RIVER DRAGONS

Among these quotes by River Song, there is story potential in that final panel.  And it also has potential for theoretical crossovers with other TV series.  I’m thinking specifically of ‘The Librarians’ in which dragons took human form.

Of course, the two series which probably come to mind for others will be ‘Game of Thrones’ and its prequel, ‘The House of the Dragon.’  I’ve already incorporated the World of Westeros into Earth Prime-Time – theoretically, of course! – by claiming that it is the ancient version of Mondas, which was first seen in ‘The Tenth Planet’.  (Its existence is also theoretically hinted at in the ‘Twilight Zone’ episode “Probe 7 – Over and Out”.)  River Song probably got her dragon eggs from Mondas and brought them to the Earth at some point in the distant past.  Somehow the dragons evolved like the Wesen of ‘Grimm’ into animal/human shapeshifters.  (The Maiar of Middle-Earth, now officially part of Earth Prime-Time thanks to ‘The Rings of Power’, may have had a hand in that.)

WHO'S A GOOD BOY?

That Lockdown video of “The Secret of Novice Hame” was uploaded to YouTube at the end of May, 2020, which means RTD wrote it long before he knew he would be taking the reins as the showrunner once more.  I’m hoping this wasn’t something he tossed off as a way to pass the time during the Pandemic lockdown, because there are certain points within Novice Hame’s narrative which could now be fleshed out by Davies in the live-action series.

Here is one of them:

1] THE DOCTOR WAS AN ANIMAL IN AT LEAST ONE INCARNATION

“He hasn’t changed at all.  

I’ve heard so many stories about him over the years;

his hundreds of faces and forms,

the men and women and animals

who have taken that name.”

I once postulated that Mr. Peabody could have been a Time Lord from the Gallifrey of the Tooniverse, a TV dimension in which humans live side-by-side with sentient, anthropomorphic animals.

But now, it could be that the Doctor himself was Mr. Peabody, using that name as his alias just like he did with “John Smith” in his human male form.  And unless it is canonically shot down, I’m going to stick with that theory… at least in the Tooniverse, where both ‘Peabody’s Improbable History’ and ‘The Secret of Novice Hame’ take place.  (Also it should be mentioned that it is the same TV dimension for ‘The Simpsons’ which had crossovers with both ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Doctor Who’.)

The animation may have been crude in comparison to (most of) the animation today, but if ‘Clutch Cargo’ and ‘Crusader Rabbit’ are in the Tooniverse, so should this moving final testimonial.

'Doctor Who' is one of the few titles where I think stories from other media can be considered as having occurred in Toobworld as well.  We just don't always see it happen in the live-action dimension.  So I have no problem with this story taking place in the far future.  (Unless one of the Timeless Child's many earlier incarnations was an animal, there are still hundreds of other incarnations in the future where the regeneration could transform him into a dog, or a cat, or a horse, or a giant shoebill stork.

Speaking of horses, I used to theorize that Mr. Ed was a member of the Houyhnhnms from "Gulliver's Travels."  I still prefer that splainin, but what if Ed was actually another Time Lord?  One who was trapped on Earth by the ruling council of Time Lords?

Or maybe not.

At any rate, when Novice Hame and the Doctor were finally reunited, it was billions of years in the Future.  So none of us would probably be still alive to see that regeneration happen.

If you would like to read that Inner Toob story from the 2016 edition of the “Who’s On First?” blogathon, click here.

FROM THE TOONIVERSE - "THE SECRET OF NOVICE HAME"

 
I figure I better share this now, as it will definitely be a factor in another post - if not more! - later today.

"THEY'RE NOT DOLLS, MOTHER! THEY'RE ACTION FIGURES!"

Every so often I see photos of posed action figures on Facebook, characters from different areas of fandom now “interacting” with each other. 

In this one, the First Incarnation of the Doctor meets Number Six (‘The Prisoner’), The Batman (‘Batman’), Captain James T. Kirk (‘Star Trek’), and Bond.  James Bond.  (He looks to be modeled on Sean Connery.)  As for dramatic characters, they were probably the tops for pop culture icons of the 1960s.

Also there are the iconic props – the TARDIS, Number Two’s “egg chair”, and the Captain’s chair from the bridge of the Enterprise.

I’m setting this up in January.  If any more featuring the Doctor show up, I’ll add them in.

THE MASTER TENNANT

 
Reddit user Harbdunc envisioned David Tennant as the Master back in mid-January:

The Curator told the Eleventh Incarnation of the Doctor that he would one day revisit some of the old faces he once wore.  That ability was probably available to the Master as well.

If so, I could see that Time Lord deliberately choosing to look like one of the Doctor's past incarnations during one of his regenerations, just to taunt the Doctor and mess with his mind.

This could even come into play during a fanfic story about the adventures for one of the Tenth Incarnation's former companions.  Seeing the Master but thinking it was the Doctor as they knew the Time Lord would make them an easy target to be captured.

And as it would be the Master's vision of what the Tenth Incarnation looked like, if they ever filmed a story based on this premise, then David Tennant's physical appearance at the time of production would not have to match how he looked at the time of his regeneration.

Just another casting suggestion from the Toobworld Curator....

Thanks to u/Harbunc for the inspiration!

ADDENDUM:
Since writing that up, rumors were swirling that David Tennant might be coming back... as the 14th Doctor - whole new personality, quirks, speech patterns, wardrobe, and differences in physical appearance.

So this artwork could prove to be the inspiration of that new incarnation.

I'm trying my bleepest to avoid O'Bservatory speculation on that rumor, but we shall see....

THE WHO MEME GALLERY - TIME TO PASS THE TORCH

 

Once we know who the new Incarnation of the Doctor will be, the meme-makers will need to step up with a new gallery of the Doctor’s faces, which will need a new arrangement of the previous incarnations to frame the current Time Lord.

I liked this one for Whittaker; it suited her fashion ensemble which needed to be shown fully to be appreciated, unlike with “the guys”.  But of course, she will be relegated to a head shot once a new actor steps into the spotlight.

O’Bservation:
I’m writing this in the middle of January 2022 and I have no idea who RTD will cast as his Doctor when he returns as the showrunner.  It’s probably already been announced; if so, I’ll add a quick note to this post… if I can remember it.  But hopefully, once we know who has been cast, the alumni galleries will start rolling out.

WHO BLIPVERTS - THE MEDDLING MONK STRIKES AGAIN!

Commercials are a great source for inspiration when thinking about fanficcish stories about the Meddling Monk.  I’ve written before about those commercials which are set in Earth’s Past but which have samples of today’s products – FedEx, Pepsi, Bud Light, etc.

Amazon Prime debuted one of these in January, in which a listless Napoleon Bonaparte retreated to his tent to watch the Prime Video specials which starred comedians doing their stand-up routines.  Inspired, Bonaparte puts his own comedy act together and tries it out on his soldiers.  (He was very deadpan, something like a Napoleonic Steven Wright.)

Not only was the Amazon service and Amazon Prime available in the early years of the 19th Century, but Nappie had a high-def wide-screen TV to watch the specials.

O’Bviously, this was due to the interference of the Monk, a Time Lord who wanted to disrupt the Earth’s timeline so that its history would be better aligned with his vision of the Future.

Since we know by watching any TV show set in the main Toobworld that it never played out that way, then the Doctor must have stepped in to foil his machinations once again.

CASTING WHO NOW?

I have no problem with this casting... but not now.  I would prefer that we get back to more mature Incarnations of the Doctor.  I don't care about gender, or race, and as far sexual orientation goes, the series made it through its first 20+ years without engaging in the sexual preferences of the Time Lord.  Let's get back to that.  (But I'm not against an LGBTQ Gallifreyan.)

If Daniel Radcliffe is to be considered for the role, hopefully it won't happen until he's added a few more years to his age and to his looks.

 

2023 WHO'S ON FIRST - INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the 15^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 59 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.  

This edition will hopefully be special.  (I'm setting up this post on January 9, 2022.)  By November of 2023, we should be celebrating the 60th anniversary of 'Doctor Who'.  If we haven't wiped out ourselves out by then.

So here it is - the kick-off to the 2023 edition of 'Who's On First'!  And as always, we begin with the frame grab from 'Robot Chicken' which has become our mascot....

THE TVXOHOF CHRISTMAS HONORS LIST - EARTHA KITT

I apologize.  I was sick for Christmas, and just couldn’t work up the energy to do the annual Christmas Honors induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.

I don’t want to waste any more time excoriating myself for being late so… ON WITH THE SHOW, THIS IS IT!

EARTHA KITT

Ms. Kitt is represented in the Hall of Fame already, but as an actress.  I conflated three of her characters into one when we did the superhero theme year.  But this time she is entering as a member of the League of Themselves.  And you should all know the reason why Ms. Kitt was chosen as the Christmas honoree….

Here are the shows which qualified Ms. Kitt for membership:

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES
(1966-68)
36 episodes

THE NANNY

A PUP IN PARIS
(1996)

At a nightclub in Paris, Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield and Fran Fine, his children’s nanny, saw a performance by Eartha Kitt. The song she sang she performed was “C'est si bon” (Music by Henri Betti, Lyrics by André Hornez.)

O’Bservation – At one point, Fran referred to Eartha Kitt as Catwoman, the character she portrayed in the 1966 series ‘Batman’.  This is NOT a Zonk, as the exploits of the Dynamic Duo in Toobworld would be a natural draw for the interest of TV producers.  Eartha Kitt was cast because of her resemblance to the cat burglar Tina “Angel” Mara who took on the persona of the Catwoman when the original one died (and before she was replaced by the goddess Bastet.)

JEOPARDY!

(1996)

O'Bservation - Ms. Kitt appeared appeared as a celebrity contestant.

OZ

MEDIUM RARE
(2001)

O’Bservations - "Up Your Ante," a game show, was one of the TV shows watched by the prisoners.  It was hosted by Gordon Elliott, with Don Pardo as his announcer, Eartha Kitt as the resident celebrity champ and John Carpenter looking to dethrone her.  At least, I think that was the game plan.

When she was introduced, Eartha Kitt was described as "Purrrfect."  As mentioned earlier, this reference to ‘Batman’ is not a Zonk!

Here is the transcript of her appearance, at least as much as we saw.

DON PARDO:

Live, from Burbank Studios in Burbank, California, it's time to play "Up Your Ante." And here's your host, Gordon Elliot.
ELLIOT:
Hello, and welcome to "Up Your Ante." And let's meet our first contestant tonight, Mr. John Carpenter. Now let's meet our star. Joining us this evening, the lovely, the divine, the purr-fect Miss Eartha Kitt.  Eartha, thank you so much for being here. The category is "Style and Fashion", take a look at this photograph. Can you tell me what kind of beard this man is wearing?
Carpenter:
I think I need a hint.
Elliot:
Eartha?
Kitt:
Well, I can give you a hint: It can also be called a "Rob Petrie."
Elliot:
Oh.
Carpenter:
"Rob Petrie?"

The prisoners thought they had the answer....

Morales:
Come on, just say it, just say, 'goatee.'
Beecher:
He could say goatee, but he'd be wrong.
Busmalis:
That's not a goatee?
Beecher:
Van Dyke.
Hoyt:
Van Dyke?
Beecher:
"Rob Petrie?" You get it?
Hoyt:
No. Who's Rob Petrie?

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES

October 06-10, 2003

Ms. Kitt was a multidimensional.  She appeared as herself in several alternate Toobworlds - the Tooniverse, Skitlandia, and the interface Borderland.

First up, the Tooniverse....

THE SIMPSONS

ONCE UPON A TIME IN SPRINGFIELD
(2010)

O’Bservation - Eartha Kitt recorded her lines shortly before her death in 2008, more than a year before the episode aired.

And she was portrayed by T'Keyah Crystal Keymah in Skitlandia....

IN LIVING COLOR

(She's seen here having coughed up a hairball, yet another 'Batman' reference.)

And finally, that Borderland....

SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST

BATMANTIS

O'Bservation - This might not actually be a separate dimension, but just a way for the people of Earth Prime-Time to converse with the citizens of the Tooniverse.  So Ms. Kitt was interviewed by the space superhero, Space Ghost.

Welcome to the Hall, Ms. Kitt.

Thank you for the sexiest Christmas song!