Shared Universes in TV (and Movies)

[Alisha Mynx]

In the 2011 TV thread, it was brought to my attention that "Alphas" exists in the same shared universe as "Eureka" and "Warehouse 13".  

Thanks to this interesting and funny little site, I had previsously been made aware that several other series share a universe (some which are "established", some which are merely cameos or crossovers).

So I was wondering if there are any that you find interesting?  Any that you hate?  Any that you simply know exist?

Here's some shared universes I know about:

- As of this past Monday's season premier of "Two and a Half Men", it appears that "Dharma and Greg" share a universe with them as the two title characters appeared as possible buyers for the late Charlie Harper's beach house.  

- NBC seems to love crossing over it's shows as "Knight Rider", "Passions", "Las Vegas", "Heroes", "Medium" and "The Office", by association with various crossovers, share a universe.  According to the site I linked earlier, they may also share a universe with "Bewitched" (by way of "Passions") and "Star Trek" (by way of "Team Knight Rider").

- Slappy kindly pointed out Richard Belzer appeared as Detective John Munch in an episode of "X-Files".  According to Wikipedia, the character has appeared in over 10 series across five different networks.

While this novel was cancelled, I found the info for it interesting:
 
- A cancelled Star Wars novel called "Alien Exodus" by Robert J. Sawyer would have linked "Star Wars" to "American Graffiti", "THX-1138" and possibly even "Willow".

[Navarre]

Curious, how was Knight Rider and Heroes linked?

[Alisha Mynx]

Curious, how was Knight Rider and Heroes linked?

By way of "Las Vegas" (which seems to be the glue to that big jumble of connections for the most part).  The recent "Knight Rider" featured not only the Montecito Casino, but a couple of the characters of the show as well. 

"Heroes" had scenes take place at and featuring the Montecito Casino as well. None of the show characters appeared, but it was clearly shown to be the fictional Montecito Casino from "Las Vegas". 

[Navarre]

At least Hiro and Ando didn't try to cross the U.S. in a Trans Am.

[Gaumer]

Jetsons and the Flintstones?

[Alisha Mynx]

Jetsons and the Flintstones?

It explains how the Jetsons live in such an advanced time if they had the technology the Flintstones had in their prehistoric era.   

Now I want to see if I can find that movie for a nostalgia trip. 

[Slappy]

Jetsons and the Flintstones?

It explains how the Jetsons live in such an advanced time if they had the technology the Flintstones had in their prehistoric era.   

Now I want to see if I can find that movie for a nostalgia trip. 

Just remember the Matthew Peterson theory of the Flintstones being from our future and the Jetsons being farther in the future.

[Alisha Mynx]

I got to thinking last night of the Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Alphas connection.

Steve Jinks can tell when someone is lying like a human lie detector, right?  Does this technically make him an Alpha? 

[Navarre]

There was a guy on Alphas last week who could do the same thing. But I don't remember his name. (pretty sure it wasn't the same guy though)

[@lantis]

I remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Might Morphing Power Rangers sharing a universe.  As a child I found it difficult to believe.  By extension that also meant that TMNT also share a universe with Masked Rider, or whatever that show was with the grasshopper riding a motorcycle.

I also must say, that I do tend to enjoy when the various Law and Order's crossover.

[Alisha Mynx]

I remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Might Morphing Power Rangers sharing a universe.  As a child I found it difficult to believe.  By extension that also meant that TMNT also share a universe with Masked Rider, or whatever that show was with the grasshopper riding a motorcycle.

Masked Rider was actually retconned out of the Power Rangers universe right after the series actually started (a month or so after the MMPR season 3 episode he was in) because, at the time, the producers thought Power Rangers wasn't going to last much longer and they wanted Masked Rider to stand on it's own.  I laughed so hard I had tears when I heard about that a couple years ago.

However, in the original Japanese source series, the first actual Super Sentai and Kamen Rider crossover actually just took place a couple years ago (featuring the then current Super Sentai series that is currently in the US as "Power Rangers Samurai").  It had been vaguely implied in some earlier Super Sentai specials that they existed in the same universe as Kamen Rider, but until recently they had never been seen side by side on screen except for promo commercials.

As for the "Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation" crossover, there is still talk about that speculating from lines in the show that they aren't technically from the same universe.  One or the other side mentions something about reading the other's comic books, so there is a belief that they may have been pulled from an alternate universe.  

[@lantis]

Wait, when was Masked Rider retconned?  More importantly how did they manage that since it wasn't exactly something that would have come up in the series?

I don't believe having a comic book necessitates an alternate universe.  Plenty of real people have their own comics these days, and it would make sense that in a world where things like Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers exist that someone would write fictional accounts of their adventures.

[Alisha Mynx]

Wait, when was Masked Rider retconned?  More importantly how did they manage that since it wasn't exactly something that would have come up in the series?

Between the shooting of the episodes of Power Rangers with Masked Rider and the series Masked Rider, the company higher ups apparently decided to break the connection between PR and MR.  I know I saw a more official version of it elsewhere some time ago, but it is mentioned here as well.  But after that point, Power Rangers seemed to "retcon" the meeting (and Alpha 5's claim that he was created on the planet Masked Rider came from was forgotten, and I believe he later mentioned being created by other means).  And the begining of Masked Rider's series was done in such a way that implied there had been no contact with anyone from Earth before the first episode.

At that point in time, they were changing a lot of things super-fast, because  they had originally planned to make the character of Ryan Steele from V.R. Troopers the White Ranger, but the Tommy fans won out so they brought him back.  Then not much later they were going to use Ryan as the Gold Ranger (and his actor even provided the voice of the Gold Ranger for several episodes) before things were changed again to reveal the Gold Ranger as an alien and then pass the powers to Jason. 

I don't believe having a comic book necessitates an alternate universe.  Plenty of real people have their own comics these days, and it would make sense that in a world where things like Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers exist that someone would write fictional accounts of their adventures.

True, but I only mentioned it as a point that is still debated among fans (and some of the PR writers, which actually surprised me to learn). 

[Alisha Mynx]

It has recently come to my attention that the 1990's "Land of the Lost" series was indeed a continuation of the original series rather than a remake.  I'd always guessed due to the different names of the family, but there are tidbits online that during production, the character that became Christa(the jungle girl character) was originally intended to be the girl from the original series grown up. 

And the recent "Thundercats" cartoon had an episode featuring Tigersharks and the villain of Silverhawks briefly, tying those three series into one continuity.