Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

On hearing how Rich had a go at combining all the fannish 'verses into one cohesive (if wobbly) whole, I've been curious as to what he came up with. However, I'm not going to ask that he come out and tell us because he's going to show us through his comics.

But I don't see any reason why the rest of us can't kick the can around for a bit

Our good Doctor will be a terrific unifying thread through it all, clearly. But resorting to alternate universes should be avoided, as that's the easy way out. For just one easy and obvious example, if the moon got knocked out of earth orbit on 1999 September 13, then what's that in the 24th century sky over Starfleet Academy?

There's also the question of how far back does one want to go with the source material. Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill spring to mind for blending older vintages with the newer stuff.

So. How to tackle all this?

While I love the idea of letting my Unified Universe theories be told strictly in the comic, I would also like to participate in this conversation, since it could take years and years for my to make my points. So please don't be offended if I let you in on some of my ideas here.

When I ran a Space:1999 campaign that blended into a Star Trek campaign some 10 years ago, I explained that after the Moon had blown out of orbit there was a lengthy time of chaos, but Humanity survived (as evidenced in the Space:1999 episode "Journey to Where?" where they manage to contact the domed cities of Earth). One of the first things they did to help settle their environment was to construct an artificial Moon, an object that would take it's orbit and manage the tides and gravitic effects on the Earth. I didn't go into any detail as to HOW this was managed, but suffice to say that by the time we see StarFleet Academy in the StarTrek series, they've fixed it up so that it works real well and projected a massive holographic image of the old Moon on it for esthetics. It was probably necessary to create a new calendar to take account of any slight differences before they were able to really control it fully. Certainly the Andorians with their weather controling machines would have helped out in later Federation years.

But that was just for that campaign. I don't know if I'd use that story in any comic combination of Star Trek/Space:1999 I may do.

Remarkably I was reading about unified universes the day before I heard Rich's interview. Turns out there's a big website about them over at this site: http://www.poobala.com/crossoverlist.html

This posits that there are 38 distinct continuities in television mediums, and has only recently become to accomodate cartoons.

My favourite unified universe (if you can have one...?) is the Tommy Westphall Hypothesis, which supposes that a massive multiversal web all exists in the mind of a secondary character from St Elsewhere. The finale of the show revealed that all prior seasons happened in an autistic child's imagination, but since the show had already crossed over multiple times with other shows it also supposes these also exist inside his head. These shows link with other shows, and hence you get a rather massive web that links things like Doctor Who, Star Trek and The X Files with The Monkees, The Drew Carey Show and The Flying Nun.

The website is here (http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html) and the web here ( http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers(full).jpg ). My favourite is the improbable direct link between Lost and the original UK version of The Office.

That reminded me of a story I'd read, A New Moon Over Bajor, a free fanfiction pdf format crossover novel by an authoress named Ariana http://schools.dcsd.k12.nv.us/pwl/libra ... or1999.pdf of some 300 pages (I had square eyes after reading all that on a laptop )
In this novel the '1999' moon popped though into Deep Space Nine space via the wormhole, with the wormhole aliens moving it between the two realities.
Not bad if you like xovers.
Edit:Please note, due to the pdf file being 3.2mb, it may take a little time to open, depending on your connection speed

Not offended at all. Just didn't want to make any unreasonable demands on you.

And not to get hung up on a specific example but I would never have thought of your solution to the "missing moon" problem. I got stuck on the "multiple Earths, even without crossing to parallel dimensions" thing, as seen on Star Trek: The Old Show, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and the new Battlestar Galactica. But that still leaves the problem of figuring which copy of Earth the different settings happen on.

Besides, I doubt the 23rd/24th century Federation of Planets has the capacity to assemble a new moon. But that's another discussion...

Arraitchgee, the Tommy Westphall Hypothesis is a new one on me. I'm torn between admiring the elegance of it, and railing against making St. Elsewhere the "top level reality" that all others are subordinate to.

That Poobala site is cool though, even if they don't mention the connections between ER and Chicago Hope. Puzzling, that.

They might have discovered the ancient tech from a long time ago in galaxy far, far away, how to build a base that big. Something to replace, say, a missing moon. Instead of wasting energy on a planet destroyer, they focused on making it even bigger colony world, with layers of protective asteroid covering ....

I mean, the planet Pluto is no more. Reclassified and forgotten by a few squabbling members of a poorly attended astronomy society? Or borrowed for raw material to create a new moon for the future?

OK, I don't know which universe you may be referencing here, but I feel the need to comment on the Pluto-is-no-longer-a-planet issue in "real life." (Sorry, I know it's a bit off topic...) As an astronomer myself - one who grew up on Schoolhouse Rock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Rock, for those of you unfamiliar with it) and actually met the man who discovered Pluto - I gotta say that whole declassifying Pluto thing really sticks in my craw. I mean, yeah, I understand the reasoning, but demoting it to "dwarf planet"...

I suppose I didn't watch enough tv as a kid to have thought about combining those universes, but I certainly did it in my head with my books. McCaffrey's Pern, McKinley's Damar, Anthony's Xanth (gimme a break - I was, what, 11?)...

I'm finding this thread fascinating, though. If I didn't have so much on my plate already, I'd be trying to familiarize myself with all these SF universes I know nothing about (e.g., Space: 1999). Can't wait to see what else everybody comes up with!

(Dude. If you do nothing else, familiarize yourself with Space: 1999. It's a goofball 1970s show, but has some awesome moments and characters... and it's Rich's absolute favourite sci-fi show after Doctor Who.

I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying.

y'know?)

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Maya kicks arse!

I was so disappointed on 13th September 1999, when the moon didn't break out of Earth orbit
Nice to know that there is the potential, at least, of inclusion in one of Rich's future projects. I'd love to see how things turned out for the Alphans. I am aware of "Message From Moonbase Alpha" which was included with the DVD extras in the US & Canada, but this wasn't included on my R2 releases

I guess I'll have to add it to my ever-growing list, dude.

I've seen a _bit_ of Space: 1999. I'd be willing to see more. As a side-bonus, I have this neat CD I got long ago called "Sci-Fi's Greatest Hits" and Space: 1999 appears to have a _bitchin'_ theme song. :P

(And hey, obviously I must be down with '70s cheese, if I actually watched the original Battlestar Galactica... Which my dad worked on the set of, actually! Woot.)

Although I don't know enough about Space: 1999 to figure out how to work the missing moon theory into other things. Like, for example, Cowboy Bebop. In that one, the moon got blown up, huge chunks of it WHAMMED into the Earth and devastated the surface, and Faye Valentine wakes up out of suspended animation (after an amount of time suspiciously the exact same as Ripley's from the "Alien" movies) to find her childhood home is now basically a pit.

Anyway: another missing-moon universe, is what I'm saying. Oh! And they have JUMPGATES! :) Not _called_ that, but...TOTALLY B5 style jumpgates. Totally.

...Notorious

I rather liked Space: 1999. Not a big fan of season 2. But I like both seasons, anyway.

Loved the Eagles. The Eagle Transporter was the kewlest, and most realistic sci-fi ship ever.

And I really liked the character of Maya. What is it about really smart alien women that turn me to mush?

And I think the theme tune has to be my second favorite, right after the Doctor Who theme. If you can find the extened version (over 3 minutes), it's worth a listen.

Except for the fact that, as my engineer father often pointed out, it was designed sideways. It should have been upright like a rocket for fuel efficiency, especially when launching from a gravity-normal planet. But I liked it horizontal better myself.



You'll have to be more specific. Season 2 theme was TOTALLY different from the season 1 theme and I like both very much. Season 2 is a little more classical 70's sf theme-like while season 1 could have been danced to by a guy in a white liesure suit with bellbottoms on a flashing multicoloured floor with a large mirror ball sparkling in his eyes.

Well, I _know_ the one I've heard, anyway, was the first season's, from your description there. The second I heard it I cracked UP at the disconess. Get down and shake your space grooooove thang! :P

...however, I _like_ disco, sometimes...

I think I have "met" Maya, in one of the few episodes I've seen. She's like, the shapeshifting alien warrior princess thinger, right? Yeah. She seemed cool.

...Notorious