Doctor Who Christmas Special .... SCRAPPED!!!!

eazzie · November 2018

The BBC have confirmed that there is to be no Doctor Who Christmas Day episode this year. Instead they have opted to air a special episode to be shown on New Year's Day instead.

artan42 · November 2018

It wasn't 'scrapped' because they never planned one.

And good. I liked the first one (Christmas Invasion not the Hartnell Feast of Steven) and the latest one but the others were all so dull.

starkaos · November 2018

Speaking of problems with the latest Doctor Who season, the only problem I have had so far is with the villain in the Rosa Parks episode. His character just doesn't make any sense. We have a time-travelling racist from the future that wants to stop Rosa Park's act of rebellion so he can keep the black people down. It is extremely doubtful that racism would even exist in 500 years much less thousands of years from when the villain came from. There is also the futility of stopping the momentum of civil rights since even if he stopped Rosa Parks, then there will always be another act of rebellion until all American are treated equally. The villain's motives makes as much sense as someone pushing a victim into a volcano to appease the gods in 21st Century America. Besides there are far better ways to portray racism in science fiction with discrimination towards aliens, genetically engineered organisms, cyborgs, and robots.

rattler2 · November 2018

I think that you're taking it a little too in the moment literal. Think bigger picture. Temporal Mechanics would basically say that any change would cause ripples across time right? Go back far enough... the simple act of stepping on a bug could alter the very course of evolution.

In that moment, yea you may be right in saying that preventing Rosa Parks' actions may not mean much... but think about how much of an impact it had on American history. How many people were inspired by her.

Closest Star Trek comparison I can think of is the episode with Edith Keeler.

memory alpha wrote:

After traveling back in time from the year 2267 through the sentient time portal known as the Guardian of Forever, Doctor Leonard McCoy made the acquaintance of Keeler, who took care of him while he was in a delusional state as the result of an accidental cordrazine overdose. Keeler was a strong and vocal pacifist and her ideas on space travel, new energy sources, and a peaceful society brought ridicule from those at the shelter.

Upon recovering, McCoy saved Keeler from dying in a traffic accident, unwittingly changing history. This resulted in the creation of an alternate timeline in which Keeler continued striving for her goals, and eventually founded one of the largest peace movements in the United States. Her actions finally attracted the attention of President Roosevelt, with whom she met on February 23, 1936, to confer on her plan of action for assisting the needy. By the late 1930s, the growing pacifism caused by actions Keeler set into motion would delay the United States' involvement in World War II, allowing Germany to complete its heavy water experiments and be first in the development of the atomic bomb. This, together with the V-2 rocket, enabled Germany to conquer the world.

In this example... one life literally changed the world. History was rewritten because one person pushed for peace at the wrong time, enabling a hostile power to develop the A-Bomb first and win WW2.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Edith_Keeler

Now... what could happen with the Rosa Parks thing... hard to say. It could push back the Civil Rights movement by a lot, causing a domino effect chain reaction.

starkaos · November 2018

There is a slight difference between Rosa Parks and Edith Keeler. Edith Keeler created a peace movement that had the unfortunate side effect of allowing Germany to win World War II.

With Rosa Parks, there would have always been another Rosa Parks. Surprisingly enough, she was not the first to refuse to give up her seat. There was 5 other women in the Browder v. Gale trial that eventually got rid of the Bus Segregation Law. Almost everyone knows about Rosa Parks, but hardly anyone knows about Claudette Colvin which refused to give up her seat 9 months earlier. So even if the villain succeeded, then the only change in history would have been some other woman refusing to give up her seat.

rattler2 · November 2018

Missing the point I was trying to make though. How many people were inspired by Rosa Parks? There may have been others, but she was the one in the spotlight. Edith Keeler was at that point in time a nobody. It was only years later that she would have started that movement that ended up allowing Germany to win.

Rosa Parks, at the time, was just as much of a nobody as Edith Keeler. The reason she's so well known now is because of her actions back then. When she did them, she wasn't some Civil Rights Advocate. She was just riding the bus.

Again... we don't know how history would have played out if she hadn't refused to give up her seat. On one hand perhaps you're right and someone else would have done the same sometime down the road. But on the other hand... all those people that WERE inspired by Rosa Parks might not be, which would cause a domino effect. For all we know... Without Rosa Parks, we wouldn't have had as strong a Civil Rights movement as we had. Less people to follow MLK, less people pushing for change...

You can't just brush things like this off and say "oh well someone else would have done it later". That's like saying "Not my problem. Someone else will report it" if you witness a crime. What if someone doesn't report it though?

Where and when is just as important as who.
Would someone else refusing to give up their seat in say... Florida or South Carolina have had the same impact as her in Montgomery, Alabama?

You are right in saying she wasn't the only one... HOWEVER...

wikipedia wrote:

Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation, but the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) believed that she was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest for civil disobedience in violating Alabama segregation laws.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

There are many factors to consider. Not just who was involved.

Doctor Who Christmas Special .... SCRAPPED!!!!

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