If it tried to be Doctor Who, it was wholly by accident.
Turn The Channel On This TOS Episode…
- Thread starter Spock's Barber
- Start date
And groundlessly.
From the proposal document, available here:
Today’s audience more and more seeks escape and identification with larger-than-life characters. Ordinary people are getting hemmed in by an increasingly complex and frightening world and the viewer finds that identification and escape are possible only through characters who have unusual strengths and abilities. Examples:
I SPY, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, HARPER, OUR MAN FLINT, JAMES BOND; and we find the same factor in comedies such as BEWITCHED, GET SMART, and others.
Those are the conscious influences, and Roddenberry and Wallace weren't shy about mentioning them. On the contrary, obviously, they hoped mention of the similarities would bolster acceptance of the proposal.
If anything, Doctor Who was inspired by the very same larger-than-life hero trope that Roddenberry and Wallace were taking inspiration from for the Tony/Gary Seven character, not the other way around!
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I missed this. Gary Seven was never a time traveler. Simply a human abducted by aliens to serve a purpose. The time traveling stuff came later in novels and comics.
Gary Seven had knowledge of the future, and Scott considered it possible that his transporter beam could have moved him backwards in time. While he claimed he himself was of the 20th century, clearly the organization he worked for were time travelers [transcript]:
SEVEN: (to the cat) Yes, I heard him, Isis. We're aboard a space vessel. From what planet?
KIRK: Earth.
SEVEN: That's impossible. In this time period, there weren't (notices Spock) Humans with a Vulcan? You're from the future, Captain. You're going to have to beam me down to Earth immediately.
(Security arrive.)
KIRK: Phasers on stun.
SEVEN: Careful, Isis. All right. Captain Kirk. My name is Gary Seven. I am a human being from the twentieth century. I was on my way
KIRK: Humans of the twentieth century do not go beaming around the galaxy, Mister Seven.
SEVEN: I've been living on another planet far more advanced. I was beaming to Earth when you intercepted me.
KIRK: The location of that planet?
SEVEN: They wish their existence kept secret. Even in your time, it will remain unknown.
SCOTT: It's impossible to hide a whole planet.
SEVEN: Impossible for you, not for them. Captain Kirk, I am of this time period. You are not. You interfere with me with what I have to do there, and you'll change history. You'll destroy the Earth and probably yourselves, too.
[...]
SCOTT [on monitor]: Still unable to analyze it, sir. It was so powerful, it fused most of our recording circuits. Could have brought him back through great distances, could have brought him back through time. There's no way for us to know.
Right - I was wondering about that too. Maybe the poster got confused with the Enterprise's time travel and attributed it to Seven.
Personally, I never saw any connection between Gary Seven and the Doctor until reading it right now on this here board. It's a cool theory, but I don't think it bears any scrutiny.
Wherever was that established? Can TNG?
Even in future time periods, it is argued.Another one of those things we can spend the next fifty years arguing about.
Yes as a kid I thought Vaal was cool looking, but most of the rest of the episode put me to sleep…except for all of the red shirts getting whacked.
I changed the channel the other night when City on the Edge of Forever was on, but that's only because I've seen it eleventy billion times.
BTW -- and sorry for the double-post -- but speaking of streaming, one thing that does irritate me is that Paramount+ only has the "remastered" versions (an improper use of the term) available. Amazon always had the originals available too, although you had to dig a bit for them. I prefer to watch the episodes with the original effects. I wish Paramount+ would offer both versions. It's not like it would be difficult for them to do so.
Besides, you had to get off your butt and actually turn the dial on the TV. And there were three other channels to choose from. And when Star Trek was on the other three channels were showing news, and I was a child.Especially, way back when. There was usually nothing else on worth watching!
And when the channel knob broke, dive for the nearest set of pliers. *shakes cane*
True story. My dad used to send me out with a pipe wrench on the antenna mast to tune in the clearest signal on various channels.
Totally did the pliers thing.Similar threads
