BLIPVERTS IN SPACE!

Okay, watch this blipvert for KFC, and then I'll share my thoughts about it.......

These weren't the original actors, but very good look-alikes aided by some prosthetics. However the voices were of the original actors involved. So I'm willing to accept that this actually happened in orbit around Earth Prime-Time. As far as Toobworld Central is concerned, this is part of 'Star Trek' lore.

But here's the thing - the people working at the KFC are in the uniforms worn by KFC employees in the 1990's. (In the comments section for this YouTube clip, it was filmed either in 1991 to tie into "The Undiscovered Country" or in 1994.) And the equipment seen in that KFC restaurant is of that time period as well.

So it can't be a KFC from Earth Prime-Time in Kirk's era. I suppose it could be on a planet similar to Earth but which is only up to the 1960's style era, sort of like that Roman era planet in "Bread And Circuses" or the Nazi world, or the planet that emulated 1920's Chicago in "A Piece Of The Action".

As you can see, the idea was done to death in the original series. I think a better splainin is that the Enterprise was once again shunted back in Time, this time to the 1990's. They visited the Earth in the 1960's for the episodes "All Our Yesterdays" and "Assignment: Earth" and I would have preferred to have this happen just before the Enterprise left that time period after either adventure. But again, the uniforms are wrong - in the 1960's, the workers in KFC looked more like they were wearing old-fashioned ice cream parlor outfits of red and white striped shirts.

And as the Enterprise crew themselves are of the same age as they looked when the show was broadcast, this couldn't have happened during their time on Earth in the 1980's as seen in the movie "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home". They were much older by then, plus they were wearing the latest in Starfleet fashion. On top of that, they were traveling, as Chekov would say, a Klingon "wessel".

So it would have to be after that time period, but before they actually went back to the 1980's. We only have available the denouement to an untelevised adventure for the crew of the starship Enterprise, which occurred at some point in the Toobworld timeline from 1991 to 1994.

As for the small differences in the looks of the crew? Something O'Bviously shorted out the time differential which caused the alterations to their looks. (This bit of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff was splained away in the "Children In Need" telethon special, "Time Crash".)

BCnU!

THE MAN WHO LOVED CATS TALKING

We're still in the video cats mode, and this one has proven popular with my interns, Nucky and Leela.....

They're not so crazy about the video translation however....

BCnU!

ANTI-GRAV CATS

Why was internet video created if it wasn't for the sharing of cat videos?

Here's an old instructional film showing the effects of weightlessness on the pooh widdle kittie cats....

BCnU!

SPUNK'D

Because the second season premiere of 'Hot In Cleveland' invoked this classic scene, I needed to share it again with the visitors to Inner Toob.

Forty years on, and it still holds up.......

BCnU!

THE BIRTH OF BERTIE

Only six chapters of the 1975 mini-series 'Edward The King' are available on YouTube, ending with Bertie's recovery from typhoid and the Queen's rejection of the idea that he should serve as the Viceroy of Ireland.

Here's the beginning of the first chapter, in which Queen Victoria reveals she is pregnant with the future King of England.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: PRINCE "BERTIE"

On this date in 1901, Edward VII was proclaimed King after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria........

PRINCE ALBERT EDWARD
(FUTURE KING EDWARD VII)

AS SEEN IN:
'Edward The King'

AS PLAYED BY:
Timothy West

From Wikipedia:
When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Edward became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the British Dominions. He chose to reign under the name Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward—the name his mother had intended for him to use, declaring that he did not wish to "undervalue the name of Albert" and diminish the status of his father with whom among royalty the name Albert should stand alone. The number VII was occasionally omitted in Scotland, even by the national church, in deference to protests that the previous Edwards were English kings who had "been excluded from Scotland by battle".

J. B. Priestley recalled, "I was only a child when he succeeded Victoria in 1901, but I can testify to his extraordinary popularity. He was in fact the most popular king England had known since the earlier 1660s." Only six chapters of the mini-series 'Edward The King' are available on YouTube, so I wasn't able to get the appropriate segment to represent this historical event. (I've ordered the full series from Netflix - after all, there are plenty of historical figures represented! - and will have some screen captchas soon.)

Here is the description of the opening moments in Chapter Eleven ("King At Last"):

Episode XI. King at Last (1902-1902)
Scene I. The New Sovereign.

Charles Carrington and Francis Knollys talk about Bertie who they say has waited nearly 60 years to be king. They note that Balfour and Lansdowne are after Lord Salisbury already. Balfour tells Salisbury that it is time to insist on constitutional reform. And the king should not interfere in government. Bertie comes in and gives a little speech to the assembled group. He says that he wants to be known as Edmund VII.

There is an official announcement of the new King Edward VIII. God save the King!

For a full episode guide to 'Edward The King', click here.

BCnU!

TOOBWORLD CENTRAL VIDNEWS

Tomorrow's going to be a big experiment for the Inner Toob Video Weekend. It looks as though YouTube has created a new type of embed code for its videos, so I'll have to see if they really work on this blog. The codes seem to be simplified, but that's all I usually need to bleep something up......

One thing looks certain - the new code lets you see which video you grabbed for posting. So that's definitely an improvement.

We shall see what we shall view.....

BCnU!

TOOB TOPS

At the end of this week's episode of 'Community' ("Asian Population Studies"), Jeff visited Rich - a doctor whom Jeff despises for being so perfect - and asked him to transform Jeff into a better person. (But only so that Jeff can abuse that to his own advantage, so what's the point?)

Rich decided to help Jeff anyway and invited him into the apartment. When Jeff smelled the enticing aroma wafting in from the kitchen, Rich revealed that he was baking muffin tops.

Not just muffins. Muffin tops.

It's a knee-jerk reaction to think of that 'Seinfeld' episode called "The Muffin Tops", in which Elaine's former boss Mr. Lippmann opened a muffin tops only shop. But Iit doesn't serve as a link between 'Community' and 'Seinfeld'. Muffin tops have always been more popular than the muffin stumps, and it would be somebody like Dr. Rich who would go to the trouble of baking only the popular tops.

Top of the muffin to you!

BCnU!

MTM ZONKS - NOT IN CLEVELAND

Because Mary Tyler Moore made a special guest appearance in the season premiere of 'Hot In Cleveland' - and in a scene with Betty White to boot - the writers couldn't resist tossing in a few references to 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' in which Betty White was a co-star.

To set the scene.....

Betty's character was in jail for the stash of stolen goods in her storm cellar. (Her late husband had been a fence for the mob.) And she was sharing the jail cell with a mob wife (played by Mayr) whom Elke had not seen in 33 years.

The mob wife used chalk to draw a stylized letter "M" on the wall above her bunk, and it was basically the same font as the wooden "M" which hung in the apartments of Mary Richards. When Elke asked what it stood for, she was told it was for "Murder". That's not what the mob wife was in for; but it was all she could think about once Elke started playing the harmonica.

When the mob wife found out that Elke once sold off a stolen Faberge egg and used the money to establish an animal shelter, she admitted that Elke's scheme took a lot of spunk. And then she added the classic follow-up line first heard in the pilot episode of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' - "I HATE spunk!"

(Not that it was related to the MTM show, but that Faberge Animal Shelter was a reference to Betty White's well-known love and protection of animals.)

When the mob wife was finally taken away by the guards, Elke urged that they not wait another 33 years before they see each other again. This one was a bit more subtle - the final episode of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' was the last time these TV legends worked together, and it had been 33 years since it was broadcast.

None of these references can be considered Zonks, because 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' was never mentioned by name. They're all just coincidences, something that happens a lot in the TV Universe.

BCnU!

SWEATER JEST

Earlier tonight, Malcolm Jamal Warner guest-starred on the "Asian Population Studies" episode of 'Community' as Shirley's ex-husband Andre. It looks like he'll be a recurring character because he appears to have changed his ways and will definitely be back in Shirley's life.

We got a sense of his new course in life while he was outside the library talking to Jeff. And during that revelatory conversation, they were also able to squeeze in a pop culture reference!

When Jeff complimented Andre about his sweater, Andre said, "Thanks. My father gave it to me."

Within the reality of the sitcom, that's all it was - a statement as to where Andre got the sweater, from his Dad. But for the audience in the Trueniverse, the 'Community' writers wanted them to recognize the reference to 'The Cosby Show', in which Malcolm Jamal Warner played the song of Bill Cosby. And Cosby's character of Dr. Huxtable was known for the colorful sweaters he would wear......

But since 'The Cosby Show' was never mentioned, we have no worries bout a Zonk to be disabled!

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD/AS SEEN ON TV: SARGENT SHRIVER

SARGENT SHRIVER

AS SEEN IN:
'Kennedy'

AS PLAYED BY:
Al Conti

From the New York Times obituary:
R. Sargent Shriver, the Kennedy in-law who became the founding director of the Peace Corps, the architect of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on poverty, a United States ambassador to France and the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1972, died on Tuesday in Bethesda, Md. He was 95.

For more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/us/politics/19shriver.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries

Also played on TV by:
Carl Mueller ("Too Young The Hero")

Geoff Kahnert ("Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women Of Camelot")

Richard Rider ("Adieu, De Gaulle, Adieu")

James Nelligan ("The Kennedys")

BCnU.....

SUPERMAN'S LEGACY - IN NAME ONLY

He may be fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way in other TV dimensions, but in Earth Prime-Time, Superman has been dead since the early 1960's. (I've stated this often enough in the past, but this being a blog and not a web site, it's not as easy to find such info listed.)

After Superman died, Lois Lane probably discovered that her suspicions about the connection between Superman and Clark Kent proved true. And from there, all of their secrets, both Clark's and Kal-El's, were revealed (most likely after Clark's apartment was searched.)

Once the world learned the true nature of Clark Kent, supposedly just a mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, about how he always risked his life for theirs and ultimately sacrificing his life to save two men (even if they were low-life villains Ray Luca and his flunky Paulie), I would think people would want to pay tribute to Clark as well as to Superman.

That would be my splainin for the Kent Foundation seen in Jerry Orbach's last episode of 'Law & Order: Trial By Jury'. And I think ordinary people would honor his memory on a more personal level - by naming their children after him - with "Clark" or "Kent". Perhaps even a "Kal-El". (Well, Nicolas Cage did just that in the Trueniverse!)

Given that reasoning, I can't see how the Clarke Family in the Washington, D.C., area could have resisted naming their son Kent. When we met Kent Clarke in the most recent episode of 'Lie To Me' ("Saved"), he was suffering from a neurological disorder. And he was harboring a dark secret that involved his sister Ilene, a paramedic being investigated by Dr. Cal (NOT Kal!) Lightman.

Ilene Clark, Dr. Lightman, Kent Clarke

There were no snide jokes about the Superman mythos - comic books, movies, TV shows - at all. And I would have expected that at least Loker would have made a crack about that name if Superman was fictitious in that world. So at least we were spared from disabling any Zonks.

Since no one felt the need to mention the meaning behind Kent Clarke's name, it just stands to reason that people named after the alias of the late Superman were a common occurrence in Toobworld.

SHOWS CITED:

'The Adventures Of Superman'

'Crime Story'

'Law & Order: Trial By Jury'

'Lie To Me'

BCnU!

ADDENDUM: Currently I'm watching the latest episode of 'Bones' and this theory could also be applied to a member of the staff at the Jeffersonian Institute - Dr. Clark Edison......

THE HAT SQUAD/AS SEEN ON TV: DON KIRSHNER

DON KIRSHNER

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Paul Shaffer

From the Associated Press:
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Rock promoter Don Kirshner, whom Time magazine once dubbed the "Man With the Golden Ear," died Monday in a Florida hospital, a close friend and business associate said. He was 76.

Promoter Jack Wishna told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Kirshner was in a hospital in Boca Raton being treated for an infection.

"Donny Kirshner would take a kid off the street, bring him up to his office in the Brill Building and turn him into Neil Diamond, Carol King, James Taylor, on and on," Wishna said. "I haven't spoken to anyone in the music business that Donny hasn't either discovered, promoted, or touched in some way.

"I've never seen anybody like this in my life," he said.

Kirshner was behind "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" in 1972, and gave national exposure to musicians including Billy Joel and The Police. The show also boosted careers of comics including Billy Crystal, Arsenio Hall and David Letterman.

The show also featured artists Kirshner helped launch including Prince, The Eagles, Lionel Richie and Ozzy Osborne.

Good night and may God bless.

BCnU......

RIVERS RE-RUN THROUGH IT

When Andy Rivers was hired by MInneapolis TV station WJM to be their sportscaster in the mid 1970's, he soon became a casual boyfriend to the associate producer of the newscast, Mary Richards.

It never came up in the show, and it probably wouldn't have mattered to the open-minded Mayr, but it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that Andy Rivers had been previously married. And if so, perhaps he had a son, one that was even named after him.

It could be that Andy Rivers, Jr. grew up not wanting to share the same name as his father - not so much that he resented Andy Rivers for breaking up the family but because he wanted to follow his father into the broadcast news biz. So maybe he amended his name slightly and became known as Sandy Rivers. We've seen Sandy Rivers as Robin Scherbatsky's co-anchor on a local New York City news station, but now she's working for him as his news researcher at another station.

SHOWS CITED:
'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'
'How I Met Your Mother'

BCnU!

THE JOHN DRAKE NAMESAKE

John Drake was a simple crofter working on the Downton Abbey estate. He was married with several small children when we met him as a hospital patient in the second episode of 'Downton Abbey' (by the American TV reckoning).

In March of 1913, Drake was suffering from dropsy of the heart (an abnormal accumulation of fluid in a body cavity which is known today as edema). This would have killed the farmer had it not been for a new and very risky procedure by Dr. Clarkson (at the urging of Mrs. Isobel Crawley) which drained the fluids from the pericardial sac and saved his life. We'll probably not see Mr. and Mrs. John Drake again in the series, which is more concerned with the family and staff within 'Downton Abbey' itself. For Toobworld Central, this would be a good thing, because it leaves us free to do some speculation for a theory of "relateeveety".

We know nothing more about John Drake's children other than that there were several of them. And it was inferred that they were all too young to work the farm if Drake had died before or even after getting that procedure.

So let's say one of those children was a boy, perhaps around ten years old. By 1923, he would have been 20 years old and perhaps even married. I would think definitely by 1927 he would have a wife and even perhaps a child on the way.

If so, then on March 19, 1928, a son could have been born to that son of Mr. & Mrs. John Drake of the Downton Abbey farms. And what better name for the first-born son than to name him in honor of his grandfather?

I doubt very much that 'Downton Abbey' will play out in the timeline that far for us to learn if such a supposition actually happened. And the concerns of the series would lie elsewhere as I've already mentioned. So I think we're safe in making this claim:

John Drake, crofter of 'Downton Abbey', was the grandfather of John Drake, a 'Danger Man' who worked for NATO and then for MI-6. It seems harmless enough as a theory of relateeveety. After all, most McGoohanists already make the assumption that 'Secret Agent' John Drake became 'The Prisoner' known as Number Six in a mysterious place called "The Village".

It was there that they had given him a number, and taken away his name..... BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ZZA ZZA GABOR

From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

Ailing actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is recovering in the hospital after doctors successfully amputated half of her right leg on Friday.

Gabor was forced to lose her leg after a serious gangrene infection spread to her bone.

Surgeons removed the infected part of her limb at Los Angeles' UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center on Friday and the operation went without complication.

Gabor is now being monitored closely by medics at the facility.

ZZA ZZA GABOR

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Victoria Jackson

In October of 1989, in the TV sketch comedy dimension of Skitlandia, Zza Zza Gabor was involved in a breakout from the Chattanooga Women's Correctional Facility which was engineered by fellow inmate Leona Helmsley.

From SNL Transcripts:

Zsa Zsa Gabor:
I can't go on any longer, dahlink!

Leona Helmsley:
You wanna rot in that stinkin' joint?! Keep digging!

Zsa Zsa Gabor:
I'm not made for this type of thing. New York is where I'd rather stay...

Leona Helmesley:
Shut up!

Zsa Zsa Gabor:
I get allergic smelling hay...

Leona Helmesley:
Shut up! And you'd better keep that dog quiet!

Zsa Zsa Gabor:
He can't help it, he's very nervous.

Leona Helmesley:
I'm giving you five seconds to shut that mutt up!

Zsa Zsa Gabor:
Please, Froo Froo! Mommy needs you to be quiet!
[Froo Froo continues to bark nervously; Leona grabs it and shoots it dead]
Froo Froo! Ohh! My little Froo Froo!

All kidding aside, I wish Ms. Gabor the best and that she's well enough to go home to celebrate her 94th birthday in February.....

BCnU......

JELL-O IN WONDERLAND

Thanks to Mark Evanier of "The News According To ME" (link to the left, folks!), I've got a blipvert link between the Tooniverse and the Cineverse (if they have their own Tooniverse, than it's from that alternate movie dimension).

This may be a commercial for Jell-O, but it was created by the Disney Company. It features the title character from "Alice In Wonderland" with two characters from the original book but not from the animated movie adapted by Disney - the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon.

Alice is voiced by the same actress who did the honors in the movie (Kathryn Beaumont) and the presence of Sterling Holloway as the narrator suggests that he could be actually in the scene as the invisible Cheshire Cat, acting in a serlinguistic capacity. Therefore, the Tooniverse could lay claim to the cartoon movie version of 'Alice In Wonderland'. (Although it already has at least one version of the story already.)

Mark Evanier has more on the topic, which you can find here:
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2011_01_16.html#020086

That linking system on his blog is pretty iffy, so it might not lead you directly to the post, but rather to all of the posts he did on that day. Just look around a bit, because it's worth it.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: LEONARD NIMOY

Tonight on PBS, begins a new season of 'Prime Time Pioneers', beginning with a look at various sci-fi classics....

LEONARD NIMOY
(The Tooniverse)

AS SEEN IN:
'The Simpsons'

AS VOICED BY:
Himself

LEONARD NIMOY
(of the puppet people in Earth Prime-Time)

AS SEEN IN:
"Spitting Image Movie Awards 1987"

AS VOICED BY:
Joe Alaskey

From Wikipedia:
Leonard Simon Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician, and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original 'Star Trek' series 1966–1969, multiple films, television and video game sequels.

Nimoy began his career in his early twenties, teaching acting classes in Hollywood and making minor film and television appearances through the 1950s, as well as playing the title role to "Kid Monk Baroni". In 1953, he served in the United States Army. In 1965, he made his first appearance in the rejected 'Star Trek' pilot, "The Cage", and would go on to play the character of Mr. Spock until 1969, followed by seven further films and a number of guest slots in various sequels. His character of Spock generated a significant cultural impact and three Emmy Award nominations; TV Guide named Spock one of the 50 greatest TV characters. Nimoy also had a recurring role in 'Mission: Impossible' and a narrating role in 'Civilization IV', as well as several well-received stage appearances.

Nimoy's fame as Spock is to such an extent that both his autobiographies, "I Am Not Spock" (1977) and "I Am Spock" (1995) detail his existence as being shared between the character and himself.

For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Nimoy

The 'Spitting Image' version of Leonard Nimoy exists in Earth Prime-Time along with the real Leonard Nimoy. When a spirit from the puppet island of Yazoo (AKA "Living Island") takes on a puppet shell, it becomes that which it resembles. In this case, the spirit actually becomes Leonard Nimoy.

Two for Tuesday!

BCnU!

LIFE DURING PRIME TIME REMEMBRANCE

Dennis McLellan posted this "Tip Of The Hat" tidbit about David Nelson online for the Los Angeles Times:

In a 1971 Esquire article on the Nelsons, David stressed that the Nelson family and the TV show were "totally separate."

One was the real world, and one was Toobworld......

I wasn't into the Toobworld Dynamic concept yet, so I couldn't have told ya that back then....

BCnU!

THE LOST TOOBITS AWARD

When I posted the 2010 Toobits Awards, I forgot one category that will probably never happen again:

BEST MUSIC VIDEO CROSSOVER
'Cougar Town' - "Dancing In The Dark"

The video is over two decades old, but that fits right into the timeline for 'Cougar Town'. We're not seeing Courtney Cox onstage dancing with the Boss; it's actually Jules Cobb of West Gulfhaven, Florida. (Although I don't know what her maiden name was. Anybody?)

Here's how we found out:

Jules and her son Travis are talking about high school accomplishments.....

Jules:
The only thing that matters is that you got through it. It’s not like I made some big splash in high school.
Travis:
Really!? Because I got your yearbook…
Jules:
Well, we don’t need to look through that, I mean, I’m barely in it.
Travis:
Look—inside cover, you as the prom queen.
Jules:
Yeah, I got 98% of the vote, but, you know, whatever. And it’s only one thing. It doesn’t mean I was super cool.
Travis:
Is this you dancing on stage with Bruce Springsteen?
Jules:
Yeah, that was super cool.
[she starts dancing like they did in the video]
Travis:
Stop it.
Jules:
I’m sorry.
[she turns and dances out of the room]

I wrote about it back in May here at Inner Toob.

So why don't we also relive that old memory....?

BCnU!

HOLIDAY TELEFLUVIA

After seeing "The Addams Family" on Broadway, I posted this to Facebook:

It may seem unthinkable now, but the day will come, a couple of generations from now, when theatre playbills will no longer include biographies containing 'Law & Order' credits.....
~
It occurred to me at work that I had forgotten a category in the Crossovers section of the 2010 Toobits Awards. It was for the Best Crossover between a TV show and a music video. And I had a specific candidate in mind for it.

Damned if I can remember what it was now, though....

Okay, now I got it! It was the link between 'Cougar Town' and the "Dancing In The Dark" video by Bruce Springsteen. It's not a category I think will recur......

But I've written it up and will post it in about twenty minutes.
~
So David Tennant and his girl-friend Georgia Moffatt are not only getting married, but she's pregnant with their child. For the baby's sake, I hope she's bigger on the inside. (I love trying out my lines on Facebook!)

So this kid is going to be the child of a Time Lord as well as the grand-child of a Time Lord, since Georgia's father is Peter Davison. This kid is going to rule the schoolyard!

And if it's a girl, there'll be some boy out there in the future who is going to cash in on certain bragging rights, if you know what I mean - nudge nudge wink wink.

That should give David Tennant some sleepless nights.......
~
Because of 'Downton Abbey', I've got a little list - "Bad O'Briens".

So far I have four entries from the following sources:

"1984" - played by Lorne Greene in the 1953 'Studio One' adaptation; by Andre Morell a year later in the BBC adaptation. Since it was broadcast first, the 'Studio One' televersion is part of Earth Prime Time.

"Odd Man Out" - a woman who sends two Irish fugitives to their deaths

"Doctor Who" (Thanks to my brother Andrew for reminding me of Lady Cassandra, the flesh trampoline)

and

'Downton Abbey' - one of the maids in service to the Family of Downton, she proved she was evil when she kicked the cane away which His Lordship's manservant used for support, causing him to fall flat on his face.

So far, that's three out of four Bad O'Briens who are women.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Today we observe a national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr.....

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

AS SEEN IN:
"Boycott"

AS PLAYED BY:
Jeffrey C. Wright

From Wikipedia:
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, January 15. (It will be observed on January 17 in 2011). The floating holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, though the act predated the establishment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by fifteen years.

King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed in 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

For more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._Day

BCnU......

SMELL LIKE A MONSTER

One thing that has to be said about the Toobworld spirits who give themselves a corporeal form by wearing puppet shells - they like to imitate things. Sometimes it's a chair, or a globe, maybe an animal form like a frog, or a pig, or a bear. In Gonzo's case, a weirdo.

But whatever type of puppet shell they wear, they then assume the characteristics of that form. They think of themselves as actually being the persona they have adopted.

There are puppet people out there who assume the form of actual people, as the televersions of real world celebrities. We've seen this in the TV shows 'Spitting Image' and 'D.C. Follies'. They are not the real thing, not even an incredible simulation, but they believe that they are.

And then there are those puppets who just wish they were somebody else. LIke 2010 Toobits Award winner Isaiah Mustafa.....

BCnU!

ROCKS IN ROLES

In Toobworld, everything is alive. I don't know if that's some Native American spiritual belief, or just a manifestation of the Force, but the flowers, the trees, and even the rocks not only live, but they can speak.

Here's an example as far as the rocks go......

This can't be an example of reincarnation in Toobworld, because even though they sound like an old Jewish couple, these two boulders were around long before Mankind was seeded on Earth Prime-Time. They could be somehow related to the Ogri of 'Doctor Who' or the Horta of 'Star Trek'.....

BCnU!

GEOFFREY PALMER ON "DOCTOR WHO"

I had so much fun doing the "Who's On First" celebration on New Year's Day, that I think I'll include a 'Doctor Who' video every weekend.

To kick things off, here's a look at the great Geoffrey Palmer in the three roles he played on the series (none of whom had a happy ending).

Could they have been related in any way? Perhaps they all shared the same soul. As we thought we learned from the Minbari and the humans, reincarnation spans the galaxy. (Of course, for the Minbari it was a combination of mistaken identity and time travel when it came to Sinclair and Valen sharing the same soul.)

But since 'Doctor Who' spans the vast timeline of the TV Universe, I don't think there's any fear that any of these three characters existed at the same time. And as always, I could be wrong about that.....

BCnU!

MASSAGE THERAPIST

In my Video Weekend file, containing the embed codes for videos I want to share with Team Toobworld, this was next in the queue, labeled only as "Massage Therapist".

I have no memory of what this entails. But it must have amused me when I found it and it must be TV related somehow for me to have chosen it.

When this publishes during the overnight, it'll be as new to me as it is to you......

BCnU!

TALKING TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT "STAR WARS"

A public service message from Toobworld Central.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ADOLPH HITLER

ADOLPH HITLER

AS SEEN IN:
'Monty Python's Flying Circus'

AS PLAYED BY:
John Cleese

From Wikipedia:
On 16 January 1945, Hitler moved into the Führerbunker. He was joined by his senior staff, Martin Bormann, and later, Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels with Magda and their six children who took residence in the upper Vorbunker. Two or three dozen support, medical and administrative staff were also sheltered there. These included Hitler's secretaries (including Traudl Junge), a nurse named Erna Flegel and telephonist Rochus Misch. Hitler's dog Blondi was also one of the occupants of the underground bunker. Initially, Hitler would often stroll around in the chancellery garden with Blondi until March 1945 when shelling became very common.

The bunker was supplied with large quantities of food and other necessities and by all accounts successfully protected its occupants from the relentless and lethal shelling that went on overhead in the closing days of April 1945. In the final days of the war, it is said that Hitler still enjoyed 10 to 16 cups of tea per day even though it was hard to obtain. Many witnesses later spoke of the constant droning sound of the underground complex's ventilation system.

But apparently - at least in Skitlandia - Hitler escaped the bunker rather than commit suicide there.....

BCnU!