Literature / That Wacky Redhead

"[Carole Lombard] came to me when I was deciding whether or not I should do "I Love Lucy", and she told me to 'give it a whirl'. And that's what I did. Then she came to me when I was deciding whether or not to sell Desilu. She told me I was done being a star, that it was time to start making stars. She knew I could do it, said I was the only one who could. (laughs) There's a reason everybody loved Carole."

—Lucille Ball, in her 1986 interview with Baba Wawa

An Alternate History work by user "Brainbin" of AlternateHistory.com, That Wacky Redhead explores the cultural side of the genre, showing how a different path taken in American television history could have altered not only popular culture, but the wider world.

Lucille Ball, beloved comedienne, star of the classic 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy, and entrepreneur as the head of her television studio Desilu, is visited in a dream by her late friend Carole Lombard. Once before, Lombard had persuaded Ball to "give [television] a whirl" and star in what would become I Love Lucy; Lombard's second visit, in late 1966, marks the Point of Divergence - Ball is on the verge of selling Desilu to media conglomerate Gulf+Western, but Lombard warns her away from it, assuring Ball that her destiny is to remain a studio chief.

The rest of the timeline chronicles what changes have been wrought, and all on account of That Wacky Redhead!

Read it here. An indexed version can be found here.

As of July 9th, 2016, it is completed.

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This work contains examples of:

• Actor Allusion: A casting version in-universe - After Jimmy Stewart was picked to play Pa Kent, "the production team could not resist the opportunity to stunt-cast Ma Kent, choosing Donna Reed (Stewart’s one-time co-star in It's a Wonderful Life, his personal favorite film) for the role".
  "On-set lore had Stewart continuously flubbing his lines by referring to Reed’s character as “Mary” instead of “Martha”."
• Allohistorical Allusion: invoked IOTL, there would've been a televised Star Trek / Doctor Who crossover (albeit with Star Trek: Enterprise and the 10th Doctor), but plans for it fell apart.
  • The date Elvis Presley and Desilu reached a licensing agreement that allowed him to be featured prominently in a couple episodes of Rock Around the Clock was August 16, 1977. You know. The day he died on the toilet IOTL?
  • The response from Aquarius to Houston's inquiry about any problems with landing on the Moon? "No, Houston, we haven’t had a problem here."^note (Or, as it may end up down the line, "Houston, we don't have a problem.")
  • Similarly to the Elvis allusion, the date of the Futureshadowing Barbara Waters/Lucille Ball interview that bookends the timeline is the date that Life With Lucy premiered IOTL.
  • George Lucas finds a use for the phrase "Never Tell Me the Odds!", just not in a movie.
  • What do John Lennon and Robin Williams have in common? The date December 8, 1980.^note (Lennon died on that day IOTL because of Mark David Chapman shooting him. Instead, TTL sees Williams dying via a cocaine overdose.)
  • We still have a saying involving a president traveling to a foreign land as part of improving foreign relations: "Only Reagan could go to Moscow."^note (TTL's "Only Nixon could go to China".)
  • A subtle one: TTL's Battlestar Galactica (simply known as "Galactica") ends in 1980. ...get it?
  • invoked It's pointed out that the ceremony in 1984 ITTL that concerned Desilu being sold Paramount's half of the lot was similar to the one in 1967 IOTL that concerned the reverse: Paramount being sold Desilu.
  • In the final episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor reveals that his true name is a Gallfreyan word that means "doctor", explaining it as "not unlike your 'Baker' or 'Smith'".
    • Similarly, the Fifth Doctor dying instead of regenerating^note (albeit because he had no more regenerations) in TTL's "Requiem for a Time Lord" seems to be a nod to OTL's "The Caves of Androzani", where it seemed like that was what was going to happen^note (albeit because of the possibility that the Doctor couldn't regenerate because of his being poisoned).
  • Desilu decide against calling the Mission: Impossible remake "Mission: Impossible: The Next Generation", partly because nobody would take a show with that subtitle seriously. Despite the lack of a subtitle, fans call the new series "TNG", and the original series "TOS".
• Alternate History: Obviously.
• All There in the Manual: Sometimes, info regarding the timeline can only be found in the footnotes. Other times, it's in the comment responses Brainbin gives.
• April Fools' Day: "Appendix E: A Taste of Pi, Part I: Fostering an Obsession"^note Confirmation.
• Anvilicious: invoked The Star Trek Season 3 episode "Bondage and Freedom" uses a planet where a black ruling class keeps white slaves to comment on race relations. It's about as subtle as it sounds.
• Artistic License – History: invoked Actually, compared with the OTL version, Monty Python and Camelot is more historically accurate in regards to medieval times.
• Author Avatar: The Animated Adventures of Star Trek has Dr. Joanna McCoy to D.C. Fontana and Commander Freeman (introduced in The Next Voyage as Trek's first gay character) to David Gerrold.
• Book Ends: The last post brings us back to the 1986 interview that opened the timeline.
• Bittersweet Ending: Thanks to Desilu picking it up, Night Gallery fares a tad better ITTL... but because of the more vigorous production schedule, Rod Serling ends up dying a few months earlier than IOTL.^note (For the curious: IOTL Death: June 28, 1975. ITTL Death: January 7, 1975.)
  • "Those Were The Days" had one as the Series Finale^note (keep in mind, it's essentially "The Stivics Go West", but it's really the series finale):
  "Thus, the series concluded with Richard and Gloria departing Astoria, Queens, along with their son Michael, to the sunnier pastures of California (as so many Americans before them had done); Richard had accepted tenure at a small liberal arts college in the Bay Area, and Gloria had already arranged for interviews in hoping to secure a new management position at one of any number of the retail establishments there. Archie and Edith, by contrast, were now left alone at 704 Hauser St. The poignant final shot of the series finale framed the two, having retreated to their iconic living room chairs after saying their final goodbyes, and gazing into nothingness, overcome with their emotions, as if thinking “Well, what now?”."
  • The Muppet Show has one too: "Boss Lady" aka Lucille Ball finally gets to appear on the show... only for Lucy-style antics to occur.
  "The episode, naturally, ended with the Muppet Playhouse in a wreck, and Ball livid to the point of incomprehensible babbling. Kermit, meanwhile, pledged to take his show on the road, instead."
  • The timeline itself was set to end this way from the very beginning, with a 1986 interview where Lucy announces she's retiring.
• Bowdlerized: Pointed out In-Universe, NBC's early-1970s nickname is referred to as "Negroes, Blacks, and Coloreds".
• Breather Episode: In between "Fight the Power"^note (which, along with describing The Greenpoint Dilemma, explains how microwave power fell out of favor ITTL) and "Appendix C, Part IV: The Trial of the Century" is "You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby", which details ITTL's Women's Lib movement. Well... up to the last paragraph, anyway...
• Butterfly of Doom: Played with - the world is surprisingly altered for what might at first seem to be a relatively minor pop-cultural change, but the resulting history is no worse than ours (in some ways, it is even a better world), just different.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": An interesting variation - various shows and movies IOTL have different titles ITTL.
  • Examples include "The Journey of the Force" instead of Star Wars, "Galactica" instead of "Battlestar Galactica", "Those Were The Days" instead of All in the Family, and "Greased Lightning" instead of Grease.
  • Atari? Surely you meant Syzygy? ... No, really.
  • VCRs^note Videocassette recorders? Nope, VTRs^note Videotape recorders.
• Call-Back: Response-wise: The last (at the time) post to cover ITTL's Star Trek franchise brings up a post from waaay back:
  Brainbin: To answer this question, posed to me over four months ago: "How will Star Trek change?" There is your answer. That is how. There you go.
• The Cameo: The person who discovered buckminsterfullerene ITTL was none other than Dr. Thomas W. Anderson... also known as Thande.^note Confirmation; 7th response.
• Casting Gag:
  • invoked In-Universe: In 1978, the President of Desilu, That Wacky Redhead herself, plays the role of the President of the United Federation of Planets in "Star Trek: The Next Voyage". It's also a cross-timeline gag: IOTL, Lucille Ball called President Carter in... "Lucy Calls The President". ITTL, she is President Carter!
  • The Muppet Show does sort-of the same thing: She's the owner of the Muppet Playhouse. She's even the guest star in the Series Finale.
  • Several in the disaster movie spoof Catastrophe!: William Shatner's character is recognised as Captain Kirk, and ends up buried in a pile of small furry creatures; Peter Graves plays a secret agent; and Robert Stack plays a law enforcement officer.
  • invoked So, why was Thande TTL's discoverer of buckminsterfullerene? "[P]erhaps (at least in part) because it is an achievement tied closely to his (OTL and TTL) alma mater."
• Character Title: The timeline is named after the person who makes the change possible, Lucille Ball.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Referenced by name in the entry on Star Trek: The Animated Series. Mark Evanier is one of that show's writers and is keen to avoid it.
• Contested Sequel: In-universe, Star Trek acquires one in the form of a '70s miniseries Star Trek: The Next Voyage, with many fans disparagingly calling it either "Star Trek: The Soap Opera" or, more to the point, "Soap Trek".
• Cousin Oliver: This comes up in both "Barefoot in the Park" and "The Bill Cosby Show". Ironically, this happens despite the trope namer not existing.
• Cluster Bleep-Bomb: Thanks to "Censorface" to providing this trope on "The George Carlin Show".
• Crapsack World / A World Half Full: Thanks to Desilu not merging with Paramount, changes occur both positively and negatively to the world (in the sense of pop culture), to keep things brief.
  Brainbin: I told you I wasn't writing a utopia!
  • As a point of reference, "The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same" points out how "race relations are generally better" in 1971-72 ITTL, just generally.
  • Also, the economy is in "better absolute shape" in TTL's 1975.
  • Despite NASA going through difficulties, it's still a lot better than OTL's NASA. And, given that John Glenn, who promised to revitalize the space program, won the 1980 election...
• Creator Killer: invoked Turn-On for George Schlatter.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: As IOTL, the Soivet Union dominates the 1980 Summer Olymics, ultimately earning 50 medals. Why not OTL's 80? Well, you can thank East Germany and the USA for participating instead of boycotting the games.
• David Versus Goliath: How the Canada-USSR 1980 Olympic hockey game was described: Canada being David, the USSR being Goliath.
  • This is also how Lucasfilm v. Paramount is described, at least going by C. A. Baxter's book David and Goliath: The Authorized Account of Lucasfilm v. Paramount, the Trial of the Century.
• Dueling Movies: invoked The China Syndrome, about a nuclear power plant accident, and The Greenpoint Dilemma, about a microwave power plant accident, come out within months of each other in 1979. China Syndrome flops big time, lacking the resonance of the Three Mile Island disaster (which doesn't happen here) and tripping over the different political dynamic of environmentalism ITTL.
• Deal with the Devil: A self-described methophorical one: in order to get a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives in 1980, the Democratic Party had to welcome George Wallace and his "schismatic Alabaman faction" back into it.
• Different World, Different Movies: Rather than being incidental, this is the entire focus of the timeline.
• Failed Future Forecast: The troubled production on "The Journey of the Force" (plus some gossip floating around Hollywood) cause some of the trade papers (like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety) to label the movie "Lucas' Folly". And then it became a smash.
• Fan Nickname: An in-universe example: Desilu is known as the "House That Paladin Built".
  • Conversely, Paramount has "The House on the Other Side of the Wall".
  • "Star Trek: The Next Voyage" has "Soap Trek" and "Star Trek: The Soap Opera".
  • The American run of Doctor Who (from Season 8 to Season 12) is considered the "Yank Years" of the show.
  • The popularity of space that came about from the space program is most often referred to as "Moonshot Lunacy", with a fanbase of "Moonshot Lunatics" (or "Moonie Loonies").
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: It's pointed out that "[t]he New York Post went with the most regrettable headline possible (in hindsight), 'BLOODIED BLUHDORN', when they emphasized the damage [losing the 1983 trial] had done to [Charles Bluhdorn]" about a paragraph before it's revealed that he died of a heart attack two days later.
• Follow the Leader: Its popularity on AlternateHistory.com has led to several other pop culture–focused timelines springing up. One such example is "Dirty Laundry: An Alternate 1980s".
  • In-universe, Ted Turner decided to take cues from Lucille Ball in creating his media empire.
  Ted Turner: I look at the example set by Miss Ball at Desilu, and I think: "Well gee, now there's a great way to get started".
• Footnote Fever: As a result of the timeline becoming more and more detailed, this follows hand-in-hand. As a point of reference, this post has 30.
• Foregone Conclusion: Like it or not, the timeline has ended at September 20, 1986, with Lucy's interview with Baba Wawa and the announcement of her retirement.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Consider this bit from the end of "Appendix C, Part IV: The Trial of the Century":
  More pressing for Paramount, and indeed, for every studio in Hollywood, was that all the details of the case were now a matter of public record – and in an election year, the gory details of Hollywood accounting being laid bare to the voting public had dangerous, and previously unforeseen, consequences...
  • "Appendix A, Part VII: The Search for More Money" ends with a scene at Desilu Studios, which ends with Lucy considering the idea of a Star Trek miniseries after seeing the success of Roots. And then "Star Trek: The Next Voyage" is announced.
• Four Is Death: Quite literally with TTL's regeneration limit.
• From Bad to Worse: A self-described example for Paramount: two days after the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of Lucasfilm Limited (5 to 4) in Lucasfilm v. Paramount and awarded them $1,000,000,000 in damages, it was discovered that Charles Bluhdorn died of a heart attack.
• Futureshadowing: The first portion of the 1986 interview in spades.
• Genre-Killer: invoked Two things are attributed to the "death" of the variety genre ITTL: The George Carlin Show, and the death of Robin Williams.
• Gone Horribly Right: Since it's implied that George Carlin deliberately went over the top in his "vocabulary" on "The George Carlin Show" to "demonstrate the absurdity of censorship regulations", this trope is in effect. There is a reason it's considered the next Turn-On.
  "[H]is little experiment, to put it bluntly, went horribly right. Several network affiliates did not return to show after its first commercial break – this on top of over a dozen that had refused to air the show in the first place."
• Grand Finale: In-universe, Star Trek has one in "These Were the Voyages".
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In-Universe, the "Who Shot Robin" sketch on The Richard Pryor Show.
  • The New York Post using the headline "BLOODIED BLUHDORN" as a means of emphasizing the damage losing the 1983 trial did to him.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Sulu performs one in Star Trek: The Next Voyage.
  • The (Fifth) Doctor in the Series Finale for Doctor Who, "Requiem for a Time Lord".
• Hide Your Gays: Commander Freeman in The Animated Adventures of Star Trek is meant to be the same character as the openly gay Lieutenant Freeman in Star Trek: The Next Voyage, but his sexuality is never mentioned.
• History Repeats: In a way, that is how "The George Carlin Show" is described:
  If Richard Pryor could be described as Laugh-In for a new decade, the inevitable rush of imitators that followed in its wake naturally included a Turn-On.
• Inherently Funny Words: This is why the counterpart to Airplane! (spoofing The Greenpoint Dilemma instead of Zero Hour) is called Catastrophe! instead of Disaster!
• Insistent Terminology: Barbara Walters is generally referred to as "Baba Wawa".
• In the Style of: Funnily enough, the chapter "Love in the Afternoon" (which covers daytime programing, like Soap^note Yes, it's actually a primetime spoof of daytime programming, but the same logic applies.), begins and ends like Soap.
• Irony: "I love that, all this time after the PoD, the Paramount and Desilu lots are finally united after all."
• It's All About Me: William Shatner gets a bad, bad case of it due to Star Trek's greater success.
• Lame Pun Reaction: Behold:
  Gene Kranz: Say, Jim... would you say this is the dawning of the age of Aquarius?
  Jim Lovell: That’s amazing, Gene... we can actually hear the hundred million groans coming from Earth all the way up here.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The second-to-last "More To Come... Right After These Messages", which takes place on August 12, 1984, was posted on August 12, 2015.
• Missing Episode: invoked The "Feast of Steven" episode of "The Dalek's Master Plan". Due to Desilu stepping in to buy the syndication rights to Doctor Who after this episode got wiped, this is TTL's only missing episode.
• Named After Somebody Famous: As pointed out in the narrative, George Lucas' lawyer Andy Taylor and Hon. Warren J. Ferguson.
• Never Tell Me the Odds!: Ironically said by George Lucas to Andy Taylor, his lawyer, after being told how small his chances of winning his lawsuit against Paramount were.
• Non-Indicative Title: "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!". Obviously brings Star Wars to mind, right?
• One-Episode Wonder: invoked Just like its counterpart in our timeline, Turn-On does not have a lengthy run. And it ruins producer George Schlatter's career to boot.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: In the in-universe Star Trek finale, this is why Kor (established as Kirk's Arch-Enemy over the course of five seasons) makes a Heroic Sacrifice to defend the Enterprise from the Romulans.
• Older and Wiser: In the 1985 relaunch of Mission: Impossible, Lynda Day reprises the role of Dana Lambert; introduced to the original Mission Impossible as a clueless new agent, she's now a hypercompetent voice of experience.
• Opinion-Changing Dream: The change in timeline happens because Ball has a dream wherein the ghost of Carole Lombard tells her to stay a producer, similar to the actual dream she had that encouraged her to do I Love Lucy.
• Original Character: It took 75 posts, but the first usage of this trope came in the form of Kirk Allen, the ITTL casting choice for Superman instead of Christopher Reeve.
  Brainbin: Allen is an original character - the first to be introduced so far for this timeline, but not the last!
• Pet The Hound Dog: "Lonely at the Top" reveals some beneficial changes to the life of Elvis Presley. To name one specific change: he switched managers (from Colonel Tom Parker to Tom Hulett) which results in him going on his way to have international tours and starring in the A Star Is Born remake (opposite Barbra Streisand).
  • Plus it's stated that his marriage with Prescilla lasts a few years longer ITTL (thanks to a second child and no drug addiction).
    • Plus he appeared in an episode of The Muppet Show (netting him an Oscar).
• Poorly Disguised Pilot: A crossover between Star Trek and Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor), complete with a female American companion played by Connie Booth, intended to relaunch Doctor Who in a new format and introduce it to the American overseas market. It works.
• Promoted Fanboy: invoked David Gerrold, much as he did in our timeline, goes from science fiction fan to science fiction writer on Star Trek - and then he goes further.
• Pun-Based Title: "The Roots of the Mini-series". That is all.
  • Same goes for "Appendix C, Part IV: The Trial of the Century".^note G-get it, because it's declared the fourth Appendix C entry, w-when it's... it's the first released, actually... ...heh...
  • As the timeline draws to a close, we finally get a post concerning animation.^note (And yes, it confirms that Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is still a thing ITTL.) Too bad it's called "Cel-ing Abroad".
• Retcon: A minor one: Since the post concerning The Trial of the Century is labeled "Appendix C, Part IV", three previous posts were declared also part of "Appendix C" in the footnotes: "Another Night at the Movies", "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!", and "Brand New Hollywood, Same Old Industry"^note Parts I, II, and III respectively..
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman:
  • Democratic North Carolina senator Andy Griffith.
  • Surprisingly enough, Steve Jobs becomes an infomercial pitchman (for their own direct retail company) after Apple Corps v. Apple Computer winds up bankrupting Apple.
• invoked Seasonal Rot: Naturally, this comes up a lot. This timeline's version of Star Trek suffers it in its fifth and final season, as opposed to our timeline's version, which suffered it (as well as underfunding) in its third and final one. Same applies to "Those Were The Days".
• Shown Their Work: invoked The amount of research Brainbin puts into this is staggering. It helps that, among other credentials, he's a troper.
  • For example, Stanley Kubrick really almost was the guy to adapt the Lord of the Rings trilogy to film in the late 1960s/early 1970s.
  • This is shown incredibly in "Appendix C, Part IV: The Trial of the Century". It helps that Brainbin had Andrew T, a lawyer, as a legal consultant.
• Shout-Out: The post concerning TTL's Star Trek merchandise? "Appendix A, Part VII: The Search for More Money".
  • One of Elvis' international tours was to Saudi Arabia, "whose oil sheiks had apparently made him an offer he couldn’t refuse".
  • invoked "Appendix C, Part IV: The Trial of the Century" had a lot of Matlock references... which was done because the show doesn't exist ITTL.
• Simple Country Lawyer: invoked This is literally how Andy Taylor, George Lucas' lawyer, is described.
  "Andy Taylor was, in fact, a “simple country lawyer”, from rural Maryland (which also qualified him – like his television namesake, who hailed from the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina – as being from the South)."
• The '60s, The '70s, and The '80s: The timespan of the timeline (specifically 1966-86).
• Spiritual Successor: In-Universe, "Virtue and Vice" reveals that Scarface ITTL was filmed as being this to Dog Day Afternoon^note 6th footnote.
• Status Quo Is God: Interestingly, Lucasfilm v. Paramount being overruled in 1982 by the Ninth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals is an attempted in-universe example.
  Certainly, it seemed that the dispassionate judges, stubbornly unimpressed with provocateurs such as the “rogue accountant” C.A. Baxter, were far more willing to back the status quo, and the major studios, than the populist juries.
  • Why "attempted"? George and Marcia Lucas decide to go to the Supreme Court to appeal the ruling. Oh boy...
• Stealth Pun: The title of the April Fools' Day post "Appendix E: A Taste of Pi, Part I: Fostering an Obsession" written by forum member "e of pi".
• The Stinger: An unusual example: Appendix A, Part VII: The Search for More Money uses a scene of Desilu Studios (the date being February 7, 1977) as one of these^note Usually, if there's a scene of Desilu Studios used, it's to open a post..
  • Although, given how it ends with Lucy mulling over the idea of a Star Trek miniseries...
• Take a Third Option: President John Glenn plans to find a middle ground between Reganomics and the Great Society
• Tempting Fate: invoked Thanks to Laugh-In being Screwed by the Network, when promoting Turn-On, Schlatter boasted that "Turn-On is going to make Laugh-In look like Lawrence Welk".
  Well, he was right... so much so, that one might say he was a little too on-the-nose. “Turn-On” premiered on ABC on February 5, 1969, a Wednesday, at 8:30. It was cancelled fifteen minutes later.
  • Actually, this fate was tempted in an earlier chapter:
    Schlatter was enraged; he decided to teach the network a lesson and abandoned "Laugh-In" to its fate, quitting as showrunner to focus on a show he was developing for ABC called "Turn-On", which would have a strong counter-cultural bent that, he was sure, would attract audiences in even greater numbers than "Laugh-In" had.
• 13 Is Unlucky: Defied Trope in this timeline as, thanks to better funding and scrutiny by the Humphrey Administration, the Apollo 13 moonshot goes off without a hitch.
• Titled After the Song: "Those Were the Days"
  • "Rock Around the Clock"
  • Greased Lightning
• Tough Act to Follow: invoked Ratings-wise, it took some time until something was able to pass the 47 rating set by "These Were the Voyages": Roots.
• Trash the Set: Done in The Muppet Show's Series Finale. It helps that the guest star was That Wacky Redhead herself.
• T-Word Euphemism: The author never refers to "the V-word" explicitly, only referring to it as an "overseas quagmire", as part of an In-Joke about how that topic tends to dominate American-penned Alternate History timelines set in this period. It helps that it apparently ended in 1969 through peace talks.
  • It's been revealed that Brainbin's going to use "the 'overseas quagmire' approach" with Princess Diana.
  • He also used this approach with the four modern spinoffs that came after OTL's Star Trek.^note Last response, but be forewarned: It's a doozy.
• Vindicated by Cable: invoked Currently, thanks to its copyright being renewed in 1974 ITTL, it looks like this won't happen to It's a Wonderful Life.
• Waxing Lyrical: Occasionally. For instance the potted biography of Bruce Lee suddenly breaks into the theme to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, then smoothly carries on as if nothing had happened.
• Wham Episode: "Appendix C, Part IV: The Trial of the Century". Paramount lost the trial, with damages of one billion dollars awarded... in 1980 dollars.
  • Think the next post, "Triumph and Tragedy", will be lighter? Well, surprise: Robin Williams dies!^note While, on the flip side, John Lennon doesn't.
  • And now we have Appendix C, Part V: The Studio Strikes Back. Near the end, it stated that in 1982, Lucasfilm v. Paramount gets overruled by the Ninth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals and in response, George and Marcia Lucas decide to appeal this by going to the Supreme Court.
    Brainbin: As might be expected, it sets the scene for some major battles to be fought in the future.
    • Which is ultimately followed up in Appendix C, Part VI: Rendering of the Verdict: The Supreme Court rules in favor of Lucasfilm, awarding them $1,000,000,000 in damages, and Charles Bluhdorn winds up dying of a heart attack two days later. Also, it's revealed that a sequel to ''Journey of the Force'' is set to be released in Summer 1986.
  • "It’s All Fun and Games, Until..." Until what? Until a suicide bomber disrupts the 1984 Summer Olympics being held in Iran.
  • "Upsetting the Applecart" ends on a rather surprising note: the Supreme Court ruled that time shifting was illegal, effectively killing the domestic VTR market.
  • "The Doctor is Out". Doctor Who being cancelled was unavoidable, even if it's being done four years earlier than OTL, but where the wham truly lies is in the In-Universe Wham Episode and Series Finale "Requiem for a Time Lord". Long story short, it turns out that TTL's regeneration limit is four.
• Wham Line: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" both opens and ends with one:
  "'That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' - Neil Armstrong, on the surface of the Moon, July 21, 1969." ^note As written.
  "Returning to Earth on July 24, they were all personally welcomed home by President Hubert H. Humphrey..."
  • There's also one in "Appendix E: A Taste of Pi, Part I: Fostering an Obsession", albeit, it's... weird:
    Finally, as the President left the rally, making his way down the ropeline, shaking hands and expressing his unmatched charisma, Hinckley saw his opening and took it. Opening the box he had smuggled into the event, Hinckley let loose with the first of six 9” diameter lemon curd pies, and then a second before being wrestled to the ground by courageous onlookers and restrained by the Secret Service.
  • "Brand New Hollywood, Same Old Industry", while at first seeming like just another ITTL Oscar post, drops one of the bigger bombshells of the timeline:
    Less than 72 hours after George and Marcia Lucas had won their Oscars for The Journey of the Force, they (on behalf of their studio, Lucasfilm Limited) filed suit against Paramount Pictures for breach of contract, fraud, and negligent misrepresentation. Thus began the Trial of the Century...
  • Two from "Triumph and Tragedy", appropriately enough:
    In celebration of another job well done, Pryor and Williams headed to their favourite haunt, the Medina nightclub in Century City, to pursue a weekend-long bender in the private backrooms. Two would enter the glittering, Arabian Nights-style façade that night, but only one would leave. Robin Williams died of a cocaine overdose early in the morning of December 8, 1980; the funeral was held shortly before Christmas, with a visibly shaken Pryor delivering the eulogy.
  • From Appendix C, Part VI: Rendering of the Verdict:
    Unsurprisingly, stock prices for all the Gulf+Western subsidiaries plummeted precipitously as a result of the verdict. There would be no further appeals, as there had been after the 1980 ruling; the conglomerate was on the hook for a billion dollars. Then the situation went from bad to worse. Two days after the verdict was handed down, on February 25, 1983 (a Friday), Charles Bluhdorn was found dead in his bedroom at age 56. The cause of death was a massive heart-attack; observers ranging from his closest intimates to his fiercest critics judged that the shock of the verdict had essentially killed him.
  • From "Upsetting the Applecart":
    The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the use of VTR technology which allowed for the recording of existing media by the end consumer, be it through direct transmission or tape duplication, was a violation of copyright and that the availability of such technology (which was, on most VTR machines sold in the United States, simply a "record" button on the control panel) would have to be eliminated.
  • From "The Doctor is Out", after the Fifth Doctor's actor, Richard Griffiths, announced he was leaving the series:
    The press and the fandom naturally went into overdrive with speculation as to the casting of the Sixth Doctor... until they were faced with a rather rude awakening. Lewin announced in a press conference mere days after word of Griffith's departure was leaked that Doctor Who would be ending its 22-year run upon conclusion of the current (and thus final) season. The Fifth Doctor would therefore be the last – it was never specified just how many regenerations each Time Lord was allowed, although the implication had always been that it was a finite number. No one had expected that number to be as low as four, but so it went.
• What Could Have Been: In-universe, Steven Spielberg opted against directing a third James Bond film ("tentatively planned as For Your Eyes Only") in lieu of pursuing other films/genres.
  • This is not the only example; Word of God is that such 'sub-PODs' are sprinkled through the timeline.
    • For example, Tartikoff toyed with making his and Roddenberry's Deep Space series into a Star Trek spin-off, but Herb Solow vetoed it.

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The tropes that have been affected by butterflies^note Whenever there's mention of a trope "not existing", we're referring to its OTL name. It's kinda unlikely to completely erase a trope from existence.:

Doctor Who

• Any of the tropes from Modern Who^note Aliens of London, Everybody Lives, The Missus and the Ex, Perception Filter, The Slow Path, Timey-Wimey Ball: Although the timeline ended in 1986 (with Lucy's interview), it's a given that if the show gets uncancelled ITTL, it will be a different creature from the OTL version. Especially since the show originally ended ITTL with the Doctor running out of regenerations.
• Five Rounds Rapid: Due to The Daemons never being made^note 10th response, so does this trope^note 4th response.
  • Reverse Polarity: Surprisingly enough, despite this, the Doctor still brings up "[reversing] the polarity of the neutron flow" ITTL.
• Immune to Bullets: Gone since the first serial of the Fourth Doctor^note played by Jim Dale would not be the same as "Robot".

Monty Python

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

• Help! Help! This Index Is Being Repressed!: Stays as the trope-naming scene, "or something very much like it", is still in the film ITTL.
• The rest of the tropes^note And There Was Much Rejoicing, The Coconut Effect, Holy Hand Grenade, Inherent in the System, I Shall Taunt You, Killer Rabbit, The Knights Who Say "Squee!", Not Quite Dead, Only a Flesh Wound, Only a Model, Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer (and Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game), Some Call Me "Tim", Strange Pond Woman, These Questions Three..., With This Herring: They're, like a certain parrot, dead. Why? Well...
  • The main reason being the Pythons themeselves. Given how unpredictable they can be (and are), it is very unlikely that they would create the same material as IOTL, and as such not create the OTL tropes.
  • A secondary reason, that only affects stuff like The Coconut Effect and Only a Model, is that the film actually had a budget here.
    The long-awaited second film to be produced by the troupe (the first had been a compilation of popular sketches)^note that film being And Now For Something Completely Different, which currently doesn't have a trope page was finally released in 1974, after repeated delays for additional fundraising, re-writes, and re-shoots. American investors wielded considerable influence on the ultimate shape of the film at every stage of development – beginning with the title.
  • There's also accounting for stuff like the film being more historically accurate and such.

Monty Python's Life of Brian

• We ARE Struggling Together: Since the movie is an ex-movie here (having never been made), the trope it would've named is gone.

Star Wars

• A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...: Becomes "Once Upon a Time, in a Faraway Galaxy..."
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Because "Stormtrooper" predates the POD and mooks in media always miss the protagonists, it stays.
• Jedi Mind Trick: They are called "Jedi-Bendus" ITTL, not "Jedi", so the trope name would either be "Jedi-Bender" or "Jedi-Bending". Because pun.
• Let the Bully Win: Gone.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: invoked "[A]lmost certainly gone" as TTL-Darth Vader is almost certainly a different character (and, as IOTL, he wasn't Luke's father in the original draft).
• Luke Nounverber: Becomes "Annikin Nounverber".^note Due to Luke's ITTL name being Annikin Starkiller.
• May the Farce Be with You: Since MAD Magazine (the Trope Namer) still exists ITTL, it's a given that so does this.
• That's No Moon: Instead of a moon-shaped base, it's a base on a moon. Or, simply put, the trope doesn't exist because it is a moon.

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• Angels Pose: Charlie's Angels still exists ITTL... but as The Alley Cats. So, this trope is more than likely called "Alley Cats Pose".
• Any of the Apocalypse Now related tropes^note Apocalypse How, Apocalypse Not, Apocalypse Wow, Colonel Kilgore: The film ITTL is a more faithful adaptation of Heart of Darkness (even being named such), and is actually one of the largest box-office bombs in history. So, none of the named tropes exist ITTL.
• Any of the Indiana Jones tropes^note Indy Escape, Indy Hat Roll, Indy Ploy, It Belongs in a Museum, Temple of Doom, Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: invoked "All of the Indiana Jones-named tropes are gone, obviously."
• Any of the M*A*S*H related tropes^note After Show, Gung Holier Than Thou, Actor Leaves, Character Dies, Suicide Is Painless: Due to the problems surrounding the making of the film plus the film bombing, any tropes that could've been created from these series aren't.
• Any of the Saturday Night Live tropes^note Common Knowledge, Every Year They Fizzle Out, Happy Fun Ball,White Like Me, Why We Are Bummed Communism Fell: Once again, NBC fighting with Johnny Carson prevented the show to be made ITTL. So, no tropes from it exist.
  • Which, sadly, also goes for those created by The Blues Brothers^note Mission from God, Putting the Band Back Together, Sunglasses at Night.
• invoked Any of the (non-Scrappy) Scooby-Doo tropes^note Let's Split Up, Gang!, "Scooby-Doo" Hoax, Scooby-Dooby Doors, Scooby Stack, Luck-Based Search Technique, You Meddling Kids: Since Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was confirmed to still be a thing ITTL, these tropes are still intact.
  • The Scrappy (and the Scrappy Index): Good news: Word of God confirms that Scrappy doesn't exist ITTL. Bad news? Well...
    Brainbin: And no Scrappy-Doo, either - the show was cancelled before he had a chance to make his debut[.] B)
    • Not to worry, we have confirmation of the TTL equivalent: Wesley!
• Any of the Star Trek: The Next Generation tropes^note Growing the Beard, Klingon Promotion, Lower-Deck Episode, Patrick Stewart Speech, Resistance Is Futile, Whoopi Epiphany Speech, The Worf Effect, The Worf Barrage, Worf Had the Flu: Well, that show doesn't exist ITTL due to Star Trek: The Original Series' better state of affairs ITTL. So, take a guess.
  • Any of the Star Trek film tropes^note The Needs of the Many, Space Whale Aesop, In the Original Klingon, Dropped a Bridge on Him: invoked More than likely gone due to Star Trek's different state of affairs ITTL.
    Brainbin: I admit, I do lament butterflying The Wrath of Khan. And parts of The Search for Spock. And most of The Voyage Home. And... that's all. B)^note 8th response
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: invoked This trope would more than likely have a different name ITTL due to Chuck sticking around.
  • After some deliberation, the ITTL equivalent has been given the name "Vanishing Cop Epidemic", after Captain Miller^note the ITTL name of the show. It's been reasoned that since the show has had its share of characters being introduced and then forgotten (something that carried over from IOTL), it would make sense that it would be the Trope Namer here.
• Cousin Oliver: Since The Brady Bunch never got made, this trope doesn't exist.
  • As for the TTL counterpart, we have "Baby Grant Syndrome" (due to "Barefoot in the Park" caving to public pressure and deciding to add in the titular baby in during what would wind up being the show's last season).
• Dramedy: invoked More like "Tragicomic".
  • Keep in mind that while Dramedy is Older Than They Think, it's completely likely that ITTL the trope would be more associated with the "Tragicomic" name.
• Jumping the Shark: invoked Fonzie isn't the same kind of character ITTL (which can be seen just from the fact he's called "Mash" here), and certainly isn't the kind of guy who'd do the trope naming stunt. So, there's that.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: invoked Although it's not clear yet if Mystery Science Theater 3000 will exist ITTL, it is clear that this trope more than likely is gone. After all, it's kind of impossible for there to be tapes to circulate since the Supreme Court ruled that time shifting is illegal.
  • But then again, it could go underground, but really, who would do something silly like doing illegal acts in secret, right?
• Point of Divergence: "Separation Point" becomes the dominant term for the concept instead, as an (eventual) result of its appearance - as well as a succinct explanation of it - in the "Yesteryear" episode of Star Trek.
• Tropes in Space / Recycled In Space: Word of God is that while the Trope Namer, The Muppet Show, still has a sci-fi parody sketch, the phrase "Pigs in Space" does not exist ^note 2nd response.
• We Can Rebuild Him: While it still isn't made clear what caused The Six Million Dollar Man to not be made ITTL, what is clear is that due to that, this trope doesn't exist.
  • Fembot: No The Six Million Dollar Man, no The Bionic Woman.
• Wilhelm Scream: "No, I think I'm going to spare the good people of TTL the Wilhelm Scream (well, beyond its original appearances in 1950s B-movies, anyway)."^note 16th response.

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