Chapter 73: Break My Stride (September 1982 - June 1983)

October 1982

A screenshot from the pilot episode, Thomas Down the Mine, filmed 1982. It was later reshot for the first series of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. The above screenshot was reused from the pilot.

It had been a few years in the making since Britt Allcroft first met with Reverend Wilbert Awdry about the possibility of adapting his Thomas the Tank Engine books for television. Having already bought the rights from the publishers, Kaye & Ward, at the cost of fifty thousand pounds, and been provided the money to produce the show by Apple Corps, production on the show could commence.

Between September and October 1982[1], a low budget, pre-production test pilot had been filmed to showcase how the show would look, based upon the story "Down the Mine" from the book Gordon the Big Engine (published 1953). It took only three weeks (fifteen business days) to film the pilot, ten of which were done on the actual filming itself. Reaction to the pilot was generally very positive, giving Allcroft and the rest of the crew the okay to proceed work on a full series.

The question now was, when the series came out, who would narrate the stories?

10 September 1982 - 1 February 1983

Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, 1982. Three duets were recorded between the pair; "The Girl is Mine" was released on the latter's Thriller, recorded April 14-16, 1982. "Say Say Say" and "The Man" were recorded April and May 1981, with additional recording on August 25, 1983, but not released until October 3, 1983 as a non-album single.

JOHN LENNON: "With hindsight, we may not have done Quadruple Fantasy to begin with. We set the bar too high for what many called our Phase Two." (2003)

GEORGE HARRISON: "A lot of people were demanding for a follow up album to Fantasy, and we as the Beatles had been off of the radar for nearly a year. It was like the Mania of the 60s all over again, only with a much bigger crowd of old and new fans. Our backs were up against the wall. What could we have done to meet their demands?" (1995)

PAUL McCARTNEY: "I came up with the concept of war and peace, and the four of us wrote most of the songs around it; we had a few leftovers from when we did Quadruple Fantasy, and we brought them back for War and Peace. The best of the bunch was John's 'Nobody Told Me', which he initially offered Ringo to sing." (2013)

RINGO STARR: "As much as I loved 'Nobody Told Me', I told John that it better suited him than me." (2019)

After a year apart to focus on individual careers as well as their families, the Beatles went back into the studio that September to record War and Peace. A fair number of tracks were connected to the theme of contrasts such as "Keep Under Cover", "That's the Way It Goes", "You Can't Fight Lightning" and "Borrowed Time", as well as the bookend tracks "Tug of War" and "Pipes of Peace". In between were love songs "Wake Up My Love", "So Bad" and "Dear Madeline", the latter of which was dedicated to John Lennon's wife Madeline Kahn. The sessions lasted sporadically up to the beginning of February, with George Martin once again producing. It was later announced that War and Peace would be out this April.

February 1983

Behind the scenes for Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, 1983. The episodes being filmed around this time were Thomas and James and Strike Out!.[2]

Meanwhile, filming had begun work on what would become Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends; it would take up until August to film the thirteen episodes of the show, each ten minutes long, along with a standalone special that would premiere around Christmas. Post-production would wrap up on 24 September. While the series was being filmed, Britt Allcroft set out to find a narrator.

BRITT ALLCROFT: "The family were in the family room, and they were watching television. And I wasn't in the room, I was going past the door and I heard this voice. 'Oh my God; who's that?' And that's it. That's the voice! And I went into the room, and Ringo was being interviewed on a British chat show - I think it was Michael Parkinson. And I said, that's it; that's it! It's Ringo!" (date unknown; possibly late 1980s)

Allcroft's reasoning for Ringo being the narrator was because she thought children would relate to him, not because of his fame as a Beatle. However, he was reluctant to do so since he had never read any of the original Railway Series books as a child (he was almost five when the first book, The Three Railway Engines, was published on 12 May 1945), and thought children would be interested in modern things like dinosaurs with lasers. But it was after reading the books and meeting with Reverend Wilbert Awdry himself that Ringo had changed his mind.

RINGO STARR: "The others asked me where I'd been for a few days, and so I told them about that new children's show being produced under Apple Television. I showed them a few Thomas books and they had varying degrees of interest." (2015)

Ringo Starr with the model of Thomas the Tank Engine, 1983.

JOHN LENNON: "I'd been asked a few years prior and thought the idea of narrating a series of talking railway engines was ridiculous, even told them to fuck off. I brought a few books home with me, Freddie and Alice took interest in them, and Maddy insisted that I give it a proper chance, and so I did." (2010)[3]

PAUL McCARTNEY: "At the time, I had scripted a film about a day in the lives of the Beatles, like A Hard Day's Night, but twenty years later, y'know. The others said that it would never sell, and I was forced to abandon it in the end. Working with Thomas turned out to be a better use of our time, as it turned out. I loved working on it." (2015)[4]

GEORGE HARRISON: "I was somewhere between John and Ringo when it came to enthusiasm, but I played along anyway. Turned out to be more fun than I'd thought it would be." (1999)

With Ringo accepting the role as narrator, the additional enthusiasm from the other three Beatles took Britt Allcroft by surprise. After the initial shock had worn off, it was decided to give the engines their own distinct voices; John would provide the voices for Thomas himself as well as Gordon, Paul as Henry and Percy, George as Edward and James, and Ringo as Toby and Sir Topham Hatt, the Fat Controller. Allcroft would provide additional voices along with director David Mitton and music composers Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell, who based the theme song around the feel of the Beatles' "Mean Mr. Mustard". The recording sessions took around eight days, including Ringo re-doing some lines as the Fat Controller due to the tone of his voice. It would be over a year before the new series was unveiled to the world.

22 April 1983

The Beatles - War and Peace

Released: 22 April 1983

Recorded: 10 September 1982 - 1 February 1983

Producer: George Martin

Track listing[5]

Side A

Tug of War

I'm Stepping Out

Wake Up My Love

Keep Under Cover

Dream Away

Borrowed Time

In My Car

Side B

Mystical One

So Bad

Nobody Told Me

That's the Way It Goes

You Can't Fight Lightning

Dear Madeline

Pipes of Peace

War and Peace reached #1 in the United Kingdom for just two non-consecutive weeks, and no higher than #7 in the United States, which was a poor showing by the Beatles' standards. To make things worse, the first single, "Pipes of Peace" backed with "Dream Away" (11 April), despite charting at #1 in the United Kingdom, failed to reach the Top 20 the United States (#23) before quickly disappearing from the charts altogether.

Reception towards the album was overall poor, with one review saying, "Seriously? This is the best the Beatles could come up with after Quadruple Fantasy?" Others were just as harsh, if not more so, with comments such as, "Are the Beatles even relevant in America anymore?" or "With the Rolling Stones having gone off the radar and the Who splitting up, the Beatles now join them by putting out their worst album to date with War and Peace; 1983 looks to be the death knell of the 60s." All four Beatles, but especially Paul McCartney, took the slagging in the press pretty hard.

JOHN LENNON: "You know what a lot of those critics don't understand? Many of us artists from the 60s like the Beatles, Stones, the Who, what have you weren't just the 60s; you don't simply hang on for a decade or longer without feeling like you're part of something new and still have something to say. If this year is the death of the 60s, then why are we still listening to 'My Generation', 'Jumping Jack Flash' or 'Yesterday' on the radio instead of something like 'Pipes of Peace' or 'Athena'? It sounds as though some people are stuck in the 60s." (1983)

If there was any redeeming aspect to War and Peace, it was John's "Nobody Told Me", backed with the non-album B-side "Average Person", released as a single on 10 June. It charted much better in America at #5, while it reached #6 in the United Kingdom, receiving consistent praise from critics. Still, despite John's defiant stance in a television interview a few weeks after the album's release, the Beatles were now worried about their future. Could anything, if at all, be done to salvage their good name, or if they were doomed to remain a nostalgia act, unable to compete in the current market against their past selves or current musical acts like Duran Duran and the Culture Club? Was this the end for the Beatles... again?

3 June 1983

Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages

Released: 3 June 1983

Recorded: December 1982 - February 1983

Producer: Jeff Lynne

Track listing[6]

Side A

Secret Messages

Loser Gone Wild

Bluebird

Take Me On and On

Side B

Stranger

No Way Out

Beatles Forever

Letter From Spain

Danger Ahead

Side C

Four Little Diamonds

Train of Gold

Endless Lies

Buildings Have Eyes

Rock 'n' Roll is King

Side D

Mandalay

Time After Time

After All

Hello My Old Friend

Secret Messages was the Electric Light Orchestra's tenth official studio album, twelfth if the compilation albums Light Years (1978) and All Over the World (1980) were included. Much like its predecessor Time, it topped the charts in the United Kingdom for a few weeks, and it topped out at #12 in the United States. Secret Messages was also a double album, and with compact discs having just been released in North America and Europe, it was ELO's first album under that format. As usual, a tour followed the album lasting up to early 1984.

JEFF LYNNE: "One of the tracks on Messages, 'Beatles Forever', was the first to be recorded. By the time the album came out, War and Peace was thrashed by critics, and I kept it on ELO's album as a response to them. Looking back, it was so fawning and over the top that I was tempted to remove it altogether, and maybe redo it at some point." (2018)

Summary of single releases from Electric Light Orchestra's Secret Messages

• "Rock 'n' Roll is King" / "After All" - 6 June 1983 (#6 UK, #10 US)
• "Secret Messages" / "Four Little Diamonds" - 3 September 1983 (#20 UK, #58 US)
• "Stranger" / "Train of Gold" - 5 December 1983 (#17 UK)

Footnotes

1. In OTL, the pilot was filmed in March and April 1983. I moved production forward with the likelihood that with Apple Corps gaining the rights to co-produce and distribute the show, it could be worked on earlier. Likewise, the filming for the first series was moved forward from the original dates of production (September 1983 - March 1984).
2. Thomas and James is OTL's Thomas and the Breakdown Train and James and the Coaches, while Strike Out! is based upon Tenders and Turntables and Trouble in the Shed.
3. In OTL, John Lennon had been offered to narrate the show, but he told the producers to "fuck off". Had he survived past 1980 and saw how successful Thomas the Tank Engine was, I'd imagine that John would've regretted rejecting the gig, even praising Ringo's narration.
4. This means that Give My Regards to Broad Street never gets produced in TTL; the money used to produce it goes onto more worthwhile projects. In OTL, filming had started in November 1982.
5. Tracks are sourced from Paul McCartney's Tug of War and Pipes of Peace, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Milk and Honey, George Harrison's Gone Troppo, and Ringo Starr's Old Wave and Stop and Smell the Roses. "Dear Madeline" is OTL's "Dear Yoko" from Double Fantasy.
6. Track listing is based upon the original double album version of Secret Messages, the 2001 release of which was the primary source. "Buildings Have Eyes", "Mandalay" and "Hello My Old Friend" are all sourced from Afterglow, and "Beatles Forever" remains unreleased officially.

Author's Comments

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! This is another chapter that I'd been looking forward to writing up, largely because I'd been a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine since I was little, especially with Ringo Starr's narrating the first two seasons of the show. I even spiced it up a bit by having the other three Beatles involved in the production as well. I originally had other actors involved based upon who was popular in the acting scene of the 1980s at the time like Nigel Planer as Henry, Brian Blessed as Gordon, Rowan Atkinson as James and Jim Broadbent as Sir Topham Hatt. Man, I'd have loved to hear what that would've sounded like! That's more or less how I picture the engines' voices in the 1980s.

Outside of that, things aren't going so hot for the Beatles right now; it can't be all positive, after all, but it isn't as bad as it seems for them outside of America. Rest assured, things do get better for them. War and Peace is the last album by them being discussed in this story, but I'm still not done with them yet. Likewise, this is the final major appearance of the Electric Light Orchestra in the story, though they've not broken up (yet).

Meanwhile, I'd like to give a little shout out to both the Something Creative and A Crazy Gift of Time blogs, both of which have gone through a reboot. So far, they're both off to a great restart, and if you haven't already, I recommend checking both of them out. At one point, I do intend on a Strawberry Peppers reboot, but before I can do so, I've got seven more chapters to write up, bringing the total up to eighty, which is a nice round number. At the moment, I'm working on a draft timeline for what I'm calling The Second Coming, and it's constantly evolving. Once I finally start the writing process (whenever that is), I'll be starting up a new blog while this one will stay up as the first draft so you can see the differences between the two versions.

Chapter 72: Back in Black (May - December 1982)

21 May 1982

Smile - Fun in Space

Released: 21 May 1982

Recorded: June 1981 - March 1982

Producer: Smile, Reinhold Mack and David Bowie

Track listing[1]

Side A

Staying Power

Dancer

Future Management

Back Chat

Action This Day

Side B

There Must Be More to Life Than This [w/ Michael Jackson]

Calling All Girls

Las Palabras de Amor

Soul Brother

Under Pressure [w/ David Bowie]

Smile's first post-Paul McCartney album was preceded that October last year with "Under Pressure", a duet with David Bowie that reached #1 in the United Kingdom. Following that was another duet in April, "There Must Be More to Life Than This" (#10 UK, #4 US) with Michael Jackson, who was already starting work on what would later become the greatest selling album of all time. Smile's resultant album, Fun in Space, topped out at #3 in the United Kingdom and #16 in the United States, and received generally mixed reviews from critics who called it no better or worse than their last album with Paul McCartney (1980's Coming Up). However, many hoped that Smile could find their footing in a world in which the Beatles were together again.

BRIAN MAY: "We did end up finding our footing after Paul got back together again with the Beatles and Denny [Laine] having passed on. Fun in Space was something of a transitional album for Smile in a lot of ways." (2007)

ROGER TAYLOR: "Freddie's integration into the band wasn't really that hard since Brian, Deacy [their nickname for bassist John Deacon] and I were basically backing musicians for him. A lot of people felt that as the 70s progressed, we gelled better with Fred than we did with Paul, and it wasn't hard to see why." (1998)

Smile's Fun in Space Tour began on 9 April, shortly before the release of the album, and lasted all the way up to 3 November, spanning sixty-nine shows across Europe, North America and Asia. During the tour, the album's third single, "Las Palabras de Amor" (#17 UK, #56 US) was released in June. The tour was generally well received, even including many pre-1982 hits from Freddie Mercury such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Somebody to Love", as while as Paul McCartney-era Smile cuts like "Sheer Heart Attack" and "Now I'm Here", showing promise for Smile to continue into the 1980s. Though it would be a while yet before the world heard from Smile again or saw them play live.

16 July 1982

Roger Waters - Spare Bricks

Released: 16 July 1982

Recorded: 1981 - 1982

Producer: Roger Waters and Bob Ezrin

Track listing[2]

Side A

In the Flesh (Film Version)

When the Tigers Broke Free (Full Version)

Bring the Boys Back Home (Film Version)

Another Brick in the Wall (Drugs) (Film Version)

Mother (Film Version)

Side B

Have a Cigar [ft. Roy Harper]

The Last Few Bricks

Even before he recorded the album, Roger Waters had always planned to make a film of The Wall. His dream would come to life thanks to director Alan Parker, with Gerald Scarfe directing the animated sequences as seen in musical numbers such as "Goodbye Blue Sky". Waters himself was originally going to play the role of the story's anti-hero Floyd Pinkerton, but screen tests were not so successful. Instead, Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats would play the role.

While the film was being made, Waters set about making a soundtrack to accompany the film, featuring some songs he had written in mind for The Wall, but he left off in order to put out a double album rather than a triple. However, at the last moment, rather than recording new songs that would likely have not ended up in the film, it was decided that the soundtrack album Spare Bricks (#7 UK, #10 US) would mainly feature alternate versions of songs from The Wall, including "In the Flesh", "Bring the Boys Back Home", "Mother" and "Another Brick in the Wall (Drugs)", as well as the full version of "When the Tigers Broke Free". The only new songs were "Have a Cigar" (an outtake from the Pink Floyd/Hunky Dory collaboration Wish You Were Here, featuring Roy Harper on vocals) and the instrumental suite "The Last Few Bricks".

Roger Waters' The Wall (sometimes released with the accompanying captions Alan Parker and Gerald Scarfe Present... and ...Starring Bob Geldof) was released to a generally positive reception under Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios, although it barely broke even at the box office due to stiff competition against E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and An Officer and a Gentleman. As for the leftover songs, Waters would find a new use for them following a lengthy, undeclared war between the United Kingdom and Argentina...

August 20, 1982

Al Pacino, early 1980s. He portrayed Leonard Snart (Captain Cold) in The Flash.

The fourth entry in the DC Appleverse was not the planned Batman adaptation, (although it would eventually come out in time for a Christmas release) but rather, an adaptation of The Flash, directed by James Cameron in his theatrical debut[3], and with a score by Jerry Goldsmith, starring newcomer Thomas F. Wilson as the titular hero[4], Michelle Pfeiffer as Iris West and Al Pacino as the villain Captain Cold. Freddie Mercury's "Don't Stop Me Now" played during a sequence in the film. Reception towards the film was generally positive, but not quite as strong when compared to the Superman and Wonder Woman films.

The Flash concerns a young forensic chemist known as Barry Allen, living with a single father in Central City and having the unfortunate reputation for constantly running late, although he does everything possible to impress his crush, Iris West. One night, Barry gets drenched with unspecified chemicals due to a lightning bolt strike and he gains the ability to run at super-human speeds. Meanwhile, a man by the name of Leonard Snart lives in an ice truck and learns about the new superhero called The Flash in a newspaper article, wondering how he could stop the young superhero in his tracks - literally. He breaks into a cyclotron lab and designs a weapon to harness the power of freezing, donning the identity of Captain Cold.

Captain Cold then commits a series of crimes across Central City - fortunately, no one is killed - and tries to take Iris as his bride, but Barry comes to her rescue and sends his archenemy to prison. Both Barry and Iris fall in love, and some time after the attack, Iris meets up with fellow reporter Lois Lane (with Margot Kidder reprising the role), and the latter asks the former if she knows of anyone with super abilities themselves, having heard of the Flash vs. Cold battle from Metropolis. Once again, this appears to be hinting towards a future big project...

November 2, 1982

Tom Petty & Mudcrutch - Long After Dark

Released: November 2, 1982

Recorded: 1981 - 1982

Producer: Jimmy Iovine and Tom Petty

Track listing[5]

Side A

A One Story Town

You Got Lucky

Keep a Little Soul

Deliver Me

Change of Heart

Keeping Me Alive

Finding Out

Side B

We Stand a Chance

Straight into Darkness

The Same Old You

Turning Point

Between Two Worlds

A Wasted Life

By the end of 1982, Mudcrutch's lineup had consisted of mainstays Tom Petty (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards), Mike Campbell (guitar, bass, backing vocals) and Benmont Tench (keyboards, backing vocals), as well as drummer Stan Lynch (having replaced Randall Marsh in 1976) and bassist Howie Epstein (replacing Ron Blair, who had been part of the group since 1976 following Charlie Souza's departure). Long After Dark (#38 UK, #4 US) was the first album to feature this slightly revamped lineup. The first single off of the album was "You Got Lucky"/"Between Two Worlds" (October 22; #8 US), followed up by "Change of Heart"/"Mudcrutch Beach Party"[6] (February 11; #63 US), released the following year.

December 10, 1982

Martin Scorsese (center) and Robert de Niro (right) on the set of Raging Bull, 1980. The former would later direct Batman under Apple Films while the latter portrayed the villainous Joker.

Originally slated for release in 1981, Martin Scorsese's Batman was released just two weeks before Christmas, despite some scripting issues. The fifth entry of the DC Appleverse starred John Travolta as the caped crusader himself, Robert de Niro as his most well-known archenemy the Joker, and a young Tom Cruise as Dick Grayson. Also starring were Harvey Keitel (Commissioner Jim Gordon), Peter Cushing (Alfred Pennyworth) and Diane Keaton (Vicki Vale), with a cameo role by Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent, having played Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars trilogy (Return of the Jedi would later come out in May 1983). Vangelis composed the score for Batman, having also done so for Chariots of Fire under Apple Films.

In Gotham City, vigilante Batman stops a bank robbery orchestrated by a criminal known as the Joker, but he manages to escape before Batman can catch him. Later, billionaire Bruce Wayne - also Batman - attends a circus performance by the Flying Graysons, but a bomb is detonated, killing John and Mary, but their son Dick survives and Bruce takes him in under his wing, emphasizing with the young boy's plight over losing his parents. It's later revealed that it was the Joker who detonated the bomb unless Batman revealed himself. At that time, photojournalist Vicki Vale is investigating to see who Batman really is, and starts dating Bruce Wayne.

The Joker continues to wreak havoc across Gotham City as it approaches its bicentennial, including putting district attorney Harvey Dent out of commission and vandalizing the Museum of Art. Police Commissioner Jim Gordon teams up with Batman to stop the Clown Prince of Crime in his tracks, and Dick learns what it means to be a hero, taking on the identity of Robin. While the celebrations go on, Batman and Robin confront the Joker on the top of a cathedral where he holds Vicki Vale hostage; the villain attempts to get Robin to kill him so he could "avenge his parents", but the young boy resists, and the Joker is arrested and sent to Arkham Asylum, leaving the door open for a potential return.[7]

John Travolta, 1981. He rose to fame starring in Carrie (1976), Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978) prior to portraying Batman in the DC Appleverse.

Batman was released to wildly positive reviews from both critics and fans alike, and it is confirmed in a press release that a sequel was already in production, with some scenes having been filmed already. Not only that, with the success of the Wonder Woman and Flash films, it gave Warner Brothers confidence that DC heroes outside of Superman and Batman could be profitable, and the green light was given to expand upon this cinematic universe. Alongside the Batman sequel, plans were being made for a third Superman film, a second Wonder Woman film, as well as a film starring Green Lantern and a film that brought all five superheroes thus far together.

Meanwhile, Marvel Comics had begun making plans for their own cinematic universe, beginning with their own equivalent to Batman, Iron Man, due for a release next year starring Michael Keaton.

Footnotes

1. All tracks are sourced from Hot Space ("Back Chat" is the single remix), excluding "Future Management" from Roger Taylor's Fun in Space and "There Must Be More to Life Than This", which is a fan remix no longer available online.
2. All tracks from Side A are from the bootleg The Wall Film Soundtrack Fan Edit, excluding "When the Tigers Broke Free", sourced from The Final Cut. For Side B, "Have a Cigar" is from Wish You Were Here, and "The Last Few Bricks" is an edit of both parts one and two from The Complete Another Brick in The Wall suite.
3. This butterflies away Piranha II: The Spawning; James Cameron would later cite The Terminator as his true first film.
4. For those who are wondering, Jeffrey Jay Cohen will take over the role of Biff Tannen in Back to the Future, as well as other family members in the sequels. This is because Michael J. Fox is chosen as Marty McFly outright.
5. All tracks from Long After Dark are utilized. "Keep a Little Soul" and "Keeping Me Alive" are both sourced from An American Treasure. "Turning Point" is from disc five of Playback, Through the Cracks.
6. "Mudcrutch Beach Party" is OTL's "Heartbreakers Beach Party".
7. The synopsis for Martin Scorsese's Batman draws rough parallels to Tim Burton's Batman in OTL, with the Robin subplot lifted from Batman Forever.

Author's Comments

Not much I can say here regarding the music side of things; the Smile lineup has been finalized, Roger Waters has put out a companion piece to The Wall, and things are normal for Mudcrutch. Each of them will be touched upon at least one final time before we get to Live Aid. And of course, the DC Appleverse will continue for at least five more films over the next three years.

This isn't related to the story, but I couldn't help but notice that a fair number of alternate history timelines have gone either on hiatus or have been abandoned altogether (and a couple of which are actually completed); I'm genuinely amazed that Strawberry Peppers has lasted as long as it did despite its rather sporadic schedule as of late.