THURSDAY'S THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - A COUPLE OF GRAYSONS

THURSDAY’S THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY

We’ll see how this goes, but I’m thinking of getting back into a more active role with the Inner Toob blog, beyond the monthly inductions into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame (and the unexpected memorial tributes.)

So I hope to add weekly theories of “relateeveety”, a way to connect TV characters in unofficial (for the most part) family trees.  You may disagree with some of them, which is why I’m presenting them only as theories.  I’m not going to go deeply into these theories; my focus these days is in building my fantasy world.  (One reason I stepped back from the Toobworld concept is that I don’t own it.)

To kick off the weekly theories of relateeveety, here is one which I shared in a Facebook comment recently.  As Stuart Best would say in ‘Murphy Brown’, for alls I know, I’m definitely not the first one to come up with this.  I would not be surprised if it is used in the concept of the Wold Newton Universe….

Mr. Spock’s mother was a human, Amanda Grayson.  She was (will be) supposedly born in 2210, according to one ‘Star Trek’ source.  Her lineage can be traced back to Richard Grayson, known by the nickname of “Dick”, who was the ward of millionaire Bruce Wayne in Gotham City.  What Toobworld at large did not know was that Dick Grayson was also Robin, the Boy Wonder; he was the sidekick to Batman, the Caped Crusader, who was Wayne’s alter-ego.

The 1960s TV series is – for Toobworld purposes – the official setting for the televersions of those DC comic characters (as well as the many other characters depicted in those episodes, everyone from Alfred the butler to King Tut (created for the TV show, but finally made his comic book debut in 2009.)  

‘Batman’ and ‘Star Trek’ share the same world – Earth Prime-Time.

O’Bservations:
1] This is for my purposes as the Toobworld Curator.  Your mileage may vary.

2] I would have used Zelda the Great for a true A to Z, but she has never appeared in the comic books.  So I went with one of my favorites.

In that incarnation, Dick was in high school.  In an interview, Alan Napier (who played Alfred) said that at the beginning of filming, Burt Ward – who played Dick Grayson – was already 21, but he sounded 15.  So, using that for as good a reason as any, I’m going to say that Dick was born in 1951.

And there you have it.  As to when Dick Grayson finally married, or at least fathered a child (no judgments) whose lineage would eventually lead to Amanda Grayson….  I’ll leave that to the fanficcers out there.  I just provide a few building blocks.

Hey now....  That was longer than I thought it would be.

BCnU! 

TVXOHOF, JULY 2024 - FINDER-SPYDER!

An O’Bservation from Toobworld Central….

The July 2024 entry into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame had been penciled in since the year began, as a tribute to an actor whom we lost within the last year.  But we kept losing more who also qualified for membership and it was weighing heavily on my poor excuse for a mind.  Plus, because of some of those memorial ceremonies and a few specials which always come up in June, my birth month for this year probably holds the record for the most inductions in a month.  Imagine how much work there would have been if I was still doing the Friday induction ceremonies!

On July 1^st, Martin Mull’s memorial TVXOHOF tribute was posted and I could easily have just let that serve as the July showcase.  But I wanted to provide something for the month in which the Hall usually salutes detectives.  And in order to lighten the mood, at least between my ears (Mull’s passing was a real downer for me), I decided to propose a candidate who does detective work, and on several TV series which are mysteries.

Submitted without approval….

THE FINDER-SPYDER SEARCH ENGINE

From Wikipedia:
Finder-Spyder is a fictional Web search engine that appears in numerous television shows, used in the same manner as the fictitious 555 telephone number in TV and film. It has been called "an unofficial, open source stand-in for Google and its competitors" (used as a legality-free alternative to a brand-name product), and "the most popular search engine in the TV universe." Finder-Spyder appears as a top 10 pick in "best fictional brand" lists by various online media, along with Oceanic Airlines, Morley cigarettes, Acme Corporation, and others.

From the 'Journeyman' Wiki:
Finder-Spyder is a popular stand-in recently for real search engines. It has appeared in episode eight of ‘Moonlight’ (though with a different logo), in the pilot episode of ‘Prison Break’ as well as season three episode 10 and season four episode 5, also in episodes of ‘CSI’ ("Time of Your Death" May 4, 2006) and in at least one episode of ‘Hidden Palms’ ("Party Hardy" June 13, 2007) and at least one episode of ‘Without a Trace’ ("Baggage" October 25, 2007). It has also featured in the series ‘Dexter’ and ‘Breaking Bad’.  Also appears on ‘Touch’. ("Eye to Eye", Mar. 1, 2013)

From Mashable:
Supposedly, it is the only website to hold a place on the Wikipedia category of "Fictional Brands," which includes icons such as Oceanic Airlines and Duff Beer.

Most Finder Spyder usage on popular shows was pre-2010. Only a handful of lesser-known, less-long-running shows (‘Touch’, ‘Bosch’, and ‘The Finder’ among them) used Finder Spyder in the 2010s, so the searches don't rise up much.

That strange little blip in 2016, however, directly lines up with the first episode of the tenth season of ‘The X-Files’, where Scully used lil' ol' Finder Spyder to search for Tad O'Malley.

So let’s put together a list of Finder-Spyder’s appearances in Toobworld.  Maybe we can get some help from Finder-Spyder itself….

O’Bservation:
You’ll notice that there will be a variety of homepage variations from show to show, especially when it comes to the company logo and even some difference in the name of the search engine itself.  In fact, in its very first appearance it is known as “Spyder-Finder”.  Splainin to do?  O’Bviously, the search engine was still in its beta-testing stage.  This may affect the placement of these appearances despite when they were broadcast.

Here are the shows I’ve been able to find online, thanks to far more dedicated Finder-Spyder Finders than me.

PRISON BREAK
PILOT (29 Aug 2005) 

O’Bservation:
I’m not going to go looking for this episode.  Mashable did the work so I already know that Wikipedia is wrong about Finder-Spyder being in the pilot.

From Mashable:
According to its own Wikipedia page, the earliest use of Finder Spyder was in the 2005 pilot episode of ‘Prison Break’. Finder Spyder's actual first appearance isn't until the 17th episode of ‘Prison Break’, which aired in early 2006.

1] J-CAT (10 Apr 2006)

From Mashable:
Used by LJ Burrows to search "O.Kravecki, Chicago" in order to find more about agent Paul Kellerman.

2] UNEARTHED (30 Oct 2006)

From Mashable:
Used by Michael Scofield to search information about Alexander Mahone.

3] DIRT NAP (21 Jan 2008)

From Mashable:
Used by Lincoln Burrows to search the name Gary Miller. 

4] SAFE AND SOUND (22 Sep 2008)

From Mashable:

Used by Sara Tancredi to search "Laos" to find out more about a person named Lisa Tabak who took a plane there.

5] THE LEGEND (10 Nov 2008)  

O'Bservation:
While these may have been the first appearances on TV for Finder-Spyder, it did not happen on Earth Prime-Time.  The main Toobworld must always have the same President and Vice-President as we have on Earth Prime.  (There's a lot of leeway when it gets down to Senators, Congressmen, Governors, and Mayors... except for New York city.)

And with 'Prison Break,' the plot hinges on one of the two main characters being accused of murdering the brother of the Vice- Preisent, Carolyn Reynolds.  The only female Vice President we've had so far has been Kamala Harris.

GENERAL HOSPITAL

O’Bservations:

I don't know when most of these appearances took place, so I'm going to post them here at the beginning for Toobworld.

I didn’t find many pictures, but at least Mashable provided a good list of examples:

• Used by Nikolas Cassadine to look up "Rachel and Baxter Corbin"
• Used by Rachel Berlin to "find out what comes up when you type in 'Naomi Dreyfus'."
• Used by Elizabeth Webber to find out who "Amy Dreyfus" is.
• Used by Ava Jerome to look up unethical doctors who perform plastic surgery
• Used by Curtis Ashford to look up "Peter August birth records"

Plus

• Used to discover who “The Balkan” is. (2010-2011)
• Used by Anna Devane to search for “Henrik Faison”, but the screen comes up blank. (2018)
• Used by Spencer to search for "Maggie Fitzgerald, London" when he is interrupted by Esme. (2022)

O’Bservation:
Since the search engine appears as SpyderFinder, either all of these appearances have to take place before 2006 or the company was celebrating its roots yet again.

JOURNEYMAN

 1] A LOVE OF A LIFETIME (2007)

2] GAME THREE (2007)

3] THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT (2007)

4] THE LEGEND OF DYLAN McCLEEN (2007)

From the 'Journeyman' Wiki:
Finder-Spyder is the Internet search engine Dan Vasser uses in the PILOT episode "A Love for a Lifetime" to look up Neil Gaines, in "Game Three" to look up the details of the attorney Alan Pratt as well for Melissa Waters' death in "The Year of the Rabbit". He later uses it to find information on Dylan McCleen in "The Legend of Dylan McCleen".

When he's in the present, Dan can access Finder-Spyder on his iPhone, but in the 1990s or earlier in the past, Dan obviously cannot access this Internet-based service because it was before either the Internet or the search engine existed.

On ‘Journeyman’, the name "Finder-Spyder" is an amalgam for the Google and Web Crawler online search engines. Some have speculated that its name also alludes to the Lexis-Nexis search service, which would be a more useful and detailed service for a reporter to be using.

From Mashable:
Finder Spyder made four consecutive appearances in science-fiction television series, ‘Journeyman’, from late September through October of 2007.

According to TechRepublic, ‘Journeyman’'s usage of Finder Spyder is particularly daring, because it uses the same color-scheme as Google. On their trademark page, Google very explicitly states: "Don't copy or imitate Google's trade dress, including the look and feel of Google web design properties or Google brand packaging, distinctive color combinations, typography, graphic designs, product icons, or imagery associated with Google."

‘Journeyman’ is also the only show with a wiki that has a page for Finder Spyder. The show itself did not have high ratings, but apparently, it had the kind of fans who would take notice of a fake search engine.

CROSSING JORDAN
HUBRIS (March 2007)

HIDDEN PALMS
PARTY HARDY (June 2007)

MOONLIGHT
"12:04 AM" (16 Nov 2007)  

BREAKING BAD

CAT’S IN THE BAG (2008)

O’Bservation:
Skyler uses Finder-Spyder's Phone Trace feature to do a reverse lookup to discover the identity of the caller behind a suspicious call.

WITHOUT A TRACE

1] "Baggage" (25 Oct 2007)  

2] "Cloudy with a Chance of Gettysburg" (16 Dec 2008)  

CRIMINAL MINDS

1] ZOE’S REPRISE (Feb 2009)  

2] PLEASURE IS MY BUSINESS (Feb 2009)  

3] HOPELESS (Oct 2009)  

4] CRADLE TO THE GRAVE (21 Oct 2009)  

5] "100" (Nov 2009)  

HUNG

Pilot (28 Jun 2009) 

O’Bservation:
This appearance was probably the best one of all!  LOL

WEEDS

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (20 Jul 2009)  

HEROES

HYSTERICAL BLINDNESS (12 Oct 2009)  

O'Bservation:
This may be set on an alternate Toobworld.  It's been a while since I've seen it and I can't remember if there were too many drastic differences with the real world which couldn't be covered up.

HOMELAND
GRACE (9 Oct 2011)  

CLEAN SKIN (16 Oct. 2011)

O’Bservation:
1]  I was misled by Mashable and a Finder-Spyder Fanom Wiki – turns out that the appearance is in the third episode, not the second.
2]  This was my third favorite use after the ones from 'Hung' and ‘Southland’.  I like a challenge.  This reminded me of finding "Nina" in Hirschfeld drawings.
3] Because the President was eventually revealed to be Elizabeth Keane, this has to be set on an alternate Toobworld.  

THE FINDER

EYE OF THE STORM (8 Mar 2012)  

SOUTHLAND

SALLY IN THE ALLEY (9:48) (29 Mar 2012)

O’Bservation:
I thought this would be another example where I couldn’t find the search engine.  But it was cleverly hidden as the URL for Finder-Spyder’s video section.  The cop called it “YouTube”, but he was using a copyrighted term in a generic sense, something we all do with words like “Xerox” and “Kleenex”.

TOUCH
1] SAFETY IN THE NUMBERS (29 Mar 2012)  
2] EYE TO EYE (1 Mar 2013)  
3] CLOCKWORK (29 Mar 2013)  

BONES

THE GEEK IN THE GUCK (2014)

From Mashable:
"The Best Search Engine on the Web," [is] used by teenage boys in search of porn.

O’Bservation:
Because the name is listed as “Spyder-Finder”, this episode’s placement should have been placed higher but that would have caused Zonks.  So instead I knew I "got some splainin to do."

When we saw the Finder-Spyder screen in the episode as Spyder-Finder, that was the day the search engine company must have been celebrating another anniversary.  And to mark the occasion, Finder-Spyder took on its original appearance, in much the same way as McDonald’s reverting to their original prices for a day to celebrate.

BOSCH

1] CHAPTER TEN: US AND THEM (13 Feb 2015)

2] BOOK OF THE UNCLAIMED DEAD (13 Apr 2018)

THE X-FILES

MY STRUGGLE (2016)

We see Scully use the search engine to look up Tad O'Malley’s show in “My Struggle.” 

O’Bservation:
She gets the same annoying pop-up ad that Skylar White got eight years earlier in the ‘Breaking Bad’ episode.

BREAKING BAD

THE X-FILES

I've got a request for Team Toobworld....

I have been unable to get Finder-Spyder screen grabs from the following:

• 'Crossing Jordan' - "Hubris"
• 'Hidden Palms' - "Party Hardy"
• 'Moonlight' - "12:04 AM"
• 'Touch' - "Safety In The Numbers", "Eye To Eye", and "Clockwork".

If you have any of these in your collections or you have access to them on some streaming platform which is unavailable to me (I can only juggle so many before my wallet starts to whimper), then I hope you'll be able to grab some screenshots for me.  Thanks in advance!

I don’t know if Finder-Spyder will ever show up again in one of the dimensions in the greater TV Universe.  In the last few years, various TV shows have been having fun with creating their own search engines: In Telemerica, there’s Chum Hum, Searchling, Searchies, but elsewhere in Toobworld, there's Browzee (Ireland), SearchWebnet (Isle of St. Marie), SirCheazy (Wildemarsh, England), Lookee (New Zealand). 

Because of all those other rivals (with probably more to come), it looks like Finder-Spyder’s dominance in the number of separate appearances will never be equaled.

Welcome to the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, Finder-Spyder.

 Awwwww.... Bless your heart!

GRAVITY? SCHMAVITY!

DOCTOR WHO
WILD BLUE YONDER

When the Doctor and Donna met Isaac Newton in 1666, Donna made a joke about “the gravity of the situation”.  After they left, however, Newton couldn’t quite remember what that strange word was that they used.  He eventually settled on using “mavity”.  

As the episode continued, the Doctor and Donna both used that new word, probably not realizing that they had changed History.  (Remember, they were not in his presence when he came up with it.)  In that new timeline, they, like everybody else in the world since Newton published his findings in 1687, had been using “mavity” instead of “gravity”.

EXAMPLE 01

The Doctor:
We could take a look.
Donna Noble:
Or we could stay here, wait for the TARDIS to mend itself so I can get back home. My family is waiting for me!
The Doctor:
Yeah, all right. Yeah!
Donna:
Still, wherever we are, could be worse. We've got air; we've got light; we've got mavity.
Doctor:
Yeah.

EXAMPLE 02
Donna:
But... if we're in space... There's no stars. Where are the stars?
The Doctor:
We could be inside a dust cloud or a... mavity well, or....

EXAMPLE 03
The Doctor:
What is making that noise?
(An alien body comes into view)
There.
(CLANG!)
The captain of the ship. Circling round and round forever. Caught in the gravity field.
DONNA:
Caught in the what?
THE DOCTOR:
Mavity field.

As seen/heard in that instance, the Doctor’s mind can straddle realities and remember the original timeline, as well as the various alternate pathways.  Probably.  (I’m not sure, but I think that has been established in the Past.)

What disturbed me at first was that I assumed the word “gravity” existed long before 1666.

I, as usual, was wrong.

As he was English, I think Newton coined the term based on the Latin roots, not the Old French.  So that would buttress the late 17th Century claim.

Stanford University looked at the etymology and the cultural history of gravity.  Click here if you’re interested in reading it.

Will RTD eventually address the situation to correct the word’s history?  Time travel is O’Bviously well-established in the series’ corner of the TV Universe, so this could be handled in a small patch, a scene even shorter than the one which caused the timeline shift to “mavity”.

But then again, as expansive as his vision has been in the past (and this episode “Wild Blue Yonder” fits that bill!), RTD can get sloppy with details that jar with real science.  So he might just leave it as is and forget about it.

(Remember how a mass shower in the topical application of all medicines blended together was able to cure everybody in that New Earth hospital?)

But until then, wouldn't it be great if other TV shows which should be sharing the same TV Universe as 'Doctor Who' started using the word "mavity" instead of "gravity"?

All the uses of "gravity" in past TV episodes would be locked into the old timeline before the "mavity" revision.

We shall see what we shall view….

UPDATE:
With both "The Giggle" and "The Church On Ruby Road," the word "mavity" was used.  RTD has been known to sprinkle the episodes in a season with a phrase which pays off by the season finale.  First it was "Bad Wolf" and a couple years later it was "Mister Saxon".

So it could be that the use of "mavity" will pay off with a big climactic reveal to cap off Davies' return to the series....

WHO IS MRS. FLOOD? BREAK DOWN THE SURNAME!

There’s a meme-maker out there who has a suggestion for the mother of Ruby Sunday (a backstory revealed in the Fifteenth Incarnation’s first full, televised adventure….)

My opinion?  Doubtful.

I have seen other suggestions out there which think it may be the next door neighbor to the Sunday family – Mrs. Flood.  But they also cite her surname as a possible clue to her true identity.  Most of them believe the name “Flood” is a clue to her being somehow connected to River Song.

RTD is known for the clues he leaves for the viewers.  “Bad Wolf”.  “Mister Saxon”.  And I believe the answer is Mrs. Flood.  But I don’t think it has anything to do with River Song.

I think most of those fans O’Bsessed with River Song as the key are more than likely the type of fans whose knowledge of the series extends only as far back as Eccleston’s relatively brief tenure as the Ninth Incarnation, if even that far!  But RTD is also known for reaching deep into the show’s ancient history to dredge up characters and plot points – the Macra in “Gridlock” and Rassilon in “Last Of The Time Lords” are two examples.  The popular opinion as I write this is that Jinkx Monsoon will be playing the Rani, not seen – at least from our timeline’s perspective – since 1993.

So I think the same will hold true in this case, even if Mrs. Flood doesn’t prove to be Ruby’s birth mother, she still might turn out to be somebody from the Doctor’s past.  Like a former Companion….

The fans who are guessing River Song at least share my belief that her name is the key to her identity.  “Flood.” What is a flood, but a field of water?

I’m thinking it could be that she was once known as Victoria Waterfield before she left the TARDIS and was “adopted” by the Harris Family.

Because the onscreen captions identified “The Church On Ruby Road” as taking place in the month leading up to Christmas 2023, it’s unlikely Victoria could be the mother of Ruby.  It may be a sci-fi/fantasy series, but “there are limits, Mate” and a pregnancy for Victoria in 2004 would have been stretching plausibility.

Setting aside the Ruby's Mother angle, I’ll stick with my claim that Mrs. Flood is Victoria Waterfield… at least until Russell T. dashes my theory to bits….

And even then.

THE BEST 'COLUMBO'/'DOCTOR WHO' CROSSOVER... EXPANDED

I’ve made the claim in the past that ‘Columbo’ had a definite crossover with ‘Doctor Who.”  It can be found in the episode “Publish Or Perish” when he is examining the poster for a book published by Greenleaf Publishing – MODERN AZTEC COURTSHIP PRACTICES.

The woman seen in the illustration of that cover is the artist’s rendering of Barbara Wright, one of the first Earthlings to travel with the Doctor.  Along with fellow teacher Ian Chesterton, she accompanied the First Incarnation of the Doctor and his granddaughter back in Time to the era of the Aztecs.

And it was during that time when Barbara made note of the courtship practice which almost landed another wife for the Doctor because of the miscommunication regarding the offering of cocoa….

By the way....

As a further crossover connection between 'Doctor Who' and 'Columbo' could be the artist responsible for that book cover.

I think Max Barsini ("Murder: A Self-Portrait") would be the logical choice to cement that link, especially if Jaroslav Gebr was the artist at Universal Studios who created that cover.  (Gebr, a member of my TV Crossover Hall of Fame, also painted all of Barsini's artwork in his episode and also the portraits of Mrs. Melville ("Murder By The Book") and Grace Wheeler ("Forgotten Lady").

MEME MUSINGS - WEEPING ANGELS IN OUTER SPACE

Gowron was a master of the glare, but the Weeping Angels were patient.  Eventually, he would need to blink and not even his bat’leth would be able to stave off the touch of one of the Angels in that zeptosecond in which he blinked.

To me, the more interesting question would be where Gowron would have ended up.  It seems that each angel had a different period of time and location to which their victims would be transported.  The Angel who fed off the unrealized life potential of Amy and Rory sent them both to Manhattan, 1938.  Luckily they eluded that building which served as a feeding pen for the Angels.

Could the Angels only send their victims back to a particular span of Time, and only to a specified radius of regions in proximity to their current location?  The Angel who claimed Kathy Nightingale as a victim sent her to Hull, England, in 1920.  But of that quartet of Angels, the one who attacked DS Billy Shipton must have been a young one who could only send him back to 1969 and no farther than the immediate environs of London.  

I think an Angel would be bound by some kind of planetary energies to keep their victims trapped in the Past of whatever planet where they were located.  But if out in space, on the move in a spaceship, I would think being touched by an Angel would be an automatic death sentence.

Not that Chancellor Gowron had to worry about “living to death” because of an Angel.  He was killed in a duel with Lt. Commander Worf because of Gowron’s dishonorable activities against Klingon General Martok.*  But it would be interesting to see what would happen if an Angel did send a victim back in Time while on board a spacecraft. 

* O'Bservation, it could be that he met a Weeping Angel in a future timeline and sent back to the time of his appearances in Star Trek': The Next Generation'.  There, he tried to alter his future, only to be killed in the past, perhaps even before he was actually was born....

THE MEDDLING MONK... IN OIL

 

This painting is "A Good Drink", by Eduard von Grützner (Oil on panel) from 1897–1897.

But could it be that the Galifreyan trickster known as the Meddling Monk posed for this a few years before the dawn of the 20th Century?

Why would the Monk have been whiling away the time in Germany by posing for the artist in 1897?  We know he enjoyed disrupting the timeline of the Earth, marking him as a renegade Time Lord. (In his own mind, I believe that he truly thought he was doing so for the greater good.)

Maybe his own Tardis was acting wonky and he arrived too early for the event which he planned to alter in History.  So he was biding his time until the right moment to strike by amusing himself as a model for Mr. von Grützner.

I've looked through the events of the German timeline for 1897, and one jumped out at me as being an interesting choice for a 'Doctor Who' timeline.

October 29 - The birth of Joseph Goebbels. 

Maybe the Monk thought that by causing Goebbels' death as a newborn infant, he could prevent much of the carnage to come.  Perhaps Goebbels would have been the first such victim, with Hitler on his hit list as well.

This possible plot line is reminiscent of the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Fires of Pompeii", in which he sadly had to stop the Pyroviles' plan to prevent the eruption of Mount Vesuvius so that History could play out as intended.

In this case, the Doctor and his Companion would have to make it possible for the Baby Goebbels to survive and eventually grow up to become the chief propagandist for the Nazis in control of Germany, until his scheduled death in May of 1945, as abhorrent as that was to their sense of justice.

As depicted in the painting, the subject doesn't look like the actor who portrayed the Monk, Peter Butterworth.  But in his own personal timeline, he could have sat for von Grützner centuries after we last saw him sparring with the Doctor.  As such, the years had not been kind....

Or maybe he had regenerated.  I expect - and hope - that soon the 'Doctor Who' series will bring back the Monk to be an adversary for the Doctor.

My dream casting for the choice of actor?  Kris Marshall.

Or the difference in appearance could just be artistic license.

FANFICCER'S FRIEND - A COMIC INSPIRATION

Apparently Mrs. Blumfield knew that her husband Carl had been trapped in the past due to a time machine.  It could have been one of his own making, or one that he found abandoned, or he got picked up by The Doctor in the TARDIS and unfortunately died during one of their adventures together back in 1924.  (Which incarnation of The Doctor?  If this newspaper comic inspires you to write fanfic to expand the story, it could be any one of your choosing.)

But I've got a suggestion to get you started – what happened during 1924 which could have gotten Carl killed?

Here are a few historical suggestions from Wikipedia, any one of which could have had an alien influence at work behind the scenes....

• January 25 – The first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Winter Olympics open in Chamonix, in the French Alps.
• April 27 – A group of Alawites kill several nuns in Syria; French troops march against them.
• April 28 – An explosion in a mine at the Wheeling Steel Corporation in Benwood, West Virginia kills 119 men.
• May 4 – The 1924 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies are held in Paris, France.
• May 26 – Harry Grindell Matthews attempts to demonstrate his "death ray" to the War Office in the United Kingdom.
• June 8 – George Mallory and Andrew Irvine are last seen "going strong for the top" of Mount Everest by teammate Noel Odell at 12:50 P.M. The two mountaineers are never seen alive again.
• June 13 – In Hungary, a devastating tornado, "Wildkansas", strikes, in 3 hours leaving a 500-1500m wide and 70 km long path of destruction from landfall at Bia to its end near Vác, completely destroying the village of Páty. 9 people are killed, 50 injured and many left homeless by one of the strongest tornadoes ever not only in Hungary but in Europe, estimated as F4.
• July 19 – Napalpí massacre: Around 400 indigenous people of Toba ethnicity are massacred in Argentina.
• Autumn – In the United States, the final raid of the Renegade period of the Apache Wars takes place, bringing the American Indian Wars to a close, after 315 years.
• December 30 – American astronomer Edwin Hubble announces that Andromeda, previously believed to be a nebula, is actually another galaxy, and that the Milky Way is only one of many such galaxies in the universe.

Or you could make up your own.

Mrs. Blumfield’s mention of a time machine seems to lock in that plot point.  But I still get the feeling that this could have been due to a Weeping Angel.

 

FEBRUARY 2023 - SAM HANNA

I apologize.  February has always been a bad month for me and this was one of the worst.  You just have to check out the previous blog entry to see why….

With the February inductions, we honor Black History Month… even now, with only the one day left to do so.

As for our honoree this month….

SAM HANNA

From Wikipedia:
Sam Hanna (portrayed by LL Cool J) is a fictional character in the show NCIS: Los Angeles. He is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and a Senior NCIS Special Agent. He first appeared in the NCIS season six episode "Legend (Part I)".

The son of Marine Colonel Raymond Hanna, Osama "Sam" Hanna attended a military school and excelled in football, playing wide receiver. Like the actor, Hanna is a native of New York City.

Outside his job, Hanna has a varied range of interests, including boxing, origami, acting, vinyl records, and antique cars. He also tends to follow the latest health food and fitness fads. He suffers from coulrophobia (fear of clowns) and has a fear of maggots.

Prior to joining NCIS, Hanna served in the U.S. Navy, from which he retired with the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer (E-8), although this contradicts his service record as shown in the episode "Betrayal" which states that he left as a Chief Petty officer (E-7). When in uniform in the 20th episode of season 4, he is seen wearing the rank of a Senior Chief. He was a member of the Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) (formerly "Team Six") based in Dam Neck in Virginia.

Despite his inability to swim when he first enlisted, he went on to have a distinguished career as a SEAL and various characters have referenced his "legendary" status within the SEAL community. Much of his career is vague due to the highly classified nature of most of his missions, although it has been mentioned that he served in Bosnia (Yugoslav Wars), Chad (Pan Sahel Initiative), Iraq and Afghanistan and was stationed at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado at some point.

His area of expertise is the Middle East and he reads and speaks Arabic fluently and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Qur'an. He is also multilingual, having a working knowledge of Japanese, Persian, Danish, Hebrew, Korean, and Spanish. Due to his background in the SEALs, he is able to withstand torture due to SERE training required for all special forces operators and detach himself emotionally during investigations.

Although usually reticent about his service, Sam has hinted several times about how his experiences overseas has affected him: he mentions about getting help in "Field of Fire" when interviewing a homeless veteran who was distrustful of him and admits to Nate Getz in the episode "Impact" of his worries that he would one day lose himself.

Hanna has a strong sense of duty and becomes particularly indignant when the criminal is from a military background. In the episode "Vengeance", he was forced to interrogate a group of SEALs about their involvement in the death of a Navy officer suspected of leaking classified information and was visibly affected, leading Hetty to observe that she felt like she was "making him interrogate his family".

In the final episode of season 11, "Code of Conduct", when investigating claims that a SEAL chief petty officer has murdered an unarmed prisoner, it is revealed that Sam is widely known and respected long after his service ended, with multiple SEALs willing to defy their chief's orders after he reveals his presence.

In the two-part crossover episode with 'Hawaii Five-0' it is revealed that he is friends with head of the Five-0 Task Force and former SEAL Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, although the story of how they met has yet to be addressed.

O'BSERVATION: With the remake of 'Hawaii Five-0' cancelled, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.

From NCIS Fandom Database:
Samuel "Sam" Hanna is an NCIS Senior Special Agent and former Navy SEAL. He’s also a member of the OSP in LA, which is Run by Operations Manager Hetty Lange. He is partnered to his good friend, Grisha “G.“ Callen.

He is the husband/widower of Michelle Hanna, and the father of Aiden Hanna and Kamran Hanna.

He was born in the 70s. As a child, he was sent to Military Academy by his father Colonel Hanna who served in the Marines. He disciplined Sam very hard and was disappointed when Sam joined the Navy instead of the Marines.

After finishing the Academy, Sam achieved his dream of becoming a SEAL and becoming a part of SEAL Team 6. During his time as a SEAL, Sam served in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Chad and Iraq. While on a mission in Bosnia, Sam along with another member of his unit, Bryan Dickerson were captured and tortured before being buried alive. [Dickerson, who had been shot, died of his wounds before the rest of the unit rescued them.]

Here are the shows which qualify Sam Hanna to be inducted into the TVXOHOF….

SAM HANNA

NCIS

LEGEND PARTS 1&2

[1] Gibbs and company start looking into the murder of a Marine. Gibbs and McGee go to Los Angeles for a joint gig with the NCIS Office of Special Projects in LA due to a suspected link. The investigation continues on both coasts.

[2] Gibbs and McGee continue with the OSP in LA. Rifkin shows up and interferes with the NCIS investigation. Two sleepers in a terrorist cell die, but OSP agents swarm a shop and grab others. Gibbs intercepts Rifkin and tells him to go home.

NCIS: LOS ANGELES

317 episodes (2009–2023)

This year, the NCIS corner of the TV Universe had a three-way crossover in one night.  These were the episodes in broadcast order:

Three - Three! - Shows In One!

NCIS

TOO MANY COOKS (2023)

The entire NCISverse are in Washington D.C. to celebrate the retirement of their former professor. However, their worlds intertwine when the NCIS agents are forced to investigate the same professor's suicide.

NCIS: HAWAI’I
DEEP FAKE (2023)

In Washington D.C. to celebrate the retirement of a former professor. NCIS agents are forced to investigate the professor's suicide. Tennant, Jimmy Palmer and Sam Hanna are kidnapped, and it all ties into the mysterious suicide.

NCIS: LOS ANGELES
A LONG TIME COMING

In Washington D.C. to celebrate the retirement of a former professor. The NCIS agents are forced to investigate the professor's suicide. Each member learns a hitman is out to kill each and every one of them - with $200,000 bounties on them.

Sam Hanna is a multidimensional in the TV Universe.  These are his appearances – so far – in other TV dimensions….

TOOBWORLD2 (Earth Prime-Time & Again)

HAWAII FIVE-0

PA MAKE LOA (TOUCH OF DEATH)

O’BSERVATION:
From the NCIS Database Wiki: At some Point, Sam met and befriended fellow SEAL LCDR Steve McGarrett, who promised him a steak dinner. Sam is also a good friend of fellow SEAL Tom Olsen.

That fact applies only to the Sam Hanna in an alternate Toobworld.  This would not hold true for the Sam Hanna of Earth Prime-Time as that Steve McGarrett was of an earlier generation.

THE TOONIVERSE

AMERICAN DAD!
CASINO NORMALE

I have not seen this episode, but it sounds like this was a "Not Quite Zonk", in that NCIS: Los Angeles is a TV show and doesn't exist as "reality" in the Tooniverse. LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell provided the voices, so if they are ever considered for membership as themselves, this cameo would count.

This trivia note in the IMDb makes me question LL Cool J's listing as “Sam Hanna”:

REFERENCES
NCIS: Los Angeles (TV Series 2009–2023)
Roger mentions he got a role on the show.

O'BSERVATION:
All episode summaries are from the IMDb.

At any rate, Sam Hanna’s appearances on the three series anchored in the Main Toobworld guaranteed him a place in the Hall.

Welcome, Mr. Hanna.  Thanks to that three-way crossover, you’ll be seeing more members of the various NCIS teams joining you one day.