CLOSURE TIME

Every so often, TV characters appear - or they're just mentioned - who are never actually named. We never do find out who they really were. Many times this occurs with the deceased. The creators of that particular show never see a reason to give any more background to the character than that they're dead.

And that's just fine with Toobworld Central. It gives us an opportunity to fill in the blanks, and thus come up with hypothetical links between shows that would otherwise never be connected. Plus it gives us the chance to clear out the dead wood - as we did with long unseen TV characters in the TV production of "The Poseidon Adventure" and even in real life tragedies like the WTC collapse and Hurrican Katrina.

In the latest episode of 'Lie To Me', Cal Lightman faced off against a serial killer student at one of the local universities. Martin Walker was a 25 year old grad student who would repeatedly drown his victims and then bring them back to life before finally burying their bodies in the woods. When he was finally arrested, four bodies were found of girls he had murdered. (All of this stemmed from when he was five years old, when he let his older sister drown just so he could get her bike.) Those four young women were never named, and so even though it's a morbid thought process, I saw it as an opportunity to bring closure to some TV characters who would otherwise probably never be seen again in Toobworld.

They would be young women, no more than 30 years of age, and I figure Martin didn't begin his actual killing spree until five years ago at most. (Although one of my candidates was last seen six years ago in Toobworld, I think her unseen TV life continued through undergraduate studies and into grad school.)

Here are the four I'm going to suggest:

Top row: Ashley Nakahino, Hanna Malone (with her father)

Bottom row: Kylie, Lilith Sandstrom

Ashley Nakahino, 'E-Ring'

Ashley would have been 30 in 2010. She was last seen in Toobworld in 2006. As a military employee of the Pentagon, Ms. Nakahino would have reason to be in the Washington, DC, area where 'Lie To Me' takes place. It's possible that Martin Walker employed the same "accidental" coffee spill to make his first approach in meeting her.

Hanna Malone, 'Without A Trace'

She looks young in this picture with her dad, FBI Agent Jack Malone, but Hanna would have been 18 in 2010. As such, she could have been a freshman at that same university which Martin was attending. She was last seen in Toobworld in 2009.

Kylie, 'One Tree Hill'

As far as I could tell in my research, we never learn her last name. I'm not even sure of what type of accent she had, considering the actress was English. For alls I know, she may have been going for that one-name status like Cher or Madonna.

Kylie was an actress and she would have been 22 in 2010. She made a commercial with Nathan for Rainstorm Body Spray and that may have been the reason why she was in the District of Columbia. Perhaps she was going to make another commercial; this time on the university campus where she could have met Martin. She was last seen in February of 2010.

Lilith Sandstrom, 'ReGenesis'

Originally from Toronto, where her father worked at the NorBAC research center, Lilith would have been 21 in 2010 (since she was being played two years younger than the actress, Ellen Page). Smarter than her years, she might have come south to the United States in order to continue her college studies, and may have been a fellow grad student like Martin Walker. She was last seen just before Christmas of 2004 and never returned for the second season of the series. It's not likely we'd ever see her again, even if the show was still in production - I'm sure Ellen Page is far too busy nowadays. So Lilith makes a strong candidate to be one of the murder victims.

Seems a bit crass to just bump off these young ladies like that, but hey, that's life in TV Land. Or the lack thereof.....

BCnU!

PS:

This post is going out to my co-worker Margaret, who has just discovered this TV series.....

NORFOLK WHO'S WHO

In a third season episode of 'Kingdom', Terry was upset because Geraldine Merrick was going to destroy the crop circles that had mysteriously... um... cropped up in her wheat field outside of Market Shipborough. But his lawyer, Peter Kingdom, said that it would be impossible to stop her. After all, it was her land.

Not that Terry was deterred. As he told his son, "Would that stop the Doctor?"

If it had been left at that, we might have been able to dismiss his comment as being about the general practitioner for that area of Norfolk. But because of later circumstances, we have to accept that he was referring to the Gallifreyan Time Lord who is known only as "The Doctor".

NOT as "Doctor Who" - that's the name of the TV show that was created with the backing of UNIT to cover up the activities of the Doctor in real life. Like the dismissal of UFO sightings as being weather balloons or swamp gas, complaints made about the Doctor could be shrugged off as a vivid imagination combined with the TV show and a few pints. (This project began with several movies starring Peter Cushing as a character actually named "Doctor Who".)

Back when the Doctor still looked like a gangly Mancunian in a jumpsuit, back in his ninth incarnation, he gave Mickey Smith a computer disk containing a program that would wipe out all mention of the Doctor from internet and computer memory storage units all over the world. But it's apparent that Mickey never bothered to put the program into action; or at best it didn't matter in the end, because there was no way to erase him from the memories of those people who already knew of him.

There would be thousands of people who would have remembered the Cybermen invasion of London, others in outlying villages across the country who remembered when the Doctor came to the rescue when their hamlets were attacked by Daemons or Axions.

Since Terry was such a fanatic about such alien invasions - he surely would have remembered when the Visitors nearly took over the world in the early 1980's, as well as when the giant Canamids dropped by for lunch - he would have learned about the Doctor long before that computer program had a chance to spread its virus. So Toobworld Central accepts that he was referring to the Doctor. As for those circumstances that occurred later in the episode, Peter Kingdom and Ms. Merrick, along with Detective Constable Yelland, had a close encounter with a man wandering through those wheat-fields dressed as the fourth incarnation of the Doctor, complete with fifteen foot long scarf and a packet of jelly babies. It was the first sign of a different sort of invasion - that of the UFO enthusiasts (many of whom would later travel to Calfiornia for another fruitless gathering, as seen on 'Monk'). Among those fanatics, somebody used the Orkan catch-phrase "Nanu, Nanu," which we refuse to accept as a Zonk - that is, as a discrepancy. "Nanu Nanu" probably became known and absorbed into the English language after the existence of Mork was made known to the general public. Having a child by an Earth-woman, a boy named Mearth who would be publicly aging backwards, probably put the kibosh on Mork's hope to remain anonymous.

As with all such revelations in Toobworld, like the eventual one for 'The Munsters' family or for the Melmacian who was code-named 'ALF", there must have been the inevitabe sensation in the media about it (although unseen by the Trueniverse audience). Eventually however, the novelty passed and for the most part that guy from Ork, 'Mork & Mindy', his Terran wife, faded from people's memories, in much the same way as happened with the Eugenics Wars of the late 1990's.

As Terry would come to say during the episode, "In an infinite universe, anything is possible."

BCnU!

LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN

According to the weather widget on my computer, the temperature as of 2:30 pm Tuesday, here in the real world, is 102º. (That's Fahrenheit, by the way; Toobworld Central refuses to go metric.)

So I thought it was as good a time as any to slide over to an alternate TV dimension in which the Earth came to an end back in the early 1960's.......

'THE TWILIGHT ZONE'
"THE MIDNIGHT SUN"

PART ONE


PART TWO


PART THREE


BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ELIZABETH II x 5

Edited from Bloomberg News:
Yesterday, Queen Elizabeth II made her first visit to New York since the 1976 bicentennial of U.S. independence from Great Britain. She addressd the United Nations and visited the World Trade Center site afterwards.

The queen's speech to the UN was her first since 1957, 12 years after the world body was established.

Afterwards, the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, will visit the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on New York, and then view a memorial at Hanover Square, in lower Manhattan, to the 67 British victims of the attack.

The 84-year-old monarch arrived here during a heat wave in New York, with the National Weather Service warning people to stay in the shade. Temperatures went over 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time in more than eight years.

Hopefully the old girl didn't wilt in the heat. (This is being typed up on Tuesday afternoon.) But if she did, then this will serve as a "Hat Squad" tribute more than as the daily "As Seen On TV" showcase......

In November and December of last year, a five-part docu-drama entitled 'The Queen' aired in Great Britain over the course of the week. With each episode, each set during a different decade at a pivotal moment of her reign, a different actress played the role of Queen Elizabeth II.

Here's how the IMDb described each episode, with italicized comments also by Gerard Gilbert of The Independent.

'THE QUEEN'

AS PLAYED BY:
Emilia Fox

Emilia Fox opens the series with a look at the first scandal experienced by the fledgling monarch, when it was revealed, in 1952, that her sister, Margaret, had fallen in love with an older, divorced royal employee, Group Captain Peter Townsend.

"Margaret"
Original Air Date—29 November 2009
When King George VI dies, his elder daughter Elizabeth becomes the Queen of Britain. Younger sister Margaret, feeling sidelined, embarks on an affair with divorced palace employee Peter Townsend, sixteen years her senior. The Establishment opposes this and the Queen gives Peter a foreign posting to separate the pair. Margaret, backed by public opinion, is still keen to marry him, though she must renounce her claims to succession to the throne. Ultimately she chooses duty and privilege over love, though Elizabeth is perceived to have manipulated her.

AS PLAYED BY:
Samantha Bond

The second film – arguably the most interesting, for being the least familiar – stars Samantha Bond and is set in the strike-ridden early 1970s, when the royal family's popularity was its lowest ebb and the Queen was running out of money.

"Us And Them"
Original Air Date—30 November 2009
By 1969 the Royal Family has lost its mystique as TV cameras film their lives. The days of blind reverence have gone as nearly a fifth of the population want rid of them, including members of Harold Wilson's Labour government, to whom the queen must appeal for an increase in her finances.

The increase is granted under the incoming Tories but the industrial unrest of the early 1970s contributes to the unpopularity of the Royal family. In 1974 Wilson's return to power is a boost for the queen as, ironically, is an attack on Princess Anne by unbalanced Ian Ball and, ultimately, another storm is weathered.

AS PLAYED BY:
Susan Jameson

The third film, with Susan Jameson wearing the royal head-scarf, is set in the run-up to the 1986 Commonwealth Games and looks at the sovereign's uneasy relationship with Margaret Thatcher.

"The Rivals"
Original Air Date—1 December 2009
The Queen does not see eye-to-eye with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and, in 1986, the Sunday Times newspaper publishes an article claiming to be the Queen's less than flattering opinion of Thatcher whose regime she describes as uncaring and divisive. This is prompted by Thatcher's refusal to agree to sanctions on South Africa, as a result of which other Commonwealth countries are threatening to boycott the Commonwealth Games. The Queen loves the Commonwealth and the two women go head-to-head. Thatcher has her way and a much depleted games takes place - at least allowing England to win more medals than usual - but the Queen's stance has raised her standing in the Commonwealth.

AS PLAYED BY:
Barbara Flynn

The penultimate film, with Barbara Flynn, takes place during the Queen's annus horribilis, 1992.

"The Enemy Within"
Original Air Date—2 December 2009
In 1992, the Queen insists that her family should pay tax, in order to be seen as 'doing their bit'. But there are family problems. Frisky daughter-in-law Sarah has left Prince Andrew and ended up on tabloid front pages in a saucy pose with her financial advisor. This leaves unhappy Princess Diana, betrayed by her husband Charles, gaining public sympathy through a book and television interview. Once more public opinion seems to want the end of the monarchy and, to add to Elizabeth's problems, part of Windsor Castle burns down. 1992 truly turns out to be her 'annus horribilus' with the marriage of Charles and Diana, which once seemed so romantic, coming to an end.

AS PLAYED BY:
Diana Quick

The final film has Diana Quick's monarch coming to terms with Prince Charles's determination to marry Camilla Parker Bowles.

"How Do You Solve A Problem Like Camilla?"
Original Air Date—3 December 2009
A year after Diana's death, Queen Elizabeth will not entertain Charles's longtime soul-mate and mistress, the divorced Camilla Parker-Bowles, refusing to attend his fiftieth birthday party because of her presence. For once public opinion is with the Queen and Camilla is demonized in the press but Charles's spin-doctor Mark Bolland engineers a situation which demonstrates the couple's oneness and they are gradually accepted by the Establishment and, significantly, Charles's sons. By necessity, the Queen starts to unbend and learn to move with the times, attending the couple's wedding reception.

BCnU!

FREES FRAME THAT FACE!

From 1955 to 1960, the audience of the Trueniverse watched as a millionaire named John Beresford Tipton attempted to give away about 188 million dollars to total strangers, one million each, in the TV series 'The Millionaire'.

Tipton was never seen handing over the check personally to these people; that was the job of his assistant Michael Anthony. In fact, Tipton was never seen, save for his right arm, as he was always hidden away in his high-backed chair at the desk in his mansion's study on the Silverstone estate.

Based on his voice, however, I think we have a pretty good idea what John Beresford Tipton looked like......

Here's a picture of the "Man With A Thousand Voices", Paul Frees, as he looked in the movie "Space Master X-7". Since he was providing the voice for a character who was otherwise not seen, we might as well make the assumption that Tipton looked like Frees. It's a nice change of pace from the usual situation in which Frees' voice was heard coming from somebody else's mouth. (If I had to cast anybody to play his older brother, I'd have gone with Arthur O'Connell.)

In Toobworld, John Beresford Tipton died several years before 'The Millionaire' began broadcasting in 1955. He was probably buried somewhere on the 60,000 acres of the Silverstone estate.....

BCnU!

TRUE OR VIEW?

Is there anybody out there who can tell me if the Friday Club, a pro-Hitler organization in Great Britain at the beginning of World War II (as seen in 'Foyle's War') actually existed?

Along those same lines, is there such a thing as "the Brunswick Gene"? Supposedly the Brunswick Gene can eventually cause death to the person who carries it in their genetic makeup. This was the case in an episode of 'Kingdom' and I'd like to know if it actually exists in the real world.

If both are fictional, that's cool; just two more examples in which Toobworld is not the same as the real world....

BCnU!

NUMBERS RUNNING: FOYLE, KINGDOM, RUBICON

Some off-beat applications of "The Numbers" from 'Lost' have cropped up in my viewing lately.....

'Kingdom'
A confrontation between a golfing club and a coven of Druids occurred on the 16th green, which was thought to be the crossroads of ley lines containing magical energies.

'Foyle's War'
Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle and his driver Samantha Stewart were seen outside tanker bay #4 at a Hastings fuel depot.

'Rubicon'
This espionage series won't be starting until August 1st, but AMC has already shown the first episode. The show started off on the birthday of the main character, Will Travis, who was born on April 8th. So this is a combination of two of "The Numbers" since April is the fourth month in the year. 4-8

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: PRINCE CHARLES 2x2

Too hot to work up a proper ASOTV showcase for Two For Tuesday.....

PRINCE CHARLES

AS SEEN IN:
"Princess In Love"

AS PLAYED BY:
Christopher Bowen

PRINCE CHARLES

AS SEEN IN:
"Whatever Love Means"

AS PLAYED BY:
Laurence Fox

BCnU!

APACHE TIME LORD

Although Michael Ansara was Cochise throughout the run of the TV series version of 'Broken Arrow', Ricardo Montalban played the part in a one hour adaptation of the movie. This was presented as an episode of 'The 20th Century Fox Hour', which usually made TV versions of the big movies from that studio.

John Lupton also appeared in this version of 'Broken Arrow' as Tom Jeffords, the character he would then later play in the series. So, either this took place in an alternate universe in which Cochise had different DNA than his counterpart, or we should employ any one of a number of splainins for a character to be replaced temporarily - although I think we can rule out plastic surgery and a fraternal twin brother. (Had Montalban been the actual Cochise and Ansara the doppleganger, that replacement would have been permanent.)

And then there's alien impersonation. It may seem really out there, but that's the one I'm leaning towards.....

It's already an established Toobworld theory that Mr. Roarke of 'Fantasy Island' was a Gallifreyan Time Lord. In the original series, we learned that he was over 300 years old. And in the remake, we not only saw that he had been regenerated, but that an old shack on the island was a TARDIS. It's also part of that theory that Roarke was once a renegade Time Lord as well, submitting to the Dark Side under the human name of Ramon Castillo (as seen in an episode of 'Zorro'.) And for Toobworld's purposes, there is a theory of relateeveety that claims Castillo was the biological father of Miquelito Quixote Loveless.

So I'm thinking that since he was around at that time anyway, Roarke had reason to impersonate Cochise. There is always the quesiton of what was done with the original Apache warrior during that period, so we could say that Roarke used his own version of a quantum leap accelerator on board his TARDIS to go back in Time to replace Cochise bodily. And the real Cochise would be left inside the "waiting room" of the TARDIS.

Roarke probably did this in order to insure that the alliance between Jeffords and Cochise did take place. Even in its unembellished historical version, so much could have gone wrong.

At least if he was impersonated by a Gallifreyan, we don't have to study the recently restored copy of this TV episode to see if the alien Cochise had a pinky finger bent out of shape.......

It's not an air-tight case, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, JULY 2010: COCHISE

It's been the tradition at Toobworld Central for the summer months of July and August to be centered around the TV Western. Every "As Seen On TV" showcase in August will be an historical figure of the Old West, and the two inductees into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame will be connected to the theme as well.

One month will see an historical figure gain entry, the other will be a fictional character from a Western.

This month we're going with the historical, since August will be overloaded with them anyway.....
From Wikipedia:
Cochise (c. 1805–June 8, 1874) was a chief (a nantan) of the Chokonen ("central" or "real" Chiricahua) band of the Chiricahua Apache and the leader of an uprising that began in 1861. Cochise County, Arizona is named after him.

Following various skirmishes, Cochise and his men were gradually driven into the Dragoon Mountains but were nevertheless able to use the mountains for cover and as a base from which to continue attacks against the white settlements. Cochise managed to evade capture and continued his raids against white settlements and travelers until 1872. A treaty was finally negotiated by General Oliver O. Howard, with the help of Tom Jeffords who was Cochise's only white friend. Cochise then retired to his new reservation, with his friend Jeffords as agent, where he died of natural causes (probably of abdominal cancer) in 1874. Cochise was buried in the rocks above one of his favorite camps in Arizona's Dragoon Mountains, now called Cochise Stronghold. Only his people and Tom Jeffords knew the exact location of his resting place, and they took the secret to their graves.

The full Wikipedia article can be found here.

There have been several actors who have played Cochise on television, and one - Michael Keep - played him at different stages in his life, both in TV and in the movies. August Schellenberg may have brought the most authentic portrayal of Cochise to the small screen (Although for my wampum, he looks like Jack Warden playing a Hekawi.) As his performance was in historical context, the TV movie "Geronimo" should be transferred to an alternate TV dimension.

But it's Michael Ansara who'll be considered the official Cochise of Toobworld. That's because of the TV series 'Broken Arrow', for which there were over 70 episodes detailing the uneasy partnership between Cochise and Indian agent Tom Jeffords. (Jeffords will be showing up in the daily ASOTV gallery in August.....)

Since Cochise died in 1874, some of his appearances in Toobworld on other shows, like 'Bonanza' and 'Rin Tin Tin', could be attributed to Famous Identity Syndrome. Those with FIS delusions believe themselves to be newsworthy figures of the times in order to gain some recognition for themselves, even if it is under an assumed name. This is the splainin for many of the TV portrayals of people like Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, and Jesse James. (This may be true especially for Cochise in 'The High Chaparral', since two different actors played the role.)

Here's a list of actors who have played the role of Cochise on TV over the years. It may not be complete....

Geronimo (1993) Played by August Schellenberg

[Michael Keep as Cochise in the Cineverse and in Toobworld: "40 Guns To Apache Pass", left, and 'High Chaparral', right]

"The High Chaparral"
- The Last Hundred Miles (1969) Played by Michael Keep
- The Peacemaker (1968) Played by Paul Fix
- A Hanging Offense (1967) Played by Paul Fix

"Bonanza"
- The Honor of Cochise (1961) Played by Jeff Morrow

"Broken Arrow" (1956-60) Played by Michael Ansara

"The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin"
- The Invaders (1956) Played by X Brands

"TV Reader's Digest"
- Cochise, Greatest of the Apaches (1956) Played by Richard Gaines

So here's a salute to you, Cochise. Welcome to the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

BCnU!

ADDENDUM: HONEST ABE'S GEICO BLIPVERT

It might seem like it's an anachronism to have President and Mrs. Lincoln appear in a talking picture, when History gives us the year 1929 for Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer". But you have to keep in mind that that's the real world; certain details will differ in Toobworld.

And the precedent for talking pictures to exist was established in 'The Wild Wild West'. Baron Hinterstoisser utilized a fake movie in hopes of bringing embarrassment to President Grant, as seen in a fourth season episode. And although it was a silent movie, the technology probably did exist to synchronize sound to it as well, thanks to Dr. Loveless. After all, as stated in one of the nine episodes to feature the diminutive madman, Miguelito apparently invented television!

So in a world in which there was at least one moonbase by 1970 and in which androids are hiding in plain sight, having a movie starring Abe Lincoln doesn't seem that far-fetched... for Toobworld.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ABE AND MARY TODD LINCOLN

Since the rest of America is celebrating a long Fourth of July weekend on this Monday (Me? I have to work straight through to the 14th.), I thought I'd do up something quick and yet appropriate for the day, what with your outdoor barbecues......

Here's Abe Lincoln getting grilled:



Unfortunately, I don't know who the actors are...

BCnU!

BETSY ROSS OF THE TOONIVERSE

Video Games Time Squad Episode (2)

XBox 360 Playstation 3 Nintendo Wii

BCnU!

RED'S PLEDGE

BCnU......

RIDIN' EASY WITH BING

Here's a little Captain America for this Fourth of July.....


Now, there are those who'll probably say that the above blipvert is kind of tacky considering that Dennis Hopper only died a few weeks ago. And yeah, they're probably right.

But looking at it from the perspective of a Toobworld caretaker, I'm just glad to see the characters of "Easy Rider" make the "slide" from the "Cineverse"* into Earth Prime-Time. Skitlandian versions of the characters already existed, thanks to 'Saturday Night Live', but this places Billy, George, and Wyatt (aka Captain America) firmly into the main Toobworld.

And to preempt any complaints that they aren't the real "Easy Rider" characters, my answer is: they're not meant to be. Those guys belong to the world of the movies. These are their counterparts in the world of the Toob. It's the same distinction made for characters like Hawkeye and Trapper John and Madigan and the King of Siam.......

BCnU!

* The term was coined by Craig Shaw Gardner for his Cineverse Cycle of books.

AS SEEN ON TV: BETSY ROSS

I had to find somebody appropriate for today. And who better than the woman who sewed the first American flag....?

BETSY ROSS
[from in the Tooniverse]

AS SEEN IN:
'Time Squad'

AS VOICED BY:
Nika Frost

Happy Fourth of July!

BCnU!

HOORAY FOR THE REDD, WHITE & BLU!

HAVE A HAPPY
FROM ALL OF ME
@
TOOBWORLD CENTRAL!

BCnU!

CLEAN-UP IN AISLE 4!

Toobworld has seen men reincarnated as dogs

Children born of alien-human unions, including a reptilian Visitor

A boy born of human and Vulcan who died and was reborn again

A litter of kittens whose mother was a human woman and their father was a humanoid cat

A human baby born of a cow

And then there's this miracle of birth:



I always believed that 'Mr. Ed' was a Houyhnhnm, as seen in "Gulliver's Travels". But could this be how he really gained the power of speech? Born of a human woman, looking nothing like a human, but perhaps still having a human mind (as well as human vocal chords)......

It doesn't matter, really. Just wallow in the weirdness of this ad......

BCnU!

Thanks to Ray William Johnson for pointing this out in his weekly "Equals Three" video......

IF RONALD McDONALD HAD A DAUGHTER....

Here. Maybe this will take your mind off the scary monster.....



Homina thrice, I'm lovin' it!

BCnU!

RONALD McDRACULA

I have to figure that somewhere in Toobworld there is a Ronald McDonald who's really a vampire.....



If I was in Toobworld, I'd probably sleep better at night knowing this clown was over in the alternate TV dimension known as the Evil Mirror Universe.....

BCnU!

MAYBE HE'LL ANSWER TO "CHIP"

Taking a cue from Brent, our blogging buddy in the Great White North (You can find the link to his "I Am A Child Of Television" blog to the left, dawggs), this Saturday at least will be videos for the most part.

Starting with this Japanese commercial......

It's always been a rule in Toobworld that dogs who show intelligence are reincarnated humans. Lassie. Buck. Poochinski.

And then there's this long-haired loony from Japan......



He could also be a hybrid whose father came from Parenthia, like Alpha and Orvis in 'Bewitched'.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: EDMOND HALLEY

Here's a "holy grail" - I've searched for pictures from this episode for a long time. And now at last I have the televersion of Edmond Halley - thanks to Mark & Michael (who probably don't know I stole their full collection of the series!)

EDMOND HALLEY

AS SEEN IN:
'Tales From The Darkside'

AS PLAYED BY:
Fritz Weaver

From Wikipedia:

Edmond Halley FRS (8 November 1656 – 14 January 1742) was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist who is best known for computing the orbit of the eponymous Halley's comet.

In November 1703 Halley was appointed Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford, his theological enemies, John Tillotson and Bishop Stillingfleet having died, and received an honorary degree of doctor of laws in 1710. In 1705, applying historical astronomy methods, he published Synopsis Astronomia Cometicae, which stated his belief that the comet sightings of 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682 related to the same comet, which he predicted would return in 1758.

Halley did not live to witness the comet's return, but when it did, the comet became generally known as Halley's Comet.

"Comet Watch" starts as amateur stargazer Englebert Ames (Anthony Heald) is excited by the once in a lifetime opportunity to witness Halley's Comet which only passes the Earth every seventy-five point eight years. However while gazing at it through his old telescope something strange happens, he sees a woman heading towards him & she ends up coming out of the end of his telescope & into his room!

The woman says her name is Lara Burns (Sarah Rush) & that she found a time window in 1910 the last time Halley's Comet passed Earth which allowed her to ride it with its discoverer Edmund Halley (Fritz Weaver) who also drops into Englebert's room through his telescope to reclaim Lara but she doesn't want to go back with him...

(review by Paul Andrews for the IMDb)

According to the episode, the televersion of Halley must have faked his own death and then hid away until the comet returned. He may have spent all that time perfecting the way he could catch a lift via a time window and then travel the universe by riding the comet.And despite all that King Charles II had done for him, Halley harbored bitter restentment toward the regent for never granting him a knighthood for his work.

BCnU!

THE BUSH AND ALLEN SHOW

As I did my research into the four Harry Mortons, I stumbled across this video and knew I had to share it.....



BCnU!

MORTONS OF TOOBWORLD

My blogging buddy Ivan of "Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear" (see the link to the left, true believers!) wrote about Larry Keating, who played Harry Morton on George Burns' sitcoms:
"Television is where Keating really made his mark; he was tabbed by George Burns in 1953 to play the part of the Burns’ next-door neighbor Harry Morton (after Hal March, John Brown and Fred Clark had all taken a whack at it) on 'The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show', and Larry’s playing up of Harry’s oversized ego (with vocabulary to match) was the perfect counterpoint to wife Blanche’s (Bea Benaderet) withering sarcasm. (Keating also played Morton on 'The George Burns Show', a short-lived sitcom that followed Burns and Allen’s departure after eight seasons on CBS.)"

That's an awful lot of people to play that one role, something that's more likely in soap operas. Had it been only one man, maybe plastic surgery could have been the reason; or maybe Blanche married two different men by the same name, as Farmer Ziffel did with his two wives on 'Green Acres'. (At least that's my splainin for the two Mrs. Ziffels.)
According to the IMDb, here's the timeline for the actors who played the role:

Hal March ... Harry Morton (1950-1953)

John Brown ... Harry Morton (1951)

Fred Clark ... Harry Morton (1951-1953)

Larry Keating ... Harry Morton (1953-1958)

We're going to turn to 'Quantum Leap' for the splainin.
At some point in the future, the "Quantum Leap" project developed by Dr. Sam Beckett will finally be considered a success and available for general use. And it wouldn't have to be used only for scientific research. Like the Russians with the shuttle and Eve Thorne's plans for the commercialization of Global Dynamics in the town of 'Eureka', the governing board of the Quantum Leap facility may have decided to sell "trips" into the past via the accelerator. This would maintain the funding on the project without resorting to government handouts.

This enterprise would probably be one of the major reasons for a 'Timecop' policing agency.

I can imagine the first three men in the list of those who played Harry Morton to be multi-millionaires, able to pay the high price for the trip of a lifetime. But why would they have chosen to replace Harry Morton in the timeline?

Simple... it gave them the chance to indulge in their passion: being fans of vaudeville, "Old Time Radio" and the movies, they paid a fortune just for the chance to meet an idol, George Burns. They were able to play card games with George and Gracie, attend weddings held at the Burns home, and even enjoy the domestic life with Harry's wife Blanche (not that the 1950's audience in the Trueniverse would ever see what that fully entailed!)
The rich man played by John Brown only made one appearance on the show however, most likely because his trip was cut short. Those responsible were probably the Timecops or the Time Squad or some other Time Agent (like Captain Jack Harkness). Apparently the innate greed of that Harry Morton doppelganger got the better of him when Harry's wife Blanche mentioned that her life insurance was now increased to $20,000. Temporal protectors don't allow such threats to wreak havoc on the timeline.
Larry Keating would be the true Harry Morton, not seen by the Trueniverse audience until those three millionaires (maybe even billionaires!) had played out their fantasies. There weren't any others willing to make that particular time leap - as great as George and Gracie were, there's only so much interest to be found for them among multi-millionaires.

And so from that point on, once the "true" Harry Morton was returned from the waiting room in the future, it was only Larry Keating's televersion that was seen in Toobworld. This would lead into the sequel (after Gracie retired), as well as into a crossover with 'Love That Bob!' (which also featured George, Gracie, and Harry's wife Blanche.)

That crossover, by the way, puts Harry and Blanche into the running for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. Perhaps for next June as a Gemini entry (unless the 'Softly, Softly' team finally gets their due.)

BCnU!

Thanks for the inspiration, Ivan!