Getting free passes in college to previews of the first NAKED GUN, F/X, CRIMSON TIDE and STRANGE DAYS was fun.
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What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?
- Thread starter Amasov
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Ditto. I saw a lot of movies for a buck because, well why not?
The "Dr. Joseph M'Benga" of SNW is not the Dr. M'Benga of "A Private Little War" and "That Which Survives," but an older relative.
Note that Booker Bradshaw was approximately 28 years old when "A Private Little War" was filmed, but Babs Olusanmokun was 38 -- ten years older -- when SNW debuted. With the exception of T. H. White's version of Merlyn, the natives of the planet Ork, and the people of the alternate universe visited in "The Counter-Clock Inciden," people don't generally age backwards (and in the latter case, it can be explained as either {a} the Enterprise crew only perceived it that way, because that universe's physics played tricks with their brains, or {b} that entire universe was, at least according to ADF, a construct of a species known as "The Wanderers Who Play.")
Remember: up until Datalore, all relevant press releases (and presumably the TNG Writers' Guide) declared that Data had been created by an unknown alien entity, in atonement for accidentally wiping out the Omicron Theta colony. Until it is established in a scene that doesn't end up on the cutting room floor, nothing the producers, writing staff, or talent say about a character is canon.
And it's hardly unusual for doctors to be relatives of other doctors: my mentor at the International Printing Museum was a retired gynecologist (he had retired from obstetrics several years earlier because the malpractice insurance for an OB was just too expensive), whose uncle was a general surgeon. (Why would a gynecologist be a senior docent at a printing museum? Because he was a lifelong graphic arts hobbyist, of course!)
Note that Booker Bradshaw was approximately 28 years old when "A Private Little War" was filmed, but Babs Olusanmokun was 38 -- ten years older -- when SNW debuted. With the exception of T. H. White's version of Merlyn, the natives of the planet Ork, and the people of the alternate universe visited in "The Counter-Clock Inciden," people don't generally age backwards (and in the latter case, it can be explained as either {a} the Enterprise crew only perceived it that way, because that universe's physics played tricks with their brains, or {b} that entire universe was, at least according to ADF, a construct of a species known as "The Wanderers Who Play.")
Remember: up until Datalore, all relevant press releases (and presumably the TNG Writers' Guide) declared that Data had been created by an unknown alien entity, in atonement for accidentally wiping out the Omicron Theta colony. Until it is established in a scene that doesn't end up on the cutting room floor, nothing the producers, writing staff, or talent say about a character is canon.
And it's hardly unusual for doctors to be relatives of other doctors: my mentor at the International Printing Museum was a retired gynecologist (he had retired from obstetrics several years earlier because the malpractice insurance for an OB was just too expensive), whose uncle was a general surgeon. (Why would a gynecologist be a senior docent at a printing museum? Because he was a lifelong graphic arts hobbyist, of course!)
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Or {c} character age ≠ actor age.
That might work if Booker Bradshaw looked 48 in 1968, or Babs Olusanmokun looked 18 today.
It works fine.
Bradshaw was 28 in 1968, looked older IMO.
Jean-Luc Picard was 59 going on 60 in Season 1 of TNG. At the time Patrick Stewart was just 47 going on 48.
Visual age discrepancies are nothing new in Trek.
Visual age discrepancies are nothing new in Trek.
It still blows my mind that staging the shuttle scene and paying all those extras to pose as guards was cheaper than paying for the Transporter FX! How times have changed...
Or did the Transporter Room scene as originally scripted also include the honour guard detail? That would make more sense!
I wonder about that as well. On the one hand it was a "bottle" show. OTOH, it had a whole mess of extras and alien makeup. So I'm not sure why this came down to a cost cutting measure. Especially since (IMHO) the shuttle arrival is way more cinematic.It still blows my mind that staging the shuttle scene and paying all those extras to pose as guards was cheaper than paying for the Transporter FX! How times have changed...
Or did the Transporter Room scene as originally scripted also include the honour guard detail? That would make more sense!
But that was on purpose,* Roddenberry wanted to illustrate future people would live longer, be healthy longer so he made a 24th century 60yo. look like a 47yo. from the 20th century
* If i recall correctly. My memory is not as good anymore
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This is what I'm leaning towards.
I agree with character age not equaling actor age, but I'm thinking of something else.
I think M'Benga's PTSD will do him in before the series ends. I think "Under the Cloak of War" wasn't the last of it. His actions will escalate into something more, something where it's going to be harder to look the other way. That looks like his trajectory to me. He'll get stripped of his CMO title, to make way for McCoy. If he's demoted, it's him in TOS. If he's taken off the ship, then it's a relative in TOS. I don't know which way they'll go, could be either one, but I lean towards the latter.
I hope it's not him in TOS. Because then he was demoted and made subservient to a White Guy within his department. And that rubs me the wrong way.
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I never felt M'Benga was demoted. He stated he had done time as a resident on Vulcan. Right now (and this might be more head canon than controversial opinion) I figured he stepped away, served on Vulcan as a resident, then return to the Enterprise, but the billet for CMO was already filled. He opted to step in as a staff medical officer, because he wanted to be on the Enterprise due to past relationships.
^
Every bit of this. This is my train of thought as well.
Every bit of this. This is my train of thought as well.
Why would M'Benga want to go back to the Enterprise and to a lower position? Why not go to a different ship with an opening for the position he had before?
Does he just like the Enterprise that much?
Does he just like the Enterprise that much?
He likes Spock, is my thinking.
Having been both a staff position and a supervisor I can tell you that being a department head is not always fun. So, I could easily see wanting to come back in to a position of less responsibility or more focused on different work.
Fondness for his old ship and the officers who'd survived the transfer in command from Pike to Kirk.
Another SNW character who should have just been given a different name.
Actually, the name "Joseph" was never used in either of the two episodes M'Benga appeared in, was it? Apparently this was in the original script.
Ha! From The Great Bird:
Actually, the name "Joseph" was never used in either of the two episodes M'Benga appeared in, was it? Apparently this was in the original script.
Ha! From The Great Bird:
Ahhh Gene, you scamp.
I mean...I see the arguments for both sides. One the one hand, there is nothing that really precludes them from being the same character, other than adding to more details than we already had. On the other, does the character really benefit by being connected?
I think that's up for the individual fan to sort out.
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