TOOBWORLD CENTRAL IS ON THE GO!

I'm working out of the mobile base for Toobworld Central for the next 24 hours; this time out we're at the Markhael Lair in the East Village. Should be an interesting experience.......




(Help me! Send food!)

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE DEEP SIX: THE GOVERNATORS

With the big news out of the Governor's office here in New York state, I thought it might be a good time to present another of my Deep Six lists.

This time, it's a list of state governors found only in Toobworld......

1] Judge Henry Garth, played by Lee J. Cobb on 'The Virginian'
When Lee J. Cobb wanted to leave the long-running Western, the producers of 'The Virginian' wrote him out by having Judge Garth become the territorial governor of Wyoming. What's great about this is that I can use this as a link to 'Alias Smith & Jones', in which Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry were promised a pardon by the governor of Wyoming, just so long as they stayed out of trouble for one year.

So why not have it be Judge Garth who made the deal?

2] Eugene Xavier Gatling, played by James Noble on 'Benson'
This was probably the biggest role in Noble's career, and it served as a Toobworld link as well. Eugene X. Gatling was the cousin of Jessica Tate of 'Soap' and she was the one who persuaded Benson to take the job in the Governor's mansion in order to help her cousin.

The state at first was suggested to be Connecticut, where Dunn's River of 'Soap' is located, but it never was actually pinned down as such.

3] William Drinkwater, played by Dan Dailey on 'The Governor And JJ'
All we know about the state governed by William Drinkwater was that it was located in the Midwest. Personally, I always saw it as being Minnesota or Michigan. I suppose Dailey was pleasant enough in the role, for what I remember of the show which I watched as a kid. I mainly remember the sitcom for his daughter JJ, played by Julie Sommers on whom I had a crush at the time.

4] Paul Jameson, played by Richard Denning on 'Hawaii Five-O'
Jameson became something of an adjunct to the cast of 'Five-O'. He wasn't the first governor for the 50th state, as the great Lew Ayres held that office in one episode as well. But when it came time to having the role filled on a recurring basis, Denning was elected. Back then, having McGarrett deal directly with the Governor showed how much power Five-O had. Nowadays that type of relationship would inevitably lead to episodes about corruption....

5] Robert Ritchie, played by James Brolin on 'The West Wing' & Frank Tancredi, played by John Heard on 'Prison Break' (tie)
I couldn't make up my mind between these two governors from alternate TV dimensions, based entirely on the actors in the roles. Heard has always been one of my ten favorite actors since I first saw him in "Between The Lines", and it's always good to see Brolin get the chance to be more than Mr. Streisand.

6] James Devlin, played Zeljko Ivanek on 'Oz'
What a great lizardly character actor Ivanek has been for Toobworld, with other roles on 'Damages', 'Lost', and 'Homicide: Life On The Street' as highlights on his resume. Governor Devlin was an integral character when it came to showing the forces affecting Oswald Penitentiary beyond its walls.

So there you have it, my picks for the six top fictional governors in the televersion of the United States. As for the worst? I've got two choices:

Richard Wechsler as seen in 'Monk' ("Mr. Monk Is On The Run, Part Two") - Everybody knows the governor of California at this time is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Having Wechsler in office probably means that 'Monk' must be tossed into an alternate TV dimension.

Michael Riordan as seen in 'Law & Order' ("Gov Luv") - At the time this episode aired, Connecticut's governor was John Rowland, who was embroiled in charges which led to his departure from office and eventual conviction. Those troubles were blended with those of former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey's sexual revelations to create a new character. But since both real world governors were being referenced in other TV shows, and since 'Law & Order' was already using real world politicians like Giuliani and Bloomberg, why couldn't they have said Riordan was the governor of some unnamed nearby state.

Or they could have made him the governor of Delaware. The real one doesn't seem to be making headlines lately.....

Waiting for the Spitz to hit the fan....

BCnU!
Toby OB

TOSH AND CIRCUMSTANCE

According to Alan Stanley Blair of ScyFy Portal, it can finally be confirmed that Naoki Mori's character of Toshiko Sato on 'Torchwood' is the same Toshiko Sato as seen in the 'Doctor Who' two-parter "Aliens Of London" and "World War Three". (I hate those titles! I would've named those episodes "The Gas Exchange" and "Number 10 Downing".)

There had been some question about that because in 'Doctor Who', Tosh was an intern at Albion Hospital. But now that she's working for Torchwood, Owen Harper is the go-to guy for the medical work, while Tosh has been their computer geek.

According to Ms. Mori, "Yes. I cleared it with Russell T. Davies and he said yes. Actually, that gets referred to a lot later on in the second season of 'Torchwood' as well. You have to keep watching the second series of 'Torchwood.' There's a lot of things that get cleared up."

She makes mention of one such topic, but as I didn't understand it (and the link that led me to the story seemed to be something of a spoiler), I'm not going to reveal what she said. That's for the benefit of those of us here in the States unfortunate enough to see 'Torchwood' on a delayed basis......

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: MARCEL, MORESO

Owen:
You take these things for granted.
It's only when they're slipping away
You realise how amazing they are.
Jack:
"Only in suffering do we recognise beauty".
Owen:
Yeah yeah, who said that?
Jack:
Proust.
Owen:
You've read Proust?
Jack:
Yeah, well, no.
We dated for a while. He was really immature.
'Torchwood'

I'll leave it to Wikipedia to summarize Proust:

"Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (July 10, 1871 – November 18, 1922) was a French novelist, essayist and critic, best known as the author of À la recherche du temps perdu (in English, In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past), a monumental work of twentieth-century fiction published in seven parts from 1913 to 1927.

Proust, who was homosexual, was one of the first European novelists to treat homosexuality openly and at length.

His life and family circle changed considerably between 1900 and 1905. In February 1903, Proust's brother Robert married and left the family home. His father died in September of the same year. Finally, and most crushingly, Proust's beloved mother died in September 1905, leaving him a considerable inheritance. (In today's terms, a principal of about $6 million, with a monthly income of about $15,000.) His health throughout this period continued to deteriorate."

Jack may have dated Proust before Mrs. Proust passed away. It would probably be Proust's reclusiveness and reluctance to leave his home and his mother that would make Jack tag the writer as being immature.

Proust may have been in the forefront of Jack's mind just prior to these last two episodes ("Reset" & "Dead Man Walking") because of Torchwood's experience with "Adam", who stole Jack's "remembrances of things past".....

And maybe Jack was attracted to Proust because he dressed like an earlier incarnation of the Doctor.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

NEWS VIEWS: A STITCH IN TOON

The Disney company is making a new TV show based on their character Stitch from the movie "Lilo And Stitch". But this time Stitch will have left Hawaii and instead move to Okinawa, Japan. There he'll end up living with a Japanese girl named Hanako. Based on the news story, I don't know if there will be any mention on 'Stitch!' as to why he left the orphan girl Lilo behind, and it's unlikely we'll be able to see the show ourselves to find out - it's going to air on Japan's Disney channel in October.

The original TV cartoon crossed over with 'Kim Possible', so I'd say the alien teddy bear could be eligible for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

BCnU!
Toby OB

SNOOPER, CRACKLE, POP!

Scriptwriter and comics enthusiast Mark Evanier loves old-time TV animation and the vocal work of Daws Butler, which are just some of the many topics he's covered in his blog, "News From ME". (Link to the left, gentle folk!) And because of that, I've now seen this cute, classic, commercial crossover of the Rice Kripies trio (Snap, Crackle, Pop) and the Hanna-Barbera cat and mouse duo of Snooper and Blabbermouse.

[CLICK HERE]

Of course, it all takes place over in the Tooniverse and has no effect on the main Toobworld. But who cares? It's just a fun bit o' nostalgia.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: BLEEP THE METS

In the pilot of 'New Amsterdam', Detective John York went looking for the owner of Omar's Bar & Grill, perhaps the one person who knew his secret. John found him behind the bar, slumped on the floor after getting a beat-down from his bookie over his unpaid gambling debts.

As he helped the older man up, John wanted to know if it was poker or the Mets, and Omar grumbled that it was the Mets. (He may have said "Damn Mets" or "Lousy Mets", but since it was broadcast TV, we know what that adjective could NOT be!)

So even though the episode was aired in March of 2008, the episode was taking place just after September 30, 2007.

By September 12 of last year, the Mets had a seven game lead in the National League. But then they suffered what could be the worst collapse in baseball history by losing twelve of their last seventeen games - which knocked them out of the post-season.

By the 29th, they were tied with Philadelphia and were hoping to win the NL East the next day... or at least force a one-game playoff. But on the 30th, the Florida Marlins knocked Tom Glavine around for seven runs in the first inning while the Phillies enjoyed a 6-1 win over the Washington Nationals. And so it was the Phillies who were the Champs in the National League East instead of the supposedly pre-destined Mets.
No wonder Omar was pissed! He probably cursed the fact that he shared the same first name as the general manager of the team!

BCnU!
Toby OB

[Full disclosure: I'm a Red Sox fan living in NYC. So, nyeh heh heh.....]

OWEN'S NUMBER IS UP

Remember when I took Dr. Martha Jones' UNIT ID number from her first appearance on 'Torchwood' and added up all the digits to get "42", one of the 'Lost' Numbers (as well as the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything from 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy'?)
Well, when Martha began the autopsy on Owen's body in the episode "Dead Man Walking", she identified him for the record as Torchwood agent #565. (They've had a lot of Torchwood agents since 1869!) And it's not really giving anything away to say that Captain Jack does the same thing next week.

5-6-5. Add those digits up and you get another in the sequence of Numbers from 'Lost' = "16".

And it makes me wonder if these trivial details might be intentional....

BCnU!
Toby OB

"COUPLING" THE NUMBERS

Ever since that online "'Lost' Experience" tried to splain away "the Numbers", they have not had as much prominence in the TV series. (From Lostpedia: "It has been revealed in The Lost Experience that these six numbers are the core values of the Valenzetti Equation, a mathematical formula designed to predict the end of humanity. The numbers in actuality are said to represent human and environmental factors in the equation (given numerical form), though their precise meaning is uncertain.")

But still they are universal, and when we're talking about the Toobworld concept, "universal" means that they will show up in other TV shows, not just 'Lost'. Sometimes deliberately, as was the case in 'Veronica Mars', (maybe in 'Heroes' as well), or just as a fluke (as was the case with that 'Rosemary & Thyme connection yesterday).

So they may not be appearing on 'Lost' as much anymore, but Toobworld Central will continue looking for the Numbers in other programs.....

Take for instance, 'Coupling'....
For reasons unknown, the Numbers - at least the numeral "8" - is exerting its influence over the cast in their favorite hangout. And here we see Patrick the pole-vaulter donkey sharing the scene with it......

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: PERRY, PARIS, & "POIROT"

Today's Tiddlywinkydink is another biographical sketch of the real person behind the historical televersion.

In the 'Poirot' episode "Death In The Clouds", the Belgian detective was in Paris for a tennis tournament. And the star attraction during the tournament, the Roger Federer of his day, was Fred Perry. (Not being a tennis fan, that's as relevant as I can get.)

Here's what I learned from Wikipedia about Perry:

Frederick John Perry (May 18, 1909 – February 2, 1995) born in Stockport, Cheshire. was an English tennis player and three-time Wimbledon champion. He was the World No. 1 player for five years, four of them consecutive, 1934 through 1938, the first three years as an amateur. He was the last Englishman to win the Wimbledon Men's Singles. Perry is considered by some to have been one of the greatest male players to have ever played the game. In his 1979 autobiography Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, called Perry one of the six greatest players of all time.

Kramer, however, has several caveats about Perry. He says that Bill Tilden once called Perry "the world's worst good player". Kramer says that Perry was "extremely fast; he had a hard body with sharp reflexes, and he could hit a forehand with a snap, slamming it on the rise—and even on the fastest grass. That shot was nearly as good as Segura's two-handed forehand." His only real weakness, says Kramer, "was his backhand. Perry hit underslice off that wing about 90 percent of the time, and eventually at the very top levels—against Vine and Budge—that was what did him in. Whenever an opponent would make an especially good shot, Perry would cry out 'Very clevah.' I never played Fred competitively, but I heard enough from other guys that that 'Very clevah' drove a lot of opponents crazy."

[Toobworld note: So actually, he sounds like the John McEnroe of his day.....]

Kramer also says that in spite of his many victories, both as an amateur and as a professional, Perry was an "opportunist, a selfish and egotistical person, and he never gave a damn about professional tennis. He was through as a player the instant he turned pro. He was a great champion, and he could have helped tennis, but it wasn't in his interest so he didn't bother." "Death In The Clouds" was broadcast in January of 1992. As Perry lived for another three years, it's not unlikely he got to see this televersion of himself.

If Kramer's opinion is to be taken as fact, Fred Perry would have made for an excellent suspect in a 'Poirot' mystery. Or more likely, a murder victim.....

BCnU!
Toby OB