MORE ON THE WORLDS OF MARPLE

Many times when characters from Earth Prime-Time "slide" over to another dimension, the people they meet are twins to their counterparts back in the main Toobworld. But the greater concept of Toobworld doesn't always work that way. Because some properties are reworked and then recast, they generally wind up in the remake dimension. And because of the recasting, characters sharing the same name, occupation, their basic life, will have to look different from the original.

As I'm on one of my periodic Christie kicks, we'll use Miss Jane Marple as an example. In the main Toobworld, she was played by Dame Joan Hickson, who appeared in TV adaptations of all the novels. Nearly a decade after she retired from the role, Geraldine McEwan moved into St. Mary's Mead as Miss Marple - but now had to be placed in the remake dimension.

(Gracie Fields played Miss Marple in a one-shot back in the 1950's and technically should be considered the Miss Marple of Earth Prime-Time. But as Dame Joan has an impressive body of work in the role, Toobworld Central has judged in her favor. Ms. Fields can share the same alternate TV dimension as Art Carney as Horace Ford and Ronald Howard as Sherlock Holmes.....)

And it's not just the characters' tele-genetics that go through changes from one TV dimension to the next. Architecture is another example. Check out these two images of Gossington Hall from the two different productions of "The Body In The Library".....

From 1984, with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple: and twenty years later with Geraldine McEwan as the spinster sleuth: Because each individual has free will, the lives of characters in the main Toobworld don't have to be scrupulously copied in the alternate dimensions. And again, "The Body In The Library" serves as the example.

As that example, I don't think it gives anything away to say that the character of Conway Jefferson was confined to a wheelchair for a different reason in each dimension. In the main Toobworld, it was due to a plane crash. In the remake dimension, it was caused by a German bomb during the War. All of the other dire results from both tragedies remained the same....

I just watched both productions this week, and without giving anything away (I hope!), I can say that even though the murder plot, the motive, and the many characters involved remained the same, ultimately the answer to the mystery was not quite the same for both. In fact, the revelation was altered for a more... salacious solution.

As an O'Bservation:I've seen more of the McEwan "Marple" mysteries than I have of Hickson's, and so far I am leaning towards the first set of remakes as being the more entertaining. (Except for the casting of the guest stars, I'm not too keen on the newer version, now that Ms. McEwan retired. Julia McKenzie now plays the role of Jane Marple.)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: CLARK ROCKEFELLER

Lifetime presented a TV movie about this guy on Saturday......

CHRISTIAN KARL GERHARTSREITER
alias
CLARK ROCKEFELLER

AS SEEN IN:
"Who Is Clark Rockefeller?"

AS PLAYED BY:
Eric McCormack

From Wikipedia:
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter (born February 21, 1961) is a German man who came to the United States, assumed the alias Clark Rockefeller, and married a successful lawyer. The couple later separated. Gerhartsreiter abducted his daughter, Reigh Storrow Mills Boss in July 2008 and was apprehended six days later. It was determined that Gerhartsreiter had wildly embellished his background to give the impression that he was born into great wealth. He was later convicted and imprisoned on the abduction charge.

BCnU!

NUMBERS RUNNING: LOST LICENSE

One of "The Numbers" from 'Lost' showed up in 1953 on the license plate of Colonel Melchett's car in "The Body In The Library", a Miss Marple mystery.....

BCnU!

BOOKING A DATE WITH MISS MARPLE

I'm watching the 1984 adaptation of Agatha Christie's "The Body In The Library" starring Joan Hickson as Miss Jane Marple. And within the first few minutes, I was able to determine where in the Toobworld Timeline the mystery takes place..... "She Died Laughing" by Leonard Gribble was published in 1953. As this looks to be a first edition, or at least from the very first printings, I'm going to state that the mystery at Gossington Hall took place in that year....

BCnU!

HANDLING THE BAREFOOT TRUTH

I'm planning on seeing the group Barefoot Truth when I go on vacation this summer. I was checking out their videos on YouTube because I had never heard of them before, and this is the one that won me over into choosing them over the other options for those two weeks:



BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: CASEY JONES

On this date in 1863, the legendary railroad engineer Casey Jones was born.

CASEY JONES

AS SEEN IN:
'Casey Jones'
AS PLAYED BY:
Alan Hale, Jr.
From Wikipedia:
John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1863 – April 30, 1900) was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). On April 30, 1900, he alone was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi on a foggy and rainy night. His dramatic death trying to stop his train and save lives made him a folk hero who became immortalized in a popular ballad sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African American engine wiper for the IC. Due to the enduring popularity of this song, his life and legend have been celebrated for over a century.

There's a Tennessee museum dedicated to the man and myth.

So long for now we'll be seeing you when

Casey comes rollin' by again

With a steamin' boiler and a smokin' stack

And the wheel striking thunder of the railroad tracks

There'll be Casey Jr. and Old Red Rock, too

Fireman Wally and the rest of the crew

In a thrilling adventure that's a lot of fun

When Casey takes the throttle for another run

I've used a lot more pictures than I usually do for an "As Seen On TV" profile, but I couldn't resist that big dopey grin on Alan Hale......

BCnU!

SATURDAY MATINEE: TRUE GRIT FOR PENGUINS

Just a little bit o' fun before I turn in for my nap......



BCnU!

THEORY OF RELATEEVETY: SKOWRIN TO SKOWRON

Jack Skowron is a best-selling author who wrote "Freefall To Ecstasy", which was bought by many but which hardly anyone ever finished reading. He was an old friend of Jim Rockford, whom he asked for help on his second novel (as seen in an episode of 'The Rockford Files'.) It could be that Jack can trace his ancestry back to Henry Skowron, Esq., (played by Royal Dano), a ne'er-do-well roaming the wild, wild west with his three sons - George, Herman, and Perlee. At some point in the 1870's, the Skowrins encountered Kwai Chiang Caine and an Irishman named Sean Mulhare, with the intent of robbing them.
The Skowrins are like the dark side of the Cartwright clan, with Perlee (played by Merlin Olson) as their version of Hoss - perhaps with more brawn, but less brain. If Jack can trace his ancestry to any of Henry Skowrin's sons, it would be most likely to George. Tele-genetic echoes are strong in Toobworld and it could be that all of the men in the Skowrin line from George to Jack were of a smaller build but of a higher intelligence (at least higher than others in the Skowrin family tree.) As for the slight difference in the family name, some Skowrin up the line decided to change it; perhaps even Jack himself, thinking it looked better on paper as his nom de plume.

SHOWS CITED:
'The Rockford Files' - "The Gang at Don's Drive In"
'Kung Fu' - "Nine Lives"

BCnU!

HOW MANY BEVANS IN A BEVY?

In March of 2003, the UCOS team was first assembled in the 'New Tricks' pilot. A year later, 'New Tricks' premiered as a series. As is usual with the launch of a TV show, there was some tinkering with the cast, but at least the core team of Amanda Redman, Alun Armstrong, James Bolam, and Dennis Waterman remained intact. It was the role of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Donald Bevan that was recast. In the pilot, DAC Bevan was played by Tim Woodward. For the first series (season to the Yanks), Nicholas Day had the role. After that, he was phased out, to be replaced by DAC Robert Strickland.

Here's how DAC Bevan is described in Wikipedia:
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Donald Bevan is the team's boss during the first series. He knows both Jack Halford and Gerry Standing, and strongly opposed Standing's inclusion in the team, mainly due to the history between them. (It is later revealed that Gerry punched Bevan in the face and broke his jaw).

I always wonder why the creators of a show are so married to a character's name at this juncture in a show's development. The audience has no attachment to the character yet, so if you're going to recast the role, why not just create a new name, a new character to fill the same purpose?

In the long view it just throws the audience out of the show's believability if they're watching the series on DVD. One episode you've got Tim Woodward in the role of Bevan, and the next it's Nicholas Day. And it's not like you can claim a quantum leap or some other sci-fi splainin for Bevan being a recastaway; the show is too realistic (considering). Woodward and Day aren't even the same height or build, so a more grounded splainin of plastic surgery won't fly.

There's only one way to go with this splainin: they were both Donald Bevan.

It's just one of those quirks in the world, either real or Toob, that there will always be people sharing the same name. I was born a Thomas O'Brien, and that's very common. In my hometown there were about six of them, one of them in my high school class. In fact, I'm Thomas O'Brien III, which is why they were calling me Toby (my initials sounded out) even before I was born - it would be less confusing than calling for Tom O'Brien and having more than one answer. Of course, if my grandfather replied, you better run screaming, as he passed away before my parents even met......

But enough about me.......

In the real world, Donald Bevan is a writer who co-wrote the 1951 play "Stalag 17" and he wrote an episode of 'Producer's Showcase' in 1955. He was also a caricaturist for Sardi's Restaurant in New York City's theatre district. It seems a pretty thin resume to become somebody who inspires the naming of a baby, but as he exists in Toobworld (thanks to several shows in which he was interviewed), it's a pozz'bility. But not one we're committed to......

So let's just say it was one of those flukes in which both were given the name Donald Bevan at birth. And in one of those "Believe It Or Not" twists of Fate, both of them joined the Metropolitan Police in London and eventually rose to the rank of Deputy Assistant Commissioner.

Another thing they both had in common - at some point in their careers, they pissed off Gerry Standing to the extent where the detective punched them in the jaw and broke it.

At some point between March of 2003 and April of 2004, DAC Bevan (as played by Tim Woodward), no longer was in charge of overseeing UCOS. Instead that duty fell to a fellow DAC, the other Donald Bevan.

From that point on, we know Donald Bevan II's history in Toobworld until he was phased out after six episodes. But as for Donald Bevan I, it's time for this televisiologist to go out on a limb.....

It's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that DAC Bevan got himself in some sort of trouble on the job which demanded disciplinary action. As a result he lost the position of Deputy Assistant Commissioner and was reduced to Detective Chief Inspector. For alls I know, he was happy with that, as being a DAC meant he was mostly chained to a desk with a sea of paperwork and public relations problems. As a DCI, Bevan could keep his hand in when it came to the reason why he became a copper in the first place - to solve crimes.

At the same time, Donald Bevan I may have wanted to sever all ties to whatever got him into trouble in the first place. And as he was probably fed up with being confused with the other DAC Donald Bevan for so long, he may have petitioned the courts to legally change his name.

And so by March of 2004, one year after creating the UCOS squad, former DAC Donald Bevan became DCI Sebastian Turner, who oversaw the operations of a homicide detective squad, as seen in 'Murder City'..........* This not only splains away the recastaway problem, but it also combines two Tim Woodward characters into one.

Tidy.

BCnU!

*This picture is actually from the movie "Stiletto", but that's basically how he looked in 'Murder City'.....

AS SEEN ON TV: THE PRINCE REGENT

"Alvenley, who's your fat friend?"

THE PRINCE REGENT
[FUTURE GEORGE IV]

AS SEEN IN:
"Beau Brummell: This Charming Man"

AS PLAYED BY:
Hugh Bonnevile

From Wikipedia:
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was the king of Hanover and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his father's relapse into insanity from an illness that is now suspected to have been porphyria.

George IV is remembered largely for his extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the British Regency. By 1797 his weight had reached 17 stone 7 pounds (111 kg or 245 lb), and by 1824 his corset was made for a waist of 50 inches (127 cm).

He was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace, and Sir Jeffry Wyatville to rebuild Windsor Castle. He was largely instrumental in the foundation of the National Gallery, London and King's College London.

[after his sartorial transformation, courtesy of Beau Brummell]

BCnU!