Johnsonverse World History

Here is a list of events that have happened in the world, and how they're different in the Johnsonverse to the OTL.

Treaty of San Francisco
The treaty stipulated that the US annex Japan, making all nine regions states, and the prefectures counties. This was a result of Executive Order 9066 never being signed, and a massive campaign by the Japanese people to join the United States out of fear that, should Japan regain its independence, another nationalist leader could rise to power and start a new war in the Pacific.

Much of the country is now English-speaking (though there are still large parts speaking Traditional Japanese; as these make up 15% of the islands' population, they are known as the "15% Bracket"). Japanese rail services are run by Continental Rail by way of subsidiary Eastern Pacific Railroad, which is responsible for passenger and freight services. The Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 as in OTL, though with much more difficulty due to obstruction by the automobile lobby, interference that CR swept aside when the Blitzkrieg Crew plowed through a crowd of protestors opposing construction, leaving 64 dead; this action was not sanctioned by Johnson Industries (unlike the Alabama branchline incident), and the foreman and many workers were arrested and either given the death penalty or life in prison; since then, Johnson has stipulated that construction crews may only attack protestors if the latter attacks first.

Korean War
The Korean War began at the same time as OTL, but ended on December 9, 1950. The key factor was North Korea driving through South Korea all the way to Busan but being unable to take the western half of the peninsula, which MacArthur (who was never fired ITTL) exploited by finding a weakness in this salient, cutting these forces off from Pyongyang and removing a large chunk of North Korea's military. From there, the outnumbered North Korean forces were quickly pushed back, and Communist Chinese forces were of no help, as the PLA couldn't commit an adequate force due to continued policing actions in Southern China. Compounding this was the Soviet Union breaking its promise and staying out of Korea, ostensibly to avoid confronting the United States

And so, on December 9, 1950, the Treaty of Rajin-Sonbong was signed, formally bringing an end to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In a controversial move, Kim Il-sung was granted amnesty on the grounds that he never get involved in politics again. He went on to become Korea's most-prolific filmmaker, a legacy carried on by his son Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un.

Apollo
The Apollo 1 fire isn't fatal because concerned North American Aviation engineers managed to sneak a blow-hatch function in, allowing Gus Grissom to blow the hatch and for the crew to quickly bail out before the fire really spread. Apollo 1 ends up having a successful 14-day flight (the original plan called for a 6-day flight, but Grissom had vowed to keep it in orbit for 14, and did so; NASA initially derided this, before realizing that such a long test flight would allow them to retool Apollo 2 into an unmanned LM test, as development of the LM was further along than in OTL) in May 1967, using a repaired and modified Command Module with the Block II hatch.

Apollo 2 was identical to OTL Apollo 5, Apollo 3 saw an unmanned Block I CSM with a docking port rendevouzing with an LM launched on another Saturn IB, Apollo 4 was like OTL, Apollo 5 was a manned version of Apollo 3 with the OTL Apollo 9 crew and the first Block II, Apollo 6 ends up stranded in orbit until it is rescued by Apollo 46 in 1976, Skylab is launched in 1968, Apollo 7 is the first flight to Skylab, Apollo 8 happens as in OTL, Apollo 9 is mostly the same (the crew consists of Gordon Cooper, Al Worden, and Bruce McCandless II), but after the final check-out of the LM, the CSM docks to Skylab, Apollos 10-17 are the same as OTL (meaning Apollo 13 still had its mishap), and Apollos 18-20 are flown as they were planned OTL.

Apollo is indefinitely extended after the Soviets manage to land on the moon (they nixed the troubled N-1 and instead opted for an Earth Orbit Rendevouz mode, which also allowed for an enlarged LK lander); as a result, Apollo grew out into a world-class space program.

The first big improvement was the introduction of the Apollo Supply Craft (ASC; based on the AARDV from "Eyes Turned Skyward"), an unmanned version of Apollo meant for space station resupply that first flew to Skylab in 1973. That same year, Skylab began to be occupied on a permanent basis, with 60-day sorties. In 1974, modules began to be added to Skylab, mainly to support planned military operations and interplanetary flights to Mars and Venus.

Apollo received a blow in April 1975 when Apollo 33 suffered a major malfunction. At T+1 minute 20 seconds, the first stage of the Saturn V suddenly exploded. Fortunately, the onboard Emergency Detection System (EDS) detected the abrupt loss of telemetry data coming from the S-IC, and activated Mode 1B (One Bravo), which saw the first in-flight abort of the Apollo program. The crew (Robert Crippin, Ken Mattingly, and William Pogue) survived, as a result, but the Saturn V was grounded, and all lunar flights put in a stand-down state. Apollo wouldn't fly again until July of that year, for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

In August 1975, a new rocket was introduced: the Saturn INT-20. In a nutshell, the Saturn INT-20 (later renamed the Saturn II in 1980) is a Saturn V without the S-II stage and only three engines on the S-IC. Fears that this S-IC would explode were vanquished when it performed flawlessly on its first launch, Apollo 38, which launched the Docking Module to Skylab to enable five craft (including Soyuz and Progress in an emergency) to dock to the station.

The next April, the Block III CSM was introduced. The key differences lie in the service module, which was more suited for Earth orbital operations than the cumbersome Block II; the Block III SM is smaller, lighter, and has a smaller antenna and deployable solar panels. It was modified to hold a five-man crew in 1987 as part of a joint program with the European Space Agency.

Lunar flights were reintroduced in 1977 with Apollo 50, commanded by Neil Armstrong. Apollo 50 also marked the first use of the Block IV CSM, which is similar to the Block II, only that it has a pair of LM Ascent Stage engines instead of the SPS, and uses batteries instead of fuel cells; the Block IV was designed for lunar orbit operations. Later that year, the Manned Venus Flyby took place, with the crew of Apollo 11 making their final flights.

The final Apollo CSM variant, the Block V, was tested in 1978. This variant replaces one of the fuel cells with two SNAP-27 RTGs, and is intended for interplanetary missions.

1979 marked the beginning of construction of the Phase 1 Lunar Base, later renamed Armstrong Base. New variants of the LM were developed, these being the LM Truck (a cargo hauler), and the LM Shelter (a Frankenstein's spacecraft combining the Apollo CM with the LM Descent Stage, intended for use as the crew quarters).

Apollo 64 marked the final flight of the Block II CSM. NASA had ceased production of the Block II in 1976 after the Block III was introduced, and used the remaining stock aggressively to be rid of them so they could ramp up production of the Block III full-time. The previous flight, Apollo 63, also saw the first flight of the Saturn III, a Saturn V without the S-IC stage, which launched larger solar panels on a truss segment after the Apollo Telescope Mount was removed and deorbited in anticipation of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Apollo 65 was an oddball mission, as it was also known as STS-1, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. Despite Apollo continuing, the Space Shuttle continued development regardless, in hopes that it would slowly replace Apollo. Ultimately, though, the entire system never played nothing more than a supporting role, always second-to-run to Apollo. Plagued by cost overruns, multiple delays, and two fatal accidents in 1986 and 2004, the Space Shuttle is technically still in operation, but was replaced by the unmanned Shuttle-C in 2011 after STS-135 (Johnson Aerospace's own spaceplanes, Eridanus and Esperia, were considered the final nail in the coffin when they were first launched in 2001). The shuttle system's primary role, when it wasn't launching satellites and probes or carrying out SpaceLab missions, was delivering new modules to Skylab. The last module was delivered in 1986, at which point NASA began winding down Skylab operations in anticipation of Space Station Freedom. Ultimately, though, Skylab remained in orbit until 2004, when it was deorbited over the Pacific by an ASC (amusingly, Johnson Foods ran a contest promising free Big Macs for everyone at McDonald's if a floating target was hit by the Skylab core; Taco Bell had done a similar promotion with Mir, and unlike that, it was a bullseye, meaning everyone got free Big Macs; what made this feat even more amazing was that Johnson Aerospace and Continental Shipping Lines managed to calculate the exact location Skylab would impact).

Apollo was used increasingly for military applications in the 1980s, as the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 never existed. As a result, the United States and USSR launched a bunch of different space-based weapons with different purposes. ITTL, the SDI system was launched, as was a classified manned Air Force space station called the Manned Weapons Platform (which carried 60 MIRV nuclear warheads). Apollo 83 carried a pair of Air Force personnel to the MWP in 1984, but this flight attracted too much attention from the media and conspiracy theorists, leading NASA and the USAF to develop the Crew Transfer Vehicle (CTV), comprised of Big Gemini, an Apollo Block II SM with an Agena engine, a Mercury LES, and the Saturn I. The CTV remained in service until it was replaced by the Personnel Ferry (PF) in 2004. Other activities allegedly carried out by Apollo in the 80s included photo recon using a Block IV with cameras mounted in the SIM Bay, ASC craft used as tugs to move SDI satellites around, a servicing mission of a KH-11 satellite, and installing an anti-satellite autocannon on Skylab. In addition, Skylab B was launched into lunar orbit as LunarLab, with its own crew rotation cycle; LunarLab was launched in response to an announcemet by the Soviet Union that it would be launching Salyut 7 into lunar orbit, and as a result, was a primarily military station, but also did scout out potential landing sites for future lunar flights. After the Cold War ended in 1991, an ASC sent LunarLab into a heliocentric orbit.

But these military operations were overshadowed by an even bigger accomplishment. In 1982, a Titan III rocket launched Apollo 72. The payload: the Martian Excursion Module. Throughout the early 80s, a whole new system for Martian flights was developed, including the Saturn VI (even bigger than the Saturn V, and including solid rocket boosters), the Ares Propulsion Stack (launched by the Saturn V and fueled by the Space Shuttle), and the aforementioned MEM, with the Block V CSM incorporated in. On March 27, 1986, a little over a year after launch, Apollo 90 landed on Mars, with John Young and Robert Crippin being the first humans to set foot on Mars. Two more Martian flights were flown in 1989 and 1993, before the Mars flights were put on the backburner to focus on a new project.

Other changes were to come to the Apollo program. For one, the Saturn IB was retired from manned service in 1988, and LC-34 was decommissioned and turned into a museum. The rocket wasn't retired wholesale, though, and was made available for commercial and military use; despite this, if the need arises, it can and will be used for manned flights, now being launched from LC-39B on a special launch platform using the tower from LC-37 (on two occassions, this platform was unavailable, so an apparatus nicknamed the "Milkstool" was attached to one of the Saturn V MLPs). Otherwise, the Saturn II became the primary rocket for LEO flights. For another, the venerable A7L spacesuit was retired in 1983 and replaced by the Launch Entry Suit (the "pumpkin suit") and the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (originally developed for the Space Shuttle); the LES was replaced by the ACES suit (Advanced Crew Escape Suit, a bit of a misnomer as the suit would only be used for escape on Space Shuttle; the Apollo ACES suits lack the parachute pack) in 1994, and was fully phased out in 1998.

In 1993, the Clinton administration announced that Space Station Freedom would be combined with the Mir-2 and ESA Columbus space station concepts to create the International Space Station. The station would be constructed using the Space Shuttle and Proton-K rocket, with crew rotation provided by multiple nations; initially, the Apollo Block III and Soyuz were to be the only crew transfer craft, before the ESA developed the Hermes shuttle, Russia resumed development of the Buran program, and private aerospace firm Johnson Aerospace developed the Antares spacecraft. Resupply was initially provided by the ASC and Progress, later joined by the Shuttle-C and ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), and commercial spacecraft such as the Johnson Aerospace Verrezzano and SpacePlanes Eridanus and Esperia, SpaceX Dragon, and Orbital ATK Antares; in future, additional commercial manned spacecraft will service the station, these being the SpaceX Dragon 2 and Boeing CST-100 Starliner. Originally, it was planned to incorporate Skylab into the new station, before NASA sent a crew to assertain Skylab's condition, coming to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to just build a new station, resulting Skylab's deorbiting in 2004.

Today, Apollo is still going strong, with no sign of stopping. Not even the uncertainty of the Trump administration has affected it, as President Donald J. Trump granted the program a $12 billion boost in the FY2018 budget to return to Mars. Armstrong Base has since been expanded as part of the Phase II Lunar Base, and is now a permanently-manned presence on the Moon.

Apollo is due to undergo a few major changes in the coming years. For one, the aging Lunar Module will be replaced by a new lander called Artemis in 2020, the Saturn IB will be fully phased out by 2024, and NASA is due to launch a new lunar space station known as Lunar Orbital Platform, a spiritual successor to LunarLab, but for civilian purposes such as a staging ground for manned and unmanned lunar expeditions, and a checkpoint for spacecraft bound for Armstrong Base.

Gallery
A gallery showing the spacecraft in Kerbal Space Program is coming soon.

Puerto Rico statehood
Puerto Rico became a state in 1960 with Hawaii.

Other states
Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Samoa all became states in 1962. Lincoln split from Washington and Idaho in 1964. Superior split from Wisconsin and Michigan in 1965.

Kashmir
In 1992, India and Pakistan declared a third war, which lasted three months, ending with India's victory.

Tibet
Tibet declared independence from China in 1970, however China suppressed the declaration. This led to the Tibetian War, which lasted until 1983 with Tibet's victory and China recognizing Tibet's independence.

HBO bumpers
HBO keeps the 1982 "HBO in Space" bumper for primetime in all the HBO channels, the 1986 bumper for daytime and HBO Latino, the 1998 bumper for original series (the full version for season premieres), and the 2017 version for HBO Go.

Muppets
Due to the Disney buyout by Johnson and The Muppet Show being revived in 2015, Steve Whitmire never gets fired from the Muppets. In addition, Kermit becomes a regular on Sesame Street again starting in Season 45 due to Johnson licensing the character to Sesame Workshop.

Ray Combs
Due to never being fired from Family Feud, staying on the show until his 2010 retirement, and staying on the syndicated version, Combs did not commit suicide in 1996.

Robin Williams
During his participation in the Legend of Zelda anime made by Johnson Television starting in 2013, Tim Johnson was able to convince Robin Williams (who voices Navi in the series) to get help for his depression. As a result, he did not commit suicide, and reprised his role as the Genie in the 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin to universal acclaim.

Tim Curry
Tim Curry never had his stroke in 2012, and as a result, is still very active (and hammy).

Northern Calloway
Calloway was reminded to get a psychologist to help him by Sheldon Johnson, Jr. in 1987. As a result, he’s still alive, and is still on Sesame Street.

John Kricfalusi
The sexual allegations against John K. turned out to be false, and the crowdfunded short Cans Without Labels was released on-time and to critical acclaim, which led to Johnson acquiring the rights to The Ren and Stimpy Show from Nickelodeon and greenlighting three new seasons for Cartoon Network.

Phil Hartman walked out on Brynn instead of threatening to do so, which started a very messy, very public divorce. He is still alive, and still voicing his characters on The Simpsons, in addition to voicing Zapp Brannigan on Futurama.

al Baseball in Japan
All OTL Nippon Professional Baseball teams are Major League Baseball teams. All Central League teams are National League, and likewise all Pacific League teams are American League.

Many teams have different names:


 * Hanshin Tigers are Nishinomiya Farmers
 * Yokohama DeNA BayStars are still the Taiyo Whales
 * Yomiuri Giants and Bunkyo Scholars

Teams frequently play road games on the Mainland United States, and vice-versa. No Japanese States team has ever won the World Series, though quite a few have made World Series appearances.

Professional Basketball in Japan
Likewise, all B.League are NBA teams. Teams are split into the North and South Conferences, each with three leagues: East, Central, and West (the OTL Third Division teams are NBA G League teams). Like in the MLB, no Japanese States basketball team has ever won the NBA Championship.

McDonald’s sign in Biloxi, MS
The sign was moved before Hurricane Katrina to be restored. As a result, it survived.

Return of the Jedi
As Sheldon Johnson, Jr. wrote and directed Return of the Jedi (in his writing and directing debut, the youngest writer and director for a major motion picture at 19), there are some key differences:


 * The dialogue is closer to the radio drama.
 * More menacing Ewoks
 * Jabba brags about having killed some Jedi in the past in the subtitles
 * Different crawl, going "The Alliance is doomed. Hunted by the Imperial star fleet and suffering terrible losses the rebels have retreated to the rim world of SULLUST hoping to strike back against the tyrannical EMPIRE. Sensing ultimate victory LORD VADER and his cruel EMPEROR have begun construction on two new battle stations even more powerful than the first dreaded Death Star. Luke Skywalker has returned to his homeworld of TATOOINE to rescue his friend Han Solo from the vile gangster JABBA THE HUTT unaware of the sinister plots laid out against him...."
 * The crawl font is News Gothic, matching A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.
 * Different opening shot showing the shuttle coming from the Executor.
 * Two Death Stars (the first, less complete version is used as a trap for the rebels, and is rammed into intentionally by Piett, the second one is destroyed by Lando)
 * The Emperor's throne room is on the Imperial capitol of Coruscant.
 * Better matte for the core shaft.
 * Different B-Wing helmet design.
 * Vader's unmasking goes just like the 1996 radio drama, with Anakin telling Luke, "I'm proud that you've grown into the man I wanted to be..." as his last words before dying.
 * Better puppetry for Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo Band.
 * No force kick.
 * No gonk droid torture.
 * C-3PO's "captain obvious" lines are gone.
 * Boba Fett is purposefully shot by Han.
 * Sebastian Shaw's Anakin wears darker robes and younger makeup (he still gets controversially replaced by Hayden Christensen in the 2004 Special Edition, the move being undone in 2014 with the original version being declared the canon version).
 * The OTL Special Edition celebrations (with models and matte paintings, featuring Kashyyyk between Tatooine and Naboo, and the scene goes from night to day to show the end of darkness) take place during the credits, with the Coruscant "celebration" being an all-out riot and having the Emperor statue toppled on the last note of the music.
 * Only a small portion of the OTL Ewok celebration is in the film which then leads to the funeral pyre scene. This is where the Force Ghosts appeared and the film ended with Luke being alone.
 * Darth Vader says, “Your mother....once thought as you do” to Luke.
 * Yoda's death is before Tatooine and Luke talks to Ben in his hut.
 * Expanded rebel briefing set with Dodonna and Rieekan, Wookiees and female pilots.
 * Female pilots at the battle, with the existing pilot having a feminine voice.
 * Much more epic space battle, including Rebel pilots kamikazing Y-wings into Imperial ships.
 * Gore in the Ewoks attacking the Imperial troops.
 * Palpatine's death scene has dialogue (like the 1996 NPR radio version), with Darth Vader shouting, "My son!" just before lifting Palpatine. The exchange goes: Palpatine: Release me. Vader, I command you! Put me down!  Vader: I will: down the core shaft. Down to your death!  Palpatine: Vader, I am your master!  Vader: Darth Vader's Master. But not Anakin Skywalker's!
 * Different shuttle class for Tydyrium (the cargo shuttle that later appeared in Rogue One, which, in this TL, uses an opening text crawl)
 * A waterfall behind the area behind the Imperial landing platform for scenery and “that the Empire would use them for power generation and it would provide Vader with an uncomfortable reminder of Naboo when he meets Luke at the platform.”
 * Leia is shocked at the revelation of being Luke's sister.
 * The centered/clumped shots have different framing.
 * R2 uses his jets to help himself and 3PO escape the barge.
 * Evidence in the background of Ewoks worshipping a 3PO-like god.
 * More scary 3PO flying chair scene.
 * Obi-wan Kenobi's account of Luke's parental history is expanded; Obi-wan states that Owen Lars was his brother, and that Luke and Leia's mother, Padme Amidala, died when they were four (thus, Padme's death in ROTS is caused by poor communication between Johnson and Lucas).
 * Evidence of life on the forest moon (idols, carvings, etc.)
 * Vader's arm stump is more realistic.
 * The introduction of Supertroopers--an elite class of Imperial troops.
 * The rebel docking bay uses a scale model in lieu of a matte.
 * Yoda says, "Once you start down the dark path, rejoice for those around you who transform into the force. Mourn them, do not" to Luke.
 * The sandstorm scene is in lieu of ship-to-ship conversation.
 * Better Jerjerrod characterization.
 * Yoda reveals that Obi-Wan would have told Luke the truth that Vader was indeed his father if he'd let him, but that Luke wasn't ready for "the burden" yet.
 * Grander Jabba's palace "belching creature" shot.
 * Dune Sea shots look more like the Dune Sea.
 * Better Force lightning.