Has anyone ever made the connection between these two names? By that, I mean not just the fact that both the actor and the character are known with a middle initial - but also that both have a middle initial that seems to not really stand for anything.

It was never really mentioned in the series what the P in Alex P Keaton stood for - just that Michael J Fox adlibbed the name, and Gary David Goldberg liked it and decided to keep it. A common speculation, though, is that the P might be short of "peace". I think that would be a little far-fetched, though - even for people like Steven and Elyse.

I personally decided to go with Alexander Patrick Keaton, and that was before I found out that Michael J Fox's other major sitcom chaacter was Michael Patrick Flaherty.

As an in-joke, I named Calvin's twins in the Almanac Universe Alexander Patrick McFly and Michael Jandrew McFly. I'm almost wondering if I should've just gone with Michael Patrick as the name of Calvin's son in the Twins Universe, instead of Alexander Jandrew. I guess I just figure Alex would be a more fitting name, as Calvin is the more conservative of the twins in the Twins Universe - so it'd be more fitting for him to name his son Alex.

I think Jandrew really is a last name, though - and it's a portmanteau of J and Andrew (Michael J Fox's real middle name).

I am thinking of making Alex McFly of the Almanac Universe the interdimensional counterpart of Alex McFly of the Twins Universe, and pairing him up with Stacy Stebbs. Marty Jr would be paired up with Stephanie Stebbs, and I'm not sure yet who Mike McFly would be paired up with.

I decided to join a few other novel writing challenges, and there's a major one in July - whioch is six months away. It will give me time to catch up with some of my other stories and stories in planning. When July comes, though, I should maybe write about the boys of the Almanac Universe.

Anyway, what are your thoughts? Do you have any ideas of what I should do for the Almanac Universe? That story would essentually include quintuplets: Marty Sr, Calvin*, Marty Jr, Alex, and Mike.

* Calvin of the Almanac Universe is, in actually, Hell Valley Marty.

I don't know if the P stands for anything. I would think that if it did stand for Patrick or Peter or whatever, that it would have been mentioned.

Well, no, not necessarily. We don't really know the middle names of anyone in Family Ties. A TV series is not always going to mention the characters' middle names.

Maybe Alex made the P up himself. Maybe he originally didn't have one, so he gave himself a middle initial to make himself appear more professional.

I suppose that could be possible. Since Alex P Keaton and Mike Flaherty apparently exist in the same universe, though - I'm pretty much in favour of both characters having the same middle name.

Hey, just kind of a wild question. How do you suppose Alex P Keaton would get along with Michael J Fox himself?

I suppose part of it depends on which Michael J Fox we're talking about. If we mean the Michael J Fox of "our" universe - well, Michael would probably be stunned to really meet a character that he's played in the flesh. If we mean the Michael J Fox of the Family Ties Universe, the one that's never played a character called Alex P Keaton, then he'd probably wonder how someone who looked so much like him could hold views that are so different.

I think, either way, Michael tries to get along with everyone - so I think he'd do his best to "agree to disagree" with Alex on all the political stuff. I think Alex is generally a decent and kind person, though - even if some of his views may be questionable - so I think he and Michael would ultimately, if not immediately, end up getting along great.

On a side note, I would like to think that Alex P Keaton and Mike Flaherty would also eventually get along - even if that one Spin City episode suggested that they would initially clash.

Wasn't Mike Flaherty's mom played by Meredith Birney Baxter?

Yeah, that's right! Not only do Alex and Mike look alike, but so do their mothers - and they're all apparently part of the same universe. Michael Gross also made an appearance on Spin City, but as Mike's therapist.

You know that video clip I mentioned, the one where Alex says that there was harmony and balance at the beginning? I never watched the whole episode - but, from looking at the episode guides, I have a feeling that clip came from the Supermom episode in Season Six. So I was just trying to understand his views on gender roles a bit better.

First off, I wonder if Alex P Keaton was ever criticized as being written "too liberal". I guess a lot of the hardline conservatives of that era were adamently opposed to the ERA - they wouldn't even dream to pretending to support it, just to impress a girl. Alex did acknowledge that he understood the reasons for the movement, even if he didn't exactly agree with it - and it also seemed like he wished he could support the movement, but he just couldn't. He maybe thought the movement would actually be hurtful to women, or something like that.

Now, in the context of the Supermom episode, it looks like Elyse was focusing too much on her job opportunity - that she was starting to neglect her family. So you could see where the whole family would be annoyed with her for being away so much. So, when you consider that, you can actually sympathize a little more with Alex's views. Because he was basically implying the women should never get jobs, though - Mallory and Jennifer began to feel pretty annoyed with him. Still, I guess Alex just wanted his mother to spend more time at home, with the family.

So, yeah, Alex may sometimes come off seeming a little sexist - as to date, French Lessons was the worst for him - but he generally is a decent and caring person who happens to have a big heart. Of course, he's also very nice to Skippy.

Did you read that one Family Ties Fanfic written by Anti-Skippy Crew? The title was of course Kill Skippy. It crossed over with BTTF and it's pretty funny.

Yeah, I read that one! I didn't really like he had Alex be mean to Skippy, though. Also, how can one like Back to the Future and not like Doc? Granted, I'm more of Marty fan myself - but Doc is the whole reason why we have Back to the Future. He was the one who came up with the flux capacitor, which is what makes time travel possible.

Here is another BTTF/FT crossover here and here. That fic really annoyed me, and both Marty and Alex were portrayed as being jerks in that fic. I don't think Marty would be that mean to Skippy, and Nick is a bit of a punk. It seems like Nick would be more likely to taunt Marty by asking him if he's a "chicken". Okay, so Alex does sometimes come off as seeming sexist - but I don't think he would be so crass as to rebuff's Jennifer's apology with a sexist comment.

I read that one four years ago. I thought Marty was pretty mean to Skippy in that.

"Great Scott! You look pissed!" really cracked me up.

You would think that Steve and Elyse would be happy that "Alex" dropped his Republican values.

I'm not one who likes to be overly critical of other people's fanfics. I know I have my own share of kinks, or whatever you want to call it - like with the feet tickling and the crying. I'm also aware of the controversial content of I'm My Own Father and The Family Secret - so I know what it's like to be criticized for your kinks that other people might be squicked by. I myself don't much care for stories with explicit sex or torture in it, but that's just my personal preference. Although, I have read Flaming Trail's Dark Half - and I didn't entirely dislike it. I mean, I admit I liked the part in there where Marty was crying.

But, yeah, probably about the only thing that really annoying to me in fics are fics that portray Marty McFly or Alex P Keaton being a jerk. Even with Kristen Sheley and Mary Jean Holmes, I didn't particularly enjoy reading about other versions of Marty being a complete jerk - even though, I suppose it could happen. I just simply don't care for Jerk!Marty, though - or Jerk!Marty Jr from Aaron Jenkins fics. I guess I just don't like thinking of Michael J Fox in any form really being a jerk.

Oh, yeah, in that second story - they did acknowledge that it was a plus that "Alex" no longer liked Nixon. I have to admit Alex liking Nixon does bug me a bit, and I guess even Michael J Fox himself was a bit bugged by that. I'm not sure what all his ideologies were in the '80s, but he did mention in an interview that he thought people tended to be too forgiving of Alex's sexist views. It's kind of paradoxal situation, though. If you're a fan of Michael J Fox, and you don't like the idea of Michael J Fox playing a jerk, then you do find yourself kind of explaining away some of Alex P Keaton's more obnoxious traits.

Still, on Racheal Ray, Michael did mention that - of all his characters - he'd want to invite Alex over. So I think Michael himself is very fond of Alex's character.

BTW, whether or not a character has "villian" status - it does make all the difference. It'd be perfectly reasonable to expect the Libyan terrorists to dislike Americans, even if the Libyan terrorists are played by American actors. It's because the Libyan terrorists are villians, so they're supposed to be bad people!

The idea of Alex P Keaton disliking Canadians, though, doesn't seem right at all - because Michael J Fox himself is a Canadian, and his Alex character is not an established villian. Alex P Keaton is not supposed to be a bad person. I think Alex P Keaton is perfectly fine with Canadians, and wishes no harm on them. He was just joking around in that one episode. Then again, I don't think Alex really dislikes any group of people. I still didn't care much for that "attack Canada" joke, though.