Crossover Cover: The Miskatonic University Spiritualism Club

 

Are you a fan of the Back to the Future films?

Then you'll love this Cthulhu Mythos novella by Peter Rawlik, which has ties to that series and a number of other works!

For more information, be sure to check out my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover TV Episode: The Librarians and the Final Curtain

 

Are you a fan of the TV series The Librarians?

Then you'll love this episode, which has shout-outs to Doctor Who and Back to the Future!

For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover TV Series: The Middleman

Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine's comic The Middleman features the title character and his sidekick Wendy Watson battling threats to the world for the Organization Too Secret to Know (O2TSK). There have been several Middlemen throughout history. In the story "The League of Professional Jealousy," Dr. Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker set out to destroy Dracula, only to find they have been beaten to the punch. Soon after, Phileas Fogg returns to the Reform Club after finishing his eighty-day trek around the world, only to find out his time has been beaten by the same person who stole Van Helsing’s thunder: the Middleman. Van Helsing enlists Nikolai Tesla to help him and Fogg get their revenge, which involves Van Helsing spreading rumors of a demonic hound in the moors of Devonshire. However, Tesla actually helps the Middleman outwit Van Helsing and Fogg. Learning there are now reports of a seemingly real "Hound of the Baskervilles" in Devonshire, the Middleman later sends a letter to Holmes and Watson telling them he has already solved the mystery, and he is off to the high seas, where a maniac has been ramming cargo ships with a submarine. This story is a parody, and Van Helsing and Fogg are both out of character. Additionally, the year is given as 1897, whereas in the CU Dracula took place in 1887, Around the World in Eighty Days in 1872, The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1888, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1866–1868. Therefore, I place the comics in an AU. However, the comic does have a TV adaptation with crossover references of its own, which fits much better into the CU. The O2TSK is also mentioned in The Librarians episode "The Librarians and the Apple of Discord."

In "The Sino-Mexican Revelation," the Middleman and Wendy visit Schlermie Beckerman Memorial Square and Alfred Necessiter Memorial Hospital. Beckerman and Necessiter are from the movie The Man with Two Brains. In "The Manicoid Teleportation Conundrum," the Middleman has a rendezvous with Wendy at Lyon Estates. Wendy discovers a bomb is hidden at Twin Pines Mall. Ida, the Middleman’s android assistant, says a headless murder victim lived at Eastwood Ravine Drive. Lyon Estates and Twin Pines Mall are from the film Back to the Future. Eastwood Ravine Drive is named after the Eastwood Ravine from Back to the Future Part III. In "The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation," Eleanor Draper’s honors include the Egon Spengler Memorial Award and the Ivo Shandor Medal. Both individuals are from the movie Ghostbusters. In "The Clotharian Contamination Protocol," a NASA employee is named Lethbridge-Stewart. A "Zygon-Rated" containment box appears. The Nakatomi Protocol expands the vents in Middleman HQ to human size, allowing the Middleman to crawl through them in case of an emergency. A Clotharian bomb has writing on it in Aurebesh. Lethbridge-Stewart is probably related to the CU counterpart of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart from Doctor Who. The Zygons are an alien race also seen in Doctor Who. The Nakatomi Protocol appears to have been inspired by John McClane crawling through the vents of the Nakatomi Plaza building, as seen in the movie Die Hard. The Aurebesh language is from the Star Wars film series. In "The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome," the Middleman and Wendy investigate the theft of a Beryllium Sphere and an Oscillation Overthruster. A collection of stolen doll eyes is made of polydichloric euthimal. The Middleman has a phased polaron cannon in his weapons archive. Beryllium spheres are from the movie Galaxy Quest, while the Oscillation Overthruster is from the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension. Polydichloric euthimal appears in the movies Outland, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and The Relic, based on Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s novel Relic. Outland must take place in an alternate future. The future seen in the Terminator movies is also an alternate timeline to the established future of the CU. The novel Relic has already been established as taking place in the CU, so the events of the movie must occur in an alternate reality as well. Phased polarons are from Star Trek.

Crossover Cover: Video Nasties

Ghostbusters Egon Spengler and Peter Venkman discuss the inclusion of a flux capacitor in the Ecto-3, which may be of use “if Godzilla came to call.” Flux capacitors are originally from Back to the Future, thus bringing that film and its sequels into the CU, though clearly all the timeline tampering in the CU has averted that series’ version of the year 2015. Although the massive destruction seen in the Godzilla films does not fit in with Crossover Universe continuity, Emmanuel Gorlier’s story “Twilight” and Nick Pollotta’s novel Doomsday Exam establish that Godzilla does have a Crossover Universe counterpart, though he appears to have spent most of his existence in captivity.

Crossover Cover: Kobayashi Maru

The Vulcan V’Shar install a flux capacitor in the freighter ECS Kobayashi Maru. Flux capacitors are from the Back to the Future film series. They are also mentioned in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Hollow Pursuits,” the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “What You Leave Behind,” and Keith R.A. DeCandido’s Deep Space Nine novel Gateways Book 4: Demons of Air and Darkness, all of which take place after this book.

Crossover Cover: What in Samhain Just Happened?

A television producer seeks out the Ghostbusters to clear a ghost out of his home, so that he can capture the bust on film. A DeLorean appears outside the ’Busters’ firehouse. After the Ghostbusters turn him down, the producer mentions that he’s heard of two brothers who are good at handling ghosts, “Remington…something like that.” A copy of the Necronomicon also appears. The DeLorean is probably the car from the Back to the Future film series. The brothers mentioned by the producer are Sam and Dean Winchester from the TV series Supernatural. IDW’s Ghostbusters comics must take place in the early ’90s, shortly after the end of the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. The Winchester brothers were children in the 1990s, and unlikely to have a reputation as monster hunters. However, they’ve magically time traveled many times over the course of the show, visiting the ’70s, the ’40s, the Old West, and a post-apocalyptic future, and have dealt with the fallout of an angel going back and saving the Titanic (though the timeline was restored by the end of the episode), so it’s not impossible that they may have spent some time in the early ’90s as well, possibly even traveling to that era in the DeLorean. The copy of the Necronomicon seen here is visually based on the one in The Real Ghostbusters episode “The Collect Call of Cthulhu.”

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes

The crew of the starship Enterprise and the Legion of Super-Heroes find their worlds merged into one ruled by a tyrannical government known as the Imperial Planets. They find out that the ruler of this world is the man known in the Enterprise crew’s universe as Flint and in the Legion’s universe as Vandal Savage. A time-traveling Q was captured by the immortal caveman, diverging and combining both timelines. This story once again confirms that the DC Universe is an alternate reality to the CU. The Legion seen here appears to be the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of the team, at some point after the “Great Darkness Saga” storyline. Vandar the Stone, as Savage/Flint is now known, shows his captives several time machines once belonging to those who tried to topple his empire. The time machines include: Lazarus’ capsule from the Star Trek episode “The Alternative Factor”; the Atavachron from the Star Trek episode “All Our Yesterdays”; Berlinghoff Rasmussen’s time pod from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “A Matter of Time”; an Epoch-class timeship from the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Future’s End”; the data disk from Enterprise; the Doctor and the Master’s TARDISes from Doctor Who; the phone booth from the films Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey; the Rocket Sled from the film Timecop; the DeLorean from the Back to the Future film series; the Cosmic Treadmill used by the DC Comics superhero the Flash; the Lazarus Pit, the source of immortality for Batman’s foe Ra’s al Ghul; the Dagger of Time from the Prince of Persia video game series; a time bubble from the Legion of Super-Heroes stories; H.G. Wells’ machine from the film Time After Time; the stopwatch from the TV series Voyagers!; the time sphere from the DC comic Rip Hunter, Time Master; and the titular conveyances from the films Hot Tub Time Machine and Stargate, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, and the television series The Time Tunnel. Presumably, at least some of these devices existed in the CU and/or the DCU before Vandar altered time.