Before I get on theold soapbox here let me just say right here and now the question came up at my email address from someone NOT (as far as I could see) from NEQ. Thus this isn't directed at anyone here at NEQ at ALL, so don't get upset, please?
Okay. The original question itself was asked in a less than polite manner but it was a sound one.
"What is with all these crossovers?"
The emailer went onto amplify the question by mentioning that I had at my website mentioned that (in part) the various posted stories were related to the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. He (or she) could not understand how I could say that all the stories could be related to the Dark Tower. Called it garbage, basically.
....
Well, let us remember (those who have read the series to the latest novel) that King has done crossovers with several of his other novels ("The Stand", "The Regulators", and "'Salem's Lot" to name just a few). It is fleeting in parts, but hangs together rather well. That is because . . . . let us just say they were . . . compatible world settings (for want of a better term). Those world setting (the worlds mentioned in the books) blended well. That and at the center of each world (somehow) was the Beam and the Dark Tower (in one fashion or another).
Now, it stands to reason that if there were crossovers in the Dark Tower series, from worlds that King made in other series, then I asked myself if there would/could be other worlds than this?
The answer to that was "yes". Worlds when brought into a crossover make for a VERY funky, disorienting (for all parties) encounter.
Now, that makes for a chaotic situation, eh? Of COURSE it does.
Now, put aside what reason I had the "Celetrials" and other story characters give for why so many dissimilar worlds were next to each other, bumping into each other. Just forget it because I'm going to tell a secret (that I'm kind of sure a LOT of you already have figured out). AT the core of both the Terra Prime and Doctor Who threads is a theme. Oh, you might have heard of the "man vs. man" theme as well as a lot of others in Lit class back in school (English Lit classes). The storylines which result from such dissimilar realities coming into contact is more of a "man vs. Nature" them. Namely, it is the story of the Champions (which would be "Man" in the collective sense of hte word) trying to cope with Nature (the alien worlds/crossovers) throwing them yet another curve (and doing a fine job at it, though it kind of can be funny watching at times for me . . . . anyway). Fun for me to write.
BTW, another little tibit. Again not busting on anyone from NEQ. Just flet it needed to be mentioned. The various transformations the Freds and Astras have underwent is just a slightly different facet of the same theme as above: "Man vs. Nature". Just that it is a symbol of the larger world at large, those transformations. That is, the Freds and Astras finding their very bodies (products of nature) becoming alien. Talk about getting chucked into the deep end, eh?
Oh, there are other elements that pop in and out of the storythreads as time progesses, but that one theme (Man vs. Nature) remains throughout. And that, btw, is perhaps the core of the plots as well.
Alright, off the soapbox. Just felt like sharing.