REMEMBERING LA LIZ: HELENA CASSADINE

Elizabeth Taylor appeared in several episodes of 'General Hospital' back in the early 1980's as Helena Cassadine, the widow of billionaire madman Mikkos Cassadine. She was there in Port Charles just long enough to attend the wedding of the two people she held responsible for the death of her husband - Luke Spencer and Laura Webber Baldwin. While there, she put a curse on them during the ceremony.

Of course, in Earth Prime-Time, Helena Cassadine and Elizabeth Taylor are two separate people. But over in the TV dimension in which author Richard 'Castle' resides, he probably knew that La Liz played the role. Just this week, as he and Detective Kate Beckett were investigating a murder on the set of the soap opera 'Temptation Lane', Castle admitted that he knew all the details to the weather machine storyline on 'General Hospital' and he even mentioned Mikkos Cassadine by name. (Mikkos is pictured, right, in what could be one of the best death scenes in soap opera history - trapped in the freezing room of his own weather macine.)

This would be more of a Zonk if 'Castle' took place on the main Toobworld, but so long as they have a NYC mayor inconsistent with that of both Earth Prime (our world) and Earth Prime-Time, then it has to remain in some alternate TV dimension. (I'd like to think it would be the 'West Wing' dimension.) But once that's no longer an issue (once the show is canceled, but hopefully not too soon!), then we can push the 'Primeval' reset button and bring the series back into alignment with the main Toobworld.

So, that world has a soap opera called 'General Hospital' but may not have had the actual events from that show taking place there. Over in the main Toobworld, however, the stories seen on 'General Hospital' actually took place, but as with so many other soap operas, there is also a show by that same name. It could be a "reality" series or a fictionalized retelling of actual events, but I'd have to check the various references to it for a future blog post.

Meanwhile, back in Toobworld proper, Helena Cassadine eventually returned to Port Charles, NY, but was now played by Constance Towers (a fact Castle probably knew as well.) For whatever reason, she must have needed plastic surgery. It must have been a desperate measure - because after all, what woman would willingly alter their face when they look like Elizabeth Taylor?

BCnU!