The Doctor as Labor Leader

 

The Doctor as Labor Leader

(Attn: Spoiler Alert!)

We're just back from Marcon 52 and trying hard to catch up with things, so this week's review wasn't the first thing on my to-do list. I put off watching the latest Doctor Who episode for a few days (so I could make myself finish several projects first), and now I wish I hadn't. 

I find it amazing how my "day job" of being the editor of Our Revolution Continues dovetailed nicely into this week's episode, Oxygen. Both blogs are on the topics of worker/employer -- or more accurately slave/master-- relationships. To see what I mean, check out my piece at the O.R.C. blog, How to Build a Better Slave, er Worker. The fact that most human beings don't recognize how they're being manipulated and used by the oligarchy isn't a new concept, but seeing it portrayed in an effectively sinister way on Doctor Who really surprised me. Kudos to writer Jamie Mathieson, known for penning the better scripts in Peter Capaldi's first season, for once again writing a worthy episode for Peter's Doctor.

 Oxygen is quite a unique screenplay. The overt theme of the story is particularly intriguing, considering the accusations the BBC head  made thirty years ago against the producers of Doctor Who for  putting on a "leftist show." It got the show cancelled, so is this "leftist bent" made during the Theresa May leadership going to result in the same thing, or is the Beeb more interested in ratings rather than politics this time around? I think they're in it for the money, so a story theme about how human life is cheap and easily disposed of by those with the power and wealth is even more poignant.


But it wasn't all just politics--the "spacesuit zombies" were pretty creepy. You don't expect something that's supposed to protect you like a spacesuit to try and kill you. Nice touch linking the capitalists' greed to overtly killing their workers/slaves. At least the worker/slaves at the Chasm Forge understood they had a limited supply of oxygen, but they expected their masters to provide more. Too bad, so sad their corporate masters felt the workers weren't worth giving the "benefits of breathing."

There was definitely more "meat" to the plot this time out, and more Nardole as well. I've been wondering if Matt Lucas was going to get more lines, and this story featured him well. He's a loyal and conscientious companion, and he's trying to keep the Doctor on task--which we all know isn't an easy thing to do. How Nardole as a character will develop in subsequent episodes intrigues me and will keep me watching.

Bill in this episode plays the innocent in space, trusting that the Doctor and a spacesuit will protect her from the evil of the "zombies" and the faceless corporate oligarchs. The Doctor risking his own sight to save her--and then seemingly risking her life to save her again later--was quite dramatic. It's great to see Peter Capaldi playing a heroic Doctor who is willing to lay down his own life/health for the safety of his companion without hesitation. We've had enough of the "darkness" Steven Moffat tried to infuse into the first two seasons of Peter's tenure. 
 
Let the Doctor be a hero and his companions worthy aides in his fight to save humanity against the evils in the universe. Please, Doctor, come to Earth and be our labor leader! Save us from the blind greed of our corporate masters who take and take from the working poor to fill their bloated off-shore bank accounts!

What do you think of Peter Capaldi's Doctor and  the episodes so far? Leave your comments below.

P.S. It's sometimes uncanny how you can predict the future, even if you're not a Time Lord... While I was doing some edit work on my upcoming re-release of  Leaving Who, I realized I'd coin the term "The Mistress" many years before Steven Moffat had. Maybe I time traveled and didn't realize it?

The Space Crawl

The Space Crawl

It sounds like a new kind of swimming stroke or perhaps a retro-dance from the sixties. Unfortunately, it’s probably the most accurate way to describe the current state of the manned space program in the U.S.

The shuttle Atlantis’ recent landing ended the space shuttle era. Now the U.S. finds itself with only one way to get its astronauts to the International Space Station: pay the Russians for a seat aboard a Soyuz capsule. At $51 to $67 million a person, it’s one of the most expensive taxis in the universe. And what’s more, only one American can go at a time, since the other two slots are  for Russian Cosmonauts.

I know a lot of folks out there wonder why someone who professes a “green bent” and is into “reduce, reuse and recycle” would mourn the end of the Space Race era. Yes, I admit I miss all the excitement of watching a Saturn V launch from Cape Canaveral and streak toward the moon. I miss the fuzzy video of astronauts walking and driving across the lunar landscape. I miss the sheer terror of the capsule splashdown at sea. But what I think I will miss the most is our loss of pride and obvious intelligence. The U.S. has let its manned space program essentially collapse under the weight of bureaucracy and politics, throwing thousands upon thousands of people who worked either directly and indirectly for NASA out of work.

How does putting thousands out of work, hamstringing our own manned space efforts, and losing all the momentum from the Space Race era help the current U.S. economy? Talk about not “reusing” and “recycling”! We’re forcing professional rocket scientists, astronauts, and all their support personnel back into the workforce to compete with the rest of us for jobs at McDonald’s and Wally-World.

All those wonderful inventions inspired by NASA like Tang and Velcro? Who cares! The Russians and Chinese will be creating—and marketing—all future tech inspired by space travel. The money and commerce this tech will generate will add a rosy glow to their economic futures. Too bad it won’t be helping anyone in the good ol’ U.S.A.

Who really needs to be innovative? Most Americans would probably say as long as they have their iPhone and reality TV shows they’re perfectly happy to let others design and implement the world of tomorrow. They'll complain that their new playthings cost more--and that the instructions will be written in Russian or Chinese--but they'll adapt.

But all is not totally lost. In How to Build Your Own Spaceship by Piers Bizony, the author details which private enterprises are working on manned space transports and what sorts of future tech we’ll be seeing in the next few decades. While he is cautiously optimistic, I can’t help but think that, since these are private individuals and corporations creating the space tech, they won’t be sharing the benefits of said tech freely with the public.

And all those lovely photos taken in space that NASA gave away for nothing? We might have to pay to see the next coolest galaxy spied from a private spacecraft. We might have to sign up to  a pay-on-demand channel to see the first fuzzy images from a private moonbase or trip to Mars. Sure, if you have a big chunk of change you too can fly on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic shuttle, but how many of us will be able to afford it? We’ll be working at McDonald’s.

One online article stated that while thousands of NASA astronauts, scientists and engineers were about to be thrown out of work by the end of the shuttle program, the bureaucrats at NASA held no fear—their jobs were simply going to be moved to another department.

Paper-pushers push out the innovators of technology that has helped us all live better lives... Uh-huh. I say let’s recycle the paper-pushers and put the rocket scientists back to work. I’d rather my taxes go to support the creators of future space technology. I’d rather see the infinite stars than endless miles of red tape. Wouldn't you?