ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN TOOBWORLD

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!

TV-GPS - THE TOOB-WELD DYNAMIC

Currently my favorite show is '800 Words' from New Zealand, one of those rare shows I'd like the chance to enter and actually live in......

From Wikipedia:
Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld GCMG (9 May 1823 – 20 July 1891), was a New Zealand politician and a governor of various British colonies. He was the sixth Premier of New Zealand, and later served as Governor of Western Australia, Governor of Tasmania, and Governor of the Straits Settlements.  

He had originally intended to pursue a military career, but was convinced otherwise by his tutor at Fribourg. He instead decided to seek a career in the colonies, and arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, on 22 April 1844.

In New Zealand, he entered a partnership with his cousin, Sir Charles Clifford, 1st Baronet of Flaxbourne. The two established a number of sheep stations around the country, and Weld became relatively prosperous. Weld found a life of agricultural management to be too mundane, however, and soon became active in political concerns. One of his more significant campaigns was to ward against any potential discrimination against Catholics in New Zealand. He later became active in lobbying for representative government in New Zealand.

When the creation of the New Zealand Parliament was announced, Weld stood for election. He became a member of the 1st Parliament as the representative of Wairau, an electorate in the northeast of the South Island; he was declared elected unopposed.[2] The main political division of the day was between "centralists" (favouring a strong central government) and "provincialists" (favouring strong regional governments). On this spectrum, Weld established himself as a moderate centralist, although he tended to oppose the extremes of either side.

MR. & MRS. WELD COSPLAY

As Premier, Weld met with mixed success. In 1865 the capital was indeed moved to Wellington, and his proposals for Māori relations were adopted. These two things generated considerable bitterness, however – Aucklanders were angry about the change of capital, and Māori were angry about the confiscation of over a million acres (4,000 km²) of land in the Waikato area. Weld's other success, the withdrawal of British troops from New Zealand, was also controversial, and generated considerable hostility from the Governor. In addition, the government's financial situation was precarious. A little less than a year after taking office, Weld's government resigned.

Weld finally retired from political life in 1887, although he remained active in other fields of work. In 1891, visiting the Straits Settlements once again, he contracted a serious illness, and returned to England. He died in Chideock on 20 July 1891.For more, click here.

In Toobworld, Weld gave his name to the quirky seaside community in '800 Words' where George Turner settled with his two children after the death of his wife.

There is a statue to salute Weld, but its head had been lopped off by a mysterious assailant.  (Watch the show if you want to know whodunnit.)

BCnU!

THURSDAY'S THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - THE TUPPER BROTHERS

Our theory of relateeveety this Thursday is a showcase for the Tupper Brothers.  Michael "Mickey" Tupper and his twin brother (whose first name we don't know) were born in the late 1920s in New York City area.  

Mickey married Doris and had two children, Martin and Susan.  But years after their kids had grown up and begun lives of their own, Mickey and Doris separated and began new lives of their own.  Doris began a relationship with an old friend named Harry but suffered a heart attack during their lovemaking and soon after died.  Meanwhile Mickey began to explore his sexuality with his roommate Roger.

Paul Dooley Dream On from Robert Scheid on Vimeo.

Mickey's brother also married and they moved to Florida where they raised two daughters, Cheryl and Becky.  (Cheryl eventually married Larry David and moved to Hollywood.)  The family was quite religious which caused several problems for Larry over the years.

It might seem strange that we don't know the name of Martin Tupper's uncle, Mickey's twin brother, but there are a lot of TV characters whose names we never learned, like Dr. R. Quincy.  (Lt. Columbo used to be on that list, but with high definition TV and the ability to freeze frame, we know his first name was Frank.  It can be seen right on his police ID.)

Here are the episodes each of the Tupper Brothers appeared in:

MICKEY TUPPER

Dream On
- May Divorce Be with You (1992) 

- Pop Secret (1993) 

- Brother of the Bride (1994) 

- The Taking of Pablum 1-2-3: Part I (1994) 

- Steinway to Heaven (1994) 

- The Courtship of Martin's Father (1994)

THE OTHER TUPPER BROTHER
Curb Your Enthusiasm 

- Beloved Aunt (2000)

- Shaq (2001)  

- The Baptism (2001) 

- Mary, Joseph and Larry (2002) 

- The Grand Opening (2002) 

- The Survivor (2004) 

- The Christ Nail (2005)  

O'BSERVATION:
Paul Dooley played both roles.

BCnU!

TVXOHOF MEMORIAL TRIBUTE - REMEMBERING PROFESSOR STEPHEN HAWKINS

LONDON (Reuters)
Stephen Hawking, who sought to explain the origins of the universe, the mysteries of black holes and the nature of time itself, died on Wednesday aged 76.

Hawking’s formidable mind probed the very limits of human understanding both in the vastness of space and in the bizarre sub-molecular world of quantum theory, which he said could predict what happens at the beginning and end of time.

Ravaged by the wasting motor neuron disease he developed at 21, Hawking was confined to a wheelchair for most of his life.

As his condition worsened, he had to speak through a voice synthesizer and communicating by moving his eyebrows - but at the same time became the world’s most recognizable scientist.

Hawking died peacefully at his home in the British university city of Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday.

It was probably Hawking's prison of a wheelchair which people may have notice first, eliciting pity; but to then learn about his works and his theories, I'm sure that pity turned to anger at the injustice over one of the greatest minds ever being betrayed by his body.  (Kind of like me......  Yeah right...)

Hawking became better known to the general public beginning in 1993 when his holographic image engaged in a game of poker with Lt. Commander Data and two other holograms - Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton.  From there he became a true multidimensional, appearing in the Tooniverse ('The Simpsons', 'Futurama'), Skitlandia ("Comic Relief" - 'Little Britain'), Earth Prime-Time ('The Big Bang Theory', the aforementioned 'Star Trek: The Next Generation') and whatever the hell category this should fall into - 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'.

Here are the shows across the Viewniverse in which Hawking appeared as himself:

THE TOONIVERSE

'Futurama'
- Reincarnation (2011) .
- Anthology of Interest I (2000) 

"Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs"

'The Simpsons'
- Elementary School Musical (2010)
- Stop or My Dog Will Shoot (2007)
- Don't Fear the Roofer (2005)
- They Saved Lisa's Brain (1999) 

SKITLANDIA
'Comic Relief'
- Little Britain Sketch

Yeah.  That's Professor Hawking, the Transformer

EARTH PRIME-TIME

'Star Trek: The Next Generation' 

- Descent (1993)

'The Big Bang Theory'

- The Proposal Proposal (2017) ... Stephen Hawking

- The Geology Elevation (2016) ... Stephen Hawking

- The Celebration Experimentation (2016) ... Stephen Hawking

- The Troll Manifestation (2015) ... Stephen Hawking

- The Relationship Diremption (2014) ... Stephen Hawking (voice)

- The Extract Obliteration (2012) ... Stephen Hawking (voice)

- The Hawking Excitation (2012) ... Stephen Hawking

Several other shows in Earth Prime-Time acknowledged the existence of his televersion even if he was never seen during the episode:

Speaking of 'The Big Bang Theory'

'The Big Bang Theory'

Episode: The Fermentation Bifurcation (2016) 

Zack Johnson:
I love science. Einstein, Steven Hawking, Mike deGrasse Tyson.
Amy Farrah Fowler:
Mike deGrasse Tyson?
Howard Wolowitz:
Yeah, you know. the boxer who grew a mustache and became a scientist.

Episode: The Bon Voyage Reaction (2013)

Leonard Hofstadter:
So, listen, Do you remember when I said the similarities of the equations of General Relativity and Hydrodynamics suggest you could find the equivalent of Unruh radiation in a large body of water?
Penny:
I thought I said that to you.
Leonard Hofstadter:
Anyway, Stephen Hawking's team is looking into that, and I've been invited to join them.
Penny:
Wow! Hawking, good for you!
Leonard Hofstadter:
Well, it is. Just, you know, I'd be gone for a while.
Penny:
For how long?
Leonard Hofstadter:
Three - four months.
Penny:
Whoa. When would you leave?
Leonard Hofstadter:
Couple weeks.
Penny:
Wow. OK. Well, I'll just come visit you.
Leonard Hofstadter:
That's the thing. You can't. I'll be on a ship in the North Sea.
Penny:
On a ship? Aren't they afraid Hawking'll just roll overboard?
Leonard Hofstadter:
He's not going to be there. He's just sending a team to research his theory.
Penny:
Oh sure. Like when you send me to kill spiders in your bathtub. 

Episode: The 43 Peculiarity (2012)

Howard Wolowitz:
I wonder what Sheldon's hiding in there?
Raj Koothrappali:
He's always been kind of a weirdo. Maybe he's got Leonard Nimoy chained up in there. Or Bill Gates or Stephen Hawking.
Howard Wolowitz:
Why would he chain up Stephen Hawking?
Raj Koothrappali:
Howard, shame on you! You can't treat him differently just because he's disabled, that's not okay!

'The Big Bang Theory'
Episode: The Cooper Extraction (2013)
Episode: The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis (2008)

Episode: The Convergence Convergence (2016)
Episode: The Higgs Boson Observation (2012)

'The Finder'
Episode: A Cinderella Story (2012) 

'Goodnight Sweetheart'
Episode: Change Partners (1996)

'Sirens'
Episode: Charbroiled (2015)

'Turkish for Beginners'
Episode: Die, mit Sex und Pistols (2007)

'Limitless'
Episode: Finale: Part One! (2016) 

'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'
Episode: Flowers for Charlie (2013)

'Mystery Science Theater 3000'
Episode: Laserblast (1996)
Episode: Time Chasers (1997)

'Shame'
Episode: Vi må stå sammen (2017)

'House'
Episode: We Need the Eggs (2012)

True Detective'
Episode: The Western Book of the Dead (2015)

'Gilmore Girls'
Episode: Lorelai's First Cotillion (2006)

'Hot in Cleveland'
Episode: Murder House (2014)

'Justified'
Episode: Noblesse Oblige (2015)

'Dave's World'
Episode: Pilot (1993)

'Odyssey 5'
Episode: Rapture (2002)

'The Good Place' 
Episode: The Burrito (2018)

'Empire'
Episode: The Lyon's Roar (2015)

Here are some of those references in action:

'The IT Crowd' 
Episode: The Speech (2008)

Roy:
Well... Moss, has it been completely demagnetised?
Moss:
By Stephen Hawking himself. Who sends his congratulations, by the way.
Roy:
Well, if it's okay with The Hawk...

'John Doe'
Episode: Shock to the System (2003)

[John Doe has lost his "gift" after being struck by lightning] 
Digger:
Well, you're always complaining about all those odd ball facts bubbling around in your head. You know, I think you'd welcome a break.
John Doe:
Maybe you're right. I mean, there is no more white noise buzzing around in my brain.
Digger:
Silver lining, my friend.
John Doe:
No more people staring at me like I'm some kind of freak. No more nightly trivial pursuit-athons. No more email chess games with Stephen Hawking.
Digger:
Now wait a second! You're playing chess with Stephen Hawking?

'Doctor Who'

Episode: Doomsday (2006)

Dalek Thay:
Identify yourself!
Cybermen:
You will identify first!
Dalek Thay:
State you identity!
Cybermen:
You will identify first!
Dalek Thay:
IDENTIFY!
Mickey Smith:
It's like Stephen Hawking meets the speaking clock.

Hawking is also known to exist in one of the alternate POTUS Toobworlds, thanks to a mention in the "Mother" episode from 'Veep'.  Also, as of now, the Toobworld Dynamic does not recognize video games to be part of the TV Universe.  So I'm excluding "Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow".

It's because of all those references, quotes, and actual appearances that Professor Hawking is being inducted as a tribute upon his death.  Here's to, Sir.  You know are the star stuff you once explored.....

TWO FOR TUESDAY - TV ON TV IN "THE X-FILES" (2)

'THE X-FILES'
“Rm9sbG93ZXJz”

The week before, “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” gave us an actual TV show - 'The Six Million Dollar Man', now a syndicated repeat on Mulder's TV.  This is not a Zonk, because forty years now, the Lee Majors sci-fi action show is considered historical.  By this point in time, everybody in Toobworld knows that the "real" Steve Austin is a cyborg, although too old now to be a full-time operative for the OSS.  

But back then in the early 1970s, the TV show as seen by the citizens of Toobworld was fictionalized from the "reality" which the Trueniverse audience got to see in the real show.  And this was done in order to keep the truth about Steve Austin a secret.  Should anyone actually have seen Colonel Austin in action, their stories would have been discredited as delusions based on a TV series.  This "swamp gas weather balloon" was the brainchild of a secret ops agency known as "UNReal", which had been masking such activity in books, movies, and TV shows since the late 19th Century (taking their cue from the writings of Dr. John Watson about his collaborations with Sherlock Holmes.)

Here are other shows - found only in Earth Prime-Time - which have mentioned 'The Six Million Dollar Man':

• 'Coronation Street'
• 'The King of Queens'
• 'Grey's Anatomy'
• 'Dead Like Me'
• 'Eureka'
• 'Jake 2.0'
• 'Parks & Recreation
• 'Blue Mountain State'
• 'Stargate SG1'
• '30 Rock'
• 'Freaks & Geeks'
• 'Sex And The City'
• 'Weird Science'
• 'Diagnosis Murder'
• 'The Outer Limits'
• 'Just Shoot Me'
• 'Limitless'
• 'EastEnders'
• 'Boy Meets World'
• 'Kyle XY'
• 'Entourage'
• 'The Office'
• 'Scrubs'
• 'Extras'
• 'Broadchurch'
• 'Odyssey 5'
• 'The Incredible Hulk'
• 'Rhoda'
• 'Diff'rent Strokes'
• 'Forever Knight'
• 'All In The Family'
• 'The Charmings'
• 'Knight Rider'
• 'Good Times'
• 'The Last of the Summer Wine'
• 'The Fosters'
• 'The Muppet Show'
• 'Charlie's Angels'
• 'Sanford and Son'

These are only from the main Toobworld.  I have not included any from Skitlandia, the Tooniverse, the Borderlands, or any other TV dimension.

BCnU!

TWO FOR TUESDAY - TV ON TV IN "THE X-FILES" (1)

'THE X-FILES'
"FAMILIAR"

Just in time for the mid-season TV line-up, 'The X-Files' gave Toobworld two new TV series, only to be found in the TV Universe.  (Thank God!)

A witch's familiar takes the form of something that might lure its next victim to their death in the woods.  In the case of Andrew Eggars, that form is Mr. Chuckle Teeth, a very creepy TV character from a children's show which makes you wonder how this ever got approved to be on the air.  But apparently it's popular enough to spawn toy dolls and adult costumes.

Little Emily Strong is tempted to join the familiar in the woods when it takes the form of one of the Bibble-Tickles, a Tele-Tubbies knockoff.  The "action" on the screen should have been enough to drive away any potential fans, and yet when a purplish Bibble-Tickle shows up outside the patio door, Emily gladly runs away with it.

BCnU!

MONDAY WHAT IF? - WHAT IF ALEXANDER HAMILTON SAW "HAMILTON: THE MUSICAL"?

Alexander Hamilton at "Hamilton: The Musical"?  Surprising. 

'LEGENDS OF TOMORROW'
"NO COUNTRY FOR OLD DADS"

This series began in the alternate TV dimension of Comix Toobworld DC-1 and they usually return to it, but they've probably created quite a few alternate Toobworlds because of their adventures.

Near the end of this episode, it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that they created yet another one.  Due to an aberration in the timeline, Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury for the newborn country of the United States, ended up on Comix Toobworld DC-1 in modern times.  And Director Bennett of the Time Agency had tried to revert the situation before Hamilton saw "Hamilton: The Musical".  

Unfortunately for Bennett, Gorilla Grodd burst onto the screen and killed the agents and Director Bennett before they could fix the aberration.  

So as far as I can tell, Hamilton did see the musical.  And if so, he now knew how his life story ended, albeit without all the rapping.  

If Hamilton got back to his own time thanks to either the Agency or the Legends, he may have taken steps to change his fate.  In that alternate timeline, he might even have refused to duel Aaron Burr or at the very least he would have shot Burr dead before he could kill Hamilton.  And that would have totally changed the timeline for that dimension.

Even if it did, it has no effect on Earth Prime-Time.

BCnU!

O'Bservation:
Pictured in this post is the late, great Ross Martin as Alexander Hamilton in the John Wayne TV special "Swing Out, Sweet Land".  I admit I'm biased, but Martin was my favorite TV portrayal of Alexander Hamilton even if he was from Skitlandia.

VIDEO SUNDAY - THE WAR OF THE WORLDS: THE MISSING LINK?

From Wikipedia:
"The War of the Worlds" (also known in promotional material as "H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds") is a 1953 American Technicolor science fiction film from Paramount Pictures, produced by George Pal, directed by Byron Haskin, that stars Gene Barry and Ann Robinson.

The film is a loose adaptation of [the] novel of the same name by H. G. Wells, the first of five film adaptations. It is a modern retelling of the 1897 novel, changing the setting from Victorian Era England to 1953 southern California, while also being a commentary on the then-ongoing Cold War and the nuclear arms race. Earth is suddenly and unexpectedly invaded by Martians and American scientist Clayton Forrester searches for any weakness that can stop them.

"The War of the Worlds" won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and went on to influence other science fiction films. In 2011, it was selected for preservation in the United States' National Film Registry in the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

"WAR OF THE WORLDS" TV SERIES PILOT

Of course, that TV show never came about but could have served as a bridge between the movie and the series which was finally presented in 1988.  Or it could have just made the premise impossible to reconcile.  As it played out, it could have found a way to keep itself and the original movie in the main Toobworld.  I'm sure I could have come up with a splainin as to why nobody remembered the events.  (More on that later.)

Instead, I think it would be better to place this proposed material into either its own TV dimension or perhaps into the dimension of Toobworld Toobworld, where all those TV movies that took place behind the scenes for many TV shows take place.

Meanwhile.....

"THE WAR OF THE WORLDS" 1988 TV SERIES
From Wikipedia:
The 1988 'War of the Worlds' TV series is a sequel to the Pal film.  'War of the Worlds' is a Canadian/American science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons, from October 7, 1988 to May 14, 1990. The series is a sequel to the 1953 film "The War of the Worlds", a loose adaptation of the novel of the same title by H. G. Wells, using the same war machine designs and often incorporating aspects from the film, radio adaptation, and the original novel into its mythology.

Though the original film's producer, George Pal, envisioned a TV series from the same film sometime in the 1970s, it was not until the late 1980s that a series was finally realized, this time by television producer Greg Strangis. The show was a part of the boom of first-run syndicated television series being produced at the time. It was later shown in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel.

According to the series, rather than being killed outright by germs at the end of the 1953 film, the aliens had all slipped into a state of suspended animation. Their bodies were stored away in toxic waste drums and shipped to various disposal sites within the United States (ten such sites are known to exist in the country), and a widespread government cover-up combined with a condition dubbed “selective amnesia” has convinced most people that the invasion had never happened.

Although the original movie narration had explicitly stated that the aliens were Martians (even featuring artwork indicating an alien city on the planet Mars), since 1953 the concept of vastly intelligent life on Mars had lost plausibility. In the series, the aliens are revealed to actually be from Mor-Tax—a garden planet 40 light-years away in the Taurus constellation orbiting a dying sun.

Thirty-five years later, in 1988 (modern day when the series began), a terrorist group calling itself the People's Liberation Party accidentally irradiates the drums containing the aliens while raiding the dumpsite near Fort Jericho. The radiation destroys the bacteria that were keeping the aliens unconscious. Once free, the aliens take possession of the bodies of the six terrorists who overran the site. From there they use a series of human bodies and crudely adapted Earth technology to find means of appropriating the planet, both in removing humanity and developing a permanent means to inoculate themselves against the planet's indigenous bacteria. Their attempt to successfully make Earth into their new homeworld is imperative for in roughly five years, three million colonists from Mor-Tax are expected to arrive.

For the greater Toobworld Dynamic, both the 1953 movie and the 1988 TV series do take place in the same world.  But I have taken the movie out of the Cineverse and placed it with the TV show in one of the Borderlands, those dimensions which blend movies and TV shows together to the point where they don't belong in either of their original universes.

Based on the description for the series, I don't see many reasons why they couldn't exist within the realm of Earth Prime-Time, from the perspective of Terra.  I like the mention of selective amnesia, which would be the same thing used to great effect several times in the modern incarnation of 'Doctor Who' (as with the near destruction of Big Ben by Clan Slitheen from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius.)  And the 1953 invasion could have been all covered up under the auspices of my invented "splain-all": UNReel, that shadow ops group created in the Victorian era which served to disguise the activities and even the existence of certain people and organizations and events as being fictional.  The general populace of Toobworld believes that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were the creations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; that James Bond was created by Ian Fleming; that the men and women of U.N.C.L.E., Skynet and the Terminator androids, and the Gallifreyan Time Lord all came from movies and TV shows, thanks to the work of UNReel.

But from the perspective of the "Angry Red Planet", there is already too much which I have to incorporate into the main Toobworld with the disparate versions of Martians from 'The Twilight Zone' alone, let alone from 'Doctor Who' and even from a mystery anthology like 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'.  Even though the "Martians" eventuallly turned out to be Mor-Taxians, better to just give them their own dimension in which they could flourish unencumbered by the restrictios of Earth Prime-Time.

One last note from Wikipedia:
Ann Robinson reprises her role as Sylvia Van Buren in three episodes. Robinson also reprises her role in two other films, first as Dr. Van Buren in 1988's "Midnight Movie Massacre" and then as Dr. Sylvia Van Buren in 2005's "The Naked Monster".

Based on that information, Sylvia Van Buren may one day be inducted into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame as a Multiversal.

BCnU!