CROSSOVER MADNESS

 One generally overlooked "villain crossover" appears in the 1938 serial FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS. 

Now, had Azura of the FLASH GORDON comic strip started out as a flunky to Ming, I would not deem any teamup between the two a crossover. But the original comics appearance of Azura, examined in this essay, shows that her realm was independent of Ming's, and even in the serial Azura seems her own woman, and not a henchperson. This may well be the only crossover in American serials, since most co-villains do not sport such independent charisma.

MONSTER MASHUPS #84

 

"A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle," a 1984 episode of THE NEW SCOOBY DOO MYSTERIES, joins the ranks of a small coterie of Scooby-stories featuring a mashup of classic monsters. 

Dracula and his assistant Igor (on loan from a Frankenstein movie, perhaps) encounter the Scooby Gang and invite all of them to Drac's castle for a costume party. However, the Scoobies are the only ones who wear costumes; everyone else-- Drac, his unnamed bride, a mummy, a wolfman, a gill man, an invisible man and a Frankenstein Monster-- is the real thing. The monsters have all retired from scaring people, but now they're being haunted by the ghost of Drac's old foe Professor Van Helsing, so they want the famed Scooby "ghostbusters" to bust that boogieman.

It's not surprising that the ghost is the only phony monster in the bunch, an imposture of Igor, who wants the castle for himself. In a peculiar side-plot, the only non-monstrous guest of Dracula is a lady stage magician named Chandra, who aspires to get hold of a mystic gem that will (and does) give her real magic powers. At first I had no idea what a stage magician was doing in a monster-mashup. Then I learned that the writer of the episode was Paul Dini, who, according to fandom lore, was a big fan of the DC Comics magician-hero Zatanna-- so much so that he worked her character into an appearance or two on the BATMAN and JUSTICE LEAGUE cartoons, not to mention the fact that he later wrote a ZATANNA comic series. 

"Hassle" also counts as a crossover because Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster are definite icon-emulations of their cinematic personas, though all the other monsters are just generalized monster-types.

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 Poobala's site covers how the TV show MISTER ED played host to Irene Ryan, playing something that was essentially (if not literally) her character Granny from THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES. But since he wasn't concerned with crossovers from other media, he didn't cover "The Trials and Tribulations of Emmy Lou," an episode of MISTER ED that also served as a back-door pilot for a possible series based on the 1944-1979 comic strip EMMY LOU-- though no such TV series eventuated.

Now, had the characters of Emmy Lou and her castmates all been original creations, then this abortive pilot would only count as a "null-crossover." But since Emmy Lou had stature as the star of her own comic strip, this is a full crossover. I couldn't find a shot online from the actual episode, but here's one of actress Noanna Dix, who played Emmy Lou.

RAR #61: SHAMAN AND TALISMAN

Shaman was the first of a pair of native North American heroes introduced by John Byrne for the franchise ALPHA FLIGHT. Shaman, a member of the Sarcee tribe, was the mystical expert on the all-Canadian team of heroes, but Byrne didn't really put much depth into any of the characters. Thus Shaman comes off as a fairly simple magical hero, with no insight into the function of shamanic practices in the Sarcee culture.

His daughter Elizabeth proved more interesting, even after Byrne left the comic. Though originally estranged from her father for involved reasons, she gets sucked into his mystic superhero activities, and is transformed into another super-type, Talisman, with her own special powers. While Shaman soon faded out, Talisman remained with the super-group for a few more years in the original series. She had a little more dimension, in part because she was a modern city-girl struggling with her occult powers, and she certainly had the better costume of the two.

NULL-CROSSOVERS #5

 

CARRY ON SCREAMING is a null-crossover for the same reason as JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER. As my review articulates, the movie follows the capricious exploits of a mad scientist and his sexy sister as they embark on experiments Frankensteinian. The scientist is not even an offspring of any version of Frankenstein, but he says that he studied under the master of monsters. In addition, he also studied under Doctor Jekyll, so he has a supply of the Hyde-juice around and uses it to transform a nosy constable. This strategy backfires when "Sergeant Hyde" beats up the monsters of the scientist and ends his rampage. So the recognizable figures of previous narratives never "cross over," they're merely spoken of-- and mere references do not a crossover make.

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 I'm indebted to the incredible POOBALA site for pointing out something I didn't know about the crossover of two sixties sitcoms: DENNIS THE MENACE and DONNA REED-- namely, that the former aired on CBS while the latter aired on rival network ABC. That's more interesting than the episode itself, suggesting that someone involved in the production of both shows had a stake in both, and arranged this unusual crossing of paths.