SATURDAY MORNING SUPER-HEROES: SPIDERMAN IN TOOBWORLD, TWICE OVER

The Spiderman of the main Toobworld could have been a major Zonk - he didn't become the Spiderman until the 1970s, and yet we saw one of his comic books at a NYC news stand in 1964.  I may have splained that away last year, but I think I need to do more research to make sure the Zonk is fully disabled.

And part of that research means that I have to watch the pilot movie for the series again.  So if you would like to do so as well, have at it!

And sort of like a commentary track on a DVD/Blueray edition, here's the movie again, but with three British guys following along......

A TANGLED WEBB OF RELATEEVEETY

'GET SMART'

"HUBERT'S LAST SYMPHONY"

'NAKED CITY'

"STRIKE A STATUE"

During the 1960s, there was a no-nonsense police lieutenant working in Washington D.C. who was so straight-edged you could slice a tomato along his jawline.  He seemed to be the type who was uncorruptible and with a very limited sense of humor.

We don't know his name, but I believe that - even if his family name had been changed upon entry into "Telemerica" at Ellis Island - he could trace his ancestry back to Eastern Europe.  And there he was related to a dictator who had begun his political life with promise as a reformist rebel, but had become a cruel despot insane with paranoia.  

We don't know this dictator by name either, nor do we know the name of the Eastern European country he controlled.  We never even saw him, but at least we know what he looked like, thanks to early work by sculptor Kermit Garrison on a statue which the dictator had commissioned of himself.

The gentleman on the top is the police lieutenant from the Nation's Capital.  Beneath him is the statue of the dictator.....

 

I think the case could be made that both men are related.  It wouldn't matter how many generations you had to go back in order to find a common ancestor, because telegenetics are just that strong in the TV Universe.  The Detective and the Dictator might as well have been Identical Cousins.  As to whether they talked alike and walked alike, I'm not going to lose my mind over them being two of a kind.

If I wrote actual fan fiction, I might consider a story based on this, in which the Detective's resemblance to the Dictator comes to the attention of the Impossible Mission Force or those men from U.N.C.L.E. and he is recruited to impersonate the ruler until he is discredited in front of the whole world and makes it impossible for him to return home.  (Probably by losing the support of his personal militia.)

If there's anybody out there who wants to run with that idea, have at it.

Since we don't know much else about the Detective and the Dictator, I have no trouble suggesting a further theory of relateeveety, to that of a Korean War vet known only by his Secret Squadron code name of "Captain Midnight".  All three men were similar in appearance and for alls I know, they all shared the same surname.  (Such a power, to create my own characters for Toobworld!  Since it would have to be something of Eastern European, I'm tempted to borrow such a name from some other TV source.  Szyznyk, for example.....)

I always toyed with the idea that Captain Midnight and that Police Department detective might be related, since Richard Webb played both roles.  But I only noticed the similarity in the statue's features recently with a late-night repeat of that 'Naked City' episode.

Let me know what you think.

BCnU!

SUPER SIX LIST - DR. LOVELESS IN TOOBWORLD

Continuing my salute to 'The Wild Wild West' on its 50th aniversary.....

THE TOOBWORLD CONNECTIONS 

FOR DOCTOR LOVELESS

(THEORETICAL)

1] Miguelito Loveless is descended from an alien from 'Star Trek'.

On both sides of his family, Loveless had extraterrestrial "input" into his DNA.  On his mother's side of the family, the bloodline can be said to begin with a visitor from Sahndara to Greece during the days of Plato.  Alexander, whatever his Sahndaran name have been, might have convinced some young shepherdess that he was Pan or maybe even the crippled god of the forge Hephaestus.  Alien genetic material is known to be incredibly potent in Toobworld - pregnancies with humans are guaranteed to produce offspring.  So when Alexander left Terra with Parmen and the other Sahndarans, he might not have had a clue that he left behind his lover carrying his child.

2] Dr. Loveless is also descended from a Time Lord from Gallifrey.

When Time Lords are mentioned as being on Toobworld, there are four candidates from 'Doctor Who' usually considered - the Master, the Rani, Romanadvoratrelundar, and of course, the Doctor himself.  But as far as Toobworld Central was concerned, there was a Time Lord from another TV series - Mr. Roarke, the host on 'Fantasy Island'.  By the time he changed his appearance, he was over 300 years old (as established in the orginal series.)  We saw that Roarke regenerated at some point between the two 'Fantasy Island' series.  Plus he had a TARDIS on the island that looked like an old shack.  

Roarke wasn't a very good "man" back in the early 1800s.  Using the name "Ramon Castillo", he visited El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles sobre El Rio Porciuncula, he tried to steal a payroll shipment and expose the true identity of Zorro.  But the swashbuckling "Fox" was able to defeat him on both counts.  Ramon was captured, but his Time Lord intelligence helped him to engineer his escape.

But while he was in Spanish California, "Castillo" seduced a young senorita named Dona Maria Concepcion DeVega, whose family held huge land grants that had been granted to them by the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico.  In 1837 (according to the Wold Newton archivists whom I admire*), Castillo left her impregnated with a child, and it was Dona Maria who brought the Sahndaran genetics to the conception of Miguelito.  That combination of human, Sahndaran, and Gallifreyan DNA sparked the special circumstances that created the dwarf with a brilliant but insane intelligence.

3] Miguelito Loveless had access to the research of Dr. Frankenstein.

Considering he was able to shrink humans down in size and to travel into alternate dimensions through portal paintings, it's no stretch of the imagination to think that Loveless would be able to bring "what was once an inarticulate mass of lifeless tissues" back to life.  And the evidence that he was able to do so?  His "sidekick" Voltaire, the mute, massive bodyguard for several episodes of 'The Wild Wild West'.

4] Miguelito Loveless could "regenerate".

The miniature madman's ability to come back from near-death in many of the 'WWW' episodes was more than miraculous.  I think it can be attributed to his parentage, having a Time Lord for his father.  However, every time he came back via these regenerations, his physical form never altered.  That's because he was not a full Gallifreyan, but a genetic mix 'n' match of not only Gallifreyan chromosomes but also of Sahndaran DNA all mixed in with a human base.  

The precedence for it can be found in the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Doctor's Daughter" in which Jenny regenerated, but remained looking like she did before she "died".  And because of this ability, we can move on to the next point:

5] Dr. Loveless appears in other TV shows, set in the late 20th Century.

Because of his ability to regenerate, one that was not controlled by the Gallifreyan Council, Dr. Loveless could be considered still alive even now into the new millennium, even though we haven't had the chance to see him lately.  But we've seen him in TV shows from the 1960s and 1970s (or at least set in those time periods), but he was known by aliases.  

Among these are:

 

• 'Amos Burke, Secret Agent' - Known as Mr. Syn
• 'Get Smart' - KAOS leader Mr. Big
• 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' - The Clown
• "Goodnight, My Love" - Arthur Boyle (1940s when Loveless must have been suffering amnesia)

6] Dr. Loveless appears in other TV Westerns

Using the name of George Marshall, Dr. Loveless had fallen in love with a circus performer and joined the company to be with her, according to an episode of 'Bonanza'.  But she died giving birth to their daughter in 1870 and he was forced to find employment near the Ponderosa.  I believe that daughter later died which sent Dr. Loveless into a rage with the intent to make the world safe for all children.  

Six years later, Dr. Loveless and his brutish creation Voltaire were hiding out in the ghost town of Paradox, where they encountered 'The Monroes'.  Loveless and Voltaire used the aliases of Nemo and Casmir.

'The Monroes' - Nemo (with Richard Kiel as Casmir!)

Happy Trails To You!

*  Although I accept certain tenets in the Loveless timeline from the Wold Newton universe, not all of it works for the Toobworld Dynamic.  

October 20, 1837
Miguelito Loveless is born of a union between Dona Maria Concepicion DeVega and an American filibuster.

October 20, 1837 is fine for the date of Miguelito's birth, and his mother's maiden name works for me, as well.  However, for my theories, the unnamed American "filibuster" (historical definition: "a person engaging in unauthorized warfare against a foreign country") would just be a creation by Dona Maria to cover up the illegitimacy of her child.

I am curious as to who that filibuster could be for Mssrs. Ellis and Eckert......

O'BSERVATIONS:

The Wold Newton concept was created by legendary author PJ Farmer and it's maintained by Win Scott Eckert.  If you'd like to read more, click here.

Mark Ellis and Win put together the chronology for 'The Wild Wild West' which is a fascinating read, even if I have to dismiss some of the theories that they put forth.  Perhaps that's just as well since the amazing universe of Wold Newton has no connection to my own little playground of Toobworld.

But if you'd like to read more about their WWW timeline, click here.

Happy Trails To You!

SUPER SIX LIST - WOMEN OF "THE WILD WILD WEST"

SIX FAVORITE ACTRESSES 

WHO APPEARED IN 

'THE WILD WILD WEST'

In celebration of today's 50th anniversary of 'The Wild Wild West'.....

1]  Suzanne Pleshette

"The Night Of The Inferno"

No one better to kick off the series than the future Emily Hartley.  But this was no dream!

2]  Susan Oliver

"The Night Dr. Loveless Died"

A few years ago the Toobworld Dynamic theorized that Oliver's character of Triste was in fact a Martian woman named Teenya (as seen in an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'.)

3]  Yvonne Craig

"The Night Of The Grand Emir"

I'd like to find a way to link this character to Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl.  From one masked girl to another.  Maybe she was "born to rerun"?

4]  Dawn Wells

"The Night Of The Headless Woman"

I freely admit it - I am Team Mary Ann.

5]  Phoebe Dorin

Recurring as Antoinette

The love of Dr. Loveless' life, Ms. Dorin also teamed up with Michael Dunn in the "real world" with a cabaret act.

6)  Patsy Kelly

"The Night Of The Bogus Bandits"

"The Night Of The Big Blast"

She was in show business since she was 12 years old and made her first movie in 1929.  She could be best known for her one-reel comedies which she made over a five year span with Thelma Todd.  She played two different roles in 'The Wild Wild West'.  And with one role, Artemus Gordon dodged a bullet - she could have ended up as his mother-in-law.

BCnU!

GAME OF THE NAME: GOVERNOR HOLCOMBE

"RIZZOLI & ISLES'
"MISCONDUCT GAME"

According to this episode, the governor of Massachusetts is named Holcombe.  It is not Deval Patrick as is the case in the Trueniverse.  When I first started the Toobworld Dynamic, this would have been a no-no for Earth Prime-Time.  I've relaxed my rules on all but the President and Vice President when it comes to who holds office in the main Toobworld.  

One possibility for who Holcomb is could be Donald Holcombe.  Holcombe was involved with the D.A.'s office in Pittsburgh back in 1990.  He was played by James O'Sullivan and only appears in two episodes ("Without Justice" & "Opening Farewell"), but it's likely that he would have been a lawyer, given the show's setting.

In the quarter century since, Donald Holcombe may have moved back to Massachusetts and immersed himself in the commonwealth's political scene which would have eventually led to the governership.

But of course that all depends on what happened in those two episodes.....

BCnU!

TUESDAY NEWS DAY - "LITTLE WOMEN"

According to the website Deadline, the CW is developing a new series based on Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women".  It will be produced by Michael Weatherly's company for this off-shoot of the CBS corporation.  (Weatherly plays Tony on CBS' 'NCIS'.)

From Deadline:

Written by Alexis Jolly, "Little Women" is described as a hyper-stylized, gritty adaptation of the 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott, in which disparate half-sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy band together in order to survive the dystopic streets of Philadelphia and unravel a conspiracy that stretches far beyond anything they have ever imagined – all while trying not to kill each other in the process. 

I don't think it will look like that....

BCnU!

MINUTIAE MONDAYS - CIRCUS MONKEE

"I haven't been to the circus since I was a kid."

Mickey

'The Monkees'

For us viewing at home, this was meant to be an in-joke.  When he was a child actor, MIckey Dolenz starred in the lead role of 'Circus Boy'.

But within the "reality" of Toobworld, we have to take it at face value.  Mickey was just referring to visiting a circus when he was a kid.

And dat's de name of dat tune!

THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING RUTH McDEVITT ON HER 120TH BIRTHDAY.....

Today would have been the 120th birthday for one of my favorite character actresses, Ruth McDevitt. 

If anyone could be said to have cornered the market on a specific type of character in the fictional worlds of movies, TV, and theatre, Ms. McDevitt nailed the dithery old lady. And yet within that narrow category she stretched the boundaries, from feisty to salty to beyond spooky in a few roles. 

Emily Cowles ('Night Stalker'), Jo Nelson ('All In The Family' one of my faves! She was shacking up with Mr. Quigley), Grandma Hanks ('Pistols & Petticoats') plus one shot appearances in shows like 'McCloud', 'Ironside', 'That Girl', 'Here's Lucy' and as a witch in 'Bewitched'. (I've seen a story about how she was treated while filming 'Here's Lucy', but I've seen the same story attributed to Jack Benny so I'm not sure if it's a case of happening twice or not. Geoffrey? You'd be my go-to guy on "Lucian" lore.) 

Another favorite was in the "horror" movie "Homebodies". And then there's a great one-shot with Roddy McDowall in an episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', "The Gentleman Caller". They were good enough friends that when she died, Roddy was given her ashes which he buried under one of his rose bushes. (At least so I've been told.) 

Toobworld-wise, there are two points of TV theory: 

1] her Grandma Effie Franks could have been in the family tree of Tom Hanks' televersion ('The Naked Truth', 'Movie Stars', 'Primetime Glick') and 

2] her character's name in an episode of 'Phyllis' was 'Miss McDermott'. So it could be that her televersion was a piano teacher.

She was a grand old dame......

VIDEO WEEKEND - WHEN CONAN MET ARCHER

Probably the front runner for the Best Crossover in the Tooniverse when the Toobits Awards for 2015 are announed on New Year's Eve......