Monday, May 25, 2015

Crossover TV Series: Haven

The TV series Haven is loosely based on Stephen King's novel The Colorado Kid. While the novel has no connections to King's other works, the TV series has several references to his fiction, as well as a reference to The X-Files, and therefore is included in the CU. For instance, a flyer seen in the show’s opening credits refers to “the revered Flagg,” a reference to King’s recurring villain Randall Flagg. In the episode "Ball and Chain," FBI Agent Audrey Parker and Nathan Wuornos investigate a case involving men rapidly aging to death and decomposing. Nathan learns of a similar death that occurred in Derry years ago. Derry, Maine is a recurring locale in King’s fiction. Derry is also mentioned in the episode following this one, “Fur.” In "As You Were," Vince Teagues gives Audrey the book Misery Unchained, a "first edition signed by the author just before that lady chopped off his foot," as a birthday gift. The author of Misery Unchained is Paul Sheldon, whose foot was chopped off by his deranged fan Annie Wilkes in King’s novel Misery. In "The Hand You're Dealt," Audrey reads notes about a “firebug” (pyrokinetic) on the Vermont-New Hampshire border and in upstate New York. Photographer Morris Crane refers to creatures with lobster-like claws who communicate in a clicking language. The firebug on the Vermont-New Hampshire border and in upstate New York is Charlie McGee from King’s novel Firestarter. The lobster-like creatures are the Lobstrosities from The Drawing of the Three, the second book in King’s Dark Tower series. In "The Trail of Audrey Parker," Audrey says to her FBI supervisor, Agent Howard, “At least I’m not like that one guy you trained that was chasing aliens, what was his name?” Howard retorts, "Hey, he was a genius. What happened to him the last few years, that was a tragedy." Little Tall Island is mentioned. The alien-hunting FBI agent trained by Agent Howard is Fox Mulder from the television series The X-Files. Little Tall Island is from Stephen King’s novel Dolores Claiborne, as well as the TV mini-series Storm of the Century. In "Spiral," Max Hansen has just been released from Shawshank State Prison, a recurring location in Stephen King’s fiction, appearing most prominently in "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption." In "Who, What, Where, Wendigo," a radio announcer refers to the Lobstrosities. In "Business as Usual," Nathan  makes use of a coroner from Cleaves Mills. Duke Crocker won his boat from a man in Castle Rock. The town of Cleaves Mills is from King’s novel The Dead Zone. Castle Rock is the setting of The Dead Zone and several other books and stories by King. In "Silent Night," Derry is mentioned as a neighboring town to Haven. In "Double Jeopardy," Duncan Fromsley is transferred from Shawshank. In "Sarah," it is stated that Roy Crocker's wife and son live near Derry. In "Countdown," Duke Crocker says that Dwight Hendrickson is in Cleaves Mills cleaning up a mess. In "See No Evil," Audrey, whose original personality has come out of dormancy, searches for “Thinnys,” weak spots in reality, in order to find the mysterious William. Thinnys are from the Dark Tower series, reinforcing the Territories and Mid-World as alternate realities to the Crossover Universe.

4 comments:

  1. So was Haven repopulated after the Tommyknockers? I believe everyone was dead after the Tommyknockers.

    Paul Sheldon was also mentioned in "The Library Policeman" which is one of the few crossovers that Win missed. However, he did provide a date for the story in Crossovers II and mention the link to the story in Needful Things.

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  2. This Haven is apparently a different place than the one in The Tommyknockers. Besides the latter version having been destroyed, it's apparently in a different part of Maine. There must be two similarly named towns in Maine, Haven Village from The Tommyknockers and Haven from the TV series.

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  3. Speaking of recent tv shows, what about the Diogenes Club appearing in an episode of Forever? Is that compatible with the CU?

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  4. The flashback involving the Diogenes Club on Forever was set in 1812. In “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter,” Sherlock Holmes says that his brother Mycroft was one of the founders of the Club. Mycroft was born in 1847. Perhaps Mycroft named his Club after the original, using it as a front for British Intelligence rather than as a regular gentleman’s club like its namesake.

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