The blog isn't dead. I've just been distracted. I don't know how frequent updates are going to be for a while, but I intend to get back into the swing of things once the DC Adventures RPG becomes available and I can start statting up some characters.
Until then, I really do intend to finally rewatch Sky High and post about it, and maybe just some random posts trying to collate the data so far. It's not helping, though, that Shout Factory just released a DVD box set of "Tales of the Gold Monkey."
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Alternate Universe: Calisota
I had been planning to take a break from "historical" movies and take a look at Sky High, so I can start putting things together into the modern setting. However, yesterday I discovered that my storage area had apparently been hit by a tidal wave sometime in the past few months, so I spent a good chunk of this evening digging out piles of mutilated boxes and seeing what sort of damage had been done.
Anyway, inspired by a thread on RPG.net, I got to thinking about the alternate universe of Calisota, where animated shows like Darkwing Duck and Ducktales took place. The universe of Calisota is named after the state of Calisota. It's a universe of funny animals. Ducks seem to be the dominant life form, with dogs a close second, and scatterings of other animals. It does not contain humans, and travellers to Calisota will become funny animals for the duration of their stay.
The Great State of Calisota.
Calisota is one of the United States. It contains just about every climate to be found in the continental U.S. It's also got several major cities including Duckburg, St. Canard, and Spoonerville. The descendants of the Clan McDuck can be found in Duckburg, St. Canard is protected by the Terror That Flaps In The Night, Darkwing Duck, and Spoonerville is home to the Goofs, scions to an impressive family history.
Thembria
Inhabited primarily by warthogs, Thembria was the "other side" during the Cold War.
Cape Suzette
Cape Suzette is a city-state located somewhere in the South Pacific. During the 1930s, it was a hotbed of spies, air pirates, and pulp adventure.
The Justice Ducks
The greatest super-team in the state of Calisota, the Justice Ducks are composed of Darkwing Duck, Gizmoduck, Stegmutt, Morgana McCawber, and Darkwing Duck's sidekick Quiverwing Quack.
S.H.U.S.H. and F.O.W.L.
S.H.U.S.H. is a government spy agency headed by the owl J. Gander Hooter. It is locked in seemingly endless struggle with the agents of the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny. S.H.U.S.H. will often draft superheroes to its cause.
Current Events in Calisota
The cartoons on which Calisota is based ended in the mid-1990s. If time advanced normally from then, consider the following:
There's a lot more than can be done here. Honestly, Calisota is its own full setting. Checking wikipedia for Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, and Quack Pack and following the links is a good way to waste an afternoon. Some things don't line up 100%, like the fact that Quack Pack took place in a world with mostly humans and eliminated most of the characters introduced in Ducktales.
My own personal take on this is that Huey, Dewey, and Louie retain the character traits they had in Quack Pack (Huey is the leader, Dewey the computer expert, and Louie the athlete). Daisy remains a television reporter, and Donald (having gotten out of the Navy) works as Daisy's cameraman. Otherwise, it's like Ducktales continued.
Anyway, inspired by a thread on RPG.net, I got to thinking about the alternate universe of Calisota, where animated shows like Darkwing Duck and Ducktales took place. The universe of Calisota is named after the state of Calisota. It's a universe of funny animals. Ducks seem to be the dominant life form, with dogs a close second, and scatterings of other animals. It does not contain humans, and travellers to Calisota will become funny animals for the duration of their stay.
The Great State of Calisota.
Calisota is one of the United States. It contains just about every climate to be found in the continental U.S. It's also got several major cities including Duckburg, St. Canard, and Spoonerville. The descendants of the Clan McDuck can be found in Duckburg, St. Canard is protected by the Terror That Flaps In The Night, Darkwing Duck, and Spoonerville is home to the Goofs, scions to an impressive family history.
Thembria
Inhabited primarily by warthogs, Thembria was the "other side" during the Cold War.
Cape Suzette
Cape Suzette is a city-state located somewhere in the South Pacific. During the 1930s, it was a hotbed of spies, air pirates, and pulp adventure.
The Justice Ducks
The greatest super-team in the state of Calisota, the Justice Ducks are composed of Darkwing Duck, Gizmoduck, Stegmutt, Morgana McCawber, and Darkwing Duck's sidekick Quiverwing Quack.
S.H.U.S.H. and F.O.W.L.
S.H.U.S.H. is a government spy agency headed by the owl J. Gander Hooter. It is locked in seemingly endless struggle with the agents of the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny. S.H.U.S.H. will often draft superheroes to its cause.
Current Events in Calisota
The cartoons on which Calisota is based ended in the mid-1990s. If time advanced normally from then, consider the following:
- Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck are probably in their early 30s by this point, as is their childhood friend Webby Vanderquack.
- Gosalyn Mallard, adopted daughter of Drake Mallard (aka Darkwing Duck) is in her late 20s.
- Drake Mallard and Morgana McCawber would get married.
- Donald Duck and Daisy Duck would likely get married as well.
- In an old Carl Barks story, Scrooge made Huey, Dewey, and Louie his heirs.
There's a lot more than can be done here. Honestly, Calisota is its own full setting. Checking wikipedia for Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, and Quack Pack and following the links is a good way to waste an afternoon. Some things don't line up 100%, like the fact that Quack Pack took place in a world with mostly humans and eliminated most of the characters introduced in Ducktales.
My own personal take on this is that Huey, Dewey, and Louie retain the character traits they had in Quack Pack (Huey is the leader, Dewey the computer expert, and Louie the athlete). Daisy remains a television reporter, and Donald (having gotten out of the Navy) works as Daisy's cameraman. Otherwise, it's like Ducktales continued.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Merlin Jones
Merlin Jones appears in two movies, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964) and The Monkey's Uncle (1965). Misadventures appears to have been the result of an attempt at a TV show that didn't work out, as it seems to be divided in half with a separate story in each half. It did well enough as a movie, though, that a sequel was made. The Monkey's Uncle, sadly, is not available through Netflix.
Regardless, Merlin Jones is a student at Midvale College (as opposed to Medfield College, features in the flubber and Dexter Riley movies) who, seems to do pretty well for himself despite his professors thinking he's a bit daffy and one of the football players having it out for him (though that might be because Merlin is dating the incredibly cute Jennifer).
In his first misadventure, his experiments with an electroencephalograph lead to him getting electrocuted and temporarily gaining the ability to read people's minds. At first, he uses this to find out what other people think of him (generally positive) and turn the tables on his bully and people looking to take advantage of his good nature. However, he learns that the judge who is hearing his case for a traffic violation (done in the name of science, of course) is planning a crime, and Merlin, with the help of Jennifer, set out to stop the judge. In the end, it's all a misunderstanding, as the Judge is secretly noted crime novelist "Lex Fortis," and Merlin overheard him thinking about the plot to his next book. Merlin gets out of his traffic violation, incidentally, and strikes up a friendship with the Judge.
In the second misadventure, Merlin begins experimenting with hypnotism, first hypnotizing his cat into being more courageous, then hypnotizing Stanley, a chimp kept by the college (and looked after by Merlin's tormentor, Norman the football player), into standing up for his rights. This results in Stanley attacking Norman, but in a comical way and not at all like the horror of a real chimp attack. Norman presses charges against Merlin for attacking him, and Merlin explains to the Judge (the same judge) about the hypnotism. Merlin is found not guilty but is ordered to stay away from the chimp. The Judge is interested because he wants to write a story in which the protagonist has been hypnotized to commit crimes, but Merlin explains that a subject can't be hypnotized into breaking their own moral code. As a wager, he hypnotizes the judge into stealing Stanley from the college. The judge does, and Merlin gets in trouble for being caught with Stanley when he was really just returning him. In the end, Merlin is exonerated, and the Judge comes to realize that maybe the only thing separating him from a hardened criminal is not that he's inherently better but that he's had better opportunities.
And scene.
The second film has Merlin experimenting with sleep learning, and building a man-powered flying machine (as well as a strength formula which allows people to fly it). The name of the film has to do with the fact that Stanley the chimp has been legally named Merlin's nephew as part of an experiment to raise him as a human.
Fitting it into the WW4C
If anyone were going to come up with a serum or test that gave people superpowers, it would be either Merlin Jones or Dexter Riley. I say it's both of them, working together. The Jones-Riley formula is expensive, and you don't know what sort of powers you're going to get, but you will get them.
The Merlin Jones movies were in the mid-1960s and the Dexter Riley movies started in the late '60s, so I figure the Jones-Riley formula may have been available from the late 1970s on. However, it's only available to the very wealthy. Other people will have to get their powers the old-fashioned way: through laboratory accidents, or by being descended from people exposed to "dry rain" in the early 1960s.
Either way, we're still shaping up to have a boom in superheroics starting in the late 1970s.
There's also more about animals here. Merlin is able to hypnotize both a cat and a chimpanzee by just talking to them, which again seems to imply that animals may be able to understand human languages even if they cannot speak them. Given Merlin's track record, Stanley probably became a respected scientist and possibly even a U.S. citizen (like Jake, the cat from outer space).
An Unrelated Note About Tommy Kirk and Non-WW4C Movies
Tommy Kirk's last movie with Disney was The Monkey's Uncle. The story of how he departed from Disney isn't a very happy one. He went on to star in some forgettable beach party movies, two of which, Catalina Caper and Village of the Giants (which is a cross between H.G. Wells' Food of the Gods and a beach party movie) ended up on MST3K. He was also in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, though I don't recall if he had a very large role.
Fortunately, we've still got at least one more Tommy Kirk Disney film to go: The Shaggy Dog.
Regardless, Merlin Jones is a student at Midvale College (as opposed to Medfield College, features in the flubber and Dexter Riley movies) who, seems to do pretty well for himself despite his professors thinking he's a bit daffy and one of the football players having it out for him (though that might be because Merlin is dating the incredibly cute Jennifer).
In his first misadventure, his experiments with an electroencephalograph lead to him getting electrocuted and temporarily gaining the ability to read people's minds. At first, he uses this to find out what other people think of him (generally positive) and turn the tables on his bully and people looking to take advantage of his good nature. However, he learns that the judge who is hearing his case for a traffic violation (done in the name of science, of course) is planning a crime, and Merlin, with the help of Jennifer, set out to stop the judge. In the end, it's all a misunderstanding, as the Judge is secretly noted crime novelist "Lex Fortis," and Merlin overheard him thinking about the plot to his next book. Merlin gets out of his traffic violation, incidentally, and strikes up a friendship with the Judge.
In the second misadventure, Merlin begins experimenting with hypnotism, first hypnotizing his cat into being more courageous, then hypnotizing Stanley, a chimp kept by the college (and looked after by Merlin's tormentor, Norman the football player), into standing up for his rights. This results in Stanley attacking Norman, but in a comical way and not at all like the horror of a real chimp attack. Norman presses charges against Merlin for attacking him, and Merlin explains to the Judge (the same judge) about the hypnotism. Merlin is found not guilty but is ordered to stay away from the chimp. The Judge is interested because he wants to write a story in which the protagonist has been hypnotized to commit crimes, but Merlin explains that a subject can't be hypnotized into breaking their own moral code. As a wager, he hypnotizes the judge into stealing Stanley from the college. The judge does, and Merlin gets in trouble for being caught with Stanley when he was really just returning him. In the end, Merlin is exonerated, and the Judge comes to realize that maybe the only thing separating him from a hardened criminal is not that he's inherently better but that he's had better opportunities.
And scene.
The second film has Merlin experimenting with sleep learning, and building a man-powered flying machine (as well as a strength formula which allows people to fly it). The name of the film has to do with the fact that Stanley the chimp has been legally named Merlin's nephew as part of an experiment to raise him as a human.
Fitting it into the WW4C
If anyone were going to come up with a serum or test that gave people superpowers, it would be either Merlin Jones or Dexter Riley. I say it's both of them, working together. The Jones-Riley formula is expensive, and you don't know what sort of powers you're going to get, but you will get them.
The Merlin Jones movies were in the mid-1960s and the Dexter Riley movies started in the late '60s, so I figure the Jones-Riley formula may have been available from the late 1970s on. However, it's only available to the very wealthy. Other people will have to get their powers the old-fashioned way: through laboratory accidents, or by being descended from people exposed to "dry rain" in the early 1960s.
Either way, we're still shaping up to have a boom in superheroics starting in the late 1970s.
There's also more about animals here. Merlin is able to hypnotize both a cat and a chimpanzee by just talking to them, which again seems to imply that animals may be able to understand human languages even if they cannot speak them. Given Merlin's track record, Stanley probably became a respected scientist and possibly even a U.S. citizen (like Jake, the cat from outer space).
An Unrelated Note About Tommy Kirk and Non-WW4C Movies
Tommy Kirk's last movie with Disney was The Monkey's Uncle. The story of how he departed from Disney isn't a very happy one. He went on to star in some forgettable beach party movies, two of which, Catalina Caper and Village of the Giants (which is a cross between H.G. Wells' Food of the Gods and a beach party movie) ended up on MST3K. He was also in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, though I don't recall if he had a very large role.
Fortunately, we've still got at least one more Tommy Kirk Disney film to go: The Shaggy Dog.
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