So one of my diversions in televisiology is to take pictures from outside the TV Universe - movie stills, publicity pics, news photos - and claim that they represent known TV characters as unseen on TV. I usually offer them up as an inspiration for the fanficcers out there.
But I won't use screencaps from actual TV shows; those are already locked into the Toobworld timeline as what they already represent.
Here's my favorite example:
That's a picture from the very first 'Columbo' movie to star Peter Falk. (Tele-historians should know why I had to phrase it like that.) With him is Gene Barry as the murderer, Dr. Ray Flemming.
And that's all it can be. I can't make the claim that it's a picture of New York-based lawyer Daniel J. O'Brien ('Trials Of O'Brien') arguing for his client with L.A. Homicide Captain Amos Burke of 'Burke's Law'. It's locked in as the 'Columbo' scene.
So now that that's (hopefully) cleared up, here's my latest offering as the fanficcers' friend....
The Beatles' appearances on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' are the stuff of television legend. And they have been fictionalized into the Toobworld timeline.....
'DARK SKIES'
"A DARK DAY'S NIGHT"
Loengard and Sayers uncover a Hive plot to use the Beatles American television debut to induce a mass suicide.
This occurred during February 6-9, 1964.
So there's a picture of Robert Vaughn with the Beatles, each of them at the height of fame in their respective fields.
But what if we "toobify" this photo, and claim that it's Napoleon Solo with the Beatles? Either he had been assigned to protect them by Mr. Waverly (who probably had no clue who they were), or the Fab Four were the ultimate celebrity innocent bystanders - those characters who were randomly drawn into the action as temporary UNCLE agents as it were.
Either way, this could have happened during the same period as the 'Dark Skies' episode. As such, they may have been working on either the same case or on different cases at the same time without bumping into each other. (At least not while the Trueniverse audience was observing them.)
It would make for a great crossover fan fiction between 'The Man From UNCLE' and 'Dark Skies' with an opportunity for Napoleon Solo to fight an extraterrestrial threat.
Or it can be a standalone fanfic adventure that took place the following week when the show was done in Miami (because of the upcoming heavyweight bout between Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay.)
Perhaps THRUSH was hoping to capitalize on the 7-1 odds against Clay in such a way which would ultimately cause the American economy to collapse. (There were reports that Liston had been drinking heavily the night before which could be tele-fictionalized as part of the plot.) UNCLE could have stepped in and ensured that Cassius Clay won on his own merits, which he did.
And somehow the Beatles proved helpful in the plan. How, that would be up to the fanficcer.
(The Beatles appeared for a third week in a row on Feb. 23, but that appearance had been taped on the afternoon of the 9th. So it was during the Hive plot.)
The Beatles would play the Sullivan show one more time the following year, recorded live in August but not broadcast until September. Perhaps an UNCLE adventure could be tied into that... especially if they actually played live on the September broadcast date as far as Toobworld was concerned. Then it could serve as a lead-in to Solo & Kuryakin's case known as "The Alexander The Greater Affair" wich occurred about five days later.
So many paths one could take in this fanfic, all from just this one photo.....
BCnU!
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