TWO FOR TUESDAY - MacGREGOR'S SYNDROME (PART ONE)

Martin Ross used to have a great website dedicated to fanfic murder cases solved by Lt. Columbo.  Sadly he had to give it up, but I'll always have fond memories of those times when he investigated murders that also involved TV icons like Jim Rockford, Carl Kolchak, Dr. Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce, and FBI agents Mulder and Scully.

Martin is one of the biggest supporters of the Toobworld Dynamic concept, and he's always got an eye out (but not in the traditional Peter Falk sense of the phrase) for items of interest that I might be able to use.

He gave me this one some time back, but as I was beginning work on "Through The Glass Furnace", the third adventure in my Toobworld series, I had put the blog on hiatus for a time.  So now I'm back - for the prime-time being - and I'm able to start going through the accumulated TV trivia that I can use.

So I figured - now's as good a time as any for Martin's observation:

Martin Ross:
You prolly got this one, but on tonight's 'Flash', Joe West's ex-wife announced that she has MacGregor's Disease -- the same fictional disease Mr. Freeze's wife and Alfred contracted in "Batman and Robin".

ALFRED PENNYWORTH,
SUFFERING FROM MacGREGOR'S SYNDROME

This is an exceptional catch!  At the time Martin sent this in, I was inclined to just say that MacGregor's Syndrome, athough not to be found in the Trueniverse, could be found in more than one fictional universe, let alone one TV dimension.  'The Flash' takes place on Comix Toobworld1, as the Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld, already had its own Scarlet Speedster back in the early 1990s.  This is the same TV dimension which houses fellow CW superhero shows as 'Arrow' and 'Legends of Tomorrow' - but NOT 'Supergirl', which takes place in Comix Toobworld2.  

Nora Friese, Alfred Pennyworth, and Francine West were not the only ones to suffer from MacGregor's Syndrome.  William Tockman, also known as the Clock King in 'Arrow', was inflicted with the disease as well.

FRANCINE WEST,
AFFLICTED WITH MacGREGOR'S SYNDROME

Comix Toobworld2 will have its own version of Superman this season, and Earth Prime-Time had theirs back in the 1950s until his death in early 1963 or so.  But so far there hasn't been any hint that Superman or Batman exist in Comix Toobworld1.

I don't see any reason why 'Lois & Clark' can't be part of Comix Toobworld1, and I suppose a perfectly good reason could be found as to why we don't see Superman and his Missus show up in those three CW series.  Then again, 'Smallville' could be the Superman show to call Comix Toobworld1 home, since it does have somewhat of a connected production history.  

As for the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder?  The Batman and Robin of the main Toobworld had his heyday back in the mid-1960s, and Earth Prime-Time absorbed a movie out of the Cineverse because of it.  One of the possibilites for an alternate dimensional Dark Knight would already be dead in the near future depicted in 'Birds of Prey', a show basically set "20 minutes into the Future".  And its grim urban setting seems to be a good fit for a world in which Starling City could also be found.

But should it ever be mentioned - and only mentioned - on 'Arrow', 'The Flash', or 'Legends Of Tomorrow' that Batman is still out there fighting the good fight, then perhaps Comix Toobworld1 could absorb the movie "Batman And Robin" out of the Cineverse.  DC and the CW have openly embraced the idea that it is a multiverse and that all of these incarnations of their superheroes can be found in different dimensions, both from movies as well as TV.

And that way, MacGregor's Disease could be said to exist only in that one TV Dimension, Comix Toobworld1, shared by 'The Flash' and "Batman And Robin".

Of course, all bets are off should the Batman ever show up in one of those three CW series.....

Thanks, Martin!