CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK [PART ONE]

'Doctor Who' has returned to Earth!

Fifteen years after the last regular episode, six years after the one TV movie for the Eighth Doctor, we've had a full series of thirteen episodes featuring Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Incarnation.

The final episode for this year has aired, signaling the end of Eccleston's tenure and marking the debut of David Tennant in the role.

And so to celebrate, most of my essays and all of the Crossovers will be dedicated to the Doctor for the rest of the summer.

Be forewarned: In my essays during this summer salute to 'Doctor Who', there will be spoilers for each of the episodes, especially in regard to summaries.....

For this second episode of the series, we actually have two theoretical crossovers!

First off, here's a recap of the episode:

"The End Of The World"
Originally aired: Saturday, April 2, 2005 on BBC-1
Location: Platform 1 (A space station orbiting Earth).
Date: 5, 000, 000, 000 AD
Enemy: The Lady Cassandra.

The Doctor takes Rose on her first voyage through time, to the year five billion: the Sun is about to expand and swallow the Earth. But amongst the alien races gathering to watch on Platform One, a murderer is at work. Who is controlling the mysterious and deadly Spiders?

[Thanks to TV.com]

CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK - PART ONE
'DOCTOR WHO' - "THE END OF THE WORLD"
&
'THE HITCH-HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY'

You're probably familiar with this scenario: the family dynasty behind an elegant restaurant which have their roots in a small hole-in-the-wall diner where they first prepared their signature dishes.

The entrepeneur/showman portrayed by Sir Richard Attenborough in 'Jurassic Park' had a similar background. You can't get beginnings more humble than running a flea circus!

So it is with the people behind Milliway's, the restaurant at the "end" of the universe.

The fantastic online encyclopedia known as "Wikipedia" has this entry for Milliway's:

Milliway's, also known as the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, can only be visited by time travel, as it exists at the end of time and matter. One of its major attractions is that diners can watch the entire universe end around them as they eat. The terminal moment is followed by dessert.

Reservations are easily obtained, since they can be booked once the patron returns to his or her original time after their meal, and the restaurant's bill can be paid by depositing a penny in any bank account of the present time: by the end of the universe, compound interest will be enough to pay the extremely high bill.

Depending on when (in Milliway's' timeline) they visited, the diners' cars/buggies/hovercraft/escape capsules/shuttles/spacecraft/time machines may have been parked by none other than Marvin the Paranoid Android. [Near-instant transportation to the restaurant can be achieved in certain rarefied circumstances, such as being next to an exploding hyperspatial field generator on the planet where Milliway's will (eventually) be built several billion years after the explosion occurs.]

Among the items on the menu are various cuts of meat from the very obliging Ameglian Major Cow and the slightly less obliging vegetables in a green salad. While water and Aldebaran liqueurs are in stock, tea is not.

Because of the special number of impossibilities surrounding all aspects of Milliway's, their advertising firm penned the following slogan:

If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliway's - the Restaurant at the End of the Universe!

It's my belief that when they began in business, the Milliway family operated these space platforms and towed them to the various planets facing destruction, as well as to other sites of spatial wonders and anomalies.

(It's mentioned in the episode that there are at least three other viewing platforms scattered about the universe.)

Eventually, the Milliway family found the means to make the Quantum leap forward in Time to the actual destruction of the Universe. And there they established their toney restaurant to view The End.

Perhaps the Doctor helped them out as a silent partner. It'd be nice to think he earned some money during his temporal travels instead of just stealing everything he needed!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby