TODAY'S TWD: SERLING HONORS

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine posted this notice the other day:

"On Saturday, June 21, EMPSFM [held] its 2008 Science Fiction Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Those being honored this year are Betty and Ian Ballantine (Literature Category), William Gibson (Literature Category), Richard M. Powers (Art Category), and Rod Serling (Film, Television and Media Category.)"

It's Rod Serling's induction that interests us at Toobworld Central, of course. Here's the write-up about Serling which EMP/SFM used to describe the writer-producer, reprinted from John Clute and Peter Nicholls' "Encyclopedia of Science Fiction":

American scriptwriter and producer Working name of US screenwriter and television producer Rodman Edward Serling, best known for the television series 'The Twilight Zone', for which he won three Hugo Awards (1960-62). A paratrooper in WWII, he went to New York in 1948 as a freelance writer, first for radio and then for television. During the 1950s he became one of the most highly regarded television writers, winning many awards including six Emmy Awards for such television plays as “Patterns” (1955) and “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (1956).

In 1959 he created, wrote and produced the first of his 'The Twilight Zone' anthology series, on which he also appeared as host; his dark figure and gravelly tones became very familiar to viewers. The series, mainly fantasy dramas with some science fiction, lasted five years and came as a breath of fresh air to fans of fantasy and science fiction, who had previously had little television material available. Over the course of its five seasons, 'The Twilight Zone' won two Emmys for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama, and three Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation. In 1970 he tried to repeat this success with a similar series, 'Rod Serling's Night Gallery', but it lasted only until 1972. Two of his scripts from the show were also nominated for Emmys.
In addition to his television work, which included writing many episodes for both The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, Serling wrote a number of film scripts such as those for "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1963; based on his television script), John Frankenheimer's "Seven Days in May" (1964) and the original version of "Planet of the Apes" (1968). Serling wrote some of his teleplays into short-story form and published them in collections: Stories from 'The Twilight Zone' (1960), More Stories from The Twilight Zone (1961), New Stories from The Twilight Zone (1962) and many more. After his death, Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine (1981-9) achieved prominence in the fantasy/horror field.

Selected Filmography:
“Patterns,” Kraft Television Theatre (1955)
“Requiem for a Heavyweight,” Playhouse 90 (1956)
“The Comedian,” Playhouse 90 (1957)
The Twilight Zone (1959 – 1964)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (1970 – 1973)

Selected Bibliography:
The Twilight Zone Companion (1989)

Courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Copyright © John Clute and Peter Nicholls 1993, 1999, published by Orbit, an imprint of the Time Warner Book Group UK.

Serling's influence can still be felt more than thirty years after his death in Toobworld. American viewers of 'Doctor Who' will understand what I mean when they finally get the chance to see the episode "Midnight" in a week and a half.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

SKED ALERT! A CARLIN TRIBUTE

From Alan Sepinwall's blog, "What's Alan Watching" (link to the left, good people!), here's some exciting news about the perfect TV memorial for George Carlin:

HBO will remember George Carlin this week with encore presentations of many of his HBO specials. The specials span his association with the network, from his first HBO special (“George Carlin at USC”) to his last (“It’s Bad for Ya”).

“George Carlin: It’s Bad for Ya,” which debuted on the network in March, will be seen on the main HBO channel this Friday, June 27 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT).

In addition, HBO2 will present 11 of his specials over two nights.

The HBO2 schedule is (all times ET/PT):

Wednesday, June 25

8:00 p.m.

George Carlin at USC (1977)

9:30 p.m.

George Carlin Again! (1978)

11:00 p.m.

Carlin at Carnegie (1983)

midnight

Carlin on Campus (1984)

1:00 a.m.

Playin’ with Your Head (1986)

Thursday, June 26

8:00 p.m.

What Am I Doing in New Jersey? (1988)

9:00 p.m.

Doin’ It Again (1990)

10:00 p.m.

Jammin’ in New York (1992)

11:00 p.m.

Back in Town (1996)

12:05 a.m.

You Are All Diseased (1999)

1:00 a.m.

It’s Bad for Ya (2008)

Be there!

BCnU!

Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: CARLIN, OCTOBER 11, 1975

Our top story tonight......

On Sunday, George Carlin - the legendary comic and the real Voice of Reason - passed away from heart problems at the age of 71.

I'll be cobbling together a true Hat Squad remembrance of his contributions to Toobworld, but for now, I'd like to offer up this tribute. It's the very first opening monologue from 'Saturday Night Live', delivered Octorber 11th, 1975 by George Carlin on the show's premiere.

The transcript is courtesy of the Saturday Night Live Transcripts project, one of the great places to while away an hour or so online.

Thank you! Talk about a live show! It's nice to see you, welcome, and thanks for joining us - live.

Um.. I'm kinda glad that we're on at night, so that we're not competing with all the football and baseball. So many, man..

And this is the time of year when there's both, you know? Football's kinda nice, they changed it a little bit - they moved the hash marks in. Guys found it and smoked them, anyway! But you know, football wants to be the number-one sport, the national pastime. And I think it already is, really, because football represents something we are - we are Europe, Jr.

When you get right down to it, we're Europe, Jr. We play a Europe game. What was the Europe game? [ high voice ] "Let's take their land away from them! You'll be the pink, on up; we'll be blue, the red and the green!"

Ground acquisition. And that's what football is, football's a ground acquisition game. You knock the crap out of eleven guys and take their land away from them. Of course, we only do it ten yards at a time. That's the way we did it with the Indians - we won it little by little. First down in Ohio - Midwest to go!

Let's put it this way - there are things about the words surrounding football and baseball, which give it all away:

Football is technological; baseball is pastoral.

Football is played in a stadium; baseball is played in the park.

In football, you wear a helmet; in baseball, you wear a cap.

Football is played on an enclosed, rectangular grid, and everyone of them is the same size; baseball is played on an ever-widening angle that reaches to inifinity, and every park is different!

Football is rigidly timed; baseball has no time limit, we don't know when it's gonna end! We might even have extra innings!

In football, you get a penalty; in baseball, you make an error - whoops!

The object in football is to march downfield and penetrate enemy territory, and get into the end zone; in baseball, the object is to go home! "I'm going home!"

And, in football, they have the clip, the hit, the block, the tackle, the blitz, the bomb, the offense and the defense; in baseball, they have.. the sacrifice.

I don't think it's in your nature to rest in peace, George. But I do know that you should be too busy with all of that celestial stuff you have access to now, too busy to smile down on us. Enjoy this chance to lay back on a cloud and take harp lessons!

BCnU.....
Toby OB

60 YEARS AGO: A REALLY BIG SHEW

Thanks to my blogging buddy Mercurie (A Shroud Of Thoughts, link to the left) I found out that Friday marked the sixtieth anniversary for 'The Ed Sullivan Show'. It began life as 'The Toast Of The Town', but was renamed to reflect one of the most unlikely stars Television ever produced: a stiff, awkward, somewhat un-photogenic newspaper columnist.

And the idea that such a mainstay of network television for so many years would premiere when the "TV Season" as we know it had ended, seems unthinkable today!

When I chose Topo Gigio, who closed out many Sullivan shows with a kees goo'night from the host, to be the June inductee into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, I had no clue that this milestone was soon approaching. It's just another example of "serendipiteevee", I guess.

Mercurie has a rich look back at the show and his profile gives it a much better tribute than I ever could. So check it out here!

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: MAFEKING AND "MAVERICK"

Yes, it's another post about the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Unicorn And The Wasp"!

Colonel Hugh Curbishley was the husband of Lady Clemency Eddison and the father of Roger Curbishley. After the death of Professor Peach, the Colonel was one of the suspects as the killer. During his interrogation by the Doctor and Agatha Christie, the Colonel claimed to be in a different room at the time where he was reminiscing about his time during the siege at Mafeking. However, we in the audience know better - we got to see his flashback to his daydreams about the naughty girls in a burlesque show.

As to what really happened at Mafeking? As usual (because it's so easy to access!) here's a quick sketch of the Siege at Mafeking from Wikipedia:

The Siege of Mafeking was the most famous British action in the Second Boer War. It took place at the town of Mafeking (now Mafikeng) in South Africa over a period of 217 days, from October 1899 to May 1900, and turned Robert Baden-Powell, who went on to found the Scouting Movement, into a national hero. The lifting of the Siege of Mafeking was a decisive victory for the British and a crushing defeat for the Boers.

President Kruger of the Boer Transvaal Republic declared war on October 12, 1899. Under the orders of General Cronje the Mafeking railway (railroad) and telegraph lines were cut the same day, and the town began to be besieged from October 13. Mafeking was first shelled on October 16 after Baden-Powell ignored Cronje's 9 o'clock deadline to surrender.

Although outnumbered by over 8,000 Boer troops, the garrison withstood the siege for 217 days, defying the predictions of the politicians on both sides. Much of this was attributable to some of the cunning military deceptions instituted by Baden-Powell. Fake landmines were laid around the town in view of the Boers and their spies within the town, and his soldiers were ordered to simulate avoiding barbed wire (non-existent) when moving between trenches; guns and a searchlight (improvised from an acetylene lamp and biscuit tin) were moved around the town to increase their apparent number.

A howitzer was built in Mafeking's railway workshops, and even an old cannon was pressed into service. Noticing the Boers had failed to remove any of the rails, Baden-Powell had an armoured locomotive from the Mafeking railyard loaded with sharpshooters and sent up the rail line in a daring attack right into the heart of the Boer camp followed by a safe return to Mafeking.

The Boers decided that the town was too heavily defended to take, and on November 19 4,000 Boers were redeployed elsewhere, although the siege remained and shelling of Mafeking continued. Aware of the approaching British relief columns, the Boers launched a final major attack on the evening of May 11, succeeded in breaching the perimeter defences and setting light to some of the town, but were finally beaten back.

The siege was finally lifted on May 17, 1900, when British forces relieved the town after fighting their way in.

Robert Baden-Powell was given credit for his tactical maneuvers, but I think that in Toobworld, he learned them from studying reports from the US Cavalry.
Back in the 1870s, Fort Burnside in the Dakotas was attacked by Sioux Indians led by a chief named Running Horse. They killed all twenty of the soldiers inside, but were later tricked into believing that "The Ghost Soldiers" all came back to life to defend the fort. This was accomplished by a gambler named Bret Maverick with the help of two soldiers who were accompanying him: Sgt. Baines and Corporal Daggett. 'Maverick' was able to hold off at least one hundred Sioux warriors until reinforcements could arrive, although Daggett lost his life in the process.

By making it look like Running Horse was killed by a soldier he had already killed, Maverick drove off the rest of the Sioux from their siege of Fort Burnside.

It's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that Baden-Powell decided similar tactics could be employed at Mafeking to hold off the Boer. And he owed it all to Bret Maverick....

BCnU!
Toby OB

WHO'S PUZZLE BOOKS?

I still have at least two more posts to write up about Agatha Christie's episode of 'Doctor Who' for the daily Tiddlywinkydink, but it's also time to move on to the next episode to be shown in America. Although I saw it (and the second half) last week, "Silence In The Library" aired last night on the Sci-Fi Channel.

And there's one puzzle, stirred up outside of the episode, which I'm hoping someone can help me with.......
Several posters, at "Ain't It Cool News" and "TVSquad", mentioned several books to be found in the 'Doctor Who' episode "Silence In The Library" which served as references to past episodes of 'Doctor Who' or to the people who worked on the series.

Both lists were the same, so I'm thinking the TVSquad writer may have found it at AICN. (I apologize if I'm wrong.)

They claim these books were in the episode:

an operating manual for the TARDIS

"Origins Of The Universe" ("Destiny Of The Daleks")

"The French Revolution" ("An Unearthly Child")

"The Journal Of Impossible Things" ("Human Nature"/"The Family Of Blood")

"The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" (author Douglas Adams wrote for 'Doctor Who')

"Everest In The Easy Stages" ("The Creature From The Pit")

"Black Orchid" (a book seen in the same-titled Fifth Doctor serial)

However, I can't figure out where they would have appeared, or how the viewer saw them. I can only figure that they were in the set dressings, but no real attention was given them; that they were more for the cast members' benefit than the audience's. And if so, perhaps the commenters found out about their use from somebody leaking behind-the-scenes gossip. (Sometimes I think that's the only way some of the really trivial stuff from 'Lost' gets found. But then again, "Lostaways" are fanatics.)

Of course, as Dennis Miller used to say, I could be wrong.

If anybody knows out there, where can these titles be actually seen in the episode?

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: HERCULE, MISS JANE, AND DAME AGATHA

Occasionally during the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Unicorn & The Wasp", characters would invoke the eternal question, "WWPD?": "What would Poirot do?"

Yes, that's right. I'm STILL not done with this episode and its contributions to the Toobworld mythos!

Agatha Christie was complimented on her books about Hercule Poirot, and she referred to his signature phrase regarding his "little gray cells".
But no one, not even Mrs. Christie, actually stated that she created Hercule Poirot as a fictional character. Which is a good thing, because Hercule Poirot and Agatha Christie both exist in Toobworld!

Agatha Christie wrote stories about the little Belgian detective, but she was serving almost as his biographer in a way. She treated Poirot and his cases in much the same way as Truman Capote did with the killers of "In Cold Blood": she was writing factual stories about him.

Later, when Donna Noble accidentally suggested Miss Marple and her way of detection to Agatha Christie, the author thought it would make for a great story. But this doesn't mean that Mrs. Christie created Miss Jane Marple either. She would later find out that Miss Marple actually did exist, and so she decided to work out a contract arrangement between the two of them. Her books about the old lady of St. Mary's Mead would also turn out to be factual novels.
[We see pictured here two of the actresses who played Miss Marple on TV. Joan Hickson, on the left, is the Jane Marple of Earth Prime-Time. Geraldine McEwan on the right would live in the village of St. Mary's Mead as well, but in an alternate TV dimension, perhaps the one of TV series remakes.]

Agatha Christie then falls into the same Toobworld category as authors like Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Charles Dickens, and Stephen King (who appeared as a little boy in an episode of 'Quantum Leap'). That is, she shares the same universe as the characters she created. (And this would include Ariadne Oliver and Tommy and Tuppence as well.)
BCnU!
Toby OB

NEW @ TOOBWORLD CENTRAL

Based on a recommendation by my blogging buddy Ivan in "Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear" (find the link to the left), and since I've always been fascinated by the premise of the show, I picked up the two boxed sets for 'Checkmate'.

'CHECKMATE':
Best Of Season One
Best Of Season Two

The series starred Sebastian Cabot, Doug McClure, and Anthony George as the investigators at a San Francisco detective agency. Their original premise was to prevent crimes from even happening in the first place, but I think this was relaxed by the second season.

I've only seen one episode at the Paley Center, which starred James Whitmore, but I'm looking forward to seeing more....

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: ULTRONS AND GALLIFREYANS

The inhabitants of the planet Ultron could have been seeded by the Preservers with genetic stock from the planet Gallifrey. Like the Time Lords, they have unique powers, but physically they also have two hearts.

The Ultrons also have six toes on each foot and their knees are double-jointed. We don't know if the Time Lords are as well, but I don't think we've ever seen the feet of the Doctor closely, have we? (Maybe in "The Two Doctors" when the Sixth Doctor went fishing?)

And who knows if they're double-jointed at the knees?

Supposedly Ultrons have an extra male sex organ, something Jackie Tyler was quite curious about when she inquired after the state of the Doctor. And both races can regenerate, although I don't think it was actually mentioned as having happened to George Sunday aka Thermoman (although we did see the results once the role was recast).

SHOWS CITED:
'My Hero'
'Doctor Who'
'Star Trek'

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE HAT SQUAD: DAVID BRIERLEY

The Stage has announced that actor David Brierley has passed away. He was born in 1935 and appeared in 'Z Cars', 'Arthur Of The Britons', 'The Tripods', and 'Threads'. But it was his involvement in 'Doctor Who' that should guarantee him some level of immortality among viewing audience.

During the 17th season of 'Doctor Who', Brierley took over from John Leeson to be the voice of K-9, the tin dog companion of the Gallifreyan Time Lord, but who is now with Sarah Jane Smith, another former Companion to the Doctor.

This is a recastaway that needs a very simple splainin. David Brierley provided the K-9 voice in four stories:

"Creature from the Pit"

"Nightmare of Eden"

"The Horns on Nimon"

"Shada"

[Thanks to Michael for doing my legwork!]

But John Leeson has been the voice of K-9 before and since. The reasoning could probably be due to some tinkering on the mechanics that govern K-9's vocal chords. It would have been a process which we were not privy to as the audience, and when it was re-adjusted again, again we weren't given the chance to see it happen.

Brierley also provided the voice of K-9 for an episode of 'Blue Peter' in 1979, but that could be the dimension counterpart from Skitlandia.....

Rest in peace, Mr. Brierley......

BCnU!
Toby OB