First off, it did get better once Hank and his brother Evan were out in the Hamptons. I bailed the first time while Hank was still wallowing in his Brooklyn apartment.
But the main reason I'm glad I gave it another shot was for the "take me back" head kick I got near the end of the episode. We finally got to see 'round back of the "Hampt-Inn", where the Brothers Lawson were staying - with Divyah, who was to become Dr. Hank's P.A., - they were seated poolside on the dune deck with a great view of the ocean.
And that's when I realized the setting for these scenes were at a place I used to work 29 summers ago!My friend and former room-mate Bob got me a gig working for a chain of hotels on Dune Road in Westhampton Beach. I learned how to be a night auditor at the smallest property which was on the bay side of the road and had only 30 rooms. (It was a hand transcript and I was usually done with the work in an hour.) By working there, I even got to meet a few minor celebs - like a member of the Amazin's 1969 team.....
The site of the 'Royal Pains' scenes was the "flagship" of the line and its where we went to get our meals. And before the season actually began, we also had to do a lot of manual labor - like painting that deck scene in the pilot. (Got a terrible back-of-the-neck sunburn from that!)
I spent a turning-point birthday working there that summer. In fact, on the night of my birthday, one of the cars in the parking lot burst into flames. Couldn't ask for a more spectacular show to close out the day!
And that's another reason I'll be watching the series this summer - maybe I'll get the chance to see other landmarks that I know.
BCnU!
AS SEEN IN:
AS SEEN IN:
In order to have a cohesive TV Universe, one in which as many shows as possible share the same dimension, both points of view have to be represented. If we applied my own personal belief, that would solve everything. But where's the sport in that?
Although the formation of the TV Earth may have followed the same pattern as other planets, it was an artificial construct. Like "Beatlemania" and the Presidency that resulted from the 2000 election, it wasn't the real thing but an incredible simulation.
As depicted in 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy' (hereafter referred to as 'HHG2TG'), pan-dimensional beings contracted the planet builders of Magrathea to build a planet, based on the designs supplied by the super-computer known as "Deep Thought". This new computer was to be an even greater computer. Its purpose? To supply the question to the answer "42", which would explain Life, the Universe, and Everything.
As I said, the development of the Earth simulated the normal function of a planet. We saw the cosmic debris coalesce when the Time Lord known as "The Doctor" (10th edition) brought "The Runaway Bride" Donna Noble back in Time to witness the formation of that third rock from the Sun (which is all it would literally be at that point). While there, they saw the Racnossian sleeper ship of alien spider larvae embed itself into the core of the planet. (That was the first glitch in the programming of the Earth super-computer.
Although we couldn't see it, each of those rocks being brought together to form Earth Prime-Time was being guided by nanobot robots developed by the Magratheans. It was a process that saved them from having to do the manual labor.
It was an earlier incarnation of the Doctor, the 4th edition, who would later (as in the linear cosmic timeline, not his personal history) initiate the impetus for the spark of Life to begin in the primordial ooze. In the 'Doctor Who' adventure "The City Of Death", the Doctor and fellow Gallifreyan Romana (technically a Gallifreyenne?) were instrumental in the destruction of Scaroth's spaceship. The resultant atomic explosion provided the energy to mutate the molecules at the beginning of the chain of Life. (Yet another glitch in Deep Thought's original blueprint for Earth.)
In a way, the Doctor (yet another incarnation, his 5th) further interfered with the natural evolution of Earth Prime-Time, as seen in the adventure "EarthShock". The Doctor's young Companion from E-Space, Adric, sacrificed himself to eliminate another threat by the Cybermen (who will figure heavily in the second part of this essay). With the detonation of that space freighter practically in the Earth's atmosphere, Adric brought an end to the Age of the Dinosaurs. (By that point in Time, the dinosaurs had evolved to be intelligent - or, at the very least, they had TV, as seen in 'Dinosaurs!').
So if Deep Thought originally saw those evolved dinosaurs as part of the computer's programming matrix, here was yet another glitch.
So when Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect arrived with the Golgafrinchams during the time of the Neanderthals, Earth Prime-Time as a computer was already well and truly bolluxed.
Basically Earth Prime-Time continued on its evolutionary path along the same lines as the One True Earth from our dimension... with the additional minor details like the occasional alien invasion, the visitation by other dimensional beings who passed themselves off as deities, as well as other deviations brought about by the imaginations of TV script-writers.
So that's Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld. As seen by the examples listed here, this Earth came about via scientific (and sci-fi-ific) methods; it was not created out of thin air by God the Almighty.
"Mondas" is the name by which we know the other Earth in the TV Universe. According to the 1st incarnation of the Doctor, "Mondas" is one of the oldest known words for "Earth".
"God created the Heavens and the Earth."
Like the other-dimensional humanoids who came to Earth Prime-Time and used their super-powers to pass themselves off as Gods to the humans at various points around the globe, the Mondasians arrived on Earth Prime-Time and presented their history to the Earthlings... who proceeded to interpret it as their religion. Basically a lot of that begattin' was happening back on Mondas.
It would have been nice to throw two recent series over to Mondas - 'Kings', with its kingdoms of Gath and Gilboa and its reliance on the intervention by God; and 'Krod Mandoon And The Flaming Sword Of Fire', since every world should have its own version of 'Get Smart'. But 'Kings' mentioned Liszt and Beethoven, while 'Krod Mandoon' invoked Atlantis. For alls I know, the other sword-and-sorcery shows (which also includes 'Wizards And Warriors') might be negated for similar reasons, but for now, it works, mate!
Meanwhile, God saw that the absence of Mondas from its geo-synchronous orbit with Earth Prime-Time would play hob with the tidal system of Toobworld. And so God finally stepped in to meddle in the affairs of Mankind - the Terran variety. He warned Noah of the coming floods and instructed him to build the Ark.
