HAT SQUAD / LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES -ROGER EBERT

Roger Ebert, the popular film critic and television co-host who along with his fellow reviewer and sometime sparring partner Gene Siskel could lift or sink the fortunes of a movie with their trademark thumbs up or thumbs down, died on Thursday. He was 70.
- Douglas Martin 
New York Times 

ROGER EBERT 

AS SEEN ON TV:
'Siskel & Ebert: At The Movies'
'Ebert Presents: At The Movies'
'Sneak Previews'
'Saturday Night Live'
&
'The Critic'

TV DIMENSIONS:
Earth Prime-Time, Skitlandia, and the Tooniverse

SYNOPSIS (For 'The Critic):

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert break up their partnership as movie critics, and each of them considers Jay as a potential replacement for the other.  - IMDB

Good night and may God bless, Mr. Ebert.  Hopefully you'll get two thumbs up from God and will be reunited with Mr. Siskel, two on the aisle.....

BCnU.......

LIVIN' IN A WI-FI SOUP



Were you intrigued by those strange "alien" Wi-Fi address seen in the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Bells Of St. John"?

Here's an article splainin how you can get such an SSID for yourself:

THE ALIEN WI-FI SYMBOLS

BCnU!

DOUBLE VISION - THE SISTERS KIZLET

 

Gloria Millington was a widow who lived in the Norfolk town of Market Shipborough with her son Scott. There she worked as the office manager for lawyer Peter Kingdom.

 

We don't know what her maiden name is, and a visit to her father wasn't of much help as he was only referred to as Cyril.

 

I bring this up because without a last name, Gloria Millington could be considered the sister to Miss Kizlet, the chief mind-slave of the Great Intelligence. She worked out of the 65th floor of the relatively new London skyscraper "The Shard".

 

Once the jig was up and the Doctor was able to rescue his latest Companion, Clara Oswald, from the data cloud, the Great Intelligence released all of his mind-slaves so that UNIT could not trace the crisis back to it.

Miss Kizlet reverted back to the mental age she was when she was first enslaved by the Great Intelligence - a little girl no more than four years of age. So this must have happened at some point around 1956, assuming Miss Kizlet is the same age as Celia Imrie, who portrayed her.

The little Miss Kizlet plaintively asked for her Mummy and Daddy, who had told her that they would be right back for her... 49 years ago. 

Gloria may have been a year younger or older than her long-missing sister; there's no reason she had to be an identical twin.

The loss of the little girl had been so long ago in the past that there really was no need for it ever to come up in conversations with Gloria MIllington, not with her son Scott or her father Cyril.

With the return of her memory, albeit as a four-year-old, it would surely have been a source of gossip around Market Shipborough. But it's unlikely we'll ever see Peter Kingdom and his associates there ever again.....

SHOWS CITED:
 'Kingdom''Doctor Who' - "The Bells Of St. John"

 

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - EARL WILSON

EARL WILSON

From Wikipedia:

Harvey Earl Wilson (May 3, 1907–January 16, 1987), born Harvey Earl Wilson, was an American journalist, gossip columnist and author, perhaps best known for his nationally syndicated newspaper column, "It Happened Last Night".

Born in Rockford in Mercer County in western Ohio, Wilson attended Heidelberg College and graduated from Ohio State University in 1931 with a B. S. in journalism.

Wilson's column originated from the New York Post and ran from 1942 until 1983. His chronicling of the Broadway scene during the "Golden Age" of show business formed the basis for a book published in 1971, "The Show Business Nobody Knows". He signed his columns with the tag line, "That's Earl, brother." His nickname was "Midnight Earl".

Wilson is also the author of two controversial books, "Show Business Laid Bare", and an unauthorized biography of Frank Sinatra, "Sinatra – An Unauthorized Biography". The former book is notable for revealing the extramarital affairs of President John F. Kennedy.

In the early 1950s, Wilson was an occasional panelist on the NBC game show, 'Who Said That?', in which celebrities tried to determine the speaker of quotations taken from recent news reports.

Wilson appeared in a few films as himself, notably "Copacabana" (1947) with Groucho Marx and Carmen Miranda, "A Face in the Crowd" (1957) with Andy Griffith, "College Confidential" (1960), and "Beach Blanket Bingo" (1965) with Paul Lynde. Wilson also hosted the DuMont TV show 'Stage Entrance' from May 1951 to March 1952.

AS SEEN IN:

'Make Room For Daddy'

"Lose Me In Las Vegas"

SYNOPSIS:

While in Las Vegas on his honeymoon with Kathy (his second wife) and the three kids, the family takes in a benefit show at one of the clubs. There, Earl Wilson is introduced from the audience.

O'BSERVATION:

• Aside from all of his appearances on talk shows and variety programs (even taking another bow from the audience at 'The Ed Sullivan Show'), Wilson's appearance here links 'Make Room For Daddy' to a dramatic series, 'The Reporter', in which he played himself in the second episode, "Hideout".
• Despite his appearances in all of those movies listed above, that doesn't mean they can now be absorbed into the TV Universe. There was an Earl Wilson in the real world (the Trueniverse), the televersion of Earl Wilson in Earth Prime-Time, and all of those other appearance in the movies can only be found in the Cineverse or any of its sub-dimensions.

BCnU!

THE ALTERNATE TOOBWORLDS FOR "PSYCH"

I'm posting this a week later because I will be spoiling the ending from last week's 'Psych' episode. If you haven't seen it but would like to, leave now.

You've been warned.

Last week, 'Psych' celebrated its 100th episode with "100 Clues". It was patterned after the movie "Clue" (and of course, the game) with secret rooms, multiple suspects, and even the possibility of different endings - during the episode, the audience voted on who they thought was the killer out of the last three possibilities. Survey Says! And that's how the ending was chosen.

CAST & CREW

The episode had three of the stars from the movie as the guest stars - Christopher Lloyd, Martin Mull, and Lesley Ann Warren. Also in the cast were Steve Valentine, Garrett Morris, and the unlucky Curt Smith as himself. Throughout the episode there were a few tips of the hat to the late Madeline Kahn and the episode was dedicated to her at the end.

Because of the continental difference in time zones, the West Coast audience got to vote separately for their airing of the episode. And their choice for the identity of the killer was different from the West Coast. (The third alternate ending will show up on the DVD.)

SPOILER TIME!

Being in the Big Apple, I saw the first televised version. In that one, Clizsby the Butler (Morris) was revealed to be the killer. I can't find it online as I write this (Good Friday), but Zap2It has posted the version chosen by the West Coast viewers:

 

Personally, I prefer the West Coast version; it was more believable. And who knows? Maybe the third option (Martin Mull?) was even better.

However, following the rules of the Toobworld Dynamic (for once), the first version telecast is the version to be found in Earth Prime-Time. So the other two versions must fend for themselves in other TV dimensions.

And that - combined with the differences between the Curt Smith of the Trueniverse and his televersion - makes this episode of 'Psych' a candidate for Best Episode of any Genre for the next Toobits Awards presentation.

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - CURT SMITH

CURT SMITH

From Wikipedia:

Curt Smith (born 24 June 1961, Bath, Somerset, England) is a British musician. He is best known for forming the band Tears for Fears, along with childhood friend Roland Orzabal. Also a solo artist, he released his third album Halfway, Pleased in May 2008.

He appeared, as himself, in the "Psych" episode "Shawn 2.0". His single "This is Christmas" later appeared in the episode "The Polarizing Express". He again appeared as himself in the show's 100th episode, "100 Clues", in March 2013.

AS SEEN IN:

'Psych'

"Shawn 2.0"

"100 Clues"

O'BSERVATION:

This is a fantastic episode of the differences between televersions and their real-life originals. In Toobworld, Curt Smith has now been shot in the gut and probably mauled by a panther. I don't think that same fate has happened to the Curt Smith of the Trueniverse.

But maybe it has happened to Roland Orzabal......

BCnU!

ZOMBIES ARE CHILD'S PLAY

I've always said that the people of the Trueniverse - that is, you and I who watch TV in the real world - all have doppelgangers in the TV Universe.

And some of us have counterparts in the alternate TV dimensions.

The Toobworld that is now designated as Zombie Toobworld, as seen in 'The Walking Dead' and 'Dead Set', would also be a dimension in which real world people could be found. And that includes kids, like Christopher here.

As you can see, my friend Scully's son has a Walker trapped in the shed.

I have no clue what his televersion from the main Toobworld is up to, but knowing his Dad, it's probably some kind of mischief!

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - ROCCO DiSPIRITO

ROCCO DiSPIRITO

From Wikipedia:

Rocco DiSpirito (born November 19, 1966) is an American chef based in New York City.

DiSpirito is best known as a celebrity chef and a cookbook author. He is known for his involvement in Union Pacific, a restaurant he opened in 1997 in the Gramercy Park section of Manhattan. 

From 2003 to 2004, DiSpirito starred in the NBC reality television show 'The Restaurant', which followed the launch and operation of a new Manhattan restaurant called Rocco's on 22nd.

DiSpirito hosted 12 episodes of the TV show 'Rocco Gets Real' on A&E (October 4 through December 27, 2008).

DiSpirito was a contestant on season seven of 'Dancing With The Stars' and was paired with professional ballroom dancer Karina Smirnoff. He was eliminated on the October 14, 2008, episode and placed ninth overall.

On June 15, 2011, DiSpirito debuted as host of a weekly reality TV cooking competition, titled 'Rocco's Dinner Party', on Bravo TV.

DiSpirito appeared as a celebrity contestant on the June 21, 2012, episode of the Fox dating game show 'The Choice'.

DiSpritio hosts the syndicated television program 'Now Eat This! with Rocco Dispirito', which debuted on September 15, 2012.

O'BSERVATIONS:

Those were all his "reality" TV appearances. But in 2007, he played himself in "Operation: Oswald Montecristo" in which Eugene Gurkin - as famous foreign architect Montecristo - wined and dined Kelly Ripa at DiSpirito's restaurant. That took place in the main Toobworld.

But three years later, over in the TV dimension in which 'Castle' takes place, the mystery author visited Rocco's latest place, during an episode entitled "Food To Die For".

So these two appearances take place in alternate TV dimensions. However, since we now know that Richard Castle exists in the main Toobworld, it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that his life is played out exactly as it does in that other world - only in the main Toobworld he's friends with Mayor Bloomberg and not the face-changing black mayor of New York City.

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! "TREK KITTENS"

I don't watch the Animal Planet network.  They just don't have anything that would appeal to me.  I'm one of those people who love cat videos, but I can just as easily find those on YouTube or via my friends on FaceBook.

But starting next month.  Looking for a new event to spoof a la the Super Bowl with the Puppy Bowl, Animal Planet has teamed up with Paramount Pictures for 'Trek Kittens'. 

'Trek Kittens' will be nearly faithful recreations of episodes from the classic 'Star Trek' series, using the original soundtrack and dialogue, but with images of cats playing the characters like Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.

And by faithful, I mean the cats playing the ensigns in red shirts will be quickly using up their nine lives.....

For example:

Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy

And of course, the Captain Kirk cat will get all the babes........

This will all tie in to the upcoming release of the new movie, "Star Trek: Into Darkness".

The episodes will be heavily edited so that each story will only be long enough for a half hour each.  So I'm assuming that only the highlights from each episode will be depicted with the cats.

They HAVE to show Spock giving the Vulcan nerve pinch!

Each episode will be introduced by members of the cast from "Star Trek: Into Darkness" but they will not be seen as themselves or even as their characters.  Instead, their voice-overs will appear to emanate from cats who seem to bear some kind of resemblance either to them or to their characters.  (I think it will be cool to hear Benedict Cumberbatch's voice as though it was coming from a cat.......)

"Hailing frequencies are open, Captain."

But the cats for the stories recreated in the episodes will more closely resemble or suggest the original actors from the series.  From what I read, there are O'Bvious choices, like a black cat for Uhura, and a Russian Blue for Chekov.  Spock will be portrayed by a Sphinx cat, which are pretty creepy looking and definitely suggestive of aliens.  As for any episodes which have Klingons, they'll be portrayed by dogs.  (Mangy mutts!)

Commander Kor?  Or Cur?

Who knows what they could achieve for the strange aliens they might encounter?

I don't have any access to video or even publicity photos for this project yet, so I'm afraid all I can offer you are pictures I found on the internet which suggest each episode.......

Here are the thirteen episodes that are scheduled to be remade for 'Trek Kittens':

"City On The Edge Of Forever"

Edith Keeler treating Doctor McCoy

"The Trouble With Tribbles"

Uhura with a Tribble

"Space Seed"

(Shere) Khan Noonian Singh with Uhura

"The Squire Of Gothos"

Trelaine getting petulant

"Amok Time"

Stonn & T'Pring

"Arena"

Captain Kirk vs the Gorn

"Mudd's Women"

Harcourt Fenton Mudd

"The Doomsday Machine"

Commodore Matt Decker

"Shore Leave"

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

Bele & Lokai

"Court Martial"

Samuel Cogley: 

"I've got my own system. Books, young man. Books. Thousands of 'em. 

If time wasn't so important, I'd show you something. My library. Thousands of books."

"Spectre Of The Gun"

"Welcome to the O.K. Corral!"

"Where No Man Has Gone Before"

Gary Mitchell

(That episode is listed last in the schedule, which I think is a sure sign that the new movie is based on it.  And I'll bet it'll be Cumberbatch's feline avatar who is used as the host.)

 I'm hoping that if the series is a big success, they'll bring it back the following summer with all new episodes. 

Some of those could be based on these episodes:
"Plato's Stepchildren"

(I was sorry this didn't make the cut for the first series.  I'd love to see the cat version for one of my favorite actors, Michael Dunn!  Maybe a Manx to show that he's different?)

"Journey To Babel"

(This pig-looking dog - or even a real pig! - could stand in for the Tellarite, but what would be done for the Andorians?  How about a blue bunny?)


"Is There In Truth No Beauty?"

Don't look in the box without your visors!

"Man Trap"

"Devil In The Dark"

Encounter with the silicone-based Horta

"The Corbomite Maneuver"

Balok - Illusion & Reality

and bring back the Mudd-Cat for "I, Mudd"!

Who knows?  Eventually they could even do recreations of all 79 episodes, with an eye to then transforming the succeeding shows into episodes of 'Trek Kittens'.

'Trek Kittens: The Next Generation'!  'Trek Kittens: Litter Box Nine!'

And there might even be longer specials, which recreate the events from the many 'Star Trek' movies.  For instance, remember this scene from "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"?

Well, in the Animal Planet version, it could look like this:

Of course, what I would love to see is for them to negotiate with the BBC to adapt 'Doctor Who' for Animal Planet.  Not with cats, but with a dog. 


Call him "The WatchDog"!  And with each episode he could regenerate to a totally different breed of dog!

Oh!  The stories they could recreate!  The first one that comes to mind?

"Let's Kill Hitler"

BCnU!