"AQR" - "ASTRO-QUEST" REMEMBERED

'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'
"A Space Oddity" Now, THIS should have been the 200th episode! Last week, 'CSI' attended a sci-fi/comic book convention in Las Vegas, the Whatifitcon, and of course, somebody was killed. Jonathan Danson was the driving force behind 'AQR', otherwise known as 'Astro-Quest Redux'. 'AQR' was going to be a major "re-imagining" of the original 'Astro-Quest' series, to be grittier, more political, and it would abandon all the trappings that fans held dear about the original version of the show. It sounds like what happened here in the real world with Ron Moore's version of 'Battlestar Galactica', which just recently concluded to much acclaim. Danson wasn't as lucky with his version of 'Astro-Quest', however: somebody caused his nose bones to get shoved back into his brain....... The 'Astro-Quest Redux' situation may have been similar to the early stages of 'Battlestar Galactica' here in the real world, but the original 'Astro-Quest' series was pure homage to 'Star Trek'. The costumes were similar to those worn by the Enterprise crew; the aliens could almost be mistaken for the races guest-starring in 'Trek' episodes; and women were seen in the same light as those who acted on the original show (either as exotic alien playthings or as dead-end job yeomen who would never break the glass ceiling in space).

Just from this one episode, we learned more about a fictional TV show than we may have from any since the 6 O'Clock News at WJM-TV12 on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'.

'Astro-Quest' ran for at least four seasons during the 1960s on Thursday nights. Three of the characters on the show were:
Commander Artemus Bishop (great name!)
Corpsman Scully
Yeoman Malloy There was a special alien fighting technique called the "Cephalon Submission Claw" (similar in effect to the Vulcan Neck-Pinch).

The main alien race seems to have been the Vellikans, which had its own language. Although the name sounds similar to "Vulcan", I think the Vellikans were meant to be more like the Klingons.

There was a Vulcan-like alien on board the starship's bridge; only his ears had long droopy earlobes with holes through them, rather than being pointy-tipped.

"A guy in a red shirt dies at the beginning of most 'Astro-Quest' episodes." - Hodges

'Astro-Quest' props include Trajillion Ale with Vellikan skull worms (the outer space equivalent of tequila), similar in effect to Saurian Brandy, I imagine. And then there's the Compliance Yoke from the episode "Slavers Of Serenidon", which looks to be almost too similar to the 'Star Trek' episode "Gamesters Of Triskellion".

In fact, within Toobworld's reality, 'Astro-Quest' appears to be a complete rip-off of 'Star Trek', which (unfortunately for Toobworld) does exist as a 20th Century TV show as well as a 24th Century reality.

"The Slavers Of Serenidon" - "Gamesters Of Triskellion"

"Dollop Of Apocalypse" - "A Piece Of The Action" (Amphibians who worshipped the book "Peyton Place" as a sacred text vs. humanoids who emulated the lifestyle depicted in the book "Chicago Mobs Of The Twenties") Agillian concubines (feral, carnal, voracious) - Orion slave girls

In Season 4, there was a three-part story, "Yesterday's Tomorrow", which may have been similar to the 'Trek' episode "All Our Yesterdays". In the episode, we see Ron Moore, who is the real world equivalent to the murder victim Jonathan Danson, lead the protest against 'AQR'. As it was just a nameless cameo, we can assume he was appearing as himself, which he's now done in two different TV dimensions in as many months. Also in the crowd was Grace Park, who played both Boomer and Athena in the newer version of 'Battlestar Galactica'. I suppose it could be that she was playing herself, but I'd rather think there must be some other TV character she has created in Toobworld who could be an ardent sci-fi fan and who would have gone to the fourth annual Whatifitcon in Vegas.

If you're interested in seeing 'CSI' - "Space Oddity", head over to cbs.com; they've got the episode up on the site.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER'S DAUGHTER?

A lot of times, when imagining the "life" in the TV Universe for characters from TV shows that have been cancelled, I sometimes take it years down the road, and sometimes even to the next generation. My latest rumination along these lines came about while looking at how old TV shows integrated the commercial into the actual show (especially after seeing an episode of 'Martin Kane, Private Eye' last week!), combined with my enjoyment of actress Megyn Price. (She's on 'Rules of Engagement' now, which I don't watch, but I loved her in 'Lateline' and 'Grounded For Life'.) A few months back I wrote an appreciation of the late actress Inger Stevens, and it occurred to me that Megyn Price could pass muster as the genetic daughter of Ms. Stevens' Katy Holstrum Morley and her husband Glenn Morley from 'The Farmer's Daughter'.

'The Farmer's Daughter' ended its run in 1965; Inger Stevens died in 1970; and Megyn Price was born in 1971. Only that last date would matter, as it is Toobworld policy to consider the actor's real age to be the same for the character they play (unless specifically noted otherwise). As for the other two real world dates, they don't apply to Toobworld: like I said, "life" continues for the characters, and those characters can outlive the actors who portrayed them. When 'The Farmer's Daughter' ended its four season run, Katy and the Congressman (whose family may have made its money from Toobworld's own brand of cigarettes) were now married, and she adopted his two sons. But perhaps, five years down the road from when the series left the air, Katy gave birth to a daughter.

I'm not saying any such child has to be a character that Megyn Price has already played on television - last names and mentions of family relations would play hob with that idea, especially with her character on 'Rules of Engagement'. (And we met her father on 'Grounded For Life'.) I'd have to watch my copy of 'Lateline' again, but it would be neat to imagine her character in that (Gale Ingersoll) as being the Morleys' daughter.

As for that particualar name change? A former marriage perhaps?

However, it's much simpler to just imagine that the character exists, that she looks like Megyn Price, and that we never got the chance to actually see her on TV.

And if her mother did die young and was thus unable to provide the governance needed for a proper upbringing, it might explain the wild behavior of her later years as an "adult"...... BCnU!
Toby O'B

AS SEEN ON TV: STEPHEN DECATUR

Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr (5 January 1779 – 22 March 1820) was an American naval officer notable for his heroism in the Barbary Wars and in the War of 1812. He was the youngest man to reach the rank of captain in the history of the United States Navy, and the first American celebrated as a national military hero who had not played a role in the American Revolution.

[From Wikipedia]

Decatur appeared in an episode of 'The Time Tunnel', when Tony and Doug found themselves at the mercy of pirates off the Barbary coast. Decatur rescued not only them, but a young Spanish prince as well. And he gained the services of a doctor who, unbeknownst to the Commodore, had come back through the infinite corridors of Time in order to save Doug's life. (Dr. Benjamin Berkhart had been forcibly retired by the U.S. government and saw this "sacrifice" as a way to make something of his later years. It's unknown if he ever affected the timeline of Toobworld.)

BCnU!

Toby O'B

PEER SOME PUPPETEER

My blog-buddy Joe, major domo of "I Am A TV Junkie" (link to the left), would love for you to check out his post about David Lawrence XVII. Lawrence is playing Erik Doyle, "The Puppeteer", in a four-segment webisode arc for 'Heroes'.

When Lawrence and the Puppeteer become household names and/or buzz-words, people should know that Joe played a major role in getting the word out!

BCnU!
Toby O'B

"STRANGE" BEING TOBY

"All human record is a lie.
You twist it into what you want to believe...."
Adam
'Torchwood'

I found the pilot and at least the first regular episode of the 2003 British sci-fi series 'Strange' online at YouTube. It's about this defrocked priest named John Strange who is investigating - and battling - demons (oftentimes while at odds with the Church).

As is the case with most TV series pilots, there was some fine-tuning done after the pilot for the series. While the three main stars - Richard Coyle, Samantha Janus, and Ian Richardson - remained, Strange's assistant Toby became a recastaway. In the pilot he was played by Bryan Dick; but in the series he was played by Andrew Lee Potts (who went on to play Connor Temple in 'Primeval').
Usually when it comes to recastaways, the Toobworld standard rule is that the first actor to assay the role is the real character, and then we have to come up with some sort of splainin for the change in appearance - plastic surgery, quantum leaping, alien substitution, magical glamours, etc. But in this case, that wouldn't have been fair to Potts, who did the bulk of the work during the six episode run of the series.

Luckily, a later role played by Bryan Dick gives us the out....

In February of 2008, Dick appeared in a 'Torchwood' episode as "Adam". He was an alien who had infiltrated the Torchwood team and fed on the memories of the others, creating false ones in the process. So we can make the theoretical claim that when we saw the actor in the pilot for 'Strange' as Toby, he was really Adam; he was causing John Strange and the others to see him as Toby. When Strange told him to go out and get a proper job and quit hanging around with him, "Toby" deferred. He was probably right where he needed to be to get what he hungered for. (Whether or not he was working in collusion with the Demon League, I have no clue.)
The series picks up a year later; by that time, Adam had abandoned his guise and the real Toby was back working with Strange. I'm thinking for the sake of wondering where the real Toby was the whole time, Adam had replaced him a short time before the events of the pilot kicked into gear. He probably kidnapped the real Toby who wasn't discovered until after the events of the pilot concluded. And that's why Adam had to flee and take up another identity in other shows, from one guest appearance to another, until finally meeting his fate in that episode of 'Torchwood'.

So both plots overlapped each other, but we in the real world audience only saw the events of the official storyline.

As for the resemblance between the real Toby and Connor Temple of 'Primeval', we fall back on the old standby among the theories of "relateeveety": Papa was a rolling stone.

Actually, we never learn Toby's last name during those six episodes of 'Strange', so it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble (as Mushrat would say), that Toby and Connor share the same mother as well as father. But of course that's something Toobworld Central can't say with certainty until the 'Primeval' series has run its course. There's always the possibility that the senior Temples might show up in an episode to check in on their son; or Connor might let it slip that he's an only child.

So for the time being, we're going to suggest that they're half-brothers with no idea about each other. But as we sometimes see in real life, their destinies somehow follow the same path - both of them are technological wizards who are still a few years off from being fully functional adults.

I once wrote about 'Strange', suggesting that Richard Coyle's character might make an excellent addition to the 'Torchwood' team. But even though it can't be proven, we can already say both series are connected - and now I can throw 'Primeval' into the mix as well!

BCnU!
Toby O'B

*By this point, you'll have gathered that the subject heading is a wordplay reference on Toby as a strange being, not that it's strange for me to be Toby.

Although it is.......

FANFICCER'S FRIEND: AN "UNUSUAL" TOY?

While looking online for a picture of Jeremy Renner as Jason Walsh in 'The Unusuals', I stumbled across this screen capture: Renner is seen here with Googy Gress in the movie "Love Comes To The Executioner".

I haven't bothered to look it up, not that it mattered. The picture dredged up those inclinations to be a "Fanficcer's Friend" again, so I don't need to know why a doctor is offering that butt-plugger to what appears to be a prisoner. All that matters to me is suggesting that somebody interested in writing 'Unusuals' fan fiction, maybe even slash-fic, might like to run with this picture as being about Detective Jason Walsh.....

I'm a baaaaaaad boy!

BCnU!
Toby O'B

WARMING UP IN THE BULLPEN (CIRCA 1993)

On 'The Unusuals', Detective Jason Walsh confessed to his new partner (Detective Casey Schraeger) that he threw a few games while he was a pitcher in the minors. But that when he finally joined the Yankees in "the show" at the age of 22, he balked at doing it again. In retaliation, some mob gambler may have had Walsh's girlfriend wacked.

It's common practice for Toobworld Central to assume that a TV character is the same age as the actor who plays him or her - unless specifically mentioned in the script. (Not that they were born the same year, of course - too many shows take place in the past and the future!)

So Jason Walsh is the same age as Jeremy Renner - both are 38. This means Walsh's career with the Yankees began in 1993. (No idea how long his career - no matter what teams he played with - lasted, however.)

Here in the real world, the 1993 roster for the New York Yankees included these pitchers:

Jim Abbott
Paul Assenmacher
Andy Cook
Steve Farr
Paul Gibson
John Habyan
Neal Heaton
Sterling Hitchcock
Steve Howe
Mark Hutton
Domingo Jean
Jeff Johnson
Scott Kamieniecki
Jimmy Key
Sam Militello
Rich Monteleone
Bobby Munoz
Melido Perez
Lee Smith
Frank Tanana
Bob Wickman
Mike Witt

That's a lengthier list than I thought I would find. Plenty of names there to make it easy enough to slip in an extra man on the mound for Toobworld. It's a practice that happens all the time with the Television Universe. Look at all the fictional characters who were on the Titanic, or in the World Trade Towers on 9/11.

Of course, this all depends on whether or not Walsh was telling Schraeger the truth. And the jury's still out on whether or not he can be trusted....

BCnU!
Toby O'B

AS SEEN ON TV: THE BEALES OF GREY GARDENS

HBO premiered a new version of 'Grey Gardens' this week, starring Jessica Lange as Edith Bouvier Beale and Drew Barrymore as her daughter, "Litlle Edie". The real-life story of these two women who were kin to Jackie Kennedy, and of the decaying old mansion in which they lived with nearly feral cats and even raccoons, was first chronicled in a documentary by the Maysles brothers. Much later, it became a Broadway musical with Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

"PRIMEVAL" - NOT FOR U.S. EYES!

This post is going to discuss MAJOR events in Series 3, Episode 3 of 'Primeval', which has not yet aired in the USA. If you don't want to be spoiled, come back later for more toobfoolery and toobish delight.

But leave now.

Due to pleading, cajoling, much wheedling on my part, I got to see the first three episodes of 'Primeval' S3, thanks to Mark & Michael.
Wow.

My online reading about British shows must have been BBC-oriented lately, because I had no clue that this turn of events was even a possibility.

I'm not sure hwo much this will affect the series' basic dyanmic, but I think they did a good job with early introductions for three new cast members and (last chance to jump ship if you don't want to be spoiled!) with the gradual weaning of Nick Cutter from the central action . And even then they provided nice showcases for Douglas Henshall, literally from birth to death (plus a chance to act with himself!) Still, I'm not sure they've adequately filled the void left by the death of Nick Cutter; nobody has the skill or knowledge he had about those prehistoric time periods. That type of information is being left in the hands of a couple of kids, basically - with Connor and Abby.

The one new scientist is an Egyptologist who'll be focused on the origins of mythological creatures to better understand what they might have been and where best to find them. Soldier boy Captain Becker is a combination of the late Stephen Hart and the late Captain Ryan. (Including the fact that all three are/were supposed to be male eye-candy.) And I'm not sure what former DI Danny Quinn will bring to the table when he finally joins the team in Episode 4.

But looking beyond that dynamic in the present day, the ramifications from Helen's murder of her husband is the bigger picture. It opens up new areas of discussion with regard to the Toobworld timeline.
In fact, it could lead to several shows being brought back into the main TV Universe!

Helen used an anomaly into the Future to see Mankind wiped out by genetically engineered creatures. And somehow it could all be traced back to Nick Cutter being responsible for those creatures being created in the Anomaly Research Centre. So Helen decided to save Mankind by blowing up the ARC and shooting Nick dead square in the chest in order to negate that future.
Let's say Helen was right. If so, then her actions have wiped out that potential timeline and hopefully set the Toobworld Future on the path that leads to 'Star Trek', 'Babylon Five', perhaps even 'Firefly'.

But now we can say any shows set in the Future which had something of a post-apocalyptic feel to them did exist in the timeline for Earth Prime-Time - before Helen wiped them out. It's much the same theory Toobworld is using to keep 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' (with its President McNeil) and 'Monk' (with its California Governor Wechsler) in the main TV Universe.

With those shows, they originally played out as is. But then - either by intervention by a temporal 'Journeyman', a 'Quantum Leaper', or during the wholesale make-over by Helen and Nick Cutter's earlier journey into the past - everything in the world changed from prehistoric times onward.

So now, even though we didn't get to see it, 'Monk' saved the life of Governor Schwarzenegger at that parade, and it was Presidents Nixon and Ford who were involved in those early 70's adventures of the Seaview.
The same thing happens now, but in the opposite direction of the timeline, and with much more drastic alterations. The events from those shows wouldn't just be changed; the entire series would be eliminated, to be replaced by something more akin to the timeline we're now living through.

One alternate future that I'm removing from this consideration is that of the TV version of 'The Planet Of The Apes'. It's now the Toobworld contention that the series takes place in an alternate dimension in which apes have always been the dominant species - thanks to other TV shows like 'Lancelot Link' and 'The Chimp Channel'. But we can place on this destroyed timeline other shows that owe their apocalypse to more than just genetically engineered monsters. Those one-eyed bat thingies may have eaten what was left of Humanity, but most of the world's landscape could still have been destroyed by good old-fashioned nuclear Armageddon. If so, we can throw in a show like 'Whoops!' (like it or not) and that episode of 'The Twilight Zone' with Burgess Meredith, "Time Enough At Last". Farther down the line, we can add in 'Logan's Run', which had Rem, its own T-888 in the "Terminator" line.

I think the "Terminator" timeline established in 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles' could be added in, with nothing changed until after John makes the jump into the Future with Catherine Weaver. (I'm just waiting for official word from FOX as to the fate of the show before I publish my analysis of its effect on the timeline, the creation of an alternate dimension, and John's self-contained temporal loop. Hopefully I can disable all of the major Zonks - like the mention of Terminators in other series and even the appearance of Summer Glau as herself on 'The Big Bang Theory'.) Most of the post-apocalyptic scenarios that can be dealt with in this fashion will come from single episodes in anthology series. However, if I understand the mechanics of the Many Worlds theory correctly, even if this timeline is wiped out from the main Toobworld, they would still exist as an alternate timeline. But at least this way, they would have their moment in the sun as part of Earth Prime-Time.
BCnU!
Toby O'B

AS SEEN ON TV: SHIRLEY TEMPLE

On this date in 1934, Shirley Temple made her motion picture debut in "Stand Up And Cheer!", which also starred Warner Baxter, James Dunn, Nigel Bruce, and Stepin Fetchit. The movie was escapist fluff for the Depression, in which President Roosevelt created the Department of Amusement to lift the spirits of the American public. And little Shirley Dugan was one of its secret weapons of mass distraction. Shirley Temple was portrayed on television several times, but this is a picture of "her" (played by Emily Hart) in "Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story". That TV movie was broadcast in 2001, a year in which America once again would need its spirits lifted....

BCnU!
Toby O'B