Aaron Strife
Banned
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Does The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air have the largest fictional universe of all-time?
- Thread starter Ecotic
- Start date
#There_is_always_a_Simpson_picture
excelsiorlef
Member
Yessssssssss
The Jeffersons/Bel-Air universe makes a lot more sense than the Westphall, imo. The foundations are rocky and questionable, and more importantly, the universes involved mutually contradict each other. The logic breaks down really quickly.
On the other hand, the Jeffersons universe is composed entirely of sitcoms, and so there's no issues having them all be in the same universe. No major issues pop up from having them be in the same universe.
Though I mean yeah it's all a joke an unintentional, but as far as these theories go, this one is a notch above the rest.
On the other hand, the Jeffersons universe is composed entirely of sitcoms, and so there's no issues having them all be in the same universe. No major issues pop up from having them be in the same universe.
Though I mean yeah it's all a joke an unintentional, but as far as these theories go, this one is a notch above the rest.
excelsiorlef
Member
They contradict because dreams are unreliable and often contradictory...
The cigarette brand thing isn't even an Easter egg, its often just practical: There's a big prop house in LA that a lot of places use and their fake Marlboro cigarettes prop is Morleys.
It's the same reason everyone is reading the same newspaper on a dozen TV shows and movies (unless they are all taking place on the same day in the same universe of course). I called the prop house a couple months back and they don't stock that newspaper anymore unfortunately.
Nah it's because it's all connected...
That's the newspaper Westphall is reading at night while Tommy dreams.
But that also means the universes could not be connected, and the connections exist because Tommy Westphall dreamed about the fiction he saw in real life. So the Westphall universe would shrink to a handful of series.
Big Time Rush also had an episode that took place in Bel-Air, and Carlton/Alfronso guest-starred.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0jA1IP5gWw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0jA1IP5gWw
Caddywompus
Member
But if the Fresh Prince was dead the entire time how does that impact the universe?
Tragicomedy
Member
Seems there are lots of Important If True fans in here.
Ninja Scooter
Member
Sherman Helmsley played George Jefferson in that cameo, but he also had multiple appearances as Phil's boss (the judge) as well.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
OP that is some quality fucking effort posting.
excelsiorlef
Member
No it means Tommy dreamt them all!
All of them...
Because he's a God.... because well actually when we dream we are all gods creating new worlds and realities.
It all makes sense now
Even better....
It's not limited to just at nights... meaning so much more time in his life to shape our TV universe as we know it. Tommy is creating almost 24/7.
You nailed it.
excelsiorlef
Member
Sounds exactly like something a character in Tommy's Universe would say...
Imperial Bishop
Banned
But wait. If the Fresh Prince takes place in the Westphall Universe and the characters in Fresh Prince make numerous allusions to the fact that they are on a television show, then doesn't that mean our world isn't rea-- *fades from existence*
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
No, it means that there's a fictional "real world" that exists in the Westphall Universe separate from the actual "real world." A mirror universe, if you will...
ChubbyHuggs
Member
Are we strictly taking shows, because if not it's like every comic book ever and then Stephen King.
ThLunarian
Member
That's nothing. John Stamos is in this universe as both himself AND as Uncle Jesse.
Uncle Phil was on Family Matters.
Urkel guest starred on Full House.
Urkel guest starred on Step by Step.
John Stamos guest starred on Step by Step as himself.
Also, add Beavis and Butthead and Daria to this list, because they made multiple live action appearances on Step by Step.
You can make an argument for whichever fictional universe in any medium you want. Universes like Stephen King's work or the old Star Wars expanded universe are indeed impressive, but I would argue they lose prestige due to being the work of one creator or one company that owned the property and supervised its creation. It's more difficult to string together a fictional universe like The Fresh Prince universe or the alleged Tommy Westphall universe through a haphazard fashion without top-down direction specifically to create such a universe.
Unknown Soldier
Member
I never heard of this before. This is amazing lol
You think that's bad? Carl from Family Matters appeared on Girl Meets World in season 3 as a New York cop. But would that be a crossover with Family Matters or Die Hard?
MagnaderAlpha
Member
I just chalk it down to one of those moments where you see someone that looks remarkably like you, as if they could be your "twin", but aren't related. I had one of those moments once, looking into an Animerica cosplay section and seeing someone that looked damn close to what looked like. Even my family thought so. I've also saw people that look like other people I know, approached them only to be told I was mistaken. That's how I view this regarding actors in multiple roles existing in the same universe.
shawnbuddy
Member
That kid in the Family Matters clip refers to "Fresh Prince" by name, so even if this wasn't just a prank video, that's a show in their universe, no connection.
Most likely, but couldn't it also be that the characters of Family Matters are aware that they exist in a t.v. show universe and them referencing The Fresh Prince is them referencing a fellow show? Thus they summon said character from the show.
Will Smith played Will Smith in that show though, and he is the Fresh Prince as a stage name. In fact they referred to him as such on the Blossom episode he appeared on, and then Ashley Banks appeared on Blossom as Ashley Banks:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fresh_Prince_of_Bel-Air
It checks out.
he wasn't a New York cop in Die Hard, he was LAPD. The Die Hard set in New York was the first one he wasn't in.
excelsiorlef
Member
There's nothing alleged about Westphallverse.... It's cold hard fictionalized imagined reality
Yes, most definitely to a certain degree. The only question is the true size of the universe. Some of the connections like the Morley cigarettes could just be coincidences and not legitimate links between universes.
In fact they have to be coincidences because for example both Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead feature Morley cigarettes, but their timelines overlap and Walter White doesn't spend season 5 fending off walkers, nor does Saul Goodman fend off walkers while serving cinnabons.
At this point we might be in the Westphall universe right now.
excelsiorlef
Member
Ahh but again the Westphall universe is made up of unstable dream particles... Everything is possible when it's being dreamt up day and night.
That's the beauty of the Westphall Universe
So it's the "Superman is as strong as he needs to be" of fictional universes.
excelsiorlef
Member
Absolutely...
That's what makes it the best universe....
It's the nanomachines of Fictional Televised Universes.
Earthbound64
Banned
Six Degrees of Television Series
MrCunningham
Member
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth might actually be able to fill in that blank. This was a made for TV movie from 2009 where the crew of the Red Dwarf end up on earth and discover that they are fictional characters in a TV show called Red Dwarf.
In the end it is revealed that the crew of the Red Dwarf were in a shared hallucination and never really left the ship. But since this all takes place in the mind of Tommy Westphall, their shared hallucination universe could connect to the Buffy Universe and still happen.
excelsiorlef
Member
Westphall dreams sci-fi on Fridays so it's all very likely connected
Whoops! Sorry about that. My mistake. I've been off lately with my facts.
The existential dread is setting in.
nocturnalis
Member
Law and Order and NCIS. You must remember, NCIS is a spinoff of JAG. May not have all the connections, but they are still on the air.
Ha, I thought about mentioning that but couldn't decide how to approach it. Fresh Prince probably averaged a guest appearance every episode since many episodes had multiple guests. It could easily make it an infinite universe.
That's a universe I want to be a part of.
I used to love St Elsewhere but don't think I saw the last episode. Should i try and watch it, or will it just annoy me?
Edit: just watched it. Any comments from the show writers if that was always intended? It just feels like a quick 5 minute 'shit we aren't getting renewed how do we close out the story' scene. Which is annoying itself because shows like St. elsewhere don't need to have closure - we can leave them alone to get on with things.
Edit: just watched it. Any comments from the show writers if that was always intended? It just feels like a quick 5 minute 'shit we aren't getting renewed how do we close out the story' scene. Which is annoying itself because shows like St. elsewhere don't need to have closure - we can leave them alone to get on with things.
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