LANDON ROLES ON "THE RIFLEMAN"

'THE RIFLEMAN'
"End Of A Young Gun"
When Mark gets caught on a mountain ledge, a young outlaw risks his life to rescue him and breaks his leg doing so.

"The Mind Reader"
A young man accused of a murder he didn’t commit is finally cleared by the accidental discovery of a “mind reader.”

We met two of Little Joe Cartwright's children in the 'Bonanza' TV movie sequels - Benj and Sara. But he may have had at least one other son many years earlier, when he was practically still a boy himself.

"Hello, Darlin'...."

At some point in 1861, when he was 19 years old, Little Joe could have had an affair with a married homesteader named Mrs. Fulton. (She may even have been his first.) Mrs. Fulton already had a son Henry (known by the nickname "Hank") by her husband; but for whatever reason, she felt the need to stray outside her marriage. And from that affair (which was more than likely just a one-night stand), she became pregnant by Little Joe but passed the child off as her husband's. (The virility of TV characters being akin to that of the Greek gods, a child would naturally have resulted from the one-night stand.)

Little Joe Cartwright (left) and Will Fulton (right)

As he got older, it would eventually become evident by his physical features that William "Will" Fulton was the son of Little Joe Cartwright. But the buffalo chips never hit the fan with any revelation of the scandal, however. When Will was still young, probably no more than fifteen, he and his half-brother Hank were left orphans after their parents were killed by a man named Carson who stole their land.

The Fulton boys turned to crime in their grief, but Will's heart was never into it. The outlaw life may have eventually led to his death, had his path never crossed with Mark McCain and his father Lucas (who was also known as 'The Rifleman'.)

(Both Lucas and Mark McCain kept journals of their life in Northfork, New Mexico, which are available on line where you can read Lucas' account of their encounter with Will Fulton.)

That episode of 'The Rifleman', "End Of A Young Gun", took place from August through September of 1881, not long after the McCains bought the Dunlap ranch. So if Will Fulton was nineteen years old as the Marshal figured, then he was born in 1862. And if he was the son of Little Joe Cartwright, he was probably conceived in 1861, when Little Joe was only nineteen himself. (Little Joe was born in 1842.)

I've looked through the 'Bonanza' episode guide to see if there was any place in which an off-screen "adventure" could have taken place in which Little Joe was able to conceive a son by Mrs. Fulton. The easiest answer would be during the show's hiatus between the second and third season, at some point between "Sam Hill" [June 3, 1961] and "The Smiler" [September 24, 1961.]

Why 1961? A prominent 'Bonanza' fan-site says that the common thinking in establishing the dateline for the show is that each season was broadcast 100 years after the "actual" events took place. So if we're looking for something that happened in 1861, it had to be found in (or between) the episodes shown in 1961. I tend to agree with that thinking.

But I did find an actual episode which definitely had pozz'bilities to be the framework in which Little Joe met and impregnated Mrs. Fulton......

From "Bonanza: Scenery Of The Ponderosa":
59.) The Gift
April 1, 1961
While crossing the desert to Yuma, Arizona, with a white stallion intended as a birthday present for Ben, Joe runs into a pack of merciless comancheros. His companion, a former comanchero, Emiliano, who raised the horse, must get he and Joe through safely. A season two highlight of the series.

While he was on the way to Yuma to make the purchase of the horse, Little Joe may have spent the night with Mr. and Mrs. Fulton and their son Hank.

(In my imagination, I see the situation develop along the same lines as seen in the movie "The Missouri Breaks" when John P. Ryan's character of Cy was going to sleep in the barn of another homesteader family, and the wife showed him out to the barn......)

Since Will Fulton voluntarily turned himself in and returned the loot stolen by Hank and his gang, he may have been given a much-reduced sentence by Judge Hanavan (perhaps influenced by Lucas McCain's testimony.) I don't think he would have been sent away to prison for any longer a time than six months. After he paid his debt to society, Fulton returned to North Fork, but he had changed his name to William "Billy" Mathis because he wanted a fresh start in life.

(I'm not sure if the shocking conditions we see in today's prisons - as depicted in a show like 'Oz' - existed back then, but a pretty boy like Will......? It must have been uncomfortable in the saddle on the ride back to North Fork.......)

Unfortunately for Will, it looks as though the lovely young Ann Bard who met him while he was recuperating at the McCain ranch couldn't wait for him to serve out his sentence. By the time we meet up with him again - as I said, now with the moniker of Billy Mathis - he was seeing the daughter of another rancher, Lucy Hallager.

Billy ended up being framed for the murder of Lucy's father, who told Billy publicly to stay away from his daughter. (Probably because of Billy's time spent in prison and riding with Hank Fulton's gang.) Things were going so badly for Billy during the trial that Lucy broke him out of the jail. (Because of incidents like this, Marshal Micah Torrance now has a bad reputation among many televisiologists. But if he was better at his job, there wouldn't have been that much for "the Rifleman" to do.)

Luckily, North Fork was visited by a traveling "mind reader" named John Barrow McBride whose "powers" were used to flush out the real killer. Billy and Lucy were then free to start new lives; and since they were never seen again in North Fork, it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that Lucy sold the family ranch to finance their future together.

I was tempted to say that Billy pursued a career in the cavalry - as seen with an unnamed Michael Landon character in an episode of 'Cheyenne', but the Toobworld timeline prohibits that. "Decision" took place back in the 1870's, as did the 'Cheyenne' series in general.

On second thought, that's probably a good thing, considering.....

One last thing:

One thing I always enjoy about the Toobworld timeline is how sometimes events are broadcast out of order. We got to meet Michael Landon's character(s) of Will Fulton/Billy Mathis a few years before he finally hit the big time with his signature role of Little Joe Cartwright on 'Bonanza'......

BCnU!

A FLASH IN THE PUN

In writing about Boilerplate, the latest fictional character whom I'd like to see get a televersion, I mentioned a previous candidate - Harry Flashman. Flashman was the school bully in "Ton Brown's School Days", a Victorian novel by Thomas Hughes. The book has been filmed several times, and twice for television, so Harry Flashman has had his day in the cathode sun, but there was more to his life than his school days.

Not only because it was the first production broadcast, but also because its episodic form as a TV series provided the opportunity to add as much detail from the novel as possible, the 1971 TV version is the one established in Earth Prime-Time. (The later version from 2005 does boast the presence of Stephen Fry as Dr. Thomas Arnold, though. Tempting as that is, that version has to remain in the Land of Remakes.) 

Harry Flashman attacks Tom Brown

In 1969, George MacDonald Fraser published "Flashman", an historical novel purportedly based on the recently discovered papers of Harry Flashman. Over the course of twelve novels, Fraser recounted Flashman's exploits from his early twenties to advanced old age. And along the way, Flashman had adventures in which he crossed paths with many historical figures.

(As a side note, I highly recommend these books, especially if you enjoy salacious depictions of Victorian ribaldry - a lot of "rogering" goes on, which was an excellent source of... shall we say, "inspiration" to a lad in his teens. That is, so I've heard.....)

So far, none of the "Flashman" novels have been adapted for television, although the second novel, "Royal Flash", does have a home in the Cineverse as a movie starring Malcolm McDowall as Harry, with Alan Bates and Oliver Reed in support.

I think the Fraser series of novels about Harry Flashman would make for a great TV series on HBO or Showtime or even Starz, especially with the freedom provided by a premium channel to portray prurient content. (Ah, alliteration!) With the success of 'Game Of Thrones' on HBO and 'The Borgias' and 'The Tudors' on Showtime, perhaps its time to give old Flash a shot.....

I'd like to think that, even without a television series or made for TV movie already established, Harry Flashman's life in Toobworld at least follows the basic guidelines set down by Fraser for a thoroughly debauched life led by Flashman. After all, even though we might not see it take place on our TV screens, Harry Flashman's life did continue after the events of the "Tom Brown's School Days" TV series had ended. 

Harry Flashman
with Tom Brown & Scud East

So let's assume that the Rugby School bully grew up to become a lecherous, immoral coward at least similar to, if not exactly like, the Flashman depicted by Fraser. This TV Flashman would end up rogering his way through the ladies of his times, perhaps even with fictional females from other TV series. (Let's say a parlor maid or two in the Bellamy household a decade or two before we met them on screen?)

Being a bounder and a cad, Flashman would not have been morally constrained from any dalliances with married women; and he would have no qualms in leading a young lady on with false promises of betrothal, in order to bed her and rob her of her virtue. And in the course of such a pursuit, he might have proferred a false identity in order to elude being sued for breach of promise. 

From the movie "Royal Flash"
But the Toobworld Flashman would find himself in a similar situation

Let's say he did pluck a young lovely's virginity and with such skill that she acquiesced without even learning his name. But as Flashman made ready to flee the following morning, suddenly the deflowered miss might have inquired as to who he was. Caught off-guard, he may have concocted a fake name on the spot.

But what name might he have used?

The Belgian detective Hercule Poirot was faced with such a situation while investigating a murder aboard a particular train.

"'I claim no credit this time. It was not a guess. Countess Andrenyi practically told me.'

'Comment? Surely not?'

'You remember I asked her about her governess or companion? I had already decided in my mind that if Mary Debenham were mixed up in the matter, she must have figured in the household in some such capacity.'

'Yes, but the Countess Andrenyi described a totally different person.'

'Exactly. A tall, middle-aged woman with red hair - in fact, the exact opposite in every respect of Miss Debenham, so much so as to be quite remarkable. But then she had to invent a name quickly, and there it was that the unconscious association of ideas gave her away. She said Miss Freebody, you remember.'

'Yes?'

'Eh bien, you may not know it, but there is a shop in London that was called, until recently, Debenham & Freebody. With the name Debenham running in her head, the Countess clutches at another name quickly, and the first that comes is Freebody. Naturally I understood immediately.'"

Oftentimes, false identities are similar enough to the original to make them easier to remember. (This is probably why almost everybody in the Albuquerque WITSEC program usually keeps their first names - unless it's something strange and/or Amish like Yonni - and gets a last name with the same initial as their original last name.)

A similar situation may have arisen for Harry Flashman when pressed by a romantic conquest to reveal his identity.

There are two ways in which he may have gone with his reasoning to choose the name I have in mind.

ONE - thinking of other uses for his particular variation on his name, he might have thought of the phrase "Flash of lightning".

TWO - This coital quandary may have taken place after his return from the Crimean War. (Again, only if Harry Flashman's TV existence followed the same pattern as that established in the literary universe.) Thinking back on his alleged involvement in the most infamous battle, which took place in late October of 1854, Flashman might have drawn inspiration from the regiment immortalized in the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

So whether it was "lightning" or the "Light Brigade", Flashman might have combined the key word with the last part of his own name right there on the spot and convinced her that his name was Lightman. 

An older Harry Flashman

And off he would have absconded, assured that he would never see her again.

But he may have left a little something to remember him by....

Again, this is all speculation, so why stop now?

What if some woman he rogered found herself pregnant, by this fellow named "Lightman"? O'Bviously she was never going to track him down to do right by her. But she might still have given the child the last name of its father, never knowing how false it was.

And so the family tree of Dr. Carl Lightman might have been established.........

SHOWS CITED:
'Tom Brown's School Days'
'Lie To Me'
'Agatha Christie's Poirot'
'Upstairs, Downstairs'
'In Plain Sight'

OTHER SOURCES:
"Murder On The Orient Express"
"Tom Brown's School Days"
"Flashman"
"Royal Flash"
"Flashman At The Charge"

BCnU!

ASOTV: COMING SOON TO A TOOBWORLD NEAR YOU

This autumn, BBC4 will be presenting a dramatization of the religious controversy that surrounded the Monty Python movie "The Life Of Brian" back in 1979.


So there will be plenty of fodder for the ASOTV gallery with actors portraying the members of the Python troupe. And I wouldn't be surprised if the two right-wing religious opponents who tried to parry with John Cleese and Michael Palin on a British TV show on the subject - even though they didn't see the first fifteen minutes of the movie and went through the whole film thinking Graham Chapman's portrayal of Brian was actually supposed to be that of Jesus Christ.

Hopefully it will eventually find its way over to BBC-America or PBS. But considering the topic and the troglodyte thinking of the Far Right in this country, I may have to look for it on DVD or via (ahem!) other means.....

Here's a list of the actors to play the Monty Python gang:

John Cleese - Darren Boyd

Michael Palin - Charles Edwards

Eric Idle - Steve Punt

Graham Chapman - Tom Fisher

Terry Jones - Rufus Jones

Terry Gilliam - Phil Nichol

"'Holy Flying Circus' is not a biopic, but a fantastical re-imagining of the Pythons' struggle with censorship in the run-up to the release of Life of Brian," said a BBC spokeswoman.

The movie will probably end up in that TV dimension that holds other behind the scenes depictions of various TV productions from either side of the Atlantic....

BCnU!

COMING SOON!

Continuing the Muppet superhero theme from yesterday....

BCnU!

ALT-COLUMBO II

Thanks to TV shows like 'Fringe', 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine', 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys', and 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', and of course, 'Sliders', we know that alternate TV dimensions contain the counterparts of characters to be found in the main Toobworld.

Which means that this clip from a movie could be that of Lt. Columbo from the "Evil Mirror Universe"......

If he ever said, "Just one more thing" in this TV dimension, I'd be afraid he was going to whip out a knife!

BCnU!

MOVIE/COMIC BOOK/TV CROSSOVER!

What isn't explained is how Beast was brought forward in Time from the Cuban Missile Crisis to be at the University of Farmer's. And conversely, how that Farmer's agent was sent back in time to the X-Men school in 1962.....

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 06/2011: THE HOTEL EDISON

In the fifth season opener for 'Sex And The City', Carrie met a woman named Joan in a coffee shop. That scene was filmed in the Cafe Edison of the Hotel Edison and adds to the location connections for the hotel's televersion.

Also in that circle of friends:

'Seinfeld' (George was handcuffed to a bed.)

'Becker' (Becker trashed one of the hotel rooms.)

'The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show' (Jack Benny mentioned that George and Gracie stayed there for three years when they were first married. Gracie couldn't remember its name because George checked them in.)

'Naked City' (Detective Adam Flint made out with his girlfriend in front of the building.)

'CBS Sunday Morning' (Aaron Sorkin walked by.)

'CBS' The Early Show' (The Hotel Edison was featured in a report on hotel security. Of the hotels shown in the story, only the Edison passed the reporter's test by not allowing two women with a hidden camera to get in.)

'The Incredible Hulk' (The Hulk ran past just before smashing the newspaper stand on the corner of W 47th & Broadway.)

'McCloud' (McCloud may have rode his horse through the lobby - not yet verified.)

Over in the movie universe, it's also famous for the hallway up which Luca Brasi walks in "The Godfather", and down which Jack Warden and John Cusack walk in "Bullets Over Broadway".

There's another very important connection for the building: the 2005 TV Crossover Hall Of Fame inductee (Birthday Honors List) works there.

By extension, these appearances would also be connections to 'Late Night with David Letterman', 'The Hap Richards Show', 'The Ranger Andy Show', 'Cosby', 'Everybody Loves Raymond', 'The King Of Queens', 'The Nanny', 'Mad About You', 'Friends', 'Caroline In The City', 'Frasier', 'Hope & Gloria', 'Cheers'.....

(If the 'McCloud' connection eventually pays off, then there would also be connections to the original 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Galactica 1980' which would lead to links with 'America 2Night', 'Fernwood 2Night', and 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'.)

And that's why the Hotel Edison is being honored with induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame itself.....

Thanks to Brian-El for help in compiling this entry.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: DENNIS HOPPER

Dennis Hopper died on this date last year......

DENNIS HOPPER

AS SEEN IN:
"James Dean: Race With Destiny"

AS PLAYED BY:
Wil. Hall

From Wikipedia:
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954, and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). During the next 10 years, Hopper appeared frequently on television in guest roles, and by the end of the 1960s had played supporting roles in several films.

He directed and starred in Easy Rider (1969), winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer. "With its portrait of counterculture heroes raising their middle fingers to the uptight middle-class hypocrisies, Easy Rider became the cinematic symbol of the 1960s, a celluloid anthem to freedom, macho bravado and anti-establishment rebellion." Film critic Matthew Hays notes that "no other persona better signifies the lost idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis Hopper."

He was unable to build on his success for several years, until a featured role in "Apocalypse Now" (1979) brought him attention. He subsequently appeared in "Rumble Fish" (1983) and "The Osterman Weekend" (1983), and received critical recognition for his work in "Blue Velvet" and "Hoosiers", with the latter film garnering him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He directed "Colors" (1988) and played the villain in "Speed" (1994). Hopper's later work included a leading role in the television series 'Crash'.

Hopper was also a prolific and acclaimed photographer, a profession he began in the 1960s.
BCnU!

SCRYWARE: A CINEVERSE PREDICTION?

If I was one of the producers of the upcoming movie "Hunger Games", or any of the suits at the studio releasing it, I might be a little worried about the film's reception and potential box office after star Jennifer Lawrence's appearance on 'Late Night With David Letterman' last week.

She described the film as "a very violent futuristic movie where kids are randomly selected from their home districts to fight in an arena to the death." At which the audience showed their dislike of the concept by groaning. Letterman may have quickly turned it around by joking about it being lighter fare, but who knows?

It'll probably do great box office on its opening weekend and grab the younger market at first, but will it have legs? A lot rides on word of mouth and if that 'Late Show ' audience is any indication, they might be put off just from its description.

Who knows? I'm probably wrong. It wouldn't be the first time!

Here's the full clip of Jennifer Lawrence's first visit to the 'Late Show'. Most of her segment was focused on her other movie which is coming out first - "X-Men: First Class" in which she plays a younger Mystique. For the sequence about "Hunger Games", you can skip ahead to about 4:10. Although I don't see why you'd want to - she's lovely to look at and she was charming to listen to....

BCnU!

"JEWLIANA" MARGULIES

Recently, Juliana Margulies appeared on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' and talked about how her toddler is speaking with a German accent:

That slip of the tongue reminded me of my third favorite Orson Welles movie, "The Stranger", which took place in the fictional town of Harper, Connecticut.

I don't know who wrote the following, but it can be found on many sites around the Internet:

Welles is the Nazi war criminal Kindler hiding out in a small Connecticut town where he has become a valued member of the community known as Rankin.

Edward G Robinson, playing a good guy for a change, is the detective who tracks him down, and then has to prove who he is.

There's a wonderful bit of dialogue when his professorial Nazi character is fielding questions on the German character. Somebody asks him about Karl Marx to disprove a point.

"Ah, but Marx wasn't a German, he was a Jew," comes the telling response, delivered with such arrogance and conviction it makes you seethe.

It isn't until much later that government Nazi-hunter Wilson has a light-bulb moment and realizes that something is very amiss about what Rankin/Kindler said.
 
BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ANN-MARGRET & ROGER SMITH

ANN-MARGRET & ROGER SMITH
AS SEEN ON:

'Saturday Night Live'

ANN-MARGRET

AS PLAYED BY:
Kristen Wiig

From Wikipedia:
Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in "Bye Bye Birdie", "Viva Las Vegas", "The Cincinnati Kid", "Carnal Knowledge", and "Tommy".

She has won five Golden Globe Awards and been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and six Emmy Awards.

She did a string of successful TV specials, starting with "The Ann-Margret Show" for NBC / CBS in 1968.

She made guest appearances on the television shows 'Touched by an Angel' in 2000 and three episodes of 'Third Watch' in 2003. She also appeared in the Lifetime series 'Army Wives', in the episode "Guns and Roses" (Season 4, Episode 5), which originally aired May 9, 2010. On October 14, 2010, Ann-Margret appeared on CBS' 'CSI'.

Ann-Margret guest-starred in an episode of 'Law & Order: SVU', "Bedtime," which first aired on March 31, 2010. She received her sixth Emmy nomination for her performance. On August 29, 2010, she won an Emmy Award for Guest Performance by an Actress for her "SVU" performance. It was the first Emmy win of her career, and she received a standing ovation from the Emmy venue audience as she approached the stage to receive her award.

Ann-Margret starred in several TV movies, including "Queen: The Story of an American Family" (1993) and "Life of the Party" (1999), the latter of which she received nominations for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She also starred in the TV movies "Who Will Love My Children?" (1983) and a remake of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1984). These performances collectively won her two Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy nominations.

ROGER SMITH

AS PLAYED BY:
Ed Helms

From Wikipedia:
Roger LaVerne Smith (born December 18, 1932) is an American television and film actor and screenwriter. He starred in the television detective series '77 Sunset Strip' [as Jeff Spencer]. He is married to the actress Ann-Margret.

Smith appeared in 74 episodes of this Warner Bros.-produced series but left the popular ABC program in 1962 because of a blood clot in his brain. His health continued to decline for some time, and he was forced to retire from acting after Myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease, was diagnosed in 1965. His condition went into remission in 1985. Following his retirement from performing, he managed his wife Ann-Margret's career and produced her popular Las Vegas stage shows.

Smith appeared very rarely on television once his health deteriorated, but did participate on 'This is Your Life' when host Ralph Edwards devoted an episode to Ann-Margret.

His character of Jeff Spencer is a candidate for membership in the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame:

'77 Sunset Strip' (1958–1963) .... Jeff Spencer
'Hawaiian Eye': "I Wed Three Wives" (1960) .... Jeff Spencer
'Surfside 6': "Love Song for a Deadly Redhead" (1962) .... Jeff Spencer

BCnU!

A TASTE OF BLACK OIL VENOM

In the Facebook page for the TV Crossover Universe (Link to the left for the blog, Me Hearties!), Robert Wronski, Jr. and several of our like-minded comrades discussed the possibility that the entity which was the malevolent Spiderman suit symbiote known as "Venom" was actually the living, sentient Black Oil from 'The X-Files'.

Here's a couple of excerpts:

Gordon Long:
There's also the Black Oil, a living entity itself, which might be similar to the inhibition-releasing virus from "The Naked Time" ('Trek TOS') and revisited in 'TNG' ("The Naked Now").

Ivan Ronald Schablotski:
I'll point out for the sake of being pointy that a theory exists linking the Purity (black oil) alien virus to the Venom alien symbiote, especially the way it is depicted in the movie SPIDER-MAN 3.

It was an interesting discussion in which unfortunately I could not partake. The TVCU draws on several sources besides TV, as does the Toobworld concept - like certain movies and online content.  But they also use comic books and consider the character as a whole. With Toobworld, the Cineverse is a separate realm; there are exceptions, but the "Spiderman" franchise is not one of them. Its Spiderman is not the same as the TV Spiderman.

So far Venom has only been seen in the universes of movies and comic books. Back in the 1970's, Venom wasn't even in the comic books when Spiderman was in his crime-fighting glory on Earth Prime-Time.

As for the Black Oil, it may have been living and lurking on Toobworld since the Dawn of Time; it may have arrived with the aliens known as the Silence of recent 'Doctor Who' fame, or even earlier - with Scaroth or even in the clutch of Racnoss eggs planted at the core of the planet......

So it could be that the Black Oil-created Venom was in a Spiderman adventure not seen on TV back in the 1970's, about a decade before it was created for the comic books. If so, it has to be an off-screen adventure and could very well be the reason why Spidey stopped appearing on our TV screens. (Within the "reality" of Toobworld, of course. 'Twas ratings killed the series.)

I just can't claim that this crossover between 'The Amazing Spiderman' and 'The X-Files' actually did take place, because then I'm veering definitively into fanfic territory. (My splainins and theories of relateeveety have always been just tenuous possibilities.)

Still, it's a great theory and I extend kudos to whoever first came up with the idea. I just wish I could use it.....

BCnU!

THE MOLE MEN IN "COUGAR TOWN"

I said I'd have more to say about the Mole Men.....

In the latest episode of 'Cougar Town', Jules Cobb tried to rouse her son Travis out of his funk over the breakup with Kristin by turning on the lights in the living room. When he groaned in protest, she quickly turned them off again to please him.

"We can keep it dark," she said. "We could live like mole people. They're real, you know. They live in sewers and -#" And then she awkwardly left the room, acting like a Mole Man.

Maybe Jules was trying to at least get a chuckle out of him, but nothing indicated that she didn't think Mole Men actually existed. And since we know the Superman of Earth Prime-Time encountered them, the news of their existence must have spread from Metropolis to West Gulfhaven over the last sixty years.

But somehow, Jules got the facts twisted along the way......

Toobworld note - "Superman And The Mole Men" may have started out in the Cineverse, but it's been absorbed into the TV Universe. In fact, it was later shown as a two-part episode of the series.

BCnU!

"BY THE HAMMER OF THOR!"

Unfortunately for Marvel Comics, the character of Thor the God of Thunder in the Norse mythology is in the public domain. So the night after their big blockbuster to kick off the Summer line-up of super-hero movies opened in theatres, "Almighty Thor" debuted on the Syfy Channel. Another selection from Syfy's Saturday sleaze-fest......

I meant to record it, just for the Toobworld info it could provide - I need to know if it can be counted as part of the main Toobworld or punted to a different TV Universe (probably Earth Prime-Time/MOTW).

If it had to be banished, it would only be due to plot discrepancies, certainly not for recasting. The so-called gods of mythology are pan-dimensional beings with incredible powers who crossed over into Earth Prime-Time's dimension and were treated as gods by the local yokels. As such, they have the power to alter their appearances - Zeus did it at least twice, as seen during the run of 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'.

Thor appeared in episodes of 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' and a 1988 TV movie about 'The Incredible Hulk'. (Now that version was the official Marvel depiction of the Hairy Thunderer.) In both, they were played by different actors but aht was just a case of shape-shifting over the centuries.


THOR WITH AN AUTOMATIC WEAPON!
CLASSIC CHEESE!

"Almighty Thor", had it stayed in modern times, could use the same splainin and be done with it. But from the promo blipverts, there looks to be an origin story that might clash with what has already been established, especially with regards to Odin. Again, I'll have to see it to make sure.....

Myirt!

DISPATCHES FROM A BLOGMATE

THE MEMORIAL TO THE LATE IANTO JONES
(WHO NEVER EXISTED IN THE REAL WORLD!)

Rob Buckley, major MINEr of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (link to the left, Team Toobworld!), offerd up a couple of posts that should be of interest to the visitors at Inner Toob.

First up, somebody out there in the world of the Net used a Toobworld sensibility in this photo M*A*S*H-up. But I suppose it could also be seen as a blend of the fictional universes for comic books and literature (or some sub-dimension if the idea of the "Twilight" books as literature makes you gag.)

And then, while on a short holiday trip to Wales, MediumRob and the Missus discovered that Cardiff and Barry Island are enjoying their connections to Toobworld......

It's been thirty years, so with my "Swiss Cheese memory", I can't remember who was the betrothed couple, but it reminds me of when two fictional characters got engaged.....

The parent company (I think it was Marvel Comics) received a toaster as a wedding gift from some fan!

BCnU!

STAN & OLLIE MEET THE DOCTOR

In 'The Impossible Astronaut', the Doctor got himself inserted into the Laurel and Hardy movie "Flying Deuces" in order to attract the attention of his Companions Amy and Rory.

This must have been a special print of the film, because he doesn't show up in actual copies of the movie; and the director and editor of "Flying Deuces" would never have allowed that footage into the final print as it ruins the storyline and detracts from the two main stars.

I'm guessing that the Doctor sought the help of Billy Shipton sometime after Billy's arrival in 1969, once he had established himself as a video/DVD publisher. So not only did he insert those Easter Eggs into the disks meant for Sally Sparrow, he also put together this rarest of Laurel and Hardy movies.

Over at LaurelandHardy.org, they quickly took notice of the intrusion of the Doctor into the world of the Sons of the Desert and they also offered up a picture of what might have happened when Stan and Ollie did meet the Doctor.....

BCnU!

A WINTERS' TALE

I'm not sure if King Kong actually exists in Toobworld or not; I'll have to check with Team Toobworld member Robert Wronski, Jr. on that one. But I know he can be found in variations of the Wold Newton Universe.

At any rate, here's the story of King Kong, as told - with some restraint, surprisingly - by one of my idols, Jonathan Winters.

BCnU!

ADOLPH ON THE DOCTOR'S AGE

Here's your 'Doctor Who' related video for this Video Weekend.....

I figured, what the bleep.  Adolph's birthday and deathday are both coming up before the month is up......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JOSEPH SMITH, JR.

1830 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. and others at Fayette or Manchester, New York.

JOSEPH SMITH, Jr.

AS SEEN IN:
"Savage Journey"

AS PLAYED BY:
Richard Moll

From Wikipedia:
Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and the founder of what later became the Latter Day Saint movement, popularly known as Mormonism. He was also a theocrat, city planner, military leader, and polygamist.

Raised in western New York during a period of religious enthusiasm, Smith was wary of Protestant churches and was strongly influenced by folk religion. Even as a young man, he was recognized as one who could find buried treasure through supernatural means. In the late 1820s, Smith said that an angel had directed him to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a religious history of ancient American peoples. After publishing what he said was an English translation of the plates as the Book of Mormon, he organized branches of the Church of Christ, a church whose adherents were later called "Latter Day Saints," and popularly, "Mormons."

In 1831, Smith moved west to Kirtland, Ohio intending to establish the city of Zion in western Missouri, but his plans were frustrated when Missouri settlers expelled the Saints in 1833. After leading an unsuccessful paramilitary expedition to recover the land, Smith began building a temple in Kirtland. In 1837, the church in Kirtland collapsed after a financial crisis, and the following year Smith joined his followers in northern Missouri. A war ensued with Missourians who believed Smith had incited insurrection. When the Saints lost the war, they were expelled, and Smith was imprisoned on capital charges.

After being allowed to escape state custody in 1839, Smith led his followers to settle at Nauvoo, Illinois on Mississippi River swampland, and there he served as both mayor and commander of its large militia, the Nauvoo Legion. In early 1844, he announced his candidacy for President of the United States. That summer, after the Nauvoo Expositor criticized Smith's practice of polgyamy, the Nauvoo city council ordered the paper's destruction. During the ensuing turmoil, Smith first declared martial law and then surrendered to the governor of Illinois who promised his safety. Smith was killed by a mob while awaiting trial in Carthage, Illinois.

Richard Moll also played Smith in the Movie Universe in the mid-1970's......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: RODDY McDOWALL

RODDY McDOWALL

AS SEEN ON:'
The Carol Burnett Show'

AS PLAYED BY:
Roddy McDowall

BCnU!