Television Crossover Universe

  Some Rankin-Bass Christmas Presents, with Spoilers   Aaron was a little drummer boy in the province of Judea in the Roman Empire some 2,000 years ago. After his parents were killed by bandits, a series of adventures saw him meet three kings traveling to Bethlehem (1) and become an acolyte of a baby (born in a stable) that the kings believed to be a future holy king of the world. He tried to spread the word about the infant with the help of one of the kings. (2)   The little baby’s parents had traveled from some distance to pay taxes in a census mandated by the Empire. For the price of a single silver coin, they bought a venerable donkey (named Small One by his young owner) so that the heavily pregnant mother of the babe-to-be could ride him instead of walking. (3) Unfortunately, Small One was pretty old, and only made it part of the way, before passing away. However, the husband of the wife found another donkey with incredibly long ears. The donkey, named Nestor...

  Goll-lee!: The One With Bedford Falls, The Miracles of 34 th Street, and Seven Stranded Castaways…and a bunch of Friends   Some people have heard of Harry Bailey of Bedford Falls, New York, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for shooting down 15 Japanese fighters in World War II, most notably two kamikazes that were about to strike a loaded US Navy destroyer loaded with troops in the fall of 1944 (1). While losing one ship and the troops on it would not have made a tremendous difference in the outcome of the war, several persons of note were serving on the destroyer or were among the troops being transported. It’s entirely possible that Harry Bailey is far more important to history than was realized when he received his medal in December, 1945 (1). Bailey himself served on the USS Enterprise CV-6, which arguably is the greatest and most successful wet navy warship in history; centuries later, interstellar starships would be named for her (2).   One of the...