JEDI-VISION

According to George Lucas, there will be a live-action TV series based on 'Star Wars' which will focus on minor characters from the basic mythology. It will be set in the time period between “Revenge of the Sith” (Episode III) and the original “Star Wars” (Episode IV). The action will follow the Rebel Alliance in its "infancy" against the Empire.. There will be Stormtroopers, but don't expect any Jedi - after all, until Luke came along, it was believed that Darth Vader was the last of that religion. And speaking of Darth Vader, he won't appear either.

As he did with the “Clone Wars” series, Lucas will write and shoot an entire year’s worth of episodes before looking for a cable channel on which to air the series, so it's going to be awhile before it finally enters Toobworld proper. (Of course, with appearances by 3PO and R2 in so many blipverts, it's already a part of the TV Universe.) Hopefully, the series will be cast mostly with unknown actors; it'll be more believable that way. By that I mean the actor won't be blocking our acceptance of the character.

Not that I think 'Star Wars' is real..... Heh heh.... ahem.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

DOUG ROSS, ACE OF LINKS

Here's what TV critic Mary McNamara had to say about some of the star power that was on display in Thursday night's episode of 'ER':

"It was as if none of his movie success ever happened. There was George Clooney, stunningly accessorized with scrubs, stethoscope and Julianna Margulies, looking for all the world as if he had never left the mother planet of 'ER. As if he and his alter ego Doug Ross had been simply living an alternate life in Seattle, raising the twins with Nurse Carol, no doubt doing a lot of volunteer work, waiting perhaps for John Wells to pull a Shonda Rhimes, send them to Malibu, give them their own spinoff show."

Well, he WAS living his life in Seattle; that's the whole point of Toobworld! Just because a show goes off the air, or a character leaves before the series has ended, that doesn't mean they enter some stasis chamber and remain frozen until needed again. In the thirty plus years between his last appearance on 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' and his guest appearance on an episode of 'Mad About You', Alan Brady led a full life on Earth Prime-Time, unseen by the audience in the Trueniverse. He probably changed networks, tried a movie career, revived his career with a few shows on Broadway, maybe even divorced Mel's sister.

And the same would hold true for Doug Ross. (We already know about his life before he was at County - he worked across town at another 'E/R' while he was studying to be a doctor. But of course back then he was still going by his college nickname of "Ace"....

BCnU!
Toby O'B

SMITHIE LESSON

James Corden is one of the brains behind 'Gavin & Stacey'. (Although from what I hear about his new sketch comedy show with castmate Matthew Horne, maybe Ruth Jones was in charge of that department.....) Not only did he co-write the series, but he played Gav's best mate, Smithie. And now with a third series gearing up, Smithie has added a new venue, which puts him two-thirds of the way towards qualifying for entry into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

In a sketch for the UK's Comic Relief telethon, Smithie is working on the pipes at a very posh hotel where he stumbles on a group meeting of England's football squad. Among those in attendance were Rion Ferdinand, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Peter Crouch, and Becks himself, David Beckham.When Smithie walked in on them, he couldn't help but take advantage of the situation and tell each of them where they were going wrong in their performance, and even how to properly perform "the Robot" after a goal.
The sketch may be available on YouTube, but I saw it on the Daily Mirror site. And a big thanks to Rob of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (link to the left, you lot!) for pointing me in the right direction....

BCnU!
Toby O'B

AS SEEN ON TV: CELEBUTARD APPRENTICE

To wrap up this week's mini-theme of "As Seen On TV" televersions from the latest 'Saturday Night Live', here's their fake promo for 'Celebrity Apprentice':

Guest host Dwayne Johnson is Dennis Rodman, Fred Armisen is Tom Green, and Darrell Hammond is that old gasbag himself, Donald Trump.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

LINK TO THE LEFT UPDATE

I've added a new link to the left, one that will fit in well with the sites dedicated to fictional cereals and "555" phone numbers.

It's called "Strange Maps" and that's what its caretaker is all about. ("I like maps. I like weird maps, the kind you won’t find in a regular atlas. Maps of countries that never existed - or never will exist.")

Someday, maybe even Toobworld could be represented there......

BCnU!
Toby O'B

SERIES PREMIERS

There was an episode of 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' entitled "The Jingle Bells Affair" which concerned the visit to America by Chairman Georgi Koz of an unnamed country similar to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. There was also an episode of 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' entitled "The Exile" which featured a man named Brynov, the recently ousted premier of a country that also sounds very similar to the Soviet Union.

Although the 'Voyage' episode aired before the 'U.N.C.L.E.' episode (March 15, 1965 vs December 23, 1966), "The Jingle Bells Affair" happened first on the Toobworld timeline. It took place just a few weeks before it aired - in the first scenes, the characters are held up in traffic by the Thanksgiving Day Parade. "The Exile", on the other hand, begins on October 3, 1974, as former Premier Brynov is about to be executed by firing squad.

It will be the Toobworld contention that Chairman Koz and Premier Brynov had been in charge of the same unnamed country.

As background, it could be that Brynov saw that the older Koz was turning soft after his experience in America. (At one point, Koz played the role of Santa Claus for the kids!) In fact, Chairman Koz foresaw that he would probably relieved of his duties once he got back home, especially because of a speech he gave at the U.N. Hoping to cover all of his bases, Koz asked Mr. Macy if he could be a department store Santa if he was out of a job.

So seizing his opportunity, the hard-liner Brynov probably had Koz ousted from power. Sadly - because Koz was an endearing character in his own way - Brynov probably had the Chairman executed.* What goes around, etc.: almost a decade later Brynov found himself in the same position. (Although he would survive the firing squad thanks to loyalists, he would later die at sea.)

As for what country they both ruled, we might as well seek out its identity in a third TV show, just to forge another link. In describing both Koz and Brynov, I said their country was similar to the USSR. So their fictional country should be a huge, sprawling collection of smaller countries and it should have a very utilitarian and generic name.

I think we have a candidate in The Federated People's Republic, from an episode of 'Mission: Impossible'. Further, here are a few choices for those republics under the FPR's control (at that time): Zemenia ('Monk'), Boravia ('Danger Man'), Drublegratz ('The Girl From 'U.N.C.L.E.'), Argonia ('The Adventures Of Superman'), Boldavia ('Night Court'), and maybe Tavilia from 'The Amazing Spiderman' (but that feels, to me, more like it should be close to Italy for some reason). I think all of those countries are now on their own; like the USSR, the FPR probably crumbled eventually.

As always, this theory cannot be proven or disproved. (Suddenly the voice of Bob Johnson is in my head. He's the voice we heard on those tapes and discs - the 1988 version - that Jim Phelps played each week......)

BCnU!
Toby O'B

*Then again, the holiday season in Toobworld is all about last-minute Christmas miracles!

ADDENDUM: BELATED BIG BRITISH BLIPVERT BRAINSTORM BRAVOS

I posted that previous story without giving full and proper credit to my blogmate across the water, Rob Buckley of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (link to the left). I pestered him several times over yesterday morning (using that old 'Columbo' mind-trick of "Just one more thing....") for help in identifying many of the characters in that Red Nose Day sketch about the advertising icons. I knew Monkey, and the Meerkat and the Martian - I guess I had an affinity for the M's - but I was really stuck on the 118 118 guys, the Admiral, and that disturbing Pepperami Meat-stick. (According to Rob, Adrian Edmondson - Vyvyan of 'The Young Ones' - provides its voice, and that so works for me!)

Ddiolch 'ch, Rob!

And my thanks also to Andrew, another Toobworld visitor I neglected to mention, who made sure that I knew that the sketch could be found online (since I won't be able to see it on the television over here).

Sorry I forgot to thank you guys earlier. Sometimes I really do need an editor to check my posts before I load them!

But then again, it gave me the chance to play with alliteration!

BCnU!

Toby O'B

THE BIG BRITISH BLIPVERT BRAINSTORM

Great Britain is over four hours into "Red Nose Day" for 2009, their annual Comic Relief celebration to raise money for charity. The theme this year is to do something funny for money, and it feels as though most British celebrities are pitching in to help out.

And this would include celebrities from Toobworld as well, including the icons and spokesmen to be found in commercials.
On February 20th, some of the greatest characters in British blipverts, some not seen on TV in decades, gathered together to think up a way they could help raise money for Comic Relief. I think I can safely say this will have a lock on the Toobits Award for Best Commercial Crossover in 2009!

Here's a rundown of who attended:












MONKEY - ITV Digital, PG Tips tea












HONEY MONSTER - Sugar Puffs












MARTIAN - Smash Instant Potatoes












THE MEAT-STICK - Pepperami








BRENDA & AUDREY - Bounty paper towels












CHURCHILL - Churchill Insurance












ALEXANDER THE MEERKAT - CompareTheMarket.com












BERTIE BASSETT - Liquorice Allsorts












THE ADMIRAL - Admiral Insurance












CAPTAIN BIRDSEYE - Birds Eye fish fingers












THE GORILLA - Cadbury












THE 118 118 GUYS - 118 Directory Assistance












MICHAEL WINNER - Kenco Coffee and Esure car insurance

There was also a voice-over at the end, of someone who didn't get the recognition he supposedly deserved for putting the whole meeting together, but it wasn't recognizable to me as to who it should be. Can anybody help with that information?

They finally decided, in the tradition of Band-Aid, to create a song that would help them raise money. And in the most angelic voice since Charlotte Church, Honey Monster sang out:

Don't buy fish fingers
Don't buy Kitchen Rolls
Don't buy Teabags
Don't buy Chocolate

And he implored those listening to instead buy shiny red noses to help raise money.

The Captain Birdseye seen in the sketch has to be considered some sort of recastaway, since the original actor, John Hewer, passed away a year ago come March 16. We can always claim it's his brother, also a Captain. (I'm wondering if there was some sort of poor taste joke - and there's nothing wrong with those! - to be implied in seeing him laid out like that until the Honey Monster's song brought him back to life, as it were?)

Later tonight there'll be a big telethon which will either augment the histories for 'Outnumbered' and 'The Sarah Jane Adventures', or give them counterparts in Skitlandia.

We shall see what we shall view.....

If you want to see their Red Nose Day sketch, click here.
BCnU!
Toby O'B

AS SEEN ON TV: SENATOR JOHN McCAIN

Today in the "As Seen On TV" spotlight, we have the former candidate for President, Senator John McCain. Like the last few televersions we've seen this week, this is how McCain looked on 'Saturday Night Live': In the sketch, he was ushered into the Oval Office along with fellow Republican Senators Hutchinson and Coburn to meet with President Barack Obama. But because of their resistance to his stimulus bill, the three senators angered the president so much that he transformed into "The Rock Obama". Not only was it the funniest sketch in a very strong night of good comedy sketches, it was one of the best in a long, long time.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

THE HAT SQUAD: JIMMY BOYD

Jimmy Boyd has passed away at the age of 70. But with his best known work, he'll forever be about twelve years old: Boyd sang the Christmas standard "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". He also appeared in movies like the film version of "Inherit The Wind".

For Toobworld, he played Huckleberry Finn in two different productions and was a recurring character on 'Bachelor Father' as one of Kelly Gregg's boyfriends, Howard Meechim.

Contract on Cherry Street (1977) (TV) .... Gallagher, OCU

"Batman" .... Dogwood

- Louie the Lilac (1967)

"The Bing Crosby Show"
- Hoop Shots (1964)

"Broadside" (1964) .... Machinist's Mate Marioan Botnik

"My Three Sons"
- The Substitute Teacher

"Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" .... Jerry

- The House Next Door (1963)

"Bachelor Father" .... Howard Meechim (1958-1962)

"Shirley Temple's Storybook" .... Alvin

- Emmy Lou (1960)

"Date with the Angels" .... Wheeler Angel(1957-1958)
"The United States Steel Hour" .... Huckleberry Finn

- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1957)

- Tom Sawyer (1956)

"Space Patrol" .... Jimmy
- The Hidden Map (1952)

"Good night and may God bless....."

BCnU....
Toby O'B