AGE OF THE DOCTOR

 

Here's a theory from Facebook (February, 2025):

Simple - pre-Time war the doctor uses Gallifreyan years.

Post-Time War it's Earth years.
- Sean Mills

A BELATED WELCOME TO 2023 ADDENDUM

 

A VENETIAN HISTORY LESSON

One problem I had with the ‘Doctor Who’ episode “Vampires In Venice” was the prominence of the character of Guido in Venetian society in the year 1580.  This had nothing to do with the talent of Lucian Msamati, whom I already knew and enjoyed  his work in ‘The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.’  No, it was because of his race.

I just couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that a black man could rise to such an honored position in at that time in Venetian society.  But that's my failing. I was looking at it from the perspective of one who grew up with the cultural depictions of blacks in early American history.

Luckily, Jess Nevins offered up this historical tidbit….

So I’ve been set straight on that score.

Jess has done incredible work in the past as a researcher into Victoriana literature, most of that of a fantastic nature.  I first learned of him when I read his annotations on Alan Moore’s concept of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  With the art contributed by Kevin O’Neill, Moore told a ripping yarn about the team of Victorian literature’s greatest heroes, anti-heroes, and villains.

And Jess was there with his splainins to do for each issue, which I bet Moore would never have dreamed possible.

Jess Nevins is a published writer and researcher and he’s tossed out an interesting idea for the Eastern Connecticut area, especially around Windham County.

Should Jess ever write it up, I’d love to find a way for a Waysider or three to have an adventure in his lycanthropic location in Connecticut. 

BCnU!

WHO'S ON TV? "THE FACTS OF LIFE"

It's not what you think....

'NOT GOING OUT'
"THE FACTS OF LIFE"

After this episode aired in the UK back in April of last year, fellow crossoverist Andrew Brook let others in our FB group about a certain plot line:

The sitcom "Not Going Out" experienced a time-jump of several years, when it was converted from a flat-share sitcom to a "Everybody Loves Raymond"-esque family sitcom. This week's episode revealed that the main characters' twin children were conceived after watching a 'Doctor Who' Christmas special featuring a 'Cyberwoman'. (Presumably that one out of 'Torchwood'?)

Here is the relevant dialogue:

LEE:
Why have my little angels suddenly turned into Roy Chubby Brown? Where are they off now? To draw a foofoo on Mrs Potato Head?
LUCY:
They're just a bit giddy because they had RSE at school.
LEE:
What, using the keyboards too much?
LUCY:
That's RSI.
LEE:
Oh.
LUCY:
RSE is relationship and sex education.
LEE:
Sex education? They're not learning that already, surely?
LUCY:
Yeah.
LEE:
And you're all right with that?
LUCY:
I'm fine.
LEE:
But you don't let them watch Doctor Who?
LUCY:
Doctor Who is not the same as the facts of life - it's got nothing to do with how the kids came to exist in the world.
LEE:
Yes, it has!
You got pregnant with the twins aftxxer we watched that Christmas episode with the Cyberwoman. They're far too young for sex education!

I’ve always claimed that the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series in Toobworld is not the same show we watch here in the Real World.  Maybe some of the episodes are similar, and when scenes are actually shown, often actual scenes were replayed (as seen in an episode of ‘Supernova’.)  But we’ve also seen fictional scenes played out, like the one with the intelligent slug played by Andy in ‘Extras’.

I think that’s the case we have here.  It sounds like it would have been an episode of ‘Doctor Who’, but here in the Real World it was an episode from the spinoff, ‘Torchwood’.  And it wasn’t a Christmas episode from that show; instead it was broadcast in November of 2006.

Here’s my theory:
The shadow ops group UNReel took an actual event – which we saw in the ‘Torchwood’ episode ‘Cyberwoman’ – and then fictionalized it for the Toobworld version of ‘Doctor Who’.  It not only helped reaffirm the general public’s perception of the Doctor as not being a real person within Toobworld, but it also maintained the secrecy surrounding the activities of the organization known as Torchwood.

That ‘Cyberwoman’ episode of ‘Doctor Who’ could have been a Christmas special and it would have been broadcast about three years after the “actual” events.  I’m making that claim because Lee and Lucy’s kids, Molly and Benji, are not in any way thirteen years old.  The actual event took place in 2006 and if the episode aired then, that’s when the twins were supposedly conceived.  Since the events regarding the “real” Cyberwoman didn’t really pierce the consciousness of the general public, there may have been a delay in any need to make a cover-up episode by UNReel until reports surfaced that it had happened.  So at best, the televersion of “Cyberwoman” was probably broadcast for Christmas, 2009.

Thanks for letting us know over here in Telemerica about this reference, Andrew!

Allons-y!

SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE - SUPER TEAM FAMILY (THE LOST ISSUES)

“SUPER TEAM FAMILY; THE LOST ISSUES”

A NEW COVER POSTED EVERY DAY!

JOIN THE FACEBOOK FAN PAGE 

For several years now, “Super Team Family: The Lost Issues” has been bringing daily covers for crossover comics that never were – but should be!  We’ve featured a few of them in the past, ones that were ideally suited for TV adaptations.

And now Ross Pearsall has come up with a great cover for a proposed crossover between Batman and the Fourth Incarnation of the Doctor:

From Ross Pearsall:
After school and before dinner was the time that I would catch Batman and Doctor Who reruns when I was growing up.  I can only imagine how excited I would have been to see that the two shows were crossing over for an episode!  I'm actually pretty surprised with myself that I am only now getting around to having these two meet on the blog, not sure what took me so long.

If you were looking at this from the perspective of TV at the time both shows were on the air, reader Neil Robertson pointed out the restrictions of reality:

Neil Robertson
April 4, 2019

Properly, Batman (Adam West) should have teamed up with second Doctor Patrick Troughton in the late '60s. I know the Doctor time travels, so any iteration of [the] Doctor, or any era of Bats, is possible, but that would have been the most likely one during that period. But Tom Baker is the favorite Doctor of most older comics fans, so sure, why not?

Troughton's Doctor was my favorite incarnation.  So yeah, I would have loved to have read that issue.  And among the Bat-Baddies who could have been involved along with the Daleks, maybe the Bookworm, Egghead, and the Penguin.

The Daleks needed no reason to invade the Earth, and they keep trying time and again.  But from that same time period, which one of Batman’s foes might have either lured them back here, or tried to muscle in on their action for their own gain?  You should be thinking in terms of the villains who appeared on the 1966 series, but at least keep it within the time frame.  And if you do go outside the box, who would you cast from that time period to play the villain you chose?  (A popular What-If? has been Clint Eastwood as Two-Face.)

I hope to hear from you with your ideas…..

Holy Allon-sy! 

   

MONDAY MINUTIAE - NUMBERS UP (AGAIN)

My Triple B (British Blogging Buddy) Rob Buckley (The Medium Is Not Enough, link to the left) sent me this screencap from the latest episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’.  So the “1015” numbers continue.

Now to find out if the other numbers in the sequence ("060816") echo throughout the series…..

BCnU!

SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE - ROB BUCKLEY AND THE 1015

Today was a combination of being busy trying to write up a couple of memorial tributes for Georgia Engel and being at a loss for a topic for a Wednesday post.  But, thanks to this special guest appearance by my British blogging buddy, Rob Buckley, we’re taking a look at the new ‘Twilight Zone’ and its attempt to recreate the Valenzetti Equation sensation from ‘Lost’, albeit with a different combination of numbers.
Apparently the

We’re talking about “1015”, which can trace its parentage to the original series of ‘The Twilight Zone’.

So let’s give the spotlight to Rob:

It’s very important in “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” (time of departure, the flight number and the entry code for the flight deck, and is referenced in the dialogue)

In the third one [“Replay”], it’s repeatedly highlighted as the license plate on the cop’s car

I think it’s in “The Comedian” as well, judging by a quick Google, and was the flight number in the original “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet”.”

Thanks, Rob!

There have been plenty of call-backs to the original series in these first handful of episodes.  I’ve only seen the first one, thanks to YouTube.  (I’ve reached my self-imposed limit of three premium platforms and even with that I’m getting four.)

So in that first one, I noticed the use of names for other T-Zone characters, plus the appearance of the ventriloquist dummy Willie.  And including the use of the number “1015”, I think they may all be serving as lucky tokens outside the box.

Within the box?  Who knows?  This is a TV show which deals with multiple dimensions – at least it did in the original series.  So as far as the power of this particular combination of numbers (and I wish at least one numeral from the Valenzetti Equation – “23” – would show up in an episode), I don’t know what effect it has on the TV characters who come into contact with it. 

But maybe one day “1015” will play an integral part in an episode.

Thanks again, Rob!!!

OUR WEEKLY "ENDEAVOUR" - "QUARTET"

Here we are with the penultimate episode for the fifth season....

'ENDEAVOUR'
"QUARTET"

From the IMDb:

An assassination attempt at an international sporting event opens a new case for Endeavour and Thursday, but their investigation is quickly brought to an unexpected end.

Karl Fucher is shot dead during a televised games tournament and Max believes he is an East and not West German. Special Branch relieve the local police, removing the body, before two mysterious men approach Morse and point him towards perfumier Sebastian Fenix, who employed the dead man as a translator. Despite warnings Morse investigates alone, discovering a safe spy house in Oxford and a link between Fenix and the sale of secrets to the Russians, also involving a respected academic. Thursday meanwhile deals with a turf war and a domestic abuse case which ties in with Morse's sleuthing. 

I think it's going to be that the third episode this season, "Passenger", will have the most items of interest for Toobworld study, but this didn't disappoint in that regard....

Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright:

Good God! 

It's a machete-wielding West Indian 

with a distinctive facial scar we're trying to find. 

In Oxford! 

It's not the Scarlet Pimpernel!

As there was no indication that the Scarlet Pimpernel was mentioned in connection to movies, TV mini-series, or the play and novel written by Baroness Orczy, then our standard practice here at Toobworld Central is to accept that such name-dropping is about an actual person.

And the official version of the decepticely fey Sir Percy Blakeney in Earth Prime-Time was portrayed by Marius Goring in a TV series which ran from 1955 to the following year.

DCI Fred Thursday:

Chasing down Communist spies? 

We're meat-and-two-veg coppers. 

Not Danger Man. 

Leave the "do or die" to Special Branch.

This reference is a bit trickier.  Thursday, even if he knew who secret agent John Drake was, he wouldn't be bandying that nickname about like that where they might be overheard.

I think he was referring to the TV series 'Danger Man', which starred Patrick McGoohan as Drake.  But I think he was real in the TV Universe and that the show was depicting fictional adventures from his career as a spy.

This was the work of the shadow organization known as UNReel, which would fictionalize the lives of people who should have been kept secret from the prying eyes of the public - spies, superheroes, Gallifreyan Time Lords, and the like.  These media portrayals - books, films, TV shows, comic books, etc. - provide them with plausible deniability should their secret adventures get noticed by the masses.

So there was a TV show about John Drake, two in fact - 'Danger Man' and 'Secret Agent'.  From the minimal research which I usually do on pop culture Zonks like this, I don't see any TV show which mentions John Drake by name.  So the 'Danger Man' of Toobworld could be so fictionalized, Drake was never mentioned as a character, that he had a roman a clef televersion.  It looks like only the name of the show was cited by characters in other TV shows, just like this example.

But thanks to the 'Rock & Chips' episode "Five Gold Rings", we at least know Patrick McGoohan was hired to play the role because of his resemblance to John Drake.

The TV show which was covering that international contest of carnival jousting, 'Jeus Sans Frontieres', was meant as an echo of a real show 'It's A Knockout'.  And that in turn was based on the French series "Interville".  All three shows co-exist in Toobworld.

28 Sebastopol Terrace
East Acton

A Russian hit man almost killed Morse in a (hardly) safe house on Sebastapol Terrace.  In the TV show 'Sykes', Eric and his twin sister Hattie also lived in a house on Sebastapol Terrace.  But that was in East Acton in the London area.  So this is just a trivial note in which the streets have common if distinctive names but which don't serve as links.

Similarly, one of the characters, the news agent named Dozier, called his wife a "silly old moo".  This was a phrase used by Alf Garnett of 'Til Death Us Do Part' in describing his wife.  (His American counterpart, Archie Bunker, called Edith "dingbat".)  It's just a phrase which probably had widespread use among the abusive husbands of the time.  So I'm dismissing its relevance for crossover potential.

I'm going to need to do more research into Ellie Haddington playing Hilda Pierce in the last few seasons of 'Foyle's War'.  I loved that character and now it looks like I never did get to finish that series because there were seismic events in Hilda's life in that last episode.  This would affect my hopes to conflate her with Millie Bagshot.  So there will be a sequel to this post.

From the wonderful site "Morse, Lewis, and Endeavour": 

We find out that Dorothea Frazil wrote a book called My Time in Korea. (Korean War, 1950, began when North Korea, supported by the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea, which was supported by the United States. War ended in 1953). The Korean War was the backdrop to the film and wonderful series 'M.A.S.H.'

It would only be wish-craft on my part to claim that Dorothea visited the 4077th, but I'd like to think she did so.  If so, I think she would have developed a friendship, perhaps even more, with Corporal Walter O'Reilly.

Okay, this is Lt. Linda Nugent.
But you get the idea...

From the IMDb:
On the wall outside the Doziers' shop is an advertisement for "Grimsby Pilchards", a non-existent product for which Tony Hancock made a series of disastrous commercials in the famous 'Hancock: The Bowmans' (1961) episode of his final BBC series in 1961. 

This is a legitimate, if trivial, connection between both series.

From the IMDb:

It is possible that the two mysterious characters whom Morse encounters during his inquiries, "Singleton" and "Louis", are inspired by the characters played by Richard Vernon and Michael Aldridge (and later by Vernon and Denholm Elliott) in the 1960s series, "The Man In Room 17", although the gimmick of that show was that the two characters were never seen outside the eponymous room.

I've also seen comparisons to Charters and Caldicott of "The Lady Vanishes" for Louis and Singleton, but I have to reject them both as being of any use for Toobworld.  All six characters exist in Toobworld and no believable reason exists as to why they were using aliases if they were conflated.  And they don't resemble each other enough to ignore the recastaway discrepancies.

We do have one last O'Bservation - one of "The Numbers" from the Valenzetti sequence in 'Lost' showed up in the episode.  The numeral "4" was on a pillar in the Phenix labs.

So, there are a couple of connections to be found in this episode.  Not many on its own, but the series overall is quite the hub for crossovers.

Remember to check my blogroll to the left for the site "Morse, Lewis, and Endeavour" where you'll find a detailed look at this episode and all of the other episodes in all three shows of the Morse universe,

See you next week for the season finale!

TWO FOR TUESDAY - KHRZ-TV

We finally have a way to link ‘Ironside’ and ‘McMillan and Wife’ with more than just the fact that both shows take place in San Francisco.

‘IRONSIDE’
“FIND A VICTIM”

Chief Robert T. Ironside and “former” second-story thief Lou Karns appeared on a public affairs program hosted by John Barbour who would later host NBC’s ‘Real People’.

‘McMILLAN AND WIFE’
“DEATH IS A SEVEN POINT FAVORITE”

Sandy King was a sportscaster who covered the Hawks’ football games and got caught up in a betting scandal involving quarterback Billy Benton.

As you can see in the pictures, what connects both of these episodes is KHRZ-TV, Channel 16.

One more O’Bservation – “16” is one of the Numbers in the Valenzetti Equation from ‘Lost’.

BCnU!

MINUTIAE MONDAY - DE-ZONKING BROCKMIRE

'BROCKMIRE'
"RETALIATION"

From the Goofs Department at the IMDb:

In the opening "Modern Day" scene, Lucy tells Brockmire she is staying in Room 114 at the Marlowe Inn. When Brockmire goes to visit, he knocks on door 411, and Lucy opens.

This is easy enough to fix.  Lucy is dyslexic.  (Or as the graffiti in the movie "Between The Lines" put it, "Lysdexia".)

As for Brockmire showing up at the right door even though he was given the wrong information?  Hey, we don't see everything in Toobworld, remember.  You want to waste time in that first season of '24' watching Jack Bauer taking a dump?  This is all protected under the Khan-Chekov Act in the Articles of Tele-Federation.  Or something like that - anyway, Khan-Chekov is invoked.

When Brockmire first showed up at the Marlowe Inn, he went to Room 114 and quickly realized it was the wrong room.  Well, I say "quickly" but it might have taken a few minutes to figure out that the stranger who answered wasn't one of Lucy's sex partners.

So then Brockmire went down to the front desk to get the correct room number from the clerk on duty.

No Zonk!

TOOBWORLD TIMELINE - ON THIS DATE.....

Okay, here's how to play:

Run both videos at the same time.  But with that first video, with the visuals from the original music video, turn off the volume.  Gads, what a horrible song to synch with that storyline!

It's not going to match up exactly, but think of it as a badly dubbed foreign movie.

I tried to use a version that had the original video intact; in fact, I had it set up months ago for today.  But I looked in and saw that the video had been yanked for copyright reasons.

Mr. Sweet the musical demon was surely involved.....

And in case you can't be bothered, here's the opening image (which was why I wanted to share it today).....

NUMBERS RUNNING - FROM "THE WHISPERS"

Here we have two of "the Numbers" from 'Lost', combined to be the hospital room number for "John Doe" in the pilot episode of 'The Whispers'......

Coincidentally, if you didn't already know, today is 4/15/16 - which is three of "the Numbers".

BCnU!

NUMBERS RUNNING - "JONATHAN CREEK"

Today is the 23rd of the month, so I thought it would be a good time to share a new addition to my collection of "The Numbers" in Toobworld.....

This is from 'Jonathan Creek', which was my binge-worthy show back in May......

BCnU!

PS:
It's also MJ Palardy's birthday and I want to wish a very happy one, indeed!

NUMBERS RUNNING - HERE LIES BART MAVERICK.....

'MAVERICK'

"THE JEWELED GUN"

Here's another example of one of "The Numbers" at work over a century before the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 found themselves on the Island.

This is a picture of the Sheriff of La Mesa about to enter the hotel room in which Bart Maverick was "gunned down" by the wily femme fatale who was posing as his wife.

See you in another life, Bruthah!

IT'S "LOST DAY"!

It is 4:23:42 p.m. on April 8, 2015.  

That means it is 4 (month), 8 (date), 15 (year), 16 (hour), 23 (minute), 42 (seconds).

This is "Lost Day".

We won't see that exact configuration happen again in our lifetime.  Next year at least we will be getting a mix 'n' match.

 

 

 

 

 

BCnU!

NUMBERS RUNNING - JACKIE ROBINSON'S CONTRIBUTION TO "SHARKNADO"?

4/08

Just like the other day, today is one of "The Numbers" days ('Lost'). So here is one of the numerals in the Valenzetti Sequence to be found in other shows.....

Actually it's from one of the worst TV movies ever made!

"SHARKNADO 2: THE SECOND ONE"

BCnU!

NUMBERS RUNNING - 4 "COLUMBO"

4/04

Since today is one of "The Numbers" days ('Lost'), here is one of the numerals in the Valenzetti Sequence to be found in other shows.....

'COLUMBO'

"DAGGER OF THE MIND"

BCnU!

NUMBERS RUNNING - DANNY PINK'S WATER WELLS

While he had been a soldier in Her Majesty's armed forces in Iraq, Danny Pink dug 23 water wells for the villages he stayed at.  It was an accomplishment in which he took great pride.  (But he knew people would only think he was killing people over there......)

"23" is one of the cosmic numerals that make up the Valenzetti Sequence as seen in 'Lost'.  It has become my favorite because there seemed no earthly reason why it should get so much play outside the series about the mysterious Island and yet it keeps popping up.

BCnU!

SUPER-SIX LIST: A JIM ROCKFORD WISH-CRAFT

With James Garner's death over the weekend comes the realization that we will never have any new movies or TV show appearances for either of his two most famous roles.

The Powers That Be should have done something about that while they had the chance.  (Yes, I know about the TV movies for Rockford and the big screen adaptation of 'Maverick'.  But what can I say?  I'm greedy.)

SIX TV SHOWS IN WHICH 

JIM ROCKFORD COULD HAVE APPEARED

1)  'Columbo'

Martin Ross is a blogmate who has a fanfic site dedicated to stories about Lt. Columbo.  And one of his stories is about a case in which Columbo found himself working with a private eye named Jim Rockford.

A GOOD CIGAR IS A SMOKE-SCREEN

I could see the two of them meeting and eventually teaming up.  Probably against one of Jimbo's clients - but the Rockfish would have found a way to hold off the Lieutenant until he got paid.......

2)  'Remington Steele'

Steele would have exasperated Rockford but Jim would have continued the forced partnership for the sake of Laura Holt.  And that could lead to Steele's suspicions that Rockford was Laura's biological father.....

3)  'Hart To Hart'

I could see Jim having worked for Jonathan Hart in the past.  And he might have recognized Jennifer Hart as the twin sister to private eye Christine Dusseau (who once worked for U.N.C.L.E. using the code name "April Dancer".)

(I could also see Rockford getting in the middle of an SID case involving Al Mundy.  Rockford would be just Rockford's luck to be the only private eye who could foil a burglary and be arrested by the government for his troubles.)

4)  'Batman'

I used to argue that Toobworld's Gotham City had to be in California since the 1966 movie had those ocean scenes.  But I now accept the claim that it's to be found in Delaware - so it would be on the Atlantic and not the Pacific.

Jim Rockford had traveled to the East Coast in the past - in one episode he found himself in New Jersey.  So he may have come to Gotham City, Delaware, in pursuit of a villain who double-crossed him for his fee.  Or maybe it was a failed attempt to clear his name before he got sent to prison for five years.

I'm thinking Colonel Gumm as the man responsible.....

Colonel Gumm was played by Roger C. Carmel

5)  'Murder, She Wrote'/'Jake And The Fatman'

We got ourselves a three-way!  Hey!  Easy, boy.....

Jessica Baines Fletcher may have lived in Cabot Cove, Maine, and Jim Rockford lived in a trailer in a parking lot along the Pacific Coast Highway.  But J.B. Fletcher traveled all over the world because of her murder mystery books so a trip to Malibu would not have been unlikely for her.  

Perhaps their paths crossed due to District Attorney Jason Lochinvar McCabe, who lived in the same area as Rockford.  (His home was just beyond the pier restaurant seen at the other end of Rockford's parking lot location.)  Maybe Jessica had been consulting with McCabe for background information for a new book and he suggested she talk with the private eye who broke that case.....

6) 'The Saint'

Simon Templar is a world traveler and I'm sure Los Angeles would eventually have been on his itinerary for one reason or another.  With Templar, adventure usually fell into his lap and he may well have just stumbled into a case that was being investigated by Rockford.  (Perhaps it could have been a return visit by Kendall Warren.  At least it would make sense that her path might cross with that of Simon Templar's, with Rockford along for the ride in Kendall's wake.....)

As usual, I am restricted by naming this category after a cartoon show.  But I do have one more suggestion to share.....

BONUS!

'The Prisoner'

My "Don't Laugh!" entry for this list.....

In episodes like "The House On Willis Avenue", Jim Rockford doubled-talked himself into a lot of dangerous places and found out things that he was never meant to see.  Sometimes this information was classified by the government and if somebody found out.....

Well, there are places for people who know too much.  It could  be that Jim Rockford was abducted and found himself in The Village back in 1967 where they had given him a number and taken away his name.  

Eventually, Rockford would have been released.  (I think he would have been too smart/cautious to attempt an escape.)  And that whole story about him serving time in prison could have been a cover story to mask the truth.

At any rate, I just always wanted to see Patrick McGoohan and James Garner together in something.....

BCnU!

VIDEO SUNDAY - TOOBMUSIC ("DEM BONES")

One of my dearest friends, Ivy Hurley, pointed out this news story and found the wording to be inappropriately funny.

"POLICE LOOK FOR CONNECTION 

AFTER THIRD BODY PART FOUND ON LONG ISLAND"

And that reminded me of these scenes from what is probably my all-time favorite TV show episode ever......

BCnU!