MEDIA IDENTITY CRISIS : Doctor Who & Star Trek Discovery .

Actress Jodie Whittaker takes
the TARDIS  into the  unknown,
will she save the show ?

Well if your not a Science Fiction fan , have not heard there has been a buzz in the internet social media that the long running Dr Who TV show is going to have a "make over"  in 2018.This Christmas, Doctor Who will undergo one of the biggest transformations in its 54-year history: for the first time, the (1)>>Doctor will regenerate into a woman. After nearly 60years , the good Doctor will be a woman . Should we really care?  Really ? I think the writers at BBC could have done a better job -. Let me "explain" . First the Doctor did not have be changed into a woman just to keep the show up to political correctness . The Doctor could be a female time lord , (1.1)>>{ YES and FEMALE TIMELORD EQUAL TO THE DOCTOR }  who happened to join the Doctor's adventures . Vary much like the character (1.2)>>River Song , River  appeared in certain episodes before she  was given the reins for the series and that two-parter—Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead—saw Dr. Song interact memorably with David Tennant Tenth Doctor before (sort of) dying. Kingston thought she would never return and if this were most any other show, that would be it for Dr. Song. But this is Doctor Who, River never truly got her romantic due as the Doctor’s wife. Careful investigating shows that there were two scripts that never made it to the screen . IN the 1996 Doctor Who film , a failed attempt to revive show there was a try at the idea of married Doctor , who takes up with Daphne Ashbrook as a love interest . A second attempt was around the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors  , but was written off .    As it seemed River Song was introduced basically as a potential wife only because the show was slipping in the ratings. So BBC just cooked the idea of a Married Doctor. I think if BBC went ahead with that idea , it would have been well received , hit the ratings roof .   NOW  My concern is the impact such a radical change will have on the fabric of a series whose first episode aired the day after the JFK assassination. The First Doctor was a old man who traveled in a time machine disguised as a Police Box , he had a granddaughter named Susan .   It means something at that time in the 60s , how the UK and US "defined" the notion as relates to "family" . The grandfather image of the Doctor over the decades has faded into memory , as the Doctors regeneration from the (2)>>Grandfather type to the

The Original Doctor played
by William Hartnell , Susan
played by Carol Ann Ford .

Cosmic Hobo . There’s a lot to fix about “Doctor Who.”  (2.1)>>The show is inconsistent even within its own continuity and is sometimes impossible to follow even for longtime fans .The reaction from the UK was mixed.  For many Whovians, the historic announcement was reason for celebration, but for many , the fears of doom of the shows demise was obvious .  And it has been claimed that (3)>>Capaldi's Doctor Who will refuse to regenerate into Jodie Whittaker in the upcoming festive special (3.1)>>Twice Upon A Time, in a leaked episode synopsis from BBC America. While many praised the BBC and the show's writers for choosing a female actress, others slammed the decision as 'political correctness gone mad'.  The one near-constant of Dr. Who through regenerations is elements of personality that enable us to recognize it is the same person. The best test of this would be for Whittaker to walk into the Tardis while Clara is there, and after less then ten words, have Clara say, "Hello, Doctor." She was critical as the bridge for Capaldi. But I have never been convinced of (4)>>Missy as a female Master. She operates across the line between life and death, more of a supernatural, godlike being. Perhaps an incarnation of the Tardis but not of the Master.  I guess every show that has been "rebooted" will have characters that gender swap . It’s been established within the world of the show that the Doctor can take on any race and gender he so chooses, but thus far — over the course of 54 years and 14 actors rotating through the role (including John Hurt as an incarnation known as the War Doctor, who appeared in three episodes in 2013, and David Bradley, who recently filled in for the deceased William Hartnell as the First Doctor) — he has chosen to appear only as a white British man of various ages, for reasons known only to himself. Now just think if {the NEW DOCTOR}  she had been both a woman and a person of color, right? How else would we continue to portray the lingering vestiges of British colonialism and a constant white-savior complex?  Remember that the Doctor in his first incarnation of William Hartnell was a grandfather , the show hopefully will run its course and perhaps Jodie's Doctor will somehow run into his granddaughter Susan ? Just trying to explain to his granddaughter Susan about the "sex change" will probably one of the shows best cliffhangers ever in 2018 .

DR WHO ADDITIONAL NOTES :

David Tennant,
gave Dr. Who a
bit of Harry Potter .

¶ Even more popular is the TARDIS. Maybe because we’re already used to Harry and friends traveling through the wizarding world via portkeys and Floo powder, it doesn’t seem so strange to envision a blue police call box peeking out of the Tri-Wizard Tournament hedge maze (via zettephrasie), or spiriting our favorite characters away from harm. For a BRIEF TIME between the TENTH DOCTOR PLAYED by David Tennant ,and  11th played by Matt Smith , it seemed that Rowling's  Potter was influencing the appearance of the Dr Who character .Watching some of the 10th & 11th Who episodes , David Tennant some how was morphing into a Potter type wizard . Most remarkable was Tennant's glasses which through his episodes he was wearing with no explanation while during the peek of  the Potter films . I guess that the BBC producers

were trying to get WHO identified with a current cultural influence that was gaining a lot of followers . In a KINDA of WAY , the character of role for a while BBC saw a opportunity of making the DR a bit Potter- esque .  David Tennant's  influence to the show may have been a crossover , since  HE was starred in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire  as Barty Crouch Jr, Death Eater, Bartemius “Barty” Crouch Jr, who was captured following the torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom and imprisoned in the wizard prison, Azkaban, by his own father, Barty Crouch Sr. David Tennant gave DR WHO a flare from Pottesville obviously .  ⇒  Now here is more . First Jodie Whittaker is  NOT the FIRST Female to play the Doctor . Many Dr WHO fan films had explored the area of having a girl play the roll , some are a bit interesting such as the Ginger Chronicles.Most interestingly enough  during the late 1980's was Barbara Benedetti who played Dr. Who in a well produced fan film . I think after watching some of the films  produced by Seattle International Films,  The Wrath of Eukor,  for example convinces me that the CURRENT BBC may have borrowed a line from the Benedetti fan films . Believe it or not, a female Doctor had been talked about publicly as early as 1979, when Tom Baker

Benedetti's Doctor ...

speculated on television that his successor might be a woman. Later on in the 1980’s, when Sidney Newman was brought back for his ideas to save the show, he too suggested that the Doctor could become a woman. Then of course, there’s Joanna Lumley in Curse of Fatal Death in 1999 which  HAD Mr.  Bean  as the Doctor , Rowan Atkinson was a comic relief to an already attempt to revive the franchise He was considered for the role of the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 TV movie but was never taken too seriously by BBC . The Parody might be seen as a "pilot" for a future attempt for the shows revival .  So far like the song said " It all started with a joke ."

STAR TREK : DISCOVERY.

Star Trek Discovery  , first Episode
Lost in a Desert .
The scene rips off
Star Wars if you
look closely.

CBS just launched this year a new Star Trek . If I had a bone to pick with Dr. WHO , I just was spinning to trying to make sense of the new ST Discovery . Yes, it's kinda like ST but in many ways its not exactly . Don't get me wrong here about the role of STRONG FEMALE leads in regards to WHO and TREK . Over 50 years both shows have shown the ability to maintain a balance . I think right now the new writers are doing things politically to reflect social pressures . Damn never expected this much hate. I'm not racist, sexist, or alt-right. I just really hate it when I feel like a show/movie has such obvious racist and sexist overtones. Shows are supposed to be an escape from reality. (5)>>Star Trek Discovery is supposed to be set in the TOS era . 11 years before Kirk and Spock . Remember we are talking about diversification  DS9 had a black male captain and an ass-kicking female first officer. Voyager had a female captain and a native american Played by a Hispanic actor... ST DISCOVERY has a vary confusing plot , how I able  to watch the first episode was difficult . You slowly had to digest the show (5.1)>> Hoping for a glimpse of the connections with  Original  Star Trek TOS . The sleek show has more in common with the rebooted Battlestar Galactica as far as action battle scenes . 

(5.2)>>Spock's father SAREK beams on board the USS Shenzhou with a new Officer Michael Burnham as a main character is introduced . The Big shock here is that Burnham is introduced as Spock's " adoptive" sister who studied at Vulcan . Please note , Burnham is black , she looks part Vulcan . ⇏AS it "appears" we have  Two strong female leads. Both obviously from different racial/ethnic groups. Seriously? Not that I have issue with either of those - but sheesh! Having them as both captain and the first officer? It just feels like the makers are trying to make a statement. Social media had its opinions about the show.The show certainly isn’t perfect. Discovery’s first episodes also feel a lot like an extended prologue, establishing Burnham’s personality and the overall premise of the Klingon conflict, but not much more than that. By the end of the first two episodes, there’s still no sign of the actual USS Discovery, where we’ll be probably be spending the bulk of the season. Burnham has landed in Starfleet prison . Star Trek Discovery is in reality too dark of a show , the uniforms , the bridge of USS Discovery . Apparently the outfits worn by the Enterprise crew were far ahead of the curve, while the Shenzhou crew members were donning more standard uniforms of the time, being With the crews traveling space within years of each other, their completely different uniforms would certainly raise some eyebrows.  (6)>>THE BIGGEST PROBLEM for me are the KLINGON'S ! Although they are definitely one of Star Trek's most famous races, the look of the Klingons has never

Come on now ? Really .
I like Michael Dorn's
Klingon better 

been completely consistent. Beginning with a mostly-human look in The Original Series, the appearance of the Klingons changed more drastically in STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and underwent further refinements throughout the rest of the movies and TV series. We should be used to it by now, but one of the controversial aspects of Star Trek: Discovery . Also since when do some Klingons have white skin and others have black? I feel like this isn't cannon at all! It's a super obvious racial equality thing that is being SO forced. Come on people we don't need to watch Star Trek to get our political and moral ideas from. Although there have been rumblings that the Klingons featured in Star Trek: Discovery hail from an ancient race of Klingons, it seems to me that the production just wanted to put their own spin on the characters, but perhaps those "different styles" will give us a few of the more traditional Klingons. EW adds that the Klingons will be playing a huge role in Discovery's mysterious story, which is apparently set during a Federation/Klingon cold war set a decade before the events of The Original Series.  Next where no (7)>>Characters have gone before ............   For the first time the show features an openly gay character . While I am thumbing down on this one . I read that the Directors and Producers have stated that the show is not your normal Star Trek , its going to uncharted "space" in regards to what its content is going to be, its not the first in Star Trek history , if you recall it was Star Trek that broke the ground on the fist interracial kiss ,  just beyond it . The New Trek is not for the family hour , the writers have scripted violence , nudity and sex into the series . I think the show on a streaming service charging you to watch an episode is not going to last . But it strangely it keeps the show --LOL locked in a closet .

The Future .

Star Trek Discovery for me , faces a long {short} uncertain history ahead as a show . You might think that is why its on CBS ALL ACCESS streaming , I think its BAD TIMING since the end of NET NEUTRALITY  With Discovery, CBS is, like some remote starbase, hoping the United Federation of New Subscribers will come to its aid. Will they? Will CBS ALL ACCESS survive post end Net Neutrality ? Discovery faces not one but two implacable foes. (Three if you count Klingons.) It enters the upside-down business landscape of episodic television: The studios that produce the shows also own the networks that distribute them, a streaming service co-owned by a lot of broadcasters. Apparently CBS has already broken even on Discovery from their contract with Netflix to distribute this in most of the rest of the world, so I really hope All Access tanks and they get the point that the problem is All Access and not Star Trek. I'm opposed to paying, I'm opposed to getting suckered into paying for something that already is is "freely" available on the internet { for how long?} . Dr WHO on the other hand just might do better  . In an interview with BBC, Whittaker, a.k.a. the Thirteenth Doctor, said: “I’m beyond excited to begin this epic journey with executive producer Chris Chibnal  and with every Whovian on this planet. It’s more than an honor to play the Doctor. 

"It means remembering everyone I used to be, while stepping forward to embrace everything the Doctor stands for: hope. I can’t wait.”  

NOTES AND COMMENTS : ON DOCTOR WHO.

(1)>>Doctor will regenerate into a woman. The idea of a female Doctor Who started off as a joke. Literally. In 1980, Tom Baker’s departure from the series was due to be announced and the actor—by his own account, after a few drinks in the BBC club—suggested to the series’ producer John Nathan-Turner that they could drop a hint to the press that the Fifth Doctor would be a woman. Nathan-Turner, who had a nose for publicity, agreed. “I certainly wish my successor luck whoever he—OR SHE—might be,” boomed Baker to assembled hacks, seemingly off the cuff. Cue headlines. What if the show "tanks" , Its another serious question by those of us WHO question the idea {see http://bit.ly/2BzlGhb }Case in point the rebooted Battlestar Galactica , one character was 'Sarbuck' who morphed into a female .  It was received with mixed reviews.  Dirk Benedict, whose Starbuck was a sort of Han Solo rascal who gave the show a lot of comic relief {he would go on to portray the con-man commando Face in the "The A-Team"}  Well, it turns out that Benedict has watched the revival of the show, which has been hailed far and wide as a dark and sophisticated masterpiece, and silently seethed. Why? Well, let him tell you in a grouchy rant from the Big Hollywood blog:

There was a time, I know I was there, when men were men, women were women and sometimes a cigar was just a good smoke. But 40 years of feminism have taken their toll. The war against masculinity has been won. Everything has turned into its opposite, so that what was once flirting and smoking is now sexual harassment and criminal. And everyone is more lonely and miserable as a result.

(1.1)>>{ YES and FEMALE TIMELORD EQUAL TO THE DOCTOR } The Time Lady Romanadvoratrelundar, or Romana .  Romana is able to regenerate, having had two on-screen incarnations with somewhat different personalities (dubbed Romana I and Romana II by fans). Romana I was played by Mary Tamm from 1978 to 1979. When Tamm chose not to sign on for a second season, the part was recast. Romana II was played by Lalla Ward from 1979 to 1981.arrived in the middle of that period of upheaval in the role of the female companion which started with scientific Liz Shaw and ended with shouty Tegan. She was conceived as a character who would provide a touch of academic cool (and sophistication) after the more athletic charms of Leela. And for the first time since Susan, she would be another Gallifreyan, someone for whom the idea of  a box which is bigger on the inside wasn’t immediately bizarre, and a potential equal to the Doctor.  (1.2)>>River Song .    Alex Kingston  could have been the Doctor's wife all through the new series , but there were "hints" of a kind of relationship between the Doctor and Song that was a little more than the norm of the TV show. I think the writers thought it too controversial to have Dr WHO married with a wife , maybe a daughter in a sort of Lost in Space   , time traveling Family Robinson. BBC could have been more creative , but in England what we have deemed to be what we call the norms have taken a different twist.  (2)>>Grandfather type to the Cosmic Hobo . In the first season of Doctor Who there is a companion named Susan Foreman played by Carole Ann Ford. She always refers to the Doctor as 'Grandfather'. Has it been established that she actually is the Doctor's granddaughter? This would obviously mean she is Gallifreyan or a Time Lord. IIRC, even that is ambiguous.Susan specifically identified the Doctor as her grandfather, (TV: "An Unearthly Child", "The Escape") Patrick Troughton's 2nd Doctor is always referred outside of the show as a "cosmic hobo".  He's my favorite Doctor incarnation.  No other Doctor has a description so closely associated to them (apart from arguably the 8th Doctor and "Byron-esque" and 7 as a Chess-master). Does anyone know who first used the phrase in relation to 2?Cosmic hobo. Baggy trousers. When I say run. Recorder. Stovepipe hat. Twinkling eyes. Butterfingers. Jamie, Jamie, hold on!.   (2.1)>>The show is inconsistent even within its own continuity and is sometimes impossible to follow even for longtime fans .   Here is a break down of DR WHO as far as a show . There are 3 "Generations" of the show,  that has to be divided into different eras . FIRST GENERATION : 1963 -1989 .   1996 "interim" TV MOVIE was a reboot that failed . I thought it was vary good . SECOND GENERATION 9th Doctor to 12th  -2000- 2017 .  THE THIRD GENERATION 2018 begins with a Female Doctor , a new cast and direction . How long will it last we have sto stay tuned to the BBC . (3)>>Capaldi's Doctor Who. Peter Capaldi gave the Doctor sort of a "crazed" look in his eyes. I often noted that his costume as the

Capaldi's Doctor in the
end looks like hes
on acid .

character evolved from clean cut to disheveled with blood shot eyes . This happened with the 7th Doctor Sylvester McCoy , who toward the end of his series the TARDIS hardly left the Earth and was stuck fighting aliens that look like Cheetahs  . The Time Of The Doctor, the Twelfth Doctor is usually characterized as a grumpier and less cuddly version of the character than we've seen since the series returned in 2005. At the start of a brand new regeneration cycle, there's a more pronounced disconnect between this incarnation and all of the ones that have gone before, as he grapples with the question of whether or not he's a good man. (3.1)>>Twice Upon A Time. It kicks off with the kind of recap that only Doctor Who could get away with, before resuming where things were left at the end "The Doctor Falls." Two Doctors – David Bradley as the first Doctor, Peter Capaldi as the incumbent – holding off their own regenerations. Neither willing to succumb to the change and uncertainty that lies ahead.In the midst of this is a 1914 World War I battlefield, where Mark Gatiss’ British soldier (and Gatiss is brilliant) is pointing a gun at Toby Whithouse’s wounded German troop. A stand-off, and not a happy one. That much has been revealed in photos from the episode. Everything else story-wise, I’m steering clear of for this spoiler-free preview. Anybody who even thinks of spoiling an episode like this deserves a very, very hard stare.(4)>>Missy as a female Master. ORIGINALLY the

The "original" Master
played by 
Roger Delgado (1971–1973)

 MASTER was a male character  , the one of the foes of Dr. John Smith aka The Doctor .  He was sort of a "black magician" , who spent most of his time trying to conquer the universe , always being defeated by the Doctor .Like the Doctor he too was the subject of incarnations as the show spans the first 40 years . BBC known now for its "gender bending" and "politically correct" vision today has turned the Master also into another female character that too is out of line with The first appearing incarnation of the character, this Master was a frequent adversary of the Doctor and UNIT during the former's exile on Earth. He was generally calm and collected, loved a good cigar, and genuinely enjoyed spending time with the Doctor in between evil plans to take over the world. Roger Delgado played the role with such rigor it may have ruin his career , he had few roles in other films . He died tragically in an automobile accident . As His first incarnation , there was a second , more notable played by Anthony Ainley (1981–1989; 1997)  In his Second incarnation he Manages to steal a Trakenite body to replace his decaying Time Lord one, and expands his plans far beyond just Earth and Gallifrey. From hereon in, he aims to be a constant thorn in the side for the Doctor, encountering him in his Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh incarnations. Of all the Masters, this incarnation seems to have the highest body count, while he pursued immortality, or at least a new set of regenerations, for himself.

NOTES AND COMMENTS : STAR TREK DISCOVERY .

(5)>>Star Trek Discovery is supposed to be set in the TOS era . 11 years before

Kirk and Spock .  The first episode of Star Trek: Discovery — “The Vulcan Hello” — takes place on May 11, 2256. This puts it two years after the events of “The Cage,” the classic Star Trek pilot episode in which Spock yelled a little more, and everyone in Starfleet wore turtleneck sweaters. Because the Starfleet uniforms in Discovery look totally different than the ones from “The Cage,” it might seem like the Star Trek canon is messed up, again. Since Discovery takes place between Star Trek: Enterprise and the original Star Trek, it makes sense that the new show would strike a balance between those two shows in terms of Federation clothing design. The Enterprise influence is clear; the new uniforms prominently feature blue, which is a nod to the uniforms worn by Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and his crew aboard the Enterprise NX-01.  (5.1)>> Hoping for a glimpse of the connections with  Original Star Trek TOS . Neither the acting, nor script writing, were up to par with what I've come to expect from the Star Trek franchise. I honestly think the first season of TOS was better, and there is absolutely no comparison to TNG, or DS9. I'm honestly not even sure how to frame it in my Star Trek universe, it did not appear to be written for those of us that have loyally followed all of the Star Trek Series for generations. For lack of a better word, this first episode was just plain bad. After seeing it, then finding out I have to get a streaming service to watch the next episodes, all I can say is really don't think so. (5.2)>>Spock's father SAREK. In “Lethe,” the sixth episode of Star Trek: Discovery, everyone has something to hide. But the character with the biggest secret is easily Spock and Burnham’s dad, the famous Vulcan ambassador, Sarek. The latest Discovery twist redefines a pivotal moment in Star Trek’s past, making Sarek way more sympathetic than he ever was in the original series. In the original series, we’re looking at Spock, and Sarek is part of Spock’s backstory. But, he’s now becoming his own character. Who is this guy who married a human? Since Burnham is a black African American female makes you wonder the combinations of a Married Vulcan male, perhaps Sarek likes human women of color as well . This might explain that ,   In addition to Sybok —Spock’s half-brother in *Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — Michael Burnham is Spock's sister , REALLY , I'm getting confused but Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green ) of Starfleet is now technically his sister!at San Diego Comic-Con actress Sonequa Martin-Green reportedly said her human mother is Amanda, who is also Spock’s mom. For fans who are wondering why we’ve never heard of Sarek and Amanda raising yet another sibling in secret (Kirk was pissed he’d never heard of Sybok in Star Trek V) Alex Kurtzman told the crowd that the writing staff is “aware” and that the show will stay consistent with canon.    (6)>>THE BIGGEST PROBLEM for me are the KLINGON'S !  These are definitely not your father's Klingons, 

Past Klingon make up
reflects a kind of  racism
in Star Trek .

but I don't think my father really had Klingons, and neither do I. The show takes the pragmatic, not completely original, approach that Klingons are basically a foreign culture that the Federation is imposing its own cultural standards upon. This is also an argument that Seth MacFarlane made in an early episode of Fox's The Orville, but I was interested enough in the manner Discovery treats the Klingons as both primitive in their fierceness, but also spiritual and ordered in their own way. So it's not quite as simple as "Klingons bad, everybody else good." But I still take issue with the black vs white klingon racial bullshit. That's just not a thing. And not canon. The First Klingons looked like Mexican bandits , while in ST Generations a black  - African - American actor named Michael Dorn took the Klingon into much more than anticipated stereotypes . In that , Dorn gave the Klingons a History never know in the Original Trek , since his character was a First Officer in the Enterprise . It really worked well . ST Next Generations gave the Klingons a soul . (7)>>Characters have gone before ............  The same-sex kiss between two women on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine back in the 1990s was not much of an up roar . While honestly it was cheesy , just like the Green Orion slave girls in the Original Trek that drove men wild . Political Correctness has to distinguish  between sleaze , natural affection . The Problem is that writers create characters now that have social messages . CBS space drama made history last month when it introduced Anthony Rapp’s character, Lt. Stamets, as the first openly gay character in the television history of the franchise.  Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu was portrayed as a married gay man by actor John Cho in the film Star Trek: Beyond, but a scene rumored to show a kiss between Sulu and his husband was ultimately cut from the film.Aside from the news about the gay kiss, Rapp made headlines last month after accusing Kevin Spacey of sexual assault back in the ’80s. The revelation eventually led to the Oscar winner coming out of the closet, before several other men accused him of assault, as well. Its the Irony of Hollywood these days .