One Half-Score Ago...
Ten years ago on this very day, to the hour, to the minute, I posted the very first update of a project that would consume my life for the better part of the next half-decade, and I like to think it made an impact on what came after. Being a fan of popular culture, I can certainly tell you that so-called creative "innovation" is an inherently iterative process, not unlike scientific discovery in fact (h/t Provost Zakharov). I was certainly inspired by those who came before me. But to get into that mindset I should take you back to those long-ago days, in the eleventh month of the eleventh year (minus one) of the twenty-first century…
I discovered alternate history in university in the late 2000s. I found that wiki first, but eventually I found myself here, which was for the better. Even back then, this forum and its members prided themselves on nurturing elite, plausible, realistic, and well-written AH, and ruthlessly and relentlessly critiqued anything that did not meet their exacting standards. To be honest, I'm not sure why I ever got the itch to post here, given my shyness and my total lack of publication at that juncture, online or otherwise, for any of my creative endeavours. Not that I had a very good track record completing such endeavours either way; like so many before and since I would inevitably find myself bogged down in the details, so focused on world-building and refinement that the plot never even got going, let alone went anywhere.
One of this forum's great strengths has always been the dazzling diversity of perspectives and experiences brought to it by the members. A lot of the TLs I fondly remember from those days are, appropriately enough, products of their time. Still, like all reruns, there's great value in going back to them - for nostalgia, to learn from the past, even just to appreciate a creative work at face value. Until I published my work myself I could never understand why people would want to take down their old works. Now I understand, and certainly in the years since 2011 we've all come to appreciate having our past come back to haunt us. But I've always taken a "warts and all" view of things past - better to see things how they really were than how we'd like them be, we are history enthusiasts after all, and the truth will out. That Wacky Redhead will be here for as long as those in charge are willing to host it, and in addition,
you can also find it on Sea Lion Press, now complete and unabridged.
But looking back to those times can give you some perspective on my mindset as I conceived TWR, and what my goals were. As I've said, all creative works are the product of their time.
To be honest TWR was a happy accident. At the time, and to this day, I am an enthusiast of earlier eras of history than the 20th century. A TL about an alternate late reign of Henry VIII and the Tudor dynasty got me to delurk, after all, so captivated I was by it. I've long been a fan of Arthur Tudor, first son of Henry VII and first husband of Catherine of Aragon, and thought it was high time to write a TL about him. There didn't seem to be any others around, at least not recent ones.
In retrospect - really, even at the time - I knew I would probably never post such a TL on the forum. I'd have been eaten alive by the rigorous and unforgiving critics, and rightly so. But either way, the point was moot when - during the critical period while I was still entertaining the notion that my Arthur Tudor TL would soon see the light of day - someone else posted one instead.
Ironically, it hasn't been updated since 2011.
But it meant I had to shelve my Arthur idea - I had no intention of going head to head with a superior, experienced TL writer who had no doubt done way more research than I had. So I turned to another idea I'd been kicking around. It was more for my own amusement, as my love of TV and movie trivia and pop culture in general had been for me since childhood. I once memorized the winners of every major Oscar for 75 years straight. I could tell you which shows were #1 on the air for every broadcast season. All time highest grossing films, before and after adjusting for inflation. I was passionate and knowledgeable about these things. I had ego enough to believe would bring something to table in writing a TL about them that nobody else would. And I was paranoid enough to believe that, since someone had beaten me to the punch with my first idea, someone might do the same with this one, too. And leave me to simmer and stew as they did it all wrong.
Well, I wasn't going to be having any of that.
I started sketching out some overarching plot lines, some throughlines if you will, but I knew I couldn't get bogged down in the details. I had to write by the seat of my pants, or I wouldn't get anything written at all. Luckily for me, it was the autumn, and National Novel Writing Month was just around the corner. Surely contributing 50,000 words towards this project would put a huge dent into its word count? (Ha! In the end I wrote enough for eight years worth of NaNoWriMo.)
I knew my TL idea was… esoteric to say the least. AH.com was, and certainly remains to this day but way more back then, dominated by war-and-politics-oriented TLs. I get it; they're the meat and potatoes of AH and popular culture is an especially sugary dessert. Still, it seemed to me that a little dessert wouldn't hurt anyone. What those who weren't there may not appreciate was that dystopia was in back then; just about the most popular TL going was about a nuclear holocaust and it had multiple spinoffs set in the same universe but written by different authors and focused on their own respective parts of the world. Remember that old joke about there being 500 channels and all of them were showing the same thing? Well by my reckoning, it was time for some counter-programming.
Still, I had to make some concessions to attract attention for what, I was sure, would be a little-read and mostly-ignored TL. In a way the limited potential readership suited me; this was my first project and it would likely be beneath the notice of the critical droves at any rate. But I did want some readers. I wasn't faced with the threat of cancellation like so many low-rated programs before me, but the whole point of publishing my work was to attain some feedback, right?
My biggest early change, and the one for which I think this TL is best-known - the election of Humphrey over Nixon - was done because a) it was easily achieved and flowed logically and naturally from the POD and b) being exposed to baby boomer culture all my life I was (much like Queen in "Bicycle Race") quite thoroughly sick of Vietnam and Watergate and didn't want to write about either of them at all. Humphrey meant the overseas quagmire was done and dusted before the decade was out (before Kennedy's own dream of a moon landing, in fact). And Watergate remained a hotel complex and nothing more, and I'd spared the good inhabitants of this TL the dreary fate of every scandal being suffixed by "-gate" ever after. As for Humphrey over someone like RFK? Well, at the time, "President RFK" TLs were the province of one particular (and prolific) author and I didn't want to step on any toes.
Of course the change also convincingly proved the thesis of this TL, that popular culture matters, that it makes a difference, quite eloquently. Some might say that 15 minutes of the Battle of Antietam were more important than the entire run of I Love Lucy. That may be true, but today you can only watch one of them, on demand, and share the experience of all those who have seen it in the last 70 years, spanning generations of people. Well, of course you can experience the Battle of Antietam through a series of slow pans across still images to the wistful strains of “Ashokan Farewell”. Which only serves to prove my point further: people see the American Civil War through The Civil War, a documentary series by Ken Burns which aired on public television.
I planned other stunts to draw reader attention. One I kept in my back pocket for a while was the Star Trek-Doctor Who crossover. I held onto that one for so long, in fact, that TWR was already quite popular when it was time to execute, and I considered sitting in it for that reason. But in the end I greedily figured surely it would make the TL even more popular if it went ahead, so why not pull the string? So I did. In retrospect, I should not have done it, and if I ever reboot or relaunch TWR, it will not be included. Although I don't think I ever will. We've all exhorted those in charge of such things to leave them alone, to let them be and let them lie. I alone have the power to do so in this case, and I intend to take full advantage.
Some changes I anticipated making waves. The butterflying away of The Brady Bunch went with far less complaint than I had expected. By contrast, Hogan's Heroes, a show whose trajectory went entirely unchanged from OTL, was the subject of robust and continuous discussion. Deciding to kill off a popular character did meet with the reaction I expected, though the tragedy of reality imitating fiction added a wrinkle I did not expect - that nobody could. Within the narrative itself I like the cautionary tale the shocking and unexpected death created- one which has been sadly demonstrated many times to us IOTL as well.
This project was written and completed during a time of relative innocence - or perhaps willful naivete is more accurate. It was completed in 2016, one year before a wave of social revolution would sweep Hollywood and take down many titans who were allowed to carry on with their malicious and predatory behaviours for years, if not decades, with their peers - even the ones who most loudly and vociferously championed justice and equality - cheerfully looking the other way. If I did rewrite TWR it would be from a very different perspective, taking the hypocrisy exposed by these revelations into account - and that would be a much more intense and emotionally taxing project for me to write. One more reason I feel it best to regard it as a product of its time.
What I have gained most from posting TWR to this forum are the collaborations, the camaraderie, and above all the friendships I've formed. To borrow from a catchphrase used by a character I've (mostly) butterflied away ITTL, the people here truly are "finest kind". One only need to compare to the kinds of characters on social media to prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I already went through the roster with my acknowledgements in the update that ended this timeline and the list has not changed since then. It only makes me appreciate further how special this place and the people who contribute to it truly are - warts and all.
That Wacky Redhead has been credited as having begat the deluge of pop culture TLs that have followed in its wake. Like most "pioneers", it really wasn't the first - I can point to several antecedents that inspired me in several different ways - but it was what I like to call "the last to be the first", not unlike a little sitcom called I Love Lucy, in fact. And like all who followed her, what we've seen in the last ten years has truly run the gamut - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
My advice for anyone who would want to write a popular culture TL - or any TL, for that matter - is the same. Write about something you're passionate and knowledgeable about. If it's not fairly original as a concept, then at least make sure you can bring something to table in a way nobody else can. Write towards a definitive ending unless you plan to remain open-ended, but try to write spontaneously as much as you can, and be flexible enough to accommodate new ideas and research you might uncover along the way. Presidents Reagan and Glenn, for example, were planned from the outset, as was the "microwave power disaster movie". But the Argentine War and the spoof movie it inspired came along quite late in the game. I'm very glad I was able to include them, especially since they added resonance to the relationship with the Soviets and the situation in Iran and Afghanistan.
Be open to critique and be willing to shore up weaknesses by consulting with those whom you know to be strong in those areas. Sometimes such individuals might come to you seeking your advice. And that's just too good an opportunity to pass up. Quid quo pro worked for Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling and it can work for you too. Chianti and fava beans optional. But on the same token, hold your ground and stick to your guns. Try not to take too many requests, if any at all. A TL should have a strong authorial voice, and that voice should be yours. That's why you wanted to write it in the first place.
During the writing of this TL, and in the years since, many of its protagonists, who were still with us when it began, have passed away. Mr. Herbert F. Solow, a viewpoint character for the entire duration, is first among these. But we also lost Dorothy Fontana, meaning that all of the "Big Five" are no longer with us. On the other hand, I never thought that I would be writing about William Shatner, the bona fide Rocket Man, still alive at age 90 and now the oldest man who has ever been in space. Reality truly is stranger than fiction. This is just one of the many demonstrations of this dictum in the decade since I began writing this timeline.
As for me, I was an undergraduate when I started writing TWR, and have since graduated, earned my degree, and have been part of the workforce ever since. This is why the updates were rather sluggish those last couple years or so. I don't know if I'll ever post another TL - I've had something in the works for a while, but as every creator knows, having a tough act to follow is a while other ballgame from being an unknown with nothing to lose and something to prove. Going back to Star Trek, I think one of the many reasons the episode "The Ultimate Computer" resonates so strongly is its portrayal of Dr. Richard Daystrom, haunted by his early, youthful success he never could move away from for all the trying he did. But duotronics were a success, and nobody could ever take that away from him. Maybe he should have appreciated what he had. But Star Trek always taught us to aim beyond our reach. Or as another great teacher once said: take chances, make mistakes, get messy!
I like to think I did all three. And I'd like to thank you all for coming along for the ride. And for all the great observations you made en route to our destination. I couldn't have asked for a finer group of passengers.
-- Brainbin
