"To Introduce our Guest Star, that's What I'm Here to Do..." The Hensonverse Fan Contribution Thread

[Geekhis Khan]

Hi-ho and Welcome Again to yet another Thread in the ever-expanding Madhouse that is the AH-dot-com Hensonverse. By Reader Request here is a Guest Contribution Thread. This is the place where works that go beyond the scope of the Jim Henson at Disney saga that began with A Hippie in the House of Mouse and continues with When you Wish Upon a Frog can be posted and shared. Some of this will be canonical, some may not, I'll try to let you know.

(Image source Nitter.net)

So, do you have a favorite film or TV show that didn't get the attention in the main Timeline that you think that it deserved? Were you hoping for a detailed deep dive into Pee Wee's Playhouse or wondered why that one obscure forgotten show that you grew up with didn't get a mention? Are you wondering what Troma Studios is up to? Well, here's your chance.

(Image source QuotesGram)

But there are a few simple rules and disclaimers first:

1. I and I alone determine what is canonical; I may ask for edits
2. Do not "get ahead" of the main TL (e.g. don't post 2005 things when the main TL is in 1997)
3. Try to align to Hensonverse Canon and try not to openly conflict with Canon
4. Be civil and respectful to each other (and to me too, please!)
5. Also be civil and respectful to real-world people (e.g. no "bashing" of real life people no matter your opinion of them)

Otherwise, it's Empty Stage, Open Mike, Keys to the Asylum time.

I'll just take a seat here and enjoy the show, and provide occasional learned commentary.

(Image source Tenor)

 

[TGW]

Never Just One More Thing: Analysing Columbo’s Second Act
From the Desk of a 21st Century Columbophile

It Is a commonly accepted view of television production that should a series go on for long enough, one can separate the show in question into three ‘acts’. The first act is usually (but not always) a stumble out of the gate followed by a mad dash towards adequateness if one is very lucky. The second is often (but not exclusively) the apex of the show’s run, a golden era where any bad episode can get lost in a sea of good to great ones and if one is very lucky history is made forevermore. And finally, the third can frequently (but not inevitably) be a decline ranging from the number of good episodes outnumbering the amount of great episodes and allowing the bad to shine through, to a nosedive into outlandishness or pointlessness. See The Next Generation for a very debated example of this. [1]

But Columbo is, as per usual, not like any other show of it’s kind. In this case, a fan’s response will usually point to the first run of TV movies from 1969 to 1978 as the greatest. From there we get varying responses as to the second era of the show, stretching from 1987 to 1993. “It’s good but it’s not a patch on the original run!”, “It stinks! Peter Falk had his day in the sun a long time ago!”, “Wait, aren’t they all the same thing?” and so on and so forth. [2]

But how did we get to this point?

Peter Falk had spent most of the eighties in much the same role as he had been in the sixties. That being a familiar, reassuring face that would always bring a decent performance to whatever role was given to him. He had spoofed his most popular character, or at the very least the public perception of him, in A Muppet Mystery and would later co-operate on Henson with Where the Wild Things Are. He’d preformed as a likeable thief in a remake of the French film La bonne année and had received decent reviews of his performance despite the limited success of the film proper. He’d played himself in Wings of Desire, albeit a version of himself who had descended from on-high and shed his angelic nature to become a normal person. And he’d become a touchstone to a whole new generation though at the time he would not know it as the grandfather in The Princess Bride. But it was his role in Big Trouble, a John Cassavetes film that had never really worked out as the director had wanted, that was on his mind when he got on the plane taking him back to the States. [3]

As he had finished up acting alongside Fred Savage in Shepperton Studios, he had thought about his friend John. The director had been angry and fed-up by the end of that last film, and the drinking had grown worse. A few years down the line, Cassavetes’s drinking would catch up with him and his liver would give way. [4] Falk did not know that it really would be their last film together, but a feeling of frustration had been passed from director to actor. A feeling that, as much as he was enjoying the film work, there was nothing quite like the sensation he had experienced with Columbo. For all his annoyance, he had been able to pour more of himself into that character than he had really thought possible. He had created something truly remarkable. Why, they’d even let him direct an episode and he had done well too.

Perhaps it was this nostalgia or indeed the proverbial dump truck that NBC drove up to his house, but when he read the offer for four new TV movies starring the rumpled detective, Falk was ready and willing. Even moreso once he had read the scripts! It was not long before the cast and crew were ready to work, and 1987 would be a return to the character that Falk had loved, hated and then come to love again.

But why this offer? Well, Richard Levinson and William Link’s other most famous creation was experiencing something of a problem. The schedule of appearing in twenty two episodes of Murder She Wrote had exhausted Angela Lansbury, and though her contract had her down for five seasons total with an option to extend it further, many suspected that by the time the fifth season ended, J.B Fletcher would have written her last book. Levinson and Link had stepped back after the pilot and the set-up had been worked out, but they were still trusted by the company and were asked to create scripts to tempt the bedraggled detective out of retirement. [5]

Tragically, Levinson suffered a heart attack during the production of the ninth season of Columbo. As he was on set, he was able to be stabilized for a limited time and would occasionally make return trips to the set as part of his recovery but he would pass away not long after the fourth and final of these specials had aired. [6] Levinson, grief-stricken by the loss of his writing partner and close friend, would remain in a executive producer role alongside Falk but would write no more episodes for the show. Several reoccurring writers were drafted in, some old and some new. Most noticeable in the new column was one Chris Boucher, of Blake’s 7 and Tom Baker’s Doctor Who fame. Having written for police dramas and the incredibly odd British hero before, one caught up to speed on the nuances of American police law he was the perfect person to work on the show. And whenever people struggled to find someone to write, a quick trip to the convention circuit would yield someone in search of a job. [7] This continued until the end of the fourteenth season whereupon Falk would take a three year break from the role with the offer that if he ever wished it, as long as he was hale and hearty, he could come back and do some more for NBC. He left behind him an additional twenty eight episodes to add to the forty five made in the seventies. Listed here, for your approval:

Season 8 (1987)
"The Vanishing Man" (Guest Stars: Patrick Troughton, Willie Rushton and Barbara Bach)
"Sound and Fury" (Guest Stars: Phil Harris and Peter Allen) [8]
"The Fright of His Death" (Guest Stars: Vincent Price and Norman Wendt)
"Columbo Cries Wolf" (Guest Stars: Brian Cox and Meg Foster)
Season 9 (1988) [9]
"Paying the Piper" (Guest Stars: Diana Rigg, Martin Jarvis and Barrie Ingram)
"The Smell of Sweet Success" (Guest Stars: Jon Pertwee and Gates McFadden)
"Rocking the Cradle" (Guest Stars: Mark Hamill and Joanne Whalley)
"The Sky’s the Limit" (Guest Stars: Michael Lonsdale, Carole Bouquet and Daniel Stern)
Season 10 (1989) [10]
"Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" (Guest Stars: Anthony Andrews and Anthony Zerbe)
"Murder, Smoke and Shadows" (Guest Stars: Fisher Stevens and Jeff Perry)
"Grand Deceptions" (Guest Star: Robert Foxworth)
"Sex and the Married Detective" (Guest Star: Lindsay Crouse)
Season 11 (1990) [10]
"Murder: A Self Portrait" (Guest Star: Patrick Bauchau and Fionnula Flanagan)
"Agenda for Murder" (Guest Stars: Patrick MacGoohan, Arthur Hill and Jonathan Frakes)
"Murder in Malibu" (Guest Stars: Andrew Steven and Brenda Vacarro)
"RIP Mrs Columbo" (Guest Stars: Helen Shaver, Ian McShane and Roscoe Lee Brown)
Season 12 (1991) [10]
"Columbo Goes to College" (Guest Stars: Robert Culp, Billy Warlock and Gary Hershberger)
"Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health" (Guest Star: George Hamilton)
"Columbo and Murder of a Rock Star" (Guest Stars: Dabney Coleman and Lora Mumford)
"Death Hits the Jackpot" (Guest Stars: Rip Torn, Jaime Rose and Gary Kroeger)
Season 13 (1992)
"A Bird in the Hand" (Guest Stars: Greg Evigan, Tyne Daly and Steve Forrest) [10]
"The Ascending Lark" (Guest Stars: Jeremy Brett and Alice Krige)
"Slow Boat from China" (Guest Stars: Beau Billingslea and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) [11]
"Governing Detective Columbo" (Guest Stars: Pat Buttram and Michael Rooker)
Season 14 (1993)
"It's All in the Game" (Guest Stars: Faye Dunaway and Claudia Christian) [10]
"Once Upon a Murder" (Guest Stars: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Michael Ansara)
"Butterfly in Shades of Grey" (Guest Star: William Shatner) [12]
"A Night to Remember" (Guest Stars: Tony Jay, Amy Jo Johnson and Elizabeth Hoffman)

This era of the show is surprisingly progressive, not just for the eighties and nineties either. Several times gay relationships are alluded to and shown to be harmless at worst or just as equal as heterosexual ones. There are rarely any ethnic stereotypes, save for two or three that have aged about as well as a cow’s carcass. Boucher’s anarchic writing of Columbo, despite him being a figure of authority, continues the theme and no doubt is responsible for a great many members of the gay community adopting him as one of their own. But is that enough for the show to be actually good? [13] For my money, I would like to put forward my reasons why the second act of Columbo is my favourite. Having written a book on the subject, I would be remiss if I did not include a link to my website or information on where you can get an official copy. But if you just want a simple breakdown of my opinions, perhaps they can be best expressed through my top twelve Columbo episodes from the revival:

12: "Governing Detective Columbo" (1992).
The infamous episode where Columbo accidentally brought down the real life government of George H.W Bush. Or so many people claim in hindsight despite it really being luck that this episode aired a month or two after the allegations against the President leaked. This episode makes the list due to it’s notoriety but the only really standout thing is Pat Buttram, an oozing pervert masquerading as a kindly governor who kills his lieutenant (Michael Rooker) and his wife when the latter refuses his advances. It’s a fantastic performance, though it is mildly hysterical that such a clear parody of former Democrat front-runner Bill Clinton ended up missing completely and taking out the Republicans that Buttram was so proud to support. It’s a damn solid episode apart from that, which is why I’m placing it here at number twelve to satisfy everyone. Or more likely, no one.

11: "The Sky’s the Limit" (1988)
Ah, how bitter is irony. Michael Lonsdale owns and operates an expensive mansion in France. It is atop a cliff, near an airfield where Americans stationed fly back and forwards. His daughter (Carole Bouquet) falls for a handsome stunt pilot (Daniel Stern) who is something of a novice to polite manners. As his attempts to buy and threaten him away from his daughter fail, Lonsdale resorts to creating an undignified death for the pilot at the controls. However, he happens to have picked the one day Columbo and his wife have come to see an air-show. Lonsdale is suitably menacing but balances it with a strange pathetic neediness that creates an interesting dissonance. His horror at what he has done gradually unfolding makes for dramatic stuff, even if Bouquet’s role is not as good as it could be and the solution is either too complicated or not complicated enough.

10: "RIP Mrs Columbo" (1990)
A wonderfully done idea, striking right at the heart of our dear detective. There’s no problems here that might prevent it from being higher on the list, save for the inevitable that there was never going to be any danger of Mrs Columbo being revealed nor killed off. You had to be there though, that night when everyone thought it might be the last Columbo ever.

9: "Columbo Goes to College" (1991)
When a pair of students (Billy Warlock and Gary Hershberger) are caught plagiarizing, their lecturer (Robert Culp) announces his intention to expel them. They take revenge on him as Columbo does a course explaining the methodology of the detective. You can imagine how well that goes. [14] In an expert piece of misdirection, Culp is portrayed as possibly the murderer as he had been in his previous appearances only to be killed. A great example of showcasing that it’s not only the older privileged men who are in need of a good taking down.

8: "The Ascending Lark" (1992)
It’s another depressing one, and this time it adds a good dose of moral ambiguity to the mix. Jeremy Brett plays a long suffering violinist dying of an intensely painful cancer, and is aided throughout by his daughter (Alice Krige) who bickers with him good naturedly. Despite his best efforts, he desires to die and end the pain he is in after one last concert, and despite his wishes, his daughter assists him. She does not co-operate with Columbo for the simple reason that she does not see what she did as murder, and as the episode goes along we see an intense battle to even get her to admit that she was with him when he died. Fair play to the writers for not copping out and giving a trite explanation either. Falk’s expression as she is taken away leaves me chilled as he ponders whether he has done the right thing.

7: "The Vanishing Man" (1987)
Often referred to as the cursed Columbo episode, it’s an excellent episode to begin with. Patrick Troughton's character was originally a famous actor, but he now plays a tramp who spends his time amusing the children as his brother and his ditzy wife (Willie Rushton and Barbara Bach) amuse themselves with his money. He is driven to murder when they make plans to introduce a pollution creating nightmare that will hurt the children. The Vanishing Man refers to the disguise he comes up with (The shaving of his real beard and the purchase of a realistic false one made by an old friend) and to the way that he is not looked at due to his homeless status. Falk and Troughton play excellently off each other both comedically and dramatically. Troughton would suffer a heart attack upon being taken from the set to a Doctor Who convention, witnessing one of his favourite serials before dying in his hotel room. The heart attack scared Willie Rushton into getting his checked up, which he credits to keeping him alive. Perhaps not so cursed after all. [15]

6: "A Bird in the Hand" (1992)
An excellent example of turning the formula on it’s head. When the lover (Greg Evigan) of a sports-magnate’s wife (Tyne Daly), decides that the husband has to die, he prepares a careful trap involving a car bomb and a very careful arrangement of alibis. He arrives the next day to discover the man run over in a seemingly random accident. All is well that ends well, naturally. Except it doesn’t end. And when it does, it is not well. Both Daly and Evigan play their roles excellently and Falk matches them beat for beat.

5: "The Fright of His Death" (1987)
Okay this one is just a blast. One of the strange decisions made in the original run of Columbo was the casting of Vincent Price not as victim nor villain but as a side character who appears in two scenes. They are very fun scenes, but even so, this episode corrects that injustice. Price plays, ironically enough, a moral crusader tilting at the slasher windmill and railing against perversity and violence and filth in all forms. This is the result of his own hang-ups which he communicates via Vincent Price level ham as he resorts to killing off the director of a film shooting next-door (George Wendt). It’s a grand old ham to ham combat between detective and killer, worth watching because it’s a delightfully camp piece of art.

4: "Once Upon a Murder" (1993)
One of two tearjerkers from the last series of the first revival, this one loses out only due to the unique nature of Number 3. A pair of old theatrical actors meet up to go over the last play in a cycle that they have been trying to complete all their lives. One (Peter Cushing) is left shaken up by the arrival of a third actor (Michael Ansara) who has bragged openly about his debauched lifestyle. Said lifestyle killed Cushing’s wife in a car accident. Killing him without any remorse, Cushing awaits the police’s arrival only for his friend (Christopher Lee) to invoke a favour owed to him to try and save him from going to prison. The two real life best friends play excellently against type as Lee fights hard to save Cushing’s life even as Columbo mournfully pieces together the whole mess. Cushing’s heartbreak at the loss of his real-life wife comes through here clearly, and the final scene where the two men embrace is all the more heart-breaking when you realize this was Cushing’s last acting role. [16]

3: "It’s All in the Game" (1993)
An episode full of twists and turns with a more romantic than usual Columbo giving way to the half-mockery, half-sincerity meme of the detective and his wife being in a polyamorous relation. Two women (Faye Dunaway and Claudia Christian) contrive the murder of a man that both were sleeping with. Why they’ve done it gets revealed as the detective and Dunaway play a dangerous game with each other. Both flirt and act warmly towards each other, and it becomes clear that neither of this is an act. Peter Falk wrote this episode and often punctures his own ego as he goes along, making for a romantic, dark story that shows the lieutenant in a new light.

2: "Columbo Cries Wolf" (1987) [17]
The last full script that was contributed to by both of Columbo’s creators and it’s a doozy. Arranged for the final of the eighth series, it tells of a married couple (Brian Cox and Meg Foster) who own a men’s magazine. Amidst the chaos of their marriage, she plans to sell her shares to a more powerful company. When she is due to get on the next flight, she vanishes and leaves Columbo with quite a mystery to solve. It’s full of twists and turns and the Hugh Hefner inspired character that Cox plays is wickedly enjoyable. One of the few times that the Lieutenant is flummoxed too, which makes his eventual triumph all the better. Possibly it should be first on the list and yet….

1: "A Night to Remember" (1993)
In truth, this episode should probably not be in the top spot. But it is my favourite, and I am the writer, so get off my back already! The last members of a family bloodline that is dying out feud over who gets to have the inheritance of one of their ancestors. Tony Jay plays a conceited head surgeon and landowner who happens to get one of his relations under the knife. He contrives to make it appear that his relation suffered a heart attack at the wheel of his sportscar. With her aunt (Elizabeth Hoffman) suffering from dementia, it’s up to the one good woman in his family (Amy Jo Johnson) to ask friend of the family Detective Columbo to investigate. Everyone is on point here, and there’s plenty of fun slob vs snob matchups. But what really makes it better is Columbo moving in temporarily to assist with the transition of the old lady to a care home and through fun intergenerational conflict is clearly considered one of the family by the niece. Once the chaos is all done, one of the nicest wrap-ups tops a good old fashioned Columbo episode. She asks if he will come back and see her. And with a gravelly chuckle and a shaking of the head, he agrees warmly before shambling off with Dog in tow to the triumphant notes of ‘This Old Man’. Sometimes it’s the old tricks that show how good the dog really is. [18]

[1] Debatable, obviously, but given that there are arguments with regards to the twist in TNG IITL I figured it would be a good shorthand to use.

[2] All echoing the OTL feeling to what we refer to as the ABC seasons.

[3] All, bar Where the Wild Things Are, according to OTL. I am willing to edit these if necessary.

[4] I can’t imagine that there would be an effective way to save Cassavetes given the amount of damage he had already done to his liver. At best, maybe he gets a year or two more than in OTL but I’m willing to state that he dies on the same date IITL.

[5] Both of these facts are true! Levinson and Link had stepped away from full time maintenance of Murder She Wrote after the first season, though they would remain credited forever after. I’ve had a hard time working out why in particular, TV Tropes suggests that it’s a result of Levinson dying but that didn’t happen until halfway through season 3. I’ve gone with them wanting a challenge here, but if there is a reason, I’ll update it. As for Lansbury herself, it’s generally accepted that the fifth season of the show was set up to be the last given the somewhat definitive ending that the two-part finale has. She was already feeling burned out on the series at that point, and for three or four seasons afterwards she has a dramatically reduced workload. Often you’ll see poorly disguised pilots, sometimes written by Jessica or sometimes about people Jessica knows and so on and so forth. Whether you want Murder She Wrote to end here is entirely up to you, I’ve left it ambiguous either way.

[6] I’ve fudged a little here, I don’t think it’s without possibility that Levinson might survive for a little longer if given prompt medical treatment but it would obviously be ridiculous for him to last the full year.

[7] Boucher will alternate between the US and the UK, mostly his job will be seeing that a good quality of scripts is maintained throughout. Among some of the others he’ll bring in are Lance Percival and Jeremy Lloyd, writers of the murder mystery-gameshow hybrid Whodunnit in the UK.

[8] I figure I’ll add quick recaps here for ones not covered in the countdown. Phil Harris acts as an old fashioned comedian/singer being upstaged by Peter Allen’s younger up and comer, so kills him. Not a bad one, but it’s definitely middling.

[9] "Paying the Piper"=Martin Jarvis and Diana Rigg conspire to kill a fellow politician to prevent him veoting their ascension to proper cabinet status. Columbo happens to be the UK at the time. The performances are great, the plot not so.

"The Smell of Sweet Success"=Pertwee plays a collector of rare orchids who is secretly selling them on the black market, he kills his shop assistant when she finds out. Pertwee plays well but his backstage friction with Falk over the changes in script produces an uncomfortable tension that mars a decent script.

"Rocking the Cradle"= Mark Hamill plays a spoiled rich kid grown up, infuriated that Joanne Whalley is not falling for his ‘charms’ he conspires to cause an accident with the intention of saving her. When she dies, he covers up and blames it on his rival. Again, it’s a decently average episode elevated by Hamill’s performance against type.

[10] Generally these episodes remain similar to their OTL counterparts save for the substitution of certain actors (i.e. Jonathan Frakes appears in Agenda for Murder to make it a more prominent role.)

[11] On his way back from vacation, Columbo meets up with an interpol agent played by Beau Billingslea on the trace of a notorious criminal from the Triad. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa seems to be the obvious target, but he is alibied when someone else is murder by the detective himself. A decent script and good performances from the three leads is marred by bad music, the occasional racist gag and a poor climatic reveal.

[12] With the renewed coverage of Columbo thanks to accidentally becoming very topical, the right wing starts to froth at the new leftist Columbo. The episode is thus very similar to it’s OTL counterpart but now Shatner isn’t just a Rush Limbaugh type but a right wing television host as well.

[13] Think the internet’s current obsession with Columbo amplified a good bit by a mixture of accidental and deliberate progressive attitudes and a general lack of traditional police tropes.

[14[ In OTL, Culp plays a practically one scene role as the father of the lead boy. He takes over the lecturer’s role to throw long time fans off the scent, and I substituted Billy Warlock in given his heartthrob image at the time.

[15] Okay this one is just pure indulgence on my part. I like Willie Rushton, it’s possible that he’s in better condition for the operation that kills him in OTL. Troughton’s fate is also as OTL, no way to butterfly that away given his work schedule.

[16] Technically, as per OTL, they finish work on a Hammer Horror documentary. But it’s here that they act together for the last time, and Lee serves as real life support for the ailing Cushing. Their relationship, and Cushing’s grief over his wife, is all OTL.

[17] According to research, it is the last script written by Link for the series and is credited with his partner as with all his scripts. It’s easy to imagine them coming up with the idea during that first season’s heavier involvement, otherwise it proceeds as OTL despite being made a few years earlier.

[18] Once the timeline moves towards the early 2000’s, I’d be happy to add another update covering the third and final act of Columbo. We’re at seventy-three episodes, four more than OTL ever covered. It would be interesting to see where we end up at the end of it.

 

[Nerdman3000]

Okay, here is a guest post I worked on with @Geekhis Khan on how the X-Men and Spider-Man animated TV shows turned out in ITTL. It was originally supposed to be a post in the main Hensonverse thread When you Wish Upon a Frog, but due to it being mostly minor and @Geekhis Khan having to be a bit more picky now about what he posts, lest he bog down the main thread, it's therefore getting posted here instead.

So enjoy!

----
Excelsior! - A Retrospective of the late 80’s/early 90’s X-Men and Spider-Man Series
Post from Nostalgia Zone Net-log, by Terry Vera. May 19th, 2015.

When I was a kid growing up back in the late 1980’s, my favorite shows to watch every Saturday morning were Dino-Star, The Spirit, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I honestly can’t tell you just how many times I’d wake up in the morning just to get a chance to see a glimpse of whatever new adventure the Turtles or the Spirit had gotten themselves into. Yet two other shows during this same period which I practically worshiped at the altar of was X-Men: The Animated Series and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. Both shows would serve as the first Marvel animated shows to premiere following Marvel Comics sale to Disney in May 1986, as the first new animated Marvel series to be released since the end of The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, both of which ended in three years previously in 1983.

X-Men[1], premiering mere months following Marvel’s sale to Disney, would be the first of three Marvel themed shows Disney would produce in the late 80’s (a Fantastic Four show, Tales of the Fantastic Four, would fail to launch past a pilot which premiered in 1989). The show, told from the perspective of a young protagonist Kitty Pryde[2], followed the adventures of the X-Men as they battled their adversaries, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, to determine the fate of Mutantkind. While now celebrated for some of its complex writing, it’s easy to forget that the show didn’t have the easiest start, with the first season even today often being considered to be the weakest compared to later seasons due to its more simplistic storytelling. It was only half-way through the second season, during said season’s adaptation of the “Days of Future Past” comic arc, that the show’s writing truly began to take off and become more complex and sophisticated[3].

Kitty Pryde aka Shadowcat, the main protagonist of this timeline's version of X-Men: The Animated Series, who acted as the audience’s viewpoint character in the world of Mutants. (Source: DenofGeek)


Some of this transition is partially due to the writing chops of Josh Whedon (his first episode on the series would during the show's second season), but that's not the sole reason why the show started getting complex and better as time went on. While some might argue the show began to be influenced by The Spirit, as well as later on Batman: The Animated Series and Spider-Man (and this is most certainly true), much of this change of direction can perhaps primarily be traced to the departure of the show's first director, Ray Lee, during the show's second season, and him being replaced by Mark Edens, who would go on to direct the show for the remainder of its run. It's very apparent when rewatching the first season that Lee, who served as a director for a lot of merchandise-driven animated shows the dominated the early-mid 80's like Transformers, GI Joe, and Jem, was used to directing a lot of that type of more simplistic cartoon animation, and was thus struggling in a now post-merchandise-driven cartoon series world[4]. Ultimately, it was only after Lee left midway through the second season, and Edens came in to replace him, that the series was able to have a bit of a fresh start and started becoming as good as it did.

Yet regardless of why it happened, the show’s later seasons are much of why the show is celebrated today as a landmark in comic book animated adaptations. It was during said seasons that the show really started taking off in my opinion and became as popular as it would become, as well as when it began adapting issues from the comics. It was also around than that I started watching the show, so I ironically missed a lot of the weaker episodes of the show's first season, which in hindsight is probably a really good thing. I'll admit though, as a kid, watching Wolverine tear through Sentinals, and seeing the X-Men fight Magneto and his Brotherhood, Mister Sinister, the Hellfire Club, and even dinosaurs in the Savage Land, was honestly the coolest thing ever, and it did get me interested in comics, which I will always appreciate this show for doing.

Compared to the more timeless animation style of 1988's Spider-Man, the animation style/look for X-Men in its early seasons would be somewhat traditional to the style of most 80's cartoons, even as the art quality was much improved compared to most animated shows of the day. Later seasons would however improve in terms of animation style/quality, adopting a look closer to that of the style featured in Spider-Man. (Source: IMDB)


The series, which featured the voice talents of Alyson Court as Kitty Pryde, Christopher Daniel Barnes as Cyclops, Kath Soucie as Jean Grey, Iona Morris as Storm, Peter Cullen as Wolverine, John Stephenson as Beast, Mary Kay Bergman as Dazzler, Neil Ross as Nightcrawler, Michael Bell as Iceman, Dan Gilvezan as Colossus, Ed Asner as Professor X, Earl Boen as Magneto, Catherine Disher as Emma Frost, Lenore Zann as Rogue[5], Jennifer Dale as the Scarlet Witch, Alan Oppenheimer as Quicksilver, Ronald Gans as Juggernaut, Patrick Pinney as Sabertooth, and Randall Carpenter as Mystique, among various other characters, would win numerous awards during its run for many of its episodes from its later seasons, with its adaptation of the X-Men comic’s Dark Phoenix Saga in particular winning writer Josh Whedon and the series an Emmy.

The show's later seasons would touch and delve into tough subjects like racism, prejudice, sexism, and even topics like antisemitism (in the form of the famous Emmy nominated episode Shadowcat's Beau, which dealt with the subject of Kitty having to face antisemitism alongside the racism she already receives for being a mutant). As a kid, it taught me a lot about acceptance, empathy, and tolerance, which as I've grown older I've come to very much appreciate. And while the show didn't always deal with these topics well (it really depended on who was writing which episode. If you want a great example of them trying to deal with a more touchy subject and falling flat, just watch the fourth season’s wince inducing episode Proudstar’s Quarrel, which tried and rather spectacularly failed in its attempt to touch on historical mistreatment of Native American’s), it was one of the few shows of its day which dared to do so in the first place, which I can really appreciate.

Yet more than just dealing with those complex topics, the series would, as mentioned before, also adapt a number of storylines from the comics. And while it's adaptations of some of the comics storylines in later seasons would be much more loose compared to the Marvel show it would ultimately run alongside with, the show did successfully adapt a lot of famous X-Men stories, like the aforementioned “Dark Phoenix Saga”, “Days of Future Past”, “Second Genesis”, and various other stories from Chris Claremont's famous run on X-Men.

Ultimately running for a successful seven seasons run until it’s end in 1993, the show was great fun and served as an importance piece of my own childhood. While I'll probably admit that in hindsight the series is probably not my favorite X-Men animated series (looking at you X-Men: Mutant High) due in large part due to its weaker first and second season, it's later seasons and the episodes in it are still pretty great and are very much worthy of praise. Like I said though, it's not without its flaws, but despite that it's hard not to recommend this show to any X-Men fan.

Ultimately though, it wouldn't be until after the end of the second season of X-Men that Marvel would really knock it out of the park in terms of adapting one of their comic book properties when they premiered 1988’s The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Later renamed following the third season as simply Spider-Man: The Animated Series), which featured Robert Hays providing the voice of the web-headed titular character. That also very much acclaimed series, which ran for eight seasons until 1996, would also feature the writing talents of Josh Whedon, the first of many such Spidey related works which Whedon would have a hand in, an involvement that would continue into the next decade with his involvement in the 1990’s Spider-Man film trilogy and culminate in Whedon’s acclaimed award-winning 100 issue run of Amazing Spider-Man which started in 2004 [6]. Featuring a memorable and catchy theme song by Ron Wasserman, the series would also heavily influence the 90’s films, with Spider-Man 3’s Rachel Blanchard, who plays Gwen Stacy in the film, even admitting she based her portrayal of the character Gwen somewhat on the version from the animated show.

The show, which was produced/directed by Eric Lewald, James Semper, and Victor Cook, took heavy inspiration from Stan Lee and George Conway’s runs of Amazing Spider-Man, and would follow a young Peter Parker through high school and his college years as he grappled with his duties as Spider-Man while still trying to live a double life as Peter Parker and make time for friends Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, Gwen Stacy, and Flash Thompson (played by Joely Fisher, Gary Imhoff, Tracey Moore, and Patrick Labyorteaux respectively). Along the way, Spider-Man would face off against the likes of Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin (voiced by Mark Hamill[7]), Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus (voiced by George Buza), Curt Conners/The Lizard (voiced by Joseph Campanella) and even part enemy/part love interest, Felicia Hardy/The Black Cat (Jennifer Hale in one of her earliest voice acting roles). Finishing off the cast would be none other than Stan 'the Man' Lee himself, who would turn in numerous voice cameo appearances for the series [8].

Character designs for the series would be heavily inspired by Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr.’s work on the series, and the series would feature a heavily 60’s inspired aesthetic. Ironically enough artist Bruce Timm, of the Spirit and Batman fame, and who was working on the Spirit for Disney at the time, would create some of the character designs used in the series, particularly the ones for Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Felicia Hardy/Black Cat, Mary Jane Watson, and Gwen Stacy. Said character design would become the basis used for the series as a whole. (Source: Art by Bruce Timm)


Featuring witty dialogue, strong writing, and fantastic adaptations of classic comic storylines, all written under the pens of various writers like Josh Whedon, Grieg Weissman (who went onto to become a director on the show during its later seasons), and Paul Dini, the series was a massive success for the Disney Channel, receiving high ratings all throughout its run. Tapping into almost 30 years of Spider-Man history throughout its run, the series featured a collage of Spidey’s greatest hits at the time, adapting such classic stories as the Rise of the Sinister Six, Spider-Man: No More, and If This Be My Destiny, to then more recent stories like the Symbiote Saga and the rise of Venom, the "Mystery of the Hobgoblin", and even in its final season an adaptation of the recent Clone Saga. Yet the series also wasn’t afraid to tell new stories either, as it did with great episodes like “One Day to Live” (this one was a personal favorite of mine) and “Spider-Wars”[9].

The show would faithfully recreate moments from the Spider-Man comic's history, such as the scene from Spider-Man: No More where he abandons his suit in the trash, him crawling out of a gravestone in the show's adaptation of “Kraven's Last Hunt”[10], and even Peter's marriage to Mary Jane Watson. To me though the coolest part was that they even went as far as to accurately recreate small but classic moments, like Mary Jane's famous first scene from the comics during her first debut in the first season's 14th episode and Aunt May's death from Amazing Spider-Man issue #400 in the finale season. Seeing these scenes recreated and then later going back and finding/reading the actual scene they recreated to me was always a blast as I was growing up. In a lot of ways, the show was the best way of catching up on everything that occurred in Spider-Man's history from 1963 to 1996, and I still to this day recommend any new comic reader who's nervous about dipping their toe into Spidey's decades long comic history to start with this show before hitting stuff from more recent decades. It's honestly the best recap of Spidey's decades long history you'll ever find, and it's a great viewing experience in its own right as well.

Yet to me, what ultimately makes the show most impressive and stands out most in my mind today, is its decision in 1992 to end its fourth season by boldly adapting the famous 1973 comic book issue “The Night Gwen Stacy Died”[11]. The landmark episode, written by none other than the original comics issue’s own writer Gerry Conway himself[12], almost didn’t happen due to it basically pushing a lot of limits of the time. As you might expect, killing off a main character’s girlfriend in a children’s animated show in 1992 was just something kids shows just didn't do back then, and it therefore was quite a controversial and bold choice for the creators to try to recreate. Naturally though, the show's writers and showrunners ran into fierce opposition by the head execs of Disney Channel when trying to make the episode. In fact, that the episode ever got made at all was ultimately due to Joss Whedon, as one of the show’s writers, using his connections to straight up going over Disney Channel execs to bring the issue over to Disney head Jim Henson, who gave the showrunners and writers permission to faithfully do the episode and actually kill Gwen off. Supposedly that pissed off Disney Channels execs, and if rumors are to be believed, it's only due to the episode being lauded by critics and getting nominated and winning an Emmy[13] that the show didn't straight up get axed by bitter execs.

Famous moments like this saw themselves be recreated on the small screen, to the delight of fans and comics readers. (Source: Art by Bruce Timm)


Ultimately the show's adaptation of “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” would be as important a landmark moment in the history of cartoon animation as the issue it was based on was to the comics industry. It would represent a transition moment in the history of television cartoon animation, showing that shows could start pushing boundaries and start being more smart and mature even as they still catered to children. While the episode itself would shock and surprise many fans and viewers who hadn’t been aware of Stacy’s comics death, and led to Disney and Marvel Productions receiving tons letters and complaints from parents about their children being left in tears by Gwen’s death, the show's bold decision was celebrated by comic fans, animators, and critics alike, and is partially why the series is so well respected and celebrated today [14].

I also personally think it was kind of cool and ballsy for the writers to try and recreate, and I most certainly tip my hat to them for actually going ahead and recreating the moment. It was shocking as a kid and even today I’m still always amazed they went through with it AND got away with it.

Regardless, by the time the finale episode debuted in 1996, ending with a flash forward scene of an older Peter Parker teaching his and Mary Jane’s children Ben and May how to webswing and swinging off into the sunset with them (fun fact: this is actually the first ever appearance of Peter’s daughter Mayday Parker, as she wouldn’t make her own comics debut [15] until 2001 during Tom Delfaco’s third run on Amazing Spider-Man [16]), the series would had already cemented it’s legacy in the history of Spider-Man as one of the best adaptations of the character put to screen. Even today it is considered the most quintessential telling of the character put to screen and is often considered to be the best adaptation of the character, with Robert Hays voice frequently what most fans (myself included) picture whenever we read Spidey comics today and try to imagine the characters voice.

Now, with the success of both Marvel shows, and later on the big screen adaptations of various Marvel properties, it also should not be a surprise that Marvel and Disney would decide to tap into the success of the films and tie-into them with further shows. Now as I mentioned, there was a failed attempt to adapt the Fantastic Four in 1989, and it would not be until 1994 that the cosmic four would receive an animated adaptation, one that would last for three seasons, followed in 1995 by an animated show based on The Avengers, which lasted for five seasons. Failed pilots for an Incredible Hulk animated series and an Iron Man series would also debut in 1992 and 1994 respectively, though neither show would ultimately make it past the first episode. Lastly, The Mighty Thor: The Animated Series would debut in 1997 produced in partnership with Sam and Ted Raimi, but would only last for two seasons before being cancelled in 1999.

I'll be covering these shows soon in their own post, so stay tuned for that true-believers!

Like 1988’s Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four series would feature a 60’s inspired aesthetic. But while the 1988 Spider-Man series only sort of had said aesthetic, the 1994 Fantastic Four animated series would fully immerse itself in it, and would be heavily inspired by Jack Kirby’s art (Source: Art by Bruce Timm. Coloring by DrDoom1081 on DeviantArt).


As for Spider-Man and the X-Men, neither would return until the small screen until 1999 and 2000 respectively, with Spider-Man premiering in the adeptly named Spider-Man, premiering in 1999 (and featured Ian Ziering as the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man), and the X-Men returning in 2000’s X-Men: Mutant High [1]. I won’t go too much into either since frankly both deserve their own posts, especially the later which is a personal favorite of mine, but it’s fair to say that both shows, especially Spider-Man, had to live under the shadow of their predecessor show, a shadow which only X-Men: Mutant High arguably managed to successfully escape from.

But like I said, that’s a story for another day.

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[1] In many ways this is equivalent of our timeline’s 1989 show Pryde of the X-Men, which like Tales of the Fantastic Four here, never makes it past the pilot.

[2] Due to the show premiering in 1986 rather than 1992, Kitty Pryde serves as the main viewpoint character of the series, rather than Jubilee. Jubilee in turn never ends up quite as popular as in our timeline.

[3] Unlike X-Men: The Animated Series in our timeline, this show starts off in terms of tone and storytelling much closer to Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and 1982’s The Incredible Hulk, before getting more complex and smarter in terms of it’s writing as time goes on, eventually resembling something closer to our timeline’s 90’s X-Men cartoon in its later seasons.

[4] I imagine this might be a bit of a common difficulty experienced by a lot of animation directors in this timeline who worked on toy-driven animated shows, as they now find themselves somewhat struggling after the "Golden Age" of toy-driven animation ends.

[5] Like in the 1989 Pryde of the X-Men show, Emma Frost is portrayed as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, despite not being a member in the comics (at least, not until then in this timeline, where she will eventually join and become a member for a number of years in the 1990's before she eventually leaves. She never joined in ours). Also, Rogue starts out as a villain in the series, since she had only very recently joined the X-Men in the comics and stopped being a villain. She wouldn't join the X-Men in the show itself until the show's third season.

[6] Similar to how Whedon in our timeline wrote a comic run of Astonishing X-Men.

[7] Hamill allo-ironically ends up playing Green Goblin before he ends up playing Joker in this timeline.

[8] Naturally. While he does a few in X-Men, his voice cameo appearances in Spider-Man will be quite frequent and noticeable.

[9] While “Spider Wars” is obviously this timeline's equivalent of the “Spider Wars” episode from our timeline’s Spider-Man 90's animated series (though other than featuring Spider-Men from different dimensions, including one who's rich, the episode does not really resemble our timeline’s episode much), “One Day to Live” is an episode where Peter is poisoned and seemingly looks as though he is going to die in 24 hours. With his villains all having escaped Rikers and terrorizing the city, a dying Peter has to step up through sheer force of will and save the city all while trying to say goodbye to everyone he cares for and loves and struggling as the poison slowly weakens him.

[10] Compared to most episodes of the series, this is probably the loosest adaptation the series has of a comic. For one, the two-part episode ends with Kraven simply retiring, rather than committing suicide like in the comic.

[11] Unlike our timeline’s 90’s Animated Series, which tries to reference the issue (with Mary Jane rather than Gwen since Gwen hadn’t been introduced in the series), but then sort of cops out on actually straight up adapting it. Here they actually kill her off.

[12] Conway actually has a number of TV writing credits, so this isn’t even out of left field.

[13] This would be the show's second Emmy, as it would previously win an Emmy for its Season 2 Adaptation of “Spider-Man: No More”. It would later win a third Emmy for its Season Five adaptation of “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man”.

[14] Ultimately the reputations of X-Men: The Animated Series and Spider-Man: The Animated Series are basically sort of flipped in this timeline compared to ours, with both being popular, but Spider-Man ITTL ending up being the one that becomes the more celebrated and beloved of the two. Part of that is admittedly the fact X-Men in this timeline suffers a shifting tone through its earlier seasons, but the other part of it is that Spider-Man: The Animated Series just ends up being that good. You can also consider this timeline’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series to be for Spider-Man what our timeline’s Batman: The Animated Series ended up being for Batman, and the closest Spider-Man show in OTL in terms of quality that can just barely come close being OTL Spectacular Spider-Man animated series.

[15] Basically similar to Harley Quinn and X-23 in our timeline, the first ever appearance in this timeline of Mayday Parker (who is Peter and Mary Jane’s second child in this timeline, as was revealed in the first main Henson thread would reveal, Peter and Mary Jane's first child in the comics ITTL would be a son named Ben Parker) would be in television, not the comics. The show also ends with Peter teaching his kids to webswing in order to reference Peter now being a dad in the comics, with the addition that Peter also teaches his son Ben that he too has a responsibility to look after his little sister May and watch over her. Ultimately though, May was originally only meant for the small scene at the end and was introduced mainly as a way to showcase Peter teaching his son about responsibility. However, due to the final scene in the show being so memorable, it eventually leads her to also have a comic book debut a mere seven years after the introduction of her brother older Ben, and five years after her own debut in the show.

[16] The run would also feature Peter Parker making his return as Spider-Man in the comics. Scarlet Spider/Ben Reilly would live and still continue to feature in his own book, The Sensational Scarlet Spider, in a similar situation to how both Peter and Miles Morales have their own separate books in OTL today. Peter’s comics would offer a glimpse at a older Spider-Man who was now a father of two and husband/family man as well as a Science Professor, while Scarlet Spider would offer readers (and writers) a usually single (minus a couple of frequent romantic flings with Felicia Hardy/Black Cat) Spider-Man who faced the troubles Peter was traditionally given before his marriage.

This means that in a way, Peter and Ben’s situation has become a ironic twist to what most comic fan complain about IOTL in regards to Spider-Man comics today, since ITTL it is Peter who is allowed to age by Marvel’s editors (versus OTL where he’s basically not anymore and has even regressed). Instead it is Ben who is basically now not allowed to age and truly grow by Marvel execs ITTL.

[17] X-Men: Mutant High is essentially this timeline’s equivalent to X-Men: Evolution. Not 1:1 however, but it does have a similar theme/premise.

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Well, that's that. Do tell me what you guys think, and don't worry, they'll eventually be more guest posts which offer looks into some of the animated adaptations of Marvel Comics, such as what happened with Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Thor, as well as the 1999 Spider-Man and 2000 X-Men shows.

I’d also at some point like to write about how the comics are turning out ITTL after 1995. If anyone has some ideas they'd like to see for that, or suggestions (mainly looking at you @Pyro, since I know your a big Comics fan and would certainly provide some great help and ideas here), be sure to hit me up and share them!

 

[TGW]

Happy Birthday Siriol: Celebrating the Welsh Disney’s 30th!
Part One Of Three: Anime-chy In the UK!
Andrew Gregson, Animation Nation.com, 2013.

Throughout this week we will be discussing each decade of output that this little studio has presented to the UK, both from their own creations to the dubbing of various foreign pieces of animation. A special feature will be held on their biggest and most infamous distribution as to squeeze it in here would be doing everyone a disservice. And the way in which the little company that could has influenced one of the giant’s of anime cannot be underestimated! [1]

It begins, as with many a British story, with a child in need of comfort and a father willing to provide it. With young Richard, whom he was now stepfather too, suffering from a fear of the dark, advertising copywriter and television producer Mike Young came up with the idea of Superted to assure his new stepson that there was no need to fear the dark. Soon the stories were told to other children in the school and Young created books based upon the character. Even further than that, he and other friends went into partnership and created Siriol Productions. It means cheerful in Welsh, which suits the style of animation and story right to a tee. [2]

Superted’s success led to Mike Young and Siriol getting several contacts with studios around the world, each interested in dubbing the stories of the little bear and his secret magic word. With the slow but steady arrival of anime to shores in the West however, it was Mike who began making bids on other shows to be brought to Wales and to England. [3] He would then negotiate with American companies for the movies and episodes to be shown over there, even as filler getting a pretty penny from it all. And pretty much all of them have been dubbed here ever since, both in English and in Welsh. Siriol is credited as bringing a great deal of business to Wales, a country that might not have even been considered as an investment opportunity. There are no theme parks here, no great or grand rides to startle kids or adults, and it will be this year that the first stage shows will be put together for the entertainment of a whole new generation. And yet in it’s own strange and magical way, Siriol is the Disney of Wales. [4]

Here are just a few of the wonders, both home-grown and well-travelled, that Siriol has given to the English and Welsh speaking worlds.

Superted
This is a story about an ordinary teddy bear, but when he was made they found something wrong with him, and threw him away like a piece of rubbish into an old dark storeroom. Then, from outer space, a spotty-man brought him to life with his cosmic dust. He took him to a magic cloud where Mother Nature gave him special powers! That bear became…Superted!

I’m sorry, but humor me, the spiel is burnt into my brain and has been since I was a child. [5]

Yes, in the style of many British shows of the 80’s the normal and the fantastical clashed together to form this wonderfully strange story. Superted (Derek Griffiths) is aided by said spotty-man who is named…er, Spotty (Jon Pertwee) in stopping dastardly doings and preventing any problems coming to the children of planet Earth and in some occasions beyond. Their enemies included Texas Pete (Victor Spinetti), Bulk (Roy Kinnear) and Skeleton (Melvyn Hayes) and if you’re wondering what the punchline to a joke about a teddy-bear, an alien, a cowboy, a fat man and a very camp skeleton is, then please write in because we have been waiting for that nigh on thirty years! You can thank this series for the studio’s growth over the years.

Over the years, Superted has returned in several forms. First came the ill-fated Americanization by Hanna Barbera entitled The Further Adventures of Superted that was redubbed in the UK in 1990. [6] Then, repaying the favour, the Japanese had their own turn with the bear in a movie entitled Superted and the King of Nightmares in 1993. [7] It’s fitting really that Superted should battle such a frightening foe given his creation to assuage Young’s son of his fear of darkness, though this one gave many 90’s kids the frights. Four years later, Young would produce a four season sequel in Wales entitled Superted’s Adventures in Time which has plenty of puns and action coupled with a good starting point for any budding historians. Most recently as of the time of writing is the first homegrown film Superted’s Grand Adventure which takes the bear out into the cosmos. However a new television series has been greenlit to appear for the 30th anniversary, with Derek Griffiths stepping down and passing the role onto the younger Alfred Enoch [8]. This is the third such recasting necessary, with Pertwee’s death in 1996 resulting in celebrity impersonator Jon Culshaw taking over and Spinetti’s just last year seeing veteran voice actor Rob Rackshaw step into the cowboy’s shoes. We’ve listened to the first few episodes, and the lad has smashed it!

Dogtanian and the Muskehounds [9]
If you’ve read the original Three Musketeers, then much of this story will be obvious to you. A young man—er, dog travels to Paris to become a member of the King’s Musketeers. He meets three such men, falls in love with a young woman who serves as maid to the Queen of France and has to deal with the machinations of the Cardinal of the fair city who desires a war with England. Just replace everyone with dogs, add an annoying rat as a side-kick, maybe lighten up a little bit of the darkness in the story and add the most aggravatingly catchy theme song known to man and you’ve got this show. A Japanese-Spanish co-production, the animation is charmingly simple and the voice acting manages to make the cliched lines work. Special praise goes to Siriol regular Sean Barrett pulling triple duty as the Muskehounds and giving each character a distinct voice in the process.

The Unico Films [10]
Aired as television films from 1986 onwards, the films The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and Unico in the Island of Magic occupy that special space inside the hearts of eighties kids as both nightmare creators and tearjerkers. Osama Tezuka’s creation is a lovable little unicorn cursed by the Gods and threatened with death. He is rescued by the West Wind who carries him from situation to situation for his own safety. However, every time he must leave a potential home, he has his memory wiped for his own safety. Belaying the cutesy potential is a great deal of creepiness involving the villains and the inevitable heartbreak that comes as the unicorn forgets the friends he has made, though they do not forget what he did for them. Karen Prell plays the role here [11], cast after making one of her many trips to London with the rest of the Muppeteers, and many of the regular actors also play alongside her especially David Collings’s performance as the terrifying Lord Kuruku in the second movie. [12] If you must watch these movies, do so with handkerchiefs ready.

Around the World with Wily Fogg [13]
Another adaptation of a Japanese-Italian production, once again with talking animals taking up the place of their human counterparts. Some things are expanded upon, actual villains are added as in all Around the World adaptations and there is another annoying rodent side-kick to add comedy. Again, another very catchy theme song for everyone to remember and you have a rather good series. DVD has ruined it somewhat, people will not understand the tension of having to wait a week or so to find out what happened at the end of the last cliff-hanger! Voice acting is good across the board, particularly Robert Powell as the renamed Wily Fogg, Derek Griffiths as Passepartout and Susan Sheridan as Princess Romy.

Sherlock Hound
This show started off as a co-production between Japan and Italy. Much as Dogtanian is, this is Sherlock Holmes but with canines albeit a heavily watered-down version. Hayao Miyazaki worked on early episodes and his influence is definitely felt throughout. However, when Mike Young won the rights to air these episodes, he started discussing ideas for further episodes with the two companies. In 1986 therefore, RAI, TMS and Siriol began production on the show again. All in all, four additional seasons were produced on-top of the original, which aired in 1985 over in the UK. [14]

With many one-off characters appearing in each episode, the main actors would take up a minimum of two roles beyond their central one every time. Sean Barrett’s suave Sherlock Hound sent the burgeoning furry fandom into a swoon [15], equally so given his kind-hearted portrayal in comparison to the books, while Willie Rushton’s Nigel Bruce-esque performance as Watson was incredibly lovable. Sarah Sutton of Doctor Who fame plays Miss Marie Hudson who was the breakout character of the show. She’s far younger than the character is in the books, and is generally sweet, kind and feminine. She also is a crack shot, can fly a plane far better than anyone else can and is a crack shot with a pistol, particularly in Miyazaki episodes. One condition of the UK produced seasons was more of Miss Hudson being a badass, and they delivered impressively! [16]

And then of course, there are the villains. Derek Griffiths portrays Professor Moriarty and devours the scenery in such magnificent fashion that he becomes near-impossible to forget. [17] To complete the cast were Jimmy Hibbert and Lee Cornes, the former would play the bumbling and perpetual second banana Inspector Lestrade and the latter would play both Smiley and Todd, Moriarty’s henchmen. In the new seasons, there would be a further addition to the main cast in the form of Irene Adler. Played by Lorelei King, the cocky American was prepared as a counterpoint to Miss Hudson with whom she became the best of friends. [18] Her somewhat androgynous appearance often belayed an aggressive interest in more feminine past-times in a similar fashion to the other female character. The situation as such in Baker Street was that most fans of the show refer to Series 2 through 5 as ‘Sherlock and Marie and John and Irene’ but in the show proper there was nothing to suggest more than very close friendship between all four of them. The strong relationship between the two women was often praised as was their increased involvement in the cases.

The post-UK seasons often tended to adapt more of the original stories albeit with comedic twists and often inserting Moriarty into the plot. But the formula worked and it only ended due to a belief that the show had run it’s course. The show ended with all four members of the team still in Baker Street as happy as ever, while Moriarty and his company were heading towards the Reichenbach Falls on a steamship containing a doomsday weapon. Given their near indestructability everyone is sure that he survived this somehow. And who knows? With rumours circulating of a film coming out soon, perhaps the cackling old wolf has not yet had his curtain call….

The Little Engine that Could [19]
Aired on ITV’s Christmas in 1991 and a favourite on VHS, this little retelling the classic story is frequently ranked as a childhood must. The voice acting, done in America in one of the rare cases of joint production with that country, is excellent as are the songs (Nothing Can Stop Us Now is still burnt into our staff’s heads) and the animation does a good job of being inviting but never too cloying.

Future Boy Conan
In retrospect, Alexander Key really should have been more careful about where he said Miyazaki’s radically altered version of his novel could air. [20] Originally entitled The Incredible Tide, the anime is a smash hit in Japan but not so much to the Key estate. The UK snatched it up around 1988 and recorded it not long afterwards. It’s a pity that Roy Kinnear looks down upon his performance here, for even despite his hurried return from Toledo his take on the character of Lepka, the leader of an organization determined to track down a kind-hearted scientist’s daughter and her two new friends, is really quite something. [21] While falling into obscurity, the recent buzz has given it new life and it will be re-airing for the first time since it’s original run this year.

Under Milk Wood [22]
No student from the early 90’s can forget this 1992 rendition of Dylan Thomas’s play. Using an audio recording done by Richard Burton in the 50’s, the studio weaves together the beautiful acting of the radio stars with the striking animation. In the process they create striking and evocative renditions of the words the poet intended. The play has never come alive in such fashion and this author doubts it will again. Still used today as a tool for English and Drama classes across the Union.

And all of this is without getting into Siriol’s acquisition of that most popular Japanese franchise, bringing it to the UK and giving it a whole new lease on life. But we go into more detail on that next time. A lot of this early work speaks to Mike Young’s own personal belief that ‘soft edge and quality animation can be more appealing to children than any amount of violence’ [23] especially prevalent during the eighties. No doubt it’s the focus upon warm characters and friendship that has made this studio’s early output such a well-remembered part of childhood and beyond! [24]

[1] Originally this was meant to dive into Lupin the 3rd but that will have to wait until next time. I had more on this subject and that subject than I had intended, and I did not want to do either a disservice.

[2] This is pretty much what happened in OTL! Incidentally, while I have you here, there are other shows produced by this company that I have neglected to mention for the simple reason that there is no great secret to tell of them. They existed probably in a similar form as they did in OTL.

[3] Here’s where the timeline branches off for our Welsh friend. With the animation world getting stirred up around about the time that Superted enters it’s highest point of popularity, he gets to interact with a lot more people than he would in OTL. He won’t do as he did in OTL and go to America to set up his own company but rather continue to build up this one into a small little powerhouse as opposed to letting it get amalgamated into a bigger company later on down the line.

[4] I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to toot the horn of my home country a little. We get literally nothing, just let us have this!

[5] As it is mine. And none of that is changed from OTL, our superheroes are bloody weird and we’re proud of it!

[6] An OTL creation! Just the weirdest damn thing in my opinion, it’s like if we just nabbed Snagglepuss or Huckleberry Hound and started dubbing them in Cockney Rhyming slang.

[7] Produced by Tezuka Productions, it’s a little similar to the Unico movies but with the Superted cast. Thanks to supervision by Young, it’s going to be pretty damn close to the original series in terms of characters so most children won’t clock that it’s a different studio making it until they’re much older.

[8] Enoch is me grabbing a random star out of my ass, I just think his voice would suit the character. It’s pretty close to Griffiths without being a replica. The man he replaced also admitted that he probably can’t play a teddy bear anymore in this really fun little interview he did recently. https://nation.cymru/culture/voice-of-superted-reveals-how-he-got-drunk-in-pub-before-recordings/

[9] There’s not that much to tell with regards to this, the theme song is based off the original Spanish one so there’ll be no need to change it far from the…obnoxiously catchy one it has in OTL. If you’re curious, be warned it’ll be in your head for a bit. A lot of these are cult classics in the UK in OTL already, but having an official dub instead of it being dubbed in America will make them slightly more popular. Also a lot of these actors did children’s TV over here and Sean Barrett can still be heard in stuff like Xenoblades, this is just my way of giving them a steady pay check here.

[10] Nothing much to say here except that they probably also make their way to the Disney channel as per our timeline? But they do get a bigger audience in the West than they did otherwise. Who knows? Perhaps Unico might even find a new home in the coming years, earlier than OTL….

[11] In OTL this is just a myth caused by confusion over casting. Barbara Goodson played Red Fraggle in the short lived animated Fraggle Rock series, and she plays Unico. She’s got the voice down pat too which adds to the chaos.

[12] So PSA, I’d actually really recommend you listen to Jan Rabson’s portrayal of Lord Kuruku because not only is it absolutely phenomenal for an eighties to early nineties dub of an anime but it’s…a really good performance in and of itself? I imagine if I had seen this movie when I was younger that I would have been damn near terrified. But David Collings is going to give a damn good try at beating it, using his Charn voice from the old children’s serial Through the Dragon’s Eye. And that’s…look, this is something that’ll only make sense if you were a child in the UK of the nineties but he’s seriously freaky in that role.

[13] With the exception of the recasting, there’s nothing really to talk about here either. There are sequels to both Dogtanian and Wily Fog, both of which are wildly inferior mostly do to forcing the characters into other works of fiction. It’s possible these will get rewritten thanks to Young’s involvement but I’ve yet to decide upon it.

[14] In a similar fashion to how the DVD that sits on my shelf has instrumental versions of the Japanese opening and closings compared to the funkier American song, a similar compromise will be made here for the theme. The show will air alongside the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes and provide the younger fans that Brett’s show accrued a more accessible alternative.

[15] Taken from the Thomas and Friends spin-off show TUGS, this is basically what Hound sounds like. Skip to 1:23 for the scene in question.

[16]: You can very clearly tell when Miyazaki is in the driving seat and when he is not. His weakest episode with her still has her practically breaking the villains with kindness, whereas the strongest episode without him at the helm has her as mere pilot.

[17] This sadly means we have to butterfly away the excellent Hamilton Camp’s acting as the Professor. Never to fear though, for Griffiths is an excellent over-actor. Specifically, his take owes a lot to his OTL role in the Muzzy series, meant to teach English as a second language, as the evil vizier Corvax. In a rather casual conversation, here he is chewing up the scenery.

[18] There was a character in the first season that I could have twisted into Irene Adler but going for originality works out better.

[19] Yes, somehow this ended up exactly the same, but a little more popular. Practically sums up my writing style, eh?

[20] Truth in television here! Key received an advance copy of the first few episodes and hated what had been done to his novel. He planned to kick up a major fuss if it was brought to North America and, until last year, it wasn’t. Note that he stated America however, and that gives Young a pretty big loophole to dart through. The Key estate will try and sue, but it’ll never progress very far.

[21] You know Roy Kinnear probably as Veruca Salt’s father in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. For most of his life he was one of the hardest working character actors, including in the 1970’s Musketeer films as the comedic relief. In 1988, he was brought back for a reunion movie which had to film parts in Spain. The Toledo mentioned here is the scene of a frightful miscommunication whereupon the cobblestones that the actors were meant to be riding their horses upon were washed thoroughly before shooting. Kinnear was not a natural rider and had one fifteen-minute lesson beforehand. The horse slipped, he fell off and broke his pelvis. He suffered a heart attack in the surgery and died. Richard Lester retired practically once the film was finished, one Paul McCartney concert film not withstanding. Here, Kinnear is called back before that fateful day thanks to a combined miscommunication and ironclad contract with the studio, and no such accident occurs. Lester does not retire either, which might be worth noting.

[22] Based off an OTL film done in 1992. I highly recommend watching it, by the by. It’s an excellent recording by itself, and the animation adds well to it. Some of it’s a little off because it focuses so much on realistic (ish) humans, but a lot of it is also turned to the piece’s advantage. It’s a weird play and one that might be a little Welsh for many people.

[23] Stated originally in this interview here! https://www.animatormag.com/1984/issue-10/issue-10-page-13/

[24] Obviously I will do my Lupin III update next but I will hold off once again until the 90’s and early 2000’s come to an end. Certainly would not want to step on anyone’s toes with content though given how I have written Siriol, a few things do come to mind….

 

[Plateosaurus]

Your Guide to Columbia Peach Grove Studios and Adventure Park
From Theme Park Monthly, June 1999
Guest post by @Plateosaurus and a special observer

+

= the logo of Adventure Park

In the Deep South, you will find a place called Columbia Peach Grove Studios and Adventure Park, a 260-acre theme park and film studio located in Atlanta, Georgia or more accurately between Stone Mountain and the suburb of Rockbridge. While it took a while for Adventure Park to find its footing it has since become an staple of sorts for tourists and cinephiles in the Peach State and a vital component of the thriving Atlanta film industry known as “Y'allywood''[1]. The park serves as a testament to Columbia CEO Ted Turner and his ambition in trying to transform the company into a top-tier entertainment conglomerate on par with the likes of Warner Bros. and Disney, which we’ll get to later.

History
The very roots of Peach Grove can be traced back to Turner becoming the CEO of his father’s advertising company at the young age of 24 and later went on to buy several Southern radio stations in the 1960s and 70s before selling them to buy a struggling TV station known as Channel 17 WJRJ. Under Turner’s management, WJRJ was renamed WTCG and began airing popular programs such as Gilligan’s Island and Star Trek: The Original Series as well as NBA Atlanta Hawks and MLB Atlanta Braves games. By 1976, WTCG was thriving with 2 million subscribers and made Ted Turner a millionaire, he branded WTCG not as a mere television station but a “Super-Station” that aired all kinds of content from old movies to cartoons and sports games on cable TV, he also began to branch out into the world of American sports when he bought a stake in the Braves and later the Hawks the next year. In 1978, Turner purchased the rights to the WTBS call sign from MIT’s Technology Broadcast System for the meager price of $50,000 and used WTBS for the new nationwide super-station airing in almost every American household, WTBS was renamed TBS (short for Turner Broadcasting System) and Turner became a big name in American entertainment. Buoyed by the success of TBS, Turner launched the Cable News Network, otherwise known as CNN, at the dawn of the 80s. With a sterling reputation in entertainment, Ted set his eyes on buying his way into Hollywood and eventually got his wish when he purchased CBS in 1985 with the assistance of the Associated Communications Corporation (ACC). Later, Turner’s CBS and Turner Entertainment would merge with Columbia to form Columbia Entertainment, forming one of the largest media conglomerates in the world. With a film studio and two big networks, the sky was the limit when it came to expanding Columbia/CBS and when Warner Bros announced a major expansion of Six Flags Over Georgia with the addition of a Warner Brothers Movie World, Turner knew that it was the time to strike while the iron was hot and two weeks after Warner’s announcement he would unveil plans for a new theme park located near Stone Mountain that would serve as Columbia’s answer to the nascent Warner Brothers Movie World Georgia. Construction on what would become known as Columbia Peach Grove Studios and Adventure Park began in 1990 and lasted for two years before its grand opening to the public. As mentioned earlier, the park initially struggled because of a lack of good rides or IPs, but thanks to good attendance from studio tours and visitors from the nearby Warner Movie World Georgia, it was a financial success for Columbia and Turner. Peach Grove nowadays is quickly becoming an Atlanta landmark, heavily promoted by the state of Georgia as a theme park paradise.

Lands and Rides to Know
Peach Grove is divided into seven different lands or “zones” each themed after the history of Georgia and America respectively or IPs owned by Columbia. As with any good amusement park, it has rides and lands worth checking out if you intend to visit the park someday.

• Americana Avenue - Patterned after Disney’s Main Street USA, Americana Avenue is an idyllic representation of a 1950s Georgia small town complete with a railroad service known as Crossroads U.S.A. which takes visitors to different sections of the park, diners playing classic tunes with beautiful waitresses serving delicious dishes, stores that sell vintage or vintage-style goods, a movie theatre playing various Columbia flicks and CBS shows, a museum dedicated to Georgian and American history, an exhibit on the life of Ted Turner and 50s-themed bumper car ride Traffic Jammers. It’s also the first area of Peach Grove you’ll visit when you arrive there and has existed since the park opened its doors to the public. Simply put, going to Americana Avenue is a must for aficionados of 50s Americana and history buffs[2].
• Action Land - Like Americana Avenue, this area has existed since the early days of the park and was built for enthusiasts of science fiction and action-adventure works hence its name Action Land. The most famous attraction of Action Land is Ride with the Rocketeer, a partial indoor ride based on the 1991 film of the same name, with Bill Paxton reprising his role as the titular character. Aside from Ride with the Rocketeer, you’ve got 007: The James Bond Experience, a recently opened Jumanji-themed attraction built as a tie-in to the 1995 Tom Hanks film from Amblin Entertainment[3], Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and a racetrack for families. In fact, most of Action Land's attractions tend to be dark rides with SFX, fully-written plots and CGI but if that's not your taste don't worry you can still get some grub at the biker-themed The Joint with a special gift provided for visitors, go to Retro Arcade to play 80s inspired games based on Columbia’s action franchises or check out the adjacent Stone Mountain Battlefield which has reenactments of famous historical battles be it the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, the World Wars or any conflict in general.
• Hanna-Barbera’s Cartoon City - Cartoon City is a favorite amongst families and Hanna-Barbera fans with its exciting rides and iconic characters making it the most attended area by Columbia Peach Grove visitors. Ostensibly themed after the eponymous channel of the same name, the area has attractions and restaurants themed after Hanna-Barbera characters Tom & Jerry, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo and Yogi Bear. The penultimate attraction for visitors in Cartoon City is an exhibit centered around the history of Hanna-Barbera modeled off a similar exhibit in Disneyland Valencia complete with a narrated history of the studio and original cel animation stills. Cartoon City can also be compared to the Looney Tunes Land of Warner Movie World parks as both zones are dedicated to beloved characters from American cartoons.
  
  In short, there’s a lot to enjoy in Cartoon City with your kids and any relatives visiting Peach Grove who just so happen to love Hanna-Barbera.
• Boot Hill - The Old West-themed area of Peach Grove with the familiar hues of the orange-tinted, dusty Southwest contains the titular mining settlement modeled after the boomtowns of the mid to late 19th century and John Ford films of the 1920s-60s. The zone derives its name from numerous Western cemeteries and there is one that can be visited by guests, even take a few photos if they’re in the mood to do so. Many consider Boot Hill to be the Peach Grove equivalent to Disney’s Frontierland because of the similar themes in the same vein as Americana Avenue and Main Street USA. Aside from the comparisons, the main attractions and shops of Boot Hill are the mountain mine train rollercoaster Gold Rusher (not too dissimilar to Thunder Mountain), the flume ride Silver Streak, a Wild West stunt show, Boot Hill Ranch (where you can ride actual horses and pet animals), the Old West Gift Shop (with actual gold among the souvenirs), restaurants serving Texas (including Tex-Mex) cuisine and an exhibit explaining the fictional history of Boot Hill. Additionally, Boot Hill has costumed characters from Unforgiven and Dances with Wolves, though in the latter’s case it took until The Postman for the film’s star Kevin Costner to allow characters to appear in Peach Grove.
  
  Compared to the other areas, Boot Hill is a fun but not exactly remarkable area of Peach Grove but you can visit the place if you want to.
• Old South - Perhaps the most beautiful or contentious area of Peach Grove depending on who you ask, Old South, as its name suggests, is a representation of the antebellum and Civil War-era South as reflected in the area’s architecture being drawn from both periods of Georgia’s history as well as the Colonial and Revolutionary eras. The main and primary attraction of the Old South is the wooden rollercoaster Ol’ Geezer followed by a steel coaster based off the hit TV series Dukes of Hazzard, the General Lee Rally, and the boat ride Billy Joe's Steamboat Service. Aside from the rides, Old South has a replica of a Southern slave plantation, a storytelling theatre in which people would share stories before and after the Civil War in Georgia, an antique shop, and a restaurant serving Southern cuisine complete with a band using traditional instruments.
  
  On a contentious note, you can buy Confederate flags and souvenirs in the Old South which has stirred a minor debate over whether it should be kept as is for historical reasons or removed since some see Confederate iconography as symbols of hate and want the Old South section to be rebranded to New South to reflect a new vision of Georgia and not the past. Controversy aside, what do think of the Old South? There are some parts we like, even if we don’t necessarily love other things about it.
• Peach Grove Studios - The crown jewel of the entire park and the one half of its name, Peach Grove Studios is, much like Universal Studios Hollywood, where a good chunk of Columbia’s movies and TV shows are filmed specifically at its sound stages and sets. Besides its purpose as one big set, visitors can go on the Peach Grove Backlot Tour to see recreated sets of popular Columbia films over the years from Lawrence of Arabia, Taxi Driver, Unforgiven, Forrest Gump, and Gettysburg. If you’re a fan of Columbia or movies in general, you will enjoy riding the Backlot Tour.
• Neptune Bay - And finally, we get to the first land to open after launch day. Neptune Bay is themed as a seaside town that mixes both Georgia's and Caribbean ports to create a picturesque, tropical setting. Visitors can brave the wrath of the giant sea monster Poseidon and her babies in the motion simulator attraction Gorgons: Monster Encounter[5], or join pirates in Black John Roberts’ Treasure Hunt. Furthermore, Neptune Bay is located not too far from the Columbia Peach Grove Wet Adventure Water Park which is no surprise since both places have heavy overlap in their nautical themes. Additionally, the zone has plenty of seafood restaurants and nautical gift shops for curious visitors to chow down or buy a nice little souvenir. Visitors of Peach Grove Wet Adventure Park will also enjoy Neptune Bay though with way less splishing and splashing.

Columbia Peach Grove Wet Adventure Water Park
The newest section of the park Columbia Peach Grove Wet Adventure Water Park is exactly what its name suggests, a water park where you can get wet and have a fun time. The park was announced in 1995 along with Neptune Bay and other projects as part of an ambitious effort by Columbia to expand Peach Grove's offerings to newcomers and broke ground in 1996 with construction lasting for three years.

You may be asking us what we think of Peach Grove Wet Adventure Water Park, especially when comparing it to Six Flags Over Georgia and Warner Movie World Georgia's Hurricane Harbor? Aside from the fact that the park has the usual slides and other amenities of your typical water park, we can't say whether it's worth your time or not since we haven't tried it out yet but if you're curious enough, go for it.

Special Events
Every theme park has its big events for special occasions and Peach Grove is no different with its events held annually since 1993. This is a list of Special Events held at the park if you wish to visit the place on these days.

• New Year’s Peach (January 1st): A celebration in which a recreation of the New Year’s Ball is dropped in Peach Grove by midnight. The park’s opening hours are much longer than normal running times.
• Peach Grove Grad Bash (Spring to Summer): For high school graduates from the Atlanta area, you’re in for a real treat when you get to experience the wonders of Peach Grove from American Crossroads to song and dance at Cartoon City and the Old South.
• Fourth of July Peach Grove Special (July 4th): A truly patriotic celebration of America’s independence complete with a marching band in red, white and blue. You can buy plenty of Americana on this day, especially on Americana Avenue.
• Peach Grove TERRORific Halloween Special (September 18th-October 31st): Visitors beware, the Peach Grove you’re stepping in is not quite the one you remember. The park is haunted by ghouls, vampires, werewolves, zombies, mundane psychos and other horror monsters roaming the park waiting to scare the bejeezus out of you. And if that’s not enough for you, wait until you get to the Scarezones and Haunted Houses, found in every zone at Peach Grove and done in the vein of Universal’s Fright Nights (except Cartoon City which is much sillier than the others)[4].
• A Very Peach Grove Christmas (November 17th-January 2nd): A truly joyous and merry celebration where families can hang out with Santa Claus and his good ol’ Workshop at Peach Grove with every zone and the Wet Adventure Park covered in (artificial) snow and Christmas decorations and classic holiday tunes blaring from the loudspeakers.

Places To Stay At
You can bet that Peach Grove will have the appropriate hotels and motels for out-of-state tourists visiting the park. The hotels are operated by Columbia and cost hundreds of dollars to stay in and they’re worth the price since these hotels are rated four to five stars by consumers in terms of overall quality and service, with the biggest being the Gilded Age-themed Xanadu Resort. For those that wish to be closer to the park and spend a few days there, hotels and motels are a must.

How to Get to Peach Grove
For visitors from the Metro Atlanta Area that want to get to the Columbia Peach Grove Studios and Adventure Park, an hour-long drive will do especially if you live in one of the suburbs close to Stone Mountain or Rockbridge. Anyone from other corners of the United States or overseas will have to take a plane flight to get to Atlanta and book a stay at a non-Columbia run hotel before you can start planning your trip to the park and having the time of your life.
Summary
With what has been said about Peach Grove, is it a park worth your time? Short answer: Yes. With its unique and diverse settings topped with a Southern charm, Columbia Peach Grove Studios and Adventure Park along with Six Flags Over Georgia and Warner Brothers Movie World Georgia are a great addition to your Atlanta vacation.

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[1] Since Columbia and Warner have big theme parks in the Atlanta area, some of their future movies and TV shows will be filmed in those places.
[2] Turner wants to promote patriotic, inspiring entertainment so a place based on the Georgia he grew up with would naturally be the first place for visitors in Peach Grove.
[3] That one line references the Jumanji theme park tie-in mentioned by Columbia executive Dawn Steel in a previous post but to reveal anything else about the film (other than the different cast in TTL) would be a spoiler.
[4] In OTL, Fright Nights was the event at Universal Studios Florida that eventually became known as Halloween Horror Nights. ITTL, Universal’s Halloween events will keep that name thanks to ten years worth of butterflies.
[5] And just what is Gorgons? Stay tuned for more.

 

[ThatAutisticGuy]

Entering the Doorway: A Retrospective On G.R.R. Martin's Doorways
Post from The Doorway Hub Netsite, Posted March 17th, 2016

George R.R. Martin once said, "I want a story to take me to a place that I've never been to before and make it come vividly alive for me." That certainly is the case for us and other George R.R. Martin works, such as A Song Of Ice And Fire and the rest of the Game of Thrones book series. Doorways, however, was a show that, while beloved in its time, has sadly been forgotten about, however, garners a strong and proud cult following to this day. A unique blend of fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk and alternate history, Doorways was a rare gem that seemed to be lost in the even greater gems of the 1990s.

But what would happen if Doorways never came into existence? What if another show slid into it's place? [1] Would it be as successful as Doorways? Or would it be forgotten to time? This, for now, is a question left unanswered. But, now reader, let us Enter the Doorway!

The most epic sci-fi intro (OOC: Via Wikipedia)

Doorways was the brainchild of George R.R. Martin, who, fun fact, wanted to initially name the show Doors but feared people would be confused with the band The Doors, (the former Jim Morrison band that created the many classic rock songs your dad or grandpa insist is real music) and so scrapped the name to the easier to remember Doorways. Martin, by this point had also pitched the idea to at least a dozen studios and was tired of constant rejections [2]. However, a miracle seemed to happen.

According to Martin himself, the call came late one night, as he contemplated scrapping the show entirely, "I heard the ring from down the hall, and I picked up, wondering who was calling so late, and well...it was PFN, who loved the idea, and wanted to greenlight it with me." Martin accepted PFN's deal and began work on a pilot in earnest.

Alongside Martin, showrunners Tracy Tormé and Robert K. Weiss helped to create and shape what would become the Doorways fans knew and cherished. However, it was a rocky start. PFN, although supportive of the idea, was skeptical of Martin's ability to write for TV, especially with such an audacious and ambitious story. PFN wanted to maybe see if they could hold more sway over the show's direction, but Martin was insistent that he and his new team keep full creative control over the show, and PFN, though still skeptical, relented, and gave Martin the space he needed. [3]

Martin would later write the Pilot episode, entitled, simply, 'Doorways'. Unimaginative as a title it is, the episode itself is anything but, introducing the major players in such a unique way.

The Show's Intro Isn't Quite This, but close

The show opens with Cat, played by Carrie-Anne Moss [4], a semi-feral woman who appears in the middle of a busy Los Angeles street, and after shooting a truck with a strange futuristic weapon, is injured by shrapnel and is sent to the hospital. Here, we are introduced to Dr. Thomas Mason (played by the great Jerry O'Connell [5]), who tends to Cat's wounds, discovering that not only he is a dead ringer for his dead girlfriend, who passed a year earlier [6], he also discovers several strange, un-Earthly items on her body, including a strange bracelet and the weapon from earlier. After the strange encounter, Thomas returns home, and, in a moment that used fairly decent SFX for TV, the Dark Lord (voiced by Christopher Lloyd [7], though the studio wanted James Earl Jones initially) appears before him, demanding to hand over the 'captive girl' otherwise, there will be grave consequences.

When Thomas refuses, stating he has 'no idea what he's talking about', The Dark Lord vows revenge and sends Thane (played by Robert Knepper [8]) to try and kill Thomas, and capture Cat, who has now been taken by the FBI under Special Agent Roth Trager (played by Max Grodénchik [9]) and Special Agent Benjamin Rembrandt (played by Montell Jordan [10]), both of whom attempt to discern who exactly Cat is. Meanwhile, Thomas flees for his life from Thane to the hospital, and when they both discover Cat missing, it becomes a race against time, with Thomas and Thane getting into a highspeed car chase on the streets of LA (in a surprisingly high budget looking scene, at a point when the show had little funding). Finally, when Thomas arrives, he confronts Trager, Rembrandt and Cat, demanding to know what is going on.

Cat explains that, in her world, alien beings have enslaved the planet after a war not too dissimilar to our own universe's WW2, and while they lavish in luxury, humanity is reduced to a barren shell of its former glory, Cat was a female slave who, sick of being treated like scum by her captors, escaped with her boyfriend Rider, who Thomas later discovers is an alternate version of himself, Rider, however, sacrifices himself to save Cat, who then fled through a 'door' that led to our world.

After this explanation, Thane breaks into the facility, killing dozens of FBI agents, and nearly killing Trager and Rembrandt, before Thomas and Cat pull them both into a Doorway, leading them to be stranded in the middle of a field. With the help of a kind stranger named Jacob (played by Willie Nelson, of all people [11]) and his teenage granddaughter Ava (cameo appearance by Julia Stiles [12]), they learn that 20 years previous, a chemical compound that became released after a nuclear meltdown in the US destroyed all the world's gasoline, leading to a proto-19th century Industrial Revolution-esque world dominated by a strange mix of early 1980s culture and the horse and buggy. Thomas, Cat, Trager, Rembrandt, Ava, and Jacob then get stopped by a group of highwaymen, who demand all of their cargo, when Trager, in his usual attitude, tells them not so subtlety to shove it where the sun won't shine, a firefight ensues.

Afterward, Jacob is wounded, but alive, Ava is shaken, and the others are OK. Thomas and Rembrandt (who reveals he was a Marine medic in our universe) tend to Jacob's wounds, but not before an alternate mirror version of Trager appears to arrest the group for murder (man, this show REALLY loved using 'alternate mirror' versions of people, eh? Guess it saved on actors). When Jacob explains the situation, Alt-Trager clears them of charges but insists that they stay in the holding cell in town, telling them how unsafe the roads can be after dark.

With that, the group holed up in the sheriff's office, with Alt-Trager continuously asking the other version of himself questions as to WHY they look exactly alike. Trager snarks back a quippy line about 'asking the Dimension Hopper' and then points to Cat, while Thomas and Rembrandt bond over their shared childhood tragedies, with Rembrandt losing his mom at an early age, while Thomas lost his father [13]. Then, an explosion rocks the building and Thane appears, dressed as a bandit (an outfit he stole in an earlier scene after killing a group of them in a previous scene), having tracked the group to the office, and intends to kill everyone there to ensure the Dark Lord's mission is complete.

Ava and Jacob flee out the back, but not before wishing the group luck. Alt-Trager holds off Thane for the others to escape, sacrificing himself. Cat, having sensed a door within their cell, summons it and successfully escapes with Thomas and (our universe) Trager [14] as well as Rembrandt. As Jacob and Ava escape, the sheriff's office explodes, with Alt-Trager having used a grenade to blow up Thane and himself (something that is shown to have failed due to Thane still being alive after so, I guess it was for nothing?). And with that, the Pilot was over.

PFN executives responded fairly positively and slated the release for early '95. When they did, the show received praise from the audiences and critics alike, dazzled by the interesting concept and characters. Later seasons would expand on Cat and Thomas' relationship, Trager would go through a major arc from being a 'hardass cop down on his luck' to a 'loveable, intelligent and funny hardass cop who was down on his luck' the show would also explore the character of Rembrandt, who, despite being a cool, charming and likable FBI agent, faces discrimination in many of the alternate timelines (especially It Happened Here and Bring the Jubliee, along with several others). The show would also shine a light on the current socio-political climate through the writing, which admittedly, was the show's strongest feature. The fantastic litany of writers and guest directors (including Tim Burton no less! [15]) that would come on and help hold a mirror up to our world were amazing, with each episode saying either, 'See, look how much better things are here, let's try and do that!' or 'See! This would've been absolutely terrifying, let's NOT do this!'

The adventures of Thomas, Cat, Trager, and Rembrandt would become beloved by fans, with the exploits in universes that went from terrifyingly possible (It Happened Here [16] and Bring the Jubilee [17] come strongly to mind) to the weird and wacky (The President in Yellow [18], that was...an episode). All in all, fans of the show have clambered for a reboot, or at least some form of expansion in the Doorways universe (or should we say universes? Not funny? ...Alright I'll stop now) and both the original showrunners as well as O'Connell himself seem interested, with all four having teased a reboot in the near future.

For now, however, we'll have to stick with the original Doorways, and the wacky exploits of a medical doctor, a dimension-hopping fugitive and two FBI agents who got picked up along for the ride.

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[1] I had to make this joke, was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

[2] I'm unsure of how much Doorways was initially rejected, but since Martin IOTL pitched to quite a few studios before ABC accepted, I would assume the rejection letters took up some form of space in his mailbox.

[3] IOTL Sliders had a...rougher go with the producers, constant interference with the plots and writing, as well as airing the episodes out of order, lead to many cast members straight up leaving, leaving only Cleavant Derricks as the last remaining original cast member by the end of the series. Here, the producers give Martin, Tormé and Weiss the space they need, allowing the show to go into some uniquely wacky and dark (dark for PG anyway) places.

[4] Moss was in the original show, however, she was Laura, Thomas' girlfriend, instead of Cat, I decided that since butterflies are in effect, Anne Le Guernec may not be able to/isn't interested in the job, leaving Martin to combine (kind of) Cat and Laura.

[5] Since Sliders doesn't exist, and butterflies keep George Newbern from being on the show, O'Connell instead takes his place. Think of Thomas ITTL as a mix between OTL's Thomas on Doorways and Quinn from Sliders.

[6] As stated above, Laura and Cat will be combined to be the same person (kind of) and this helps develop the 'will they? won't they?' between Thomas and Cat.

[7] Honestly, I was unsure who else to cast in this role, and I'm unsure how to quite fit Lloyd in, since the Dark Lord isn't mentioned to have an actor at all, since Lloyd would still be a big star, even without BTTF cementing his fame as Doc Brown, so I decided, what the hell, why not keep him?

[8] Still plays the same role as in OTL.

[9] Who plays Doctor Roth in the original OTL pilot, and since random butterflies might keep Kurtwood Smith away from the show, the two characters are combined and Roth is scrapped entirely.

[10] Couldn't think of any other black actors that could perhaps be on the show at the time (Maybe Jamie Foxx?? Just wasn't sure), btw, if anyone has any other suggestions in terms of POC actors they would like to see for other projects, please lemme know and I would love to hear them!

[11] Hoyt Axton plays this role, except the character is named Jake instead, but butterflies might have changed Jacob's character, and also prevented Axton from playing the role, prompting Nelson (or perhaps another country star) to come on and play the role.

[12] I considered Barsi for the cameo role, however, seeing as, for one thing, she'd be busy with Burton. I also considered Scarlet Johansson, coming off of the TV Indiana Jones show fame, I instead chose Juila Stiles for the role, seeing as she was an up-and-coming actor in the 90s.

[13] Which would later come back in the Season 3 finale "Oh Mother of Mine, Oh Father of Mine" in which Thomas and Rembrandt are step-brothers by marriage in a world where their opposite parents (i.e. Thomas' mom instead of dad, Rembrandt's father instead of mother) died.

[14] IOTL, both Tragers die to save Cat and Thomas, sacrificing themselves both to ensure the pair escape on time, in this one, butterflies might have changed to have the writers have Trager's self-preservation kick in a little more (Which is English for the writers didn't want Max off the show).

[15] That episode being "The Fallout" in a world where the Cold War went hot, and America is a nuclear wasteland being rebuilt in the year 2295, and deals with the group testing their moral limits and seeing what they would do to survive.

[16] Ok, so, I'm gonna do and rundown of the episode as quick as I can, because I don't wanna write a bajillion words if it contradicts canon.

Spoiler: It Happened Here - Episode Summary

When Thomas, Cat, Trager and Rembrandt teleport through a doorway, they find themselves behind a house, and when they exit the property, they find themselves in an idyllic 1950s-style neighbourhood. By asking a neighbour, they discover they're still in L.A. (which has been renamed New Jefferson) and Trager makes a quip about it being cleaner than our Los Angeles. With that, the characters head into the city and find...some odd things. A fascistic-style US flag flies over every building, racist propaganda is on every corner, and a march is conducted by the Silver Legion, a proto-Nazi organization that, in our universe, floundered during the Second World War.

When Thomas asks a passerby what's going on, they smile and say 'Victory Day parade' and walk away, but not before saying 'Hail Wulthrop!' and saluting a Roman salute (the salute Germans used in WW2). Thomas, Cat and Trager, in shock, begin trying to find out what is going on and what led this America down the path of fascism. Rembrandt, being a black man, gets some odd looks and evil eyes shot his way throughout, before Rembrandt accidentally bumps into a young girl, and the father accuses Rembrandt of trying to kidnap her. Thomas, Cat and Trager grab Rembrandt and flee down an alley, away from the crowd.

During the scuffle, they happened, by chance, to stumble into a suspect-looking young man, who, upon some pressure from Trager and Rembrandt, quietly reveals he is a member of the Resistance and asks the group to follow him, since, according to him, 'Most people don't hang out with blacks', so therefore they can't really be supporters of the state. The boy leads them down an alley to a bookshop, a headquarters of a Resistance leader only known as 'The Madame', before the young man leaves to get her, however, he hands the group a history textbook (since they seem confused as to what is going on), and leaves them to read it.

In 1928, FDR, then Governor of New York, was hit by a car while heading into the New York State Building and died in hospital. The death of FDR left a vacuum in the Democratic Party in the '32 election, which allowed the rise of Louisiana governor and populist Huey Long. When Long beats Hoover (although it's implied to be less of a landslide than it was for FDR OTL), he begins implementing his Share Our Wealth program, however, a young communist (implied to be OTL's Communist Party of America leader Gus Hall), angered by Long's avowed anti-Bolshevism and isolationism, kills Long by shooting him in D.C. while he gives a stump speech for re-election in 1936.

The killing causes a widespread Red Scare, so bad that William Borah, former Vice President turned President suspends habius corpus on all 'suspected enemies' of the state, including Communists, civil rights activists, and even some chapters of the NAACP. This allows a young, dissatisfied WW1 fighter pilot named Theodore 'Ted' Wulthrop to ascend. Originally a Mississippi mayor, Wulthrop is an avowed racist, one so bad even the Southern Democrats refused to take him seriously. However, after the plight that America has gone through, Americans are VERY willing to take him seriously. Initially, Wulthrop attempts to coup Borah's government but fails, nearly being killed in the process, and exiled to Mexico, Wulthrop and his party begin another plot, to try and convince one of the two parties to take them seriously.

Wulthrop, again, initially fails but finds success in starting his own political party, and with funding from the likes of Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, he becomes President in 1940, vowing to keep America 'safe from Judeo-Bolshevism'. Later, a purge, known as 'The Night of 1000 Bayonets' takes place, killing off most undesirables, including black people, Jewish people, and socialists, as well as business leaders who refused to aid the Silver Legion.

Ever since Wulthrop has led America in a purely totalitarian fascistic state, meanwhile, Germany has become a democratic superpower, much like the US in our universe.

When the group meets 'The Madame', they find she is none other than a double of Cat, and her name is Lucy. Lucy became a Resistance leader after her husband, a leading US commander, was killed by the government for aiding Jewish children fleeing violence. The crime was covered up and a story of him killing some 'Jewish thugs' took its place. Angered and bitter by the death of her husband, she vowed to fight Wulthrop's regime however she could.

After the group discovers Lucy's identity, they want to help however they can, explaining they are travellers from another dimension. The Resistance, though skeptical at first, only believes them when they detail their world, in which the US is a beacon of democracy (at least in comparison to this). The Resistance then let the group in on a plan to destroy a major rail line, as well as exposing the state's crime on the annual World's Fair, which is set to take place in L.A. in a few days.

With this, the group set off to begin work on sabotaging the World's Fair for the fascists. Thomas, Rembrandt and Cat become medics for the Resistance, aiding wounded members and helping those who they can, Trager, meanwhile, has his own subplot of discovering his double is a collaborator and the moral implications of what the alternate version of himself does. Trager begins to stalk the other version of himself, finding he has a far better life than back on Earth Prime (which is the name of our universe in the show), where, in the fascist world, Trager has a happy family life with a loving wife and son (played by Sabrina Lloyd* and Nick Stahl respectively**), meanwhile, back in our universe, Trager was a drunkard cop who barely escaped being 'forcefully retired' a few times, and where his wife and son hate his guts for being an awful father. Trager, in a sort of dark twist, considers staying in this world, accepting living under a totalitarian state so long as he continues to be loved by his family, however, after convincing by Thomas, he doesn't go through with it, keeping his morality intact.

Meanwhile, Thomas and Cat are able to disguise themselves as wealthy donors of the Wulthrop government at the World's Fair, but also discover that, somehow, Thane has been able to track them to the Fair. Scared, Cat and Thomas are able to pull aside the British and German delegates and quickly convince them to aid them in their plan. The Germans and British agree earnestly, a chance to undermine both a totalitarian power AND a rival doesn't come often, so they plan to expose their crimes as Wulthorp speaks to the different international delegates. Wulthrop (played by Donald Pleasence in one of his last roles***) begins to speak about the America he has built, and how it is now a stable and safe place, before images of crimes evidence of (heavily implied, so as not to push the PG rating TOO hard) war crimes and genocide. Wulthorp, terrified, insists that 'it's lies! All of it!'

Wulthorp is booed and thrown off stage, before his personal guard, lead, shockingly by Thane, who opens fire on Thomas and Cat as they flee the area, heading back to the Resistance headquarters to get Trager and get the hell outta dodge. However, Thane beats them to the punch and holds a gun to Trager's head, who insists, in a rather emotional and well done scene, that he isn't 'worth it' and that they should go without him.

Thomas and Cat refuse, and a pitched battle ensues. Trager escapes from Thane's grasp at the last second, and the four flees as the Resistance routs the personal force of the dictator that has, for so long, crushed them under a boot.

[17]

Spoiler: Bring the Jubilee - Plot Summary

The group, after escaping another chaotic situation in another world, arrives at a simple farm, located deep in the back woods of a forest that stretches for miles. The group is then taken in by a kindly group of strangers, who identify themselves as The Haggershaven Society, a reclusive group of intellectuals living in rural Pennsylvania in a world where the Confederates won the Civil War, becoming a superpower in the process. When they bring the group in, they explain the history of their community (and, in turn, of their alternate world).

The group discovers according to the Haggershaven Society members, that in the wake of Robert E. Lee's great victory at the Battle of Gettysburg and subsequent capture of Philadelphia, the United States was forced to recognize Confederate independence with the Treaty of Reading on July 4, 1864, which became known as Southron Independence Day. Lee succeeded Jefferson Davis to become the second Confederate President in 1865 (IOTL, the Confederate Constitution set the end of Davis's term in early 1868). Although Lee tried to establish a benevolent national policy and was able to free the slaves*, his anti-imperialistic desires were thwarted by a Congress with increasingly imperialistic ambitions, which sent forces to invade Mexico and expanded southward in Latin America. The Confederacy thrived as cities like Washington-Baltimore (merged from those two cities plus Alexandria) and Leesburg (formerly Mexico City) became renowned international centers of culture and learning. The Confederacy stood as one of the world's two superpowers following the German Union's decisive victory in the Emperors' War (1914–1916) in Europe (analogous to OTL's World War I). The German Union (a merger of the German and Austro-Hungarian empires) formed an alliance with a rejuvenated Spanish Empire. To maintain the balance of power, the Confederacy allied with the British Empire. The two powers are now locked in a stalemate of Cold War with one another, with many fearful of another large war.

Rembrandt is warned when they arrive that many Northerners blame Black people, as well as the Abolitionists, for their defeat in the war, and they ominously say "Be sure to cover your neck, you don't know who's gonna fly off the handle." Rembrandt and Trager insist that they find a way to go home, leaving this universe to its inevitable fate (that being nuclear war most likely), that they cannot change what's to come and if they try, they could make things FAR worse. Thomas and Cat, however, befriend a former bookkeeper named Hodgins "Hodge" McCormick (Guy Pearce, right off his success of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), a man who claims to have blueprints for an 'in the works' time machine to view the Battle of Gettysburg from a distance, and see what happened on the day the Confederates won so that he can write a historical novel on it for future generations to study. Thomas and Cat believe that if they influence the battle to make the rebels lose with (or without) Hodge's help, the timeline will be, if not our own, at least close enough to be better than this world.

Hodge then later explains the time machine to the others, stating that it would be two ways, able to travel back and forth freely so that he can view the battle and leave whenever he feels satisfied with what he's witnessed. However, it would have to be powered by a far greater external source than the steam power they have in this world. Trager then comes up with the idea of using solar power to power the time machine (it being implied that most commons forms of power IOTL are far less common in this world than our own), which partially works, and, combined with reworking their own device used to travel to the other universes, they begin working on the device. The group bonds between one another, and even Hodge's bigotry, which, while he was FAR more progressive than most Northerners, even he has his biases (with one famous moment asking Rembrandt if his grandfather was a 'good slave'), and with Rembrandt's friendship, he begins to change himself for the better.

Hodge, Cat, Thomas and Rembrandt (and a reluctant Trager) all then finish the last of the machine. They successfully travel back to Gettysburg, able to find a vantage point and camp out near the town. However, as they set up, they come across a Confederate cavalry unit, the unit that Hodge points out changed the tide of battle in their world. The unit, seeing this encampment of weirdly diverse 'Yankees', they decide that they must be spies (and Rembrandt an escaped slave), and take them back to General Lee, so that they can then be shipped to Andersonville, the infamous Confederate POW camp.

Trager, Cat and Rembrandt escape the clutches of the Confederates, which causes them to search for the captives in the woods nearby, instead of heading into battle, Hodge warns Thomas that this could have disastrous consequences for his timeline, ('If the Rebels lose, the Confederacy might not win the war!') and practically orders the unit to just leave them be. This upsets the commander, who, jumping off his horse, threatens to kill Hodge then and there.

However, at the last second, a gunshot rings out, and a group of Union scouts (numbering 4 total), rout the small Confederate cavalry unit right then and there. The group of scouts then ask if Hodge and Thomas are alright, and ask what the hell they're doing here. Thomas, on the spot, uses his experience as a doctor to say that he was a travelling medicine seller who was robbed by 'bummers' some miles back, and asks if the unit to direct him and his brother (Hodge) home.

The unit agrees, and they eventually find Trager, Rembrandt and Cat at the Union camp, and finally, after some deliberation, they all agree to go back to Hodge's time before leaving the universe entirely. So one night, Hodge fixes up the machine and successfully returns back to Haggershaven.

But when they return, they find that the American flag at the farm has 55 stars on it, far more than it did when Hodge left and when they investigate, they find that Hodge, in THIS double alternate timeline, is married and has children. Hodge is, quite frankly, shocked and worries that he altered the timeline for ill and that his actions forever changed the world. The group reassure him that America cannot be so bad in this world, and encourage Hodge to leave and make the most of his new lease on life.

He agrees, shakes their hands, and heads off down the road, as Cat opens a new portal, to another adventure...

* IRL, this would be near impossible, as most would have fought tooth and nail to keep their "property", but since it was 90s TV, we'll let it slide.

[18] Basically be 'Lovecraft as President' with a few other twists and turns as well.

---

So here's my work so far! Basically this is a first draft of sorts, just wanted to hear all of your opinions in terms of it's contribution

UPDATE: Second rough draft done! Added a POC character to the show, thanks to a suggestion from @Ogrebear, so thanks Ogre! Lemme know if you guys would like any other changes!

UPDATE 2: IT IS DONE! Wooo! Finally, apologizes about taking so long, my schedule has been wild and I just wanted to be sure that this would actually be done before I forgot about it entirely. Thanks so much for everyone's support on this, it's been a dream!

 

[Nerdman3000]

Okay, here is another guest post, though this one isn't Marvel. Rather, it is a little look into the ITTL life of Lara Whitehall, or as you might be more familiar with her from OTL, Lora Mumsford/Lora Ranger from Halyx.

For this who don’t remember from this post back in the early start of Hippie in the House of Mouse, Disney’s Halyx band at Disneyland ended up becoming more famous and successful in the Hensonsverse than in our timeline. As a result, the band’s lead singer, Lora Mumsford (whose stage name with Halyx was Lora Ranger), was able to break out into a successful rock career and formed a new all girls band called the Sunset Strip, with a new stage name named Lara Whitehall.

Hence the reason she'll be called Lara Whitehall throughout much of the article is that that name is the one most people will be familiar with ITTL.

So yeah, enjoy this little interview on Lora’s life ITTL.

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Beyond Halyx: An Interview with Lara Whitehall
From Hollywood Entertainment Magazine, June 1995 Edition

Few female names in the world of Rock and Roll are as recognizable as that of Lara Whitehall, a woman whose voice has captivated fans the world over for almost twenty years.

Born on September 8th, 1954 in North Carolina as Lora Francine Mumsford, the singer first famously found her lucky break when she was selected by Disney to be the lead singer of their band Halyx, a sci-fi Star Wars inspired band which Lora would lead under the stage name of Lora Ranger. After leaving the band in 1984, she would go on to form the band Sunset Strip, in which she would serve as the lead singer, a role which she continues to serve to this very day.

Having won numerous Grammy’s over the course of her career and having likely secured a assured place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we are thus graciously honored to welcome Lara, who has agreed to talk with us today.

Lora Mumsford, known commonly ITTL by her second stage name, Lara Whitehall. (Source: Finetuning.wordpress)


HE: Once again, thank you for being here to meet with us.

LW: Thank you for having me.

HE: Of course, of course. Now then, I suppose we should naturally start with your time at Disney as the lead singer of your first band, Halyx. How did that start and how did you get involved?

LW: Well, as for how the band itself started, I really wasn’t involved in any of that. Disney, or rather producers Bambi Moe and Mike Post, were the ones who were responsible for creating the band, to try to tap into all the whole big Star Wars hype that was going on at the time. As for how I came into the picture, I pretty much just auditioned and got the part.

HE: If I’m not mistaken, your then-husband also auditioned and was selected by Disney to join the band?

LW: Yes, Thom [Miller]. He was picked as the band’s robotic keyboardist.

HE: I imagine that made for some interesting experiences?

LW: (laughs) Oh yes, I can think of a couple of interesting moments that resulted from that.

HE: Such as?

LW: Well, let’s just say Thom and I had a bit of a bad habit of overtly flirting in the middle of band meetings. And well, we did a bit more than that, but I’d rather not get too much into that?

HE: Nothing bad?

LW: Nah. (chuckles) Let’s just say being as young as we were then and getting the opportunity to work with your husband often meant he and I frequently found a few places to have a bit of personal private time to ourselves. Can’t say working together was bad for our relationship then.

HE: I see. Well, I suppose that’s not too surprising. (clears throat) Now, if I’m not mistaken, Halyx first played at Tomorrowland at Disneyland before they broke out? How was that like?

LW: Oh, it was great! We got to play right in front of Space Mountain on this big stage, and sometimes after we’d even get to ride the ride itself.

HE: And did you ever go in costume?

LW: Ironically enough, yes. It was only one time mind you, during the Disney’s World of Magic special they played that showcased a few music videos of our band in the fall of ’81. For one of the music videos we did for the episode, which was basically a look at us playing at the park, some of us got to ride Space Mountain in our costumes. Otherwise, we usually had to change into some regular clothes, since Disney back then usually had a bit of policy towards cast members being allowed to go on any of the rides while being dressed up in costume. I’m not sure if they still do, but they definitely did then.

HE: And how did you go from singing on Stage at Disneyland to selling albums, touring different parks, and becoming a sensation in Japan?

LW: I’d like to say it was our sheer talent alone that got us there, but really it was mainly due to the fact we were lucky to have the boss's [Jim Henson] son John as one of our adoring fans. That got his dad’s attention to us, which got us bigger attention from Disney, which in turn helped us get much bigger. With their support, we went from a small band playing in Tomorrowland to becoming a sensation in Tokyo, selling out two albums, and even managed to briefly chart up the top ten in the US. I’ll always be grateful to them for their support, and I may not be here today if not for them.

Lora Mumsford/Lara Whitehall, during her time as Lora Ranger in the band Halyx. (Source: thedailyfandom.org)


HE: So, in light of your success, why leave?

LW: A few reasons. For one, my marriage with Thom had started reaching a bit of a breaking point. For all the great benefits being bandmates together had given us in the beginning, whenever we fought over the future course of the band, those arguments could and did also affect our marriage. It didn’t help that while Thom was content with staying with the band in its current sci-fi theme, I knew there was more out there the others and I could do in a music career and, as much as I loved the band, I knew that we had reached the top limit we could reach and that if we stayed the way we were, we’d just decline and fade away. I knew there wasn’t any way we could reach higher, especially with the third Star Wars having come and gone and the whole sci-fi theme boost we got from those films beginning to fade.

HE: I take it Mr. Miller wasn’t happy about opinion?

LW: No, he wasn’t. That, combined with some issues we had that I’d rather not talk about [1], brought us further apart. Eventually we just kept getting into screaming matches in the middle of practice sessions and group meetings over seeming everything.

HE: So you left?

LW: So I left, yes. In the end, I knew I had the talent to go further but I figured if I stayed, I’d miss my chance to reach it. It took me months to get the courage to leave, but eventually I knew I couldn’t stay. So yes, I left.

HE: And how did they react?

LW: Almost all of them understood and supported me. The only one who didn’t was Thom. He…It’s pretty much a understatement to say he wasn’t happy. We had one last big argument, I asked him if he could at least support me. He refused and well, that was pretty much the last nail in our marriage. I left the band and Thom and I got divorced right after.

HE: Have you stayed in touch with any of the ones that decided to stay?

LW: I have with the others that stayed, yes. I’ve seen and talked with them over the years, most especially Bruce [Gowdy] and Roger [Freeland]. The former through his work for the bands World Trade and Unruly Child [2], while the later was due to me being the godfather of his first daughter. For Thom though, we never spoke for years after. It wasn’t until I saw him a few years back when I visited Roger’s home for a birthday party that I saw him again and spoke to him.

HE: I imagine that was awkward.

LW: (laughs) Oh you have no idea. Still, since then we’ve been getting a bit more in touch and have reconnected.

HE: I don’t suppose though you ever see yourselves working together again however?

LW: You know, funny enough, the others and I have discussed the idea of maybe getting together for a concert in 2001, for the 20th anniversary of Halyx. We’ll see how that goes though [3].

HE: Well, I hope that works out and we get to see you guys come together again one day. Now, I suppose this might be a good time to slide into the next part of your life, but how did Sunset Strip start?

LW: Well, after I left, I considered trying to go solo before eventually deciding to see about forming a female band of my own. I managed to convinced Jeanette Clinger, one of our original backup vocalists at Halyx from when we started, to join me. Bruce had taught her how to use the guitar when they briefly dated and she had gotten pretty great at it, but after they broke it off, she decided to leave the band in late 83’. After a bit of convincing, I got her to join me. After that we just needed an additional three band members to complete the band. That’s where Daphne Roane, Miyuki Koyama, and Natalie Newman came in. [4]

HE: And how did they come into the picture?

LW: Natalie I had actually met during auditions for Halyx a few years back, where she had tried to audition as a Drummer. She lost to Brian [Lucas], but she was really good and had gotten pretty close to getting it. When I started the band, it was just a matter of finding her. As for Miyuki, Jeanette and I had met her in Tokyo Disneyland. Tony [Coppola] had gotten sick when Halyx had visited Japan, and she had been brought in to temporarily replace him during our entire week tour there. It took me a while, but I was able to get her to leave Japan and come to the States. As for Daphne, we got introduced to her through Natalie, and not only did she have a excellent singing voice, but she was really good at the keyboard, so was an easy decision to sign her up as our keyboardist.

HE: And Anne Leslie [5], your Bassist?

The members of Sunset Strip, otherwise nicknamed the Sunset Strippers, from left to right: Daphne Rose Roane, Natalie Jane Newman, Lara Whitehall, Miyuki Koyama, Jeanette Clinger, and Anne Sarah Leslie. (Source: Made with Artbreeder and Photoshop by @Nerdman3000)


LW: Yes… Anne. (sigh)

HE: I hope you don’t mind talking about her?

LW: No, no. It’s fine. (sigh) Honestly, it’s be goddamn two years since… (pause) Well anyways, if you’ll remember, Anne didn’t join the band until a few months after we first debuted together in August of 84’, literally less than a month after she turned 18. As for how she came into the picture, it was suggested by our manager, Henry Mason [6], that we add a Bassist to our band. Anne, being Daphne’s cousin, was suggested by her, and while we were initially hesitant about the possible nepotism surrounding the suggestion, Anne managed to blow us away with her talent. God was she talented. Not just as bassist, but as a singer, and I knew right after listening to her that she was the one.

HE: I can imagine. I can admit, I was certainly a fan of her myself. (clears throat) Now, to move on a much a lighter topic, now that you’ve told us how the band was created, I have to ask? Where’d the distinguishable outfits come in?

LW: Outfits? (small laugh) Let’s be honest, there was a reason we got called the Sunset Strippers by more than a few. As for how that came about, I blame Daphne. The revealing outfits we wore in the early days was entirely her idea.

HE: (chuckles) Now, your new band was signed up by Hyperion Music label, who had also previously signed Halyx. Were there any issues from them regarding you leaving Halyx and forming a new band?

LW: Nah. Like most of Halyx, Hyperion and Disney were pretty supportive. Sure, Sunset Strip was undoubtably less family friendly than Halyx had been, but there wasn’t any issue from Disney and Hyperion over it.

HE: I imagine it helped that your band proved to be a huge success and that your band’s first single, Jail Bait, ended up being a big hit that went on to reach #8 in the charts.

LW: (laughs) Yeah, that too.

HE: Now moving on, in 1985, you began dating your eventual second husband, Jimmy Page of the band Led Zeppelin. Would you mind if we went over that?

LW: Yeah, that’s fine. Trust me, if I can chat about my first husband, I can definitely talk about my second.

HE: Ah good. Now, how did the two of you meet?

LW: Hmmm… I if I remember correctly, we first technically met at a party in ’83 when I was still at Halyx. I’d like to say it was one Elton John was hosting? (small laugh) Sorry, it’s a bit weird, especially considering I later dated and married the man, but I can barely remember our first meeting. Doesn’t help I might been a little tipsy at the time when it happened.

HE: Well yes, most people do tend to drink a bit at parties, so I can imagine. (chuckles) So then, you knew him before you started dating?

LW: Barely. Like I said, I had a brief first meeting with him at a party, and I saw him again the following year at the Grammy’s. But as for how we started dating? Well, I gotta blame Daphne here again. Still don’t know how that happened, but in late December of ’84 she started dating Jeff Beck of the Honeydrippers.

HE: Who, if I’m not mistaken, she later married?

LW: That’s right. Anyways, through Jeff, I got to see Jimmy more, since at the time they were still both bandmates, and then well, you know how it goes. One thing led to another and I found myself dating one of the former members of Led Zepplin.

HE: I imagine that’s not something you expected to find yourself doing?

LW: (chuckle) No, can’t say I ever saw that happening when I joined Halyx.

Lara Whitehall’s second husband, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. The two began dating in 1985 and married in 1987, before divorcing in 1989. They would have only one child, a daughter, Lily Anne Page, whom Lara would gain full custody over. (source: Ashworth-photos.com)


HE: Now, this leads me to enter a bit of a darker, controversial question, but if you’re okay with me asking, considering Mr. Page's known drug use, did that have any connection to the infamous 1987 drug scandal?

LW: (Winced) Ah, I was wondering if this was going to be brought up.

HE: Apologies if I may have made you a bit uncomfortable.

LW: Eh, it’s fine. Honestly though, I can’t that was one of my prouder moments, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find myself going through a period where I started abusing the stuff, which yeah, I got into through Jimmy. Never went into as he could go, thank God, and managed to avoided touching some of the really bad shit he did, especially after his relapse into taking heroin in ’87 [7]. The only one of us who did was…

HE: Anne Leslie?

LW: Yeah… Anne… (long pause) Jimmy… well as you and pretty much everyone has already figured out, Jimmy was the one who got Anne deep into that shit, which well... you know how that turned out.

HE: Was that what led to you filing for divorce in March 1989?

LW: (Nodding) It was more than that, but yes. The others and I were pissed at him for getting Anne into that shit, and it certainly led to plenty of arguments between us. Add in his uncomfortableness over the stint the band and I did on Playboy, his relapse into heroin, and his weird occult obsession [8], and you can understand why I ended up starting to feel as though I had had enough by ’89. When I caught him abusing heroin while he was sitting next to our three-month-old daughter, that was when I realized things had gone too far, so I left.

HE: And did Page’s discovered affair with Francisca Blum play a factor as well?

LW: No. I ironically didn’t find out about that until I had already decided to divorce him, when the news of their relationship and her pregnancy broke [9].

HE: I see. Have you spoken to him since the divorce or Ms. Leslie’s death?

LW: I haven’t spoken to him in two years, no. I have full custody of our daughter Lily, so I don’t have to worry about seeing him through him trying to visit her.

HE: Ok then. Now, you mentioned your stint on Playboy, so I suppose I should ask, how did that occur?

LW: Going for the jugular there, aren’t you? Alright then, well as you may remember, after the whole incident in early ’87 where the band and I got caught with that little piece of cocaine in our possession, the gossip mags went nuts and we got headlines like “Disney Diva Down with Drugs” or “Disney Girl Gone Bad”, and other nonsense like that. For all the controversy though, it did fantastic for our band and rock star image. As much as I love them, my association to them and the whole child friendly image they had had been a bit of a chain around my neck.

HE: A lot of people in the rock and roll community didn’t take you as seriously because of your former ties to Disney?

LW: Yeah, pretty much. So, getting caught doing something wrong did a lot to help some people take me, and thus our whole band, more seriously. Our following song, “Tell No Lies”, which debuted barely a few weeks after the scandal, managed to reach #4 in the charts, and from all evidence, the whole controversy at the very least played a part in that.

HE: And that led to you doing Playboy? The controversy?

LW: Basically. (laughs) Honestly, and I hate to sound like a tape recorder here doing a running gag, but once again, I have to blame Daphne for bringing up the idea. Not even trying to invoke some kind of feisty and wild redhead stereotype here, but Daph has honestly always been the most sexually liberated and free of us, the one most comfortable in her own skin. So she, of course, thought it’d be a bright idea for us, or more specifically me, to pose naked on Playboy, to you know, really sell the whole “I ain’t a Disney girl anymore” image [10].

HE: Why specifically you though?

LW: Well, the whole idea was to dispel any remaining skeptics on my “rock and roll” credentials. If I didn’t do it, and left only Daphne or one of the others to do it, it wouldn’t really add to anything. Sure, I’m willing to bet Daphne probably would have gladly done it with or without me, but I knew she was right that it wouldn’t be as impactful if I didn’t do it as well.

HE: So did you quickly agree, or was there hesitation on your part?

LW: Definitely hesitation. It’s one thing to understand the twisted logic of taking off my clothes and exposing myself before the whole world actually managing to boost the band’s popularity and my career, it’s a far different thing to actually go through with it. I did eventually agree, after some convincing by Daphne and Henry, but as your probably aware, not everyone was so easily convinced.

The famous, or infamous (depending on who you ask) specially designed Playboy bunny Minnie Mouse ears worn by Lara Whitehall on the ITTL August 1987 cover of Playboy, which were designed to match and go along with her Halyx jacket. (Source: Made in Photoshop by @Nerdman3000)


HE: Jeanette and Natalie, yes?

LW: Yeah. Jean basically initially refused to appear, but we got her to at least agree to do photos that at least left her covered. Lingerie type stuff, you know. Natalie was similar, but she eventually was convinced by Daphne to be a little more risqué, though still covered.

HE: Was part of that why you were the only one to appear on the cover, but they simply only appear within the images present in the actual issue?

LW: Actually, funny enough, we actually did two covers. One with the group, and the one by myself that we eventually used. Playboy and Hugh Hefner though loved the one with me only that we went with. I think they did sell a few with the other cover included as a second page though.

HE: Well, speaking of the issues cover, you posed by yourself for the arguably now iconic cover, which featured yourself smirking with an upturned cigarette in your mouth, dressed in nothing but your old Halyx Lora Ranger jacket, left open to leave your chest completely exposed while donning a now iconic Playboy themed custom-made leather red Minnie Mouse ears headband. Was there any trouble from Disney for invoking their image here?

LW: A little yeah. We weren’t sure if Disney would give us the approval, but Hugh [Hefner] thought it was too bold and great to just not do. He promised to take the fall and talk it over with Disney after. The most they were aware beforehand is that I’d appear and there’d be some invocation of my Disney ties made. Thankfully though, they never sued, though I suspect Hugh managed to pay some sort of settlement.

HE: Considering it’s the best-selling issue of Playboy [11], I imagine Mr. Hefner thought it was worth it.

LW: Really? The best-selling?

HE: Indeed. Over 7 million copies have been sold, beating the previous 1972 record held by the cover featuring Lena Soderberg. You weren’t aware?

LW: No, not really. Wow… 7 million… Yeah that’s…wow…

HE: Is that surprising?

LW: Yeah… that’s… (pause) …a lot more that I expected. I’m not even sure whether to be embarrassed or flattered.

HE: (chuckles) Now, before we move on from the Playboy issue, I would like to ask, did that damage your relationship with Disney, and if so, have you ever reconciled with them?

LW: Yes, to both questions. Doing the issue while wearing my Halyx jacket and the mouse ears did leave some hard feelings and tension toward me for a bit, but we’ve mostly put it past us now. I doubt they’ll ever be completely happy with me over it, but I’d like to think they’ve forgiven me. If they didn’t, I doubt they would have hired me to sing “I’m Still Here” for last year’s Treasure Planet [12].

HE: I wasn’t aware you did a song for them, but then again, I never saw the movie in question. Now, following the Playboy issue, the birth of your daughter Lily, and your divorce from Mr. Page, you began dating Phil Collins in late 1989, is that right?

LW: Yes. I knew Phil for years, since he was bandmates with Jimmy and Jeff for a short time. His wife Jill was killed in a car accident in late ’88 [13], so he was still hurting from that, while I was hurting from my divorce with Jimmy. We sort of connected from that I guess, the heartache we were feeling respectively. One night we just shared drinks together and in mutually drowning our sorrows, we grew close. One thing led to another, and I found myself dating him. One year later, we’re married and I’m pregnant with my second of four kids, John.

HE: You’ve had three children with Mr. Collins, if I’m current?

LW: Yes, John, who I mentioned, was born in November 1990, Tyler was born in September 1991, and Pat, short for Patricia, was born in July 1993.

The grownup children of Lara Whitehall ITTL in ITTL 2022, from left to right: Lily Anne Page, John Philip Collins, Tyler James Collins, and Patricia "Pat" Daphne Collins. (Source: Made with Artbreeder and Photoshop by @Nerdman3000)


HE: You didn't chose to name her for Ms Leslie?

LW: Well you can-

HE: (interrupts) Blame Daphne?

LW: (laughs) Yes indeed. (chuckles) Honestly though, I definitely would have named her for Anne, if Daphne hadn't decided to beat me to the birthing bed by two weeks. We were both basically pregnant at the same time, and when we realized we were both having girls, we kind of got into a bit of a race to see who could give birth first and name their daughter after Anne, who we lost a few months before. Daphne won, so she was the one who ended up naming her daughter, my goddaughter in fact, Annie Beck.

HE: Well you can't always win them?

LW: (laughs) No I suppose you can't.

HE: Now, Ms. Leslie’s death, who we just mentioned, resulted in the breakup of Sunset Strip. Do you think this is permanent, or do you see the remaining members of the band coming back together sometime in the future?

LW: (sigh) I don’t know. Honestly, right now there’s a part of me that finds it too painful, you know? I wasn’t the only one who felt that either. Without Anne, it simply feels incomplete, like there’s just something missing. Maybe one day we’ll come back together without it leaving me feeling cold and painful [14]. For now, though, I think I’m going to focus on a bit of a solo career and being a mother to my kids. If your unaware, I am in fact releasing a new solo album, Sex Sells, in a few weeks, so if you don’t mind me advertising here a bit?

HE: (laughs) Oh go right ahead, advertise away.

LW: (chuckles) Well, be on the look out for that. I’ll also be collaborating with Madonna and Alanis Morissette for one song in their respective upcoming albums releasing later this year, for those potentially interested. I’m also going to be involved in the soundtrack for an upcoming movie called Empire Records, which is releasing in September [15].

HE: Well, I wish you luck and success on those endeavors. Anyways, thank you for meeting with me today. It was an absolute pleasure and honor talking with you today.

LW: Same here and thank you for having me. Anytime you want me to come back for a follow-up, be sure to call. I’d love to do another one.

HE: I certainly will do that.

That was famous singer Lara Whitehall, whose upcoming album Sex Sells, releases later this month. Empire Records by Warner Bros releases in theaters this September 22nd, 1995.

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[1] – What Lora/Lara is leaving unsaid is that in 1983, she had a miscarriage after an argument between them resulted in her storming away, not paying attention, and falling down the stairs. While she survived the fall mostly injured, she had a miscarriage. This further divided them and left more anger/bitterness in their relationship.

Also, somewhat in Thom’s defense here, but the reason he’s so adamant against her leaving or reforming the band is that not only has get gotten attached to Halyx, but he’s afraid of her moving on and leaving from him, due to him potentially dragging her down. In fighting it or doing something to try to stop it, he eventually ironically makes the very thing he feared the most happen and come true, in a sort of Streisand/Putin Effect.

[2] – Bands Bruce would also join in OTL as well after the end of Halyx.

[3] – Which they would indeed eventually do.

[4] – All of the last three are original characters. Daphne would become the third most popular of the band, followed by Miyuki and Natalie. Miyuki in particular is extremely popular in Japan, where her popularity even somewhat exceeds that of Lora and the others.

[5] – Another original character. Anne, the youngest of the band, would go one to become the second most well-known and second most successful of the band after Lara herself. Known for her sheer talent ITTL, she is a example of a person who simply never got a chance at a lucky big break in OTL. Here, as a member of Sunset Strip, she goes on to have a successful career and becomes a well known star. However, tragically, she would be introduced to heroin through Lara’s second husband, Jimmy Page, which resulted in her dying of a heroin overdose in April 8th, 1993 at the young age of 26. She would be survived by one daughter, Jennifer Leslie, born in 1991.

[6] – Another original character.

[7] – In our timeline, Jimmy Page reportedly overcame his heroin habit in the early 1980s. ITTL, he manages to relapse in 1987, getting Anne Leslie addicted in the process. While he is able to overcome it by 1990, Anne is not. Her death, which is perceived as being due to Page, becomes a black mark on his reputation, one which severely damages his relationship/friendships with the rest of the Sunset Strip and former fellow bandmembers, like Jeff Beck (who married Sunset Strip member Daphne Roane), Phil Collins, and former Led Zeppelin member Robert Plant.

[8] – Real thing. Page has had a long-recorded history of occult obsession.

[9] – In ITTL August 1989, a woman named Francisca Blum would come forward and reveal she was pregnant with the child of Jimmy Page. Offering photographic proof of their relationship/affair, Blum revealed that the two had been having an affair for over a year. While they eventually broke things off, a pregnant Blum came forward to demand that Page acknowledge her and their unborn son.

Unknown at the time of the interview, this would not be the only affair Page had participated in, as serious accusation would surface in late 1998 from a former guest/Playmate at a 1988 party hosted by Hugh Hefner that Page and Anne Leslie had participated in, which accused Page of having taken advantage of and essentially raping a drugged-out Anne. While unable to be proven due to the death of Leslie, the accusation further damaged Page’s reputation and career, especially since it caused a resurge of interest in previous allegations of Page’s several years long sexual relationship with the then 13-14 year old ‘baby groupie’ Lori Mattix during the 1970’s, in which Page himself was in his 20’s.

And yeah, while the Francisca Blum and Anne stuff is not real (at least for OTL), that last part with Lori Mattix is an actual thing.

[10] – Somewhat similar to what ends up happening to a number of OTL former child Disney stars as they get older, where they sometimes try to shake the Disney star image dramatically by doing something dramatic to showcase the fact they aren’t a Disney child star anymore. Think Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus, Bella Thorne, etc. While not a child star, ITTL Lora/Lara suffered from a similar ‘sweet former Disney girl’ image among some in the ITTL rock and roll community, which caused some to take her less seriously. Hence, doing something as dramatic as posing on Playboy with her band.

[11] – In our timeline, the best-selling Playboy Issue was the March 1989 issue which featured La Toya Jackson that sold 8,000,000 copies. The reasons for this are believed to be in part not only due to the controversy of her being a member of the Jackson Family and older sister of Michael Jackson, but that she specifically resembled her brother Michael the most. Yeah, that’s right, it’s genuinely thought the issue sold out as well as it did because she looks just like her famous little brother. Overall, that issue is going to get butterflied away, partially as a result of Michael’s death and it suddenly being a bit uncomfortable.

In the case of the ITTL Lara Whitehall cover, the ‘Disney girl gone bad’ controversy will result in over 7,500,000 copies being sold. Less than the OTL La Toya Jackson cover, but still big.

[12] – Basically a version, though not 100% identical, of the OTL song, but sung by Lara/Lora and featuring in the credits of the movie rather than during it.

[13] – Collins was still married to Jill Tavelman in OTL 1990, whom he married in 1984 and would not divorce until 1996. ITTL however, Tavelman is killed in a car accident in 1988 due to butterflies, leaving Collins single in ITTL 1990.

[14] – The remaining members of Sunset Strip would come together for a reunion tour in ITTL 2004, touring together one and off for five years until Natalie Newman’s death in 2009 at age 53, a few months after the members of Sunset Strip were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With Lora’s own death in 2011 (I've giving her the same death date as OTL, since I don't know what her OTL cause of death was), any chance of the group reuniting again afterwards in ITTL was closed.

[15] – In OTL, the film received negative reviews and flopped at the box office, though became a cult classic and helped further launch the careers of a number of its actors/actresses, such as Liv Tyler. ITTL, the reviews are slightly better and is not an outright flop, although it is not a major success either. Nonetheless, it manages to still help launch Liv Tyler and a number of other careers, while still becoming a cult classic. Lora’s musical contribution overall is however of slightly positive note and is what is often most remembered about the film ITTL and likely played a role in its bigger success ITTL compared to the flop it was in OTL.

----

And yeah, that is a wrap. Really hoping the dialogue here wasn't too stiff and awkward, since that's my weakest point in writing, due to being an area of writing where I've simply had the least experience in writing.

Anyways, as for the fate of the rest of the band members and Lora/Lara's children, I do hope to perhaps explore that one day, but that's for another time.

 

[TheMolluskLingers]

The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost: The Three Runs of Supreme
From the “Neo-Silver Age Shenanigans” Netsite, by Molly Lincoln

Among comic book fans, it’s hotly debated as to where and when the current Modern Age of Comic Books began - some say it’s with Watchmen in 1986, or with The Dark Knight Returns, or perhaps even with The Twilight of the Superheroes. But if you’ve been reading this blog for a while (and you should be, otherwise you’ve been living under a rock or with a colony of naked mole rats), then you’ll know that I consider the Modern Age to have started with Alan Moore’s take on Supreme, published from 1996 to 2002[1]. And though it was Moore’s fantastic 33 issue run that took Rob Liefeld’s dark and edgy Superman ripoff of a turd and polished into gold, it would be Neil Gaiman’s longer run at 77 issues that would not only build on Moore’s foundations, but use the wide array of characters from both Epic and to a far lesser extent Disney to create a rumination on Jungian psychology, Jewish mysticism and culture, and an examination (and absolutely brutal rejection) of Nietzschean philosophy mixed in with and filtered through a celebration of the Superman comics of the 50s and 60s.

The Father: Supreme before Moore (1992-1996)

While there isn’t much to say about Rob Liefeld’s original version of Supreme that hasn’t been said before, I’ll start at the beginning - first appearing in Youngblood #3 (Epic, 1992), Supreme was designed by Liefeld ostensibly as a more “realistic” (read: what every adolescent teenage boy thinks is realistic and mature) version of Superman. Supreme made no attempt at a human identity, was incredibly powerful, brooding, and was generally a jerk. From the very start, though, Supreme seemed to lack direction; his origins and motivations changed (from being an avenging angel, to believing himself to be God, or being a resurrected human who died and came back to life seven times), plots came and went (such as Supreme facing off with Thor or Supreme coming back to life in the body of his daughter-except-not-really-it’s-his-son Probe, the latter of which would be seen as unintentionally transphobic in later years and later amended for with the reintroduction of the character as Ianthe in Gaiman’s run, where she is explicitly trans[2]), among other convoluted things, something that wasn’t helped by the borderline Spinal Tap levels of writer/artist overturn. So when Moore, having come onboard to Epic after his amicable split with DC and doing the sadly-unfinished 1963 miniseries for the imprint, asked to write for Supreme on the condition that he be allowed to retcon anything as he saw fit. Liefeld accepted, and in fact was excited by the prospects Moore had.

The Son: Supreme under Moore (1996-2002)

Under the careful eye of Alan Moore, Supreme was transformed from a cheap Superman expy into a straight tribute to the Superman of Moore’s boyhood, the Big Blue Boyscout as defined by Mort Weisinger and Curt Swan. Rather than simple tribute however, Alan Moore took a wholly metafictional direction with his idea of “revisions” - the thought that with every changeover in writers, comic book universes would periodically cycle through periods of destruction and rebirth, with everything from the previous iteration revised into limbo. Moore’s Supreme, as the first to notice these changes before the end of his cycle, was deemed special by the Supremacy; the sort of Valhalla where every previous version of Supreme (all of which were specially invented by Moore for his run) resided. From there, Moore’s run dove straight not only into the Silver Age trappings with gusto and abandon, but moreover was a tribute to the history of comics as a whole, with “flashback” stories drawn and written of the style of a particular era and company a central conceit. Through its epic 6 year run, Moore’s Supreme faced off against his nemesis Darius Dax - twice! - saved the Supremacy from destruction, and eventually met several other heroes, including Miracleman (whose comic Moore had previously worked on), the Maximortal from Rick Veitch, and Hyperion from Marvel’s own stable. This all culminated in the trio venturing to “the ends of reality”, where they met a figure heavily implied to be Superman himself. Moore’s run would end in an epic battle with (no duh) The End, a monosyllabic and terse archvillain hinted at and briefly seen at one point, who fans have interpreted as a commentary on the idea that a comic is always in danger of ending, whether that be a singular run or the entire series; naturally, in order to make room for the next writer to helm Supreme (and thus the next revision), that would mean Moore’s Ivory Icon had to die. And in yet another nod to his career, Moore would title this last two part story Whatever Happened to the Ivory Icon?[3].

The Holy Ghost: Neil Gaiman’s Supreme (2002-2008)

Once Moore’s run had ended in 2002, famed writer Neil Gaiman - having recently published his horror/fantasy novel The Under-Ground[4] - was asked to take on the reins for Supreme. Reportedly, Gaiman initially wanted to decline since, in his own words, “how do you top someone like Alan [expletive deleted] Moore? And besides, I already had done a ‘story about stories’ with the Sandman, so I had initially thought Supreme would be more of the same. And if it’s all the same to you, I like Batman more anyway.” Gaiman eventually did come around, however, on the condition that he be allowed to complete his planned 18-issue run on Miracleman, another title he had inherited from Moore. Setting his run a mere 18 months after Moore’s run ended, Gaiman made quite a few changes, the most notable of which were changing Ethan Crane’s workplace from Dazzle Comics to TV network Dazzle News[5] and giving him a wife, Emily; this was, in Gaiman’s own words, to contrast the Diana Dane/Judy Jordan dynamic of Moore’s run. Another aspect Gaiman added to his Supreme was making the titular character explicitly Jewish in ethnicity (Sephardic, for those curious) and religion, though he would play with this by having Ethan Crane follow Humanistic Judaism, the often-overlooked “fifth branch” of the faith. Initially beginning in a similar vein to Moore’s run and deliberately echoing Miracleman with Ethan having recurring dreams of the Supremacy (not knowing he’s the latest incarnation of Supreme, much less the fact he’s only existed for a year and a half), Gaiman’s Supreme would go in new directions that expanded Moore’s vision greatly, with Supreme’s backstory in this revision being a time traveler from the year 3871 who, purely on accident, traveled back to 1920s Ohio (with his body and mind transformed into that into an infant as well as his machine becoming the Supremium meteorite); this recalled Superman’s earliest backstory from before he first appeared in Action Comics #1[6].

Other innovations from Gaiman would include a storyline that wrapped up the one from the 1963 mini (appropriately named “All This and Earth-Two!”, from the teaser at the end of the sixth issue), bringing the Silver Age-era Marvel pastiches into the fold of Supreme’s universe, as well as the mild crossover elements such as Jack Skellington being the “true” identity of Spectre-analogue Jack O’Lantern, an appearance from both Terry Pratchett and Gaiman’s incarnations of Death and at one point a “Duck Avenger vs. The Ivory Icon” three-parter; arguably the most interesting of these has to be Gaiman’s incarnation of Youngblood, consisting of Galahad (the Robin expy from fellow Epic DC pastichers Big Bang Comics), Cyclone (the Kid Flash expy from the same), Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Gaiman’s own Coraline[7], the earlier-mentioned Ianthe, Kurt Busiek’s Shadowhawk, and the fae Puck - filling the slots for Starfire/Aqualad, Raven, Wonder Girl, Cyborg and Beast Boy respectively. This team would receive a spin-off comic in 2004[8] written by Greg Weisman of Gargoyles fame, running for a brief 12 issues.

Gaiman wouldn’t rely on these recognizable names for material exclusively, however, instead bringing in interpretations of characters like Hellspawn that echoed the Silver and Bronze Ages of comics just as Supreme did. Likewise, Gaiman’s stories would explore not just superhero stories; like with his iconic Sandman, Gaiman would explore and analyze stories of any and every genre, ranging from Archie-style romantic comedy to EC-style horror among others. Gaiman would also humanize and explore Supreme more deeply as a character, with issues showing him going to therapy and synagogue, with others dedicated entirely to his supporting cast and various background characters, a move inspired by The Spirit.

All this would culminate in a 6-part story arc where, after being erased from existence via Grey Supremium, Supreme would venture up the metaphysical Tree of Life and encounter God - who appears in the form of Jerry Siegel - the latter of whom tells him the true nature of the revisions and various Supremes: as the totality of all things (but most importantly imagination, as it is imagination that gives gods their forms), God needs an avatar; thus, the various Supremes and their revisions - Supreme is the personification of imagination. This and the accompanying 12-issue miniseries written by Robert Kirkman and Terry Pratchett, Supreme: Apocalypse, in which Liefeld’s Supreme is sent out from the Supremacy to investigate the impending collapse of Gaiman-Supreme’s reality after his disappearance, are regarded as some of the finest work the series has had. The series ended not long afterwards, with Gaiman-Supreme being revised in a conclusion that is held up to be both incredibly heartwarming and incredibly tearjerking.

Conclusion: Who Did It Best, and What’s Next For The Man of Majesty?

So, in the end, who did it best for Supreme? While Liefeld had interesting ideas, his refusal to stick to one and not thinking much beyond the premise of “angry Superman” was what did him in. Moore’s run, while incredible, definitely has a few duds, with the “modern day” art not reaching its’ zenith until Chris Sprouse’s arrival and the art slightly decreasing in quality after issue 52. Gaiman, for all he did to improve on Moore’s run, himself isn’t perfect either - while, as said before, the crossover elements are interesting, at times Gaiman relies on them a bit too much, not giving the elements original to the Epic imprint enough to breathe; when they work (which, given this is Neil Gaiman we’re talking about, is a majority of the time) they definitely work in his favor, with the aforementioned Duck Avenger crossover being a trilogy filled top to bottom with absurdly funny moments. In addition, the deeper exploration of mysticism that Moore had only hinted at previously is a welcome addition - the revelation of Supreme being the embodiment of human imagination and creativity is admittedly trodden territory for Gaiman, but recontextualized with Supreme, it’s a moment of wonder and awe when the hero embraces his true nature as a benevolent god. In fact, it’s been argued that both Moore and Gaiman runs are a dual antithesis to Miracleman - whereas the latter comic deconstructs the Silver Age by taking a character from that era and turning him into a prototypical Dark Age antihero and fascistic, capricious god who renounces his humanity, the former two instead take a hero who embodied the excesses of the Dark Age, transformed him into an embodiment of the Silver Age, and then finally having him embrace his status as a loving god towards humans, arguably making him more human in the process.

And as a final note, what’s next for Supreme? Well as of this year (2012), Erik Larsen has announced plans to take up the mantle of writer; despite rumors that he’d return to the “dark and edgy” tone of Liefeld’s work[9], Larsen has said he has no intention of doing so, instead wanting to continue in the vein of the later Savage Dragon issues: “Why would I not give the fans what they want? And more importantly, I grew up reading those goofy Silver Age DC and Marvel issues, just as Moore and Gaiman did - besides, Liefeld’s Supreme already had his story told in the Apocalypse miniseries, so I would just be beating a dead horse.” Well, if all that’s true, then this girl definitely has his back! Well, my Silver Age Soldiers, this has been yet another entry in the Blog of Baditude; I’m Molly Lincoln, and and I say once again, EXCELSIOR TRIED AND TRUE BELIEVERS!

[1] Without the delays and intercompany squabbles that plague Image Comics IOTL, Alan Moore’s run is not only complete, but runs on schedule, lasting from issues #41-75.

[2] ITTL, Gaiman will also use Ianthe to apologize for his own unintended queerphobia in The Sandman.

[3] This is the title of the story of the fan-made issue 64 from OTL, which is a fairly decent finale to Moore's run and IMHO, better than the one we got.

[4] A novel original to TTL - imagine a hybrid between Coraline and Pan’s Labyrinth set in WWI-era England and with the Alice allusions MUCH more prominent.

[5] An allohistorical nod to the Supreme: Blue Rose miniseries IOTL, where it takes the place of Dazzle Comics in the “fixed” revision at the end.

[6] Don’t believe me? See for yourself.

[7] Though the novel itself may not exist ITTL, I’d imagine the idea of Coraline the character would not go wasted by Gaiman; thus he reuses her in his run on Supreme as a Raven analogue.

[8] A Youngblood series was published IOTL’s 2004, but didn’t last long.

[9] Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened IOTL - Larsen’s series lasted only four issues as a result.

 

[Igeo654]

OK. So, this little number was supposed to be on the main thread as part of a larger, non-Disney animation post, buuuuut, it kinda got too big for its own good so, @Geekhis Khan and I decided it should go here instead. Enjoy.
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Miracleman and the Total Eclipse!
(with additional contributions from @Geekhis Khan ) Excerpts from an ABC Animation Overview by a prominent animation critic on Video-Sharing netsite OurWaves: 2017:

(Images from totaleclipse.blog and mycomicshop.com

"With Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids raking in the ratings like never before, ABC seemed to be holding their heads well above water. However, Haim Saban wasn't quite through yet. The next step to cementing His, DiC/Hollywood and ABC's legacy within the Animation Industry would be one of the most groundbreaking and controversial cartoons of the mid-90s. Ever Since the modest success of the Alex Proyas movie in 1994, independent comic publisher Eclipse Comics[1] had seen a slow-burning rise of Interest in the Miracleman brand, with toys, shirts and other merch becoming rather profitable as the movie began to develop its following. While its success in the states had been slow to get going, overseas, in Britain, the movie was one of the highest-grossing flicks of that year nationally, with ticket sales and merch moving like crazy along with a successful re-release of the Alan Moore Comic run.

Head of ABC, Michael Eisner was happy for the UK praise but sought to make good on his investment back home as best he could. Hence why, shortly before Grizzly Tales went to air, he, Haim Saban, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Jan and Dean Mullaney, began talks to bring Eclipse into the mainstream via the world of animation. Invited to the table with them were British animation legends, Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall. Their famous Manchester Production Company still working independently of the larger Nelvana Animation Group that they were now a part of, allowed them to work with both Hollywood Animation and Saban with little fuss from the higher-ups at both Nelvana as well as Penguin Productions. Shortly after initial talks were over, production began on what was to become one of the biggest hour-long weekly, afternoon sub-blocks in Syndication as well as some of the most iconic toons in the history of ABC.

Miracleman: Olympus! Based heavily on and set after the events of the Proyas flick and based loosely on Issue 16 of the original Eclipse Comics title by Alan Moore, produced, animated and written by Hollywood Animation in collaboration with Saban Entertainment and Cosgrove Hall Productions and broadcast on Children's ITV in the UK, YTV in Canada and Syndication in the US, as well as ABC Saturdays in mid-1995 at the same time as season 2 Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, Where on Earth, is Carmen Sandiego?.and The Crow animated series that lasted 4 seasons, based on the Sam Rami flick that DiC had worked on with South Korea's Rough Draft. Save that for later though. The Miracleman toon shows the continued adventures of Miracleman (played by Seán Barrett), the superhero who spent most of his career in a simulation, after the destruction of London in the movie, as he and his superpowered allies, Miraclewoman, (JoAnne Good) Firedrake, (Beau Billingslea) British Bulldog, (David Jason) Qys scientist Mors, (Jim Cummings) Warpsmiths Kana Blur (Derek Stephen Prince) and Phon Mooda (Linda Larkin) Winter Moran (Gemma Bissix) and their talking green lizard/dog sidekick Overdog (Neil Kaplan), save the world...from itself. Gradually taking over and improving human civilization/society as the ''New Gods of Earth'', by forcefully resolving all of humanity's many problems and ills over the course of three seasons.

The series, as evidenced by its 3-year/season lifespan, was a game-changer in the fact that, fittingly enough, it was a genre deconstruction aimed at an older child audience. Specifically, it was a genre deconstruction of Superhero team cartoons of that era and prior. X-Men, He-Man, Thundercats, Transformers and, naturally, Superfriends. Everything about the series demonstrates this, starting with the New Gods ''Hall of Justice/Cats Lair'' of Olympus. An enormous, golden, ornate Palace/Cathedral where regular mortals go to appeal or protest to their ''Living Deities'' through direct prayer. Our ''heroes'', while well-meaning, kind and trying to make the world better, are usually portrayed as self-righteous and autocratic in their approach. the fact that their ''adventures'' are actually a forceful, planetary takeover is never shied away from. The costumed "villains" (an element which Moore wholely despised, mainly because he's never actually watched the show, but OK.) are mostly depicted as civilians, businessmen, or politicians, simply trying to preserve the old way of life they've always known for better or worse. The desperate, the frightened, or just enraged at the gradual overruling of their freedoms of choice or autonomy under the mandates of their ''divine'' saviours. In many regards, they can be regarded as the true heroes of the series.

(Olympus as seen in both the comics and the show - nothingbutcomics.files.wordpress.com)

Even the individual members of Miracleman's team are deconstructions of Animated Superhero Archetypes. The titular hero's an uncertain, cold, despotic, disconnected, yet benign and gentle figure of few words, his female counterpart/wife, a dissection of the "Caregiver", suffers from a mild Peter Pan syndrome despite being his right-hand lady due to her own young life in the virtual reality hellscape, and her ''words of wisdom'' sound like the shit you'd see in a Hallmark Greeting Card, Mors, the ''Wise Wizard'' of the group only comes off as ''mystical'' in looks and is actually a logically minded scientist and technician, the Warpsmiths are portrayed as "siblings" in the sense of sharing the same race and profession, rather than anything playful or heartfelt, with Blur being as much a scholarly academic and researcher as he was a fighter and Mooda, the ''teenager'' of the team, being really wise beyond her years despite being so spiritually free-spirited, British Bulldog's patriotism and John Steed, ''british stiff-upper lip'' schtick's seen as ironic, irrelevant and ridiculous by many in the wake of superhuman globalisation, 10 year old ''kid sidekick'', Winter Moran's ''cute antics'' are depicted as somewhat unnerving to all but her parents while Overdog (whose comics name "Pluto" went unused, most likely to keep Disney off of ABC's ass), the ''animal sidekick'' is depicted as an ugly, semi-reptilian, bad-ass, brutal attack hound, yet treated like a heroic Scooby-Doo by his owners.

The only character that stays relatively constructed is Firedrake, the African-American Pyrokinetic, shown to be the most sensible, straightforward and well-meaning of the group. Not in spite of but because of his previous circumstances. Eventually, by the start of season 3, the male teen sidekick archetype would be deconstructed with the introduction of the revived Young Miracleman/Dickie Dauntless, (Christian Bale) who becomes the ultimate threat and eventual undoing of his mentor's Utopia, reviving traditional Superheroics using Mors' Qyrs tech to create a new team of protectors for a now uncertain world on the brink of total chaos. The show was also a deconstruction of kids' toons based on Adult properties, the kind that kept springing up in the 80s and 90s. Sex and nudity were, of course, toned down or removed, but the violence, gore, death and blood, which would usually rarely be depicted in superhero cartoons, were only toned down enough to keep the show on Saturday mornings and were depicted, as they should be, as situational. Couple that with a twisted, broken, Industrial rebuttal to all the epic, rocking theme tunes attached to hero team cartoons by Phil Bush and Shuki Levy, twisted Aesops and superb animation/writing during the winter years of Hollywood/DiC, and it's hard not to see why MM:OL has such a devoted fanbase to this day.

Amid all of this, However, HA/DiC was going through a tumultuous time, and many in production began to notice similarities in the behaviours and mannerisms of the Miracleman characters to the characteristics of ABC executives like Michael Eisner, Bob Iger, Jeff Katzenberg, and Daniel Burke. Some today still wonder if the Olympian takeover was a subtle reflection of the slow, political gamesmanship of the many senior executives. Sometime between the greenlighting of MM:OL and Eisner's infamous firing, heart attack and move down south to work for Ted Turner, Saban, Cosgrove and Hall had talked him, Kats, writer Don Chin and The Mullaneys into greenlighting a second Eclipse-based toon. This time, an affectionate Tribute to/Lampooning of the now world-famous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Saban, who'd been noticing the apparent decline of the original Turtles Cartoon throughout the decade and, mistakenly believed that the heroes in a half shell were on their way out, and Brian and Mark, who were most likely itching to take the piss out of American Toons again as they'd done with Avenger Penguins back in 93 to 95, had been in secret talks with The Mullaneys and Chin to adapt their old Turtles Parody, Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, into yet another cartoon series. After yet another meeting with the board, at which Daniel Burke enjoyed the pitch, the bargain was made and the series put into the pipeline. The Hamsters' backstory in the cartoon is an almost perfect adaptation of that from the comics...at least for the first half.

In 1980, NASA launches a space probe containing 4 baby hamsters in order to ascertain the potential danger of a mass of "Space Jello" heading in the direction of the Earth. Coming into contact with this radioactive purple goop, transforms the Hamster Babies into anthro versions of themselves, just as their probe crash-lands near a Tibetan monastery. Raised by the monks of this temple, the four are named after 4 of the best Martial-Arts Movie actors in the world, Leader Bruce (Eddie Griffin), and his brothers Chuck, (Rob Rackstraw) Clint, (Matt Hill) and Jackie (Simon Nash) trained by Head-Monk, Master Lock (Stephen Mendel), in the ways of Martial Arts from the age of 7. Sent out by Lock into the world at the age of 15, specifically to deliver a package to his brother in San Francisco, the quartet instead find themselves becoming reluctant heroes in NYC, embroiled in the machinations of the ''Pot Luck'' terrorist organisation against their will. While not addicted to Sex, Drugs and Debauchery like their comic counterparts, The Hamsters are still less than ideal role models. Selfish, egotistical, hedonistic, mentally unstable and detached from reality, leading to them quickly losing their heroic rep within the city within the first 2 episodes, as they try to find their way to San Francisco to deliver that damn package. A task that'd take 2 seasons to accomplish from 1995 to 1996. Of course, the awesomely cheesy Rap theme by Jeremy Sweet and Russell Velázquez is a banger and I still have memories of dancing to it to this day.

(Bruce, Chuck, Clint and Jackie, the titular ARBBHs - Comic Vine. The theme sounds something like that, but better and longer)

As you've probably guessed, despite its mere two-year lifespan, ARBBH grew to become a cult classic and, in re-runs, along with MM:OL, were the beginnings of what would become the hour-long, weekly, Friday ABC sub-block ''The Total Eclipse Hour.", but that wouldn't come to pass until later in the year when ABC and parent company, Capital Cities was merged with Universal and MCA. With his future standing with ABC appearing to be in danger, it came as a relief to Haim Saban when ABC's top brass took over the top positions at Universal, allowing him to continue working with the studio. However, while Cosgrove Hall would be permitted to finish the remaining seasons of MM:OL and ARBBH, CCO and COO Jeffrey Katzenberg and Sumner Redstone made it clear that Universal would not be working with them again, at least in the animation/writing department, insisting to Saban and Iger that the combined resources created by the merge would be enough to continue. This turned out to be a huge lie as they would work on future toons with the aid of Rough Draft Korea and Universal's old pals at UPA who had helped to produce Exosquad and Monster Force. But all of this was only the beginnings of what became both Saban and Bob Iger's personal brainchildren. The Daily, Two-Hour kids programming block/overseas channel to replace ABC Saturdays and something that had been in development hell for a few years, thanks, for the most part, to Eisner. KBC.

(By @ExowareMasses )

As KBC's "Funderground" Rebellion, Outer Reaches, Hacker theme brought the viewers in upon its launch in Early 96, Along with the usual stuff over the course of the decade. Saban dubbed anime, (Including Slayers and Virtua Fighter, not to mention Yu-Gi-Oh! and Monster Farm later down the line) cartoons produced/co-produced by Saban (Including Saban's Kriminal), select imports from Canada and Europe, (Including 3 Cosgrove Hall shows to start with, those being Avenger Penguins, Fantomcat and The Bromeliad Trilogy,), C-Bear and Jamal, Toons based on Modern video games (Crash Bandicoot, Earthworm Jim, Rayman and Disruptor), Toons based on ECW, the MLB and NASCAR. Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills [4], Masked Rider, Techno Beat: Future Police, (Based on the Metal Hero tokusatsu seasons Special Rescue Police Winspector, Super Rescue Solbrain, Blue Swat and the two B-Fighter series' & which was so popular, that it Stopped the source material from going down a more kiddy route) Universal and UPA studio originals (See Monster Force, Exosquad, Vor-Tech: Undercover Conversion Squad and the New Little Lulu, Gen-Munks and Woody Woodpecker Shows), Classic toons like Betty Boop, Little Lulu, Mr Magoo, the 80s Alvin and the Chipmunks, Underdog and Woody Woodpecker, Grizzly Tales and other DiC/Hollywood/ABC Saturdays fare from years past and present (Crow, Street Sharks and Bureau of Alien Investigators Included) as well as the late 90s re-boot of Gilligan's Island. Both the Miracleman and Hamster cartoons would join them along with other Eclipse Comics toon fare and so, The Total Eclipse Hour, with new episodes airing every Friday, was born To many the line-up would be unforgettable. Half each would be animated by Universal's expanded animation department and Saban and either UPA or Rough Draft.

UPA got Airboy, Golden Age Legacy Hero whose grandfather's death inspires him to pick up the mantle (1996 - 1998), Aztec Ace, 23rd Century Time Traveller protecting our timeline from all manner of threats. (1996 - 1998) and Coyote, a young, fun-loving, free-spirited, magically endowed, Native-American hero with a lust for living and unusual taking on the Underground conspiracies that threaten our world. (1998 - 2000) Rough Draft with its style it was perfecting with The Maxx cartoon on MTV got The Liberty Project, the story of a Multicultural team of young former C-List Supervillains, granted parole in exchange for defending The United States (1995 - 1999), Mr Monster, the two-fisted, pistol-toting (semi-satirical) costumed monster slayer from the Golden Age of Comics, (1995 - 1997) and Zot!, a Sci-Fi Peter Pan style show about a boy Science-Hero and adventurer from a retro-future world and his adventurers with his Wendy-esc friend and her simian brother from "our world." (and the reason behind a great, big multiversal crossover 3 parter that brought a handful of the characters from all the TEH heroes together) (1997 - 1999) Of course, at least 2 of each of these shows ran as various, alternating reruns on regular KBC on the other 6 days of the week.

(mycomicshop.com, Screen Rant, Vintage Comics and Toys, Comic Vine, comicbookreligion.com. Also my ideal Airboy/Zot! theme tune.)

With all of this greatness going on, it's no wonder that kids in the mid-90s have so many great memories of the stories they grew up with. For ABC, it definitely seemed as if a whole new lease on life had been opened up for them, thanks to Haim Saban. But the question is, would it las? How would ABC * Universal stand the test of what was to come? Tune in for part 3 as we discuss..."

____________________________________________________________
[1] ITTL, Eclipse never suffers the catastrophic office flood of 1986, which destroyed most of its back-issue stock. Most likely, someone saw the problem in time.
[2] Yup, it's canon ITTL too. Remember that IOTL, DiC was the one who came up with this knockoff? Well, thanks to Saban's working relationship with ABC and the introduction of Masked Rider, that project got shelved at the proposal stage for the rest of 1994. Early in 95, the project was revived with Saban's involvement and came out close to 96, the 10th Aniversary of Bio-Force. At this point, Haim Saban was getting a wee bit tired of Bio-Force and, as far back as Dino Warriors, was granting Disney more production control, in order to focus on less ''Formulaic Cornball'' Tokusatsu dubs like Masked Rider and Techno Beat. (Ironic, as MR was still quite formulaic while TB, while a lot less formulaic, still had that ol' Saban brand of humour that we know/love) As a result, TTAFFBH became less of an unfunny BM ripoff with a shit budget and more of a tongue in cheek, deconstructive, Austin Powers-Esc parody of his first big break. (with an adequate budget.) Basically, it was his chance to vent about the Bio-Force franchise's tropes and cliches and let off some steam and it worked well too, as he'd return as a creative consultant and executive producer for the 2nd half of the 10th Anniversary season.

 

[Ogrebear]

Star Trek: The Next Generation Retrospective
July 1995.
By KlingonOrc for The UK Star Trek Magazine.

Star Trek, everyone knows of Star Trek, show them a pic of the Original Series crew and they will be able to name Spock, Kirk, Bones, and after the recent spectacular ending to the Next Generation I would put Riker, Shelby, Data or Worf up there with them! Full disclosure- yes, I am a Trekkie. Was introduced to the series by my Sci-Fi fan Mother during my youth when they were repeated on BBC2, saw all the movies on the Big Screen and got massively hooked when The Next Generation (TNG) launched in 1987. I am however not obsessed, sure I have a few models and T-Shirts, but I don’t know what Troi’s favourite ice cream flavour was, or the combination to Captain Kirk’s safe.

With that out of the way what I want to do with this post is look at the best episodes from each of TNG’s 8 seasons, and with 26 episodes a season to choose from it’s a lot of TV to choose from. If I miss one of your favourites, please feel free to politely comment below.

Contrary to what people often think Star Trek: The Next Generation was not actually the first Star Trek on TV since the 1973-1974 Star Trek: The Animated Series as the animated Star Trek: Excelsior actually beat TNG to air [1]. The animated series from Filmaton (which ran from 1986-1992) has George Takei reprise his role as Sulu but this time as a Captain in his own right. Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry was approached about Excelsior first in 1984 as Paramount had to get his approval for any Star Trek TV series [2] - Roddenberry approved the series but didn’t want to get deeply involved in the production, and instead recommended Star Trek veterans Dorothy Fontana and David Gerrold to head production and writing which Filmation accepted – see my Excelsior log for more about this show, suffice to say the effect of Excelsior on TNG is that creative juices and new scripts where flying about even before Paramount called Roddenberry about approving TNG in mid- 1986.

Roddenberry however wanted to do more than just approve the series this time and he struck a very financially beneficial deal along with gaining creative control of the show, something he had lost with the Motion Picture when he had been kicked to ‘Consulting Producer’ [3]. Roddenberry immediately assembled a team of Trek alumni including Robert Justman, Edward Milkis, Richard Arnold, Michael Okuda and Rick Sternbach to help him craft the look and feel of the show. Roddenberry either asked for or was assigned Rick Berman by Paramount to ‘keep an eye’ on the show’s finances and Roddenberry’s excesses.[4]

Now Roddenberry gets a certain amount of blame for the mess of Season 1 with the writer churn, and the more stilted performances and scripts about the Human condition, but a lot of the blame is misplaced as Roddenberry was quite ill in the critical early-mid 87 period when the first scripts where being done and it was his lawyer one Leonard Maizlish who was doctoring scripts and causing hell on set ‘in Gene’s name’ – enforcing the ‘no conflict’ rule etc. [5]

Without authorisation Maizlish greenlit the casting of Code of Honour which got on the schedule before Michael Dorn, and Levar Burton risked their careers by refusing to film it as racist with just black actors as the antagonists. Maizlish simply wrote their characters out. Dorn went to Justman who realised the implications and got the episode recast with a mixed race cast of actors since it was too late to cancel it being made. The episode was still rubbish, but it made the showrunners realise how much Maizlish was interfering, and they moved to counter it.

The famous ‘Murphy Compromise’ [6] which broke the deadlock between the writers and what Maizlish was dripping into Roddenberry’s ear included the banning of Maizlish from the studio, its one reason why the second half of the season is noticeably better than the first, and why Robert Justman stayed on the show among others. Roddenberry would of course hold onto his utopian version even harder leading to a repeat of The Motion Picture where he lost control of his show again and got “kicked upstairs” to Executive Producer.

So, what are the best shows from this mess of a season? Well then...

Season 1

Encounter at Farpoint – got to start with the season opener. I remember the first shot of the new Enterprise-D like others remember the Star Destroyer from Star Wars. Just beautiful. The introduction to the cast is handled well with the stoic Patrick Bauchau delivering as Jean-Luc Picard perfectly especially against John de Lancie’s snarky Q.

11001001 – The Bynars come on-board to upgrade the Enterprise computer, then steal the ship after tricking the crew to abandon ship and trap Riker in a holodeck. It’s a decent episode made infamous by Riker’s choice of program “Cavern Club 1996” with the actual Fab Three on set! Sure, they don’t play, but the sight of them together got many a fan’s hopes up for a real-world reunion. [7]

The Battle- A good episode showcasing Picard’s backstory and stretching Bauchau’s acting chops. It gave us a glimpse at the ‘Lost Era’ between the Movies and TNG with the Stargazer model. First episode with the Ferengi too- if only they had not put them in furs and made them so monkey like then the threat they were supposed to represent might have had more resonance. [8]

The Naked Now – A cast favourite since they got to ‘ham’ a bit. It just nicely wacky with this crew we barely now throwing themselves at each other. This is where the infamous ‘fully functional’ line of Data’s comes from of course. It’s a silly fun episode that did underline the problems with underage Leslie interacting with the adult crew, but it is such fun!

Conspiracy- This nearly didn’t get made, but Justman and Berman pitched for it over Roddenberry objections. The idea of alien infiltration into Starfleet was a shock at the time, but the mystery over if the infiltration was over made a great, if unintended season ending cliff-hanger. [9]

Honourable mentions:
Lonely Among Us – The crew must keep the Anticans and Selay apart while transporting them to a peace conference. Notable for the exceptional Alien makeup. Mick Fleetwood played the Selay leader!
Where No One Has Gone Before- Introduced the Traveller and gave hints of La Forge’s ability as an engineer as well as helmsman. [10]
Coming of Age- Leslie takes and fails the Academy entrance exams. Also Introduced fan favourite Kzinti officer Lt Trass to the show. [11]
In the Future- fish out of water episode when Enterprise defrosts 3 people from 20thC Earth. [12]

Despite it being notorious for killing off Denise Crosby’s Deanna Troi, The Rift [13]is a rubbish episode. I won’t be doing the ‘worst’ episodes on his list. See my picks on this article for that.

Season 2

Season 2 of TNG in 1988 brought changes, Roddenberry was out, Maurice Hurley was in. Hurley was by all accounts not the nicest man, but he was balanced out by Justman. Hurey was loyal to Roddenberry’s ‘vision’ but agreed with Justman and Berman that Roddenberry’s conflict rules could be ‘loosened’ somewhat. One other thing that Hurley changed was allowing the writers to reference the Original Series era [14] – Hurley and Justman overrode Berman on the show needing to stand on its own telling him that “people are not going to expect Kirk to transport in just because we reference Spock”.

In universe La Forge became the chief engineer partly due to his actions the last season. Troi was mourned as by her mother Lwaxana during her visits, and Guinan came on-board as a bartender and ‘listener’. T’Lon appeared and made Leslie nicer. Plus, we finally got a TOS guest star in Dr McCoy.

TNG was beginning to mature, lets list the best:

The Neutral Zone- The season opener. The mystery of the missing colonies tied unintentionally into the conspiracy at the end of the previous season, though it turned out to be something else. The Tense stand-off with the Romulans was excellent, and Guinan’s insight that the Romulans where was clueless about the missing colonies was a fantastic introduction for Whoopi Goldberg.

Blood and Ice- Infamous for the ‘gay question’ where Riker as a couple of background characters in a turbolift “How long have you two been together?” and the unnamed extra replies, “Since the Academy.” That's it, but it caused a huge row. Berman, famously homophobic tried to stop it, but Justman, Hurley, Roddenberry, and several of the cast all wanted the lines in. There was no ‘secret kiss’ cut or anyone holding hands. But it was an important moment for Star Trek and TV in general. Of course, the media blew it up, but the row only helped viewer numbers honestly, and blew over quickly. The zombie effects in this episode were great too. Doug Drexler showed why he had won an Oscar for SFX here. The episode was supposed to have an AIDS allegory in, but David Gerrold admits it's better in its released form. [15]

A Matter of Honour- Riker goes onto a Klingon ship as an exchange officer. Perfect introduction to the TNG era Klingons which used elements from the book The Final Reflection to flesh out their culture, which was unusual at the time. Also allowed for comparisons between the Klingons of the IKS Pagh and Worf’s own ‘Klingonness’. [16]

The Measure of a Man – One of the best TNG shows full stop. Picard must battle for Data’s rights as a sentient being. Great acting by Eungland, Frakes, and Bauchau here. Crispin Glover as the creepy, suspect Maddox was perfect.

Q Who- Another stonker. Q reappears and throws the Enterprise 7,000 light years across the Galaxy to show them the threats ‘out there’ which leads to an encounter with The Borg, a terrifying cybernetic civilization, and the Enterprise’s powerlessness against them. Great character work all round in this one, even Leslie as the crew fight to survive. Originally the Borg were going to be insectoid, but the budget would not handle it, but I think they are perfectly creepy as is.[17]

Infection– Riker is bitten on the leg while on an away mission and is infected with life-threatening microbes, they spread too fast for Dr Crusher to help so she puts Riker into suspended animation, but this is only a delay. Dr Crusher contacts Starfleet Medical who directs the Enterprise to a border world where the Doctor reported something similar. The crew run into Administrator Mulhall [ who spins red tape and asks for the data ‘to be reviewed’ before an exasperated Crusher beams down and confronts the Doctor herself who turns out to be De Forest Kelly’s Doctor McCoy – older, raspy, and wanting to be ‘left alone on the frontier’ McCoy is brow beat into helping Riker by Crusher. A tense operation takes place, but Riker is saved. Perfect end to the season. [18]

Honourable mentions:
Court of Dragons- Yar and La Forge visit a medieval era world to recover a Starfleet lifepod. Known as the ‘One with the Orcs’. Lou Ferrigno plays Chief Grutan.
The Emissary – Worf’s ex K'Ehleyr comes on-board to prevent the activation of an TOS era superweapon and sets up a whole string of episodes.
Peak Performance- the Hathaway gave us another glimpse into that ‘lost era’ – the exposition from La Forge gave a nice idea of the ship’s design history which was based on a Franz Joseph design [19].
The Royale- simple mystery solving episode while TNG was affected by the writers’ strike, but an entertaining romp anyway. You can tell Eugland enjoyed filming this one.

Season 3

Season 3 in 1989 saw TNG ‘bed in’ behind the scenes. Hurley was gone. Burman and Justman were in control. A stable collection of writers emerged under Herb Wright’s direction [20], and the characters began to round out and mature. Andrew Probert who designed the Galaxy Class was tempted back as a ‘consultant’ for ship design- there were some subtle changes to the sets as a result. Notably the Starfleet uniform was updated to a two-piece design replacing the one-piece ‘spandex’ one after the actors complained of discomfort. Johnathon Frakes started directing.

In universe, La Forge and Worf got promoted, Worf and Yar became a couple, Leslie and T’Lon passed their Academy exams, and the Romulans emerged from their isolation, and the Big Threat finally appeared. The best episodes from a very strong season are:

Booby Trap- An ancient ship is found and the Enterprise falls victim to the same trap that doomed that vessel. Remarkable for some tight plotting, good acting all round and clever solution to rescue both Enterprise and recover the ancient cruiser using Data in a shuttle following Enterprise out.[21] Notable for La Forge’s holodeck antics.

Yesterday’s Enterprise- After the Probert designed Enterprise-C [22] comes through a rift in time history is changed. The Enterprise-D is now a battleship, and the Federation is in losing two-way war with the Klingons and Romulans. Councillor Troi is alive in this timeline. There is an unnamed Andorian doing Worf’s job. Sensing something is wrong with time Troi convinces Picard to send the Enterprise-C back to restore the timeline; Troi goes with them to have a ‘good death’ and the Timeline is restored. Just a superb episode with so many little touches like the mandatory phasers, or the ‘battle log’. Wish we could have had more of the tragic Rachel Garrett - Claudia Christian played her so well.

Sins of the Father- Worf’s big moment. Kurn (Tony Todd) comes on-board Enterprise and tests Worf before revealing he is his brother. There is a challenge they must overcome regarding their father and who was to blame for the Khitomer massacre. To cover the crime of Ja’rod of the powerful Duras family Worf accepts discommendation, the removal of his honour from the Empire. This is Ronald D. Moore’s first big script, and he delivers a powerful episode. Won an Emmy for its set design too.

Sarek- Spock’s father comes on-board for an important diplomatic function, but he is ill and telepathically influencing the emotions of the crew. When his Vulcan carer can no longer support him, Picard takes over vs mind meld leading to one of the best moments for Bauchau all series as he emotes all Sarek’s emotional baggage about Sybok, Spock, both his Human wives. Bermam apparently again opposed invoking TOS elements, but Justman and the writing team fought their ground. A very strong episode. [23]

Best of Both Worlds – Ah… the episode that changed everything. Another colony is discovered gone and it is now suspected to be the work of the Borg. Admiral Hanson and Shelby come on-board. Henson and Picard discuss getting the Romulans into an alliance with the Klingons, and the ‘crash upgrade’ program Starfleet has been on. Shelby, Yar, and Riker clash at poker. The Borg are engaged, Picard is abducted. A rescue fails as Picard has been assimilated and becomes Locutus. Captain Riker gives the order to fire on the Cube… and TO BE CONTINUED. To Be Continued? WHAT! Even today this episode is so tense, so tightly written it is a joy to watch. There was no hint of what would come next, none!

Honourable mentions:
My Brother, my jailer– Data discovers he has a ‘brother’ called Lore, who depowers Data and tries to take his place on Enterprise to steal secrets until La Forge smells a rat. [24]
Kobayashi Q– Q comes to the Enterprise and puts the ship in a no-win scenario vs the Ferengi Later came out that ‘Murphy Edwards’ who played the Ferengi captain was Eddie Murphy. [25] Silly fun with an underlying serious message.
The Defector- A superb performance by guest James Sloyan as a Romulan and a tight political setup.
Hollow Pursuits – Dwight Schultz superbly plays Lt Reginald Barclay, a man with a holo-addiction. A solid episode looking into the nature of addiction.

Season 4

TNG’s Season 4 in 1990 saw and increased budget episode and some changes in personnel behind the scenes with Michael Piller taking over the writer’s room. Jeri Taylor joined as a supervising producer. This season saw TNG finally pass the 79 episode runs of the original Star Trek, and pass 100 episodes of TNG. It also saw TNG begin to experiment with continuing story arcs like Worf’s Klingon arc, and of course the Borg situation loomed over the season. Notably there was no TOS guest star this season.

In Universe of course we had Riker confirmed as Captain of the Enterprise. Shelby was promoted to Commander and 1st officer. Data remained 2nd officer, Yar was made Lt Commander and Tactical officer, while Worf took Security chief. Leslie and T’lon became Brevet Ensigns to the annoyance of some fans who thought they would be gone this season, though for more both characters had matured into proper characters now.

Right from the start it is a solid season of shows, let’s look at the best:

Best of Both Worlds ptII- Got a huge audience partly due to that cliff-hanger, and just as the Enterprise goes to fire on the Cube it jumps to warp. Riker gives chase straight into the waiting fleet at Wolf 359. The biggest fleet ever seen on Star Trek to this point is there – some of the background ships where digital additions to pad out the physical models and reused compose shots. The Borg Cube cuts into them using Locutus’ knowledge- then Riker fires on the Cube and KABOOM. Cube is gone! Jaw dropped. OMG you killed Picard etc etc. [26]

Then 3 more cubes turn up, along with the Klingons thereafter. The Borg adapt to the weapon Enterprise has and manage to disable her engines. Borg on-board, fighting in the corridors! In a Hail Mary La Forge and Data board a Cube and attempt to hack the Collective, they manage to inject enough self-replicating junk code that they manage to drop the Cube shields, which forces the Borg to withdraw as they start getting pasted. Celebrations all round…. Except just before the credits, we see one of the Cubes recover a pod containing Locutus. This show was a tour de force with strong acting, SFX, and plot. Ron Jones’ music was superb as well. As strong as Pt 1. The combined show would be broadcast in some locations as one complete 2-hour movie, though I saw It as a two-parter and the wait between the two was agony. [27]

Rebuilding- A pt III for Best of Both Worlds in some ways. Enterprise is over Earth undertaking repairs. Features a strong performance from Frakes as he forces a reconciliation with his estranged Father Kyle realising family is important. Worf’s brother Kurn visits. Crusher gives a message to Leslie from her father Jack he recorded for when she became an Ensign. Shelby takes a call from her unseen son. It is a quiet episode after the season opener but a welcome breather before being back out in the black.

The Inner Light- This was an episode many fans believe would have worked better with Picard rather than Riker, still it is a great character piece where Riker experiences a whole lifetime of family and love after being zapped by an unknown probe. Really gave Frakes a chance to stretch his acting and build Riker up. The end shot of him playing the recorder is a classic TNG moment.

Breakdown—On the way back to Enterprise in a shuttle Yar picks up a distress call. She intercepts to find a battered Gorn ship tumbling towards a sun. The shuttle has enough power to pull the ship from the gravity well, but it would leave them both powerless. The crew on-board refuse to be beamed out as they are protecting ‘precious eggs’ – in the end Yar burns her power and both ships are safe but dead in space. Yar docks with the Gorn ship and is invited on-board. Enterprise searches for Yar and eventually finds the shuttle, just as a Gorn ship arrives. A great episode for Chao who was often overlooked for shows. We only see one Gorn from the shoulders up, and never the interior of their ship, but Rick Sternbach produced some corking designs for them. [28]

Reunion and Redemption pt1- Yes, I am listing these together as they are part of the excellent Klingon arc. [29] Ambassador K'Ehleyr comes to the Enterprise with Chancellor K’mpec who is dying and appoints Riker his Arbiter of Succession to decide from the candidates who is worthy to be Chancellor. Riker dislikes Gowron and Duras but they are the only candidates left with the support of the High Council members. One of them has poisoned K’mpec which is why he has turned to a Federation Captain. He had hoped for Picard but… Ambassador K'Ehleyr has also come with another surprise – Alexander, Worf’s son. Bombs and rituals happen. K’mpec’s final act is to marry K'Ehleyr and Worf. K'Ehleyr presents Worf with the results of her own investigation- Duras has Romulan connections. Worf takes the data to Riker, but he cannot use it against Duras without exposing K'Ehleyr. They hatch a plan wherein part of the data is leaked- as expected Duras confronts K'Ehleyr and confesses all when she asks him if its true. Duras attacks K'Ehleyr, which allows Worf to beam to his ship (taking Data with him as witness) and claims the ‘rite of vengeance’ for his wife’s injuries– he beats Duras and calls him a ‘traitorous dog’ and goes to leave, but Duras tries to dishonourably knife Worf in the back Worf kills him, none of Duras’ men stop him. The confession and fight is broadcast to the High Council. Gowron becomes the new Chancellor.

Except Duras’s death has stirred up the Empire and when Enterprise escorts Gowron’s ship to Qo’noS to install Gowron as the new Chancellor he tells Riker that the Duras as massing ships to challenge him. He demands Federation help which Riker must refuse after consulting the Brass. Riker encourages Worf to get his discommendation removed as Gowron now owes him. Gowron refuses Worf. K'Ehleyr, Worf, and Kurn meet and plot help Gowron. K'Ehleyr has the Khitomer data released while Kurn rallies support. The Duras sisters present Toral as a clamant to the Chancellorship but Riker refuses Toral’s claim and installs Gowron, leading to almost all of the Council walking out. The civil war begins, and it is revealed the Duras has Romulan help. Help that wears a familiar face. Bombshell reveal of Denise Crosby as a Romulan. Perfect cliff-hanger for the series.

Honourable mentions:
The Derelict – Enterprise comes across a derelict ship which houses a lifeform looking for a new home. Won an Emmy for the creature effects. Clever premise and well made.
The Drumhead – An explosion in the engine room leads to an Inquisition of the Enterprise crew. It’s a great show and Frakes does a fine job defending freedom from tyranny.
Future Imperfect- Shelby wakes in sick-bay to find 16 years have passed, or have they? Nice mystery show that gave Dennehy a good establishing show.
Remember Me- After a warp bubble experiment Dr Crusher finds crewmembers are vanishing. Jenny Agutter really shone in this one. Lead to Agutter asking for more to do as Crusher.

Season 5

TNG’s season 5 in 1991 saw no major changes behind the scenes as the production team settled into a smooth machine. It was the 25th Anniversary year and there where specials, documentaries, and video games to celebrate. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenbury died in October. The only major disruption to TNG production was Star Trek VI [30] which was a crossover with TNG and the Original Series which would influence the end of the season.

The writers found their feet with Riker in this season, as they moved on from Picard, with December’s Star Trek VI being a symbolic moment where Riker ‘grew a new beard’ as the fans called it. Dennehy as Shelby also became a fan favourite, leading to some behind the scenes clashes.

Redemption Pt II – Worf goes to fight in the Klingon civil war. Shelby comes up with a plan to detect Romulan ships that Riker is just able to sell to Command. It is notable that some of later seasons ‘warhawks’ vs ‘doves’ conflicts start here. There is a fleet of ships deployed with Enterprise officers in charge, notable Data on the Sutherland. The Romulans detect the fleet and the grid they have made so Sela distracts Riker while they figure out how to break the grid leading to a crowning moment of glory for Data who disobeys Riker’s retreat order but detects the Romulans and earns his crew’s respect. Without the supplies the Duras’ faction collapses and Gowron wins the civil war with Worf’s House restored and his brother on the High Council. Great start to the season.

The Wounded – The show where Colm Meaney’s Miles O’Brien completes his journey from background to B level character getting some screentime and major backstory. The episode introduces the Cardassians, the tailed, scaly fascist lizards [31] who would become very prominent later- Ron Perlman got the tone perfect as Gul Macet. It is Riker’s first major diplomatic mission as Captain, and boy was he not as good as Picard had been, as he himself noted to Guinan. Still, they prevent war.

Cause and Effect- Enterprise is caught in a time loop where she keeps being destroyed (best teaser ever!) by a collision. The appearance of a Constitution class ship [32] just after the movie lead many to think it could be Enterprise-A instead it was the Bozeman with Morgan Freeman as Captain Vaterson. Super direction from Jonathon Frakes with no repeat shots in each loop.

I, Borg- oh boy this one added so much. Responding to a distress call Enterprise goes to the site of a battle between the USS Ambassador and some Borg craft commanded by Locutus. The Borg are driven off by the Enterprise, however the Ambassador is lost killing Shelby’s estranged husband Benjamin Abara (Bernie Casey). Dennehy got to show some serious emotion here; then Data announces he has discovered a Borg survivor (played so well by Jonathan Del Arcond) the episode shifts into an ethics puzzle regarding deprogramming the Borg drone or sending him back as a weapon vs the Collective. Notably it comes down to a Yar vs Shelby fight where Yar snaps Shelby from her hate enough to realise ‘Hugh’ has become a person in his own right and should not be sent back. La Forge comes up with the compromise of seeding the destroyed drones with a computer virus for when they would be collected.

The Looming Threat- A study in post-Roddenberry pragmatic grey-Trek sees the Enterprise host a major diplomatic meeting between the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Empire, the Ferengi Alliance, and the Cardassian Union regarding the Borg. The Federation delegates arrive on a new class of lost era ship called the Balmung bringing Ambassador Spock on-board as chair of the meeting. Once all the delegates egos are dealt with [33] the meeting is underway- all the powers have been suffering big incursions and assimilations. Riker is called away from the meeting by the second TOS guest star - Head of Starfleet Intelligence Admiral Uhura (Nichelle Nichols scene sealing with style) who advises on a threat to the conference, leading to the quiet exposure of ‘rouge agents’ trying to plant bombs on-board even as the conference signs the Quintuple Alliance and lays the groundwork for the rest of TNG’s run.

Honourable mentions:
Ensign Ro – Building on the Cardassian themes Michelle Forbes pricky Bajorian Ensign Ro who comes on-board during a mission to track ‘terrorists’ and clashes with Riker but gels with Shelby.
New Life- Enterprise comes across a ‘rip’ in space but the alien living there communicates with hallucinations and simile leading to confusion until La Forge figures out how to talk to is using his visual implants.
Ferengi Gold- A mining world has stopped production. The crew discover the Ferengi are using mind control devices on the miners and try to get them onto Enterprise. Data finds a way to prevent it.
Shattered Time- Season finale. On leave Data ends up embroiled an alien conspiracy to change Earth history by saving President Kennedy (Brett Stimely) trapping him in 1963. [34]

Season 6

For 1992 TNG saw Robert Justman leaving to work on other Paramount programs with Michael Pillar taking his place. Robin Williams finally got the part he deserved, and Eddie Murphy started directing. This season saw the format changed with the Borg War fully kicking off mid-season and less one-off threats leading to whole sequences of the 26 episodes telling one story. The change to an arc format threw up odd errors such as the USS Baker being reported as destroyed and then a few episodes later being resupplied. No cliff-hanger ending to this season.

Shattered Time Pt II – Stuck in an alternative 1963 where the USA and USSR are on the brink of nuclear war Data fixes the time device of the aliens who stranded him to return to Nov 1963 and correct the timeline by preventing the alien inference. Not knowing if this fixes the timeline he powers down and waits in a cave (located under Elm Street!) until time catches up to 2369. Could have been a stronger start, but Eugland turned in a good performance particularly the monologue where he contemplates shooting JFK himself. The shot of Data under the Elm Steet sign has spawned so many jokes.

Out of Time – Alexander returns to Enterprise along with Shelby’s son Jake (Cirroc Lofton). They plan mischief together, but Worf takes Alexander on a hunt on a nearby planet. Alexander vanishes down a hole. A frantic search reveals a cavern with ancient Iconian tech in. O’Brien recognises an interface, and they work out Alexander has travelled 20 years into the past; reopening the portal sees a scarred adult Warrior (James Sloyan) emerge. Worf has to deal with a semi-feral, resentful A’lex who easily beats him in combat. It is Jake who manages to get through to A’lex. Crusher determines it is Alexander. Eventually they de-age A’lex by reversing the portal, but it is shown he retains some warrior skill to his father’s pleasure. [35]

Q2- Q returns to the Enterprise and turns all the senior staff into Klingons just as the ship is carrying Klingon hating Alien diplomats to a conference about expanding the Quintuple Alliance. The now aggressive staff debate chasing after a Borg signal. Guinan, Data, and Worf devise a way to take control of the situation only to discover Q’s game has been highjacked by another Q, played with manic glee by Robin Williams. Q and Guinan must work together to take back the ship. Watch just for Williams doing his thing. [36]

Relics- The Enterprise finds the Jenolan crashed on a Dyson sphere. They find a transporter loop running and end it only for Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) to materialise on the pad. An episode of nostalgia with Scotty being out of time and learning to find a place with La Forge’s help. The moment on the holodeck with the classic Enterprise bridge is so good. Though Worf and Scotty’s chat about his namesake grandad was a personal highlight.

Chain of Command (4 episodes)– The Quintuple Alliance have discovered a fleet of Borg Cubes invading Ferengi space. Brisk, authoritarian Admiral Jellico (Tom Hanks) [37] comes on-board Enterprise and upends everyone’s lives as he prepares to take on the Cubes alongside the Alliance. Shelby supports him while Riker confronts Jellico and ends up transferred to the Balmung with Worf. For the Klingons veteran General Kor (John Colicos) from TOS appears, while Marc Alaimo’s scheming Gul Zhurmak leads the Cardassians, and Jeffrey Combs fantastic Liquidator Blunt commanders the Fergeni. Highlight is the largest most diverse battle seen on Trek at the time as the Alliance takes battle.

Honourable mentions:
The Lasting Limits of Logic – Starfleet Academy episode where T’Lon has a crisis of faith in Starfleet vs the Borg. It is Leslie and Commandant Saavik (Kirstie Alley) who help him regain his faith. One of two episodes directed by Eddie Murphy himself.
The Chase- Professor Galen (Norman Lloyd), a friend of Data comes on-board to chase down the ancient message encoded into the DNA of all Humanoid life in the galaxy. Lt Trass featured heavily. Fun distraction from the war.
Ethics- Riker is commanded to return to now Federation planet Angosa (from S3) to collect a biochemical sample of the agent used to turn their people into super soldiers. There is a strong debate on genetic engineering and if the sample should be lost regardless of the effect on the war.
Starship Mine (2 episodes) – The Enterprise is being refitted with new anti-Borg weapons. Shelby returns at the last minute before deadly beam cleanses the hull prior to installation to find terrorists on-board. Nice cat and mouse thriller.

Season 7

The Borg War dominated the Season 7 of TNG in 1993 with an Epic conclusion to see out the season. Many fans thought that would be it for Next Generation due to rumours of a new series coming being developed with writers like Michael Piller and Ronald D. Moore’s names appearing on less episodes across the season, though the Season 8 announcement threw all theories out. Ratings where high this season as was the quality of episodes- the season won TNG an Emmy.

Lower Decks – A view of the war from the perspective of some junior officers and the competition among them for promotion, though that in turn comes with new dangers. Jeremy Renner’s portrayal of the doomed Bolian Troke who won that promotion showed his acting potential. [38]

Memory Core (2 episodes) – Shelby leads an Away team into the bowels of what had been Risa, now an assimilated planet to claim the Borg memory core that contains coordinates to the Borg home worlds. A tense horror story that saw the assimilation and death of several named if background character RIP Troke, Hawk, Gates, and Zeb. Notable for crippling Worf just as they achieved their goal. [39]

Parallels (2 episodes) – A stand out story mid-season that reminded viewers what the Alliance was fighting for as Worf falls through several alternative universes before ending up in one where the Borg have won, and the ruined Enterprise is one of the last ships left leading a rag-tag fleet of ships from multiple species. J.G. Hertzler’s grizzled Klingon Martok would be a huge fan favourite. [40]

The Pegasus (2 episodes) – Riker’s old Captain Eric Pressman (Terry O’Quinn) comes on-board Enterprise and orders the ship to a location to retrieve a Federation interphasic cloaking device which is illegal by treaty, but do the needs of the war out way the legal and moral niceties? Even when the Enterprise with the use of the phase cloak capture Locutus? Some great scenery chewing by the whole cast with the whole war situation summed up by Riker’s exasperated “remember when we used to be explorers?”

A Hard-Fought Peace (2 episodes) – Regarded by many as the first TNG cast movie. Two hours of payoff for the whole Borg War wherein the Alliance, having captured Locutus of Borg have a chance to strike at the Borg Homeworld. Riker persuades Q to transport a fleet to the Borg Homeworld and proceed to gut the Borg Central Computer using some nasty WMD. Huge explosions, long technobabble about ‘super phasic mutating virus’ aka the Individuality Bomb and the like, then Q refusing to take them home ‘until they are done’. It is Picard who breaks through his programming and offers the critical ‘sleep’ solution which thanks to the virus breaks the Collectives hold over all its drones when the cycle is complete. Then Q takes them- once they have holds full of people to be deprogrammed that is – home. [41]

A huge finale! Massive, massive fights, and a simple solution. Superb ending. How would Season 8 top this?

Honourable mentions:
Interface – Hugh from S5 returns at the head of a colony of ex-Borg refugees who offers Data the code for a virus that will restore Individuality to each Borg drone.
The Deserter- Bill Mumy guests as an Efrosian Officer who deserts the front line of a Borg invaded world. Worf has to track him down and inspire him to return. [42]
Pre-emptive Strike- O’Brien and Ro is sent to deal with some Bajorians before they sever a Cardassian supply line. Some great tense acting in this one especially from Andrew Robinson’s unnamed Cardassian captain. [42]
Home Front – Enterprise is orbiting Earth while Riker gets a security briefing. A ‘quiet’ episode that gave the characters a chance to ‘call Home’. Showed us a lot regarding the changes the war had brought to the Federation and its ideals.

Season 8

Going into this in 1994 we Trekkies knew this would be the last season. After the Borg War where was the Enterprise to go? Back to charting nebulae? It is obvious there are things going on in the background at Paramount, though it is remarkable that as of this writing nothing has leaked. Stay tuned as they say!

Rebuilding and redemption where the big themes of the season with the regular appearances by the civilian de-borgified Jean-Luc Picard making characters ask awkward questions, especially in the hard line coming from some Admirals and politicians about the way forward. The Borg refugee crisis echoed some contemporary political issues.

The Nest (4 episodes) – Jean-Luc Picard returns to the Enterprise to direct the ship to several ‘nests’ – locations of Borg weapon and tech caches. Much moralising regarding if Picard is victim or criminal. Notable for the moment Worf goes and sits with the shunned Picard in Ten Forward informing Picard he did not abandon him when he lost his honour, and he will not abandon Picard now. [43]

The First Duty – The only TNG episode without any of the main Enterprise crew in. On Earth just Leslie Crusher is about to graduate when a training exercise goes wrong and kills a cadet. Under investigation, Crusher must decide between the truth or maintaining the cover up orchestrated by Nicholas Locarno her squad leader. T’Lan and garden/counsellor Boothby (Paul McCarthy) persuade her to do the right thing. Powerful performances from Samantha Smith and Lukas Haas make this a standout.

Journey’s End – The Enterprise is in Starbase 74 for a refit. Commander Tasha Yar is wrestling with a decision to take a promotion to First Officer of the USS Valiant, one of the new Borg Killer Defiant class ships.[44] It is surprisingly Luxwana Troi who invokes long dead daughter Deanna that sees Yar move on from Enterprise. Data also leaves having taken promotion to Captain of the USS G.W. Carver- surprising by taking on Hobson (the racist officer from Redemption) as his first officer. The mid-season departures saw the crew shuffled with Riker making Commodore and Shelby Captain. Worf was made 2nd officer and Commander.

What Price War? (3 episodes) – The Federation is undergoing an election campaign for the Presidency. On a visit to Bajor (which Starfleet had to defend from an invading force of Cardassians during the Borg War and is now militarising fast), the senior officers debate the main candidates’ positions laying out the ideas of the militant ‘battle-ready’ Federation (led by Fionnula Flanagan’s V’Las) vs the ‘return to normal’ faction, (led by Patrick Stewart’s Ross Leyton) and what price the war has had on democracy. Clever use of allegory disguise this was clearly talking about contemporary American political themes. [45]

All Good Things – The Big Finale. Both Q’s return to finish their trial. The excellent use of Picard to make this full cycle back to Encounter at Farpoint was excellent. The agony of choice for Picard, Riker, Shelby, having seen their dead loved ones and even dead crewmates like Deanna Troi again but knowing they would doom the Federation to the Borg, it was memorising television. Each of them choosing to give up their happiness for the greater good satisfied the Q and the audience alike. Commodore Riker stopping Jean-Luc Picard in the corridor and bringing him into the senior officer poker game was a superb final scene. Rumour is that final moment took 15 takes as no one wanted it all to end, a bit like so many of us fans. But end it has, The Next Generation was done after 8 superb seasons.

Honourable mentions:
Second Chance (2 episodes)- Data gets a call from Hugh, the ex-Borg. He needs Data’s help with teaching the now free Borg how to handle emotions. Compared to previous season the Borg camp was now heaving. Disgusted Crusher would protest to Starfleet about the state of the refugees. [46]
Return to Forever- After a Borg attempt at time travel using the Guardian of Forever is stopped. Shelby cannot help but ask to see her husband, and Riker his dead lover Troi. They are stopped by Worf before giving into the temptation to jump through the portal.
Scavengers (2 episodes) - La Forge and Worf deal with Pakleds picking over a major Alliance vs Borg battleground. Also discusses veteran’s rights and the effects of disability on warriors.
EMH – Lt Barclay reveals the new emergency holographic Doctor he has developed based on Doctor McCoy. The real Doctor McCoy comes on-board to interrogate it. He recommends a new face for it. Remarkable for De Forest Kelly playing both parts perfectly at 75. Fun episode in a dark season.

So now we are salivating waiting to see what Paramount give us next. Strong rumours are it will be a series starting Elizabeth Dennehy’s Captain Elizabeth Shelby in charge of a new ship. Some sketches by Doug Drexler leaked to Starlog, but they looked like a spoon rather than a ship. I am sure Paramount will inform us soon. Star Trek will return. In the meantime - who’s the best Captain, Picard or Riker?

OOC Footnotes

I volunteered to write a 'Top 10' TNG episodes for @Geekhis Khan a while back and it turned into this Retrospective. Hope you enjoy. Thanks again to Geekhis Kahn for this wonderful timeline.

1 Geekhis Khan mentions Star Trek: Excelsior here and here
2 True in OTL too.
3 True OTL and ITTL as The Motion Picture and the Roddenberry vs Studio spat is before our POD.
4 It is not clear OTL if Berman was imposed by the Studio or Roddenberry asked for a Studio Representative. Given what happened with TMP and Roddenberry’s dislike of some of the direction of Trek since I imagine it’s the former.
5 So, so true OTL, and much worse here. Maizlish nearly killed TNG. See the Chaos on the Bridge documentary as other sources.
6 As outlined here: except the Star Trek: An Insider’s Guide piece is slightly wrong it’s not Gene re-writing the scripts its Maizlish.
7 John's spot is left empty. Paul McCartney and Geogre Harrison where big fans; when the Three of them were discussing Anthology projects in ‘88 in California they wrangled a set tour just as 11001001 was being filmed and Paul asked if they would cameo. Justman agreed and the band got paid a standard day rate to film the sequence. Paul explains the Bynar plot to Riker later on.
8 One of those Ferengi was played by Armin Shimmerman who would be back.
9 Yes, it is still as gory as OTL. Some unmentioned shows would have the players in the conspiracy in, and lot of hints would be dropped later that the Parasites where still about, it is just never addressed due to other plots.
10 La Forge was not chief engineer in season 1, instead Enterprise had a rotating crew of engineers. As far as I can tell this was so Roddenberry had the main crew on the Bridge, they changed this later thankfully.
11 Lt Trass was mentioned in this piece here
12 No Romulan parts in this version so the 20hC characters get more fleshing out and are less annoying.
13 No oil slick of evil here as Geekhas said it was an anomaly that did it.
14 Burman particularly had a major thing about how TNG must be allowed to ‘stand apart’ from TOS and blocked or rewrote scripts that referenced the earlier show.
15 This was a Season 1 proposal from David Gerrold which was flatly turned down by the homophobic Berman even after rewrites. ITTL Berman is arm bent into taking the rewritten version.
16 TNG famously ignored all the supplementary material made for Star Trek (partly cos Roddenberry did not get a cut from them) even licensed works. Here the writers are freer to adapt.
17 Insectoid Borg would have been amazing, but I think they may have lost some of their impact.
18 Dr McCoy does not appear in Encounter at Farpoint ITTL.
19 Franz Joseph famously created detailed schematics for Starfleet ships, but Roddenberry didn’t get a cut of the book sales and refused to use any of it. ITTL with Roddenberry gone staff have more leeway.
20 Piller is not in charge of the writing yet while Justman is around.
21 Data is in a shuttle clamped to the ancient battle cruiser, piloting the ship out on thrusters following Enterprise’s wake, riding the eddies.
22 This ‘curvy’ design was Probert’s intended design, but he left in S1 so OTL they kitbashed something for the C ending up with something ‘squarer’. With Probert on staff ITTL they get the curvy Enterprise-C.
23 I could Bauchau pulling this off as well as Stewart does OTL.
24 OTL the idea was for a female 'evil twin' but Spiner made it a male. The evil twin idea is such a common trope someone will dust it off and it works really well for Data who's twin can be constructed. ITTL Lore will be little like OTL ones due to Eugland and being later in the show's history. .
25 Eddie Murphy using the name ‘Murphy Edwards’ will turn up in a good few episodes as various characters well as directing later.
26 Unlike OTL it’s not a ship graveyard, the battle is seen. Voices from Captains previously seen in the series are used to empathise the chaotic nature of the battle. The model work uses all classes of Trek ship including a movie-era Constitution. The Borg thrash them all before Enterprise blow it up.
27 The money spent on BoBW sees more ‘bottle shows’ this season. Paramount are unhappy with the money, but the audience share was worth it.
28 Another moment using a TOS reference. The Gorn is a mask and animatronic so much more expressive similar to the work done for Lt Trass and using Creatureworks monsters as reference.
29 Would have aired back-to-back as an ‘arc’ into season 5. A trilogy of episodes like BoBW’s was.
30 Full Star Trek VI breakdown at this entry, and boy is it Epic.
31 Tail design was apparently considered and picked up by fans. Art by SpicaTea
32 Originally the plan OTL was to use a TOS era Constitution class, but this was scrapped due to cash. ITTL they compromise with a movie era Constitution.
33 For the Federation: apart from Nimoy as Spock, Brock Peters plays Admiral Curzon Dax, Kelsey Grammer plays Admiral Shears. Robert O’Reilly’s Chancellor Gowron headed the Klingon faction with Tony Todd returning as Kurn. The Cardassian element was led by Marc Alaimo’s scheming Gul Zhurmak, with Jason Alexander as his long-suffering aide Gul Maran. Armin Simmerman led the Ferengi as DaiMon Bractor (reprising his role from S2) with ‘Murphy Edwards’ playing a silent Antican bodyguard. For the Romulans Andreas Katsulas played General Tomalak, with Marina Sirtis as Major Rakal
34 This is an old Roddenberry script idea, just much more polished here.
35 Proposed for TNG, ended up as a DS9 episode in OTL.
36 Robin Williams always wanted to be on Star Trek. But schedules never aligned, ITTL they manage it.
37 Tom Hanks is another massive Trek fan. Could not resist casting him as the authoritarian Jellico, I am sure it’s a role he would get his teeth into.
38 With no need for a Cardassian mission in this one Sita Jaxa will keep appearing in the background of episodes for the rest of the run. Occasionally seen with Ro in Ten Forward leading to some shipping.
39 Directed by Levar Burton who took a lot of his cues from David Cronenberg and James Cameron.
40 Yes there is a reality where Yar and Worf are together with kids. Another where he is Captain of the Enterprise. The reality where the Bajorians overpowered the Cardassians is kept along with the Cardassian ensign at helm.
41 Broadcast in multiple places as one TV movie instead of 2 episodes. Paramount go all out on this one, though not quite giving it a movie budget. Lots of CGI used to supplement the physical models for the fleet shots. Lots of the Alliance ships refuse to take ex-Borg in their holds leading to strain in the Alliance.
42 A plain, simple Captain, Robinson’s character would be called back for various episodes with his lack of a name becoming a running joke. Fans really liked the raconteur he had with Riker, to the point of suggesting attraction.
43 Armin Simmerman’s DaiMon Bractor would return trying to get a lead on ‘disposing’ of the Borg weapons, only to be rebuffed by Riker and Shelby.
44 Probably not the Defiant design from OTL. I suspect they would not drop a new ship class in this late.
45 Introduces the Bajorian leadership in the form of Speaker-to-Outsiders Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) who favours Bajor allying to the Federation, and Vedek Winn Adami (Louise Fletcher) who wishes for a strong, independent Bajor, and is the one purchasing all the weapons.
46 Crusher running into empty promises regarding the Borg would run through several episodes. Giving Agutter a solid B plot arc for the mid-end of the season.

 

[jpj1421]

EU News Round Up, Spring 1994-Spring 1995
Shoutout to @Ogrebear for helping to fill this out.
Posted with @Geekhis Khan approval

Conservative Wins in UK Fuel EPP Win
June 13, 1994

Since the founding of the European Parliament in 1979 the Socialist Group has held the most seats and the right to name the President who would preside over the first half of the five year parliamentary term. An agreement between the Socialist Group and the next largest group, the European People’s Party (EPP) which consists of the centre-right Christian Democratic and Conservative Parties of Europe, has led to EPP selecting the President for the second half of the parliamentary term. Unfortunately for the Socialist Group, which formed into the Party of European Socialist (PES) in 1992, the EPP has won more seats in Parliament and that right of first choice. The EPP’s 187 seat win over the PES’s 168[1] was made possible through Socialists losing ground in France and Conservatives picking up 17 seats in the UK to make up a majority of the delegation.

European election turnout was in the mid thirties, with Conservative voters turning out to express their disdain for Prime Minister Kinnock and his policies, electing 48 Conservatives and 32[2] Labour members essentially reversing the 1989 results. Opposition Leader John Major proclaimed this a tremendous victory for the Conservative Party and called for the Labour-Liberal Democratic coalition to call for a new election. Prime Minister Kinnock and Liberal-Democratic Leader Paddy Ashdown have been in discussions on the subject as the Liberal-Democrats have stated a preference in their platform for four year terms.

Despite the EPP taking the plurality it is expected that the same power sharing arrangement be made, just with an EPP member following incumbent President and EPP member Egon Klepsh of Germany rather than in 1997. With the election settled, the focus shifts to choosing the President of the European Commission that will begin their term in January…

Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene named European Commision President
June 25, 1994

European Leaders meeting in Corfu today agreed to the selection of Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene to be the next European Commission President in January. Prime Minister Dehaene had the backing of the Franco-German block and had picked up the support of the rest of Europe. Dehaene’s cause was helped by his relationship with President Gore, as the two had multiple conversations in the lead up to American involvement in Rwanda [3]. Despite the unanimous support from European Leaders, the appointment was not without controversy. Dehaen is a vocal advocate of European federalism, a controversial proposal especially in the United Kingdom. Conservative Leader John Major [4] expressed outrage that Prime Minister Kinnock didn’t object to Dehaene’s appointment even after “the British public sent a clear signal in the European Parliament election that they oppose suche [federalist] schemes”. Mr. Major has expressed a commitment to taking a stirner line with the European Union if his Party takes power in a future election.

With Dehaene set to take the Presidency in January, the European community can expect…

A Blessed Good Friday [5]
April 14, 1995

Special Envoy Bruce Morrison Announcing the Agreement (Screen grab from C-SPAN)

After three decades of violence the people of Northern Ireland may finally see peace after the signing of a historic agreement in Belfast yesterday. After intense negotiations from all sides this Good Friday will mark the end of a four year process to put an end to The Troubles that have plagued Northern Ireland for so long. In Belfast Special Envoy Bruce Morrison [6] oversaw the signing ceremony as UK Prime Minister Neil Kinnock and Irish Taoiseach John Bruton committed their nations to peace, along with the Multi-Party Agreement between most of Northern Ireland's political parties to resolve Northern Ireland’s devolved government structure.

The Good Friday Agreement sees a border commission established to fix the disputed border line, open trade arrangements, the removal of some checkpoints, decommissioning of weapons, and Ireland agreeing that Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, while the UK removes its claim on the whole of Ireland. The Northern Irish parties agreed on the structure of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and how elections will work. Both parts of the Agreement committed themselves to equality and Human rights clauses.

Timetable to this Agreement:

• December 1991 - Prime Minister Kinnock announces Joint Declaration of Peace
• June1992 - President Bush appoints diplomat Donald Rumsfeld as Ambassador. [7]
• August 1992 - Ceasefire declared by IRA
• September 1992 - Loyalist Paramilitary follow suit
• February 1993 - President Gore appoints Jean Kennedy Smith Ambassador. Irish-American politicians call for a Special Envoy to Northern Ireland to be involved in the peace process. President Gore appoints former Congressman Bruce Morrison [8] to the position.
• Winter 1993-1994 - Negotiations over talks nearly fall apart over Northern Irish Unionist objections to including Sinn Fein in the talks. Prime Minister Kinnock and Special Envoy Morrison insist on their inclusion as a necessity to maintain the cease fire.
• June 1994- First round of “all party” talks begin
• Spring 1994-Spring 1995 - Series of talks held working out the details of a potential agreement
• April 1995 - Agreement in principle signed
• May 1995- There will be a referendum in Northern Ireland and the Republic for the public to ratify the Good Friday Agreement. Current polling puts the Referendum as likely to pass in both North and South. In the North only the DUP opposes the Agreement.

Both Prime Minister Keil Kinnock and Conservative Leader John Major celebrated the signing of the agreement as a step forward for peace. This agreement was signed on the eve of a general election…

Le Pen Vote Shocks France [9]
April 25, 1995

Protests broke out in Paris yesterday as it became clear that after the first round of the French election, far right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen has made it to the second round for the Presidency. An opening was created in part through wide-spread dissatisfaction with the administration of Socialist President Mitterand, high unemployment and scandals within the Socialists would lead to Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin coming in first with between 23 and 24% which was good enough for first but a decline of 10% from Mitterand’s 34% seven years ago. The decisive factor was the irreparable split in the conservative Gaullist Rally for the Republic as the acrimonious campaigns of Prime Minister Edouard Ballard and former Prime Minister Jacques Chirac brought bellow the approximately 18%[10] Le Pen received. A chastened Ballard and Chirac intend to hold a joint press conference where it is expected they will announce that another five to seven years of a Socialist Presidency is tolerable when compared….

Conservatives Held Off by Labour and Liberal-Democrats
May 5, 1995

Prime Minister Neil Kinnock delivering his victory speech (Image from The Social Review)

Prime Minister Neil Kinnock celebrated winning a second term in office last night after an unspectacular win in the General Election. Labour was buoyed by the recent Northern Ireland peace agreement signed on Good Friday which saw a rapid turnaround in what had previously been tepid polling. The Liberal Democrats are expected to enter into an agreement with Labour in the Commons in return for some reforms from their agenda.

The full Parliamentary results results of the May 5th election from across the country are:

Labour - 40% - 319 (+6) [11]
Conservatives - 37% - 289 (-8)
Lib Dems - 16% - 24 (+6)
Others - 7% - 24 (+1)
Total - 656 (+5), 329 needed for a majority.

These results are a disappointment for the Conservatives, who had held the lead in polling until the last few weeks. It is expected the Conservatives will change leader, although there has been no formal announcement. The bookies favourite to replace John Major is Micheal Portillo.

Labour also did well in the local elections, though the SNP, and Plaid Cymru, did well in their regions, and the Greens saw a surge of seats across the country [12] especially in Brighton and Hove area. In the London elections….

Jospin Landslide Against Le Pen
May 8, 1995

President-Elect Jospin shaking hands with former opponent Jacques Chirac (Image from this article)

With most votes counted in France, Socialist Lionel Jospin has defeated far right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in a landslide 81-19[13] victory. 3 million more voters came out to vote in the second round than in the first round to express displeasure over the possibility of a Le Pen victory. In his victory speech a calm Jospin declared this a win, “not just for myself, but for the reform movement that has sprung up in support of my campaign.” He continued, “This movement carries all of our hopes, and all those who believe in the values of justice and progress must come together to prolong this hope and prepare tomorrow's success.' [14]. For his part the defeated Le Pen countered this message calling his defeat a “defeat of hope in France” and condemning the “lies” from Jospin’s campaign and condemning the refusal to appear at a debate with him [15]. The new President-Elect vowed to call a Parliamentary election to fulfil his promise of….

Socialists Win Big in French Legislative Election
June 11, 1995
Capitalizing on division in the opposition, the French Socialists have taken a plurality in the legislative election. Winning 264 [16] seats, Socialist Francois Hollande is expected to form a cohabitation agreement with the other left parties to become the next Prime Minister of France. While polls suggested that the right would hold their majority over the Legislature, it would seem that the inability of the French right to reconcile quickly after their bitter Presidential campaign allowed the French to get more candidates into the second round of legislative election. The French right were also not helped by Le Pen’s supporters largely staying home in the 2nd round and refusing to help the right parties that had support Jospin last month. The new legislature is expected to address President Jospin’s call for a reduction in terms from seven to five as well as….

-------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Compare with IOTL’s PES - 198, EPP - 157

[2]Compare with OTL’s Labour - 62, Conservative - 18

[3] IOTL, Prime Minister Dehaene pulled out Belgian peacekeepers after several were tortured and killed protecting Prime Minister Uwilingiliyimana. With no support coming on the horizon, Dehaene pulled his troops out which allowed the genocide to get started. Here, President Gore is involved in the UN approval to do something and convinces Dehaene to stay in Rwanda by supplying the sorts of soft help of advisers, equipment, and supplies you’d expect while they push the UN to support a larger peacekeeping effort.

[4] As Prime Minister IOTL, John Major single handedly torpedoed Dehaene over the federalism question and forced the Commission to select Luxembourg Prime Minister Jacques Santer instead who was softer on the issue. The European Parliament almost refused to confirm Santer’s appointment over how they felt Major handled this.

[5] The Guardian’s headline from IOTL

[6]]With the moved up TL of the peace process, George Mitchell only just ended his time as Senate Majority at this point ITTL.

[7]IOTL and ITTL Ambassador Richard Moore left this position to help with the Presidential campaign. IOTL, HW’s pick for replacement William HG Fitzgerald bumbled his way through the confirmation and raised some concerns about his ability for the job. With the peace process shifted up a year, a number of Irish American Senators including Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, and George Mitchell tell HW he needs to pick someone who’s capable and so is withdrawn and replaced with HW’s long term political rival Donald Rumsfeld

[8] IOTL this went to former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell who retired in 1994; Bruce Morrison was the leading contender if Clinton had chosen to fill such a position in 1993. There is no year long breakdown in talks ITTL because while John Major kept bleeding seats and relying on the Northern Ireland Unionists, Neil Kinnock has a fairly free hand to keep the talks going.

[9]The headline from the Guardian in 2002 when Le Pen made it into the runoff.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/22/thefarright.france

[10]Final Results
Lionel Jospin - 24.3 (+1% compared to IOTL)
Jean-Marie Le Pen - 18 (+3% compared to IOTL)
Jacques Chirac - 17.84 (-3% compared to IOTL)
Edourd Ballard - 17.58 (-1% compared to IOTL)
Little c conservative voters are a bit more dissatisfied IOTL for a number of cultural and political reasons and as Chirac and Ballard wallop each other more far right RPR voters migrate to Le Pen, while more moderate ones just stay home.

[11] Labour wins due to a bounce from the Good Friday Agreement
[12] Greens getting a boost from the Gore green initiatives being reflected globally.

[13] Compare with Chirac’s 82-18 victory over Le Pen in 2002 as well as Chirac’s 53-47 victory over Jospin in 1995.
[14] Tweaked Jospin’s concession speech.
[15] All from Le Pen’s 2002 concession.

[16] Legislative Seats (Changes Since 1993)
Socialists: 264 (+211)
RPR: 127 (-115)
UfD: 114 (-93)
Communists: 40 (+16)
Greens: 8 (+8)
FN: 2 (+1)

 

[ajm8888]

Approved by @Geekhis Khan
Chapter 8: A Cult of Terror in Japan Continued
Excerpt from Lost Decade/Found Decade: The Transformation of Postwar Japan from 1989 to 2009 By Daniel Ambrose [1] Retrieved via Netsite Archive [2]

The Failure of the System to Stop Aum.

Despite the public outcry for investigation against Aum Shinrikyo by early March, the Nagano Police were still dead set on Yoshiyuki Kono as their suspect in the Matsumoto gas attack. [3] They would refuse to budge from that. That is typical in Japan at the time as they cannot admit the system was wrong. Lead detectives were still on the case and still harassed Kono as he visited his comatose wife in the hospital. Though the idea of harassing Kono at the hospital came from the top of the Nagano Prefecture Police. Yamanashi Police did not contact other departments on Aum activities when there was the alleged manufacture of Sarin but Yamanashi Police did not investigate the complaints of villagers. As with the Sakamotos going missing in 1989, they were reported missing in Tokyo but the Sakamotos lived in Kanagawa Prefecture. And police departments in Japan have their jurisdictional fights. Almost all departments hated Tokyo with how they took over investigations that went into their jurisdiction. This hindered a search into the missing family and the police thought the family just left without notice. Not uncommon for one member of a family in Japan especially after 1991 but in 1989, before the economy of Japan really soured? It was unlikely. This on top of an attitude that things like rape, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and stalking were not viewed as severe crimes but smoking marijuana was such a terrible offense. [4] This was not helped by a still unknown number of officers in various departments being Aum members and spies.

Then there was the problem with the Public Security Intelligence Agency as they didn’t investigate Aum at all. At least no evidence was found that a serious investigation was carried out. The usual background investigations were done but nothing beyond that. The PSIA was more interested in going after the Chosen Soren AKA Chongryon AKA General Association of Korean Residents in Japan. [5] They did not do anything to investigate Aum. While some of this was due to misjudging the threats, another part of this was because of the decisions of the Public Security Examination Commission. The Public Security Examination Commission was the governing body for the PSIA. They decided on what cases the agency went after. Now in a very Japanese manner the Commission was very much based on seniority and social harmony which means it is a lot of consensus or going with the group. It is similar in Japan when judges see innocent plaintiffs brought before the court and they find them guilty because they signed a confession, ignoring the fact they were held in a police station for months, but the judge decided that going against the police would “make waves”. The other issue was the Subversive Activities Prevention Act had a provision in it that prevented the unreasonable restriction of religion, expression, assembly, and other protected civil rights of Japanese citizens. The PSEC was scared of going after Aum Shinrikyo since in the 1960s they sent the PSIA after Soka Gakkai and they got caught and had a scandal erupt from that. In the end, the PSIA and the failure of the police led to Aum’s attacks against Japan being so severe. Instead of investigating them in 1989 after the Sakamato’s went missing and referring the case to the police, the PSIA did nothing. The PSIA being under the Ministry of Justice, and similar to MI5 meant it had no arresting power but also it lacked clear communication with local police agencies. PSEC did not want a scandal and what the PSEC said the PSIA did. So everything that could have been stopped Though most of the PSEC would not be around to be replaced.

When Aum members ran in the 1990 General Election. No Aum member won a seat in the Diet. They wore these creepy Asahara masks. (Source Sankei/Getty Images)

The politicians and bureaucrats never really thought much of Aum Shinrikyo, they thought it was an odd cult but it really never got its political feet wet after their electoral failure in the 1990 general election.[6] As Japan went through the political changes brought on by the Boeing Scandal, [7] the Recruit Scandal, the Souske Uno sex scandal, [8] the Tokuo Yamashita sex scandal, the Socialist victory in the snap election of 1991[9], the end of the economic miracle, The Segawa Express Scandal, the systemic corruption of amakudari, and various problems with government embezzlement from the Cabinet Office down to local governments to name a few, the cult skated not noticed by the political world. The Japanese Government was too distracted with their problems and a bad economy to notice Aum’s dangerous message and if they did notice it was often drowned out by angered voters, upset foreign investors, and so forth.

Foreign governments could have clued the Japanese Government that something was going on with Aum Shinrikyo but they either did not notice or old rivalries prevented other governments noticing. In the Union of Sovereign States, religion being made legal again opened a door for Aum Shinrikyo to get more recruits. And in the USR, Aum Shinrikyo got 60,000 members from 1991 to1995. [10] At the same time Shoko Asahara visited the USR and met senior USR government officials. Meanwhile, through bribes the cult had members under Akita Yamada train with Sovereign Army troops in the Far East Military district. The Aum offices in Russia opened and they gained followers as did other cults quack religions. It was more important to the cult that they gained access to Russian made armaments. From the AK-47 family of assault rifles, Rocket Propelled Grenades, squad machine guns, and other individually operated or crewed weapons. The cult purchased an Mi-17 helicopter via arms dealer Eduard Snatkin [11] and purchased many Russian made weapons through him but when he was arrested the Russians did not know it was Aum Shinrikyo interested in the Aral Sea biological weapons test site. [12] The Australian Government could have informed the Japanese Government about the cult activities in Australia in 1993 when they brought illegal chemicals into Australia. The illegal chemicals were not drugs so it did not warrant notification. Nor did Australian Customs closely inspect sake bottles as the contents weren’t sake, but Sarin. But this was due to attitudes in Austrian Security Services and repercussions from mistrust by Labor against the ASIO and the general view by internal allies that ASIS was a “Mickey Mouse'' Agency. [13]

The last group that failed to stop Aum Shinrikyo was the Japanese press. The Japanese press treated the cult like it was a freak show. It was bizarre and weird and Japanese TV ate it up. They would put Asahara on any daytime TV when he could or interview him and they gave him a platform to promote his cult. The worst offender was the Tokyo Broadcasting System, they violated confidentiality and that led to the deaths of the Sakamotos by Aum members in November 1989. The cult had gotten away with that murder for five and a half years. The media then quickly jumped onto accepting Yoshiyuki Kono as the suspect due publishing an incorrect opinion by a leading military expert on how Sarin is made. The most famous media interview of Asahara was by “Beat” Takeshi Kitano, comedian, actor, director, writer, and television host. [14] There were reporters and some newspapers that did not report positively on Aum, Shimbum Akahata (Newspaper Red Banner) [15] did not like Aum and referred to the religion as theft of millions of yen. Despite the press changing views thanks to the Yomiuri story and older stories coming up again, if the press had been more critical of Aum perhaps the attacks could have been avoided.

Incidents Before 3/20

Besides kidnapping and killing people who rescued and hid cult members and killing perceived opposition with VX [16], Aum Shinrikyo was busy preparing for November 1995. While 1997 was the prophesied date for doomsday [17] the cult was going to kick off doomsday at the end of the year due to their plans to overthrow the government it had the simple name “National Overthrow Plan.” They planned on using a modified MIL Mi-17 helicopter with crop dusting modifications to spray Tokyo with Sarin. They would emerge from the chaos with allies in the military and kick off World War III, or ride out World War III.

As silly or bizarre this plan may seem to many now, what is scary is how close the cult got to carrying out its plans and what parts they carried out. They were starting a major operation to make Sarin, VX, Phosgene gas, cyanide gas, and explosives. Aum Shinrikyo had tried to make a nuclear bomb and they had made a large amount of conventional explosives. While their nuclear ambitions were squashed The cult was focused on making sarin and other gasses but at the start of the year their plans to make Sarin at their compound in Kamikuishiki hit three major roadblocks.

The first roadblock was the story in Yomiuri Shimbun [18], accusing the cult of being the party responsible for the Matsumoto Sarin attack. But also their poisoning of residents of Kamikuishiki village because of them making Sarin was made public. It was not helped that Taro Takimoto who besides helping the Aum Victim’s Association was keeping the anti-Aum message alive. As Takimoto would when asked to talk to reporters from other papers, TV, or radio would happily do so. His campaign was helped by the poisoning of Hiroyuki Nagaoka

The second roadblock was the poisoning of Hiroyuki Nagaoka, head of the Aum Victim’s Association. This act was viewed by the police foolishly as if it was suicide. [19] A police detective connected to the case but not on it would say years later they did not view the Nagaoka poisoning seriously. “I mean our division in the police usually deal with suicides, murders in Japan happen but we go out mostly to every hanging, poisoning, seppuku, and everyday you can imagine a person killing oneself and you get the picture.” Nagaoka was poisoned by a VX nerve agent solution being dropped on his neck via a syringe and absorbed into the skin. Nagaoka’s plight got attention in Japan and really started turning public opinion against Aum Shinrikyo.

Then finally, there were still internal problems In the cult. There were cultists who believed in what Asahara was saying but not the method. These members had tried several times to either take over the cult or undermine Asahara’s authority. This often left members in Aum Shinrikyo’s improvised prison at the Satyan complex near Mount Fuji. But dissidents in the cult still persisted. So Asahara had his inner circle deal with them, often by killing them.

Then the problem with the abduction of Kiyoshi Kariya came about at the end of February 1995. Kariya had helped his sister escape from the cult and the cult wanted her as she had given the cult $600,000 dollars, they figured she had more. However, they could not find his sister and abducted Kariya. However, when trying to sedate Kariya his abductors overdosed him on anesthetic. His body was taken to the Aum Satyan compound and Kariya’s body was cremated in the microwave incinerator they had on the property.

However, the public had mostly turned against Aum by mid-March 1995. But the cult was moving onto something much more dangerous.

Before 3/20, there were some failed attacks against metros in Yokohama and Nagoya [20] but these were only suspected Aum attacks . A confirmed failed attack was on March 15th, 1995 when they attempted to release botulism at Kasumigaseki Station. A cult member replaced the botulism laced liquid with water. This went unnoticed by police until later.

However, the police finally decided to act, not on any of the rumored terrorist attacks but the abduction of Kiyoshi Kariya after his sister told authorities of the terrors going on in the Aum Shinrikyo compound in the shadow of Mount Fuji. The Testimony of Kariya’s sister was what helped persuade authorities to act. At the same time Hiroyuki Nagaoka awoke from a 69 day coma and began to remember that someone had bumped into him before he was poisoned. Multiple prefectural police forces would raid the Kamikuishiki compound to search for Kariya.

There was a problem with the police plan for the March 22nd raid, the cult had spies in both the police and the Japan Self Defense Force. When the plans for the raid went out to law enforcement, Aum’s spies told the Aum leadership. This put the cult into a panic. They needed to distract the authorities from their search. The cult began up its sarin manufacturing again after having it disabled for months due to the fear of a police raid. So this sarin was made quickly and dirty. It was very impure and had a brownish tint to the fuild’s color. They made 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of sarin. Four of the five men carrying out the attack carried two packets totaling approximately 0.9 liters (30 US fl oz) of sarin, except for Yasuo Hayashi, who had three bags with 1.3 liters each of sarin.

Before the attack an Aum member was murdered. The reason for this was to make it look like the cult was under attack by ruthless enemies opposed to their message. The member picked was a member of Aum’s laborer class and was from a poor fishing family from Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture. Asahara’s bodyguard, Akira Yamagata, murdered Kijuro Akiyama (26) in Shirakawa Park, Naka Ward, Nagoya on March 19th, 1995.[21]

Yamagata would also lob a Molotov cocktail at the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo. He also left anti-Aum leaflets on the walls of the headquarters. At the same time a bomb went to a pro-Aum scholar, he had ‘fortunately’ moved. But Yamagata knew the apartment would be empty.

Tokyo Subway Attack

A common factor in the Sarin attacks was Kasumigaseki Station (Source: Wikipedia)

Monday March 20th, 1995 seemed to most Tokyo Commuters to be like any other day. There were issues with ticketing, repairs being done to the various lines. The news of voice actor Yasuo Yamada’s death was still fresh in the morning papers. But as the morning commuters began to go to work the insidious sarin attack would begin.

Three subway lines were picked, the Chiyoda Line, the Marunouchi Line, and the Hibiya Line. Two lines, the Marunouchi Line and the Hibiya Line, had two perpetrators going in opposite direction Ogikubo-bound and Ikebukuro-bound on the Marunouchi Line and on the Hibiya Line the two perpetrators there were going towards Tōbu Dōbutsu Kōen-bound and Naka-Meguro-bound. [22] The perpetrators were going on the three lines and puncture the bags before leaving from the subway at a planned station.

The Tokyo Subway system is not just one subway but two. Eidan (Teito Kōsokudo Kōtsū Eidan) and Toei (Toei chikatetsu). The two subways often have stations with lines that cohabit the platforms. This is uniquely Japanese in its operation. The subways were operated by different groups, Eidan was operated by the Ministry of Transport and Toei was operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. This system in both the bureaucratic and the physical sense would complicate stopping the spread of sarin.

Sarin is a terrible weapon. Made by the Nazis in 1939, they mass produced but never used it in battle or in the death camps. Many of the Cold War Powers made sarin weapons in the 1950s. The first use of sarin didn’t occur until 1988 and was used by Saddam Hussein’s Baathist Iraq. All nerve agents cause their toxic effects by preventing the proper operation of an enzyme that acts as the body’s “off switch” for glands and muscles. Without an “off switch,” the glands and muscles are constantly being stimulated. Exposed people may become tired and no longer be able to keep breathing. Sarin is the most volatile of the nerve agents. This means it can easily and quickly evaporate from a liquid into a vapor and spread into the environment. People can be exposed to the vapor even if they do not come in contact with the liquid form of sarin. People exposed to a low or moderate dose of sarin may experience some or all of the following symptoms within seconds to hours of exposure: runny nose, watery eyes, small, pinpoint pupils, eye pain, blurred vision, drooling and excessive sweating, cough, chest tightness, rapid breathing, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and/or abdominal pain, increased urination, confusion, drowsiness, weakness. headache, slow or fast heart rate, and low or high blood pressure. Exposure to large doses of sarin by any route may result in the following harmful health effects: loss of consciousness, convulsions, paralysis, and respiratory failure possibly leading to death. The reason Aum picked the subway was simple: confined spaces meant the sarin would be more effective than via helicopter or via their spray truck. [23]

The perpetrators would get on the train and either puncture the bags before the stop they got off on or about halfway through the tunnel before the stop. The perpetrators would then, at the next stop, get off the train quickly. They would go into a getaway car and apply atropine to counter the effects of the sarin. When looking for the sarin bags, the police found them wrapped in various newspapers, like the Soka Gakkai paper or the communist party paper to the more conventional newspapers like The Nikkei or Sports Hochi.

Yasuo Hayashi carried more sarin as the cult leadership did not trust him entirely, he took large quantities and his bags of sarin had more impurities than the rest to prove his loyalties. The fact the whole batch of sarin was impure was a major blessing as since all sarin bags were found punctured by police, if the sarin was a better quality the casualties would be higher than 27.[24]

The perpetrators were also armed with umbrellas with sharpened tips. This was designed to puncture the bags containing the sarin. The five perpetrators all stabbed their bags multiple times. No sarin bags remained unpierced when police and fire department hazmat teams along with Japanese Ground Self Defense Force chemical troops would find them during the investigation. [25]

It quickly became apparent to passengers something was wrong. They felt ill, nauseous, their vision darkened, severe headaches, respiratory problems that got worse, they would have nose bleeds that became more severe, and muscular spasms that became more severe. As the passengers felt more ill, panic began to take hold. As the early effects of the strain hit, people began to pour out of trains affected in mass when they arrived at the stations. They had no idea what was going on; they just knew to get out. Station staff knew something was wrong but not what and allowed people to evacuate through the ticket halls of the subway stations. Several station attendants tried to clean up the sarin bags and did a heroic job with them either paying with major injury or death.

As the panic began to spread the media of Japan became aware and the TV reporters of the major private networks and NHK would arrive on scene to many stations. Tsukiji was one of the first followed by Kasumigaseki, and others had the press flock there as emergency services set up battlefield hospitals of victims on the streets. The media was too busy filming and would be more interested in the suffering of the victims than helping the people or emergency services with the victims. [26]

The subway authorities still had trains going while most of the affected trains had stopped at a platform, the system was still active, it was pushing air contaminated at stations affected by the sarin through other lines. As a new train came in the air was pushed through a station onto other platforms and down those lines, It was not until 10 AM a half hour after the last affected train had stopped that both subway systems Eidan and Teio were stopped. The Tokyo subway system was at a standstill.

No one in the police or fire department knew this was sarin at first. Hospitals quickly grew swamped with patients, though most weren’t serious, they were scared. This being months after the Kobe Earthquake and hospitals saying they had a disaster plan, it became apparent they did not. [27] Plenty of sarin victims went to their jobs, with sarin residue affecting them and others. Many victims of the sarin attack were helping other victims of sarin escape from the subway. It wasn’t until a professor watching the events unfold on TV realized it was Sarin and called the authorities. Dr. Nobuo Yanagisawa had treated the sarin victims from Matsumoto the previous year. City hospitals had a lack of atropine and other medicines to counter Sarin’s effect; they would call on rural hospitals for atropine and other similar cures since Japanese pesticides are very toxic. [28] JR also ran a special bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo filled with atropine since a major factory that made the drug was in Osaka.

As the day continued the Governor of Tokyo asked for the Self Defense Forces help and quickly got medical aid and GSDF troops trained in decontamination to scrub affected trains, platforms, ticket lobbies and so forth. While most stations would reopen in a day or two, Kasumigaseki station was closed for almost a week. The international press got a hold of this on the first day Aum Shinrikyo was being talked about as a potential culprit.

The injured from the deadly gas attack in Tokyo on March 20, 1995, are treated by rescue workers near Tsukiji subway station.
(Source: Kyodo / Reuters)

Soldiers of the JGSDF Chemical Corps cleaning up a subway car of Sarin (Jiji Press-JSDF—AFP/Getty Images)

The Police Raid and the Investigation

Tokyo Police, the National Police Agency and other police agencies began their investigation into the attacks and quickly one culprit rose to the top, Aum Shinrikyo. The police would raid Aum’s headquarters and their offices nationwide. Ten thousand police officers would raid the various cult offices across Japan. The largest force raided their Fuji Satyan compound. This was the largest police raid in Japanese history at that time. For the Kamikuishiki raid they had given officers gas masks, JGSDF chemical troops were on scene and on standby as was the JGSDF 1st Airborne Brigade if the cult decided to put up a fight. [29]

The police would raid the cult compound and various offices and find very little resistance. Aum Shinrikyo leaders went into hiding on March 21st and the raid happened on the 22nd. Shoko Asahara did warn of a major event on April 15th but the cult leaders were not found in Kamikuishiki. But what police found stunned them.

At the compound, police discovered a Russian military helicopter that had been modified for crop dusting which they later found out was for sarin distribution, they found a chemical factory for explosives, for chemical weapons, drugs, labs for biological warfare, holding cells for prisoners, microwave incinerators, and more.

Aum Shinrikyo Compound, viewed from the air. In those buildings are biolabs, chemical factories, and explosives. (Source: Getty)

Riot Police Raid Aum Compound at Kamikuishiki, Mount Fuji in the background. (Source: Associated Press)

The police found fifty cultists in varying degrees of consciousness, they had been fasting for a week. The police took six of the most ill cultists to the hospital. There were the cold baths, the hot baths, hot sand, and other initiation and strength building methods the cult used. These methods had accidentally killed a few members in the past due to said cult members not having high enough tolerances for these tortuous practices.

Also discovered in the Satyan complex was failed attempts at an AK-74 copy. Most looked like they were non-firing or had exploded. [30] The government of Japan for weeks after the attack thought that the sarin was of Russian origin until they discovered the sarin factory at Satyan and figured out what it was.

The investigation discovered the more odd side of the cult, they had begun construction of a processing facility to bottle the bath water of Shoko Asahara to sell to members for 10,000 Yen (about a hundred dollars) a bottle. They found clippings of Asahara’s hair, his toenails, fingernails ,and bags filled with his leftovers. [31] Also discovered were crystals that Asahara allegedly imbued with his essence, this was inspired by the popularity of Dark Crystal. There were also plenty of Aum Shinrikyo, audio and video tapes, anime, and books. They also found some Hitler memorabilia. It was later discovered that Asahara was like Hitler. [32]

As these investigations went on the police looked for the body of Kiyoshi Kariya. The police suspected he was dead but had little evidence that he was deceased. Minoru Kariya, Kiyoshi’s son and Kiyoshi’s sister who escaped Aum, Aiko Nishina, had not heard from him in over a month and they wanted answers. The release of Aum Prisoners from the compound relay to the police Aum’s imprisonment activities.

The police found evidence that the cult had frequently used the incinerator but not until later did they find evidence it had been used on humans. Ikuo Hayashi, the man who had put the sarin bags on the Chiyoda line and Aum’s “Minister for Health”, would admit to police he and several other cultists had killed Kariya either via overdose or Kariya having some unknown health issue when injecting the 68 year old with sodium thiopental, though this was revealed later.

Meanwhile the Australian authorities went to the property Aum purchased, Banjawarn Station, and investigated the massive property eventually finding the sheep the cult tested the sarin on. Also discovered was evidence of explosives that were tested on the Banjawarn Station property, though this was discovered after 4/15. This created quite a bit of outrage directed at the Australian Customs Service for failing to prevent sarin nerve agent from entering Australian territory. Fierce political debate occurred on the floor of the House of Representatives on the failure of the agency.

However as the investigation occurred the cult made its next strike.

Assassination the NPA Police Chief Takaji Kunimatsu

While leaving his Tokyo apartment National Police Agency Commissioner General Takaji Kunimatsu was shot four times. The 57 year old Kunimatsu was without a security detail but there was never such an attempt against a sitting Commissioner General, so the Commissioner General had no security detail. He was shot by a man in a black coat and surgical mask. Three shots hit Kunimatsu, four shots were fired from a Colt Python revolver. One round missed, Kunimatsu.

Kunimatsu was rushed to a nearby hospital but despite eight hours of surgery, and three attempts to resuscitate Kunimatsu, he died on the operating table due to blood loss and the damage to his liver caused by a round hitting Kunimatsu in the liver. [33] Kunimatsu’s killer would call several TV and radio stations claiming he was the killer of Kunimatsu and threatened Tokyo Metropolitan Police Chief Yukihiko Inoue, saying, ““I killed Kunimatsu. Inoue is next.”

The perpetrator was Toshiyuki Kosugi, a police officer in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. He was persuaded by an unknown Aum leader, Kosugi never revealed his masters or co-conspirators in the plot. Three weeks later as he was investigated in the aftermath of 4/15 Kosugi was found dead in Shinjuku Gyoen Park after not coming into duty one day. He had hanged himself, the reasons he gave in his suicide note was that he was used by the cult and misled into killing the NPA Police commissioner. [34]

Kunimatsu was replaced by his deputy, Yuko Sekiguchi, in at first an acting capacity then on a permanent basis. Home Affairs Minister Hiromu Nonaka, called the assassination “A challenge against the state and democracy and a disgrace in front of the world.” Since Kunimatsu was the head of the Aum Shinrikyo investigation the police believed his assassination was related to the sarin attacks and to create chaos in the investigation. It did create some chaos but the investigation was largely uninterrupted by this attack.

But these attacks were drawing the ire of the new opposition to the weak response by Socialist-LDP government of Tomiichi Murayama. Leader of the New Frontier Party Ichiro Ozawa claimed, “The Socialist reluctance to use the Japanese Self Defense Force and enact Articles 78 and 79 of the Self Defense Force Law. But the fact this government is reluctant to use the JSDF for disaster operations proves their weakness.” Ozawa and many members of the LDP were unhappy with hesitation to use the JSDF to respond to this operation outside of Article 83. [35]

But as the investigation continued and police looked for Aum Shinrikyo they would make their next move.

---

Posted with the permission of

[1] Fictional Author
[2] This world’s version of Internet Archive
[3] As stated before Nagano police thought Kono was guilty but this is not uncommon in Japan and there have been innocent men sent to prison in a version of the Central Park jogging case interrogation on steroids. Being interrogated for days from 9AM to 12AM
[4] In OTL the Japanese view marijuana on the same level as meth. And for a long time stalking wasn’t considered a crime in Japan and nor was inappropriate touching on the cramped subway cars. It led to women only cars in some city,
[5] Chongryon is a North Korean friendship organization that is sort of a de facto embassy of North Korea in Japan and used for spying and possible abductions. There is a South Korean group too.
[6] Aum Shinrikyo ran 24 candidates, including Asahara, none won. Asahara only got 1200 votes in his election.
[7] The Boeing Scandal, when JAL 123 belly landed in Sagami Bay the subsequent investigation revealed Boeing knew JAL repair personnel did an incorrect splice plate but JAL was a MAJOR client of Boeing it reminded the Japanese of the Lockheed Scandal of a decade prior. More will be revealed in a future post.
[8] Souske Uno was briefly Prime Minister after Takeshita, he had an affair with a geisha that was first reported by foreign press but came to domestic news in Japan. Considered the first modern Japanese sex scandal. Politicians had affairs before but they weren’t reported.
[9] A snap election called in March 1991 in this universe due to an attempt to oust Toshiki Kaifu due to reforms he backed as Prime Minister by former PM Takeshita. This resulted in the LDP losing their majority and the socialists coming to power. More to be reveal later.
[10] Estimated number of Russians in Aum was about 50,000 in our world so I upped it due to the USR being more together.
[11] Snatkin, a Russian gun runner character. He sold weapons to the cult primarily though he was arrested when he talked about stealing from Aralsk-7.
[12] Aum was interested in Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical weapons. Going to a city near the Aral Sea version of Porton Down made sense in universe. They were also close to the Kazakhstan nuclear test site in universe but security on NBC or CBRN weapons was taken seriously.
[13] Labor governments don’t like the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) as they spied on the left of Australia. Also ASIO probably was likely involved in the 1978 Sydney Hilton Bombing. The Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) were likely involved in the 1973 Chilean Coup, the Favaro Affair, the Sheraton Hotel incident (that’s a doozy, a training exercise that forgot to inform local police or the hotel), involvement in Papua New Guinea, and media revelations in 1994 on a lack of oversight. Both are pretty incompetent.
[14] Here is the interview:

[15] I have not found much on it but the Communist Paper (one of the largest in a non-communist state) did not like Aum.
[16] They poisoned a guy with VX whom they thought was spying on their office in Osaka.
[17] Per OTL Cult prediction
[18] Yomiuri is the biggest daily newspaper in Japan. At the Time it had millions of daily readers
[19] It is amazing how hesitant the police were going after Aum. This is based on reality.
[20] They didn’t do anything in Nagoya originally but it is a slight reference to “A Giant Sucking Sound” and Nagoya is the biggest port in Japan.
[21] A fictional member of the cult killed to make members, a minority of them, more easy to convince the government is after them.
[22] The names refer to the ending termini of each line in a certain direction.
[23] The sarin spray truck the cult had caught fire. That’s per OTL
[24] If the Sarin was more pure there would be more deaths.
[25] The big butterfly, more casualties are the result of more punctures in our world. Not all the sarin bags were punctured in our world. This allowed for more deaths due to more liquid sarin turning into a gas. Also increased injuries.
[26] Much of the Japanese media personnel got in the way of emergency services as they conducted rescue operations in OTL. I did not see a reason to change that.
[27] Despite the Kobe Earthquake many hospitals were not equipped to handle the flood of patients. One exception was St. Luke’s International Hospital near Tsukiji.
[28] Japanese Pesticides are some of the most lethal in the world. It is often why you can’t find organicly grown vegetables in Japan.
[29] The First Airborne are important as they had some Aum spies in them.
[30] Aum’s Attempts to make AK-74s fell flat on their face. This is straight from reality.
[31] While I will admit I am stretching some things a little I am not stretching them too far as literally people would pay hundreds up to tens of thousand of dollars to lick Asahara’s plates, drink his bathwater, suck on his toes, eat his leftovers, and so forth as Aum Shinrikyo made Asahara a figure of purity.
[32] No Surprise he liked Hitler. This is also from reality.
[33] Kunimatsu was very lucky in our world and barely survived, here he was shot in the liver and died after a similar fight.
[34] Toshiyuki Kosugi would live and never see the inside of a jail cell in our world here after 4/15 he feels betrayed and used.
[35] The articles mentioned are there in case of use for the JSDF 78 and 79 are for “security operations” and their preparation. Security operations are if police cannot handle a problem. Article 83 is force mobilization in case of a disaster which is a very common use of the JSDF.

 

[Denliner]

DisneySea (1995)

“Welcome to all that set foot in this gateway to the Pacific Ocean. DisneySea is dedicated to those who venture out on the open seas for exploration, adventure, and discovery. From the cleanest beaches to the deepest depths, each Port of Call is a journey toward the wonders of the ocean and the unknown. May DisneySea inspire the hearts and minds of everyone that treasures our blue planet, Earth.”
- Jim Henson, CCO and Acting Chairman of the Walt Disney Company, 1995

A Visitor's Guide to DisneySea - EN
All 6 Port of Calls of DisneySea are included here, including all of the attractions, restaurants, and more!

Oceana
Oceana is the centerpiece of the park, consisting of a futuristic two-story aquarium structure that allows visitors to see simulated aquatic ecosystems from all across the world. Additionally, it has the ability to do tidal exchanges with the ocean itself through the Tidal Pool, allowing guests to peer into real aquatic life from the inside. The building contains many different interactive displays pertaining to the ocean from marine ecosystems to the anatomy of different sea creatures to even how climate change affects the ocean. Some of these displays even allow visitors to view the world through the eyes of multiple sea animals like an octopus, a lobster, a whale, and others. Of course, another highlight is the Future Research Center, a facility similar to the ones in The Living Seas and The Land pavilions at EPCOT, where scientists come together to conduct cutting-edge research in oceanography and marine biology. Researchers can also provide live hands-on demonstrations or lectures to guests about their own research or about marine life not covered in the interactive displays.

Disney also provides a tour of the entire facility to guests where they can just observe researchers on their own work. If guests are interested in learning more about the ocean for themselves at a more academic level, then the Ocean Outreach Center is the place where they can read about marine life, look through computers about the ocean, and even uncover research files. Lastly, Oceana possesses a single ride in Echoes of the Deep, an educational simulator ride where guests can get inside a large deep-sea submersible and dive into the deepest parts of the ocean and explore the unusual wonders, fantastical animals, and the immense dangers of the darkest, coldest, and most barren places on the planet.

(Image Sources: Oceana Concept Art)

Spoiler: Oceana Attractions

Attractions:

• Interactive Displays with Zippy and Turner - Interactive Experience
  • Throughout the Oceana aquarium, there are many interactive displays that illustrate facts about the ocean from anatomy to ecosystems to specific animals, etc.
  • These displays are hosted by Zippy the Sea Lion and Turner the Bottlenose Dolphin, a pair of mischievous yet intelligent and friendly animated characters that serve as the mascots of DisneySea. They’re inspired by the massive success of the Dreamfinder and Figment as unofficial (later official) mascots of EPCOT.
  • There are also cameras that allow guests to see through the eyes of certain creatures like lobsters, octopi, whales, fish, etc.
• Future Research Center - Research Facility
  • The research facility of DisneySea, it contains state-of-the-art equipment and a staff consisting of the top marine biologists and oceanographers from across Southern California such as Long Beach, San Diego, and Santa Monica.
  • The center also engages in sea rescue and conservation efforts, using its facilities to help care for injured or endangered animals.
  • Functions similarly to the Living Seas and especially the Land pavilion at EPCOT.
  • Additionally, researchers hold lectures and hands-on demonstrations to visiting guests regularly to explain their current research developments or introduce concepts that the interactive displays have not touched, allowing guests to participate in unique and highly engaging activities.
  • Future Research Center Tour - Guide Tour
    • Unlike Living with the Land, it is a simple tour across the facility with a cast member.
    • It was decided that an Omnimover-ride system would be far too difficult and expensive to implement inside the cutting-edge aquarium that houses live animals.
• Ocean Outreach Center - Information Center / Library
  • Working as a library and information center, the Center is used to inform guests about the ocean in a more academic setting, with reference books, computer terminals, and public research files from universities and colleges across California.
• Echoes of the Deep - Simulator
  • Considered to be the most advanced simulator ride that Disney has ever built, it is an educational attraction focused on exploring the wonders and dangers of the deep ocean.
  • Based on Star Tours, the simulators are similar as they also use the ATLAS system, albeit built like deep-sea submersibles.
  • Hosted by two characters based on real-life staff in DisneySea’s Future Research Center, they serve as guides in another submersible as they dive deeper into the ocean until they reach the ocean floor (later on, a future refurbishment has them tackle Challenger Deep, the deepest point in the Marianas Trench).
    • They’re coded to be an LGBT couple in honor of Richard Hunt and Howard Ashman, although they’re made official shortly after same-sex marriage is legalized in the timeline, making them one of the few LGBT characters in a Disney park. [1]
  • Major highlights on opening day include the introduction of an anglerfish, siphonophores, viperfish, a battle between a Sperm Whale and a Colossal Squid, marine snow and the vampire squid, and the undersea vents at the bottom of the ocean containing extremophile animals like worms, sponges, crabs, and etc.
  • Unlike Star Tours, the first iteration of the ride was animated by Walt Disney Animation Studios, but later iterations rely more on Disney 3D’s CGI technology, especially in the 2000s and 2010s when realism becomes more of a reality.
    • Major ride updates occur in 2004, 2012, and 2020.

American Boardwalk
The largest Port of Call in all of DisneySea, it’s considered to be so large and full of attractions that it’s considered to be an individual theme park in its own right. Because of its size, it’s split into two separate lands: The Pike, a timeless homage to the original Long Beach amusement park, perfectly capturing the 50s aesthetic of the “Nu-Pike” era, and Kermit’s Swamp, a miniature water park based on the Mississippi riverfront, Kermit’s birthplace, although Robin is considered to be the unofficial mascot of the area. The highlight attraction of the American Boardwalk area is The Cyclone Twister, an improved rendition of the original Cyclone Racer, a twin-track wooden roller coaster, with it being bigger and more thrilling than its predecessor. Other attractions in The Pike include Disneyfied renditions of classic amusement park rides such as Goofy’s Sky School, Mickey’s Fun Wheel, Minnie’s Parasol Twirl, etc. There is some exceptions like Pete’s Knockout!, a much smaller prototype Space Shot from S&S, albeit themed to look like a vintage strength tester.

Unlike The Pike, Kermit’s Swamp is set in the Mississippi River during the early 20th century as both Walt Disney and Jim Henson were raised around this time. Because of this, it shares many similarities to Main Street U.S.A, though obviously set in a riverfront. While not as large as Typhoon Lagoon, a significant amount of detail and care has been taken to turn it into a Southern paradise during the summer, with sounds of crickets, frog croaks, and calming Southern music permeating every foot of the park. Mount Leland, named after Kermit the Frog’s birthplace is the main attraction of the park, containing the two water flumes that lead down to The Plunge, the large pool named after the original at the old Pike. Lastly, it also has other attractions like the Toadstool Geyser fountains and the walkthrough Firefly Grotto.

Due to the lack of intense theming and detail needed for The Pike thanks to the 50s era design compared to its counterparts, it is considered to be one of the cheapest lands that Disney has ever built for DisneySea. However, it has led to a number of detractors among Disney fans that wrote scathing opinions on the entire Port of Call due to its view as a dirty and tasteless boardwalk, believing that Henson and the Imagineers were straying from Walt’s vision for a theme park when they made The Pike. On the other hand, there were many locals and Disney fans who thanked Henson for reviving The Pike in the first place, albeit with a Disney flair. Both sides would clash over the decades over the existence and value of the American Boardwalk. Regardless, many parkgoers accepted its existence and even enjoyed the many rides and experiences that the boardwalk had to offer.

(Image Sources: The Pike)

Spoiler: American Boardwalk Attractions

Attractions:

• The Pike - Amusement Park
  • The Cyclone Twister - Wooden Roller Coaster
    • Considered to be a striking homage to the original Cyclone Racer at The Pike, it is also a two-track wooden roller coaster produced by Intamin.
    • However, it is much larger and more thrilling than its predecessor, as it is around 6,500-7,500k ft long (similar to California Adventure’s Incredicoaster).
    • The ride gets its name from the intense turns that the ride vehicles experience and the howling winds that riders experience due to the high speed of the coaster amidst the California winds.
    • While Disney has produced coasters like the Matterhorn and Space Mountain, this is the first official wooden coaster that they have ever commissioned and operated.
    • It has 4 ride vehicles, although the two tracks mean that two ride vehicles begin at the same time, essentially making it a race.
      • Fans have made up names for the ride vehicles during the opening years of DisneySea based on commonly known wind phenomena such as Cyclone and Typhoon for the A Track and Tornado and Hurricane for the B track. Eventually, they would be repainted to include these names.
      • Ride operators can modify which track finishes first. Coupled with the differing ride experiences of the two tracks, thrill-seekers constantly line up to ride the coaster.
  • Mickey’s Fun Wheel - Ferris Wheel
    • This rendition of Mickey’s Fun Wheel is significantly less terrifying because it’s based on a classic Ferris wheel with static cars instead of the swinging gondolas.
    • It still has Vintage Mickey’s face plastered on the sides, though.
  • Looff Carousel - Carousel
    • An indoor carousel based on the original Looff Carousels in California seaside boardwalks like in Long Beach.
  • Minnie’s Parasol Twirl - Umbrella Ride
    • A classic Umbrella/Paratrooper ride based on Minnie the Mouse, where the umbrellas are made to look like Minnie’s umbrellas in an assortment of pastel colors.
  • Disney Skyway - Chair Lift
    • A restored Disney Skyway after it was inevitably forced to be moved from Disneyland after the discovery of a stress fracture in the Matterhorn.
    • It’s mainly used as leisure and transportation from the north of The Pike to Kermit’s Swamp.
  • Pete’s Knockout! - Space Shot
    • One of the few modern ride systems at the vintage theme park, this ride had to be touched up so it appears as it was from the 50s.
    • Themed after a strength tester, Pistol Pete often taunts guests to go on the ride as he slams the hammer.
    • While a working and safe model, it is still a prototype Space Shot from S&S.
    • Unlike the Maliboomer, it’s shorter but lacks the scream shields as DisneySea is mostly isolated from the dense urban sprawl.
  • Jousting Bumper Cars - Bumper Cars
    • A play on a pike as a polearm weapon (even though a lance is more accurate in this case), the cars and buildings they’re housed in are themed after a medieval fair (similar to Fantasyland in 1955) with Disney characters dressed in Medieval costumes.
  • Silly Symphony Swings - Swing Ride
    • Same as OTL.
  • Goofy’s Sky School - Roll-O-Plane
    • Unlike the original Sky School, this Sky School is an actual flight simulator based on the original Roll-O-Plane rides used in The Pike and other vintage theme parks.
  • The Whirlpool - Teacups
    • Based on The Little Mermaid, this teacups ride has guests ride shells as they go around a whirlpool.
  • Flounder’s Flying Fish Coaster - Kiddie Coaster
    • Another modern ride system in The Pike, it is a kiddie coaster also based on The Little Mermaid.
    • It was built out of a need to cater to families and children in a park overwhelmingly in favor of more mature crowds.
  • Boardwalk Arcade / “The Pike Arcade” - Arcade / Shooting Gallery
    • A much larger arcade than the Pearl River Arcade, the Boardwalk Arcade sports classic boardwalk games in order to differentiate itself from its smaller counterpart, which houses more modern arcade games.
    • Unlike DCA in 2001, it often sports prizes consisting of pins, plushies, and other toys from both Disney and Muppets characters.
    • Figment, the Dreamteller - Interactive Experience
      • One of the most unique attractions in DisneySea, this attraction further improves on the actual Figment walkaround animatronic to become an even more lifelike rendition of the lovable dragon.
      • Two cast members control the static animatronic, with one providing the voice and visual effects of Figment while another controls the movement of the puppet through waldos from a remote location.
      • As befitting the “Fortune Teller” theme of this attraction, Figment is dressed in the Dreamfinder’s costume, often telling interested guests about their hopes and dreams while interjecting some jokes into a conversation.
  • Max’s Return to the Wild - Wilde Maus Roller Coaster
    • A Wilde Maus coaster themed after Where the Wild Things Are, this ride has guests whipped through the jungle along with Max and his friends, represented through cheap animatronics.
    • As befitting the theme of the ride, there are significant amounts of foliage and tree surrounding the coaster to give it an overgrown aesthetic, although Disney is careful to clear the track.
• Kermit’s Swamp - Mini Water Park
  • Mount Leland - Highlight
    • Named after Kermit’s birthplace, Mount Leland is the centerpiece of Kermit’s Swamp, with it containing steps towards the water flumes and ledges where guests could launch themselves toward The Plunge, the resident pool of the park.
    • Firefly Grotto - Walkthrough
      • Hidden at the bottom levels of Mount Leland, this walkthrough is themed after a real cave, albeit its surface is smoothed out to prevent injuries.
      • To add an educational element, this attraction has plaques and walls that detail the creation of Sam & Friends and Kermit the Frog.
      • At night, the Grotto springs to life with glowing water and firefly effects, making it a good hideaway and relaxation spot once the water park becomes too cold to use.
    • Mississippi River Bend - Water Flume
      • The more violent counterpart to the Ohio Cruise, this flume is more thrilling yet rougher to slide down from.
    • Ohio River Cruise - Water Flume
      • The alternative to the Mississippi Bend, this slide is a much smoother experience.
  • Toadstool Geysers - Water Fountains
    • A fairly large area of Kermit’s Swamp, this attraction has varying sizes of toadstool mushrooms that act as water fountains.
  • The Plunge - Pool
    • Named after the classic pool from the original Pike, this large pool makes up the majority of the water park.
    • It contains many different depth levels so kids and the rest of the family can enjoy the park, including a separate kiddie pool.
  • Blue Delta Riverfront - Shopping Complex
    • A shopping complex based on the turn of the century Mississippi waterfront, similar to Main Street, U.S.A.
    • It contains restrooms, restaurants, and shops that are separated from the water park by a living wall of swamp foliage (like cattails, trees, etc.)

Spoiler: American Boardwalk Notable Restaurants and Foods

Notable Restaurants and Foods:

• The Pike:
  • The Rockfish
    • A sit-down restaurant based on standard Californian cuisine, with a focus on local seafood and sustainability.
    • Most popular dishes include glazed salmon, fish and chips, shrimp scampi, and the legendary lemon rockfish.
  • Hippodrome Coffee
    • Located near the Looff Carousel, the Hippodrome serves quick-service snacks and coffee.
    • Interestingly, they also serve Greek-style frappes as a signature beverage.
    • There is a reference in the Hippodrome where there are frescoes of hippos from Fantasia, all wearing blue and green tutus. [2]
  • Agua Fresca Mexican Grill
    • Similar to the Rockfish, but instead focuses on local Mexican cuisine in Los Angeles County.
    • Fish tacos are considered to be extremely popular in the restaurant during the summer months.
  • Rainbow Pier Burgers
    • Named after Long Beach’s old Rainbow Pier, this is a quick-service burger joint, but the burgers are considered to be surprisingly good.
  • Lee’s Steakhouse
    • A very passionate homage to the original Lee’s Barbecue in The Pike, the steakhouse serves classic American barbecue with quality and care unheard of in a theme park.
  • Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta
    • Unlike the other restaurants, this one is a quick-service restaurant that serves cheap pizza and pasta for guests.
  • Snack Stalls
    • There are many snack stalls located throughout The Pike, serving classic boardwalk fare.
      • Examples include popcorn stands that serve unique sweet and savory flavors of the beloved snack.
      • Other stalls sell nachos, hot peanuts, potato chips, churros, corn dogs, and additional snack fare.
      • Eventually, more modern foods will arrive at the stalls such as elote, chile fruit skewers, and raspados.
  • Clarabelle’s Soda Fountain and Candies
    • Named after Clarabelle Cow, this classic soda fountain serves old soft drinks, floats, and candies.
    • Popular candies include special Disney candy apples, taffy, cotton candy, lollipops, fruit lozenges, etc.
    • They are especially known for bringing in Mexican coke as the primary flavoring for their classic Coke float and for standalone drinks, differentiating it from other restaurants in the park which use America’s current formulation.
• Kermit’s Swamp:
  • Blue Delta Restaurant
    • Serving classic Southern fare, Blue Delta Restaurant is a sit-down restaurant but prices are slightly higher than other restaurants due to its high quality.
    • It’s often known for its country ham, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, Southern-style BBQ, cornbread, etc. They even offer classic offerings from New Orleans Square like jambalaya, etouffee, and gumbo.
      • Full detailed menu of Blue Delta is available courtesy of @Geekhis Khan [3]
    • Riverfront Lounge
      • A subsection of the Blue Delta Restaurant, this lounge faces Mysterious Island, which is themed to be like Blue Delta and its Southern theming.
      • This lounge is a bar that serves cocktail drinks, which is often used by guests who want to be away from the hustle and bustle of Pearl River Delta during the night, as the water park is often closed or at limited capacity.
      • Additionally, it is often used by cast members and even the crew from the Disney Cruise Line due to its position, allowing guests to converse with employees and get a personal inside look into the inner workings of both Walt Disney Recreation and the Disney Cruise Line.
  • Steamboat Willie Bistro
    • Considered to be the “Club 33” of DisneySea, this elite VIP-only restaurant is themed after vintage Disney cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s.
    • As such, they serve high-end Americana as befitting for an exclusive clientele.

Mysterious Island
Based on Vulcania from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, this huge island is themed after many of Jules Verne’s stories. However, it differs from Discoveryland in Valencia as it purely focuses on his stories and immerses its guests in the same universe. The entire island contains Mount Prometheus, a mountain that can spew fire and smoke throughout notable events or randomly throughout the day. However, the whole island is considered to be the pinnacle of detail, with the island adjusting its flora and rockscape for each surrounding land. At the center, a large lake houses the main ride system for 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Major shops and restaurants are also located at the platform, but it also leads to a Journey through Atlantis ride, an original attraction where riders explore the lost civilization of Atlantis only to be chased away in a thrilling chase, and Captain Nemo's Lava Cruiser, an attraction that takes guests to the center of Mount Prometheus, full of lava flows, crystal caves, and even a lava golem!

(Image Sources: Tokyo DisneySea Mysterious Island Concept Art / Tokyo DisneySea)

Spoiler: Mysterious Island Attractions

Attractions:

• Mount Prometheus - Highlight
  • The largest attraction in DisneySea, clocking at 189 meters, this massive mountain houses the Nemo’s Lava Cruiser ride and the mechanism that allows the volcano to erupt fire and smoke for important events or randomly throughout the day.
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Submarine Ride
  • Located inside the artificial lake within Vulcania, this ride is essentially Submarine Voyage in Disneyland and the original 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride in WDW (in fact the subs are from WDW), but with a larger track layout and more detailed animatronics.
• Captain Nemo’s Lava Cruiser - Slot Car
  • Utilizing recently patented technology used for later rides, Nemo’s Lava Cruiser is a slot car attraction where carts traverse underground tunnels, crystal caverns, and lava pockets within the center of Mount Prometheus in a thrilling and fast-paced experience.
    • A huge lava golem animatronic is considered to be the highlight of the attraction, serving a similar purpose to the monster animatronic at Tokyo’s Journey to the Center of the Earth.
• Journey through Atlantis - Advanced Dark Ride
  • Using the same ride vehicles and technology as Indiana Jones Adventure currently being developed for Disneyland, this attraction takes guests from an old steampunk base to the ruined island of Atlantis itself, with projections being used to simulate water and bubbles.
    • However, the cars are being chased by robotic Atlantean guards after someone accidentally activates them, pushing them towards a bumpy and heart-wrenching ride as lasers are used to simulate particle blasts from the guards.
    • It also contains multiple endings just like Indiana Jones, where individual carts fork around towards different paths before reaching the unloading station.
    • The ride perfectly demonstrates the confidence that the I-Works has towards its own technology amidst the increased budget and flurry of creativity in what’s considered to be the new Golden Age of Imagineering.

Spoiler: Mysterious Island Notable Restaurants and Foods

Notable Restaurants and Foods:

• Vulcania Restaurant
  • A standard sit-down restaurant, this restaurant is themed after the steampunk aesthetic of Jules Verne and the Nautilus, similar to the one in Discoveryland at Valencia. It serves French cuisine much like its counterpart, although it’s larger and open to a wider audience as it does not require reservations.
• The Atlantis Experience
  • One of the few reservation-only restaurants in DisneySea, this restaurant diverges from the others as it provides an even more immersive experience thanks to its fantastical setting of being in Atlantis itself. Full of props of Ancient Greek ruins, advanced “Atlantean” technology, and water/bubble effects copied over from the ride itself, it’s simply breathtaking.
  • Unlike Vulcania and the other reservation restaurants (White Elephant and Twin Lions), it serves standard high-class American food, with a focus on seafood in order to provide those with less adventurous tastes a good experience.
• Nemo’s Refreshment Stop
  • A standout both in size and theming compared to its neighbors in Mysterious Island, this small shop mostly serves quick-service foods and sells cheap beverages like soft drinks and the like for refreshment.

Swashbuckler Lagoon
One of the results of the expansion of the smaller themed properties into proper “lands” or Ports of Call, Swashbuckler Lagoon harkens back to the Golden Age of Piracy once more like Adventure Island in Valencia but takes place at a pirate harbor in the Caribbean. Here, guests can relax at the Enchanted Pirate’s Cove, an upgraded version of the one in Valencia. Additionally, park-goers can swim and snorkel in Venture Reef, a simulated coral reef that is teeming with fish and perhaps even treasure. However, they can also test their bravery in the Shark Tank Challenge, where visitors can encounter live sharks from a shark cage. Lastly, there is a Treasure Island attraction where visitors can fully experience the story of the film in vivid detail thanks to lifelike setpieces, more detailed ship battles, and fluid animatronics.

(Image Sources: AC Black Flag’s Havana Concept Art (1, 2))

Spoiler: Swashbuckler Lagoon Attractions

Attractions:

• Enchanted Pirate’s Cove - Immersive Experience
  • Copied over from Disneyland Valencia, this attraction is very similar to the Enchanted Tiki Room, albeit with parrots, monkeys, and pirate animatronics.
• Venture Reef - Immersive Experience
  • Situated in a large pool close to the actual harbor, this experience allows guests to dive into a simulated coral reef, which includes live tropical fish taken care of by DisneySea’s aquarium department in Oceana.
  • A daily event also occurs where divers are challenged to locate a small treasure chest randomly located within the reef. As a prize, the winner usually gets pins, toys, and even plushies of famous Disney characters.
  • Shark Tank Challenge - Immersive Experience
    • Located inside of a large building at Venture Reef, guests can go down in a shark cage to meet sharks in a large aquarium, although all of them are harmless and used to the presence of humans due to being raised and trained in captivity.
    • Known shark species in the aquarium include Caribbean Reef Sharks, young Whale Sharks (older ones are moved to the Oceana aquarium), Nurse Sharks, and Leopard Sharks.
• Queen Anne’s Revenge - Walkthrough
  • A replica of the famous ship used by the infamous pirate Blackbeard, it serves a walkthrough attraction where people can learn about Blackbeard’s life and the Golden Age of Piracy in every room, including the poop deck.
  • Unlike the triremes in Olympus Harbor, the entire ship is seaworthy and has been used in tours around Southern California, including the Channel Islands and San Diego on very rare occasions. Plus, it has made some appearances in DisneySea commercials and shows outside of the Lagoon.
• The Search for Treasure Island - Dark Ride
  • Based on the classic Disney film Treasure Island, it follows the journey of Jim Hawkins as he follows the treasure map towards the titular island with the help of Long John Silver and other characters, with many scenes detailing iconic moments of the film in question.
  • While a Pirates of the Caribbean attraction was considered as a sequel, it was quickly shot down since the ride’s story was deemed too simple and less character-driven to merit a continuation of the attraction, which led Imagineers towards Treasure Island as a replacement.
  • Although the ride didn’t see huge success during the opening years of DisneySea, as people ironically wanted another Pirates of the Caribbean, it grew to become a sleeper hit for fans, later meriting re-releases of Treasure Island on home video and a Muppet film to be developed as a parody to both Treasure Island and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Spoiler: Swashbuckler Lagoon Notable Restaurants and Foods

Notable Restaurants and Foods:

• Kingston Port
  • A normal sit-down restaurant that focuses on Jamaican cuisine, they offer meals such as jerk chicken, rice and peas, meat pastries, and coconut shrimp.
• Providence Saloon
  • Themed after a tavern in the Caribbean and named after New Providence, this bar is unique for its offering of rum and whiskey, both of which are rare in Disney parks, even in DisneySea and Valencia.
  • The soundtrack is considered to be quite raunchy by Disney standards with its many sea shanties, even though it’s very much clean and lacks dirty references and profanity.
• Victor’s Naval Provisions
  • A play on a victualler, a person who supplies food and drink for people out at sea, this small shop is noteworthy for its desserts and sour beverages.
  • Their most popular offerings are their cookies, often freshly baked and in many different varieties.
    • A famous example is their hardtack, which is actually a vanilla sugar cookie shaped like a ship’s biscuit and imprinted with the Mickey Mouse logo. They can be either eaten plain, glazed in icing, or sandwiched with chocolate or jam (Nutella and Peanut Butter were later added).
• Haunted Pirate Ship [4]
  • A deluxe floating pirate ship that serves as the companion to the Queen Mary's Revenge, this restaurant usually serves more generic seafood fare, although some Caribbean food does make its way into the establishment such as mofongo and rice and beans.
  • Unlike other restaurants in DisneySea, the ship can actually move and sail, with lunch and dinner cruises being a regular occurrence.
  • Although not as large as the Saloon, the Den also included a small bar and lounge.
  • The highlight of the restaurant is the Pirates of the Hogribbean show, an animatronic spectacle in the center of the restaurant where the Muppet Pigs would sing sea shanties, pop songs, and witty banter for the guests alongside famous Muppet covers like “In the Navy”, which proved popular among guests, especially marines and sailors.

Olympus Harbor
A land themed after an Ancient Greek harbor, specifically Athens's legendary Piraeus harbor, this land features a fleet of massive Greek triremes inspired by the scrapped Fleets of Fantasy Port which hosts a series of walkthroughs and Greek-themed restaurants. The highlight attraction for the port is Odysseus’s Heroic Voyage, a dark ride that was considered to be an experiment for many of the Imagineers, and one that caused a deep divide between the older and younger generations of the I-Works. The ride was considered to be the darkest ride that Disney had ever done at that point, due to its delving into dark subject matter (Odysseus gets shipwrecked with obvious signs of his crew being killed at one point), lack of lighting at some parts (i.e. thunderstorms), and horrific imagery of monsters and gods like Scylla, Poseidon, and Charybdis. Old Imagineers were only satisfied when a warning was placed to warn families about the ride. Despite this, adults, teenagers, and thrill-seekers loved the ride, which merited further experiments in attractions like Alien Encounter. Lastly, the Thespian Theater is an indoor Greek theater used for stage shows, built inside a building akin to the Parthenon.

(Image Sources: AC Odyssey’s Port of Piraeus (1, 2))

Spoiler: Olympus Harbor Attractions

Attractions:

• Odysseus’s Heroic Voyage - Thrill Dark Ride
  • One of the most detailed dark rides ever made by Disney, it follows the story of the Odyssey, as the main character Odysseus attempts to return home to Ithaca and his family.
  • However, Odysseus is constantly faced with obstacles from the gods as he faces monsters like cyclops or gods like Poseidon and Zeus. Scenes often depict crew members becoming missing while the ship is constantly littered with tattered clothing, signifying their demise.
  • The most iconic moment is when Odysseus is faced with the prospect of going through the dreaded Scylla and Charybdis, as moving too close to either one would mean certain death. The Imagineers even included a sharp kink into the track so the boat would appear to move closer towards Charybdis, even though the boat didn't actually move from the track.
  • Highly detailed animatronics, music, lighting effects, and a more thrilling ride track (more drops and rocky movements) all make for an extremely engaging, yet terrifying experience to the point where a warning has to be posted warning parents and young children away.
    • Ironically this only tempted the more adventurous guests to ride the attraction out of morbid curiosity.
  • Luckily, by the end of the ride, Odysseus reunites with Telemachus and Penelope in a deep embrace, bringing a good ending to what seemed to be one of the most harrowing experiences thought up by Disney.
• Fleets of Heroes - Walkthrough
  • Based on the former Fleets of Fantasy attraction, this attraction sports 3 to 4 oversized Greek Triremes used as walkthroughs to detail common facts about Ancient Greek history or mythology. Some of them even serve as restaurants.
  • Due to their size and lack of expertise in moving them independently (requiring large hordes of oarsmen), the Triremes are mostly static and are anchored to the harbor, though they can be towed if there ever was a need to move them.
• The Thespian Theater - Stage Show Theater
  • A stage show theater inspired by an Ancient Greek amphitheater. Originally devised as an outdoor theater, the possibility of sounds made by the park and surrounding ships in the area made this unfeasible.
  • Instead, it was built around a building resembling the Parthenon of Athens.
  • Unlike the Water Dragon Theater, it’s more suited for standard stage shows and plays due to its larger size and superior capacity/acoustics.

Spoiler: Olympus Harbor Notable Restaurants and Foods

Notable Restaurants and Foods:

• Symposium Taverna
  • A cafe styled as a modern Greek taverna, albeit with an Ancient Greek theme, this small restaurant offers iced coffee, frappes, pastries, and small quick service meals.
  • Unlike some restaurants in DisneySea, it includes an outdoor patio area, allowing guests to dine outdoors.
  • Examples include baklava, boureki/spanakopita (phyllo pastries filled with meat or spinach), loukoumades (Greek doughnuts covered in honey and walnuts), and gyros.
• Trireme Restaurants
  • Some of the triremes (1 or 2 triremes) sport as restaurants similar to The Atlas, although the seating space is reduced to make room for the kitchen.
  • Regardless, it’s considered to be one of the most popular dining attractions due to the unique prospect of eating in an actual boat.
• The Atlas
  • The largest restaurant in Olympus Harbor, The Atlas serves as the primary sit-down restaurant, although it is not a reservation-based establishment like The Twin Lions or White Elephant.
  • The exterior is similar to many of the themed buildings but is characterized by a stone statue of Atlas holding up the Earth.
  • While they serve mainly Greek cuisine, they also offer unique takes on other cuisines like Italian pizza.
  • Examples include souvlaki, fish, Greek salads, moussaka, tzatziki, kofta meatballs, etc.

Arabian Coast
A land themed after an Arabian harbor, this Port of Call is mostly inspired by the hit film Aladdin. Although the architecture is similar to the buildings in Baghdad, there were also many inspirations from places like Tangier, Algiers, Tunis, Basra, and Alexandria. Arising from the massive restructuring of the entire DisneySea project, much of the Heroes’ Harbor ideas went towards the Arabian Coast and Olympus Harbor with the creation of Sinbad’s Storybook Travels and Odysseus’s Heroic Voyage. Unlike Odysseus, Sinbad is considered to be the good counterpart as it is significantly more child-friendly and whimsical, detailing his experiences throughout the story with a comedic flair. Other rides include Aladdin’s Flying Carpets, a ride based on Dumbo The Flying Elephant but with flying carpets, and Dueling Genies. The ride is the first intertwined Roller Coaster that Disney has ever made, with both coasters representing the spells that the Genie of the Lamp and the Genie of the Ring use against each other in order to capture Aladdin’s interest, culminating in both coasters meeting each other in their loop inversion.

(Image Sources: Tokyo DisneySea (1, 2))

Spoiler: Arabian Coast Attractions

Attractions:

• Sinbad’s Storybook Travels - Dark Ride
  • Similar to Tokyo DisneySea’s version, especially the later iteration due to its child-friendly themes and more whimsical character design.
• Aladdin’s Flying Carpets - Aerial Carousel
  • Similar to Jasmine’s Flying Carpets at Tokyo DisneySea and Dumbo the Flying Elephant.
• Dueling Genies - Intertwined Roller Coasters
  • A unique intertwined roller coaster based on Aladdin, where the Genie of the Lamp and the Genie of the Ring compete for Aladdin’s attention in a spectacular display of color, sound, and magic, with both coasters receiving different experiences along the way (differing coaster tracks with loops, corkscrews, etc.) before meeting in a massive loop inversion.
  • Similar to Dueling Dragons in OTL Universal.

Spoiler: Arabian Coast Notable Restaurants and Foods

Notable Restaurants and Foods:

• The Great Bazaar Food Court
  • A food court located in the heart of Arabian Coast, this place offers a multitude of restaurants based on cuisines from all across the Islamic world. However, most of the seating is outdoors.
    • Iskandariyya Coffeehouse
      • A coffeehouse styled after ones in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world, they serve coffee in traditional cups and serving vessels but adapted for American tastes.
    • Tandoor on the Indus
      • A Pakistani restaurant, they are famed for their use of tandoor ovens to cook flatbreads and meats, especially their Tandoori chicken.
    • Cedar Harbor
      • Named after the famed Cedar trees of Lebanon, they mostly serve Lebanese and Levantine cuisine, with tabbouleh, baba ganoush, pita, and falafels being common.
      • Later on, they would serve desserts like knafeh as Middle Eastern cuisine becomes more popular in SoCal.
• Sultan’s Oasis
  • Focusing on standard Arab cuisine, this sit-down restaurant caters to families who want to eat in a normal indoor setting.
  • Biryani, roasted beef/lamb, grilled fish, hummus, pita breads, etc. are often the most popular foods sold there.
• Qasbah Fortress
  • Based on the Morocco Pavilion’s restaurant Marrakech, the Qasbah Fortress serves Moroccan cuisine at a similar price and menu.
  • Examples include tagines, bastilla, sausages, kebabs, etc.

Golden Catfish Market
Often considered to be the most detailed and most unique themed land ever created by Disney at this point, the Golden Catfish Market is a Port of Call that is themed after the cultures of Southern China and Southeast Asia, both indigenous and colonial. Originally themed after a standard Asian market, Imagineers wanted to represent cultures that weren’t commonly shown in Western cultures such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. with the dwindling prospects to include more World Showcase pavilions at EPCOT. Later on, Imagineer Wing Chao suggested adding unique regional places in China which included Hong Kong and Macau, later to be added as the Pearl River Delta section of the port out of a need to represent the diversity of Chinese culture aside from Mandarin or even Cantonese.

The most iconic attraction in the Port of Call is the Floating Market, an actual recreation of a Thai floating market with shops, bars, restaurants, food stalls, and boats, some of which are crewed by cast members for selling snacks or for tours around the market. The Water Dragon Theater, built using Vietnamese and Chinese influences, is the most complex theater built by Disney, as not only can it execute stage shows and concerts, but certain sections of the stage can also be filled with water for yearly water puppet shows for Tet / Chinese New Year, often celebrated as Disney’s Lunar New Year celebration. Lastly, the Mekong River Expedition is a river rapids ride where guests barrel down a winding and thrilling path through the Mekong River, ending at a Cambodian temple.

However, another crowning jewel is the Pearl River Delta area, a subsection of the Golden Catfish Market where guests can explore the unique architecture, cuisine, and culture of the real Pearl River Delta. Here, guests can play arcade games in a Macanese building inspired by Portuguese architecture (Not themed after a contemporary casino for obvious reasons). In addition, the Pearl River Delta contains a high-end deluxe restaurant called The Twin Lions which offers Cantonese, Chinese, and British cuisine. The most iconic attractions in the Delta, however, were the Adventurers Club, ported over from Walt Disney World, and its sister attraction, the Museum of Explorers, which was the former headquarters of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers now leased out to the public.

The Golden Catfish Market, while fairly weak with rides compared to the American Boardwalk, offers highly unique themed experiences and serves as the main commercial and gastronomic hub of DisneySea. In fact, it’s the land that garners the most attention for its nightlife thanks to its chill atmosphere and its diverse offerings to eat food, drink, unwind, and relax.

(Image Sources: Amphawa Floating Market / Macau’s Portuguese Architecture)

Spoiler: Golden Catfish Market Attractions

Attractions:

• Mekong River Expedition - River Rapids Ride
  • The E-Ticket attraction of the Port of Call, it was an entirely new type of ride for Disney as it was a River Rapids ride that proved to be a great challenge for the Imagineers.
  • Themed after the Mekong River that travels through much of Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
  • Pearsons’ partnership proved to be the key to greenlighting this attraction as they provided critical input on the design and construction of the ride thanks to their own experience with the Congo River Rapids attraction at Alton Towers.
  • Guests wade through the ride as they experience the jungles of Thailand and Laos, going through thrilling bends and rapids along the way before unloading at a Cambodian temple.
• Floating Market - Shopping Complex
  • A shopping area that is a close imitation of real floating markets in Thailand, it provided a unique experience for guests as they traveled above canals that housed large amounts of authentic Thai boats.
  • Most of these boats are chained to buildings or anchors, which allows guests to actually sit on the boats and relax, which can provide much needed shade, although some are actually staffed by cast members who either sell snacks or transport guests across the entire market.
  • The buildings usually contain either food stalls selling fast food, merchandise, or snacks like the boats below them. Some even contain actual restaurants like The White Elephant.
    • Golden Catfish Cruise - Tour Guide Experience
      • A simple attraction where guests can sit down and let a cast member wade through the Floating Market on a boat akin to the Venetian Gondolas of OTL.
• Pearl River Delta - Entertainment Complex
  • A subsection of the Port of Call themed after Hong Kong, Macau, and the rest of Guangdong with some influences from Malaysia, Singapore, etc. While it lacks rides, it offers some of the most immersive and enjoyable restaurants and attractions. It’s also notable as the birthplace of the iconic Society of Explorers and Adventurers franchise with the opening of the Museum of Explorers.
    • Pearl River Arcade - Arcade
      • An arcade themed after Macau. While its exterior is themed after more standard Portuguese architecture, its exterior resembles more of an American arcade, since Imagineers quickly shot down the idea of decorating it similarly to an actual casino in the city.
    • Adventurers Club - Themed Bar
      • Ported over from Pleasure Island in Orlando, it diverges from its original counterpart as it served as a front for the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, recruiting talented people from all over the world. Although the HQ has moved since then, it still serves as a recruiting facility and a fantastic bar for the West Coast while Pleasure Island in Orlando received a similar story treatment, with Merriweather Adam Pleasure himself becoming the leader of SEA for much of his life in the retcon.
    • Museum of Explorers / S.E.A. Headquarters - Walkthrough
      • Formerly the headquarters of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, their massive collection of artifacts, documents, books, and trinkets has been revealed to the public as a Museum.
      • Imagineering put in excruciating detail for this attraction and added cutting edge animatronics and projection effects to make some pieces come to life akin to Mystic Manor OTL.
• Water Dragon Theater - Stage Show Theater
  • A Chinese/Vietnamese-themed Stage Show Theater that often does either Disney stage shows or more ethnic performances during certain occasions. However, the most unique aspect of the theater is that the center of the stage can be emptied and filled with water as a pool for unique water puppet performances from hired Vietnamese performers for the 3-Day Lunar New Year celebration (Tet/Chinese New Year).

Spoiler: Golden Catfish Market Notable Restaurants and Foods

Notable Restaurants and Foods:

• Pearl River Delta:
  • The Twin Lions Hotel
    • Named after Hong Kong’s shared Cantonese and British heritage, the hotel is a high-end deluxe restaurant only open to reservations.
    • The interior is reminiscent of an expensive hotel in Hong Kong with a British flair, such as the Peninsula.
    • They serve Cantonese, Chinese, and British cuisine, with notable examples including Cheung fun (rice noodle rolls), Char Siu pork, Peking duck, Yangzhou fried rice, Full English Breakfast, Shepherd’s Pie, Chicken Tikka Masala, and much more.
    • Shark’s Fin and Bird’s Nest soup are notably absent because of DisneySea’s environmentalist message.
  • Kowloon Cafe
    • Themed after the ever popular cha chaan teng in Hong Kong, this cafe is popular among guests for its wide selection of refreshing beverages and snack foods for consumption on-site or on the go.
    • Popular items include Hong Kong-style French Toast, Pineapple Buns (sometimes with actual pineapple unlike its real counterpart), Club sandwiches, Macaroni soup, etc.
    • They also serve Milk Tea (boba added later during the early 2010s), Lemonade, and Coffee with evaporated milk/condensed milk.
  • Restaurante de Dragão
    • Serving as a middle point between the quick service Kowloon Cafe and the reservation-only Twin Lions, the sit-down Dragon Restaurant is fairly unique for including Portuguese and Macanese cuisine, serving as the main draw for the restaurant.
    • Examples include the spicy Piri-Piri Chicken, Portuguese hams, a Portuguese version of Croque Monsieur (Francesinha), and Pasteis de Nata.
  • Adventurers Club
    • A themed bar that is similar to Pleasure Island’s version in Walt Disney World, although built inside a Victorian-era style building.
• Floating Market:
  • Floating Market Stalls
    • Many buildings in the Floating Market contain food stalls that sell foods from Thailand as well as other Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc. with them having sit-down tables for people to dine in.
    • Satays, banh mi, pad thai, noodle soups, curries, and others are standard fare.
    • Later on, other foods like rolled ice cream, coconut pancakes, and shaved ice became popular foods for guests, especially during the summer months.
  • Floating Market Boats
    • Some of the boats in the floating market sell snacks that are sold by fellow cast members who operate the boats.
    • However, most of the snacks consist of readily prepared foods and not the street food fare seen in the stalls due to safety regulations.
    • Examples include fruit skewers, seasoned popcorn, chips, soft drinks, etc.
  • White Elephant
    • Located at the center of the Floating Market, this restaurant is the equivalent of the Twin Lions, being a reservation-only establishment.
    • They serve Thai cuisine, such as fragrant Thai curries, roasted meats, Tom yum, to even the mango sticky rice.
    • Their most iconic dish, however, is the legendary pineapple fried rice, served in a pineapple bowl (and yes we are referencing the fantastic Mickey Mouse episode set in Thailand).

---

[1] A fitting tribute to both of them, don't you think?

[2] It's a reference to Hyacinth Hippo from Fantasia, which Geekhis asked me to add. The blue and green colors of the tutus are a subtle reference to the infamous Blues and Greens that were responsible for the Nika Riots during the reign of Justinian since it took place at the Hippodrome, because we needed even more historical references in this timeline, right?

[3] Yes, Geekhis actually posted this menu to me in the PM thread, so I had to include it here.
Blue Delta Restaurant Menu:

Spoiler: Menu

Soups:
Brunswick Stew (made from yesterday's BBQ)
Cajun (Mock)Turtle soup
Cajun/Creole Gumbo
Beef & Vegetable Soup

Cajun/Creole:
Blackened Redfish (will quickly change to a more sustainable fish)
Shrimp or Crawdad Etouffee
Chicken, Shrimp, or Crawdad Jambalaya
Chicken Creole
Shrimp Creole

Meats:
Country Ham with Red-Eye Gravy
Fried Chicken
Country Fried Chicken breast
Country Fried Steak
Chicken & Waffles
Shrimp & Grits (a Carolina low country staple)
Fried Catfish

BBQ Options:
KC Style (the "stereotypical" sauce-based pork)
Memphis style (sauce based, different than KC)
Texas style mesquite or oak smoked brisket
North Carolina style minced pork (vinegar based; hickory smoked)
South Carolina style (mustard based)
Virginia style pulled or sliced pork (hickory or oak smoked)
BBQ chicken (KC or Texas style)
Pork Ribs (KC, Memphis, or eastern dry rub)
Beef ribs (Texas style, typically)

Vegetables:
Collard or Turnip Greens slow-cooked in pork belly
Green beans slow cooked in pork belly
Slow-cooked butter beans or pinto beans
Red beans & rice
Black Eyed Peas
Fried or steamed okra
Corn on the Cob
Hoppin' John (black eyed peas, smoked pork, onion, and rice)
Cole slaw
Mashed potatoes & gravy
Biscuits
Cornbread
Macaroni & cheese (yes, in the South these last four count as vegetables! )

Desserts:
Pecan pie
Shoe-fly pie (essentially molasses on a pie crust; recommended by 4 out of 5 greedy and amoral dentists)
Apple pie (or other fruit pie)
Key Lime pie
Cherry, Blueberry, or Peach Cobbler
Apple Brown Betty
Louisiana Bread Pudding

Vegetarian/Vegan:
"Um...does the green beans count?"

Lipitor and Pepto Bismol extra charge.

[4] It was originally a brick-and-mortar restaurant but it turned into a haunted pirate ship thanks to @HonestAbe1809.

 

[Kalvan]

Neo Geo Pocket:

Name:	SNK Neo Geo Pocket
Introduced:	1990 Osaka Electronics Show (Japan) 1990 Summer CES (North America)
Market Niche	Portable Video Game Console
Withdrawn from Market:	2002 (Japan), 1998 (Rest of the World)
CPU	Toshiba TMP68000 (Licensed CMOS version of Motorola 68000)
Clock Speed:	15.667 MHz
GPU	SUZY, consisting of 2 Blitters with theoretically unlimited BOBs, with hardware scaling, rotation, zoom, anti-aliasing, and tilting effects, 360 degree scrolling, Hardware 16x16=32 bit multiplier+division through inverse multiply, hardware compression/decompression. Can display up to 512 colors onscreen (128x2 for scrolling fields, plus 4 CLUTs of 64 colors each for BOBs) out of a master pallette of 4096
Sound:	Yamaha YM3438 (CMOS variant of YM2612, Six Channels Four Operator FM Synthesis, built-in DAC)+MIKE (Four Channels 8-bit PCM or Geometry Synthesis, Channels 0-2 feature square, triangle, sine and white noise, while channel 3 features white noise and comb sawtooth, also includes DMA and LCD control functionality)
Unified System RAM:	256K stacked pseudo-SRAM
Resolution:	320x204

Controls	sixteen direction thumbstick, Start, Select, Four Action Buttons (ABCD), each labeled with a different color, and vertical/horizontal switch.
MSRP	$320 U.S., or ¥35,200 (1990)

Note: 1993 hardware revision doubled battery play-time to 8 hours. TV Tuner cartridge ($65) was a popular option, at least for those who could afford it.

Vertical orientation is awkward, what with the thumbstick "above" the screen, but this was the only handheld console of the era theoretically capable of playing Pac Man at full resolution without zooming in the action.

Basically, take an OTL Atari Lynx and photochop in the stick and buttons from this controller.

Despite sales of between one fifth and one fourth those of the Sega Game Gear and Atari Bobcat, and less than one tenth that of the Nintendo Game Boy (one twelfth if sales of the Game Boy Color are lumped in), and selling worse than portable consoles of the time usually deemed flops by most electronics historians, such as the Bandai Design Master Senshi, the Tiger Game Star, and the Watara Supervision, the Neo Geo Pocket nonetheless was considered by SNK to be a massive success, and the decade after would spawn several software emulation and FPGA recreation projects, while Bandai's, Tiger's, and Watara's efforts languished in greater obscurity.

There were several reasons for this. The first was price. The Neo Geo Pocket was perhaps the only portable console of the era not to be priced and sold at a loss at anytime at its release cycle. Those estimated worldwide sales of 5.2 million for the console alone made SNK roughly $620 million in net profit over its lifespan.

Then there was the games library. While several Neo Geo arcade and home games failed to see release on the Pocket (most notably Power Disk and several arena tournament fighters such as Aggressors of Dark Kombat [Deemed too bloody for a handheld audience most survey's found to skew younger], The Last Blade duology [due to it being much more highbrow and period correct than the Samurai Shodown series, and with sexuality themes that wouldn't fly in Western and Middle Eastern markets], and the King of Fighters series [due to an increasing dependence on add-in chips]), there were several games from outside the Neo-Geo arcade and home software ecosystem that saw release for the Neo Geo Pocket, especially after the introduction of the 1993 hardware revision that doubled battery life and added an anti-ghosting, backlit screen.

These games included the likes of Capcom's Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Super Street Fighter II, Strider, and Ghouls n' Ghosts, Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Trilogy, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood/Dracula X, Metal Gear Trilogy, and (outside the US, where Sega held the Marvel comics license) X-Men: The Arcade Game, and Taito's Cadash, Rastan, Aqua Jack, and Bubble Bobble Trilogy, consisting of Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, and Parasol Stars.

The final and most especial reason most gaming historians deem the Neo Geo Pocket a success is that it was marketed (and sold modestly well) in several areas where its Western and Japanese competitors were shut out, due to various circumstances, including the Brazil(due to having a production facility in Sao Paulo), the Cone of South America, the Middle East (especially Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran), India, and several central Asian Former Soviet Republics (especially Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan).

From the RetroCore (YouTube Equivelant) Channel:

"One, two, three, four, hit it!"

When Viewpoint came out for SNK's Neo Geo arcade hardware and home system and the Neo Geo Pocket portable console in late 1992, it took the video game market by storm. All four of Electronic Gaming Monthly's feature reviewers gave even the portable version four 10s, with similar reactions coming from the likes of GamePro, Diehard Gamefan, Video Games and Computer Entertainment, and Next Generation. The praise for the isometric polygon-styled graphics reminiscent of Zaxxon and Hip-Hop and Contemporary R&B soundtrack was near universal, winning multiple magazines' Best Graphics, Best Arcade/Action Gameplay, and Best Soundtrack awards, and insuring that publisher Sammy would become a regular on SNK's decade-defining arcade hardware, with such further entries as Super Toki, Call to Post, and Ultra Rally.

The praise for the Neo Geo Pocket version was especially noteworthy. As the title never saw publication from any of its (alleged) then-contemporary competitors such as the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color, Sega Game Gear, and Atari Bobcat*, it was usually pitted against home console and computer ports. Yes, it was better than the MSX3 and Sub-VGA and SoundBlaster/Ad Lib MS-DOS versions, but then, those would-be platforms were by then already punching bags for advertising and magazines.

The curious thing was how well the Neo Geo Pocket version held up against it's set top and computer competitors. Could it match the jaw-dropping high resolution of the 10400/Lynx and Atari 3000/3500/4200X versions, the silky smoothness of the Toshiba TOPS RX, the Red Box CD soundtrack of the FM-Towns/Tandy 5000 and PC-Engine/Odyssey 3/VideoPac 8000 CD, or the massive@ PCM polyphony of the Sega CD and Super Nintendo Optical Disc Drive versions? Of course not. But, in each case, the Pocket version usually has something to lay against its competitor, being smoother than than the 10400/Lynx version (60 vs. 30/25 Hz, depending on the local broadcast market), with more things onscreen than the TOPS and even Sharp X65020/Commodore X16 versions$, and lacking the ridiculous loading times and slowdown for on-the-fly asset loading of most of the optical disc versions.

In fact, when the Home/Arcade and Neo Geo Pocket versions are compared in video clips, it becomes difficult to tell them apart, with the Pocket's combination of YM3438's DSP and two of MIKE's sound channels in PCM mode# being a close match to the NEO GEO AVS' Yamaha YM2608 and the Okidata MSM6295 Sammy and developer Aicom put on the cartridge PCB. It is only when gameplay of the two are put side by side that the differences become obvious, with the Pocket version cropping the top and bottom 18 horizontal rows of the playfield, respectively, and the graphical assets, despite SUZY's best decompression efforts, being no match for the Arcade/Home version's 18 megabytes of uncompressed Graphics ROM assets and the AVS' 98,304 color master palette.

So, does this put a lie to SNK's tagline for the Neo Geo Pocket of "Arcade Power in The Palms of Your Hands?" Well, not technically. Several arcade game makers made use of Neo Geo Pocket's motherboard chipset as the basis for coin-op products, including the UK's Century Electronics, Leland-Tradewest, South Korea's Sun-A Electronics, and even Capcom's Brazilian studio, due to "Market Reserve" legislation, as well as several mainland Chinese ventures marketing knockoff versions of Sega Scalar and Atari Voxel and polygonal arcade games. However, the only official SNK Neo Geo client to use the Pocket hardware in this way was Technos, for Hot-Blooded Kunio-kun Goes to Jail, which formed the basis for the SNES, Sega Genesis, and Atari 10400 game Renegade: The Final Chapter.

Notes
*: The Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Sega Game Gear are as in OTL, though the Game Boy Color was released in 1994. The Atari Bobcat is a portable released in TTL 1990, based on Atari 8-bit computer hardware (specifically the 1400XL version) with a cartridge slot sized to accept 2600 cartridges, and a 192x160 resolution.

@44 and 32 channels, respectively

$Blame that on the developer, which would become infamous for making cheap turd ports

#On most of the Neo Geo Pocket's ports, at least one of MIKE's channels was reserved for sound effects, while channel 3 was usually kept in geometry synthesis mode for percussion to save on data footprint.

 

[Plateosaurus]

No Worries (1995-2000)[1]​

From the TV Show Wiki
Guest post by one Mr. Harris and @Plateosaurus

+

= this show

No Worries is an American teen comedy drama series written and directed by Amy Heckerling that aired on the Paramount-Fox Network (PFN) in the United States from July 19, 1995 until March 21, 2000, running a total of six seasons. The show is loosely based on the 1815 Jane Austen novel Emma with the setting changed from Regency era England to then-contemporary southern California at the famous Beverly Hills High School.

The series centers on Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone)[2], a nerdy and optimistic student from Beverly Hills who meets a new student named Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy) and befriends her. Little does Cher know that her newfound friendship with Tai would get her and her new friend entangled with the lives of other school students, eventually leading to the formation of the No Worries Club. Aside from Silverstone, the show’s principal and recurring cast includes Lauryn Hill, Paul Rudd, Terrence Howard, Zooey Deschanel[3], Breckin Meyer, Jeremy Renner, Dan Hedaya, Jeremy Sisto, Wallace Shawn, Julie Brown, Twink Caplan and Jennifer Aniston[4]. While the first season adapted Emma, the show's later seasons were comprised of original storylines written by Heckerling though they continued to have allusions to Austen's works.

Plot
Season 1 focuses on Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy)’s arrival at her Beverly Hills high school and being treated as a total outsider with no friends. Meanwhile, Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) and Dionne Davenport (Lauryn Hill) are living the high life with Cher living with her wealthy litigator father Mel (Dan Hedaya) eve since her mother died during a liposuction procedure though she has a strained relationship with her older ex-stepbrother Josh Lucas (Paul Rudd). Dionne on the other hand, is dating a popular student named Murray Duvall (Terrence Howard) though Cher tells her that she should date more mature guys instead of him. One day, Cher receives a poor grade in class and decides to set up a romance between Mr. Wendell Hall (Wallace Shawn) and Ms. Toby Geist (Twink Caplan) to change her grade and after seeing them happy as a couple, Cher realizes that she enjoys doing “good deeds” leading her to befriend Tai. Cher’s actions soon led to the formation of the No Worries Club with her, Tai, Dionne, Amber Mariens (Zooey Deschanel), Christian Stovitz (Jeremy Renner) and Breckin Meyer (Travis Birkenstock) with Murray joining the club later. From that point on, Alicia tries to play matchmaker again with her fellow classmates only to discover that her privileged status has it’s limits when she strains her relationship with the newly-popular Tai and fails her driving test but cannot change the results. Eventually, Cher realizes that she failed to properly appreciate the friends in her life so she decides to make an earnest effort of living a more purposeful life starting with captaining the school’s Pismo Beach disaster relief. Eventually, Cher witnesses Tai and Travis becoming a couple along with Mr.Hall and Ms. Geist getting married, she also reunites with Josh and the two are on good terms again.

Season 2 focuses on the rest of the sophomore year for the No Worries Club from shopping and occasional visits to Josh’s college to joining the swim team and performing various athletic activities. Additionally, the high school has a big talent show with Cher wanting to get the No Worries Club into it although some are reluctant to participate because of their lack of talent and it’s up to Cher to teach them on how to sing and dance though their initial efforts go badly before they finally get the hang of it and wow the crowd with their newfound skills. Even though the No Worries Club didn’t win the contest, they feel happy and content with what they’ve accomplished even if it wasn’t in the way they intended. Aside from the main storyline, the second season has subplots about Christian’s gay romance with another student and the newly-minted Hall and Geist with Cher and the No Worries Club geting involved.

Season 3 (known as No Worries: A Hawaiian Adventure) is about the No Worries Club spending a summer vacation in the state of Hawaii after the sophomore year is over with Cher befriending the Aloha Club, the Hawaiian high school counteraprt to the No Worries Club. Cher and her friends struggle to adjust to living in a state located far from the mainland with it’s own unique quirks and traditions while meeting some rather rude tourists and locals.

Seasons 4 and 5 (known informally as “The Junior Years” for the fanbase) have Cher and the No Worries Club participating in the local track and field and national spelling bee contests to strengthen their existing bonds with each other. Unlike the previous season, Cher actually wins the spelling bee for her friends even if she didn’t exactly win the track and field contest in California, she still felt proud of what she did just like the song and dance show. Additionally, Cher discovers that her stepbrother has now graduated and decides to join her school for a job so he can be closer to her while her father Mel is dating a new young woman named Rosalina Calderi (Jennifer Aniston).

Season 6 focuses the senior year for the No Worries Club, their very last as Cher and the others have to think about their future each with their dreams and aspirations and Mel is tying the knot with Rosalina as his soon-to-be-engaged fiancee. Before graduation, Cher organizes a huge party for the No Worries Club at a theme park with Mel and Rosalina in attendance. After graduation, the No Worries Club is disbanded with it’s members going their own separate ways. A montage of what Cher and her friends as independent adults is shown just before the credits such as Cher going to law school to become a litigator just like her dad, Christian living happily with his husband and their adopted child or Dionne and Murray starting a clothing business together.

Cast​

Main

• Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz
• Lauryn Hill as Dionne Davenport
• Brittany Murphy as Tai Frasier
• Paul Rudd as Josh Lucas
• Zooey Deschanel as Amber Mariens
• Jeremy Renner as Christian Stovitz
• Breckin Meyer as Travis Birkenstock
• Terrence Howard as Murray Duvall
• Guillermo Diaz as Julio Lopez (seasons 2-6)

Supporting

• Jeremy Sisto as Elton Tiscia
• Dan Hedaya as Melvin “Mel” Horowitz
• Wallace Shawn as Mr. Wendell Hall
• Julie Brown as Coach Millie Diemer
• Twink Caplan as Ms. Toby Geist
• Jennifer Aniston as Rosalina Calderi (seasons 4-6)

Production
In 1993, the burgeoning Paramount-Fox Network was looking to expand it’s appeal to the teenage demographic and was in talks with screenwriters and directors to produce high school dramas or comedies inspired by the success of Good Morning, Miss Bliss[5]. Among the directors and screenwriter approached by PFN was Amy Heckerling, the director of the coming of age high school comedy-drama Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Heckerling had already done research on Beverly Hills high school culture and was eager to pitch her idea to Triad executives that wanted a hit teen show, she envisioned that her new series titled No Worries would be about an all-loving, happy-go-lucky student named Cher Horowitz (based partially on Heckerling herself) who would gradually form a circle of friends known as the No Worries Club and learn important lesions about responsibility and leadership. PFN loved Heckerling’s pitch and greenlit No Worries with an air date of 1995 to complement Final Girl.

With an air date and a a first season order approved by the network, Heckerling went to work casting the members of the No Worries Club and the faculty of Beverly Hills High School. For the students, Heckerling wanted rising stars and fresh, unknown faces to play the characters and the first actor to join No Worries was Alicia Silverstone as the show’s main lead Cher Horowitz. According to Heckerling, Silverstone was the first and only choice she had in mind for the role after watching her performance in The Crush and saw her as the actress that would bring out the right amount of precociousness, beauty and wit. After Silverstone was cast as Cher, Heckerling proceeded to fill out the rest of the No Worries Club with teen singer Lauryn Hill as Dionne Davenport (after reading the script and loving it), Brittany Murphy as Tai Frasier, Paul Rudd as Josh Lucas, Zooey Deschanel as Amber Mariens, Jeremy Renner as Christian Stovitz, Breckin Meyer as Travis Birkenstock and Terrence Howard as Murray Duvall. Heckerling gave the script of the first episode to Hill and loved it so much that she immediately signed on board while Renner was cast because Heckerling loved his comedic chops. Of the members of the No Worries Club, Deschanel was the youngest so her character Amber was rewritten to be a freshman to accommodate her. For faculty, Heckerling brought in some veteran talent most notably Wallace Shawn as Dr. Wendell Hall alongside Julie Brown and Twink Caplan as Millie Diemer and Ms. Toby Geist respectively. Lastly, Dan Hedaya would be cast as Cher’s father Mel Horowitz and Jeremy Sisto as fellow Beverly Hills student Elton Tiscia. With a cast of newcomers and veterans and a committed director, PFN would spend millions on advertising No Worries sometimes alongside their other hit teen series Final Girl and wanted to play up Heckerling’s credentials by mentioning it in connection to Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Look Who’s Talking but Heckerling put her foot down and convinced executives to not mention them in the marketing instead playing up her name recognition she had built up since becoming a director in the 1980s.

When it came to filming, Heckerling chose to shoot No Worries on location at the real Beverly Hills High School though she had to receive permission from the school to film there. For much of the show’s run, No Worries would be shot in the actual Beverly Hills with the exceptions of Hawaii and other locations in later seasons or nearby areas when it was impossible to do certain scenes in Beverly Hills. Most of the actors were above the legal age of 18 and older than their characters with the exception of Deschanel who had to be accompanied by her parents on every day of shooting. Eventually, when Deschanel finally turned 18, she was allowed to be on set without parental supervision like the others. Throughout the filming of No Worries, the cast developed genuine bonds with Heckerling and each other just like the No Worries Club and would even buy gifts. Rudd, the actor who portrays Josh Lucas, has said that his experience on No Worries was “the greatest time I’ve ever had, here or now”.

Reception and Legacy
The series premiered with strong ratings and was one of the most popular female-fronted shows on American television and PFN second only to Tank Girl. The show was praised by critics for it's dialogue, humor and performances of the cast. No Worries was also responsible for popularizing Beverly Hills high school slang to audiences, and Cher’s clothing styles would become quite influential in the fashion world. The show would also serve as the launching pad for the careers of many actors who would go on gain greater recognition in other films and TV shows before and after No Worries, most notably Deschanel in Almost Famous. Even today, the show has a huge following online and the Triad-owned Vixxen constantly airs reruns since the 2000s while Cher’s catchphrase “As If!” has become a popular netwit online.

In 2015, a “reunion special” movie titled No Worries: All Grown Up, would be released in theatres by 20th Century Studios featuring the original cast reprising their roles from the original series with Heckerling returning to direct and write. The film focused on the lives of the No Worries Club after graduation and served as the grand finale to the series as a whole. All Grown Up was a critical and commercial success grossing $105.6 million on a $56 million budget and was praised for being just as funny as the original and for showing the growth of the main cast after high school.

Trivia

• Just like Cher, Alicia Silverstone is Jewish. Similarly, Josh Lucas was made Jewish at the behest of his actor Paul Rudd given his status as Cher’s stepbrother.
• Cher Horowitz and Dionne Davenport are named after popular singers Cher and Dionne Warwick respectively or as Cher not su subtly puts it in the first episode “great singers of the past who now do infomercials”.
• Lauryn Hill was an R&B singer and the biggest name of the cast so she had Dionne sing in some episodes particularly the entirety of Season 2 given that it’s subject matter dealt with a talent show.
• To prepare for the Hawaiian-themed season, Heckerling had to fly to Honolulu and other parts of the state to provide an accurate portrayal of Hawaiian culture.
• Despite Christian being gay, Jeremy Renner is straight in real life and married to a woman. In a 2015 interview discussing the 20th anniversary of No Worries and All Grown Up, Renner said that he would have let a gay actor play Christian rather than him if it were made today.
• The character of Julio was originally not intended to be Hispanic but after a strong audition from Diaz, he was rewritten to be one specifically Cuban and gay just like his actor.
• Since the show was shot at Beverly Hills High School, actual students and teachers got to play bit parts or as walk-on extras.
• The episode “Tying The Knot” contained one of the earliest examples of simultaneous lesbian and gay marriages on television respectively
• Rudd having firmly established newfound star power after *redacted* and wanting to move onto other projects tried to convince Heckerling and the producers to write Josh out of the show but was persuaded to stay on board and write his character’s college-related story arcs.
• While writing up potential ideas for the No Worries Club’s summer vacation season, Amy Heckerling considered Florida or the United Kingdom as options before settling on Hawaii for it’s scenic environment and having enough unique cultural quirks to separate it from California and the mainland United States in addition to being closer to the entire country than the United Kingdom.
• Among the actors who auditioned or considered for the show were Stacey Dash as Dionne Davenport, Zach Braff as Josh Lucas, Donald Faison as Murray Duvall, Leah Remini as Tai Frasier, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Amber Mariens and Jerry Orbach as Melvin “Mel” Horowitz[6].

---

[1] Much like Bulletproof Hearts (TTL’s Bad Boys), the name and concept are taken from Amy Heckerling’s original plans to have OTL’s Clueless as a TV show for 20th Century Fox about the lives of nerds at a Beverly Hills high school. Because Fox and Paramount are under the same roof with different management to boot, Heckerling’s script will end up with Paramount-Fox Television who will option the show in 1993 with a 1995 air date for PFN.
[2] Silverstone would have been doing not just The Crush and Aerosmith’s “Cryin” but also some TV work in OTL and TTL so it’s not entirely impossible for her to appear in No Worries. She also gets a better career out of this since the disaster that was Batman & Robin isn’t there to derail her reputation as a leading starlet.
[3] Deschanel was a no-name 13 year old aspiring actress when she auditioned for Amber Mariens and she wouldn’t make her acting debut until 1998’s Veronica’s Closet. No Worries will put Deschanel on the acting map a decade early.
[4] With the exceptions listed above, the principal and recurring cast is comprised of actors who auditioned for these parts in OTL’s film: Hill for Dionne Davenport, Howard for Murray Duvall, the aforementioned Deschanel for Amber Mariens and Renner for Christian Stovitz. The show will help establish their acting careers as they will go on to do bigger things (with the exception of Hill who was already known for her music).
[5] For those wondering what happened to Saved by the Bell, Good Morning, Miss Bliss is essentially TTL’s equivalent of both shows with the high school setting and cast of the former and the presence of Hayley Mills’ Miss Carrle Bliss as a main character from the latter. The basic gist of how the show came to be is that NBC picks it up due to the different management at Disney but the creator Sam Bobrick is forced to change the setting to high school at the behest of executives and because the show is not picked up by the Disney Channel it airs in 1989 instead of 1987 and it lasts for four seasons. And much like OTL’s Saved by the Bell, Good Morning, Miss Bliss inspires a slew of imitators that copy some or all of it’s style such as a Miss Bliss type character or the cast and No Worries was greenlit by PFN to be their equivalent to the show but ultimately carves it’s own identity that it becomes popular and not seen as a ripoff of Good Morning.
[6] Aside from Remini, all of the actors mentioned were part of OTL’s Clueless cast aside from Seth Green (due to Spider-Man) and Owen Wilson (he took a break from acting for a while). In the cases of Dash and Faison, they will have to get new breakout roles since they’re not in No Worries.

 

[jpj1421]

Chapter 20: A Sporting Chance (Cont’d)
Excerpt from The King is Dead: The Walt Disney Company After Walt Disney, an Unauthorized History by Sue Donym and Arman N. Said

And after all that there were still sports to play. Disney would officially take possession of the Angels after the MLB season, but given the management stake the company would be taking they didn’t wait around to start meeting with the Angels team to plan out the coordination the following season. Of course, this also meant that Disney would start taking heat when the Angels went cold in the back half of the season after the Disney share acquisition was complete. The good news was that they made the playoffs, having banked enough wins early in the season to stay way out ahead of the rest of the AL West [1]. But, with that cold streak they were dispatched by the Indians on their way to winning the World Series against the Expos. Those skeptical of Disney’s ventures into professional sports used the Angels collapse to mock Disney despite them only entering a transitory and advisory role in the late spring through fall of 1995. Disney did take immediate steps to ‘advise’, basically oversee, ticket sales and advertising, an area where the Angels were completely out of their depth. When the Angels were at the heights of their season there wasn’t enough staff at the ticket counters to cover the demand, with Disney helping to staff the booths and using ads to encourage fans to buy tickets ahead of time. It wasn’t long after that before you could buy tickets at Disneyland[2]. Of course, when the team began its skid attendance began to dip and then efforts shifted to getting people to attend games. Miller suggested an idea from the sixties to help, a “double header” ticket that gets you a specified day at Disneyland and a specific Angels game which would be implemented for the end of the season when the Angels were locked in for the playoffs but were struggling to win games. Marketing noticed, in what really shouldn’t be much of a surprise, that the double headers tickets sold best for out of towners looking to watch their home team which planted a seed of an idea when it came to marketing for the Rams. Disney was optimistic about the Angels even if the team flamed out in the end, as you can’t take away qualifying for the playoffs from a team that’s been in a slump.

An example of the original 1960s era Double Header. Image from Yesterland.

Of course, given the dramatic fight to keep the Rams in California with the help of the Disney family the sports world was curious as to how “Mickey’s” Rams would do. Since all of the legal wrangling had taken up much of the lead time into the season Ron Miller would content himself with attending team trainings to meet the players and facilitate the coordination between the Rams Old Guard, his own people, and the Save Our Rams group. Disney and the Rams signed a rather sweetheart deal to complete the merchandising portion that had eased the minds of Finance to begin with and agree to a set of principles for an advertising campaign using Disney IP. While there were plenty within Disney who were still quite reluctant about all of this, the feeling was it was worth marketing’s time to build up the fanbase if they were going to sell toys and get their money back on the stadium they were going to own. The first set of ads focused on limited edition merchandise available for sale at the games and hyping up the partnership which would culminate in the Rams playing in a Disney stadium in the future. It wouldn’t take long for this to evolve into a whole campaign with Jerome Bettis and the Muppets promoting various discounts for out of towners. The apparatus was set up to build a fanbase, though nationwide rather than local like with the Avengers much to the annoyance of whatever fans were still around of the Rams, but it remained to be seen how the team would actually do with the weight of a potential move being lifted off their shoulders.

The Rams first round 1995 NFL Draft pick, Dwayne Johnson from the University of Miami. Image from SB Nation.

It started out well, with the Rams flying to Clemson and defeating the Carolina Panthers soundly in the first game of the season [3]. This was followed by a narrow victory over the Saints at their temporary home at the LA Coliseum in front of the largest crowd the Rams had seen in quite awhile. It was the game in Detroit [4] where things went rather awry. The Rams struck first to take the lead in the 2nd quarter with the Lions tying it up just before the half. On their first drive after in the third the Lions took the ball all the way to the Red Zone only for rookie Defensive Tackle Dwayne Johnson [5] to force a fumble out of a sack of Scott Mitchell; the sort of play to change the momentum of the game. Unfortunately for the Rams, the personality for which Johnson would notorious for came on the field when he mockingly waggled the football in front of Scott Mitchell’s face before helping him to his feet; a move that got Johnson slapped with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and automatic first down for the Lions on the goalline which led to a touchdown and lead that the Rams would fail to overcome. Johnson would get ejected from the game for screaming in the ref’s face. Management had a conversation with Johnson complimenting him on the sack and telling him to never do that again. This message was mostly received, though Johnson would immediately step outside Management’s expectations. . When the press asked Johnson about what happened post game, he apologized to the team for the penalty before shifting into what wrestling fans, Johnson did come from a professional wrestling family, would call mic work. Taking a mic out of the hand of a reporter he called the Lions win a technicality and insisted that it was good the refs stopped him because no offensive line could. He went on to promise more of the same to the Bears’ Erik Kramer the following week. Literally dropping the mic he went off to his locker. This would be the start of tensions between Disney and the Old Guard in the Rams as this was very much not the sort of behavior Disney would like from a player associated with them. Meanwhile, remaining fans appreciated the grit…especially when Johnson did sack Kramer three times in the Rams home game victory the following week which included one forced fumble. Refs watched Johnson like a hawk but he politely, perhaps in an overly compliant manner, handed over the ball to the refs. He did point directly to the owner’s box as he walked off the field and gave another barn burner of a post game interview. By week 9, when the Rams held the Cardinals [6] to a field goal thanks to Johnson and the rest ofthe defense, the remaining old school fans had a heel on the team that they could love; it certainly didn’t hurt that press leaks revealed the agitation over Johnson on the Disney side of things with their preference for Bettis as a potential face of the team. With the season descending into trading into wins and losses for a respectable, by recent standards, 7-9 season the 1995 season would be more remembered for the personalities on the field and the behind the scenes clashses. Clashes that would get worse, and more public, by the time of the 1996 Draft.

[1]The lack of a 1994 strike helps out the Angels here. While there is a 1995 Lockout, not dissimilar to 2022’s, it’s resolved with a shortened spring training and slightly late season start. The Angels get a boost ITTL from a hot streak in the spring that was cut short IOTL and also the Mariners don’t have Ken Griffey Jr. This does mean the Mariners will be relocating to Vancouver for the 1996 season, apologies to @Clorox23.
[2] All of this is what happened IOTL when Disney began to take over the team in 1995.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-08-22-sp-37581-story.html
[3] The NFC matchups have been reshuffled and so the Rams will not play the Packers or Eagles. This is on account of a healthy Randall Cunnigham and living Jerome Brown that took them to back to back Super Bowls ITTL, one mentioned earlier in the TL(Super Bowl 27) where they lost and one I’m mentioning (Super Bowl 28) now in this footnote where they won.
[4] The Detroit Lions taking the spot of the Green Bay Packers on the Rams schedule.
[5] Dwayne Johnson avoids his high school knee injury here and so makes it to the pros.
[6]The Arizona Cardinals taking the spot of the Philadelphia Eagles on the Rams schedule.

 

[MNM041]

The Impossibles(1995): What's Beneath The Explosions
From Six in Violence Netsite, September 16, 2015
Guest post by @MNM041 with assistance from a special observer and @Plateosaurus

Initially starts off as this only to go in it’s own unique direction to put it mildly

The brainchild of Sylvester Stallone, The Impossibles is a film series that exemplifies the gratuitous, over the top nature of 80s and 90s action cinema. Films that somehow managed to deliver every cliche that made people love those movies, while also being able to cleverly satirize those very same moments, which came partly thanks to Shane Black, who stepped in to help with the script after Stallone successfully pitched the idea to Paramount. In short, The Impossibles was to 80s and 90s action movies what George Romero's Final Girl was to slasher flicks.

The films focus on the titular group of elite mercenaries tasked with a mission to overthrow a dictator of a Latin American country known as San Marco. The team soon discovers that the dictator is a mere puppet controlled by corrupt members of the CIA and executives of the arms manufacturer Jericho. Stallone knew he wanted The Impossibles to feel like an event, and to do that, it needed something special. It didn't just need him, it needed the other most bankable action star of the era: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Stallone was able to get a meeting with Schwarzenegger thanks to Shane Black, who had worked with Schwarzenegger on the movie Predator. Schwarzenegger and Stallone had already worked together on Paul Verhoeven’s Face/Off so it wasn’t too hard to convince them to work on an action movie blockbuster again[1].

After getting Arnold on board, Paramount decided to see just how many other action stars could be brought in for this film. The films quickly became a who's who of action stars from the 70s to the 90s including:

• Sylvester Stallone as Barney Louis, the clean cut, all American leader of the Impossibles and CIA agent
• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Hans Wagner - a former East German Stasi agent who defected to West Germany and later found work with the CIA
• Jackie Chan as Ji Qi Ren, a Chinese expatriate and defector living in the United States as a kung fu master and a martial arts expert for the team. He left China over his disgust of the corrupt actions of his intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security.
• Richard Dean Anderson as James Holland, an Army explosives expert who prefers to not use guns, but is nonetheless effective in a fire fight.
• Carl Weathers as Richard Burnham, a former Army Marine and best friend of Holland.
• Jean-Claude Van Damme as Jacques LeBlanc, a French DGSE operative with close connections to Barney and Hans.
• Chuck Norris as Kyle McShannon, survivalist and former member of the United States Secret Service, known for being able to live through unbelievable situations.
• Harrison Ford as Joseph Packwood, US Marshal who served in the Vietnam War, known for his skills at tracking fugitives.
• Bruce Willis as Frank Parish, former Army Ranger who also works as a hostage negotiator for the New Orleans Police Department.
• Pam Grier as Sarah Walford, Counter-terrorism expert at Quantico, who also helped get Ji and Hans into the States after they defected.
• Tom Selleck as Samuel Curtis, Ex-soldier who rose to the rank of Captain during the Vietnam war, now working as a police detective in New York.
• Mr. T as Marcus Stagger, Ex-con on the straight and narrow, working with the team as a weapons specialist.
• Sam Neill as Simon Skinner, MI6 operative, considered one of the finest agents of Her Majesty's Secret Service.
• Kurt Russell as Ben Crane, former POW from the Vietnam War who ended up single-handedly liberating the camp from the North Vietnamese-backed Viet Cong.
• Jamie Lee Curtis as Tessa “Tess” Coleman, a former mercenary who had begun working for the DEA.
• Mel Gibson as Ryan Marshall, an Australian lieutenant colonel and master marksman.
• Danny Glover as Gary Green, a CIA operative who's worked with Barney for over a decade as his handler, essentially trying to keep him in check.
• Leonard Nimoy as Albert Rosenstein, a veteran CIA agent who served as something of a mentor figure for Barney.
• Peter Weller as Paul Robards, essentially the Q of the group, coming up with various gadgets used during their operations.
• Sigourney Weaver as Angelica Neuman, a fellow CIA agent, who served as the leader along with Hans and Barney before leaving prior to the events of the first film.
• Bruce Campbell as Jonathan “Johnny” Cole, former CIA agent turned private military contractor, considered by some members to be a flight risk, due to being considered mentally disturbed.
• Heather Langenkamp as Suzanne Hicks, an FBI agent who made headlines ending several high profile manhunts and plots from neo-Nazi and communist terrorist organizations.
• Linda Hamilton as Amelia Elliott, an air force pilot working with the Impossibles.
• Roddy Piper as Dr. Wesley McCarthy, an army doctor who's been taking jobs with the team for the money.
• Christopher Reeve as Vincent Kemp, an old war buddy of Barney's who developed a drinking problem over the years.
• Paul Newman as Gadson Manning,a former LAPD cop turned CIA agent, and one of the longest-serving members of the team, having been part of it from the time it was founded by Albert.
• Liam Neeson as Professor Patrick O’Leary, an Irish-born MI6 scientist and operative for the Impossibles
• David Hasselhoff as Steven Hammond, Ex-soldier turned stuntman, who's recruited for the team because of his experience and athleticism.
• David Bowie as Dr. George Nicolas, an enigmatic doctor with the British Special Forces, whose records are shown to be heavily redacted.

Andrew Davis, a director experienced in making the sort of action movies The Impossibles satirized (like Above the Law[2]), would be brought on to direct the first installment and would direct the other films including the female-centric spinoff The Ladyhawks as did Shane Black. Black and Stallone were responsible for developing the signature style of The Impossibles starting with the first film released in 1995, taking inspiration from Verhoeven’s Last Action Hero in being a parody of the very genre that it belonged to, the recent reports on the human rights abuses of Latin American dictatorships and especially the end of the Cold War with the newly-formed Union of Sovereign Republics under Mikhail Gorbachev embracing the policy of reconciliation with Al Gore’s United States as I had previously discussed in the Best Action Movies of 1995 post.

Many have deemed the franchise the last hurrah for the 80’s style action movie, with the over the top action and characters that permeated the genre through the decade, only for films like Nothing Can Last and its kin and Last Action Hero to help put it to rest. While casual viewers see it as mindless action fodder in a similar vein to the former films, on closer examination, one will find these movies have more in common with First Blood than any of the later Rambo movies. The Impossibles has plenty of commentary on the Cold War and what happens after Communism is no longer the greatest threat to America with its Latin American puppet states becoming more and more unhinged without a common and even more totalitarian enemy to contend with. The sequels, meanwhile, tackled the idea that America’ greatest enemy is itself, such as with corporations exploiting the people of it, and sometimes even questioned whether the actions of the main characters are even truly heroic.

The very first shot of the franchise opens with Stallone's character, Sgt. Barney Louis, being roped into one last mission after an old enemy resurfaces (with dialogue so deliberately cliche you could recite it word for word) with Stallone as the heroic, clean-cut leader of a black ops team known as the Impossibles. He and the other members of his team are on what at first seems like standard action fare, but things quickly go off the rails once it becomes clear that members of the CIA and gun company Jericho are involved in his operations along with the dictator of San Marco, Ricardo Gonzales (played by Emilio Estevez). From there, the heroes are on the run, hunted by the corrupt dictatorship and the organizations they'd unknowingly aided for years. The first film functions as a surprisingly scathing critique of Reagan era Cold War politics, and America's tendency to back horrible totalitarian regimes simply because they weren't Communists and out of materialistic greed.

The sequel, The Impossibles II, also brought in the Crusaders, a black ops team who are the much worse counterparts to the Impossibles, lacking every scruple they have and work with the worst for cash. They were led by Cyrus Grissom (played by Donald Gibb), with other members being psychotic, vicious murderers who will kill for their cause or just for the fun of it. The second flm would also introduce a new heroic Russian/USR member of the Impossibles, Andrei Ryzhkov (played by Gary Oldman)[3], who represents the reconciliation between the United States and the Sovereign Union respectively, coming together to put aside their differences to stop a enemy that is far worse than them. Along with Oldman, Japanese martial artist and actor Sonny Chiba was cast as Ryuzo Nakamura, an informant for the Tokyo Metropolitan Policde Department trained in judo and karate. Additionally, Jean Reno and Wes Studi would also be cast as new members of the Crusaders.

The third film in the franchise, The Impossibles III, is also notable for featuring a rare dramatic performance by Leslie Nielsen[4], who portrayed a disillusioned Korean War veteran by the name of Gordon Cutter, who had turned to war profiteering, getting rich off the very kinds of conflicts that he once fought to stop, as well being implied to be a financial backer for The Crusaders.

-------------------------
(BARNEY lies on the floor in pain as CUTTER, drink hand, slowly lurks over to him. CUTTER takes a swig of his drink, then kicks BARNEY in the stomach.)

BARNEY: Why?

CUTTER: Why? Because, you idiotic meathead, I figured out what you've been too blind to see: we were always expendable. Men like us, we always have our identities taken away and get used as puppets for some bigwig to get what they want. Well I'm not going to be the puppet anymore. From now on, I'm gonna be one who holds the goddamn strings and runs the fucking show!
-------------------------

The films also had the characters frequently confront the fact that their actions during the Cold War may have caused the problems they face in the films, and many of them either are in denial or visibly struggle with guilt about what they had to do. With the Cold War over, all that's left is to find closure. It's part of the reason why when we first meet Vincent, he's wasted at a bar and waking up to find someone wrote, "Will you ever find peace?" on his hand. These movies contrast the black and white morality of the very action movies they riffed on by showcasing the Impossibles as not perfect people and neither was the American government. The mentality doesn't go anywhere in a world where there's only shades of gray. The mentality of the films is best exemplified by this scene from the very first movie with Barney, Wesley, Hans, Vincent and Angelica discussing how much the American government deceived them into carrying unethical operations.

-------------------------
WESLEY: Barney, tell me you aren't still buying into the bullshit the Government fed us before and after every mission.

HANS: It was us or the Communists, and quite frankly, I'm glad it was them.

BARNEY: Look, we didn’t have much choice in the matter and regarding the Russians, we had to stop them from spreading communism around the world lest things get so bad that we’re absolutely fucked.

ANGELICA: You talk like that and then you wonder why the rest of us never send you Christmas cards.

VINCENT: We weren't the good guys. We were weapons. Loose cannons. Monsters hiding under the bed. We were a pack of violent, bloodthirsty psychopaths who were only useful as long as we killed the bad guys. But now that the battle is over, it's clear that we were only the heroes by circumstance. There is no place for us in this world now.

WESLEY: That just about sums it up. We're not heroes, no one needs us to swope in and save the day. It's time we finally accepted that.

(WESLEY, ANGELICA and VINCENT walk out, leaving HANS and BARNEY.)
-------------------------

While the film was a massive hit with critics and audiences grossing $365 million at the box office on a budget of $274.5 million crushing much of it’s competition domestically, in the years since it’s release, The Impossibles have gotten some more well deserved attention for their surprisingly well thought out plots, subtle satire and brilliant action sequences. If the films truly were the send off for 80s action that many believe it to be, then it was a perfect way to go.

Trivia:

• The character of Wesley was originally written for Steven Seagal, who had previously worked with director Andrew Davis on Above the Law. Segal declined due to bad blood with the studio and the part would later be given to Roddy Piper[5].
• Leonard Nimoy's character, Albert Rosenstein, was reportedly much closer in personality to Spock before Nimoy requested some rewrites be made, after which Rosenstein was made to be much more animated.
• There was once a rumor that the character of Albert was actually originally written for Leonard Nimoy's Star Trek co-star, William Shanter. Shanter was quick to debunk the rumors, citing that he was already working on a different project at the time, with the same studio.
• Shane Black has said that the character of Hicks was written with Susan Sarandon in mind. Sarandon was interested in the part, but scheduling conflicts kept her out. Make-up artist David LeRoy Anderson, then suggested actress Heather Langenkamp for the part (though she reportedly did not mention that Anderson was her husband until after getting the part). Langenkamp's casting led to the character being changed to be much younger due to the age difference between her and Sarandon. Sarandon would later appear in the spinoff film The Ladyhawks as CIA agent Rachael Franklin, the leader of the eponymous Ladyhawks.
• Roddy Piper and Kevin Nash both managed to land parts in the first film not long after the WWF was shut down and replaced by Ted Turner’s reborn WCW[5]. Piper has said he felt like it was God's way of saying he should get out of the wrestling business[6].
• Leslie Nielsen famously kept trying to get his castmates to break while filming The Impossibles III, often sneaking the fart machine he used during interviews onto set. Reportedly, he also gifted one to Jackie Chan.
• Famously, the majority of character introductions throughout the series callback to the works of the various actors involved.
• Marshall and O’Leary were originally not intended to be Australian and Irish but their actors suggested these ideas to as Gibson put it “spice things up” and make the lineup more diverse.
• Stallone and Black have both said that the fact that men heavily outnumber women in the films to be a deliberate choice, meant to comment on how often these films were male fronted. That said, Black would also cite the presence of Langenkamp and Weaver as a catalyst for the creation of The Ladyhawks, which would star Sarandon, Michelle Yeoh, Uma Thurman, Geena Davis, Jodie Foster, Kim Basinger, Nancy Allen, Rosie Perez Linda Carter, Joan Chen, Jada Pinkett, Catherine O’Hara, Margot Kidder, Faye Dunaway, Sharon Stone, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daryl Hannah, Sean Young, Melanie Griffith, Molly Ringwald, Karen Allen, Mary Elizabeth Mastriantonio, Diane Lane, Helen Bonham-Carter and Scarlett Johansson along with role reprises from Langenkamp, Weaver, Linda Hamilton, Pam Grier and Jamie Lee Curtis.
• To convince producers to let Leslie Nielsen audition for the role of Cutter, Stallone and Black showed the executives clips of the episode of MASH he appeared on. Many were shocked by his performance, but the rare dramatic performance earned him a large amount of praise.
• The rise of the popular "James Bond is a codename" theory led some fans of the franchise to joke that Sam Neill's Simon Skinner character is actually his James Bond after having passed on the mantle[7].

Footnotes
[1] Recall that Schwarzenegger and Stallone are also starring in TTL’s Face/Off so it won’t be hard to get them to star in another movie especially with Assassins not having him on board.
[2] As Die Hard was replaced by Nothing Can Last, many of the Die Hard imitators will either be drastically different (i.e. Speed) or won’t exist at all and while Under Siege does still exist it’s not “Die Hard on a boat” and it’s known under the name Dreadnought much like the original spec script from OTL.
[3] A bit of an allusion to his role as Egor Korshunov in Air Force One but with the moral alignment being inverted here.
[4] Leslie Nielsen actually played a fair few villainous roles before he became mostly known as a comedic actor. With this movie, he'll get a chance to do a few more dramatic roles just before he passes away.
[5] Let’s just say that it’s not the only trouble Seagal is facing. He is going have a rude awakening with his sexual harassment scandal which will put an end to his acting career and cost him a role in a key movie in 1998. What is that 1998 movie? Stay tuned.
[6] Since WWF is out of the picture, WCW will be the premier wrestling promotion in North America especially later on and with Roddy Piper transitioning from wrestling to acting, hopefully things go better for him and he doesn't end up passing away in 2015.
[7] An allusion to a similar theory in The Rock where Sean Connery’s John Mason is actually an older James Bond in OTL.

 

[Denliner]

Making Us Believe in the Future Again: Remembering the New Horizons Tomorrowlands -- Part 1
Jim Hill Media Netsite, Dec 20, 2005 [1]

Although it’s been a few years since the opening of Tomorrowland Nextworld at Tokyo, the final New Horizons Tomorrowland, the effects of all three refurbishments has had a profound impact on Walt Disney Entertainment and the general public as a whole. We’ve all been in awe at the audacity of Imagineering and the company before with the opening of Disneyland Valencia and DisneySea, with both theme parks pushing the limits of the concept itself with their execution, but there’s something different about the New Horizons Tomorrowlands that is hard to place.

Perhaps it is the genuine love for Walt’s futurist vision that drives the I-Works, or merely the creative drive that keeps them moving forward? No matter the case, Imagineering has done it again with what is called the “New Horizons Tomorrowlands”, the latest refurbishments that didn’t just upgrade the previous Tomorrowlands, it immortalized them.

To understand the origin of the New Horizons Tomorrowlands, we must first look back to the conception of the project, back in 1989.

By the tail end of the 80s, it was becoming clear to the Disney I-Works and Walt Disney Entertainment that Tomorrowland had become horribly outdated.

The problem not only affected Disneyland but practically every Tomorrowland in Disney’s theme parks aside from Valencia. They all looked antiquated in the face of the rise of new sci-fi media like Blade Runner and Alien, whose modern aesthetic, dark and seedy buildings, and criticism of rampant capitalism made them appealing to a new generation of Americans. [2]

It was a far cry from the optimism and hope that Tomorrowland represented for Walt Disney back in the 50s and 60s. Although he passed away, those ideas still resonated within the hearts and minds of the executives that still run the company, especially CCO Jim Henson, CEO Ron Miller, and Chairman of Walt Disney Studios Roy E. Disney. And those ideas were things that the company wished to keep moving forward.

Instead of embracing this darker aspect of the future, Disney would instead continue to look towards tomorrow in a more positive light. A utopia, as one might put it. While an ultimately noble pursuit and one that garnered success for the company, at the time, there was still an urgent issue.

Tomorrow always comes.

Disney has always struggled to maintain even a semblance of the future with Tomorrowland, as it would become outdated even a few years after a new iteration opened. It became so ubiquitous at that time that there was a word for it. “The Tomorrowland Problem”, as many Disney fans put it, was a constant issue for future refurbishments for Recreation. Technology simply caught up too fast for Disney to keep up with. Walt Disney Recreation would need to find a new solution if they wanted these new Tomorrowlands to last.

They would find that answer in 1992.

Discoveryland, the progenitor of the New Horizons Tomorrowlands…

Instead of Tomorrowland, Tony Baxter and his team decided to do away with the entire concept and create a future that will never come. Christened as Discoveryland, the land explored a future imagined by the forward-thinking inventors of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was a resounding success and gave the I-Works a path towards making Tomorrowlands timeless. With the right theme and an excellent story, guests would no longer see the land as outdated. [3]

Once the development for Disneyland Valencia was finished, concepts for new Tomorrowlands were already being drawn up in 1993, as Imagineers scrambled to create a cohesive theme for each of the three Tomorrowlands already built. However, the one that received the most attention was Disneyland, as it needed the most attention, being the oldest Tomorrowland, and therefore required the most radical change.

Although the development and construction of DisneySea distracted the I-Works from doing any more with these disparate ideas, by the end of 1994, they had a rough idea of what designs could be possible for these new Tomorrowlands.

One of these ideas, though, was a cut above the rest. It spurred the interest of many at the I-Works and those of Walt Disney Entertainment, including Jim Henson. Of course, I’m talking about “Tomorrowland 2055” for Disneyland, or at least the original iteration of it. [4]

The brainchild of Imagineers Bruce Gordon and Tony Baxter, the original Tomorrowland 2055, although not as bombastic or as ambitious as the later iterations, was a blueprint for what was to come with the new project. It rewrote the entire concept of what a “Tomorrowland” could be, with its immersive atmosphere and backstory that was unheard of for a themed land. In fact, it could’ve been a serviceable concept for Disneyland or any other Disney theme park, but Jim Henson had other plans.

Although Jim actually loved the idea, the problem was that it was supposed to be a replacement for Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. Walt’s Tomorrowland. He personally thought it was a disservice to present a story that seemed more of a fantastical reality, something unattainable for the human race when Walt always wanted it to be a model for humanity to follow. [5]

You could say that it is ironic that Jim would protest this idea when the entire point of the new Tomorrowlands was to move away from being a prediction of the future through a story, but I suppose that he thought that Disneyland was far more sacrosanct than the other parks, most likely due to it being Walt’s legacy. It needed to be more than just a story, it had to be a light in the beacon for humanity, like what 1967 was for the people at the time.

What was certain is that plans for the original Tomorrowland 2055 were shelved for the time being, with some aspects being passed on to the next idea for Disneyland. However, it will soon find a new home. Not Anaheim or Orlando, but in Tokyo, where the idea evolved into something far greater than the original. [6]

Feeling nostalgic yet? (Image source: The Disney Times)

Another idea brought up for the New Horizons Tomorrowlands was Tomorrowland 1955, an entirely separate idea that was thought up from the I-Works. Unlike the 2055 concept, this didn’t entirely form out of a vacuum but it was the culmination of all of the developments that Disney had worked on with this theme in mind. For the Imagineers, they were fortunate to have access to the blueprints and concept art that Walt Disney and the old WED team left behind when they were developing the original Tomorrowland in 1953, only to drastically downsize the whole project when budgeting problems arose.

These papers formed the foundation of what 1955 was going to be, and arguably affected the people that worked on the project. For them, they were bringing Walt’s original vision of Tomorrowland to life, but bigger and better. I heard that the Imagineers were even more ecstatic once they heard they got the green light for the Magic Kingdom since their Tomorrowland is obviously much bigger than the one at Anaheim.

Disneytown Denver was considered to be the test-run of this concept, where Imagineers forayed into the same vintage Googie architecture as before. After it proved to be a popular success among guests, much of the models and art were retained after the project finished, so the team had a ton of references when it came to the Tomorrowland 1955 project. This was extremely beneficial as they did not require as much help as the Disneyland team did, which is why 1955 was the first to be built. [7]

Old concept art of the original Tomorrowland from 1953 (Image source: Inventing Disneyland)

For what the Imagineers envisioned for Tomorrowland 1955, it would take place in a city, much like 2055, but not just any city...it would be a Sci-Fi City! [8]

A city created by the assembly of the greatest inventors and scientists from across the globe, it would be dedicated to developing and constructing cutting-edge technology from every field imaginable. From labor-saving devices to the strangest robots and the most mundane gadgets and gizmos, almost all inventions are welcome in the city, as long as they can help with the advancement of mankind. After many years of constant experimentation and collaboration, sometimes with humorous or disastrous results, they would be tasked by the UN to go where no man has gone before: explore and colonize Mars.

Inspired by franchises like “Buck Rogers”, “Flash Gordon”, and “The Jetsons”, the city would have been a wacky, comedic, and light-hearted take on the whole fantastical Tomorrowland concept, thanks to the Atompunk/Googie architecture and the bright/vibrant colors. When it opened, it was truly a feast for the eyes and a stark contrast to the clean white, black, and silver of Tomorrowland 2055.

Unfortunately for the team, they got the short end of the stick when it came to funding. After what happened to DisneySea and its ludicrously bloated budget, Disney was understandably apprehensive about throwing as much money as possible, especially when Tomorrowland 2055 cost about $500 million after some cost-cutting had to be made. For Recreation, Disneyland needed far more help and revision than the Magic Kingdom, and therefore took the lion’s share of the budget. [9]

Still, the show must go on and the team decided to make do with the decreased budget, which was around $350 million. Of course, they managed to present a very good product with the money that they had when it opened in 1997, thanks to the concept being very malleable and the land requiring far less work to rebuild and construct than Disneyland. In fact, some of the attractions remained virtually the same, such as the PeopleMover, which was only given a minor paint job and some aesthetic modifications to the cars and tracks (red instead of blue, anyone?).

However, they did have to cut out a huge amount of planned features for Tomorrowland 1955, including an indoor Flying Saucers ride as a reference to the old attraction in Disneyland and a dark ride where you explored the planet Mars in a space buggy right out of the 1950s, exploring the native life in a time where Mars was habitable. It’s a shame, but I suppose that’s what expansions are for, right? [10]

---

[1]: Many thanks to the actual Jim Hill for his insider articles on the many projects on Tomorrowland 2055, as well as the videos from Defunctland, Yesterworld, and ReviewTyme.

[2]: I believe that it was a very common criticism of Tomorrowland of the time before the 2055 proposal and the 1994/1998 Tomorrowland refurbs. Of course, Disney will decide to reject this line of thinking in science fiction, but here they will be far more successful thanks to a unified vision and a passion that far exceeds even Imagineering of our timeline.

[3]: Of course, Discoveryland was the trigger for the idea of making Tomorrowland timeless, just like OTL. However, Valencia’s success will dramatically expand the project towards something greater. They won’t just upgrade 1 or 2 Tomorrowlands. They will upgrade ALL of them in style. This is New Horizons, and it’s going to be awesome.

Discoveryland will be considered to be an honorary New Horizons Tomorrowland by Disney fans, so technically, Disney will have 4 brand-new and original Tomorrowlands by the end of the TL.

[4]: Yes, we’re talking about THAT Tomorrowland 2055. You know, the one where Tomorrowland becomes a weird spaceport where humans find glowing crystals and it becomes a spaceport for aliens. Jim shelved that idea, sadly, but it will live on.

[5]: This is one of the few times (perhaps the only time) that ITTL Tony Baxter will ever be personally hurt by something that Jim Henson said in Walt Disney Entertainment, as he will mention in interviews and in the ITTL The Imagineering Story. Although he will be disappointed by the downfall of the original TL 2055, his work on the next iteration for Anaheim will be considered to be his magnum opus.

[6] Tokyo gets the 2055 idea instead of Anaheim, where it becomes Nextworld. But what is Nextworld and how does it compare to the original? Stay tuned for that.

[7]: Oh, we’re going there. Did you know that Tokyo Disneyland was supposed to have a similar atompunk theme to New Tomorrowland, but more bombastic and far more elaborate? I didn’t either, but kudos to Jim Hill Media and ReviewTyme for bringing this to light. Here, the idea of the Sci-Fi City is combined with Walt’s old 1953 concept art (with a hint of original EPCOT) to make a family-friendly atompunk paradise. Perfect for Walt Disney World. Although New Tomorrowland is like OTL, the primary difference is the extent of the refurbishment and the ambition of the Imagineers.

[8]: Guess we have Denver to thank for steering WDW’s Tomorrowland in this direction.

[9]: The Magic Kingdom gets the short end of the stick with their Tomorrowland ITTL instead of Disneyland. Not as bad as the disaster that was DL’s 1998 refurb, but compared to 2055 and Nextworld, 1955 is considered to be the weakest of the three New Horizons Tomorrowlands, with it being a much better version of New Tomorrowland OTL.

[10]: We shall see whether Disney will ever bring these attractions back or if they will remain as unplanned rides for people to discover and talk about ITTL. I do like that dark ride idea, so let us know which rides should be in the new Tomorrowlands for the future.

 

[Plateosaurus]

Best Action Movies of 1995
From Six In Violence Netsite, May 15, 2006
Guest post by @Plateosaurus and "one Mr. Harris" with executive assistance from @MNM041

By 1995, the action movie had entered a different age than what had come before. The classic ones of the 1980s were no longer taken seriously, and the decade was seeing a new kind of action flick comparable to the Smart Slashers over in horror with the greatest action flicks of the ‘90s balancing or even trading mindless and stylized action for more intellectual and serious topics such as post-Cold War unemployment and the decline of the American middle class in 1993’s Falling Down[1] or government corruption in 1998’s Enemy of the State and the films on this list are no exception, from literal cult classics to Schwarzenegger staying cool. So without further ado, this is Six in Violence’s Best Action Movies of 1995.

6 - Face/Off​

This film meets Blade Runner and with Sly and Arnie

Set in San Francisco in the then-future of 2018[2], Face/Off is a phenomenal sci-fi action thriller from Predator II director Paul Verhoeven[3] about a CIA agent named Sean Archer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who assumes the identity of terrorist Castor Troy (Sylvester Stallone)[4] to infiltrate his inner circle via an advanced facial transplant, only for Troy himself to pull the same trick. From this point on, the movie becomes a labyrinthine game of cat-and-mouse with two amazing action stars going head to head with each other.

Both Arnie and Sly, who famously let go of their rivalry on-set thanks to Verhoeven convincing them to apologize after both men were given the script[5], do well mimicking both one another to the point where it’s really hard to tell who’s who. Sly even pulls off a decent imitation of Arnie’s Austrian accent for crying out loud! The solid story, catchy soundtrack from Basil Poledouris and acting from the two leads is backed by a strong supporting cast comprised of Joan Allen, Gina Gershon (with a shaved head no less)[6], Alessandro Nivola and Colm Feore along with a young Dominique Swain. The action is as per Verhoeven tradition bombastic, grandiose and bloody and it’s simply a spectacle to behold along with some surprisingly good special effects. The acting from Arnie and Sly stands out as the best thing about this film as both actors are allowed to go full ham and bring their all on the silver screen in fact most people tend to watch this film just to see two action movie legends duke it out. With a bankable director and two action movie stars, Face/Off received positive reviews from critics particularly for the performances of Schwarzenegger and Stallone, and made a healthy profit at the box office grossing $225 million on a budget of $90 million[7], and led to the next collaboration of Verhoven and Schwarzenegger with the historical epic Crusade[8].

While the film is good, that’s not to say that it suffers from it’s fair share of problems. Face/Off still has the usual Verhoeven sleeze with bloody violence and (at times) gratuitous nudity not to mention that it has some pacing problems. Still, the worldbuilding and the story more than make up for these issues and still holds up today as an excellent futuristic thriller with a very strong, compelling theme of duality.

5 - Abram’s Children​

Sort of like this but with heavy usage of Roman a Clef.

To say that Abram’s Children was controversial is a massive understatement, all to be expected from John Milius, the director of Red Dawn (1984) and writer of Apocalypse Now. Loosely based on a book by ex-Branch Dravidian Marc Breault, Abram’s Children about a survivalist cult in Wadlow, Texas swho lures newcomers with promises of a paradise formed from the ashes of the old world after a prophesied World War III between a totalitarian USR and the US. However at the core it’s about two brothers: the charismatic leader Ezra Abrams (Willem Dafoe) and Roy Abrams (Kevin Bacon), an ATF agent undercover in preparation for a raid by the authorities, a man dedicated to bringing the Abramites to justice. His partner Paul Fitzgerald (Denzel Washington) also wants to bring down the cult for mistreating her daughter Anna (Raven-Symoné) after learning it from her thanks to Roy rescuing her from the clutches of the Abramites However, what starts as a simple raid quickly turns into a PR nightmare for the FBI and the ATF with Roy and Paul having to grapple with the consequences of reluctantly killing Abramite women and children if it meant putting down a outright sexual predator.

As you can tell, this moody action-thriller is heavily based on the Waco siege of 1993 and serves as a critique of not just cults but the US government and how their often more alike they they like to think. Already controversial in it’s subject matter especially in the wake of the Sword of Liberty’s campaign of terror the same year[9] with some people accusing Milius of being too sympathetic to Abrams and his cult, though as many critics noted that while the film took a critical eye at the government over it’s handling of the Wadlow crisis the Abramites were not portrayed positively at all as they’re shown to be incredibly fanatical, vicious and deranged both to their followers and non-followers as well. In spite of this, the controversy surrounding the film after Waco and a string of white nationalist-related terrorist attacks across the nation was enough for the film to bomb outright at the box office against a $32 million budget, but frankly it shouldn’t have: Like every good 90s thriller movie, its rife with both tight action and strong performances (most prominently Dafoe as Ezra himself), but also plenty of symbolism and commentary: you can easily play a drinking game for every biblical allusion and icon in the film, like Ezra calling Roy the Prodigal Son.

Abram’s Children might be nobody’s favorite action movie but regardless it’s a fantastic, gripping action thriller with strong direction from Milius, a cast of fantastic actors and thought-provoking concepts and subtext that merely suffered from bad timing.

4 - Crimson Tide​

The ‘90s were a time of big change for the world with the end of the Cold War and the reformation of the totalitarian Soviet Union into the more democratic Union of Sovereign States, and more warmer relations with the United States seemed to herald world peace especially with the US and USR forming the Partnership for Peace with NATO and former Warsaw Pact nations. However, not everyone was optistimic or wanted a Partnership for Peace-led world: some citizens from both countries were distrustful of each other and there were others thinking that the opposite side secretly wanted to perform a stab in the back[10] with even certain elements within the USR wanting the nation to become another dictatorship or authoritarian state, communist or not and form a new international bloc that would compete with NATO and America. And so over the next 15 years a slew of World War III fiction would be created around the world where Western-Russian relations went hot and escalated into war whether it was the USR being reformed into the Soviet Union once more or turned into a totalitarian dictatorship usually by anti-Gorbachev hardliners and terrorists. Crimson Tide took a slightly different direction than most examples[11]. In Crimson Tide’s case, it’s taking a page from an incident during the Cuban Missile Crisis and updating it for a 20th century audience only with Americans instead of Soviets.

Directed by Top Gun’s Tony Scott, Crimson Tide focuses on two Navy submarine officers Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter (played by Denzel Washington) and Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) who clash over what to do after a group of ultranationalist terrorists and hardliners in the USR led by Vladimir Radchenko (played by Daniel von Bargen) takes control of a military installation and threatens to launch nukes at the United States lest they try to defuse the situation by force of arms[12]. Hunter and Ramsey butt heads on how to stop Radchenko with Hunter refusing to launch nuclear missiles from the USS Alabama and Ramsey insisting that it should be done to stop a greater evil. The world almost comes close to a nuclear apocalypse when a ultranationalist-controlled submarine attacks the Alabama and Hunter stages a mutiny against Ramsey. Luckily, the situation de-escalates after Hunter and Ramsey agree to wait until receiving orders from the military which tells them to stand down and face trial for a military tribunal after Radchenko and the ultranationalists are arrested by local authorities.

The film’s greatest strength is the chemistry between Washington and Hackman who convincingly portray a clash of personalities for their characters with Ramsey as the calm and collected commander and Hunter as the hot-blooded, gung-ho newcomer. Another strength is the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack from legendary German composer Hans Zimmer who uses a synthesizer instead of traditional orchestra to bring out a sense of foreboding and doom of a potential nuclear war between the United States and the Sovereign Union, especially since the film was released only a few years after the Cold War had ended. Thanks to it’s timely and hopeful anti-nuclear message, Crimson Tide resonated with audiences and made $145 million on a $53 million budget[13]. These days, with a glut of World War III media involving a “Russian invasion”, a terrorist group from the USR or a rogue ex-Soviet officer causing a conflict, it’s refreshing to see a story in which the Americans and the Russians[14] are both just as capable of causing a nuclear war without being too one-sided.

3 - The Impossibles​

Starts off as something like this only to go in a much more satirical direction

Screenwriter Shane Black and action star Sylvester Stallone (making his second appearance on the list) penned the script for this movie, considered something of a last hurrah for the type of action film that flooded cinemas and video stores in the 1980s. A veritable who's who of action stars, it tells the story of an elite squad of mercenaries sent into the South American country of San Marco to deal with a dictator who turns out to be a puppet for the CIA and weapons manufacturing company Jericho. While that plot may not sound like the most original one, that's the point. The Impossibles function as a satire of Cold War politics, particularly from the Reagan administration, at a time when the USR was reconciling with the US after the fall of Communism. Questioning the black and white, us vs them mentality that plagued the era, the titular team became disgusted at their own government backing a dictatorship committing various human rights abuses and were just as totalitarian as their enemies. In between the chaotic exciting action scenes, the characters are left to ponder if the things they did in the name of the greater good really were the right thing.

With some people saying this movie did to 80s/early 90s action movies what Final Girl did for slashers, I’d argue that The Impossibles changed the action genre for the better by injecting it with a lot of philosophical, cerebral themes and heartfelt, gripping performances from a cast of action movie veterans from Schwarzenegger and Stallone to Chan and Glover. This film and it's two sequels often get credit for helping boost the careers for some of it's stars, making wrestlers turned-actors Roddy Piper and Kevin Nash into a household names, not long after their old employer, the WWF, went under, as well as giving Christopher Reeves (at the time) stagnant career a necessary boost. The film was a massive hit with critics and audiences grossing $375 million at the box office on a budget of $74.5 million, crushing much of it’s competition domestically.

The success of The Impossibles didn’t just signal the end of the old school action movies of the last fourteen years it would spawn a franchise with two sequels with the original cast reprising their roles and a female-centric spinoff, The Ladyhawks, centering around the titular squad of badass women with connections to the Impossibles played by some of the most prolific actresses from around the world.

2 - Quid Pro Quo​

An adaptation of a Michael Connolly legal thriller novel[15], this movie stars Bruce Willis (who now makes his second appearance on this list, having also played Frank Parrish in The Impossibles) as Jerry Connors[16], a studious New York lawyer dedicated to his craft, and his paralegal Charles Boseley (Danny Glover)[17], as they defend a single mother named Michelle Morton (Demi Moore) and her daughter Alicia (Rumer Willis) from an abusive husband named Jack Karlson (Jim Carrey) who wants custody of her child and is willing to resort to every dirty trick in the book to get her so he works with Brian Paciotti (David Caruso), a corrupt NYPD cop, to plant false evidence to smear Michelle and manipulate his ultimately innocent lawyer Gerald Smathers (Kurtwood Smith) into getting his desired judgement. Jerry and Charles know that Jack fabricated Michelle’s supposed crime of trying to kill him and they must race against time to stop Brian from successfully claiming Alicia for himself before it’s too late.

Quid Pro Quo may not be a conventional action movie, but it is remarkably accurate in it’s depiction of American law courtesy of Connolly’s experience with the legal system explosive action and the eponymous quid pro quo aside. The lawyers of Morton and Karlson follow proper procedures for American lawyers and the film only takes artistic license to create dramatic tension and not just merely for plot convenience. Both Willis and Glover bring out the right amount of snark and wit as Jerry and Charles while Carrey is in his most chillingly evil role since the Riddler in Batman: The Killing Joke as the abusive Jack whose demise is all the more satisfying and Caruso nails his performance as Brian. Even Smith, who is burdened with the thankless role of Gerald, has his moments as an honest lawyer who is simply defending his client not because he likes but because it’s his job. The film largely succeeds with good performances from the cast, an amazing representation of the American legal system and even some decent, subdued action which can be more than said for the box office where it underperformed due to stiff competition and the trailers making it more action-oriented than it is.

For Willis and Glover fans, Quid Pro Quo is a magnificent triumph and a good example of what he’s capable of as an actor when given the right material.

1 - Heat​

And now we come to what many have considered one of if not the finest action and heist flick of all time, Heat. Michael Mann is a filmmaker renowned for his attention to detail on weapons, law enforcement, military, corporate raiding and even history as his prior work like The Last of the Mohicans and Three Grand can attest when looking into the genius of Heat. A silver screen remake of Mann’s made-for-TV movie LA Takedown, the film stars Al Pacino as LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna of the Robbery-Homicide Division, Robert De Niro as master thief Neil McCauley and Val Kilmer as Neil’s right hand man Chris Shiherlis backed by an ensemble cast comprised of Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Diane Venora, Amy Brennaman, Ashley Judd, Myketti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine and a few other notable actors in major or minor roles, as expected from the guy who made Iron Man[18]. Fun fact, Heat was loosely based on the true story of Chicago police officer Chuck Adamson’s pursuit of criminal Neil McCauley, the real life basis for De Niro’s character in the film.

The film is an intense, thrilling game of cat-and-mouse that never becomes dull or uninteresting during it’s 170 minute screentime with strong performances from the ever so reliable Pacino and De Niro to Kevin Gage as the utterly loathsome yet somewhat endearing Waingro. The action scenes (particularly the robbery sequence) look so realistic that it’s hard to tell what’s even real, not coincidentally some robbers have actually been inspired by the film in planning out their heists. Most of the characters are incredibly compelling and fascinating to watch combined with a stellar soundtrack and Mann’s spot on direction. All of these pros make for one of the greatest action movies of all time and one of the best that Mann has ever made second only to The Last of the Mohicans.

Audiences flocked to see Mann’s heist flick masterpiece and helped pole-vaulted it to #7 at the worldwide box office. Even though it didn’t win any Oscars, it still remains a classic of the heist and action genres and one you should definitely watch at some point if you have the time and interest in doing so[19].
– – – –
[1] If you’re wondering what happened to Falling Down, the movie casts a pre-Pulp Fiction Samuel L. Jackson as Bill Foster snd so adds heavy racial elements to the film. Michael Douglas does still appear as the layed off businessman protesting his company for leaving him unemployed and leads Foster to kill some representatives of that company. It will make the exact same amount of money at the box office and will be fondly remembered as one of Joel Schumacher’s best movies especially in the light of his tragic death from AIDS in TTL’s 1995.
[2] The original script of Face/Off was indeed set in the future to justify the facial transplant technology, with things mentioned like “chimps as menial labour and a homeless colony on the Golden Gate Bridge”. This was dropped with John Woo signing on, and removing them to focus on the characters’ relationships after the face-switching, but this doesn’t happen ITTL and Mike Werb and Michael Colleary's script remains sci-fiu.
[3] Verhoeven won’t be doing Showgirls here due to directing Face/Off. That said, he will direct a modern remake of All About Eve in ‘99 with some elements of OTL’s Showgirls since Starship Troopers is never made.
[4] Recall in a previous Guest Thread post by @MNM041 that Schwarzenegger and Stallone are in TTLs Face/Off. In OTL, they were initially attached to star in this movie but were dropped in favor of Nicolas Cage and John Travolta when Woo came on board. Here, since Verhoeven is director, he won’t drop them especially since he and Schwarzenegger previously worked on Last Action Hero.
[5] Schwarzenegger and Verhoeven have worked with each other before and the script that he and Stallone are given is solid enough for them to sign on and end their rivalry.
[6] Gershon made this request to Woo who promptly rejected this idea. As Verhoeven is directing this film, she will get her wish. It’s also not the first time in any timeline that Gershon is in a Verhoven-directed film.
[7] Slightly less than Face/Off’s OTL box office partially due to competition but still profitable no less.
[8] Verhoeven had planned to make a historical epic about the Crusades with Schwarzenegger, Jennifer Connelly, Gary Sinise, Robert Duvall and John Turturro at Orion, but was scrapped due to Orion being taken down by Cutthroat Island’s bombing. That won’t happen in this timeline (not the least because Cutthroat Island’s been butterflied) and Schwarzenegger will get to collaborate with Verhoeven again on Crusade in 1997.
[9] Recall in another post by Geekhis Khan (the OP) that the Christian Identity white nationalist terrorist group Sword of Liberty launched a series of violent bombings targeting the federal government (J. Edgar Hoover Federal Building) and African-Americans (Mt. Helm Baptist Church) respectively in addition to backing the Phoenix synagogue massacre.
[10] To elaborate, right-wing ultranationalists (including neo-Nazis), left-wing communist hardliners, pro-Romanov monarchists and the National Bolsheviks within the USR want to transform the Union into an anti-American and anti-Partnership state through elections with Vladimir Zhirinovsky (LDP), Gennady Zyuganov (CPUSS) and Eduard Limonov (NBP) as the most prominent opponents of Mikhail Gorbachev coupled with tensions with the neighbouring Armenia and Georgia and internal instability just prior to the 1995 elections. Likewise, some Americans were skeptical of the USR’s commitment to the Partnership for Peace and believed that the next Russian President would stab the US in the back by instigating a false flag attack to start World War III, hence the distrust mentioned in the first paragraph.
[11] The Renegade Russian and Make the Bear Angry Again tropes or their equivalents in TTL are somewhat more credible here since the USS/USR is much larger than OTL’s Russia and could invade/annex the Baltics, Armenia and Georgia as well as other nearby countries if it were to fall under the control of a fanatical dictatorship. This means that you’ll see films with this concept such as The Sum of All Fears and Red Dawn (remake) beyond just the 90s and 2000s.
[12] As you can imagine, Crimson Tide has a different plot here due to the Soviet Union reforming into the Union of Sovereign States and no Chechen War whatsoever.
[13] Slightly less than OTL but still profitable much like Face/Off.
[14] Russian is the most frequently used demonym for citizens of the Union of Sovereign States/Union of Sovereign Republics for simplicity’s sake by non-Russian organizations and media outlets even if a good chunk of the population isn’t.
[15] The novel is exclusive to TTL, written in 1992. As you can imagine it becomes a novel series about the trials and tribulations of Jerry and Charles, replacing the Harry Bosch line.
[16] Because Willis never became part of what would become OTL’s Die Hard, Quid Pro Quo is his big action movie of 1995.
[17] Just imagine if Glover was still in TTL’s Lethal Weapon opposite Willis and you get an idea for their relationship in Quid Pro Quo.
[18] Notably, Natalie Portman (who plays Lauren Gustafson) is absent from this film since she’s busy doing Nancy Drew with Robert Zemeckis. As such, Claire Danes is cast as Gustafson instead. As for this mention of an Iron Man film.... stayed tuned!
[19] As TTL’s Se7en (known as Seven Sins) is not as successful as OTL without Fincher and Spacey, Heat will gross more money at the box office thanks to the presence of Pacino and De Niro alongside Mann.

 

[ajm8888]

By @ajm8888


The Assassinations and April 15th Attacks

Chapter 8: A Cult of Terror in Japan Continued
Excerpt from Lost Decade/Found Decade: The Transformation of Postwar Japan from 1989 to 2009 By Daniel Ambrose [1] Retrieved via Netsite Archive [2]


April 9th Assassinations

In Akasaka there was a lunch time meeting of leaders and elders of the Liberal Democratic Party. These members of the meeting were former Prime Ministers Noboru Takeshita and Yasuhiro Nakasone, LDP Vice President Keizo Obuchi, and faction leader Kiichi Miyazawa. [3] They were at Asada, a Michelin star rated restaurant where political elites often dined. They had been discussing LDP policy and the future of the party.

The LDP President was Yohei Kono, he was serving in the majority LDP cabinet of Socialist Tomiichi Murayama. Kono served as Deputy PM and Minister for Foreign Affairs. Kono was from the Miyazawa faction but he was also from the Pro-China faction of the party. In 1993, also apologized for the atrocities Japan did in the Sino-Japanese War and World War II across all of Asia, especially in China and Korea. [4] And it was likely that Miyazawa would make a statement later in the year as well. In the House Miyazawa was working on the Fusen Ketsugi, a bill that was a quasi-apology for What Japan did before and during World War II. This was not popular with more conservative elements in the party. The LDP was really hurt by defections from the party by younger members upset by the old boy cronyism and the numerous scandals. Ichiro Ozawa, Yukio Hatoyama, and Toshiki Kaifu had left the LDP, and they were not alone. Hatoyama was a legacy, his grandfather Ichiro Hatoyama, Prime Minister from 1954 to 1956, his father Iichiro Hatoyama had been a member of the House of Councilors and a Foreign Minister under Takeo Fukuda, and also leaving the LDP was Kunio Hatoyama, Yukio’s brother. Ichiro Ozawa had been the LDP’s Secretary General, a very senior position only under the president of the party. Finally there was former Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, the man who, like Takeo Miki, came after a corrupt Prime Minister, that man in Kaifu’s case being Noboru Takeshita.

The meeting was your usual review of polls, funds, discussion of the status of the party by party elites. Though there was a visible absence. Secretary General Yoshiro Mori had canceled at the last minute due to “pressing matters”. The actual matters were he was meeting with Yuko Inagawa, head of the Inagawa-kai yakuza.[5] The Security Police were told to be waiting a ways away from the meeting so they could not have to deal with a possible scandal. Later, Yuko Inagawa would be murdered after Mori left.

As the party luminaries left Asada, they did not know they were being followed by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. The goal of these cultists was to kill two former Prime Ministers and LDP leaders. The party leaders were going in different directions in Toyota Century cars, the two former Prime Ministers went in bulletproof windows and some armor on the doors, the other party leaders were not in armored cars.

The assassins were on motorcycles and followed the and disabled the following SP cars for Takeshita and Nakasone. The cars on the toll highways could not go on but they were behind the VIP cars enough that the security teams could not reach the VIPs they needed to protect.

The Security Police of Japan was formed only twenty years prior after the Secretary-General of the Japan Patriotic Party, a right wing nationalist party, punched Prime Minister Takeo Miki while he was leaving the funeral for Former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. [6] This was 15 years after Nobusuke Kishi was stabbed in an assassination attempt and te successful assassination of Socialist leader Inejiro Asanuma. The SP of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department protects Prime Ministers (current and former), ministers of state, and many others. The SP officers were armed with collapsible batons and handguns (mostly still revolvers but more semiautomatic pistols were becoming more common in the Security Police, SIG Sauer P230 was most common though Glock 17s were reportedly used). The Security Police were not expecting this kind of assassination attempt. They expected a Japanese assassin to attack outside of a vehicle. Previous assassinations and assasination attempts had been done by blades in Post-War Japan.

The assassins on motorcycles were inspired by the assassination of Colombian Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara in 1984 by soldiers of Pablo Escobar. Though the gun wielding killers were both armed with machine pistols, the rear passenger on each bike was armed with an AK-74u carbine.

When the assassin team fired on Takeshita’s car it broke the bullet proof glass. This happened because most bullet resistant glass becomes weaker the longer it is exposed to sunlight this is a well known weakness of bullet resistant glass. [7] By sheer luck Nakasone’s car was switched out a few weeks prior when the glass got a crack from a rock that hit the windshield. Nakasone, while severely wounded from the shooting, would recover. Nakasone’s Secretary, Takeru Oe [8] was wounded but survived. The driver and another SP Officer were wounded but only minorly.

Takeshita was not as lucky, when the gun team opened fire on his car the first blast of bullets went through his head killing him instantly, the second burst ripped through Takeshita and killed his secretary Subaru Tone. The driver was severely wounded as was the other SP officer. The bullet resistant glass shattered.

For Kiichi Miyazawa, his car would flip after he was shot as his car was unarmored and several bullets went through Miyazawa and into his driver, killing him. Miyazawa’s secretary Hiragi Oshiro was unharmed in the shooting but suffered multiple broken bones when the car flipped.

Keizo Obuchi was seriously wounded but survived his shooting. The shooting did lead to the discovery of a blood clot in his leg. The doctors would move carefully to remove it. [9]

Takeshita’s death killed the last “shadow shogun” in the LDP, there were others who could claim to be a “shadow shogun” in the LDP, with most agreeing the next “shadow shogun” was not in the Liberal Democrats any more but a part of the New Frontier Party; Ichiro Ozawa The New Frontier Party Leader.. Ichiro Ozawa and Takeshita had the same political mentor, Kakuei Tanaka. Tanaka was a major power player that helped set up the ties with the Yakuza and use his position to enhance his wealth. Takeshita followed this example and after Tanaka had a stroke in 1985, Takeshita got out from under Tanaka's shadow. Though like Tanaka he was forced out by scandal. [10]

Theses killings were not the only assassinations on April 9th. Soka Gakkai Chairman Daisaku Ikeda while leaving his apartment in Shinjuku was ambushed and mowed down by two Aum cult members with a Russian PK machine gun and an RPK machine gun. His security detail had no gun as private security in Japan cannot carry guns. [11]

Official Portraits of Former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and LDP Faction Leader Kiichi Miyazawa, these men were assassinated April 9th. (Source: Wikipedia and the Government of Japan)

Then Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi with the new Era name: Heisei; January 7th, 1989. Because of this he gained the nickname Uncle Heisei. (Source: Wikipedia and the Government of Japan) [12]

Official portrait of Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minister of Japan from 1982-1987. He was still serving in the Diet in 1995. Portrait is from 1982. He and Obuchi survived their wounds. (Source: Wikipedia and the Government of Japan)

The other high level assassination was on Yuko or Toi Inagawa (he went by two different names), head of the Inagawa-kai Yakuza clan. He was killed leaving the restaurant that he had been dining with Yoshiro Mori with. The press reported he was leaving his apartment which was partially true as he had an apartment nearby. While it puzzled people for years why the Aum Shinrikyo cult killed Inagawa it was later discovered that their sources in the yakuza clan, many Aum members were ex-Yakuza, and the police that Inagawa was going to give the police information that would humiliate the cult leader on his past on being an illegal pharmacist and that the Inagawa-kai had given him permission and some protection for a cut of the profits. [13]

There were also failed attempts against political leaders. Ichiro Ozawa was at his party offices that Sunday when a gunman tried to enter and shoot him. The gunman was seen by Security Police and apprehended. Entering the office with a Stechkin machine pistol the gunman was stopped quickly. Another politician that avoided death was Tokyo gubernatorial candidate Yukio Aoshima. Aoshima would win the election the following Tuesday.[14]

The other failed attack which was not confirmed as an Aum Shinrikyo plot until months later was the attempt against Ryuho Okawa the leader of rival cult Happy Science. Aum had tried many, many times to kill Okawa. This time they tried to kill Okawa but the Makarov pistol the gunman in that case had jammed, and when the killer was trying to clear the chamber he put a bullet into his foot and hopped away until being caught by police.[15]

These attacks shook Japan’s upper elite who had felt they were immune to such violence. This also put scrutiny on the Security Police on why some persons were protected and why others weren’t. Sadly this was not the last hurrah of the cult.

April 15th Attacks

The Japanese government and press knew Aum was plotting something for April 15th as Shoko Asahara had said so himself. Published March 2nd his latest book claimed Tokyo would be destroyed by a large earthquake. After the Tokyo Sarin attacks, the assassination of the National Police Agency Commissioner General at the end of March, and assassinations of April 9th the country was on edge due to this warning, one Asahara restated on Aum radio before the police raids and his disappearance.

The main fear for the attacks was Shinjuku as Asahara's earthquake warning said towers falling and Shinjuku had plenty of skyscrapers at the time. The main fear was it would be a repeat of the March 20th attack. There was only one target the authorities saw for Shinjuku, a target that could kill tens of thousands at rush hour; Shinjuku Station. [16]

Accordingly, Tokyo Police and fire departments were ready for an attack at the busiest train station in the world with Paris’s Gare du Nord coming in at a close distant second. Also present were elements of the JGSDF Chemical Corps and Chemical School as well as media ready to see if an attack took place in Shinjuku.

Across Tokyo, many tourist locations had greatly reduced crowds. Tokyo Disneyland in Chiba had greatly reduced crowds, the most recent time there had been such a low crowd in recent memory was when Emperor Hirohito died. [17] Sanrio Puroland in Tama New Town, Tokyo was very sparse with visitors. This was the same at other theme parks that operated in the metropolitan area. Many tour groups had canceled events in Tokyo for the day. Families who lived in Tokyo went on holiday to other parts of Kanto if they could or went farther away from Tokyo. Despite this, and being a Saturday, Tokyo was still very busy and after 9AM it felt like nothing was going to happen.

Unfortunately Aum would strike at two targets in Tokyo. These attacks would happen at 10:17 AM and 10:31 AM.

The Old Home Affairs Ministry circa 1995, to the right is the Headquarters of the Tokyo Police, behind the building is Central Government Building Number 3, which at the time primarily housed the Ministry of Construction, in front of the building is an entrance to the Kasumigaseki Subway Station. (Source: https://blog.goo.ne.jp/asabata )

The first target was Kasumigaseki. The beating heart of Japan’s government bureaucracy. In that district of Chiyoda Ward there are a partial the following government agencies:

• Ministry of Home Affairs
• Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
• Ministry of International Trade and Industry
• Ministry of Finance
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Construction
• Ministry of Transport
• Ministry of Health and Welfare
• Ministry of Labor
• Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture
• Environment Agency
• Public Security Intelligence Agency
• National Police Agency
• Tokyo Metropolitan Police HQ
• Tokyo District Court

Next to Kasmigaseki is Nagatacho which houses the political heart of Japan. This includes the National Diet of Japan, its legislature with both the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors. There is the Kantei which is the Prime Minister’s office and at the time the annex for it. The office buildings for politicians for the National Diet. The National Diet Library was next to the Diet Building. The headquarters of the political parties were located there too.

The Aum Shinrikyo cabinet [18] picked Kasumigaseki as it would create chaos in the response to the cult, cause problems with the government at large, and show their power and the weakness of the Japanese Government.

The question was how to strike? The answer: they already had a large amount of explosive ready for the planned coup for November, not the amount they wanted but enough for their purposes. A plan from Australia was if they could not make a proper nuclear bomb they would make a radiological device. Hideo Murai figured that would be easier and cheaper than trying to build a nuclear bomb.

As for the explosives? Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil can make a mixture called ANFO which is used as a common explosive. There is no law limiting the purchase of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. And to get the explosives into the capital, trucks. The Kasumigaseki bomb would have 10,000 kilograms of ANFO, ten metric tons. It would be in a Nissan Diesel Big Thumb Truck for delivery.

And delivery was how it got into a protected district. While there was an increased police presence in Kasumigaseki, most of the emergency services and military were in Shinjuku (at the Shinjuku Station Bus Terminal as a command post). But trucks came all the time to deliver materials to ministries. From the Japan Post to Segawa Express, or some local repair service, it is not uncommon in the streets of Tokyo to see trucks parked along the sides with their hazard lights blinking.

This is how Aum approached the attack in Kasumigaseki. They would use a delivery truck to detonate a bomb in large truck. The means of detonation would be a simple fuse that once lit would give the driver about a minute and a half, maybe two to run.

The Perpetrator to this attack was Akira Yamagata, Asahara’s bodyguard and a man who had killed for the cult before. He was going to be picked up by Hideo Murai, the chief chemist of Aum and main planner for this attack. Murai was in too deep and while he debated turning himself over to authorities, Asahara was enthused with this plan after reading the translated copy of that American book again [19]. He wanted to recreate the ending but was sadly missing a nuclear weapon. But if it brought about World War III, Asahhara thought it was justified, as this would allow him to become King of Japan and Emperor of the world. [20]

Yamagata parked the truck next to the Home Affairs Ministry on Sakuradori Ave, Yamagata exited the truck, he opened the rear doors, and he grabbed a box and used that excuse to light the fuse and run. He was picked up by Murai. Yamagata and Murai drove excessively fast to be as far from the blast and then after the blast they were driving close to the speed limit. They went north, then west, then south along rail lines that weren’t as heavily used and they wore surgical masks on the trains. They would take several days on slow trains to Kitakyushu and leave Japan via ferry to Korea on false passports and from there only Yamagata was found in 2001 in Australia. Hideo Murai is still at large. [21]

At 10:17:31 the ANFO in the Nissan Big Thumb exploded. This was ten tons of the ANFO going from solid matter to energy via a chemical reaction. The Home Affairs Ministry Building was destroyed, there was so little left of the building.. The Kasumigaseki Subway Station collapsed. Tokyo subway stations were not terribly deep; the underground tunnels were crushed under the forces of the explosion and then after the explosion water began to fill them. .The Tokyo District Courthouse across the street from the bomb would partially collapse after the blast. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the south, which was undergoing a remodel, was partially destroyed. The Tokyo Police Headquarters was destroyed, its antenna fell off of the building and rolled into the Imperial Palace moat. The National Police Agency Headquarters was damaged severely. The Justice Ministry’s new buildings were severely damaged and the Justice Ministry’s Red Brick building was severely damaged, its southeast corner collapsed. The Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Labor building was severely damaged as were countless other neighboring ministry buildings and non-government buildings in the area were either destroyed or severely damaged.

Outside of Kasumigaseki, the political district of Nagatacho was heavily damaged with broken windows, damaged buildings and missiles from destroyed vehicles near the bomb blast would rain down. The skylights in the National Diet Building’s chambers were shattered and glass fell into the chambers of both the House of Councillors and House of Representatives. In the main hall of the Diet Building glass and debris fell on a small tour group that was getting a Saturday tour. A Diet Guard giving the tour was killed by falling debris. There was damage to the Emperor’s Room in the Diet building. The various office buildings for the Diet were damaged as was the Diet Library. The Kantei (the Prime Minister’s Office) suffered damage as some ceiling tiles fell in the annex building press briefing room, windows were broken and some structural damage occurred. Kokkai-gijidomae Station had flooding. From broken subway tunnels and water mains.

Casualties were lower than it would have been on a weekday, but were still very high. Bureaucratic offices are open on a Saturday in Japan. Many government workers were at home with families but those who didn’t have kids or had adult children were working. This is why several hundred died in various government offices. The highest ranked members of the government to die were the administrative vice ministers of Home Affairs, administrative vice minister of finance was confirmed killed later (all they found was his car), and the administrative vice minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry would die from his wounds. Though one group of high ranking bureaucrats that was nearly utterly wiped out was the PSEC (Public Security Examination Commission) as they were meeting in the Old Red Brick Building in the Ministry of Justice, the southeast corner where the meeting took place, collapsed. [22] But a majority of the deaths came from the Home Affairs Ministry, the Tokyo Police Headquarters, the District Court House, the Construction Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the National Police Headquarters, the street, and the Kasumigaseki subway station. Over 400 of deaths came from that station as a train pulled in at 10:17 another was still loading on a separate platform. In total the bombing killed over 1327 people.

Many people in the streets offices of Tokyo were injured by debris and glass, the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Headquarters had its windows blown in on people working that Saturday causing severe injury to countless people and had some of the glass hit them in their face and eyes. All windows within a kilometer of the blast were blown out. And a majority of windows within two kilometers blown out and windows blown out as far as Shinjuku on occasion, typically many were cracked. There were pedestrians hit by cars that were being driven by panicked drivers. A nearby underground toll highway had suffered damage and flooding while the subway lines had to deal with broken water, gas, sewer and electric lines. The crater for the blast was 20 meters deep. The blast also downed trees in Hibiya Park behind the Justice Ministry and other ministries to the east. With such a massive blast strange things happen.

Some interesting things the blast did was throw a radio mast from the Ministry of Construction over the Diet Park and that mast landed in the parking lot of the Diet Building on the east side. News helicopters would find remnants of a bus chassis on the roof of Hibiya Hall. [23] Several cars were found in the Imperial Palace moat. On the roof of Tokyo station engine pistons of a car were discovered. Near Tokyo Tower, a mirror of a taxi was allegedly found. Though the most interesting missile was the microwave mast from the Home Affairs Ministry, After the blast a mangle mess of metal that was the mast flew over the Construction Ministry, over the moat of the Imperial Palace grounds, the Three Palace Sanctuaries where the enthronement of emperors and royal weddings take place, and finally landing in front of the new imperial palace residence.

Retired Imperial Guard officer Hidetora Umesaka remembered hearing the blast while on foot patrol with his partner Nishikawa.[24] “It was a dreadful sound then it seemed like ten to fifteen seconds after the big explosion there was a terrible crash near me and Nishikawa. We ran towards it and to our horror from the pond to the yard in front of the new palace [25] was a mangled mass of metal that looked like a radio tower. Nishikawa and myself along with others were running towards the mast. I think we were all in disbelief. Then I heard a voice ask, “What is that? I saw it land.” I knew the Emperor was in residence, I did not know however the Emperor and the Empress were in the tea room of the new palace. The Emperor walked up and touched it. He was in as much shock as the rest of us. I remember he asked if it what just blew up was a small nuclear bomb. I could not give him an answer. After that the Emperor’s security team took him and the Empress to Akasaka Palace to evacuate him out of the city via helicopter.” The Emperor was taken out of Tokyo to Kyoto.

As for the Government immediately after the bombing all ministers in Tokyo were flown or driven to the JGSDF Tachikawa Base where in 1988 the Tokyo Government and cabinet had set up the Tachikawa Wide Area Disaster Center where government officials from Tokyo could run disaster operation if another Great Kanto Earthquake hit. It was as Murayama was being evacuated he got reports of a bomb blast at Yokota Airbase.

A victim of glass debris near the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Building awaiting medical aide with help of good samaritans in Uchisaiwaicho Subway station [In actuality a victim of the Tokyo Sarin attack] (Source: Shutterstock)


The Yokota Airbase attack was carried out by Kentaro Miyake. [26] Miyake had little information about him pre-attack. He was son of a mortuary worker and therefore a Burakumin, the cult had lower class members and often used them for labor. He had issues getting work but when he joined the cult he found his purpose in life.

Miyake was in a Toyota Hiace Quick Delivery 100 approached the supply gate and presented the United States Air Force Security Police guard, Airman First Class Brent Elton his delivery order. Airman Elton looked at the delivery form and Airman Elton looked over his list of allowed deliveries but the name of the delivery company. As Airman Elton asked in his limited Japanese to look at the delivery form Miyake Miyake produced a Makarov pistol and fired twice at Airman Elton, Elton had reached for his M9 Beretta pistol, sadly he was not fast and was shot in the left shoulder and right lung.

As Miyake left, Airman Francesca “Frankie” De Silva, fired several shots at the van as it broke through the barrier. Miyake was pursued by officers of the USAF Security Police. He drove the van right into the green space in front of the headquarters of US Forces Japan. As various USAF Security Police officers approached, Miyake was seen entering the back of the truck after that there was a gunshot and an explosion.

The Quick Delivery bomb was 150 kilogram of ANFO but more importantly was surround by over two hundred kilos of ballbearings, nails, screws, bolts, nuts, and all sort of assorted metal projectiles in paint cans. [27] It killed 13 USAF Enlisted, 11 Officers, and 14 civilians on base. It was one of the worst terrorist attacks on US Military personnel since the Beirut Bombing of 1983.

Yokota Airbase Gate, Picture taken during Friendship Day (Source: Wikipedia)


After the attacks began one of the largest search and rescue efforts in modern Japanese history, since the Kobe Earthquake. While plenty of people all over Tokyo came to Chiyoda ward to help look for the survivors and help the injured. Japanese paramedics and firefighters were allowed onto Yokota Airbase grounds by USAF Lieutenant General Richard Myers, who was at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa with Ambassador Walter Mondale [28]. They were informed of the attacks and put all US bases in Japan under lockdown.

For the city itself, Tokyo once again ground to a halt. Concerts for that Saturday night were canceled. All amusement parks across the Tokyo Metropolitan area were closed for the rest of Saturday. Tokyo Disneyland reopened Monday. Many night clubs did not open and those that did open had next to no customers. Easter events were toned down in the Catholic community of Tokyo. The small number of Japanese Jews were worried but still had their mass. Almost all regular broadcasting on Japanese TV was interrupted for news stories.

A massive rescue operation was underway in Kasumigaseki with thousands of injured flooding Tokyo and Kanto hospitals. It was necessary that the square in front of the Imperial Palace was made into a medivac point for various helicopters to send the severely wounded to hospitals all over Tokyo and beyond. Many local parks and streets that weren’t full of rubble were made into medical stations. Once again local hospitals were swamped but they were more preparation this time.

While no claim of responsibility was made, everyone knew Aum did it. By April 18th, several high level Aum members had willingly surrendered to police. The FBI had offered their full assistance to Japan after the April 15th attack. The FBI was leading the bomb investigation for the Yokota bombing. [29]

There were immediate concerns of further attacks, and Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in consultation with his cabinet; the outgoing governor of Tokyo, Shunichi Suzuki; the governor-elect, Yukio Aoshima; National Police Commissioner General Yuko Sekiguchi; Joint Staff Council Chairman, General Tetsuya Nishimoto (JGSDF); and many other members of the cabinet discussed a plan to deal with possible further attacks. Also present Yujiro Fukase [30] a lawyer for the Defense agency was brought from the Agency’s Roppongi Headquarters to Tachikawa

Fukase remembers being brought to the meeting to discuss the implementation of Article 78 of the 78, a security operation, which was different from Article 76 which is a Defense operation which means if Japan were invaded. [31]

“I was asked to give my legal expertise and I offered the Prime Minister the legal basis of JSDF mobilization into the city and how it is legally allowed. Murayama was hesitant to call up the military for such an action. Socialists in Japan, especially in some factions of the party, were well known back then for political hesitation to use the JSDF even in the event of natural disasters which was the use of the Self Defense Forces back then and still is. Other lawyers from other ministries provided their opinions on the issue and constitutional lawyers were present to clear up that mess if needed. But it was General Nishimoto who had the most persuasive argument, ‘Tokyo has just lost a large swath of the police force’s hierarchy. Bureaucrats, cops, lawyers, forensic scientists, and so forth either dead or incapacitated. While each Ward’s main station still functions and the police still have their Superintendent-General many of his deputies are dead or wounded. The city will need order. If there is no sign of order we risk chaos. Not only must we prevent further bombings, but crime and economic instability will follow as will likely extrajudicial actions.’ General Nishismoto insisted.

Fukase didn’t mention it but the extrajudicial actions were likely a veiled reference to the Kanto Massacre of 1923. Which was a month-long massacre of Koreans, Chinese, anarchists, leftists, and many other people following the Great Kant’s Earthquake of September 1st, 1923. This was carried out by military, police, and civilians to put blame on Koreans or perceived Koreans. So many people were killed by these mobs. The Imperial Army would kill leftists and other people that were critical of the army. It is agreed the lowest number of casualties is 6000 but it is believed the death toll is much higher. [32] This is the sort of thing the government wanted to avoid.

Murayama was persuaded. The Prime Minister made his decision, he sent it to the cabinet and they unanimously agreed to mobilize the JSDF into Tokyo to secure the city in this crisis. This plan was a modified plan hobbled together based on old plans to counter terrorsim by the Japan Red Army, the Sanrizuka Struggle, [33] the Protests of the 1960s, and a future Kanto Earthquake.

The main debate was whether or not to have tanks. As originally planned, some tanks would come to Tokyo but not many, mainly due to many tank companies being moved to Hokkaido or farther from Tokyo. Murayama and Kono, the Deputy PM, vetoed tanks as it implied a coup. APCs and IFVs would go to Tokyo along with additional 10,000 troops, mostly from the Eastern Army with units from the Central, Northeastern Armies, and Western Armies. The massive deployment was on top of a large deployment to help in rescue efforts.

At 7:47 PM on the day of the attack, The Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Japan ordered the 1st Airborne Brigade into Tokyo and they arrived by 11 PM. On Sunday, most of the rest of the forces arrived along with additional JSDF forces for rescue efforts. This was the first time a sitting prime minister had ordered Article 78 and Article 79 to be used. By the next day Type 60 Recoilless Rifle anti-tank guns were in the city along with Type 60 and Type 73 APCs, Type 89 IFVs. Type 82 Command Cars, Type 87 Reconnaissance vehicles, and a slew of other vehicles. The capital was patrolled by F-15Js and F-4J jets in the sky and air defense was being brought to the capital just in case.

As the JSDF moved into Tokyo a public figure had to assuage the public that there was a need for calm. No one expected it to be the Emperor.

Official Portrait of Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, Prime Minister from 1993-1995.(Source: Wikipedia)

A Type 73 Jeep like this was mobilized into Tokyo after Article 78 was invoked. (Source: Wikipedia)


The Emperor Speaks

Emperor Akihito speaking to his people about the events of April 15th and the Washington DC bombing of April 19th on April 30th. [The Emperor would be younger but close enough in manner of events] (Source: Imperial Household Agency)

Feeling the blast from the Imperial Palace and witnessing the mangled wreckage of the Home Affairs Ministry microwave mast landing near his residence Emperor Akihito . He and his wife, Empress Mikicho were having tea. They were thinking of the following day playing a few games of tennis, a sport both loved [34], when the explosion shattered windows in the palace. By a miracle neither the emperor or his wife were wounded. He would leave the safety of his palace and stare at the mast. He later would tell people close to him, “Memories came back from 1945, my brother and I were evacuated from Tokyo due to the fire bombing but upon our return the city looked like the moon.”

Akihito also was initially worried, like many in the public that it was a small nuclear bomb. He was worried with such a big blast initially it was a nuclear bomb. However, he realized fast, like most of the public, with various technologies working it was not nuclear. The Emperor and Empress were evacuated from Tokyo. His mother, Empress-Dowager Nagako, was at Fukiage Omiya Palace on the Imperial grounds and despite turning 92 a month prior was having memory issues and difficulty breathing with her advanced age. It was reported later in international press that Nagako was unaware a bombing even happened, likely due to dementia. [35]

But upon arriving in Kyoto, Emperor Akihito saw the damage unfold on television and from reports he got. The Imperial Household Agency had informed him of the total destruction of the Sakurada Gate, the damage to the Three Palace Sanctuaries, numerous trees that were felled by the blast on palace grounds, fires on the palace grounds, the communications antenna from the Tokyo Police Headquarters that was in the moat, concerns on the structural safety of the Seimon Ishibashi Bridge and Nijubashi Bridge, damage to Chowaden Reception Hall, the damage to Akasaka Palace, and the rest of Chiyoda. The damage horrified Akihito who remembered the vast devastation from World War II and was horrified when he and Empress Michiko saw the devastation of Kobe by the earthquake of January 11th. Akihito wanted to do something but was worried if he acted it would undermine the government and get the wrong response in the press. Also legally what could he do? The 1947 constitution had severely curtailed the powers of an Emperor, his father had given up divinity. But his son would come up with the solution.

Crown Prince Naruhito came from Katsura Imperial Villa to the palace, which was 8 kilometers away, to talk with his father. Naruhito had told his father how horrified his wife was as Crown Princess Masako was formerly a diplomat and many of her friends still worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Headquarters. Naruhito insisted his father make a statement about the attack a few days after it occurred. Naruhito wanted his father to make some sort of statement to the public and the bureaucrats at the Imperial Household Agency resisted it. It was unprecedented and the last time an Emperor spoke to his people directly was when Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan over the radio. Some of the bureaucrats worried it would set a dangerous precedent, others were concerned they’d lose power over the Imperial family. [36] But ultimately, the April 19th Attack in America convinced the Emperor to make the message on April 20th.

The message was covered on NHK, Fuji TV, TBS, and pretty much every Japanese broadcaster who could carry it as well as CNN, CSPAN, and other international networks. It was a short address but it was written to give the people hope.

The message began with the Emperor in his summer residence at the Kyoto Imperial Palace, bowing to the camera, “I am deeply saddened by the devastating situation in the areas hit by the April 15th terrorist attacks in Japan. The number of casualties claimed by the attacks continues to rise by the day, and we do not yet know how many people have lost their lives. I am praying that the safety of as many people as possible will be confirmed. My other grave concern now is the serious fear of further attacks by this group and groups inspired by this cult.”

“I must extend my heartfelt condolences to the American service members who died at Yokota Airbase and the victims of the Attack in Washington DC. President Gore has my deepest condolences as do other members of his government. However, I hope despite this tragedy trying to divide our two nations, we must show these groups, our unity and come closer together. Only through an equal and frank partnership and an understanding that despite different cultures we share the same desires to help and protect our peoples from harm. And we must take down blockages to this unification of our goals.” [37]

The message continued on but the speech was positively received by the Japanese Press. Even the Communist newspaper thought it was good, though still opposed to the emperor system. Western press was unsure what to make of the speech but they saw it as rather flat but it inspired his people. But everyone agreed that the

The Emperor invited President Gore to Japan later in the Spring of 1995.President Gore would arrive at the start of May 1995.

Meanwhile the Imperial Family was visiting victims in hospitals and touring Kasumigaseki with Prime Minister Murayama. The support of the Imperial Family bolstered feelings of hope in the Japanese public. And as the US-FBI Investigation began, they had a more supportive public, the cult was rapidly falling apart but even as they did a new wrinkle would begin.

The Knife Attacks

As the joint FBI-NPA investigation hit a snag due to the April 19th attack in America, a series of Knife attacks occurred in Japan in areas mostly outside of Tokyo. These attacks were done by the “monks” of Aum or were diehard believers in Shoko Asahara and believed killing the people they murdered would save them from hell. These people had been fanaticized by Aum and had been brainwashed. And while Aum had used guns most of their weapons had been found or went missing after April 9th. But one thing that any Japanese person could get was a kitchen knife from any 100 yen shop or a better knife for a couple of thousand yen from a department store or cooking supply store. [38]

These attacks were fueled by the dwindling number of fanatics and amphetamines like PCP. These attacks were not an organized affair. Later evidence found that this was done mostly by individual members of the cult or copycats. The first knife attack that kicked the week of knives off was Beppu Tower on April 21st. Hiroshi Tanaka [39], another lower ranking cult member from a poor family, went to the landmark, Beppu Tower, in Beppu, Japan and went on a spree killing over 17 people in the landmark tower before killing himself. Over thirty were injured with cuts and two died in the human crush trying to leave the observation deck.

The next day there were three attacks; two failed, the two that failed were in Tokyo Tower (security guards caught a man acting odd) and an attempted attack near Nara Dreamland in Nara (the man dropped his knife in front of a police officer). The successful attack was on the paddle boat Michigan as it steamed around Lake Biwa in Central Japan. This attack was not linked to Aum but perpetrator Yuji Sahara, a recently fired businessman from Otsu with no connection to the cult, may have been inspired by the cult’s actions. He killed 9 but was charged with the drowning of three people who tried to escape his slashes. He attempted suicide but was saved by a security guard he wounded. Sahara’s whole attack was recorded by BBC, Biwa Broadcasting Company, a local independent broadcast, filming for a pre-recorded segment for their local morning program “Good Morning Biwako!”. The incident's reporting caused much confusion in the British Press. The event did get Biwa Broadcasting Company international recognition. [40]

Then came Bloody Knife Sunday. Numerous knife attacks occurred all over Japan, some of these were done by teenagers. In Nagoya, a Koban [41]had two officers stabbed to death; it remains unsolved. In Osaka, a knife wielding madman went into a Yakuza office and was later found dead floating in Dotonbori Canal, where a picture of the corpse floating in front of the Glico sign was taken. There was an attack on some yakuza Kitakyushu that resulted in a dead yakuza and the attacker dying from his wounds. Plenty of attacks had no fatalities; attacks in Fukuoka, Toyama, Sendai, Aomori, and Sendai had plenty of other attacks that failed due to alert police or citizens. The most famous failed attack was the Tokyo Disneyland Knife attack. While this attack never occurred in the park it happened outside the train station many families that are going to the theme park arrive from. The knife wielder there had gotten his knife from a Hundred Yen shop, the perpetrator in this attack was a homeless man. The Chiba Police had a riot squad ready and the officers swarmed the knife wielding subject. The incident was quickly caught on video tape and was quickly seen on the national and international news. There were no injuries except a cut on one security guard and the beating the homeless man got from the police.[42]

Investigation

The day the bombs went off in Tokyo was when the investigation in the attacks began with the NPA leading the investigation along with the Tokyo Police helping with other aspects of the investigations. The JSDF was also key in the investigation as they found parts of the Kasumigaseki bomb with their explosives detection equipment and the fine eye of American FBI and ATF agents in assistance.

The investigation found many interesting things like a translated version of ‘The Turner Diaries' that were popular with cult leaders. It would probably be a twisted irony that the Neo-Nazi author of the book would have a following of his book in a doomsday cult in Japan were the leader was a fan of Hitler. [43] It had an alternate ending that was Aum Shinrikyo friendly and there was an effort to make an anime from it, but it never got beyond early stages. The investigation was surprised when they detected a radio signal from Russia on April 17th in which a voice which was believed to be Asahara threatening more attacks. That motivated the Russians to act.

The USR Government on April 18th, 1995 revoked the religious protections Aum Shinrikyo had received years earlier. The USR government had only originally planned to revoke the protections but after the April 15th Attacks, they were going to make an example of Aum. In a massive feat of logistics, across all of the USR, Internal Troops, SOBR (Russian SWAT), OMON (Riot Police), and Militsiya raided various Aum facilities in Russia within a two hour period. As an aide of Gorbachev called it, “A Hollywood raid”, with all the troops and drama. Most Russian Aum members had already left the cult and either joined other yoga groups or fell for the slew of post Soviet mysticisms. The radio broadcast from Vladivostok was discovered to have come from Japan. Any Japanese member of the cult was detained and would be sent back to Japan. All information on purchases and other properties were sent to Japanese and Americans.

The Americans and Japanese went to work on high ranking cult members that either turned themselves in or were caught. The current goal was to get Asahara.The one who revealed the secrets was Tomomitsu Niimi, the cult’s Minister of Internal Affairs. While he was loyal he knew he was facing the death penalty, which in Japan is by hanging. Niimi revealed what he knew and told authorities where he last knew Asahara was, they did not find him there but police had information he had been there recently. Niimi revealed the penetration of the Japanese police, military, and other groups by the cult.

One thing the investigation discovered was what happened to the Sakamoto family. Kazuaki Okazaki who left the cult in 1990 had pictures of where the Sakamoto family members were buried. They were unearthed and it was reveal the mystery of how they were murdered, despite it being years later. Okazaki’s trial would begin in 1998 and it would be a major mess. [44]

Though it was through more former cultists that they were informed of hidden rooms at the Kamikuishiki compound. When American FBI technicians and Japanese police officers investigated, they found Asahara alive and well, hidden in a secret room at the Satyan Complex on April 29th, 1995. His arrest put many Japanese people at ease and many Japanese people celebrated his arrest.

The FBI got payback against Asahara as it was confirmed one FBI agent based in Tokyo, Assistant Legal Attaché (ALAT) FBI Agent Gary Samuels [45], was killed in the Kasumigaseki attack. He was identified through his left hand. The FBI had taken two hits with the April 15th Attacks in Tokyo killing one agent and April 19th Attack in Washington DC killing 13 employees. The Bureau had proven it was able to counter terror like this. And when President Gore visited the FBI gave him good news.
The Japanese police needed this arrest as the public were not happy for failures that had not prevented the attacks of March 20th and April 15th. This arrest was a PR win for the Japanese police. Asahara was taken to Shinjuku Station and interrogated from 9 in the morning until midnight and returned to his cell and then they would repeat. Asahara babbled and never admitted anything. It was not needed, he recorded his guilt on a series of audio tapes in the hidden room while he was hidden there for over a month. [46] These tapes were meant for posterity and to show how he became “King of the World.” But The Japanese system prefers a confession, they never got one but they had enough to charge him.

On June 5th, 1995 Shoko Asahara was taken to the Hachioji annex of the Tokyo District Courthouse to be charged for his crimes. He never got to set foot in the courtroom. [47]

---

[1] Fictional author
[2] Counterpart to our world’s Internet Archive
[3] Miyazawa never became PM here in this world, The attempts to oust Toshiki Kaifu failed
[4] Kono made a pro-China speech in the LDP, it was not popular with the right wing groups in his own party, what different times.
[5] Ah Mori, god you had so many problems. You dined frequently with Yakuzas. Also the gaffed left and right.
[6] Pre POD so it happened, yeah Miki was unpopular as the reformist who followed Tanaka. The Lockheed Scandal happened heavily during his tenure. Also there was protection for a Prime Minister except for local police.
[7] A real weakness of bullet resistant glass and the resistance level for the glass was not rated for an AK-74u.
[8] Takeshita’s and Nakasone’s secretaries are fictional as I could not find evidence of their aides at the time.
[9] Being shot ironically saved Keizo Obuchi from dying from a stroke later on. He will be a leader in the LDP later in the decade.
[10] Tanaka, a man who had been dead since 1993 but his influence on the LDP was still felt. He avoided prison for over a decade due to his declining health despite being guilty of bribery. He was a major player in the LDP presidential election of 1982 which made Nakasone PM. Ozawa was an understudy of Tanaka. Even if Tanaka was a crook he exuded power.
[11] Ikeda was a target of the cult in OTL several times. Here he was unlucky as for Security guards, only police can legally carry guns for security. Killing Ikeda serves a purpose for the story later on, spoilers.
[12] Can’t see why this wouldn’t happen. Also a good picture.
[13] Asahara operate an illegal pharmacy in Chiba, a spot the Inagawa had a lot of influence in and you don’t operate an illegal pharmacy without paying a “tax”.
[14] Yukio Aoshima, a comedian who turned to politics. He ran for governor and as governor Aum tried to kill him with a parcel bomb.He ran on a platform of canceling the costly The World City Exposition in Odaiba. He was not the only comedian elected in 1995 Japanese local elections “Knock” Yokoyama won his election in Osaka.
[15] Ryuho Okawa, a stock broker turned cult leader (no I am not making it up), is amazingly lucky in our world and the world of the Hensonverse. Asahara HATED him. The shooting here proves that the guns they got from Russia aren’t all good.
[16] The police here figure that the busiest station in Japan is a major cult target. And while it was hit before hitting Kasumigaseki again seemed unlikely to the police.
[17]

[18] Aum Shinrikyo had a cabinet. It was a group of high ranking members led by Asahara.First formed in 1994, this is also something I am copying from our world.
[19] I wonder what book it is? Hmmm….
[20] Guess what he wanted to rule the world. Asahara had been reported saying such since his childhood.
[21] Where is he? Call our tip line!
[22] The loss of the PSEC is major. They were called in for a special session. Only one member survived due to an unrelated fender bender.
[23] Hibiya Hall, where Socialist Party Leader Inejiro Asanuma was killed during a televised debate by Otoya Yamaguchi (17) on October 12th, 1960. A picture of his stabbing won a Pulitzer. Yamaguchi killed himself November 2nd, 1960 His suicide is celebrated by right wing every year in Hibiya Hall.
[24] Umesaka and Nishikawa are fictional they are used as eyewitnesses
[25] Built in 1993 for the new Emperor so he didn’t have to live in his father’s palace. Also the Empress and the Emperor’s mother hated one another (the empress dowager was very cruel to Empress Michiko)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1415278225677328388

[26] Kentaro Miyake is fictional as are the airmen mentioned.
[27] It is a car bomb version of an IRA pipe bomb. The means of detonation was via a pistol shot like how Timothy McVeigh had as a backup for OKC in our universe.
[28] Myers who in OTL was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2001 to 2005 was the commander of US Forces Japan from 1993 to 1996. Mondale was the OTL Ambassador to Japan and after talking to JPJ we saw little reason to change it.
[29] FBI is usually the lead on these sorts of things while the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations will lead the military investigation the FBI takes lead since they are usually the point agency on most attacks against US military facilities in peacetime. The CIA will also be involved in the investigation as will Japanese authorities.
[30] Fictional but needed a witness.
[31] These are under the Self Defense Law Chapter 6 outlining mobilization and use of force.
[32] Sadly a real event that a century on Japan is still dealing with. Right wing groups will both celebrate and deny the massacre, while only recently has the Japanese government acknowledged it, they’re still quiet. Akira Kurosawa saw the whole thing happen when he was a boy. Soldiers, police, and angry mobs killed Koreans, Chinese, Ryukens (Okinawa natives), Socialists, leftists, reporters, and anyone they did not like. This was like the Tulsa Massacre on steroids.
[33] The Sanrizuka Struggle was about building the Narita International Airport and the government taking land from locals without telling them about the plan until they announced it. Riots, violence, and protests would last from 1968 to the 1980s.

[34] Akihito and Michiko met while playing tennis and she did not pull her swings.
[35] It has never been confirmed but the rumors of dementia in Empress Nagako, called Kojun posthumously. Nagako hated her daughter-in-law because she was a commoner despite being from a wealthy family.
[36] The Imperial Household Agency is a lot of palace intrigue and bullying people who want to change things. They bullied Crown Princess/Empress Masako.Typical issues in Japanese bureaucracy.
[37] The speech is inspired by Emperor Akihito’s speech on the 3/11 Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami, and the Fukushima Reactor disaster. The speech here is different with the equal and frank partnership bit. Also lacking any mention of a nuclear power plant as none were attacked.
[38] The above is more inspired by problems in 2000s-2010s Japan had with stabbings.
[39] All attackers in this section are fictional
[40] The paddle boat and Biwa Broadcasting are real. Biwa Broadcasting does get more business thanks to the attack as the Lake Biwa area is beautiful.
[41] Police box. Often officers in Kobans are bored to tears. When they aren’t ignoring sexual assault and domestic abuse. (Oops my partiality came through)
[42] Some of the knife attacks were by Aum members; many others were copycat attacks. The Tokyo Disneyland Attack was heavily recorded because many families had camcorders with. As stated above, the knife wielding man did not get into the park.
[43] AJM8888 here, I know I have stated it several times but Asahara was a fan of Hitler. A Man Hitler’s Germany would have likely killed due to his blindness.
[44] Much like OTL Aum Shinrikyo trials, our world trials will be a mess.
[45] Fictional
[46] Hostage justice system and they won’t stop until you confess you are guilty. Japan has it be guilty until proven innocent is the unofficial version.
[47] Cliffhanger