TELE-QUICKIES: NUMBERS RUNNING

While I was on vacation, there was a 'Torchwood' marathon on TV; must have been on BBC-A. And I caught part of "Random Shoes", one of the better episodes that first year, while waiting for my nephew to come hang out and go swimming.

In the flashback to the childhood school days of Eugene Jones, his team lost by a score of 42 to 34 in an inter-school challenge. And it was math whiz Eugene who let the team down.

42 is one of "The Numbers" from 'Lost'......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: FRANKLIN PIERCE

FRANKLIN PIERCE

AS SEEN IN:
'Bewitched'

AS PLAYED BY:
Martin Ashe

Edited from Wikipedia:
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) was the 14th President of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857, an American politician and lawyer. To date, he is the only President from New Hampshire.

Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies) who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

He was nominated for president as a dark horse candidate on the 49th ballot at the 1852 Democratic National Convention. In the presidential election, Pierce and his running mate William R. King won by a landslide in the Electoral College, defeating the Whig Party ticket of Winfield Scott and William A. Graham by a 50% to 44% margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the electoral vote.

According to historian David Potter, Pierce was sometimes referred to as "Baby" Pierce, apparently referring to both his youthful appearance and his being the youngest president to take office to that point (although he was, in reality, only a year younger than James K. Polk when he took office).

His inoffensive personality caused him to make many friends, but he suffered tragedy in his personal life and as president subsequently made decisions which were widely criticized and divisive in their effects, thus giving him the reputation as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.

Pierce's popularity in the North declined sharply after he came out in favor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, repealing the Missouri Compromise and reopening the question of the expansion of slavery in the West. Historian David Potter concludes that the Ostend Manifesto and the Kansas-Nebraska Act were "the two great calamities of the Franklin Pierce administration.... Both brought down an avalanche of public criticism."

Abandoned by his party, Pierce was not renominated to run in the 1856 presidential election and was replaced by James Buchanan as the Democratic candidate. After losing the Democratic nomination, Pierce continued his lifelong struggle with alcoholism as his marriage to Jane Means Appleton Pierce fell apart. His reputation was destroyed during the American Civil War when he declared support for the Confederacy, and personal correspondence between Pierce and Confederate President Jefferson Davis was leaked to the press. He died in 1869 from cirrhosis. Philip B. Kunhardt and Peter W. Kunhardt reflected the views of many historians when they wrote in The American President that Pierce was "a good man who didn't understand his own shortcomings. He was genuinely religious, loved his wife and reshaped himself so that he could adapt to her ways and show her true affection. He was one of the most popular men in New Hampshire, polite and thoughtful, easy and good at the political game, charming and fine and handsome. However, he has been criticized as timid and unable to cope with a changing America."

BCnU!

A HERD OF CALFS

Every character in Toobworld has a story, even those "atmosphere people" seen in the background who have no lines. As I've stated often in the past, there are nearly 400 crewmen on board the starship Enterprise besides the regular crew seen on the bridge. There are other Hekawis in the tribe besides Wild Eagle, Crazy Cat, Wise Owl, Bald Eagle, and Screaming Chicken. (In fact, some Indians seen in modern TV productions who never had their actual heritage delineated could be considered members of the Hekawi tribe.) We never got to meet all of 'The 4400' before the show was cancelled. And there must be at least a couple of hundred New Yorkers seen in the opening credits of 'The Odd Couple'.

And everyone of them has a story that's never been seen by the audience in the Trueniverse.

Here's today's example:

There was a well-to-do family living just outside London in 1666 - the matriarch of the family was dead, but there was Squire John (last name unknown, but we're going to make the claim it was Ravensby), his son Charles, and his daughter Elizabeth. Here is the little we know of them from the 'Doctor Who' story "The Visitation":

An eruption of strange lights in the sky illuminates a small village just outside London in the year 1666. Squire John fears that the lights are evil omens, and he's more right than he knows -- an alien escape pod has touched down in the field just behind the manor house. One of the pod's occupants reaches the manor and guns down the terrified servant Ralph before John and his son Charles shoot and kill it. Young Elizabeth then calls them, as a figure in armour is punching through the front door. The family opens fire on the intruder, certain that its armour will provide no protection at such close range...
[from "The Doctor Who Reference Pages"] The Squire and his two children were killed by the invading aliens known as the Terileptils, who were intent on taking command of the Squire's mansion to be their base of operations. What little else we know of them can be inferred from the dialogue: it sounded as though Charles had some sort of beef against his father, as he was surly, rude, and insulting to Squire John. It was almost as if he was chafing under the dominance of his father and couldn't wait to be rid of the old man and finally come into his inheritance. But he died before that could happen and left no heirs to eventually regain control of the estate. No legitimate issue, true, but it is the contention of Toobworld Central that Charles showed his independence from his father by having his way with several women of the nearby villages. They were most likely tavern wenches, but perhaps there were several daughters of local crofters and farmers, innocent girls taken by his charm and accepting of his attentions. And as it goes so often in Toobworld, children were born of those liaisons.

Charles might have even had a dalliance with a kinswoman in the Ravensby line, through whom the family titles descended. The latest titled member of the line would be the Marquis Lord Ravensby whose son Dorian (the Earl of Colfax) has followed in his footsteps to attend Trinity College at Bridgeford University. ('Trinity') The DNA of Master Charles proved to be of sturdy stock - his tele-genetics were mirrored down through the ages, blossoming especially three hundred years later with quite a few incarnations.

In the early 20th Century, one of Charles' descendants, Lawrence Cavendish, found himself entangled in a murder investigation near the end of World War I. Cavendish was one of several suspects when his stepmother was found dead of strychnine poisoning at her Styles estate. ('Poirot' - "The Mysterious Affair At Styles")

Cavendish may have followed in Charles' footsteps and fathered Martin Keller out of wedlock around the turn of the century. However, he did have legitimate heirs, leading to Steven Cavendish. Steven may even have been Charles, "born to rerun" - that is, he could have been the reincarnation of Charles. Here's why: Steven also disliked his father, Robert Cavendish, and was a suspect in the murder of his father's young wife Tara. And Steven was having an affair with a local barmaid in the Midsomer area..... ('The Midsomer Murders' - "Dead Man's Eleven")During World War II, Martin Keller served as an RAF Wing Commander at a secret base just outside of Hastings. ('Foyle's War' - "Eagle Day"). And Keller may have been the illegitimate father to any of the other descendants of Charles' bloodline who have been seen in the late 20th Century and into the 21st.

Among these might be:
Malcolm Finniston ('Inspector Lewis' - "Dark Matter")

Richard Wenn ('Doc Martin' - "The Departed")

Joe Furst ('Dalziel And Pascoe' - "Project Aphrodite Parts One & Two")

John Grey ('Mistresses' - "Men Behaving Badly")
(If all of this begatting of bastards throughout history is true, that last entry seems appropriate!)

Michael Ambley - as seen in the TV movie "The Good Samaritan" - may have had his whole life covered in that one appearance, so for now he's eliminated from consideration as Martin Keller's bastard son as well.* Because it's possible that the parents of D.A.C. Robert Strickland (as seen in 'New Tricks') might one day come into play in a future episode of the series, Toobworld Central has eliminated him from consideration as a direct descendant of Martin Keller. The same holds true for characters with multiple appearances like:

Anthony Chatsworth ('Material Girl')

Michael Beauchamp (pictured, 'Holby City')

and perhaps Max of 'Identity'.

Nevertheless, they could all still trace their lineage back to Charles Ravensby. In those three hundred years since his death, the family tree may have splintered into hundreds of branches.
Why did I choose those characters then, out of the thousands of candidates throughout the last three hundred years? Because they were all played by Anthony Calf. Having the same actor always strengthens the case for a theory of relateeveety.

Here's a list of Anthony Calf's TV credits: Dr Who; Beau Geste; Tears Before Bedtime; Home is the Sailor; Chess Games; The Monocled Mutineer; Drummons; Fools on the Hill; Fortunes of War; My Family and Other Animals; Mary Rose; Boon; Bergerac; Tanamera; Great Expectations; Dawn and the Candidate; Mysteries of the Black Jungle; Poirot; Absolute Hell; Bye Bye Baby; Riders; Diana - Her True Story; Pride and Prejudice; Bramwell; My Night with Reg; Beck; Kavanagh QC; A Touch of Frost; Wing and a Prayer; Midsomer Murders; Lorna Doone; The Inspector Lynley Mysteries; Lucky Jim; Doc Martin; Sirens; The Cry; The Falklands Play; Celeb; Trust; Foyles War; Paradise Heights; Judge John Deed; The Brides in the Bath; The Village; Amnesia; Hotel in Amsterdam; The Murder Room; New tricks; The Robinsons; Holby City

(This list is not necessarily up to date.)

Any one of these not mentioned in the above article - save for the historical figures (Emile Zola), recastaways (Colonel Fitzwilliam, pictured), and those whose timelines would clash - could be considered members of the same family line.

BCnU!

*There are two other TV movies to consider: In "Tom's Christmas Tree", Anthony Calf played "Officer". It could be that he was actually D.A.C. Robert Strickland (and the movie didn't necessarily have to take place in 2006). Also, in "Perfect Day: The Millennium", also 2006, Calf portrayed a character named Michael. If his last name was never given, there's a possibility he was Michael Ambley of "The Good Samaritan". Having never seen any of these three tele-flicks, I can't speak with any authority on those theories of relateeveety.

METZGYVER!

Home state news story while I was on vacation....

HARTFORD — Jonathan Metz had his left arm stuck in his furnace boiler for about 12 hours when he asked himself "what would MacGyver do?" and concluded that amputating the limb was his only chance for survival.

Metz, who is right-handed, said when the thought of amputation first crossed his mind he pushed it away. He considered every other option and thought of the resourceful 1980s television character who always found a way to use mundane objects in his surroundings to get himself out of tough situations.

"I definitely dithered for a few hours after coming up with the initial idea," he said. "I thought there must be some other way, so I kind of started looking around my surroundings again. Maybe there was something I missed. You know, what would MacGyver do if he were here?"

Well, he wouldn't have stuck his arm in that pipe in the first place......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MICHAEL JACKSON

Friday marked the first year anniversary of Michael Jackson's death.

MICHAEL JACKSON

AS SEEN IN:
'Frankenholes'

So I'm two days late. Waaa waaa waaa......

BCnU!

ALTERNATEEVEE: THE COMIC PERSUADERS

Thanks to 'Doctor Who' blogger Combom, here's an image from Countdown For TV Action #53 (for the week ending February 19, 1972) which shows Lord Brett Sinclair and Danny Wilde - as they would appear in the comic strip/book universe.

This adventure didn't happen to 'The Persuaders' in the TV Universe, but it could have; we just never saw it in the Trueniverse.

And thanks to the music video from a-Ha for "Take On Me" (a Toobworld essential) as well as the TV series 'Once A Hero', we know that characters from the comic strip world can cross over to Earth Prime-Time. So there even exists the possibility that Danny and Brett might have met their pen-and-ink doppelgangers at some point.....

BCnU!

PS:
Check out "Life, The Universe, and Combom" for all the latest Who-news as well as interesting tidbits like this comic. Click on that link above......

THE HITCH-HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE DALEKS

Here's a nice fan-made crossover between 'Doctor Who' and 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy' (the TV edition). It works because 'Doctor Who' set the stage with several references to Douglas Adams' brilliant creation in both the old and the new series.

Enjoy.



BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: VIVIEN LEIGH

VIVIEN LEIGH

AS SEEN IN:
"Darlings Of The Gods"

AS PLAYED BY:
Mel Martin

BCnU!

A JUNE BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday to June Lockhart!

I'd like to think many of her TV characters are still alive, at least those who would have been born around the same time as she was. Of course, any characters she may have played in Westerns would be long gone, and perhaps some of her characters were killed off within the framework of their series.

But we know - as of 1989, but still! - that Ruth Martin, now with the surname of Chadwick, revisited her former adopted son Timmy in 'The New Lassie'.

And as of right now, probably still 'Lost In Space', Maureen Robinson is two years younger than I am now! And she was the ideal TV mom when I was growing up......

I sent this lovely lady birthday greetings via Facebook, and wish her all the best for a long time to come.

BCnU!

OVERHEARD IN NEW YORK

Sent to me by my bestest of friends, Ivy....

Overheard in New York:
That Jerk Never Returns My Calls
Girl #1: This whole Ben situation is really starting to piss me off.
Girl #2: I know! I just don’t know what his deal is.
Girl #1: He called me like twelve times yesterday.
Girl #2 (stopping in the middle of Penn Station): He called you? (pauses for a moment) Oh, you mean Ben your boyfriend, don’t you?
Girl #1: As opposed to?
Girl #2: Ben from 'Lost'.
Girl #1: Don’t talk to me for an hour, please.
–Penn Station

Overheard by: thought it was lost too
via Overheard in New York, Apr 16, 2009