WHO NEWS! THE NEW COMPANION

From the BBC:

Former 'Emmerdale' actress Jenna-Louise Coleman has landed the role of the Time Lord's new companion in 'Doctor Who', the BBC has confirmed.

Producer Steven Moffat announced the actress will replace Karen Gillan's character Amy Pond when she leaves the show in the next series.

Other credits for Coleman include the four part mini-series 'Titanic', which was scripted by the creator of 'Downton Abbey', Julian Fellowes. She'll be making her first appearance in the 'Doctor Who' Christmas special.

I found this quote by Moffat interesting and one to stir the televisiological pozz'bilities in what passes for my brain:

"Who she's playing, how the Doctor meets her, and even where he finds her, are all part of one of the biggest mysteries the Time Lord ever encounters. Even by the Doctor's standards, this isn't your usual boy meets girl."

And in the BBC press release, they mentioned that the Doctor and Coleman's companion will meet in a "dramatic turn of events as the show builds towards its enormous, climactic 50th anniversary year".

Of course, isn't everything of import on 'Doctor Who' a dramatic turn of events?

But here's what I'm thinking.....

What if Jenna-Louise Coleman's character turns out to be a link to the Doctor's Past, and by "Past", I mean that she serves as a bridge to the old series for 'Doctor Who'.

What if she is somehow related to someone who once travelled with the Doctor? (I wouldn't want her to be that character from an earlier Incarnation's adventures. Then we would have to deal with the recastaway problem.)

And I have that someone in mind.....

What if it turned out that Coleman's character is the daughter of Zoe Heriot?

Because Zoe's memory has been wiped clean of her time with the Doctor, there wouldn't be any residual baggage to deal with - at least, not until the show wanted to bring Wendy Paddington back in the fold for an episode or two. (In much the same way that Sarah Jane Smith returned to the show.)

It's my suggestion only. But it certainly would fulfill all those hints in Moffat's statement:

"Who she's playing, how the Doctor meets her, and even where he finds her"

Zoe's daughter, during an adventure in the Future, and on board the "Wheel in Space".....

I know it's a long-shot, but it would be a fitting connection to the old series as we head into the celebration of the 50th anniversary!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: PORFIRY PETROVICH

PORFIRY PETROVICH

CREATED BY:

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

AS SEEN IN:

'Crime And Punishment'

AS PLAYED BY:

Ian McDiarmid

TV DIMENSION:

To Be Determined

STATUS:

Multiversal Recastaway

From Wikipedia:

"Crime and Punishment" ("Pryestupleniye i nakazaniye") is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. "Crime and Punishment" focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless parasite. He also commits this murder to test his own hypothesis that some people are naturally capable of such things, and even have the right to do them. Several times throughout the novel, Raskolnikov justifies his actions by connecting himself mentally with Napoleon Bonaparte, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.

Porfiry Petrovich – The detective in charge of solving the murders of Lizaveta and Alyona Ivanovna, who, along with Sonya, move Raskolnikov towards confession. Unlike Sonya, however, Porfiry does this through psychological games. Despite the lack of evidence, he becomes certain Raskolnikov is the murderer following several conversations with him, but gives him the chance to confess voluntarily. He attempts to confuse and to provoke the unstable Raskolnikov in an attempt to coerce him to confess.

 

'Crime and Punishment' was a 2000 television serial produced by the BBC, starring John Simm as Raskolnikov and Ian McDiarmid as Porfiry Petrovich.

There were several TV versions of "Crime And Punshment" before the 2000 adaptation came along. One thing which might rule in this production's favor would be if they brought more of the novel into the series.

I found no mention of Porfiry in the main Wold Newton site, so there are no established theories as to his connection to members of the Wold Newton family. But as for the Tele-Folks Directory, I have a theory.....

Over the years it has been stated that Porfiry was the inspiration for the creation of Lt. Columbo by Levinson & Link. As a novel, "Crime And Punishment" exists in the TV Universe, as does its writer, Dostoyevsky. So his novel is actual a "true crime" chronicle, one which Columbo may have come across and realized during his reading that Porfiry's methods might be applicable in his own investigations once he became a detective. Columbo knew that he was not as smart as those around him, so he would be happy for any advantage he could find.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MRS. BRADLEY

Since we started the Literary edition of the "As Seen On TV" showcase this year, we've also featured televersions for Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Father Brown, and Hercule Poirot. For this week in the showcase, we stayed away from the biggies like Miss Jane Marple or Peter Lord Wimsey. This gave others the chance to shine.

MRS. BEATRICE ADELA BRADLEY

CREATED BY:

Grace Mitchell

From Wikipedia:

Gladys Mitchell (21 April 1901 – 27 July 1983) was an English author best known for her creation of Mrs. Bradley, the heroine of numerous detective novels. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Stephen Hockaby and Malcolm Torrie. Feted during her life (called "the Great Gladys" by Philip Larkin), her work was largely neglected for the two decades after her death.

Her first novel ("Speedy Death", 1929) introduced Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, a polymathic psychoanalyst and author who was featured in a further 65 novels. Her strong views on social and philosophical issues reflected those of her author and her assistant, Laura Menzies; they appear to have been something of a self-portrait of the young Mitchell.

Mitchell was an early member of the Detection Club along with G. K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers and throughout the 1930s was considered to be one of the "Big Three women detective writers", but she often challenged and mocked the conventions of the genre - notably in her earliest books, such as the first novel "Speedy Death", where there is a particularly surprising twist to the plot, or her parodies of Christie in "The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop" (1929) and "The Saltmarsh Murders" (1932). Her plots and settings were unconventional with Freudian psychology, witchcraft (notably in "The Devil at Saxon Wall" [1935] and "The Worsted Viper" [1943]) and the supernatural (naiads and Nessie, ghosts and Greek gods) as recurrent themes.

AS SEEN IN:

'The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries'

AS PLAYED BY:

Dame Diana Rigg

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:

'The Mrs Bradley Mysteries' is a British television drama series, produced in-house by the BBC for broadcast on the BBC One channel, based on the character created by detective writer Gladys Mitchell. It ran in 1998 and 1999, consisting of five episodes in total; a one-off special in the first year followed by a series of four episodes in the second.

Some co-production funding was contributed by the United States PBS broadcaster WGBH. In the US, the series was shown in PBS's 'Mystery!' anthology strand, the host of which was Diana Rigg, who was also the star of 'The Mrs Bradley Mysteries'. Wearing 1920s clothes, she introduced each episode to the audience:

"Adela Bradley doesn't mince words. And why should she. They are her greatest weapon against fools, cads, criminals...and ex-lovers. Words also came easily to Adela's creator, Gladys Mitchell, who published nearly eighty novels in her long lifetime. Gladys introduced Mrs. Bradley in 1929 in the book Speedy Death. She endowed her breezy heroine with attributes she herself possessed including an interest in Freud and a passion for all things British: Morris dancing, mayday rituals, and the Loch Ness Monster. Over the course of some sixty-six mysteries, Adela Bradley married and divorced three husbands, was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and a consultant to the British Home Office. She also developed prodigious abilities at pub darts, snooker, billiards, and knife throwing. One thing she cannot do is knit."

Joining Mrs. B. is her handsome confidant and chauffeur, George Moody, played by Neil Dudgeon. Wherever their Rolls Royce carries them, they encounter murders that people are just too embarrassed to report to the police.

The characteristic cackle and crocodilian looks were absent, and the plots and characters were changed.

From the source:
Mrs. Bradley was dry without being shrivelled, and bird-like without being pretty. She reminded Alastair Bing, who was afraid of her, of the reconstruction of a pterodactyl he had once seen in a German museum. There was the same inhuman malignity in her expression as in that of the defunct bird, and, like it, she had a cynical smirk about her mouth even when her face was in repose. She possessed nasty, dry, claw-like hands, and her arms, yellow and curiously repulsive, suggested the plucked wings of a fowl…

Strange to say, her voice belied her appearance, for, instead of the birdlike twitter one might have expected to hear issuing from those beaked lips, her utterance was slow, mellifluous, and slightly drawled; unctuous, rich, and reminiscent of dark, smooth treacle.

It doesn't appear as though Mrs. Bradley has been considered in connection to the Wold Newton Universe, at least based on a search of the prime website for Philip Jose Farmer's concept.  But there might be something to be found in such trivia as theories of relateeveety......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: CHARLIE CHAN X 2

It's Two for Tuesday during our look at the Great Literary TV Detectives with Wold Newton overtones. So we have two VERY different portrayals of that "amiable Asian" created by Earl Der Biggers.......

CHARLIE CHAN

AS SEEN IN:

'The Amazing Chan And The Chan Clan'

AS VOICED BY:

Keye Luke

TV DIMENSION:

The Tooniverse

From Wikipedia:

In the 1970s, Hanna-Barbera produced an animated series called 'The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan'. Keye Luke, who had played Chan's son in many Chan films of the 1930s and '40s, lent his voice to Charlie, who had a much-expanded vocabulary this time around. The series focused, however, on Chan's children, played mostly by Asian-American child actors. Jodie Foster alternated with Leslie Kumamota in voicing Chan's daughter Anne.

CHARLIE CHAN

AS SEEN IN:

"The Return Of Charlie Chan"

AS PLAYED BY:

Ross Martin

TV DIMENSION:

The Land Of Remakes
or

The Movie of the Week TV dimension

From Wikipedia:

"The Return of Charlie Chan", a television film starring Ross Martin as Chan, was made in 1971 but was not aired until 1979.

(The Charlie Chan for Earth Prime-Time was played by J. Carroll Naish, who was featured once before in Inner Toob......)

From Wikipedia:

Charlie Chan is a fictional Chinese-American detective created by Earl Derr Biggers. Loosely based on Honolulu detective Chang Apana, Biggers conceived of the benevolent and heroic Chan as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes, such as villains like Fu Manchu. Chan is a detective for the Honolulu police, though many stories feature Chan traveling the world as he investigates mysteries and solves crimes.

The character of Charlie Chan was created by Earl Derr Biggers. In 1919, while on vacation in Hawaii, Biggers planned a detective novel to be called "The House Without a Key". He did not begin to write the novel until four years later, however, when he was inspired to add a Chinese American police officer to the plot after reading in a newspaper of Chang Apana and Lee Fook, two Chinese-American detectives on the Honolulu police force. Biggers, who disliked the Yellow Peril stereotypes he found when he came to California, explicitly conceived of the character as an alternative to them: "Sinister and wicked Chinese are old stuff, but an amiable Chinese on the side of law and order has never been used."

Chan first appeared in Biggers' novels, but went on to be featured in a number of media. Over four dozen films featuring Charlie Chan have been made, beginning in 1926. The character was at first portrayed by Asian actors, and the films met with little success. In 1931, the Fox Film Corporation cast Swedish actor Warner Oland as Chan in "Charlie Chan Carries On"; the film was a success, and Fox went on to produce 15 more Chan films with Oland in the title role. 

After Oland's death, American actor Sidney Toler was cast as Chan; Toler made 22 Chan films, first for Fox and then for Monogram Studios. After Toler's death, six more films were made, starring Roland Winters.

In addition, a number of Spanish- and Chinese-language Chan films were made during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. American-made Chan films were shown in China to much success, where the character was popular and respected. More recent film adaptations in the 1990s have been unsuccessful. The character has also been featured in several radio programs, two television shows, and a number of comics.

Interpretations of Chan by critics are split, especially as relates to his ethnicity. Positive assessors of Chan argue that he is portrayed as intelligent, benevolent and honorable — in contrast to the adverse depictions of evil or conniving Chinese then current on page and screen. Others state that Chan, despite his good qualities, reinforces certain Asian stereotypes, such as an alleged incapacity to speak fluent English and the possession of an overly tradition-bound and subservient nature.

As for the Wold Newton influence which could be shared with the televersion of Charlie Chan, Toobworld Central turns once again to Dennis Powers:

There is one detective that I believe deserves to be in the Wold Newton Universe, if only for his brilliant detective reasoning, yet like many others in the Wold Newton family he was also greatly traveled. I speak, of course, of Charlie Chan, who I propose is the son of Fu Manchu.

According to Farmer, Fu Manchu was likely the son of William Clayton and Ling Ju Hai, a green eyed Chinese beauty born in Vietnam circa 1840. Although raised by his grandfather and his mother, Fu Manchu was two things frowned upon in Asian societies: illegitimate and part Caucasian. We have then the roots of his animosity towards western society.

Now how does Charlie Chan fit in all this? When Charlie Chan first appeared in print in 1925, he was Sergeant Chan. We can surmise that he was about thirty-eight years old, which would have made his birth date around 1887, just about the time I surmised that Fu Manchu was still using his birth name of Ling Fu Shan. We cannot guess at Charlie Chan's name, although it is probable that it was something like Ling _____ Shan. Charlie Chan never gives much about his background. We only learn that he emigrated to the United States as a young man. 

We can only speculate that his character was formed at an early age and that he was rather disgusted at his father's machinations. He would have been young when his father assumed the identity of Fu Manchu, but we can imagine Fu Manchu bragging to his son about how clever he was to raise himself up and change identities. Charlie would have been around fifteen in 1902 when Fu Manchu's plans in China ended in disaster.

We can surmise that he took the opportunity to escape from his father's clutches once and for all by eluding his Si Fan guardians, making his way to Hawaii and assuming a new identity. Naturally he never revealed any of this information for fear of retaliation against his family by his father. Yet he used his brilliant detective mind to make himself available to the police bureaus around the world and thwart the schemes of his father whenever possible.

As this theory of relateeveety connects 'The New Adventures Of Charlie Chan' to 'The Adventures Of Fu Manchu', I'm keen to embrace it!

(My thanks once again to Dennis Powers!)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: NICK CARTER

NICK CARTER

CREATED BY:

John R. Coryell

AS SEEN IN:

"The Adventures Of Nick Carter"

AS PLAYED BY:

Robert Conrad

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

STATUS:

Multiversal Recastaway

From Wikipedia:

Nick Carter is a fictional character who began as a pulp fiction private detective and has appeared in a variety of formats over more than a century.

Nick Carter first appeared in a dime novel entitled "The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square" on 18 September 1886. This novel was written by John R. Coryell from a story by Ormond G. Smith, the son of one of the founders of Street & Smith.

In 1972, the actor Robert Conrad made a television pilot set in the Victorian era. "The Adventures of Nick Carter" that was shown as a made for television movie.

From the Thrilling Detective web site:

"The Little Giant" first appeared as a 19th century detective and adventurer in Street and Smith's "New York Weekly" dime novel, on September 18, 1886. He was young, strong, dedicated to clean living (No cigarettes! No booze!) confident, a master of disguise, and possessor of a keen mind, filled with more trivia than anyone would ever need to know (except, of course, for dime novel master sleuths!) and otherworldly strength, able to "lift a horse with ease... while a heavy man is seated in the saddle... he can place four packs of playing cards together, and tear them in halves between his thumbs and fingers."

No wonder pulp historian Jess Nevins refers to him as "the Grandfather of superheroes."

It seems that Nick's dad, the legendary detective "Old Sim" Carter, had raised his son from an early age to become a pefect mental and physical specimen.

Upon reaching adulthood, Nick becomes the world's greatest detective, with a swank apartment on madison Avenue in New York City, although his cases frequently have him hopping all over the world, frequently accompanied by his loyal (and manly) partners-in-arms Patsy and Scrubby. He appeared in three stories written by Coryell, and then, literally thousands more in various Street & Smith publications, mostly written by Frederic van Rensselaer Day (1862-1922). 

From the Wold Newton web site

by Dennis Powers:
According the the pulps, Simpson Carter, a detective, also had a son whom he trained to be the best detective in the world. Despite being diminutive, Nick Carter had an amazing amount of strength and stamina.

Yet Nick Carter was not Simpson's son but rather his great uncle of sorts. Nick Carter was the son of John Carter and Margaret Butler, sister of Rhett. After Margaret died in the Civil War, John placed Nicholas in Simpson's care while he went to mine for gold. John Carter was gone for ten years during which he had his first trip to Barsoom.

Simpson Carter was a Private Detective and he took the boy under his wing. Noting his precocious gifts, [Sim Carter] trained him in all manner of disciplines and athletics. This training regime would be copied and extended by James Clark Wildman for his son, whom the world knows as Clark Savage. His mutant genes really showed for although he was only 5'4", Nick Carter could lift a horse with a man seated in the saddle. He is also a master of disguise, a linguist and well skilled in various detective arts.

I think after this week in which I lost my head over the new "John Carter" movie and my desire to include it in the TV Universe, Team Toobworld probably figured out that I'm more than willing to accept this premise as being true for Toobworld as well.

Although Toobworld Central must reject the later incarnations of Nick Carter as the character kept getting updated to fit the times (since they never appeared on TV), we're still willing to entertain theories of "relateeveety" about the man.  For one, Sgt. Vincent Carter of the United States Marine Corps ('Gomer Pyle, USMC') may have been one of his great grandsons.  Another son may have married a black woman or had an affair with one in New York City, which would have led to Nick Carter having a black great-great-granddaughter working as a detective with the NYPD, Joss Carter ('Person Of Interest').  (Her full first name may be Jocelyn.) 

BCnU!

BUGS & TRIX

Although this is set in the Tooniverse, and thus has no impact on Earth Prime-Time, still it's one of the best ever crossovers in a commercial.

AROUND THE WORLD AND UP YOUR STREET

The Toobworld Dynamic is global. And even though we in "Telemerica" don't have to accept what happens in international television as being pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, on our country's TV sets, that doesn't mean we can't refute that it exists.

This bit o' "quantoon physics" is from Thailand.......

A-HA! IT'S JEFFSTER!

Weeks after the series 'Chuck' ended, I'm still enjoying this clip from the finale:

"DOWNTON ABBEY" DOLLHOUSE

Going through 'Downton Abbey' withdrawal now that Season Two has ended? Maybe this might sate your appetite.....

AS SEEN ON TV: NERO WOLFE

Today we're kicking off a week of ASOTV showcases featuring some of the Great Detectives of Literature - as seen on TV. Whenever possible, we'll also have mention of their place in the Wold Newton Universe, an ally of the Toobworld Dynamic. (But we're not connected to the work of Philip Jose Farmer and Win Scott Eckert.) We'll see if such O'Bservances can be applied to their televersions in Earth Prime-Time as well....

NERO WOLFE

CREATED BY:

Rex Stout

AS SEEN IN:

'A Nero Wolfe Mystery'

AS PLAYED BY:

Maury Chaykin

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

STATUS:

Multiversal

From Wikipedia:

Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created in 1934 by the American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe's confidential assistant Archie Goodwin narrates the cases of the detective genius. Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1974, with most of them set in New York City. Wolfe's residence, a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street, features prominently in the series. Many radio, television and film adaptations were made from his works.

The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated for Best Mystery Series of the Century at Bouchercon 2000, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was a nominee for Best Mystery Writer of the Century.

Archie Goodwin, the narrator of the stories, frequently describes Wolfe as weighing "a seventh of a ton" (about 286 pounds or 130 kilograms). At the time of the first book, 1934, this was intended to indicate unusual obesity, especially through the use of the word "ton" as the unit of measure. In 1947 Archie writes, "He weighs between 310 and 390, and he limits his physical movements to what he regards as the irreducible essentials

"Wolfe's most extravagant distinction is his extreme antipathy to literal extravagance. He will not move," wrote J. Kenneth Van Dover in "At Wolfe's Door: The Nero Wolfe Novels of Rex Stout":

He insists upon the point: under no circumstances will he leave his home or violate his routines in order to facilitate an investigation. The exceptions are few and remarkable. Instead of spreading the principles of order and justice throughout his society, Wolfe imposes them dogmatically and absolutely within the walls of his house — the brownstone on West Thirty-Fifth Street — and he invites those who are troubled by an incomprehensible and threatening environment to enter the controlled economy of the house and to discover there the source of disorder in their own lives.

Wikipedia describes the key point regarding Wolfe's position in the WNU:
In 1956, John D. Clark theorized in an article in the "Baker Street Journal" that Wolfe was the offspring of an affair between Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler (a character from "A Scandal in Bohemia"). Clark suggested that the two had had an affair in Montenegro in 1892, and that Nero Wolfe was the result. The idea was later co-opted by William S. Baring-Gould and implied in the novels of Nicholas Meyer, but there is no evidence that Rex Stout had any such connection in mind. 

Certainly there is no mention of it in any of the stories, although a painting of Sherlock Holmes does hang over Archie Goodwin's desk in Nero Wolfe's office. This suggests that in the Nero Wolfe universe, Sherlock Holmes is a real person, not a fictional one.

Some commentators, noting both physical and psychological resemblances, suggest Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes as a more likely father for Wolfe. Commentators have noted a coincidence in the names "Sherlock Holmes" and "Nero Wolfe": the same vowels appear in the same order. In 1957 Ellery Queen called this "The Great O-E Theory" and suggested that it derived from the father of mysteries, Edgar Allan Poe.

Some Wold Newton theorists have suggested the French thief Arsène Lupin as the father of Nero Wolfe. They note that in one story Lupin has an affair with the queen of a Balkan principality, which may be Montenegro by another name. Further, they note that the name Lupin resembles the French word for wolf, loup.

From the source:

"I suggest beginning with autobiographical sketches from each of us, and here is mine. I was born in Montenegro and spent my early boyhood there. At the age of sixteen I decided to move around, and in fourteen years I became acquainted with most of Europe, a little of Africa, and much of Asia, in a variety of roles and activities. Coming to this country in nineteen-thirty, not penniless, I bought this house and entered into practice as a private detective. I am a naturalized American citizen."

Maury Chaykin's portrayal of Nero Wolfe was not the first time the character was seen on TV - in an earlier series, William Conrad played a modernized televersion of Wolfe.  However, since the A&E series was set in the proper time period, then it has been given the position of being the official portrait of Nero Wolfe.

However, I am willing to entertain the theory that Conrad's televersion is Nero Wolfe, Jr.......

BCnU!