Doctor Who and Star Trek

Both Doctor Who and Star Trek are very successful long-running TV productions that have developed considerably over the years, both could be classed as SciFi and both originated in the 1960s and are still running in some form, and both have off-shoots.

I'm a Doctor Who fan so would really like it if other people would advocate the benefits of watching Star Trek.

 

Below I embedded a short excerpt promoting Doctor Who Season 10 Episode 1 'The Pilot' and contains many of the elements of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who originated from the idea of Sherlock Holmes - a detective who is collecting clues. The script also contains character development, emotion, humor, action, fear, high technology, and space and time travel. The plot can become very complex in places, while at other times the music is the main feature.

Note that a Dalek can not fire instantly because it contains an organic being, so it must get angry and say 'exterminate' to charge the weapon.

 

By way of explanation:

Dalek
For the first Doctor Who alien back in December 1963, the producer specified that he did not want a 'bug-eyed monster'.

So evil first arrived in the form of the Daleks. The device on the right is a versatile manipulator while the weapon on the left can blast through ten feet of reinforced concrete.

 

The last two seasons I've found the show boring and the last season my wife, who got me started watching the show, bailed out half way through.

 

Yes, that's very true. I watch Doctor Who episodes from 2005 until 2017 inclusive.

Most of the episodes in that time interval were complex and often contained a deep philosophical paradox.

 

RE: Doctor Who and Star Trek

I originally started watching Doctor Who when "Tom Baker" had the starring role. And after "Tom Baker" my interest began to dwindle.

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And while I understand the practical need for change, I think I imprinted on the "Baker" persona and never really accepted any other character. BTW: I had a very difficult time (at first) accepting Jeremy Brett over Basil Rathbone. (In short) So, I don't believe it is so much about the abilities of the actors or the advancement in the technology of the special effects, but what imprinted on me and my expectations or the recognized hero.

As for the "Heather" entity in the clip, the materialization looks very much like the sentient nanites or race of sapient Molecular Machines in Star Trek. Similarly, the TV Series Stargate Atlantic featured self-replicating machines called Replicators. It is not a new idea in scrips. Star Trek has even a huge version called a Crystalline Entity. But the Entity was never fully developed beyond being a threat to life. And in the TV Series Killjoys, it is not so different from the product that keeps Level 6s so resilient to severe trauma.



Most Respectfully,
R

 

Wife and I loved Killjoys and Dark Matter.

 

RE: Killjoys and Dark Matter

In the Neo-Space Sci-Fi Genres, I have to agree, these are two series that fit the entertainment bill; superior to most.

(COMMENT)

The series that died the horrible death (by the same type of management that killed the original "Star Trek") was "Firefly" → similar to "Killjoys" and "Dark Matter." I find it very difficult to describe why I like one TV Series over another. But in my mind, I somehow categorize shows like the "Expanse" - "Battlestar Galactica" - "Babylon 5" in a completely different category, yet still, Sci-Fi and each having something about them kept bringing me back for more.

I am very glad to hear someone else express a similar interest in them.

Most Respectfully,
R

 

Yes, now that you mention it, my Wife and I enjoyed Firefly too, with the hot shot Captain and the Comfort Priestess or whatever she was. I think the final episode, the unkillable bounty hunter/mercenary was ejected from the ship into space with nothing but his space suit or something?...and his final words were something like, well here I am...so this is how it ends? Anyway, yeah, we loved that series too. Why are they always killing off the good series.

 

I didn't care for Killjoys but I did like Dark Matter. I was disappointed when it was cancelled since it ended on a cliff hanger.

 

Many thanks for these suggestions.

Now that Doctor Who in its 2005 - 2018 form has come to an end, I badly need somewhere else to get some good stuff to fill my mind.

It's good to be here.

 

I was very immature back when Jon Pertwee was the Doctor, and his stature and leadership attracted me.

Friends on his left, an enemy on the right but he stands taller and before them all

 

Jon Pertwee brought majesty to the role of The Doctor, both by stance and by stature. Tom Baker retained that and added eccentricity.

Tom Baker kept the Edwardian silhouette but gave it a more casual and eclectic appearance, and added his own wit, humor and character:

 

RE: Doctor Who and Star Trek
SUBTOPIC: Appeal of the Third Doctor

(COMMENT)

Lead Actors are often cast by the images they can present. I'm not at all surprised that you might see some leadership posture to him. I believe Jon Pertwee (the 3d Doctor) spent 6 years in the Royal Navy as both a crew member and as an officer. You have a good eye for character.



Most Respectfully,
R

 

I’ve been a fan of both. But of the older versions. Doctors 1-7, Hartnell through Sylvester McCoy. Then it became a one-hour serial which I never liked. Star Trek, the original with Shatner, Nimoy etc. great. The next generation, okay and that’s when I ended my love affair with Star Trek. The Movies were great with the original cast, the others, I didn’t care for.


Now I never liked spin offs or remakes. I suppose I’m one of those stuck in time.

 

Uncertainty is somewhat painful, and that includes the uncertainty that comes at the start of seeing something new - before the person has fully comprehended it or when an outdated idea is replaced by something better.

The reluctance to accept what does not agree with what one already knows was expressed by Max Planck:

Physicist Max Planck wrote that "the new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."

 

Rather than rejecting new ideas or ideas that don't fit established wisdom - Bill likes new ideas. And The Doctor selected her for exactly that reason:
[be sure to turn the volume way up... ]

 

Dark Matter was SO good!

 

You could be onto something there...

Or maybe we could make Dr. Watt - a children's program about electricity...

 

There are a lot of themes running through Doctor Who, like Heather and Bill in the Post 2 except dates back to 1963 when the First Doctor - William Hartnell was called 'Bill' on set, and the love of his life was his wife Heather.

Others are a bit more like standing jokes, like who goes inside the TARDIS should say 'it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside,' and The Doctor likes the way they say that when they first experience it.

Yet somehow they often say something different. In 'The Snowmen' Clara walks out, goes around the outside, and states that it is 'smaller on the outside.'

Bill thinks it is a 'knock through' into a kitchen, but you can't get that line much more wrong than in this one...

 

The Doctors are, I think good male role models, strong but not violent*, cleaver but usually not arrogant, and sometimes getting things wrong. After regeneration each starts off uncertain, but gradually a relationship the companion develops and the team works together a lot better.

* The First Doctor had been exiled, was in dispute with the other Time Lords, and frightened by strange aliens, his companion helps steady him and prevent him from doing a violent act from fear, and soon he finds there are better ways to live.

 

Sometimes it's worth it just to see human interactions after his companions have gotten to know him for a year, and to hear real English accents...



Sometimes the music is the message. My niece at age three loved this song and settled down to sleep in the evening when it was on:

 

um well, a skirt, a paradox, um um (I don't want to try explaining that bit), time travel, and then somehow getting it right.