Epilogue: Time Zone –
1977
“Mom? Mom, can you hear me? Mom?”
Everything was still white over Diana’s vision, and the
voice she heard of her daughter was like a faint echo to her ears; fortunately,
things started to become clearer within seconds. A figure began to materialize
before Diana’s eyes, wearing a pointy hat of some type from what she could make
out. It was soon revealed that the figure was in fact Joanie, her face and
lovely blue eyes quite a welcoming
visage for Diana, considering that she had not seen it for so long. Diana
touched her daughter’s young, beautiful face and embraced her so tight that
Joanie could hardly breathe.
(Narrative Note: This opening scene of the epilogue is a near-reflection to that of the prologue when Joanie - a mother herself - awakened to the aftermath of an eventful situation, and in the basement of the Muppet Theater.)
“It’s okay, Mom. We’re okay now.” Joanie said with a
chuckle.
Diana looked around to see that they were both back in
the basement laboratory of Bunsen Honeydew with Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and
Scooter. Everything looked exactly as how they had left it with one notable
exception: the Magic Gateway machine was
gone. The metal arch, the chamber entranceway, and all of the computers
that were attached to it were nowhere to be found. All that remained in the
room were four brick walls and a desk situated at the center of the room.
Glancing over the brick walls that surrounded them,
Scooter remarked, “What happened?”
The group soon heard footsteps nearby and looked upward
at the top of the repaired wooden staircase that led out of the room, finding
Robin standing in the doorway with Bunsen and Beaker. The tiny frog happily
exclaimed, “Joanie! You did it!” He slid down the rail of the staircase and
emerged amongst the group, moving to Joanie and hugging her torso, which his
arms hardly got around.
Joanie embraced her small best friend by placing her hand
over his back with a smile. Watching them hug, Gonzo focused heavily on
what Robin said coming in. “What did
Joanie do?”
“And where did you get the funny hat?” Fozzie inquired,
pointing to the very sorcerer hat that Joanie was wearing.
Taking the hat off her head, Joanie brushed her red locks
with her head as she explained herself to her friends and family. “This ‘funny
hat’ was what helped me bring everything back to normal. I restored order
between our world and the Disney worlds.”
(Narrative Note: Yen Sid's sorcerer hat is the only known artifact of the Disneyverse - and the World of Disney series altogether - that is able to coexist between that universe and countless others, due to its otherworldly properties and its connection to the Guardian of the Disneyverse.)
“She put Buzz and the Beast back where they belong.”
Robin clarified. “She also helped Joie, Gina, Michelle, and Bella return to
their home dimensions with their brothers – the other versions of Sean.”
Hearing the name of her grandson reminded Diana of how
she last saw him before the restoration. “Oh, no! Sean! Is he…?”
Before her mother could finish her question, Joanie
placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and informed, “He’s fine, Mom. He’s
back in his own time with his sisters and Tracy.”
“Did Rizzo and Pepe go with them?” Gonzo curiously asked.
“Yeah, what about Bobo and Clifford?” Fozzie added.
“And Bean?” Scooter also added.
Joanie nodded. “They’re all back where they
belong…thirty-three years ahead of our present…and with no memory of everything
that happened.”
Kermit’s mouth opened wide with amusement. “You mean…you
made them forget about Bunsen’s machine, the Disney worlds, and…us?”
“I didn’t have to make them forget, Kermit,” Joanie
elucidated, “because – from their point of view – everything is completely
normal. I guess you can say that I might’ve inspired an alternate reality for
them…in which all of us are still together and as happy as we can be.”
(Authorial Note: Livingston was motivated by the ending to Jumanji to develop this satisfactory ending to the story. In that film, all events were undone and everything returned to normal with only past-time characters able to remember it all, while future characters were established into an alternate timeline with no awareness to their adventure.)
Robin smiled upon the thought. “Our own ‘Happily Ever
After.’”
“That’s right, Robin.” Joanie acknowledged with an
enlightened smile.
“So…we’ll get to see them again…in the future?” Fozzie
asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“Of course we will.” Joanie confirmed. “We may start to
see a few of them much sooner than expected.”
(Character Note: Precognition is one of the many abilities of the Guardian, able to see events before they have happened, as well as be a part of them - i.e. time travel.)
Although Joanie’s confirmation brought some ease over the
bear, Fozzie was still a bit unsettled by one thing: “It’s still gonna be hard
knowing all that we been through with them and, to them, none of it ever
happened.”
“But that’s what will make our connection with them
stronger than it ever was before all of this happened, Fozzie.” Diana
indicated. “We’ll cherish the time we spent in our adventure and see them in
ways not many other friends or families could ever see each other.” Diana got
very misty-eyed upon adding, “I’ll get to see my grandson, hold him in my arms,
and tell him how much I truly love him.”
Her mother’s words made Joanie quite misty-eyed herself.
“I wouldn’t trade the experience we had for anything in this world or the next.
I’m no longer worried about what my future will bring…because I’ve seen one
possible future with new resolve.” She then looked to Bunsen and Beaker, who
had moved into the basement and faced the very brick wall where the Magic
Gateway machine used to be. “Bunsen, I’m sorry about your invention.”
The Muppet scientist looked down and sighed. “It’s quite
alright, Miss Joanie.” He and Beaker turned and faced her, both smiling
confidently. “It was a machine not meant for humanity to discover. I only hope
that wherever you sent it, it will never
be discovered or tampered with by anyone.”
(Narrative Note: Bunsen's line here is a moment of foreshadowing. The running gag of the series is that the Sphere, no matter where it is placed, will eventually be discovered and tampered by someone, leading into another installment of the series.)
Thinking of Bunsen’s machine led Robin to ponder over one
other person who the group met in their journey. “Joanie, what about Brandy?
What will become of her in this new
future you’ve inspired?”
Joanie shrugged in response. “I don’t know, Robin. It
really depends on how Sean decides to live his
present…she is his daughter after
all.”
(Character Note: Brandy's "new future" following Joanie's rewrite of the timeline is the focus of the current World of Disney miniseries, Tales of the Guardians, which bridges events that lead into The Disney Access.)
The revelation came as a total surprise to all of the
Muppets. “WHAT?!”
Laughing over their reaction, Joanie quickly changed the
subject before it moved on any further. “Hey, let’s just get back to the way
things were. I am just dyin’ to see that new space movie!”
Kermit nodded in approval with her idea. “Yeah. Me, too.”
“You mean you’ll come with us, Uncle Kermit?” Robin said
with excitement.
“Of course. I’ll always have time for my family, Robin.”
Kermit said, putting his arm over his nephew’s small shoulders, which overjoyed
the tiny frog more than his uncle could imagine.
Once everyone was in agreement, they started to make their way out of the basement. The last ones
left in the room were Joanie and Diana. Diana waited for her daughter to place
her sole souvenir from their adventure, Yen Sid’s sorcerer hat, upon the desk
in the basement. When Joanie went back to her mother’s side, Diana could not
help but to gaze upon her red locks with a sense of dissatisfaction.
“We need to fix that hair of yours first thing tomorrow.”
Diana demanded.
“What?” Joanie said with a chuckle. “I like it like this,
Mom.”
“Joanie, the women of our family have always been brunettes. It’s been that
way long before I was changing your diapers. I am not going to let you tarnish such a legacy by going redhead.”
“O.K. Well, I guess I’ll just go purple then.”
With the snap of her fingers, Joanie’s hair color
magically transformed from red to purple, much to the surprise and displeasure
of her mother.
(Character Note: In her later appearances, Joanie's hair has alternated from purple to blue. These changes are based on those from the real-life Joanie.)
“No, no! Red’s fine! Red’s fine!”
Snapping her fingers once more, Joanie’s hair switched
back to red.
Diana shook her head and smiled while she and her
daughter started moving up the staircase. “I’m never going to get used to this
new sorceress lifestyle you’ve taken on.”
“I just hope I’ll get past brushing my hair with a fork.
Seriously, man, what is up with that?”
Once the two women were out of the basement, Diana
switched off the lights and shut the door, leaving the area in total darkness. In
the pitch blackness, the sorcerer hat glowed brighter than a light bulb,
providing the only source of illumination as it sat upon the desk.
Dimension B Zone – 1977
A black Lincoln Versailles drove through the Mojave
Desert under the intense afternoon sun, kicking up huge dirt clouds in its
wake. It traversed across five miles before coming to a stop near a cliff that
overlooked the largest portion of the Mojave. The driver, a young redheaded
woman in a black suit, stepped out and bravely approached the cliff. Clipped to
the left breast pocket of the woman’s suit was an FBI badge that had the name
“Nicole Smith” printed on it with the image of Nicole’s face right above it. At
that particular moment, Nicole’s face was hidden beneath of pair of binoculars
that she used to gaze upon a shimmering object in the distance.
(Authorial Note: At the time of writing this scene, Livingston had intended it to be a complete prelude for his original draft to World of Disney 2, with the "Nicole Smith" character being another Joanie Navarro-type protagonist who connects between past and present events.)
Adjusting the focus on the binoculars, Nicole got a clear
view of the distant object: an 18-story
geodesic sphere. It was sitting within a massive crater, smoking and
sparking with electricity. Nicole was not entirely certain how the sphere had
gotten there, but she realized that it was not in her jurisdiction to analyze
its origins. For that, she lowered her binoculars while returning to her
vehicle and hopped back in the driver’s side, activating the built-in CB radio.
As soon as she was tuned with the right frequency, she spoke into the
microphone…
(Authorial Note: Writing these previews that establish the next installment of the series has become routine for Livingston as he feels the need to provide readers with an iconic scene that sets the tone of the succeeding story. At the time he writes them, nothing from the next story has been outlined or written yet, making it a gamble sometimes on whether or not the content of the preview will make it into the final draft.)
“Smith to base, Smith to base.”
A voice came over the radio, directly addressing her.
“This is base. Go ahead, Smith.”
“I’ve discovered the source of the anomaly. From the
looks of it, you probably won’t have any luck carrying it back to base. You may
just want to build a construct over it to do your research.”
(Authorial Note: A few ideas, such as this one, were able to make it into the final draft of The Marvelous World: World of Disney 2 with only minimal differences from the original version Livingston had written.)
“We appreciate your service, Smith. Your discovery will
certainly be recognized for many years to come.”
Nicole smiled. “Message received, base. Over and out.”
After placing the microphone back on its hook and turning
off the radio, Nicole closed the car door and backed away from the cliff,
driving away from the geodesic sphere of unknown origin as it continued to
smoke and spark beneath the intense afternoon sun…
WORLD OF DISNEY
(THE MARVELOUS WORLD: WORLD OF DISNEY 2 GETS REVISITED STARTING FEB. 20TH!)
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