Portraits of Characters – Time Change Pawns
Time change pawns are the people caught in the temporal crossfire, when history is jiggered.
Eleanor Daniels, one of the time change pawns (image of Cate Blanchett is provided for educational purposes only)
Origins
So it hardly seems worth it to go back in time without actually changing something or other. Hence this gave rise to otric theory. However, sometimes people unwittingly change due to temporal shenanigans, and that spells trouble for the overall timeline. I will not go into the real people who were affected. Instead, this blog post covers my own characters.
Portrayals
Times of the HG Wells
Phyllis Benson changes during a training run. She is played by Mayim Bialik.
Octavia Caecilia of Pompeii (Keira Knightley) serves as one of Rick’s conquests.
Christopher Donnelly changes in Rome when Ebola virus kills him, years before that should have ever happened. He is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. His parents are Gene Donnelly (Mark Harmon) and Marion Donnelly (played by Virginia Madsen). His sisters are Gail (Emma Watson)and Leslie (Camille Guaty). Angela Libertini is another earlier than expected Ebola victim. Ornella Muti plays her.
Diane Evans (played by Marsha Thomason) and Sherry Wilson (Christina Milian) change during the incident at Kent State.
Martha Fernandes (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and Bruce Ishikawa (Ninomiya Kazunari) both change during the Temporal Integrity Commission’s own time period. Ishikawa starts off as a dog trainer and, for a while, is a sideline reporter. So does Darragh Stratton (Molly Sims), whose changes end up being the most significant.
Mrs. (no first name given) Klinghofer changes when Prague Spring ends late although she most likely dies from cancer either way. However, no one plays her.
Cameron Petraeus (John Goodman) changes during World War III.
Barnstorming Series
Because this series has never really been completed (as of the writing of this blog post), the changes occur in a story not yet posted anywhere, Time Out. Furthermore, a second story, Overtime, shows that the changes Richard Daniels wrought turned out to not be quite enough to restore the timeline. However, Overtime remains unfinished, and probably will stay that way. Nearly all of these characters are aliens.
Also, a lot of the actors are duplicates of actors I had already used, probably for me to save time. For others, they seem to have been picked out of a hat. Since this series ground to a screeching halt, that serves as another symptom of burnout on my part.
First of all, the following are Klingons: Cilla (Ellen Pompeo), Inshar (Chris Jericho), and Krosh (n/a).
Also, these characters are Xindi sloth: Lethar (Kyle Chandler) and Reskin (Salma Hayek).
In addition, these characters are Imvari: Grosk (Vinny Del Negro) and Skoloth (David James Elliott).
Also, these characters are Orion: Anchel (n/a) and Rinchak (Mark Calaway,The Undertaker).
Finally, these characters come from other species, including human:
Personalities
Most of the Barnstorming characters had little definition (which is one of the reasons the series ended up being abandoned). Majira is a kind physician with empathic healing abilities, and M’Belle is a fluffy, sweet Caitian. Both of them are in Mack‘s inner circle. Tag is kind of a jerk a lot of the time (and he sleeps with the Calafan spy, Y’imspi). However, those are the only even partly-defined personalities in Barnstorming.
As for the Times of the HG Wells, Phyllis Benson is a soldier but is overly sensitive. Octavia is kind of flighty (she’s a teenager when Mount Vesuvius kills her). The Donnellys are a military family, and Sherry and Diane are just classmates of Windy‘s. I don’t have much on Ishikawa except that he’s a dog trainer. Darragh Stratton gets a lot more airtime and is the socialite wife of Boris Yarin. However, in several alternate timelines, she becomes an Empress Consort or the like. Mrs. Klinghofer doesn’t have a lot to her. Finally, Petraeus is just a weasel who Otra kills quickly in Multiverse II.
Relationships
There are few known relationships in this mixed bag of a group. The Donnellys of course are married (and their son, Christopher, is Luke‘s ancestor). However, apart from Tag hitting on a lot of people, I didn’t give most of these characters much depth or romance. Oh, and Ishikawa dates (and eventually marries) Deirdre Katzman, and Boris Yarin and Darragh Stratton are married.
Mirror Universe
Many of these characters do not have impediments to existing in the Mirror. In fact, Phyllis Benson must, as she is an ancestor of Leah Benson. However, I have not explored any of the other family trees in detail. Since that probably won’t happen, this is what I’ve got.
Quotes
Times of the HG Wells
There are only a few characters with real and decent quotes so I will only list those here.
- Phyllis Benson – “God forgive us. How can we be so selfish and stupid?”
- Octavia Caecilia of Pompeii – “Who are you; that you knew of this?”
- Martha Fernandes –“There was heavy bombing in Teheran and Omaha today, as western forces repelled eastern incursions. In other news, a manned mission to Mars resulted in a safe landing on the red planet. Astronauts expect to walk on that world in a day or two.”
- Cameron Petraeus – “Chicago’s a lot closer’n Millinocket, Twiggy. But get a bath, or you’ll be out ‘fore Augusta.”
Barnstorming Series
Unfortunately, many of these characters were a good idea at the time but were not really developed. Hence I’ll do the same as for the Times of the HG Wells characters, and only quote the big ones.
- Darren (Tag) Shaw – “Aren’t you supposed to be encouraging us, Coach?”
- Majira – “Can you tell me how you handle losses?”
- M’Belle – “It might provide some confidence, for I am sorely lacking in that area, when it comes to the water.”
Upshot
Because I switched over to more original work and more or less dropped the Barnstorming series, it unfortunately suffered for that. Time-changed individuals can be a hoot to write, as a mild-mannered schoolteacher is instantly transformed into a snarling attorney. I wish I had done the Barnstorming folks more justice.
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