![]() Everyone involved worked for free, under the stipulation that it never be aired again or sold for profit, which means it’s relegated to poor quality VHS-ripped youtube videos these days. Fortunately the quality has gone up quite a bit in the years since, although I imagine having standing sets available helps. It was shot for the “Children in Need” charity, the same one that many of the Doctor Who mini-episodes are still filmed for today. Finally the madness literally becomes too much and breaks the Rani’s machine, allowing everyone to escape this fever dream from hell. ![]() They jump around time, going as far back as 1973 and as far forward as 2013, interacting with the various members of the EastEnders cast and trying to figure out what the fuck is happening. How do you celebrate the 30th anniversary of a show you unceremoniously canceled 4 years earlier? With a nonsensical crossover, of course! Filmed entirely on the set of the British soap opera EastEnders, this special features the Doctor and his companions randomly changing without warning as a result of the Rani (another Time Lord) interfering with the Doctor’s timeline. Damn shame this mess was his last appearance. I found both scenes together here, if you’d like to see for yourself. At this rate, I half expect to see it in JMS’s upcoming Netflix series, Sense8, hurtling down through Earth’s atmosphere after smacking into one of those Planet of the Apes-style time warps. Think the aliens who spiffed up V’Ger from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, except instead of a Voyager probe, it’s a teddy bear. They eventually discover that the bear is a trap, set up by evil aliens, “ the Straczyn,” who were trying to conquer the universe on a tight budget. So David got the bear back and worked it into a plot on HIS show–the characters find this same teddy bear (minus the shirt), which has been floating around aimlessly for who knows how long. See, Peter David had his own show, Space Cases, which was really a kid’s show about a crew of cadets lost in deep space (one of whom was a young, pre- Firefly Jewel Staite). Seems a little harsh and uncalled for I mean, it’s the thought that counts, right? David found it too mean, too, so he devised a convoluted revenge plan of his own. JMS changed the ending of the merchandise episode (which Peter David had actually written) specifically to do this. In realitysville, the bear was a gift by show writer Peter David’s wife for JMS. And that’s the end of merchandising on his space station. This is apparently the last straw, as he flips out, tossing the bear out the airlock and into deep space. Eventually, main character John Sheridan spots a bear Ivanova is holding that has on a shirt which reads “Babearlon 5” on the back and “J.S.” on the front. He hated the idea so much that he incorporated the idea of merchandising the Babylon 5 station in-universe, much to Sheridan’s annoyance. Michael Straczynski‘s (JMS for short) hatred of merchandising and all things cute. This is a pretty silly one, admittedly, that came about as a result of J. It’s not impossible to reconcile (possibly in a “we made a TV show as a cover” sort of way, just like in Stargate SG-1), but it’s enough doubt for most people to let it go. Of course, this has some problems with it there are instances of characters, and even Munch specifically, referring to Mulder and Scully as if they are fictional. One wonders just how many unsolved cases from Homicide or Law & Order ended up going unsolved because of some kind of paranormal or alien intervention that the characters of those shows were completely unaware of. But then, if his world is in continuity with that of The X-Files, he seems to be pretty damn justified. Munch thinks they’re full of shit, but Mulder vouches for them, and they’re allowed to go.įunny thing is, in his home series, Munch is occasionally referred to as a conspiracy theorist himself. They tell Munch a crazy tale about a government conspiracy to test a mind-altering gas on the population of Baltimore, which was (sort of) stopped by Mulder and the Lone Gunmen. ![]() See, in the episode “ Unusual Suspects,” Munch has captured and is in the process of interrogating “The Lone Gunmen,” a group of conspiracy theorists who are friends of Mulder’s. ![]() But looking over the shows that this character has appeared on, well, “one of these things is not like the other” (and it’s not Sesame Street, although he’s been there, too). Having started out on a police procedural called Homicide: Life on the Street, which was set in Baltimore and considered to be particularly grim and realistic for its time, he has since moved on to Law & Order: SVU and appeared on a million other shows. If only he knew, eh?ĭetective John Munch is kind of a legend, if you’re at all interested in the concept of TV crossovers. Immediately after letting them go, he makes a tin foil hat quip. ![]()
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