TODAY'S TWD: HILLARY'S CONCESSION STAND

Today Hillary Clinton is expected to suspend her campaign (which means she holds on to her delegates for more clout at the convention). She'll be throwing her support to Barack Obama and promising to do what she can to get him elected as President.

This is the type of moment in real world history which should echo throughout Toobworld and all of its alternate dimensions. If 'Saturday Night Live' was still producing new shows, there'd be a sketch about it tonight. And that would have ended up in Skitlandia.

Those dimensions where it won't be happening are those with a different Commander-in-Chief, including the one where 'Commander-In-Chief' took place. The dimensions for '24', 'Prison Break', 'The West Wing', - all of them wouldn't have had Hillary Clinton in a position to get this close to the presidency herself. Characters based on her, perhaps, (as we'll see in '24'), but not the real deal.

Hillary will also be making her concession speech in the Tooniverse today. And I think that will look a little something like this......

[from 'Freakazoid' - thanks to Sean for the image]

BCnU!
Toby OB

A BIRTHDAY SALUTE TO ME [2]

Back in 1988, I was helping out my friend Brad Williams on a book he and two others were writing about time travel. I didn't do anything special - a few suggestions, lent a hand at the photo shoot for the cover... not much more than that.

But as a thank you, Brad made sure that I ended up as a character in the book!
What I found really cool about the mention was that it kind of tied in with one of my favorite novels, "Still Life With Woodpecker".....

Brad was a puppeteer and designer of the puppets Ebenezer Squint and Luigi O'Brien (my puppet cousin!) for the early Nickelodeon series 'Pinwheel'. He moved back to Hope, Michigan, in order to teach puppetry at the local college about a year later......

Sadly, while riding as a passenger in a car there, another vehicle ran the red light and smashed into his side of the car in an intersection. Although he had plenty of bones broken, the prognosis seemed good - but then he had a massive heart attack while in the hospital and passed away.

So even though it's my day, I'd like to take this opportunity to salute Brad, who gave me a presence in the literary universe as well.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

A BIRTHDAY SALUTE TO ME [1]

Well, somebody's gotta do it......

So yes, it's my birthday today. Two years ago - on 06/06/06, I finally came into my own as the Prince of Very Dim Lighting. I apparently share this birth date with Sandra Bernhard. (Big whoop.)

As a way to mark the "occasion", here's a news clipping about one of my first forays into Toobworld......

They told us not to look up at the microphone when it came time to say our names, but to look straight into the camera. So when it came to be my turn there in the Ranger Station's version of a "Peanut Gallery", I was so nervous trying to remember not to look up at the microphone that I blurted out part of my cousins' name of Hansen instead of my own. So technically, in Toobworld my name is "Toby Hans O'Brien".

And my grandfather never let me forget it!

This appearance didn't establish my televersion however (who, by the way, was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame back on my 50th b'day). That happened when my Joyville citizenship was established on 'The Hap Richards Show', another kids' show from that same local CBS affiliate back in the early sixties.

BCnU!

Toby OB

TVXHOHOF, 06/06/08 - THE BIRTHDAY HONORS

Earlier this year I wrote about Archibald Beechcroft from 'The Twilight Zone' episode "Mind And The Matter". Using the powers of his mind, Beechcroft transformed everybody in the world - his world of Earth Prime-Time, that is - into a copy of himself. We only got to see just a few examples of the results - those people Beechcroft came into contact with. But for the hour or so during which his experiment took place on May 12, 1961, every single TV character then living in Toobworld literally became Archibald Beechcroft.
I think we're talking one million crossovers, easy!

Archibald Beechcroft's transformation of Toobworld's population only had an effect within the reality of the TV Universe. Just because a TV show was in production at that time, this doesn't mean their characters were transformed. Westerns were big back in those days, but their characters were long dead by 1961. So Matt Dillon and the Cartwrights never looked like Beechcroft. (The exception to that? Dr. Miguelito Loveless. It's our contention that he was alive in Toobworld until at least 1973.)

I see no reason why 'Ellery Queen', 'Banyon', and Jake Axminster ('City Of Angels') couldn't still be alive by 1961. If so, all of them would have looked like Archibald Beechcroft on May 12th. If they survived through the end of 'Combat' in World War II, Lt. Hanley, Sgt. Saunders and the rest of their squad would have all resembled each other that day.

If a show took place in the future and was being broadcast at that time - let's say an episode of 'One Step Beyond' - their characters didn't become "beechcroftian" unless they were already born by May 12, 1961.
TV shows that weren't even on the air yet, though, would also have been affected by the transformation, so long as their characters were alive during that time.

Young John Locke of 'Lost' would have been transformed.

Captain Jack Harkness of 'Torchwood' would have undergone the transformation.

Lieutenant 'Columbo'

Mary Richards of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'

Peter Tong of 'Bachelor Father'.

Fred 'Sanford and Son' Lamont.

Both halves of 'The Odd Couple', Felix Unger and Oscar Madison

Sabrina, Jill, and Kelly, collectively known as 'Charlie's Angels'

All but one of 'The Brady Bunch' kids, even as babies, would have looked like Archibald Beechcroft. The lone exception would have been Cindy - the youngest one in curls wasn't born until three months later.

Even if the TV characters were clear across the globe, they would not be spared "beechcroftization". Captain Adam Troy of 'Adventures in Paradise' would have sailed the Seven Seas looking like Beechcroft. Dr. Marsh 'Daktari' Tracy of the Wameru Study Center for Animal Behavior in Africa would have suffered the same fate. Basil and Sybil Fawlty, and all the employees and guests at 'Fawlty Towers' would have looked the same on that one day. (Polly and Manuel most likely weren't working there yet, but wherever they were in the world, they looked like Beechcroft.)

If Exigius 12½ of Mars or the Gallifreyan Time Lord known as the Doctor were visiting tele-Terra at the time, both of them would have been subjected to the effects of the transformation, even though they were not human. (As seen in the first episode of 'My Favorite Martian', Exigius - soon to be known as Martin O'Hara - didn't crash on Earth until September of 1964. According to a 'Doctor Who' chronology, it doesn't look like the Doctor was anywhere near Earth in 1961, but that could still happen.....)

Just about the only major TV character around at the time who wasn't transformed into Archibald Beechcroft would have been Lassie!
So here's to you, Mr. Beechcroft. Luckily for the Toobworld Dynamic, you didn't learn your lesson until after you remade Earth Prime-Time in your own image. And in doing so, you may have proven yourself to be the greatest crossover link of all time!

BCnU!
Toby OB

(I was originally going to save this tribute for next year, when the whole Toobworld concept celebrates its tenth anniversary. However, who knows what may happen before then.......)

TODAY'S TWD: THE RUTAN CLAN

There was a running gag throughout the seasons of '3rd Rock From The Sun', in which the Solomons were terrorized by the sight of green Jell-O molds. They believed that Jell-O was an offshoot of a hostile, amorphous, carnivorous species from their home planet on the Cepheus-Draco border.

We've seen hostile amorphous species before in Toobworld, and they were green as well. We knew them as the Rutans, sworn enemies to the Sontaran race, and they had been locked in battle with the potato-headed clones for over 50,000 years. The Rutans were mentioned several times during the run of 'Doctor Who', but they only appeared once, in the 'Doctor Who' story "The Horror Of Fang Rock".

After watching the first half of 'The Sontaran Stratagem', NYMarkie of the Bit Torrent Rebel Alliance played for us the relevant clip from that Tom Baker episode, in which the Doctor had a sit-down detente with the Rutan on the stairs of the lighthouse. And we all agreed that it could be very likely that the Rutans were the aliens who terrified the Solomons.

BCnU!

Toby OB

THE HAT SQUAD: MEL FERRER

Actor and director Mel Ferrer passed away the other day at the age of 90. I may be projecting my own reactions on others, but I think when most people hear his name, the first thing they think of is that he was once married to Audrey Hepburn.

In Toobworld, Ferrer will be best remembered as Jerry Parks from the 'Columbo' episode "Requiem For a Falling Star". (Parks was a gossip columnist who appeared to be the intended murder victim.)

Again, I may be projecting my own feelings there. However, even though he was in nearly seventy episodes of 'Falcon Crest' as Phillip Erikson, I don't see that series getting the syndication saturation that 'Columbo' has received over the years. Those mysteries featuring the rumpled detective will be in reruns forever!

Here are a list of Mel Ferrer's Toobworld credits. Some of them may be found in alternate dimensions instead of in Earth Prime-Time.....

"Stories from My Childhood"
- Pinocchio and the Golden Key (1998) TV episode (voice) .... Geppetto

Catherine the Great (1995) (TV) .... Patriarch

"Christine Cromwell" - Doctor

- Only the Good Die Young (1990)

- In Vino Veritas (1990)

- Easy Come, Easy Go (1989)

- Things That Go Bump in the Night (1989)

"Wild Jack" (1989) TV mini-series

"Murder, She Wrote"
- Weave a Tangled Web (1989) TV episode .... Miles Austin

- Widow, Weep for Me (1985) TV episode .... Eric Brahm

"Dream West" (1986) TV mini-series .... Judge Elkins

Outrage! (1986) (TV) .... Judge Michael Lengel

"Peter the Great" (1986) TV mini-series .... Frederick

"Glitter"
- Nightfall (1985) TV episode

"Hotel"

- Celebrations (1985) TV episode .... Garrett Hardy

- Resolutions (1985) TV episode .... Anthony Palandrini

Seduced (1985) (TV) .... Arthur Orloff

"Finder of Lost Loves"

- Forgotten Melodies (1984) TV episode .... George Matthews

"Falcon Crest"- Phillip Erikson (68 episodes)

One Shoe Makes It Murder (1982) (TV) .... Carl Charnock

"Fantasy Island"
- The Case Against Mr. Roarke/Save Sherlock Holmes (1982) TV episode .... Moriarity/Lord Collingwood

"Behind the Screen" (1981) TV series .... Evan Hammer (unknown episodes, 1981-1982)

Fugitive Family (1980) (TV) .... Anthony Durano

The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980) (TV) .... Dr. Sanford

Top of the Hill (1980) (TV) .... Andreas Heggener

"Dallas" - Harrison Page

- Jenna's Return (1980)

- Love and Marriage (1979)

"Eischied"

- Who Is the Missing Woman? (1979) TV episode

"Return of the Saint"
- Vicious Circle (1979) TV episode .... Dr. Paolo Brogli

The Return of Captain Nemo (1978) (TV) .... Dr. Robert Cook

"How the West Was Won" (1978) TV mini-series .... Hale Burton

"Black Beauty" (1978) TV mini-series .... Nicholas Skinner

Sharon: Portrait of a Mistress (1977) (TV) .... David

"Logan's Run"

- Man Out of Time (1977) TV episode .... Analog

"Wonder Woman"

- Anschluss '77 (1977) TV episode .... Fritz Gerlich

"Lanigan's Rabbi"

- In Hot Weather, the Crime Rate Soars (1977) TV episode

"The Fantastic Journey"

- Funhouse (1977) TV episode .... Appolonius

"Hawaii Five-O"

- To Kill a Mind (1977) TV episode

- The Bells Toll at Noon (1977) TV episode .... Father Neill

"Baretta"

- Everybody Pays the Fare (1977) TV episode

"Alle origini della mafia" (1976) TV mini-series .... Armando Della Mora (episode "Legge, La")

"Ellery Queen"

- The Adventure of the Disappearing Dagger (1976) TV episode .... Brandon Childs

"Marcus Welby, M.D."
- Designs (1974) TV episode .... Carlo

"Police Story"

- The Wyatt Earp Syndrome (1974) TV episode .... Dr. Ross

"Search"

- Suffer My Child (1973) TV episode .... John Rickman

Tenafly (1973) (TV) .... Charlie Rush

Carola (1973) (TV)

Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star (1973) (TV) .... Jerry Parks

"Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre"
- The Fifth Passenger (1963) TV episode .... Peter Carrington

"Zane Grey Theater"
- The Ghost (1959) TV episode .... Marshal Monty Elstrode

"Producers' Showcase"

- Mayerling (1957) TV episode .... Crown Prince Rudolph

- Episode #3.6 (1957) TV episode

BCnU.....
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: THE JOURNEYMAN STRAIN

With all of this free time, now that the regular TV season is over and my summer shows haven't yet started up (although I am adding 'In Plain Sight' to the mix), I'm trying to clear out the backlog in my DVR queue. Tuesday I watched 1 1/2 episodes of 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' (the second half of the "Revenge Of The Slitheen" and the full "Eye Of The Gorgon") and the first hour of the mini-series (really a two-part movie!) of "The Andromeda Strain". The original movie is probably my favorite "hard" science fiction movie but only read the book afterwards. Add to that my interest in this production being piqued by Medium Rob's advance review, I was eager to add "The Andromeda Strain" to the TV Universe.

Within fifteen minutes, though, that dream was dashed, once they introduced William J. Scott as the President of the United States [pictured]. As most visitors to Inner Toob know, the main Toobworld should reflect the real world when it comes to the POTUS, since so many sitcoms will eventually get around to making jokes about the current Commander-in-Chief, and perhaps even work the actual person into the plot. ('Here's Lucy' with Kennedy, 'Gomer Pyle' with LBJ, 'Angie' and Carter, 'The Nanny' and Clinton, and 'Whoopi' with Bush as examples.)

And then it veered off into the near future with the 'Star Trek' gadgetry of "vid-paper" in an early scene, and I saw a way to at least get a tenuous connection to the main Toobworld and with a link to another TV series to boot!

In the 'Journeyman' episode of "The Hanged Man", Dan Vasser accidentally left behind a digital camera. When he returned to his present, he found that the timeline had changed dramatically. The technology was far more advanced than it was when he left, and that included the type of "video-paper" seen in "The Andromeda Strain". (Of greater concern of course was that Dan's son Zack no longer existed but instead he had a daughter named Caroline.)

So Dan went back again and was able to retrieve the camera before it could be utilized for changing the future by the person who found it; and when he made it back to his own time, it was his original timeline again.

However, that old timeline, with the free-floating computer screens and the vid-paper AND President William J. Scott, didn't disappear. Once created, it remained in existence in its own plane of "reality". It continued without Dan Vasser's presence.

I have no clue as to how the alternate version of his family dealt with his disappearance. The counterpart of his wife, at least, knew of his time traveling ways and of his desire to go back and fix the offspring discrepancy, so she probably understood why he was gone. Eventually she probably even came up with a cover story - something along the lines that Dan had turned out to be no different from his father Frank in abandoning his family.

So that's not too shabby - only one hour viewed so far and already I have a connection to the main TV Universe - from before its home dimension splintered off to be a new TV dimension!

We'll see what the next three hours will bring..... (I think the coagulated blood may make for a connection to some 'Star Trek' series or another.)

BCnU!
Toby OB

ABOUT THE 2008 BIRTHDAY HONORS LIST

For years now I've been inducting TV characters into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame on my birthday. Those chosen for this Birthday Honors List might not have fulfilled the qualifications of appearances in three different TV series, commercials, or TV movies, but they still made significant contributions to Toobworld which should be recognized.

• Suzy McNamara of 'Private Secretary' only made one crossover, but her appearance on 'The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour' is considered by many to be the first TV crossover.
  
• It wasn't that Brady Hawkes of the 'Gambler' movies appeared in other TV shows; instead he was honored because the fourth tele-flick, "The Luck Of The Draw", served as a showcase for over a dozen characters from classic TV Westerns.
  
• Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon only appeared in 'The Odd Couple', but the same actresses who played them on Television also played the parts on Broadway in the original production and in the movie version as well.
  
• The late, great Michael Dunn only appeared in nine episodes of 'The Wild, Wild West'. However, I've made a convincing argument (I think so, at any rate) that many of his other TV characters from a century later (in the Toobworld timeline) were actually Dr. Miguelito Loveless operating under an assumed name.
  
  

This year's Hall of Fame selection for the Birthday Honors doesn't officially meet the requirements for membership. He only appeared in one TV series, and - like previous inductee Sweet the Demon from 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' - in only one episode at that.

So I just wanted to get that out of the way now before we unveil the Birthday Honors inductee on Friday.

And it was a sad attempt to get the word out that MY BIRTHDAY IS ON FRIDAY!!!!!!

BCnU!
Toby OB

NEW @ TOOBWORLD CENTRAL

My copy of the second season for 'How I Met Your Mother' arrived today. Now I can get back into the swing of things with synchronized viewing of the show with my "kids" living over in Taiwan.

I coaxed Sean & Gosia into checking out the series; and despite their aversion to shows with laugh tracks, they've fallen in love with it as I did. We haven't been able to "watch" each episode together - using our computers in different ways. (I'll just say I use the DVDs and leave it at that.) But it's always fun to make snarky comments in AIM about the show and just wallow in their guesses as to what will happen.
BCnU!
Toby OB

MADAM, I'M ADAM

Following in that theme that God and Science co-exist in the TV Universe......

Not all of Toobworld's alternate dimensions survive alongside the main dimension of Earth Prime-Time. Some alternate Earths are destroyed in nuclear conflagration; others from viral plagues. We've seen these possibilities for the human race happen in anthology shows like 'The Twilight Zone', 'The Outer Limits', and 'Nightmares & Dreamscapes'.

And then there are those Toobworlds where God got the ball rolling, but the human race never makes it out of the starting gate.....

Check out this commercial for an insurance company!

BCnU!
Toby OB