When Crossovers Attack!
Never fear - CGI special agents Fax Modem and Data Nully are on the
case. They know the Web, I mean the truth, is out there...
CASE FILE #1: THE BEST OF THE GUESTS (STARS, THAT IS)
1A. Trevor Goddard, who played Mic on JAG, took time out
from frustrating the Harm/Mac shippers to appear in the excellent X-Files
episode "Triangle." He's one of the sailors on the doomed ship
Queen Anne and gets to yell at Mulder. This may be the one time I
didn't instantly hate his character, although I still booed loudly when he
came onscreen. I'm a loyal shipper, after all.
1B. Cindy Ambuehl, who played Renee on JAG, briefly appeared
in the Wings episode "Black Eye Affair" (credited as Cynthia K. Ambuehl,
no less). She plays Stella, Helen's distraught calendar-model friend
from New York; the name "Stella," of course, sets up a good Streetcar Named
Desire joke later in the episode.
1C. Patrick Labyorteaux, who plays Lt. Bud Roberts on - you guessed
it - JAG, was the voice of Flash Thompson on the '90s Spider-Man
cartoon. This really tickles me because the intelligent, perennially
cherubic Bud is the exact opposite of Flash, a schoolyard bully and dumb jock
if ever there was one.
1D. Christopher Daniel Barnes, who was the voice of Spider-Man/Peter
Parker on Spider-Man, appeared as Lt. (j.g.) Andy Kingsley in the
"JAG TV" episode of JAG. I wonder if he and PL talked about
the Spidey 'toon. Huh.
Celli
pointed out that PL actually wrote this episode, which makes it even
better!
1E. Tony Jay, who does the voice of nefarious virus Megabyte
on ReBoot, provided the voice of the equally villainous Baron Mordo
on Spider-Man. Funnily enough, both Mordo and Megabyte were pulled
into a portal by something icky - Dormammu and a Web creature, respectively.
1F. In an episode of Magnum, P.I. - unfortunately, I don't
know which one - Jeff McKay appears as a character with the nickname "Mac."
Jeff McKay is currently a reoccurring character (Bud's father) on JAG
; JAG, of course, also boasts a character nicknamed "Mac."
1G. In the JAG episode "Force Recon," Phil Morris appears
as Captain Koonan. Phil Morris (Greg Morris' son) played Grant Collier,
Barney Collier's son, on the 1988 version of Mission: Impossible
. And speaking of the Morris family...
1H. Iona Morris, Greg Morris' daughter, provided the voice of
Storm for the first season of X-Men: The Animated Series, and in
the "Secret Wars" story arc on Spider-Man.
1I. Christina Pickles, who pops up on JAG every now and
then as Harm's mother, played the Sorceress in the live-action Masters
of the Universe movie. He-Man, Harm, He-Man, Harm... sorta sound
similar, don't they?
CASE FILE #2: TOO CLOSE FOR COPYRIGHT COMFORT
2A. Every Donald Bellisario show I've ever seen - namely,
Magnum, P.I., Quantum Leap, and JAG - have one or more prominent
characters who are in the Navy (Magnum, Al, and... well, everybody, respectively).
It's also interesting to note that several QL episodes focus on trials
and courtroom heroics, and all three shows repeatedly deal with the Vietnam
War. Also, don't you think Tom Selleck and David James Elliot kinda
look alike? Well, I do, and that's all that really matters, isn't
it.
2B. In the JAG episodes "King of the Greenie Board" and
"Rules of Engagement," Lt. Andrew Buxton's call sign is "X-Man," which
is eeriely similar to the title and main character of Marvel Comics' book,
X-Man . Good thing there's lots of lawyers on JAG, is all
I can say, 'cause Marvel could suuuuuue their pants off.
2C. In the Wings episode "Honey, We Broke The Kid," there's
much talk about the star of the hit TV show Austin Houston, P.I.
Gee, that sounds so familiar... I just can't imagine why.
2D. Nintendo's newest game console is called GameCube, and is a
big purple cube. The characters of ReBoot, who live inside
a computer, are often menaced by computer games in the form of big purple
Game Cubes.
2E. Austin Powers, the International Man of Mystery himself, must
often do battle against those sexy-but-deadly fembots created by Dr. Evil.
Jaime Sommers, the Bionic Woman herself, fought sexy-but-deadly
fembots
created by a mad scientist whose name I can't find right now. But
he was evil too.
CASE FILE #3: HONORABLE MENTIONS
3A. In the Quantum Leap episode "A Hunting We Will Go,"
Diane watches The Bionic Woman and says she'd like to be an undercover
agent like Lindsay Wagner (who played Jaime Sommers, the bionic woman).
3B. In the JAG episode "Father's Day," our intrepid lawyers
stay at a hotel that's hosting a Quantum Leap convention. What's
more, Donald Bellisario himself puts in an appearance.
3C. In the JAG episode "Webb of Lies," Harm mentions
X-Men , saying that when he was ten, he had a complete run of the
comic starting at issue #1. I find this hard to believe, seeing as
how issue #1 came out two months before Harm was even born.
3D. In the same episode, Harm mentions The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Anyone remember the spinoff show The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.?
No? Just as well, I suppose.
3E. In the JAG episode "Impostor," Harm mentions Mission:
Impossible, thus forever destroying the possibility of my writing a
JAG/M:I crossover. Then again, it didn't stop me from writing
JAG/X-Men crossovers. Hmmm.