CROSSING ZONE - A TRACT OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (PART ONE)

Back in the halcyon days of the monthly Tubeworld Dynamic, I used to run a regular feature called "Crossing Zone" - I'd take an episode of 'The Twilight Zone' and find another show which could be (theoretically) linked to it.

Some examples:

"Where Is Everybody?" - 'Columbo'

Astronaut Mike Ferris was the brother of author Jim Ferris, the victim in "Murder By The Book."  

(Since I've started watching 'Perry Mason' again, I think I could also make the claim that they are the brothers of Arlene Ferris, a stenographer in "The Case Of The Waylaid Wolf".)

"The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street" - 'Desperate Housewives'

Maple Street was just a block away from Wisteria Lane in Fairview. (Both used the same exterior street set.)

"The Invaders" - 'Land Of The Giants'

Both took place on another planet via a dimensional wormhole, where the inhabitants were giants. (And for good measure, the planet was Brobdingnag of "Gulliver's Travels".)

I don't know what made me think of this episode recently, but it was probably the death of William Windom a few months ago. Loan it your eyeballs for half an hour and then we'll get down to it......

I have a friend from UConn named Lynn Hippen. She's a puppeteer - she played Audrey II in the original production of 'Little Shop Of Horrors.' - and she used to make specially commissioned puppets of real people. (Maybe she still does?) They weren't just for celebrity clients, but the regular folks as well.

I would not be surprised to find out that she was not the only one to do that. And over in Toobworld, somebody had been doing it at least fifty years ago.

These dolls are alive - to each other - but appear as just toys to humans. I know Team Toobworld knows this but this is not a conceit to be found only in the movies of the "Toy Story" franchise. Jim Henson may have started the trope with "The Christmas Toy" in 1986. Officially, that is, because this episode of 'The Twilight Zone' predates that.

So these dolls were probably made as special commissions by one particular doll-maker, but for whatever reason they were never picked up. And so the doll-maker disposed of them by donating them to the Viewpark Girls' Home (probably an orphanarium.)

You folks know me. I want to know who those dolls were made for, who commissioned them, and why they were never picked up. And you wouldn't believe how easy it was to find that information... information... information.....

So over the next couple of days, I'll be putting the spotlight on each of those dolls and finding the links they have to other TV shows. Most of them have only one link, but Friday's will have a handful!

And if you think about it, even though the episode was entitled "Five Characters In Search Of An Exit", there was a sixth doll in the show.......

BCnU!