Author's Notes: Hello, everyone. Yeah, another start of a story already, I know. I know I'm leaving a lot of stuff hanging, but I want to keep going with this for as long as possible and I've simply got one-too-many ideas floating around in the "development closet" that I want to get down. Still going to school, still working, so wish me lots of luck in both areas; I may need it.
Now, let's get on to what this particular endeavor is all about. If you follow Hollywood news as much as I do, then you know what's happened recently. If not, then I'm afraid I have some sad news for you. On October 11th, 2022, the entertainment world lost one of its brightest lights; a lady with a long, illustrious career known for her roles on the big and small screen as well as stage. I had the pleasure of knowing her as a talking teapot, a strong-willed apprentice witch, a dowager looking for her long-lost granddaughter, a murder mystery writer/solver from Maine, a nurse turned pirate, a princess wooed by a rather funny rebel, a balloon lady, and the hostess who introduced "The Firebird Suite" at the end of "Fantasia 2000". Yes, my friends; at the grand age of 96, Dame Angela Lansbury has been called up to Heaven. I didn't know her personally, but it was a wish of mine to meet her because, again, despite never knowing her, I liked her. When I was younger, I think I had even said that when I got older, I wanted my hair done just like hers. Or my Babci's (I kinda alternated between them). Kinda silly, I know, but… (sigh)
Anyway, when I found out about her passing, I felt inspired to drag this little crossover out of the development closet (or at least get my foot in the door). This is another big leap in my fanfic-verse, as this takes place way, way after my "Godzilla: The New Adventures" stories and after Godzooky's adventures with the 1987 TMNT. However, this is before the stuff with "Singular Point", "Stranger Things", and the Las Vegas Incident of 1992! In addition, well, looking back at the chronology of my fanfic-verse, takes place during a stretch of time I'm thinking of calling "The British Trips", where the adventures of myself and the Godzilla family are primarily set across the pond in England. By this point, we've made three trips to Narnia with the Pevensies (the last one included Goji's grandpa in our adventure group; that was a surprise!) and we have met an amazing nanny by the name of Mary Poppins. We'll have one more after this one, but we'll get there when we get there. Which movie am I placing myself and the Godzilla family in, you ask? Well, I think the title of the story pretty much answers that: "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", which is owned by Disney, not me. And I hope that, once I actually get the rest of this story up, you may find it as magical and adventurous as the original material, although nothing can ever replace Angela Lansbury.
Now that I've gotten the housekeeping out the way, let's set up the story, shall we?
Prologue
If you should ever think about taking a trip to merry old England, allow me to recommend a place for you to visit, that is, in the hope that it's still there. Far in the countryside, near the Dorset coast, there is the small town of Pepperinge Eye. An ordinary town by any standard, except for the fact that it was the site of one of the strangest occurrences ever recorded there. Apparently, back in August of 1940, a small troop of Nazis made landfall there, only to have been spotted by the Home Guard hours later running back to their U-boat, and they looked like they had been in a fight. No-one knew what exactly had happened; shots were heard, yes, but no return fire was ever heard. On top of that, anyone who had the luck to live outside of town would swear that that night they had heard what sounded like clanking armor and chanting in deep voices. What were the voices saying, you ask? Well, if you asked anyone who remembered, they would say it sounded something like: "Treguna, Mekoides, Trecorum Satis Dee".
What does that mean? Truthfully, I haven't a clue.
Oh yes, there was one other thing: Some of those same people who possessed keen eyesight had also sworn they had seen a woman flying on a broom in front of the full moon that night. There was also another being on a broom just behind the first, although they couldn't say if it was another woman…mostly because the shape they saw didn't look human.
Now, I know what you're all thinking: "This is too unbelievable" or "This sounds too much like witchcraft". Of course you would be saying that, the "lady on a broom" statement pretty much gave it away, but let me ask you this: "Why would an evil being be fighting Nazis?" Well, that's why I'm here; to tell you the story of how that strange night came about, which is the story of rather reclusive woman who made new friends who would become her family in a way and the many magical adventures they went on, all for the purpose of protecting the town they resided in.
So, let's turn the clock back to that fateful August in England in the year 1940, a time for valor, a time of whispered events, now faded with the passing years…
A bit unusual for a prologue and probably one of the shortest I've ever typed, but I think it fits. It's sort of like you're being told the story by a local or a tour guide, which is how I hope it turned out.
I have to say this particular movie has quite a bit of a history; according to the bonus features of the DVD I have, there were a lot of songs written for the film, including "A Step in the Right Direction", "Nobody's Problems", "Solid Citizen", and a small song that was titled "Fundamental Element", but only 10 made it in. And even out of those 10, only 4 were presented in their entirety while 6 of them were trimmed down or otherwise cut completely for the 1971 release, which had been cut from 141 minutes to 117. However, the DVD I have (which was released in 2001 as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection and to commemorate the film's 30th anniversary) features the reconstructed version of the film, which was made in 1996 and is 139 minutes long, still 2 minutes shy of the complete, original product. That means that the songs "The Home Guard" and "With a Flair" are shown in their entirety, the "Portabello Road" sequence was brought back to its full length (as much as could be found of it, anyway), and the songs "Don't Let Me Down" and "Nobody's Problems" are part of the film once again. Unfortunately, as for the other songs, the only evidence I have of their existence are on the bonus features of my DVD, with "Solid Citizen" and "Fundamental Element" being sung by Richard Sherman on a making-of featurette for the film and "A Step in the Right Direction" as a deleted sequence with Lansbury performing the song in a voice-over and the orchestration playing, but the visual of the sequence itself is only made of still pictures. It's quite a shame about that song, really; Angela did a great job with the performance.
So, to boil it all down, I'll be using the restored version on my DVD (and often my own memory as I've watched this movie a lot) to write this crossover story out rather than going online for it. …And I may pop in an extra surprise. Maybe… We'll see.
Anyway, prepare yourselves for adventure, laughs, surprises, and lots of magic as we meet our cast of characters in the next chapter of this story!
As always, please read and review. Thank you!
