Pop Culture Timelines Go-To Thread

A trend I've noticed, time and time again, is the constant geek-culture wanks that pop up on this site. For instance, I have yet to see a single Trek-Screw, even though doing that is a trillion times easier than the three-cherries at three machines in three casinos in three hours odds of some of the Trek!Wanks that can pop up hereabouts. Similarly, Superhero Universes seem to always start early, and the concept as a whole never blows up on the launchpad. Star Wars is always made and always released during that May-1977 heatwave that had the West Coast lining up at any AC'd building (this includes the freak heatwaves that happen during Chistmastime 1976 in some TLs! Who'da thunk it :openedeyewink:?) All other TLs seem to be bamboozled by the strange OTL delusion that Doctor Who is good. Its bad AH practice TBH. Political TLs that wank ideologies are generally frowned upon. We should view Pop Culture Timelines that wank the author's favorite things similarly. There are trade-offs in all things, and the fact is even in the best TLs, things you like will not exist.

SO.....
Justice League of America (2005)
dir. Joel Schumacher

Batman- Stephen Baldwin
Robin- Chris O'Donnell
Superman- Shaquille O'Neal
The Flash- Ricky Martin
Wonder Woman- Jennifer Garner
Green Lantern- Larry the Cable Guy
Lex Luther- Mel Gibson
The Joker- Eminem
Catwoman- Halle Berry

21% on Rotten Tomatoes

Sometimes ya gotta kill your darlings, people. Play with the side effects. Try to tease out how a good thing can turn into a bad thing and a bad thing into a good thing.

Somehow, I'd still watch this and enjoy the s*** out of it. But you forgot one character. Tommy Wiseau as Starro the Conqueror
 
IT'S HERE!

Golden.png


Welcome to Golden! My new timeline!

Okay, what will Golden be about?

Golden is a (mostly) Pop-Culture-centred timeline, similar to that of Massively Multiplier or Dirty Laundry, it covers history from 1998 to the present day and beyond.

Why make the PoD in 1998? Why not make it earlier so we can save River Phoenix, or Kurt Cobain, or Chris Farley?

I was very conflicted on making the PoD of this timeline happen earlier, so we can save the cooler figures of the 90s, but I felt like several people on this website, some probably more talented than me, have already done that. So I will be trying to go for a different PoD.

What is this PoD for Golden?

The divergence comes on the early morning of May 28th, 1998 inside the house of famous comedian and voice actor Phil Hartman, in which his drugged and drunken wife, Brynn, who is about to murder him with a revolver, accidentally knocks over a few things on her way to his bedroom, causing him to wake up and investigate, which results in him getting into a fight with Brynn, which ultimately leaves him wounded but alive.

What butterflies happen due to Hartman surviving?

First off, both the Simpsons and Newsradio are affected, without his sudden death, Hartman's characters Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz are never retired, and with Newsradio never experiencing a large drop in ratings and change in direction. Another thing that will be affected is Film, as Hartman and the crew of the Simpsons were very early into brainstorming an independent Troy McClure film before his murder, so without him dying, he and the crew continue to brainstorm it, and eventually get it into production, which will see some interesting butterflies begin to affect the Movie Industry.

What other butterflies/changes happen ITTL?

You will have to read to find out! But I will confirm that I will be trying to cover what happens in both the realms of Fiction, and Reality!

Can we suggest Ideas?

Sure! :) I also welcome criticism, as since this is the first time I'm trying something like this, I might need a little assistance.

Can we begin?

Of course.
 
I wonder what the cultural effects would be of Michael Jackson dying in 2016 rather than 2009 and Prince dying in 2009 rather than 2016 (both with drug overdoses). Not to diss Prince, but I know they're on two different levels of fame, so perhaps this is a question of how would Michael change pop culture by living well into the 2010s

What do you guys think?
Leaving Neverland wouldn't exist; the cases presented in the doc would be settled in a court of law instead of a court of public opinion. I'm not going to pretend I know what the verdict would be.
 
Leaving Neverland wouldn't exist; the cases presented in the doc would be settled in a court of law instead of a court of public opinion. I'm not going to pretend I know what the verdict would be.
He won his first trial, he might win that one very easy too
 
I've sat on it long enough, time to make my timeline debut.

MUERTE NEGADA: A PRO WRESTLING TIMELINE

What's it about?

This is a story about what would happen if Eddie Guerrero had his heart attack a few days earlier.

Why am I writing this now?
This has been sitting in my head since we started putting together Too Sweet and one thing I really push with timeline was seeing the pro wrestling industry step up to better take care of its wrestlers's health.

What's gonna be different?

Some wrestlers you're going to see sooner rather than later, others you might see in other promotions. But most important, we're going to see the industry change hopefully for the better.

All good? Well then...

Let us begin with a death denied.
 
I'm completely new to this site, so forgive if my first post is in the wrong place.

I've been reading the timelines on this site, particularly I was impressed by "Ancient Egypt Survives to this day".

I began writing my own timeline, "October Surprise", where the POD is October 1980, and John Hinckley successfully assassinated Reagan. The decade will be examined from a cultural and pop cultural view as well as political.
 
I'm completely new to this site, so forgive if my first post is in the wrong place.

I've been reading the timelines on this site, particularly I was impressed by "Ancient Egypt Survives to this day".

I began writing my own timeline, "October Surprise", where the POD is October 1980, and John Hinckley successfully assassinated Reagan. The decade will be examined from a cultural and pop cultural view as well as political.
It will be interesting to see what you bring. :)
 
Well, thank you. Once I complete the year 1980, I'll post what I have. We've seen some unorthodox US Presidential elections, and I"m not just talking about in our lifetime. Election 2000 was not only strange in the presidential election, but in the Missouri senate race. If you recall, John Ashcroft lost to his opponent, who died just before election day. I'm new to AHTL writing, but I assume speculation into diverging timelines requires an observation of human behavior, and I reckon that one way of doing that is to look into OTL events, and extrapolate into the time you're writing... not directly, of course, but adapting it to that period's social mindsets.

Well, I think that Reagan would still win re-election. There would be some sympathy vote for him, but there was a malaise and dissatisfaction with the status quo that would be reflected on election day, regardless.

On the pop cultural side of the alternate timeline, CBS makes a decision to broadcast a special examining John Hinckley, Jr., and not broadcast the season finale of Dallas, for its dramatization of an assassination.
 
I've been considering my options for after the Cornette Call and one I might do is a Fandom AH for Spider-Man based on the POD of Peter Parker continuing on the path of being a pro wrestler rather than going into TV and then being a crime fighter. It's kind of a weird mix of both the comic universe and our real world TL so there's characters like Peter, Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane, Norman and Harry Osborn, etc. but Spider-Man is essentially gonna be entering the real world of wrestling.

I've got a solid idea of how things start off, with Peter turning to Joseph "Crusher" Hogan for training and spending most of the 60s either training or working ring crew between high school and college (Hogan insists that Peter graduate college since he doesn't think Parker has much of a chance of making it in the business) but once the 70s hit, that's where I'm not sure on since that's when Peter really starts up his wrestling career.
 
I've been considering my options for after the Cornette Call and one I might do is a Fandom AH for Spider-Man based on the POD of Peter Parker continuing on the path of being a pro wrestler rather than going into TV and then being a crime fighter. It's kind of a weird mix of both the comic universe and our real world TL so there's characters like Peter, Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane, Norman and Harry Osborn, etc. but Spider-Man is essentially gonna be entering the real world of wrestling.

I've got a solid idea of how things start off, with Peter turning to Joseph "Crusher" Hogan for training and spending most of the 60s either training or working ring crew between high school and college (Hogan insists that Peter graduate college since he doesn't think Parker has much of a chance of making it in the business) but once the 70s hit, that's where I'm not sure on since that's when Peter really starts up his wrestling career.
I'd read that story.
 
What if Kim Cattrall (who played Samantha on Sex and the City; she did not get along with her castmates, to put it mildly) plays Carrie on Sex and the City?
 
What if Blade Runner (1982) is a roaring success at the box office, instead of the beloved but financially disastrous box office flub it was IOTL?
 
Top