in the show, although the local high school team is named "The Cougars".....

[My thanks to TVAcres for the location info and to The Medium Is Not Enough for pointing out the story. Both links can be found to your left, Amigos.)

BCnU!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

CALLAN & CALLEN

One of my friends from the IDD and Facebook, an Iddiette named Susan K, wrote to me after I posted "Brothers In Arms" (about David 'Callan' and Robert McCall 'The Equalizer' being brothers):

"Everytime I see Callan I think you're talking about G.Callen from NCIS:LA"

So I visited the Wiki for
'NCIS: Los Angeles' (every show seems to have a Wikia!) and learned this about Agent G Callen:

G. Callen's formative years were spent in the foster care system until he attained majority at the age of eighteen. He possesses little knowledge about his birth and infancy, this is attested to by the fact that not even he knows what his given name is apart that it begins with the letter "G." In the episode Pushback (1.7) we learn that Callen lived in more than thirty-seven foster homes starting from the age of five, the longest he stayed in one of them was only three months.

The argument could be made that G (who was born in 1969) is the illegitimate son of David Callan - that his last name was misspelled on his birth certificate or on the forms that entered him into the foster care system (presumably California's).

The timeline of his birth does make it possible.....

There'd have to be some theories tossed about:

that G's mother had an affair with David Callan, either in Britain or whenever he might have been in the United States (perhaps on assignment in Washington with Toby Meres?).

that they must have broken up before she knew that she was carrying Callan's child.

that after a few years she knew she couldn't care for him anymore, or she was unable to do so because of circumstances beyond her control, and that's why he was placed in foster care.

that blood will out - G Callen's natural talents in the field could mark him as being the son of David Callan. (A notion that sounds very Wold Newton....)

I'm just going to toss the idea out there as a possibility, but not one Toobworld Central is ready to commit to. Things might be different if William Zabka, who played Scott McCall on 'The Equalizer' had any other TV roles which could be considered an alias for Scott. Then we could run with a full family tree, maybe even taking it back into the past beyond Captain William McCall, or even far into the future with any potential McCalls on the various 'Star Trek'/'Babylon 5' shows.

But according to the IMDb, Zabka hasn't done any TV since 'The Equalizer'. (But he has kept mad busy with movies, even if most of them look like they're direct to video.)

So for now, this will be just a small addendum to the theory of relateeveety about Robert McCall and David Callan.....

And it will be blown all to hell once the show finally decides to do a show that explores G Callen's birth and infancy.

BCnU!

PORTLAND EXPOSE

Most of this is supposition based on charactes and events from episodes of 'The Prisoner' and 'Callan'....
Janet Portland was born in 1933 in the London area, the daughter of Sir Charles Portland [pictured below] who became the head of one of the intelligence agencies in the UK. Sir Charles also had a son, Janet's older brother Harry. As an undergraduate at university, she met Colin Lewis, an older man who was already working in the lower levels of government, in a department under the auspices of Sir Charles. Because of his relationship with Sir Charles' daughter, Lewis was soon on the fast track for advancement.
Although not yet of age, Janet left school to marry Colin and eventually at some point in the late 1950's they had two sons. (The sons, seen in a portrait, were never named, but it would make sense that one might be named Charles and perhaps the other was Colin Junior.) Janet and Colin had fifteen happy years together. His ascent in the government led to him becoming the youngest Foreign Minister in Britain in 100 years, and to his being knighted, which made her Lady Janet Lewis.
But Sir Colin [pictured above] worked himself far too hard and he died of a heart attack around 1963, leaving Lady Janet to raise their two sons alone. The loss of her husband was a traumatic shock and for a time she tried to block her grief by retreating back to her maiden name of Portland. It was during this period in her life when she eventually made the attempt to re-enter society. And that's when she met a man working for NATO named John Drake. (It could be that Drake met her through his contacts with her father, or perhaps - like David Callan after him - he was on assignment when they met.) Drake was a reserved and somewhat secretive man, and Lady Janet was a well-known and recent widow; yet there was something that sparked between the two of them and they could not deny the attraction. By 1965, nearly two years since the death of Sir Colin, John Drake approached Sir Charles and asked him for permission to marry his daughter. (By that point, Drake was no longer working for NATO, but for MI-6 instead.)

Something happened almost a year later that caused Drake to re-examine his future within the intelligence community, and he finally decided to resign his service. Because of this rash action, Drake was gassed in his apartment, only to wake up in a place called "The Village". He had no idea where it was located, nor which side was in charge of the place. All he knew was that they had given him the number "Six" [pictured, left] and taken away his name. Whoever was in charge, they wanted to break him and learn his secrets. And if they could get him to reveal the reason for his resignation, the rest of his secrets would come tumbling out. Over the next two years "Number Six" was determined to escape the Village. At some point in 1967, Number Six awoke back in his own flat, but found himself with a new body [as seen above]. Somehow his captors had learned how to utilize a mind transfer process invented by Dr. Jacob Seltzman. If Drake had any hope of regaining his original body, he would have to find Seltzman. And to do that, he would need help from his fiancee Janet Portland. Unfortunately, getting her to trust him when he wouldn't be recognizable to her proved to be a major roadblock. At last "Number Six" convinced Janet to give him a key clue - a receipt - that led him to Seltzman. But it also led the Village surveillance team to them both as well - Seltzman and "Number Six" were captured and brought back to the Village. Seltzman was able to reverse the mind transfer and escape in the process, but John Drake AKA Number Six was trapped once more in the Village. Lady Janet Portland Lewis was left once again in the dark as to the status of her fiance. Finally deciding that too much time had passed, Lady Janet vowed to renew her life for the sake of her sons. She reverted her name back to Lewis and let it be known that the engagement between her and John Drake was now off.
Her re-emergence into society was short-lived, however. In 1970, Lady Janet was approached by a French film-maker named Joinville [pictured below], who wanted to make a documentary about her late husband. This worried a man called Hunter, who was the head of "the Section" [He may have been Sir Charles' successor.] Hunter feared that Lady Lewis would inadvertantly divulge state secrets, or at the very least contribute to a distorted image of Sir Colin's work with the government, (like the Anglo-American First Strike Plans Against Russia), which would tarnish the image of the government as well. So Hunter sent one of his operatives, David Callan, to talk her out of doing the documentary. Callan was successful, and the two of them felt an instant attraction to each other. It's likely they might have embarked on a relationship, had it not been for her murder - Lady Janet Lewis was gunned down by Joinville. (However, it might not have lasted, anyway. Callan approached her using the name David Tucker, not a great way to begin a relationship....) It turned out that Joinville was not only a film-maker, but a covert agent for the Communist Bloc. He was ordered to kill Lady Janet and make it look like British Intelligence had done the deed to keep her quiet. Callan avenged her by killing Joinville, and her sons were taken in by her older brother Harry. Callan insisted to his superior that everything possible would be done to make sure the boys would turn outright.

Not knowing what the boys' names were, it would be foolish to go out even further on a limb and guess where they might be in Toobworld today.....

SHOWS CITED
'The Prisoner' - "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling"
'Callan' - "Suddenly - At Home"
'Danger Man'/'Secret Agent'

BCnU!

BROTHERS IN ARMS

In the 'Callan' episode "A Village Called G", Section head "Charlie" Hunter said that his secretary Liz could have been abducted by KGB, East Germans, French.

David Callan asked, "CIA?"

There may have been a very good reason that Callan asked that question, beyond reminding the others that even Britain's allies would use espionage against them.

Callan could have been thinking about his brother Robert McCall, a "Company" operative. (It would be David who would have changed his name.)

There may be some who dabble in televisiology like me own self who would rather put forth the theory that David Callan and Robert McCall were the same man. I couldn't do that, if for no other reason than that I've only seen half a dozen episodes so far, and certainly not the final movie, "The Wet Job". I have no idea what happens with the man and I don't know enough about his background. (I know slightly more about McCall, but I'm hardly an expert.)

But having Robert McCall be Callan's brother would eliminate the need to worry too much about the differences in their background history. David mentioned in "Suddenly - At Home" that he didn't attend the "swell" schools like Eton or Harrow, which may have been his choice. This may be invalidatd by some other episode, but I get the impression that the Section recruited him out of the Army, probably because of his marksmanship skills.

On the other hand, Robert McCall probably did go to university and developed a healthy love for the arts and other fine things. He also was probably recruited out of university - if not by the Company outright, then by some other intelligence agency before transferring to the Company.

Robert may have worked in the "Section" like his brother David, which would be reason enough for David to change his name - so that the family connection couldn't be used against either one of them. David might have chosen "Callan" because it was the closest to paying tribute to his murdered father, Captain William McCall. It sounds like a diminutive of "McCall", in a way.

Robert also had a family of his own: a daughter (Yvette Marcel) by a former lover, and a son (Scott McCall) with his wife. (Another daughter, Kathy McCall, died at the age of 18 months.) It would have been bad enough that they might be targeted because of their relationship to him; so that could have been another reason for David to change his name, in order to protect his niece and nephew.

As always, this is speculation on my part and not established fact.

One final O'Bservation: since it's inconceivable to me that anyone else could play either David Callan or Robert McCall, I'd rather think that both of them have passed away off-screen in Toobworld (as did the actor who played them, Edward Woodward) than to ever see the roles recast.....

TV Acres has an excellent timeline for Robert McCall's life and I see nothing in there that could turn into a Zonk for this theory of relateeveety.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: WILLIAM MARBURY

Continuing with the theme of yesterday's observance of the Marbury v. Madison anniversary....


WILLIAM MARBURY

AS SEEN IN:
'Equal Justice Under Law'

AS PLAYED BY:
N/A

If anybody out there knows who this actor might be, let me know. It may be somebody local to the Pittsburgh area.....

BCnU!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

"MARBURY v. MADISON"

Here is the dramatization of that 1803 Supreme Court case, Marbury v. Madison:



If you can identify any of those actors - aside from EG Marshall, James Noble, and Ed Holmes, - I'd appreciate it if you'd contact me.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JOHN MARSHALL'S SUPREME COURT (1803)

On this date in 1803, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Marbury v. Madison, established the principle of judicial review.

From Wikipedia:
Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803) is a landmark case in United States law. It formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution.


This case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury, who had been appointed by President John Adams as Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia but whose commission was not subsequently delivered. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to force Secretary of State James Madison to deliver the documents, but the court, with John Marshall as Chief Justice, denied Marbury's petition, holding that the part of the statute upon which he based his claim, the Judiciary Act of 1789, was unconstitutional.


Marbury v. Madison was the first time the Supreme Court declared something "unconstitutional," and established the concept of judicial review in the U.S. (the idea that courts may oversee and nullify the actions of another branch of government). The landmark decision helped define the "checks and balances" of the American form of government.


See? One of the things I hope to do via Inner Toob is to show that TV can be educational - the case was dramatized as one of the episodes in 'Equal Justice Under Law', which was produced in 1977 by the Judicial Conference of the United States in conjunction with WQED in Pittsburgh.

I've already featured
Chief Justice John Marshall this year in the "As Seen On TV" spotlight, but here are the other members of the Supreme Court in 1803:


Unfortunately, the producers of that series didn't see fit to include the names of the actors in each episode. EG Marshall as the host was easily recognizable, and Thomas Jefferson was played by James Noble who went on to fame in 'Benson' as the governor. Otherwise, I've only been able to hunt down the names of the actors who played Chief Justice Marshall and former Vice-President Aaron Burr. I have no clue who the actors are who played these gentlemen.

But at least I've included the links to their Wikipedia entries so that you might learn more about them.

There may be a quiz later.....

BCnU!