In this episode we review and analyze episode 5 of season 8, entitled ‘Time Heist’. Is life less valuable when we lose our memories? Plus, What do all the Greek references mean?
Join Jimmy Akin, Dom Bettinelli and Fr. Roderick for discussion, analysis and speculation!
In this episode we review and analyse episode 4 of season 8, entitled ‘Listen’. The overarching theme in this episode was overcoming fear. We also get some rare glimpses of the Doctor’s past! Join Jimmy Akin, Dom Bettinelli and Fr. Roderick for discussion, analysis and informed speculation!
In this episode we review and analyse episode 2 of season 8, entitled ‘Into the Dalek’. The Doctor enters the innards of his arch enemy in an attempt to save its life… and its soul. But what about the soul of the Doctor himself? Join Jimmy Akin, Stephanie Zimmer, Fr. Cory Sticha, Dom Bettinelli and Fr. Roderick for discussion, analysis and informed speculation!
In this episode Jimmy joins Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, Stephanie Zimmer, Fr. Cory Sticha and Dom Bettinelli to review the first story of the new season of Doctor Who, “Deep Breath.”
This is part of the SQPN podcast series The Secrets of Doctor Who, which will be reviewing all 12 episodes of this year’s season of Doctor Who.
Steven Moffat has just released a prequel mini-episode to the 50th anniversary Doctor Who special that will be broadcast later this month.
It’s titled The Night of the Doctor.
WOW!
Mini-episodes like this are often interesting and/or amusing, but they are rarely must-see.
This one is different. For any long-term Doctor Who fan, this one is must see!
We already know, from things that have been revealed by the publicity, that the 50th anniversary special will deal with the Time War that took place between the original Doctor Who series and the new series that started in 2005.
There are many unanswered questions about the Time War and the Doctor’s role in it, such as which of his incarnations participated n it and how some of his regenerations happened.
I don’t want to spoil what happens in the mini-episode, but long-time fans of the series really should watch it. We get some questions answered. We even get to see one thing that I never thought’d we’d see.
(One note: If you have not seen the conclusion to season 7 and don’t want to be spoiled on the final reveal in The Name of the Doctor, wait to watch the mini-episode.)
NOTE FOR THOSE WHO WONDER WHAT THE FUSS IS ABOUT . . .
SPOILER SPACE.
After the original Doctor Who series ended, there was an attempt to get a new one started in the 1990s. They did a pilot movie, but it didn’t lead to a series.
That pilot movie was the first and only appearance on video of actor Paul McGann as the 8th incarnation of the Doctor.
We saw the 7th Doctor regenerate into McGann, but we never saw McGann’s regeneration or knew his role in the Time War.
This mini-episode has McGann as the 8th Doctor, meaning it is only the second time he has appeared on film as the Doctor. It also reveals that the 8th Doctor was active during part of the Time War but was not the incarnation who ended it.
We also get to see McGann’s regeneration into John Hurt–McGann’s regeneration being something many fans (including myself) never expected to see on film.
In 1992, actor Michael O’Hare was cast as Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, the lead character on the television program Babylon 5.
He remained with the show for its first season and then was suddenly written out.
When the second season began, Sinclair was replaced by Capt. John Sheridan, played by Bruce Boxleitner.
While I very much enjoyed Boxleitner’s performance, I–like all the existing fans–wondered what happened to O’Hare.
The truth is something I never guessed . . .
What People Did Guess
The leading theory in fandom was that the executives at Warner Brothers (or its subsidiary PTEN, which ran Babylon 5) had demanded that O’Hare be fired and replaced.
According to the common account, the show was struggling to get off the ground, and O’Hare’s performance was thought to be a drag on it.
A new, more likable main character needed to be brought in, and so the stoic Sinclair was replaced by the ebullient Sheridan.
It was thought that this was unfair to O’Hare, because he had been intentionally asked to play a character who was wounded.
The Battle of the Line
Sinclair had fought at the Battle of the Line, when the Minbari nearly destroyed Earth.
Something mysterious happened to him during this battle, and his memories of it had been erased.
The result left him one of the walking wounded.
During the first season of the show, cracks began to appear in the wall that had been built in his mind, and his memories began to resurface, bit by bit.
In one episode in particular, a covert group of agents from Earth put him through a kind of psychological torture in an attempt to force his memories to resurface.
Because he was mentally injured by the mysterious thing that happened to his character at the Battle of the Line, O’Hare was asked to initially play the part as solemn and reserved.
The idea was that he would open up as his character arc progressed and as he learned what had happened to him and he dealt with it.
By the end of the first season, he was less stiff and formal than he had been at the beginning. The loosening up was happening.
It seemed unfair that, just as the character was reaching this point in his personal story arc, he was written out by the executives’ demands.
Not the First Time
It wouldn’t have been the first time that this kind of thing happened in a television series–or even a science-fiction series.
In the long-running BBC Doctor Who franchise, the sixth actor to play the Doctor–Colin Baker–had been asked to play a deliberately abrasive Doctor in 1984.
When he was first introduced, he acted arrogant and erratic and physically attacked his uncomprehending companion.
He also declared: “I am the Doctor, whether you like it . . . or not!”
It seemed like a deliberate affront to the fans of the show, who immediately began to complain about the “unlikeable Doctor.”
The idea was that the arrogant, erratic Doctor would eventually be transformed into a likable one over the course of his character arc, but this wasn’t clear to the viewers, many of whom had a strongly negative reaction.
The show suffered as the result of this disastrous creative decision, and Colin Baker was fired in 1986 and the part went to Sylvester McCoy.
O’Hare’s Departure
Had the same thing happened on Babylon 5?
Had J. Michael Straczynski’s (JMS’s) creative decision to introduce Cmdr. Sinclair as an initially stiff, wounded character doomed him, just as he was starting to loosen up on the show?
This is what a lot of fans thought.
Their speculation seemed confirmed when, after O’Hare’s departure was announced, JMS took out an ad in the Hollywood newspaper Variety (if I recall correctly) endorsing Michael O’Hare, seeking to help his career as an actor.
It looked like JMS and O’Hare were on the same side against “the suits.”
Truth Is A Three-Edged Sword
But it turned out that the truth is something far stranger . . . and more tragic.
It can only be told now that O’Hare has passed away.
Michael O’Hare suffered a heart attack in September 2012 and died a few days later.
Just a couple of weeks ago, at a science-fiction convention in late May 2013, JMS revealed the truth that had been hidden all these years.
Between the Darkness and the Light
According to Wikipedia:
During the filming of the first season of Babylon 5, O’Hare began exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia.
Halfway through filming, his hallucinations worsened and the stress of playing a character who was suffering from a similar mental illness was becoming overwhelming.
Remember that O’Hare was being asked to play the character of Sinclair, who had been psychologically wounded at the Battle of the Line and who now was suffering with breakthrough memories caused, in part, by the attempt of sinister, persecuting government agents to force his missing memories to the surface.
It became increasingly difficult for O’Hare to continue work, his behavior was becoming increasingly erratic and he was often at odds with his colleagues.
O’Hare sought treatment for his mental illness, but feared that, as the main character of Babylon 5, taking an extended medical leave of absence would destroy the show just as it was getting off the ground.
This brings us to the same point that many fans suspected: the future of the show was in question.
Only instead of it being O’Hare’s on-screen performance as judged by executives that was a threat to the show, it was O’Hare’s psychological health, as judged by O’Hare himself that was the threat.
Acts of Sacrifice
So what happened next?
J. Michael Straczynski, the show’s creator and main writer, offered to suspend the show for several months to accommodate O’Hare’s treatment; however O’Hare refused to put so many other people’s jobs at risk.
Straczinski agreed to keep his condition secret to protect O’Hare’s career.
O’Hare agreed to complete the first season but would be subsequently written out of the second season so that he could seek treatment.
The Long, Twilight Struggle
According to Wikipedia:
He reappeared in a cameo appearance early in season two and returned in season three for the double episode War Without End which closed his character’s story arc.
He made no further appearances in Babylon 5.
Although his treatments were somewhat successful, he was never fully cured.
On his return to Babylon 5, Straczinski promised again that he would keep his condition secret to his grave.
O’Hare told him to “keep the secret to MY grave” pointing out that fans deserved to eventually learn the real reason for his departure, and that his experience could raise awareness and understanding for people suffering from mental illness.
On May 25th 2013, Straczynski fulfilled his end of the promise and finally revealed the reasons behind O’Hare’s departure from Babylon 5.
Beyond the Rim
Here’s the video of JMS explaining what happened to Michael O’Hare and the other actors from the series who have passed, including Richard Biggs (Stephen Franklin), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allen), and Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar).
Discussion of Michael O’Hare’s departure begins at 9:40.
They're about to reveal Doctor Who's name. Here are some thoughts . . .
We’re just about up to the final episode of the current season of Doctor Who.
The title of the episode is “The Name of the Doctor,” and it promises to reveal the Doctor’s actual name, something that has never been revealed in the 50-year history of the show.
We’ll apparently learn the Doctor’s name–and why he’s kept is secret all this time–at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, when “The Name of the Doctor” airs on BBC America (or a few hours earlier, if you’re in the U.K.).
Here are a few thoughts . . .
Will They Really Reveal It?
I’m guessing that they will.
This runs the risk of taking an element of the mystery out of the show, but they’ve been teasing the audience with the idea for some time, and recently they’ve ramped that up in a big way.
With all the teasing, with titling the season’s final episode the way they did, and with putting “His Secret Revealed” on the promotional poster (above), they’ll have a lot of hacked off fans if they fail to deliver.
Well, not really; but it makes for an intriguing post title.
In my post Made In America, I mentioned that I had once appeared on The Antiques Roadshow. A reader commented:
"Michelle, you have teased us and now you must produce — what is your Antiques Roadshow experience?"
A couple of years ago the show filmed in San Diego. A coworker had been asked to attend the taping by a friend who had won two tickets to the show. The coworker was unable to go, knew that I loved the show, and asked her friend if I could have the ticket. Friend said yes, so off we went.
Well, not really; but it makes for an intriguing post title.
In my post Made In America, I mentioned that I had once appeared on The Antiques Roadshow. A reader commented:
"Michelle, you have teased us and now you must produce — what is your Antiques Roadshow experience?"
A couple of years ago the show filmed in San Diego. A coworker had been asked to attend the taping by a friend who had won two tickets to the show. The coworker was unable to go, knew that I loved the show, and asked her friend if I could have the ticket. Friend said yes, so off we went.
As a sometimes-viewer of the Food Network, I occasionally watched the Japanese cooking show, Iron Chef, a kind-of reality game show that pits the contestant master chef against one of the three master "iron chefs" in pan-to-pan competition. Because the show had to be dubbed for American audiences, I rarely watched. But it has now been Americanized in Iron Chef America and I find that I watch more often.
What is it about foreign shows that they are (usually) better when they are Americanized? With the Iron Chef show the answer was easy: un-dubbed English speakers. But I’ve found that this is the case in other imported shows as well.
For example, I love the American version of the Antiques Roadshow — even appeared on it once, but that’s another story — but the British version left me cold. In that case, I think the difference was two-fold: one, the British show usually only appraised paintings and furniture while the American show features more diverse antiques; and, two, the Americans are more excited about their stuff. A Brit can be told that his great-great-great grandmother’s whatchamacallit is a national treasure and barely blink; an American will jump up and down and hug the appraiser.
It’s interesting how the cultural differences between two different countries — and ones that are relatively similar in many respects — can completely change the texture of a show.
In this episode we review and analyze episode 5 of season 8, entitled ‘Time Heist’. Is life less valuable when we lose our memories? Plus, What do all the Greek references mean?
