VIEW NEWS: "CENTENNIAL" TO DVD!

Good news for fans of the mini-series based on James Michener's "Centennial"! TV Shows on DVD is reporting that it will finally see the light of day in DVD form on July 8th.

They give the usual caveats about this being subject to change, but just seeing their rundown of the major stars of the project in alphabetical order gave my Western-loving heart quite a boost!

Here's a rundown of most of the major players:

Michael Ansara ......... Lame Beaver

William Atherton ....... Jim Lloyd

Raymond Burr ........... Herman Bockweiss

Barbara Carrera ........ Clay Basket

Richard Chamberlain .... Alexander McKeag

Robert Conrad .......... Pasquinel

Richard Crenna ......... Colonel Frank Skimmerhorn

Timothy Dalton ......... Oliver Seccombe

Cliff De Young ......... John Skimmerhorn

Chad Everett ........... Major Maxwell Mercy

Sharon Gless ........... Sidney Endermann

Andy Griffith .......... Professor Lewis Venor

Merle Haggard .......... Cisco Calendar

Gregory Harrison ....... Levi Zendt

David Janssen .......... Paul Garrett/Narrator

Alex Karras ............ Hans Brumbaugh

Brian Keith ............ Sheriff Axel Dumire

Sally Kellerman ........ Lise Bockweiss

Stephen McHattie ....... Jacques 'Jake' Pasquinel

Lois Nettleton ......... Maude Wendell

Donald Pleasence ....... Samuel Purchase

Cristina Raines ........ Lucinda McKeag Zendt

Lynn Redgrave .......... Charlotte Buckland Seccombe

Robert Vaughn .......... Morgan Wendell

Dennis Weaver .......... R.J. Poteet

Anthony Zerbe .......... Mervin Wendell

Some others I don't see listed here are Stephanie Zimbalist, Clive Revill, and Clint Walker.

This was one of the finest adaptations of a novel I have ever seen in Toobworld, and I can't wait for a brand new generation of viewers to find out how good it was.

There are two other mini-series which I hope also get the DVD treatment soon: 'Captains And The Kings' and 'Testimony Of Two Men'.

BCnU!
Toby OB

SAVAGE ODYSSEY

Here's another "theory of relateeveety" connected to 'Odyssey 5'.....
Born around 1950, NASA Commander Chuck Taggart never knew his maternal grandfather. Brigadier General Frank Savage, who was stationed near Archbury with the 918th Bomber group, was killed in action over the European theater during WWII.

The maiden name for Taggart's mom never came up during the course of 'Odyssey 5', and very little was ever revealed about General Savage's personal life. The combination of those two facts - or lack thereof - helps to strengthen my theory.

And there's just something about the look of the two men that would suggest that they were related.

I'm not suggesting that they have any connection to Gary Seven, from a 'Star Trek' episode, nor to Control, a recurring character on 'The Equalizer'. (However, it's been a long-standing theory of Toobworld Central that both of those characters are the same man.)

BCnU!
Toby OB

TIDDLYWINKYDINKS: THREE SLICES OF "SALOME"

When theatrical producer Ed Opalsen was about to mount a production of "Pearls Before Swine", he bought a famous strand of pearls to use in the show for publicity.

The pearls were from the 1908 production of "Salome", a silent movie starring Russian actress and dancer Natalya Dolzhenka. The pearls were given to her as a gift from the Tsar of Russia.

In 1908 here in the real world, there were three film productions based on Oscar Wilde's "Salome":

"Salome"

"Salome, or The Dance Of The Seven Veils"

"L' Inconsciente Salome"

None of them, so far as I can tell, starred any Russian actress named Natalya Dolzhenko. (Movies from one hundred years ago, the IMDb.com was lucky there was still enough info around that these three movies existed!)

Of course, we're dealing with Toobworld, so it doesn't really matter. This is just one of the many trivial details in which the TV Universe differs from our Trueniverse. Over there, four versions of the play were filmed, and that strand of pearls became the center of a "Jewel Robbery At The Grand Metropolitan", which only 'Poirot' could solve.

By the way, the closest I can find to the name of this actress in the real world is Natalia Dolzhenko, who pops up on several internet scammer lists as a woman from Ukraine who deceives overly trustful men.

I wonder if she got her inspiration for that name from Agatha Christie?

BCnU
Toby OB

FRIEL TO BE

Charlotte "Chuck" Charles grew up in Couer de Couers and died during an ocean cruise. She is currently residing in the big city of Papen County.

If the combination of those two sentences didn't make sense to you, then you weren't watching 'Pushing Daisies' when it premiered.

Chuck Charles may have been from Papen County, but her soul goes farther back in Time and Space.

No, not by way of the Doctor!

Young Sioned lived in the village of Gwytherin in Wales back in the 1130s. This is from where the bones of St. Winifred were translated to take up their permanent residence at Shrewsbury Abby.
With her lover and future husband Godwin, I believe Sioned was the mother of the family tree that eventually bore fruit in Chuck Charles.

Not only that, it seems apparent that Sioned's features were echoed and reborn in Chuck even after all those centuries. (The fact that Anna Friel played both roles buttresses that argument.)

Whether that could also lead to the soul of Sioned being reborn into the body of Chuck, I'm going to let it slide for now.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

FALLING ON MY BAT'LETH

I take the blame for the Patriots loss.

I slept through most of it as I had to work the overnight. But I turned it on and the Patriots scored that second touchdown.

However, I had to abandon them and turn off the TV when it finally came time to leave for work.

I could tell by revelers on the subway farther down the line that the giants won it. I felt the same way when walking to Queens Boulevard during that Yankees-Red Sox playoff decider in 2003, when Aaron Boone pulled off that great hit.

Oh well. The Jints were my Dad's team; so I hope his spirit is happy tonight.

I'm sure that transplant from Wyoming is happy too.

Let's find out......

BCnU!
Toby OB

IRON GUTS & SOLANGE KELLY

Solange Kelly was the owner of the Nirvana Health Club Farm in "Who Killed The Eleventh Best-Dressed Woman In The World?", an episode of 'Burke's Law'.

While baring her soul to Captain Amos Burke, Solange revealed that she stole away the first husband of the murder victim, Celia Bannerman. Celia wanted to exact revenge on her, but Solange never remarried after her husband died in Korea.

If she is still living under her married surname rather than her maiden name, then it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble (as Mushrat would say), that her husband was Lt. General Robert "Iron Guts" Kelly, as seen in the "Iron Guts" episode of 'M*A*S*H'.

Solange probably thought her husband died bravely in the line of duty - which is exactly what Kelly's aide Colonel Wortman arranged. In actuality, Lt. General Kelly died in Hot Lips' tent - like they said in the MAD Magazine spoof of 'M*A*S*H', the Army traveled on her stomach.

It's always the way - Old Iron Guts cheated on his wife Celia with Solange. So why would he change his ways once he married her? That's the main reason why I like this theory!

BCnU!
Toby OB

GAME OF THE NAME: VICKERS IS THE VICTOR

'Burke's Law' has provided yet another example of a character's name being different in the credits than it was in the actual TV Universe.

In "Who Killed The Eleventh Best-Dressed Woman In The World", Josephine Hutchinson was credited onscreen as "Madeline Victors". But her name - and that of her niece Gloria - is clearly heard as "Vickers".

And it's not like the others swallowed up that "T" sound - at one point Solange Kelly, owner of the Nirvana Health Club Farm enunciates the word "victim" and the "T" can be plainly heard.

This is just another example of why the credits should never be considered as part of the TV Universe.

By the way, Madeline Vickers once lived just outside of Brewster, NY. Perhaps she knew the Marie family - Lew, Helen, and their daughter Ann...... (from 'That Girl')

BCnU!
Toby OB

BORN TO RERUN: SUZIE QUEUE

Everybody knows in a second life,
we all come back sooner or later.

As anything from a pussycat
to a man eating alligator.
Paul Hampton
('My Mother The Car')

As those lyrics indicate, it's time once again to delve into a theory of reincarnation in Toobworld - that two TV characters share the same soul.

In the past, I've made the case for Emperor Claudius & Dr. Bob Hartley and Ross and Demelza Poldark & Greg and Dharma Montgomery.

Today's theory begins in 1138 Shrewsbury and ends up in the Cardiff of 2009.

In the 'Cadfael' episode "The Sanctuary Sparrow", the case being investigated by Brother Cadfael and Undersheriff Beringar concerned who attacked the head of the Aurifaber household. A young minstrel was blamed, but he sought sanctuary within the church, which afforded Cadfael time to discover the true culprit.

The eldest daughter of the Aurifaber Family was Susanna, heavy with child and angry with her eventual dismissal as mistress of the house now that her brother had married. By the end of the episode, she was responsible for at least one death and was fleeing to Wales when she was killed.

Nearly nine hundred years later, her soul finally made it into Wales, but it still had not found the peace it sought.

I believe Susanna Aurifaber was reborn as Suzie Costello, seen in several episodes of 'Torchwood'.

Although portrayed by different actresses, there is a slight similarity in appearance between them both - not that it's a requirement in reincarnation.

But both Susanna and Suzie shared other qualities that could have been pre-determined by them both sharing the same soul.

They were both ambitious.

Both had father issues.

They drove themselves hard.

They caused harm to those close to them.

They were responsible for the deaths of others.

They railed against the unfairness of their situations, even if their circumstances were of their own making.

And both Susanna and Suzie came to tragic ends. (For Suzy, several times over.)

As usual, my theories of reincarnation - like so many of my Toobworld theories - can't be proven. But if you viewed Suzie like I viewed Suzie (Sorry about that, Chief!), you can see echoes of her future self in Susanna Aurifaber.

BCnU!
Toby OB

TIDDLYWINKYDINKS: TEILO IN TRIPLICATE

In the latest 'Torchwood' episode ("To The Last Man"), much of the action centers around St. Teilo's Hospital, both in 2010 as well as in 1918 - both time periods beginning to merge with the hospital as the nexus.

St. Teilo is a Welsh saint who seems to be more notable for what occurred after he died than for what happened during his life. One of the most celebrated legends about him tells how, on his death at Llandeilo, three churches claimed his body: Penally (his birthplace), Llandeilo Fawr (his chief church), and Llandaff. The clergy of the three churches prayed, then left the body in the church. In the morning, the body was found to have been miraculously triplicated, so that each church could have an authentic body to bury!

Here's an ancient text on the subject:

On the night of his decease, there arose a great dispute between the clergy of three of his churches, each asserting its authorities and privileges for obtaining his body; one, of which was Pennalun, and which claimed because it was there his ancestors had been buried, and therefore, the proper place by hereditary right; the second church, which was situated on the banks of the Towy, claimed it because it was the place of his residence, where he lived retired, and because he there gloriously ended his life; the third was Llandaff, and urged its claim on account of its having been his episcopal see, of its privileges and dignities, its consecrations and obedience, and of the unanimous voice of all the diocese, and especially because of its former state, and the appointment of St. Dubricius, and other fathers.

But at length, attending to the advice of discreet men, they had recourse to fasting and prayer, that Christ, the great judge, who is the true authority, and privilege of holy persons, should declare by some manifest sign, to which of them he would be pleased to commit the holy body of the Saint. And in the morning, a certain elder, looking towards the place where the body was, spoke with a loud voice, saying, “Our prayer, brethren, has been heard by the Lord, who deprives no one of his reward: Arise, and behold what things have been done by Christ the Mediator between God and man, that our dispute might be settled; and as in the life, so in the death of the holy confessor Teilo, miracles should be performed”

For, ho! they saw there three bodies, to which there was the same dimensions of body, the same beauty of countenance, (what more?) they had the lineaments of the whole frame, without any difference. So peace being restored, each with their own corpse returned homewards, and they buried the different bodies in those several places with the greatest reverence.

A Toobworld splainin? Time travelers of course. More specifically, the Doctor.

The body was stolen away after burial at the first site and after the burial at the second site. Those two corpses were taken away out of their time-streams to be brought back and laid beside each other along with the original body - thus creating a time loop. The tombs were then left empty at all but the third burial site and no one the wiser.

I don't know why this needed to be done; I'll leave that to the Lives of the Saints fanficcers, of which I'm sure there are SO many!

BCnU!

Toby OB

NEW @ TOOBWORLD CENTRAL

Something a bit different was delivered to Toobworld Central's door today - strike swag!

Doing a little bit to help out during the strike, I ordered official merchandise through the link at United Hollywood's site:

1] WGA grey Tee with the red logo for the strike

2] WGA WEst black Tee with strike-relevant emblem

3] United Hollywood adjustable black cap

Just doing my part.... (I'd volunteer to walk the picket lines, but I can't go four hours without a porto-san on hand!)

BCnU!
Toby OB