WHO WOMEN

March 8 of 2021 was International Women’s Day and this picture was posted in one of the DOCTOR WHO Facebook pages I frequent – all of the women in the Doctor’s life….

(Although I think the Rani is missing?  I mean, if you're going to include Missy....)

WHO MEME - SNOW DAYS

 

"WHAT IF?" CASTING CALL

 

THE RETURN OF JO GRANT

One of the many reasons why Steven Moffat was a great show-runner for ‘Doctor Who’ was because he was such a fan himself and he wrote as one.  He came up with the idea of sonic sunglasses so that little kids with little access to their own funds could still play as the Doctor – cheap sunglasses are easier to get than a fancy toy sonic screwdrivers.

But another facet he utilized was putting in what I call “limbo periods.”  In the past, a lot of ‘Doctor Who’ adventures led directly into the next with little room for the fans to imagine their own adventures for the Doctor, with or without their current companions.

Under Moffat’s stewardship, Amy and Rory, followed by Clara, and then Bill, all had time away from the TARDIS.  That gave their Doctors the chance to have solo adventures – or picking up new companions for a few spins in the blue box – before reuniting with the current Companion(s).

That’s why this collection of public city pictures are so great.  It’s not just Katy Manning visiting the TARDIS with Peter Capaldi as the Doctor’s Twelfth Incarnation; instead of just the usual, bland poses on the set, with a few smiles and waves, but it looks like they were involved in some kind of adventure as the Doctor and Jo Grant.

I could see Capaldi’s Incarnation as enjoying his reunion with Jo.  She never saw the Doctor regenerate during her own time as his Companion, but she knows it could happen since she got to meet the Eleventh Incarnation in a two-part story of ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’.

And I’d like to think that she might have truly admired the look of the Twelfth Doctor since he wasn’t too far off the mark from the appearance of her own Doctor as played by Jon Pertwee.  (And by “appearance”, let’s just say I mean “distinguished gentleman”.)

Here’s hoping that one day Katy Manning can return to ‘Doctor Who’ proper as Jo Grant Jones.

TIME WARP LORD

 

LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

THE 2022 WHO'S ON FIRST BLOGATHON KICKS OFF!

Welcome to the 14^th anniversary edition of the "Who's On First?" blogAthon.  For the next 24 hours, there will (hopefully) be forty-eight posts about 'Doctor Who', one every half hour.

This round-the-clock celebration of 'Doctor Who' began somewhat modestly - there were only seven "episodes" for that first outing.  But it has grown to the point where for the last couple of years we have tried to present a new blog post about the universe of the Doctor every half hour.   That may not be the case this year.  We'll at least get one in every hour.

And I always amaze myself that I find enough topics each year.  But then, I have yet to see every episode of the 55 year old series.

Because of their time-sensitive nature, there were a few posts I published earlier in the year.  Some are just mentions of the Doctor, most of them dealt with the breaking news about the show.  But if you're interested....

So here it is - the kick-off to the 2022 edition of 'Who's On First'!  And as always, we begin with the frame grab from 'Robot Chicken' which has become our mascot..... 

 

[Edited from last year]
ADDENDUM - This frakking year, [just like last ....  My heart just wasn't in it this year for my whovian theories.  The best I could summon when it came to enthusiasm are the memes which take up most of today's line-up.  Sorry, follks.  This may be how it goes from now on.... if I even attempt it again next year.   Who knows, with this pandemic still with us, if I'll even be here to do this for 2021 (Make that 2022 - er, would you believe 2023...?)

Toby Downer!

TVXOHOF, BOXING DAY 2021 - LURCH

And so here we are with the last of the Television Crossover Hall of Fame inductions for 2021.  As with most of the year, this will fall into the mini-theme of our salute to the Addams Family.

Breaking TVXOHOF tradition, we not only had a ceremony on Christmas Day, but we have one also for the day after.  It’s not such a big thing in the United States, but elsewhere in the Real World, December 26th is observed as Boxing Day.   It is linked to an older British tradition where the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families since they would have had to serve their masters on Christmas Day. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts, bonuses, and sometimes leftover food. [Wikipedia]

So for Boxing Day, it seemed appropriate that we would be saluting the hired help….

LURCH

From Wikipedia:
Lurch (whose first name is unknown) is a fictional character created by American cartoonist Charles Addams as a manservant to The Addams Family. In the original television series, Lurch was played by Ted Cassidy, who used the catchphrase, "You... rang?"

Lurch is a 6 ft 9 in (2.05 m) tall, shambling, gloomy butler. In the original Addams Family television series, Lurch has a deep and resonant voice. Although fully capable of normal speech, Lurch often communicates via simple inarticulate moans, which, much like the dialogue of Cousin Itt, his employers have no trouble understanding.

The family summons him with an ever-present bell pull (in the form of a hangman's noose). When pulled, it produces a loud gong noise that shakes the house, to which Lurch instantly appears and responds, "You... rang?", even if wide-angle shots reveal that he was clearly nowhere in the vicinity before; on a few occasions Lurch arrives even before the bell pull is tugged.

Lurch largely shares the family's macabre standards, although he occasionally looks askance at some of their activities. He has a similar attitude toward visitors – almost a sixth sense. When a plainclothes policeman named Mr. Hollister (portrayed by George N. Neise) visits in "The Addams Family Meets the Undercover Man," Lurch pats him down and removes his service revolver from inside his suit coat. Although Lurch groans disapprovingly at the idea of someone bringing a weapon into the house, he returns the gun after Hollister shows his badge.

With Uncle Fester

With Gomez

With Morticia

With Wednesday & Pugsley

Much of Lurch's history, including his first name and the nature of his relationship to any other Addamses, was originally unspecified. "Lurch" was revealed during the original TV series to be a surname, as there was a "Mother Lurch" who appeared in one episode (portrayed by Ellen Corby). She addressed Lurch as "Sonny", which could either be a parental nickname or his actual first name.

As for his father, he was mentioned twice, once in the second animated series, and in an apparent reference to his Frankenstein's monster-like appearance, Lurch said, smiling, "He put me together." And another time in the original series where Lurch mentions his father wanted him to be a jockey (typically short and light people) instead of a butler.

Lurch's mother appears to be a physically normal, elderly woman, although she does not see anything unusual about the Addams family or their home, with the exception of Thing. 

[O'Bservation - I like to think Lurch is a reanimated corpse and Mother Lurch never knew that her son had died and then was brought back to life.]

Lurch appears in ‘The Addams Family’, portrayed by Ted Cassidy. He is physically imposing and plays a harpsichord that was originally in Cousin Crimp's family for 400 years.

Cassidy made a cameo appearance as Lurch in the ‘Batman’ episode "The Penguin's Nest". As Batman and Robin are climbing the wall of Penguin's restaurant, the Addams Family theme is heard in the background. Lurch pops his head out of the window, sees Batman and Robin, and comments that they gave him quite a start. Batman tells Lurch that he can return to his harpsichord as Robin states that they are on official business.

Ted Cassidy reprised his role of Lurch in ‘The New Scooby-Doo Movies’ episode "Wednesday is Missing". He is the one who finds Mystery Inc.'s Mystery Machine stuck in the mud outside the Addams Family house and takes them inside where Gomez and Morticia hire them to be the housekeepers while they are away at the Okefenokee Swamp. By the end of the episode, Lurch helps the Mystery Machine out of the mud.

Ted Cassidy reprised his role of Lurch in the 1973 cartoon adaption of ‘The Addams Family’ and in the 1977 Halloween reunion special.

• ‘The Addams Family’
• ‘Batman’
• ‘The New Scooby Doo Movies’
• ‘The Addams Family’ [animated]
• "Halloween With The New Addams Family"
  

Within the original sitcom, Lurch even got to meet another member of the Television Crossover Hall of Fame....

In keeping with the Season....

Five qualifications, more than enough.  And Lurch probably has the most unique addition to his tally with that Bat-climb window scene.

Welcome to the Hall, Sonny! Enjoy your Boxing Day being catered to by the Addams Family!

CHRISTMAS HONORS LIST 2021 - COUSIN ITT

 
O’BSERVATION:

I’m sorry for the day’s delay in getting the Christmas induction online.  My extended family was hit with a major loss last week, followed the next day by the loss of a friend of mine from my Nooyawk era….

Here Itt is!  Our penultimate tribute to ‘The Addams Family’ and the annual Christmas induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  Why did I make this choice for the holiday?

ITT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Come on!  How could I resist?

COUSIN ITT

From Wikipedia:
Cousin Itt is a fictional character in the Addams Family television and film series. He was developed specifically for the 1964 television series and is a regular supporting character in subsequent motion-picture, television and stage adaptations.

Cousin Itt is a diminutive, hirsute being, his visible form composed entirely of floor-length blonde hair. He has an IQ of 320, is often attired in bowler hat and round sunglasses, and speaks in a high-pitched gibberish that is understood only by his family.  As he was created specifically for the television series, illustrations of the character by cartoonist Charles Addams followed the show's debut, first in a single-panel sketch showing Itt on the telephone ("This is It speaking"), and later in family-portrait artwork.  He drives a Messerschmitt Kabinenroller.

Cousin Itt is introduced in the television series as the cousin of family patriarch Gomez Addams. He is an occasional guest in the Addams home, entering and exiting through the chimney, though he also has his own quarters which are furnished in proportion to his size. He vainly attempts a multitude of professions such as an actor, a singer, a marriage counselor, and a zoo curator, while his physical appearance is the subject of one episode in which he begins to lose his hair.

Cousin Itt appeared in 19 total episodes of the original series and was played by Felix Silla, except for two appearances in which he was played by Roger Arroyo. Silla attended a casting call in Los Angeles and was given the role on the spot without having to audition. The character's heavy costume was first constructed with real hair but later changed to a fire-retardant synthetic, as smoking was common on-set and the real hair was therefore a fire hazard. Silla's instructions were simply to walk around on the set, as Itt's voice (provided by sound engineer Tony Magro) was dubbed in post-production, but he often had difficulty seeing through the costume.

The character appears with the other family members in a September 23, 1972 crossover episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, titled "Wednesday Is Missing". His vocal effects were provided by John Stephenson, who returned to the role in the 1973 Hanna-Barbera animated series.

He also appeared in the 1977 Halloween reunion TV special.

Welcome to the Hall, Itt.  Feel free to relax and let your hair down.

Yeah... I have no regrets.

Exit, Stage Left....

THE HAT SQUAD - REMEMBERING FOSTER BROOKS

Foster Brooks (May 11, 1912 – December 20, 2001) was an American actor and comedian most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunk in nightclub performances and television programs.  

As his "Lovable Lush" character, Brooks usually portrayed a conventioneer who had had a few too many drinks — not falling-down drunk, but inebriated enough to mix up his words and burp to comedic delight. Brooks is most affectionately remembered for his appearances on ‘The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast’ during the 1970s, where he roasted other comedians, such as Don Rickles, Johnny Carson, and Lucille Ball, or serious personalities such as author Truman Capote, or consumer activist Ralph Nader.

On those Celebrity Roasts (which take place in Skitlandia the sketch comedy TV dimenson), Foster Brooks may have done more to embellish the Sktlandian televersions of those celebrities than anybody else on the dais.  It wasn’t enough just to belittle the “honoree”; Brooks made himself part of their lives, adding details to their history which were never shared in any other TV dimension and not even in the Trueniverse.  

Let’s take those celebrities described in that Wikipedia excerpt.  Well, except for Capote – I haven’t seen his clip yet.  We’ll replace him with Hubert Humphrey.
In each of these appearances, Foster Brooks played himself:

• DON RICKLES – Brooks was having an affair with his Rickles’ wife, Mrs. Pickles.  (That wasn’t a drunken malaprop; he called her that because she was a real dilly in bed.)
• JOHNNY CARSON – Like Mrs. Miller at ‘The Jack Paar Show’, Foster Brooks had been in the audience of every ‘Tonight’ show since Johnny became the host.  And he regaled the audience with details from his interviews with other celebrities which never took place in real life.  (Like when the jockey told Johnny that he weighed 98 pounds soaking wet.  Johnny told him that would teach him for standing underneath his horse.)
• LUCILLE BALL – Foster Brooks passed himself off as Lucy’s first fiancé, left behind in Jamestown, New York, but still devoted to her.  He was the high school football star and she would shake her pom-poms at him… and she wasn’t even on the cheerleading squad.
• JIMMY STEWART – Brooks was Stewart’s navigator during WWII, so I would count that as a supplemental tidbit for Jimmy Stewart’s eventual entry in the TVXOHOF even if it is in the Skitlandia section.
• HUBERT HUMPHREY – Brooks served as the campaign manager for the Vice President’s presidential run in 1968.  If it had not been for Brooks, we would have had Hubie the Boobie instead of Tricky Dick.
• RALPH NADER – Foster was also one of Nader’s Raiders.  While he was test-driving a car one day, an old lady started walking right in front of him.  Brooks had to swerve off the sidewalk to avoid hitting her.

So it’s been 20 years since Mr. Brooks passed away.  I only discovered that an hour and a half before midnight because I was watching his Celebrity Roast videos while on the can.  So we’re shuffling the schedule around, last minute, in order to give him a proper salute by sharing those clips and more from the Roasts.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  If not… well, I guess I don’t really care.

We’ll start with the most famous person to grow up in my new hometown….

This next one isn't a hometown boy, but he came from just down Route 8....

Well, ladies and gennel -# 

Ladies and gennuh-#
Folks....

I hope you enjoyed it, but like I said earlier, it doesn't really matter to me if you do or don't.  It's December 20, 2021.  I put this together December 19, 2018.  For alls I know I could be dead by now.  Even worse, these videos may have been removed from YouTube!

BCnU!

FOR WOLD NEWTON DAY - TARZAN YET AGAIN?

HAPPY WOLD NEWTON DAY!

From Wikipedia:
In real life a meteorite, called the Wold Cottage meteorite, fell near Wold Newton, Yorkshire, England, on December 13, 1795.

[Philip Jose] Farmer suggested in two fictional biographies, Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (1972) and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life (1973) that this meteorite caused genetic mutations in the occupants of two passing coaches due to ionization. Many of their descendants were thus endowed with extremely high intelligence and strength, as well as an exceptional capacity and drive to perform good or, as the case may be, evil deeds. The progeny of these travellers are purported to have been the real-life originals of fictionalised characters, both heroic and villainous, over the last few hundred years.

I don't know why I'm so fixated on Tarzan when it comes to the representations of the Wold Newton Family as depicted in Toobworld.  I suppose the same is true for Sherlock Holmes; but at least I honor him on his alleged birthday each year and not use him for the Wold Newton Day showcase as often as I do with the Lord of the Apes.

For those who have never seen any of my earlier theories about the most famous character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, here is a simple recap:

Lord John Greystoke, AKA Tarzan, as seen in the series is the same character from the books despite the modern (1960s) setting. 

My theory is that decades before, Tarzan had found the immortality elixir as described in one of the later stories.  Drinking it, he was now an eternal, frozen in Time at the age he was when he ingested the elixir.

But let me make one thing clear - in no way am I advocating that this is THE Tarzan of the Wold Newton Universe.  This is Tarzan of Toobworld, and although they have some similarities, there is more which keeps them irreconcilable.  (So many great "wolders," chief among them Win Scott Eckert and Sean Lee Levin, do incredible research in order to expand the WNU, that they don't need a boob-toober like me underfoot!)

At any rate, here is the review of the 'Tarzan' TV series as was presented in the TV Guide, written by acerbic critic Cleveland Amory:

ENJOY YOUR WOLD NEWTON DAY!