"Star Trek" and "Doctor Who" represent two of the longest-running franchises on TV. Both began in the 1960s, and continue on in one form or another today. The original "Star Trek" series lasted a mere three years, while "Doctor Who" ran for a staggering 26 seasons. Just two years before The Doctor disappeared from TV screens, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was reinvigorating its own space saga. Several spin-off and follow-up series continued the "Star Trek" TV tradition until "Enterprise" ended in 2005. Lo and behold, that same year, "Doctor Who" regenerated, just in time to give us a dose of so many of the things we loved about The Federation crews.
Mind and Morality Benders
"Trek" fans should remember an amusing quote from Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) on "Star Trek: Voyager," which was a nod to all of the time-shifting plots in the "Star Trek" series before hers: "The future is the past, the past is the future. The whole thing gives me a headache." Despite the resulting cranial pains, sci-fi TV fans love a good "thinky" plot that's worthy of analysis and discussion. The more it twists and turns, the more science (or pseudo-science) it bends, the better. These beloved series were also brilliant at throwing in ethical and moral dilemmas for the characters to grapple with--and being human and imperfect, they didn't always make the right choice. This also depends on what your notion of "right" is, and so the endless message board arguments begin.
Time travel is the life blood of "Doctor Who," so every episode offers the opportunity for crossing timelines, paradoxes and the universe collapsing in on itself. The beauty of this British TV series is that while you're enjoying a particularly compelling plot of alternate realities and the dangers of meeting oneself in the past, you're absorbing seemingly inconsequential little nuggets that turn out to be major plot points in a future episode. Or many future episodes, sometimes years and a regeneration or two later. (And it all makes sense and/or reaches a conclusion: "Lost" writers, please take note.)
Being a Time Lord gives The Doctor more leeway than the "Star Trek" Prime Directive, but he does have his own code and rule book to follow. His human companions also often provide the moral and ethical balance to The Doctor's strays into heavy-handed power trips. Conversely, he's able to see the bigger picture and wider implications of the dire situations they're facing. It's the "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" all over again.
Red Shirt
The "red shirt" guy is a long-standing joke amongst "Star Trek" fans, and even non-fans. Beginning with the original series, any unknown crew person sent on an away mission was destined to get killed--usually as soon as the team arrived on the new planet. This showed how serious the enemy was, without sacrificing any of the main characters we knew and loved. In the original series, the unlucky person was usually wearing a red uniform shirt. In future series, even if they tried to hide the sacrificial lamb in a different uniform, we all knew he was the "red shirt" guy. The trope is so much a part of "Star Trek" fandom that the new movie reboot included a death of a lesser character on an away mission--in you-now-what-color uniform.
"Doctor Who" has taken the "red shirt" character to a whole new level. While the series does have its nameless casualties, it much prefers to introduce a clever, goodhearted, honorable and selfless person that we instantly gain affection for--and then she sacrifices herself for the good of her species, or the universe. Prime examples include tree woman Jabe (Yasmin Bannerman) in Season 1's "The End of the World" and space explorer Adelaide Brooke (Lindsay Duncan) in the 2009 special "The Waters of Mars." Now meeting an attractive, kindhearted and level-headed character in "Doctor Who" fills fans with nail-biting dread.
A Hero and His Sidekick
Most sci-fi, fantasy and comic book fans are romantics at heart--even if they won't admit it. We can enjoy creepy aliens, looming space ships and planets on fire, as long as the guy with the flying white horse, Enterprise or TARDIS shows up and saves the day. Once our "Star Trek" heroes left the great wide TV universe, we needed someone to fill the void--or rather, seal up The Void, preferably with The Daleks in it. "Doctor Who" gave us a new captain to cheer for, with the added bonus of being basically immortal. No matter how often he changes his face or form, he's still our valiant Doctor.
Kirk had Spock, and The Doctor had Rose. Every hero needs a "Number One," and "Star Trek" always provided their captains with a close adviser to bounce ideas off of. They also took turns saving each other's lives. While having a confidante and solid back-up in sticky situations helped our space military heroes stay safe and triumph over the bad guys, as noted above, sometimes the Doctor's companions help prevent him from being the bad guy. As Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) said in "The Runaway Bride": "'Sometimes I think you need someone to stop you."
More To Love
There are other "Star Trek" parallels in the new "Doctor Who," like the sometimes cheesy effects that are overshadowed by the complex and lovable characters and tricky plots. Then there's the way "Doctor Who" ramped up those early space voyagers' attempts at multiculturalism, including envisioning a wider array of aliens than "human-like with weird foreheads." Another step forward is Captain Jack Harkness, the omnisexual immortal and incurable flirt who both hero-worships and crushes on The Doctor. The oft-shirtless stud could be considered the modern day Captain Kirk himself.
What do you think, Yahoo!TV sci-fi fans? Do you see other "Star Trek" parallels in "Doctor Who"? Has the new series been giving you the fix you need to explore "where no one has gone before"?
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