Fictional crossover

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A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans.

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[edit] Legal crossovers

Crossovers happen in various media mostly because of some intent by the property rights holders to reap the financial reward of combining two or more popular, established properties. In other cases, the crossover can serve to introduce a new concept that derives from an older one.

Crossovers generally occur between properties owned by a single holder, but they can more rarely involve properties from different holders, provided that the inherent legal obstacles can be overcome. They may also involve using characters that have passed into the public domain with those that currently enjoy copyright protection.

A crossover story may try to explain its own reason for the crossover, such as "they live next door" (one example being the casts from Golden Girls and Empty Nest) or "a dimensional rift brought them together" (a common explanation for science fiction properties that have different owners). Some crossovers are not explained at all. Others are absurd or simply impossible within the fictional setting, and have to be ignored by the series' respective continuities. Still others intentionally make the relations between two or more fictional universes confusing, as with The Simpsons and Futurama, where each show is fiction in the other.

[edit] Comics

Archie Meets the Punisher (Aug. 1994). The Marvel version, with identical content but a different cover, was titled The Punisher Meets Archie. Cover art by Goldberg & Henry Scarpelli.
Archie Meets the Punisher (Aug. 1994). The Marvel version, with identical content but a different cover, was titled The Punisher Meets Archie. Cover art by Goldberg & Henry Scarpelli.

Crossovers of multiple characters owned by one company or published by one publisher, have been used to set an established continuity, where characters can frequently meet within one setting. This is especially true of comic book publishers, as different characters in various Marvel, DC or Valiant comic books frequently interact with one another since they live in the same "universe." For example, in the Marvel Comics universe, the X-Men have frequent dealings with another group of Marvel heroes, the Fantastic Four, just as in the DC Comics Universe, Batman and Superman frequently collaborate. In comic book terminology, these "guest star" roles are common enough that they are not considered crossovers. A crossover in comic book terms only occurs when a story spans more than one title. This has led to "crossover events", in which major occurrences are shown as affecting (almost) all the stories in the shared universe.

The first major crossover event was spearheaded by, then Marvel Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter. As a way to further toy sales he devised the Secret Wars crossover which brought all the major Marvel heroes into a twelve issue mini-series to battle a common threat. After the threat was dealt with they all returned to their regular titles. This Secret Wars was hailed as both a critical and commercial success largely because the events of the crossover had lasting effects on the characters (such as the introduction of Spider-Man's black suit which would later become the villain Venom). Jim Shooter later perfected his crossover at Valiant Comics with the Unity event. Unity brought all the Valiant characters together to defeat Mothergod but was told within the existing Valiant Comics titles (and two bookend special issues). Readers were not obliged to buy all 18 chapters as the story was coherent when reading just one title, but far more layered when all were read. Like Secret Wars, the Unity crossover had lasting effects on the Valiant universe most notably the introduction of Turok, the birth of Magnus Robot Fighter and the death of a major Valiant hero.

Recently, on a comic strip cartoon, Dennis the Menace wanted to put his dog on the baseball team because "That other team has a beagle in it", referencing Peanuts, and the team Dennis referenced may be the Peanuts baseball team themselves.

[edit] Cartoons

Cartoon crossovers aren't terribly uncommon, and most of them - like comics or live-action TV shows - will often feature characters owned by the same company or network. One example is Cartoon Network's The Grim Adventures of the Kids Next Door. It features 5 crossovers - Ed, Edd n Eddy, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, The Powerpuff Girls, and one phrase of Scooby-Doo, which are all licensed Cartoon Network series. Similarly, most of the last episodes of the Lilo & Stitch: The Series (a spinoff of the movie of the same name) had crossovers with various other Disney cartoons, including The Proud Family, Kim Possible, Recess and American Dragon Jake Long, although one might count them as mere cameos, as each plotline took place exclusively in Lilo's hometown in Hawaii. The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour is another example, as Jimmy Neutron and Timmy Turner switch universes.

However, not all crossovers are necessarily composed of characters from the same network. Two of the most notable cartoon crossovers consisted of characters from different companies. Disney's famous movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a landmark in animation, had characters from various companies, most notably Disney and Warner Bros. Daffy Duck and Donald Duck made a simultaneous appearance in one scene, in which the two of them exchanged blows during a piano duet. Later in the movie, Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny were shown parachuting together (to keep things from getting too iffy legally, Mickey and Bugs' lines were written so that each of them said the exact same number of words in the movie).[citation needed] And of course, the end of the movie features all the cartoons from all of the animation companies joining together in song, to be concluded by Porky Pig uttering (or, rather, stuttering) his famous "That's All, Folks!" line as Tinker Bell ends the scene with a magical fade-out.

Another cartoon crossover would occur in 1990, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. This cartoon featured popular characters from children's Saturday morning cartoons, banding together to preach an anti-drug message. ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC aired this half-hour special one Saturday morning with characters from all their networks, including Huey, Dewey, and Louie (from Duck Tales), Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Slimer (from The Real Ghostbusters), Michelangelo (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Smurfs, ALF (from his short-lived cartoon spinoff), Garfield, and the trio of Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy, and Baby Gonzo (from Muppet Babies). Animation companies granted unlimited, royalty-free use of their cartoon characters for this project, a feat that has been unequalled before or since then. This cartoon was also introduced by then-President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush, and would be distributed to schools and video stores free of charge nationwide.

[edit] Video games

In the fighting game genre, games such as The King of Fighters, Marvel vs. Capcom, and many other franchises from third-party developers such as Capcom and SNK bring these licenses together. The 2.5D fighting game series, Super Smash Bros., brings Nintendo characters together for a massive fight. The third game in the series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl introduces the first non-Nintendo characters with the inclusion of Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog, of Konami's Metal Gear series and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series respectively. Namco x Capcom, however, is a fighting/RPG from Monolith Soft featuring characters from the Capcom and Namco universe. Also, the new creation from Koei, Warriors Orochi crosses characters from both the Samurai Warriors series and the Dynasty Warriors series. The Namco-developed Soul Series of video games, particularly Soulcalibur II, and the upcoming Soulcalibur IV feature characters from other Namco titles (Link from the Legend of Zelda, Heihachi from Tekken, and Todd McFarlane's Spawn) and the Star Wars universe respectively.

In the RPG field, Kingdom Hearts mixes Disney and Final Fantasy characters together. Also, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon join forces in Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games was the first time that Mario & Sonic appear in a game together, (Sonic is also a confirmed character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, making that their second appearance together) the game was released on the Wii and Nintendo DS. Super Robot Wars are turn-based strategy games featuring a variety of Japanese mecha series from many generations, such as Mazinger Z, Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and GaoGaiGar. Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! features Wario of Nintendo fame, and Bomberman of Hudson fame, battling against each other. Nicktoons Unite! is a video game similar to the Jimmy Timmy Power Hour, but the shows SpongeBob SquarePants and Danny Phantom are included in the crossover. The newest and most anticipated crossover game yet is the upcoming Mortal Kombat versus DC Comics, which currently features Sub-Zero and Batman on the promotional art. Little is known about the game but it is supposed to be running the Unreal 3 fighting engine.

[edit] Literature

In literature, certain authors also engage in crossovers by including characters from different novels they have written in one particular volume; Michael Moorcock frequently uses this device - particularly in his Eternal Champion sequence of novels, which establish a vast 'multiverse' populated by numerous different characters, many of whom appear in different novels and even different genres. Kim Newman is another author who frequently uses this device. The works of James Branch Cabell, William Faulkner, Margaret Laurence, Mordecai Richler, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Isaac Asimov also 'crossover' with each other, linking different characters and settings together over a number of different works. Brazilian writer Monteiro Lobato also created solid and imaginative crossovers, using elements and characters from Brazilian folklore such as the Cuca and Saci, from Greek Mythology such as Heracles, from the Arabian Nights, from Fairy Tales such as Grimm's Snow White, western literature such as Peter Pan, silent movies such as Popeye and Felix the Cat (cartoons) and western films actor Tom Mix.

Other examples include many characters from seemingly unrelated works, which are set into a fictional reality of an actual location. Two great examples include Irvine Welsh and Bret Eaton Ellis, whose main characters in their most noted works, American Psycho (Ellis),and Trainspotting (Welsh) appear in several other work. One is noted in the film 'Rules of Attraction' when Sean Bateman answers the phone and askes "Patrick?" who in Ellis' universe is Patrick Bateman, protagonist of 'American Psycho'. Sean is in that book but not in the movie. Another book, A Night In Lonesome October cross-overs Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Frankenstein, Jack the Ripper and the Ctuhlhu Mythos, adding Familiars and ancient magic to the mix.

[edit] Public domain

It is also common for authors to 'crossover' characters who have passed into the public domain, and thus do not require copyright or royalty payments for their use into their works; a prominent example of this occurs in Loren D. Estleman's novel Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, in which Sherlock Holmes and Dracula are brought together and pitted against each other. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill is another example of this, as all of the main characters and most of the secondary / background characters are fictional characters whose copyright has expired, and all are characters of different authors and creators brought together within one massive extended universe. Many of the works of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton family sequences (which has also been explored and developed by other authors) also utilize and interweave numerous otherwise unrelated fictional characters into a rich family history by speculating familial connections between them (such as a blood-relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan).

Occasionally, authors will include into crossovers classic fictional characters whose copyright is still held by the original authors (or at least their estates), but who are nevertheless considered iconic or 'mythic' enough to be recognised from a few character traits or descriptions without being directly named (thus not requiring royalties payments to be made to the copyright holder). A prominent example occurs within the first volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, wherein a character who is clearly intended in appearance and description by other characters to be Dr Fu Manchu appears as a significant villain; however, as this character was not in the public domain at the time of writing and the rights still held by the estate of his creator Sax Rohmer, he is not directly named as such in the work and is only referred to as 'the Doctor'.

[edit] Television series

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Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (April 2008)

[edit] Spin-offs

In its simplest and most common form, a television crossover involves a starring character on a parent show appearing on a spin-off because of established character relationships. An obvious example of this type of crossover occurred when Cliff Huxtable of The Cosby Show visited his daughter, Denise, on A Different World. Another example of this is the appearances made by Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters to Angel in Los Angeles from Sunnydale.

Sometimes, spin-off crossovers don't involve principals, but rather supporting cast members. For instance, the main link between Green Acres, Petticoat Junction and The Beverly Hillbillies is Sam Drucker.

Depending on the complexity of the franchise, though, the crossover can be even more indirect, serving to suggest the size of the fictional world. This sort of crossover is somewhat common to the Star Trek universe, where minor guest stars from one series have appeared as featured guest stars later on. A good example of this kind of crossover is that of Arne Darvin. Despite the passage of about a century of narrative time, he appeared as a secondary character in the episode The Trouble with Tribbles, but was the principal villain of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, Trials and Tribble-ations.

Star Trek affords an easy understanding of yet another kind of spin-off crossover: that of crossover by implication. By making the various ships and devices to be of roughly the same visual design, the implication is that all of series take place in the same universe. This kind of crossover occurs in other shows when shared characters are mentioned but do not actually appear, as when Michael Stivic was referenced on Gloria.

The distinction between "spin-off" and "crossover" is sometimes narrow. The two terms can become especially conflated if two shows are linked by a guest star with a single appearance. There is debate, for instance over whether Out of the Blue is a spin-off of Happy Days, or whether the star of Out of the Blue merely crossed over into Happy Days.

British sci-fi show Doctor Who and its more adult spin-off Torchwood shared a crossover towards the end of Doctor Who series 3 and at the end of Torchwood series 1 when Torchwood's main character 'Captain Jack Harkness' ran from one programme into the other; they then made a second crossover, as Jack was seen running towards Torchwood at the end of Doctor Who series 3 and reappeared at the start of Torchwood series 2. During that series, the character Martha Jones, the Doctor's companion (who had left him at the end of series 3) appeared,now engaged as a UNIT Medical Officer sent to assist Torchwood.

For a list of examples of crossovers within spin-offs see: Main article: Spin-off (media)

[edit] Crossovers between established shows

Crossovers involving principals can also occur when the characters have no prior relationship, but are related by time period, locale or profession. Such crossovers were characteristic of early Warner Bros. westerns. Perhaps the biggest such crossover was seen in the episode "Hadley's Hunters" from the fourth season of Maverick. It featured the lead characters of Cheyenne, Bronco, Lawman and Sugarfoot, along with signature props from Colt .45 and even the non-Warner's western, Wanted: Dead or Alive.[1][2] While seeing so many crossovers in one episode is rare today, the Law and Order franchise rivals the old ABC/Warner's westerns in terms of frequency. Like them, the Law and Order series afford a commonality of setting which lends itself to crossovers.

Though most common on shows of the same production company, they have also occurred because shows share the same distributor or network. A good example of this kind of link is that between Murder She Wrote and Magnum, P.I.. Both these shows were made by different companies, but owned by Universal Studios and broadcast on CBS. A more unusual case is that of Mad About You and Friends, which are conjoined by the character of Ursula Buffay. Neither show shares any production or distribution commonality whatsoever, but, rather, an actress (Lisa Kudrow), a setting (New York City) and a schedule (Friends initially followed Mad About You on NBC's Thursday night schedule).

Mad About You and Friends share another type of "network crossover." On rare occasions, networks have chosen to theme an entire night's programming around a crossover event. In their case, a New York City blackout caused by Paul Reiser's character on Mad About You was experienced by the characters on Friends and Madman of the People.[3] But event nights can also be linked by a single character's quest across multiple shows on the same evening. ABC attempted this kind of "event night" crossover with its Friday night programming during the 1997 season. There, they proposed that the titular character of Sabrina the Teenage Witch should chase her cat, Salem, through Boy Meets World, You Wish and Teen Angel because it had run away with a "time ball" that was displacing each show through time.[4] Another ABC crossover was featured on a Saturday morning cartoon-- it featured none of the characters from any of the 1 Saturday Morning shows, but a common "villain" named S.T.U.A.R.T. appeared on Doug, Recess and Pepper Ann. Sometimes the crossovers between adjoining shows can be even more subtle than these examples, such as when characters at the end of an episode of Spin City decided to watch a broadcast of the fictional sports telecast, Sports Night, which led immediately into an episode of the sitcom of the same name.

On other occasions, crossovers between established shows can occur without a network or production commonality, but simply because there is some narrative rationale for the crossover. The appearance of detective John Munch (from Homicide: Life on the Street) on The X-Files happened merely because the episode revolved around a crime scene in Baltimore, a logical place for characters on The X-Files to have encountered Munch. Munch would also appear on the TV series Law & Order in which it had one episode which began on that series in New York City and concluded in Baltimore on Homicide: Life on the Street. Later, when Homicide went off the air, Detective Munch ends up leaving Baltimore to move to New York, and becoming a permanent character (as New York City Detective Munch) on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

[edit] Special usages

[edit] Promotional cameos

Crossovers can take the form of a promotional cameo appearance, used to draw attention to another work of fiction, with little rational explanation in the context of the hosting show's narrative. When not clearly presented as parody, this is frequently scorned by fans as blatant commercialism. A notable example of this is The Simpsons episode A Star Is Burns, in which the character of Jay Sherman (from The Critic) appeared. This episode was largely condemned by fans of The Simpsons as existing to promote The Critic. Even Simpsons creator Matt Groening objected, preferring to remove his name from the credits of that particular episode in protest.[5]

[edit] Parodic crossovers

Often, the problems of bringing together two shows with different narrative ambitions makes the writing of a crossover burdensome. Such difficulties are encountered by situation comedies that wish to crossover with dramatic television programmes. The satirical crossover—ranging in length from a cameo to a full comedy sketch or episode—is an extremely popular way of circumventing this problem. By various means, such crossovers typically avoid outcry from fans by being obvious parody or homage. However, on rare occasion, the humor of such crossovers can be used by one show make a narrative point by capitalizing on the audience's experience of the other programme.

Such tongue-in-cheek crossovers typically fall into one of several broad categories.

  • Parodic crossovers can be directly established as being outside of the continuity of one or all of the properties being crossed over. A good example is the crossover between The Simpsons and The X-Files, which was largely accepted as being outside of standard X-Files continuity.
  • They can occur by virtue of a dream sequence, in which the characters of one show will appear as part of a dream had by a character on another show. This method was perhaps used most famously to explain to audiences that the entirety of Newhart had been the dream of Bob Newhart's character on The Bob Newhart Show. It has more recently been used to demonstrate that cast members of The Young And The Restless appeared in a dream of a character onThe King of Queens.
  • Parodic crossovers can take the form of "gag" cameos by characters of one property appearing on another. Characters from King of the Hill have appeared on The Simpsons to comment on a peewee football game. Gag cameos may also include the appearance of an actor from another show, but not necessarily the character that the actor played. For instance, on the ABC/CBS show Family Matters during the closing credits of a particular episode, a scene which was shown earlier in the episode featuring Reginald VelJohnson is re-played, but this time with one of the child actors stating that he "looks like that fat guy from Fresh Prince," referring to James Avery who played Judge Phillip Banks on NBC's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. To the obvious surprise of the studio audience and VelJohnson, Avery walked onto the set with an angry look, being in on the staged joke himself.
  • Crossovers of this type can also be completely wordless. This type of crossover is more common on animated programmes, such as when Bender found and ate Bart Simpson's shorts on Futurama, or Milhouse had a talking Bender doll on The Simpsons.
  • Perhaps the most obvious parodic crossover is found when characters from two series interact outside of either series. This occurs most commonly on a sketch comedy show or as a humorous interlude on an award telecast. Such crossovers may sometimes involve the real actors — for example, a sketch on Royal Canadian Air Farce saw Yasir and Sarah from Little Mosque on the Prairie buying the gas station from Corner Gas, with all characters in the sketch being portrayed by the shows' real actors — although they may also feature one genuine star from the show amid a cast comprised otherwise of the sketch show's own stable of actors. Such crossovers are generally immediately apparent as parodies to the audience — and in no way considered a part of either show's continuity — due to the need for the hosting show to approximate the sets and costumes of the satirized programmes quickly and inexpensively. When Patrick Stewart appeared in a Star Trek: The Next Generation/The Love Boat crossover on Saturday Night Live, for instance, few Star Trek fans would've been fooled by the visual design into believing the event "counted" as an episode of their show. However, there are some cases of this type of parody having some canonical resonance with viewers. For instance, the British charity appeal, Comic Relief often contains parodic crossovers of a technically higher quality than the normal sketch show. Many of these Relief sketches are produced by the cast and crew of the actual programmes being parodied, and hence appear to be "normal" episodes. A good example of this is the sketch, "BallyKissDibley", an 11-minute piece in which the leads of Ballykissangel appeared on the sets of The Vicar of Dibley, alongside most of Dibley's cast. Since the sketch derived its humor from all actors remaining in character, the extent to which these parodies "count" as part of either show's canon is more open to interpretation than most sketch crossovers
  • Parodic crossovers can be used to lend verisimilitude to the fictional world of a programme. Characters from a fictional television series may appear on a stylized version of an established non-fictional television series, such as game shows or reality shows. These crossovers between celebrity hosts and fictional characters are quite common on situation comedies. Mama's Family once appeared on Family Feud and the townsfolk of The Vicar of Dibley have had their heirlooms valuated on Antiques Roadshow, for instance. In such cases, it is generally the non-fictional show which ends up being the most satirized, due to a need to compress the experience to its most recognizable elements. However, these crossovers can happen on dramatic television, such as when Blue Peter provided narrative exposition on The Sarah Jane Adventures. Rarely, brief crossovers between two fictional programmes can be used for this same purpose. In the episode, Army of Ghosts, Peggy Mitchell was seen in a fictionalized scene from Eastenders in order to demonstrate the degree to which the titular ghosts had permeated the popular culture of Doctor Who's Britain. Here, too, time constraints caused the satire of the guest programme (Eastenders) and not the host programme (Doctor Who).

[edit] Retroactive crossovers

Sometimes, crossovers occur even when there was no explicit intent to create them. Viewer interpretation can play into the size and complexity of crossovers. These sort of crossovers involve no creation of additional material, but merely result from inferences drawn about existing filmed episodes. Usually they are a product of narrative ambiguity. Perhaps the best example of this was caused by the unusual ending to St. Elsewhere. In that final episode, it was revealed that the entire run of the programme had been a figment of autistic character, Tommy Westphall. This lent itself to broad interpretation of the events of that series. Because the show had direct crossovers with twelve different programmes, and each one of these twelve had numerous other crossovers, linkages can be found from Elsewhere to 280 other shows, comprising what has been called "the Tommyverse"[6].

[edit] Unofficial crossovers

In contrast with legal crossovers, unofficial crossovers are created solely because of the artistic pleasure derived by its producers. Generally, unofficial crossovers take the form of fan-written fiction and fan art, but it is increasingly prevalent in ameteur films and audio. Whereas official crossovers are frequently stymied by such concerns as copyright, royalties payments, quality of writing and ownership of the characters, unofficial crossovers are unfettered by such concerns, so long as property holders do not exercise their right to enjoin the distribution of such material.

A good example would be the unauthorised live action fan film: Batman: Dead End, which brings together the properties of Batman, Alien and Predator in one setting.

The comedy music song and video "Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" is like a giant crossover featuring many famous real and fictional characters battling in one giant showdown.

A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans. For example, many such works involving the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises exist throughout the Internet, with many dedicated websites and newgroups.

In the film I Am Legend, a billboard can be seen in Times Square depicting a crossover film of Batman and Superman, with a release date of May 15, 2010.

Unofficial crossovers can also occur in a "what-if" scenario. The most notable is an episode of Family Guy entitled "Lois Kills Stewie" which turned out to be a simulation along with the previous episode "Stewie Kills Lois". Stewie Griffin is confronted by Stan Smith and Avery Bullock from American Dad! while hacking into the central power grid at the CIA in a latest plan for world domination. Stewie mistakes Stan for Joe Swanson, due to notable similarities between the two shows. Stewie threatens to turn off all the electricity in the world until Stan and Bullock fulfill his demands of being "President of the World", which they do. Even though this never really happened (the entire episode was a virtual reality simulation run by Stewie), unlike the episodes "Meet the Quagmires" and "Blue Harvest", (which each had brief cameos by Roger the Alien) this is considered by some to mark the first official appearance of American Dad! characters in a Family Guy episode.

[edit] References

  1. ^ A fan's examination of "Hadley's Hunters"
  2. ^ Hadley's Hunters at the Internet Movie Database
  3. ^ epguides.com listing for Pandora's Box, the episode which kicked off "Blackout Thursday" on NBC.
  4. ^ Friday night programming with Sabrina the Teenage Witch and her cat, Salem.
  5. ^ Various reactions, including Matt Groenig's, to A Star Is Burns
  6. ^ Tommy Westphall's Mind—A Multiverse Explored

[edit] See also

[edit] External links