Ah, frak it ! A Star Trek Pitch

Hi Alex, 

Yesterday, I wrote a letter to Robert Meyer Burnett. It was a plan for resetting Star Trek for the post-Kurtzman era. And key to it was an antagonist/villain I called Captain Black. Long story short, Captain Black has been messing with the timeline. He is stopped and the timeline is fixed. If you want to read the long version, check out...

https://xanthi-rising.blogspot.com/2025/09/how-to-fix-star-trek-in-5-steps.html 

But Captain Black was only a placeholder name/character. So who could Captain Black really be ? Well, I made a top three. So let's get going...

1) Somebody New... This might be the easiest thing to do. Just create a new character for the reset. Somebody from some race we haven't heard of before. Or a member of some old foe cooking up a plan to take over the galaxy yet again.

2) Future Guy.... One of Enterprise's biggest loose ends. I know the novels answered this question. But IMHO that solution was a bit....meh. And Paramount has made it clear that the novels are not canon to the shows. So here's a chance to do it again.

3) The unhinged one and my favorite.....Rassilion

Wait ? That crazy president guy from Doctor Who ? The one played by Timothy Dalton for a bit ? Dude, that's not even the right franchise ! I know, I know, but hear me out....

The last time we saw Rassilion, the 12th Doctor exiled him from Gallifrey. At the time, Gallifrey was located near the end of its universe. There was a fair chance that there was nowhere for Rassilion to go. So it makes sense that he went to another universe. This also provides a nice McGuffin for why he survived The Master's shenanigans in the Timeless Child plot-line. I won't bother you with a recap of that plot, all you need to know is that the (most of) the Time Lords were wiped out AGAIN. 

But more importantly, the Time Lords have a piece of tech called the Hand of Omega. It allows them to remotely manipulate stars. The Hand is a perfect way to explain the Romulan Supernova, which is one of the stupidest things in NuTrek. Remember, the Romulans started out as Vulcans and colonized a new world. The idea that they would not check if all the nearby stars for supernova potential is TOO STUPID FOR WORDS. 

If any of the stars near Romulus were only a few thousand years from kicking the bucket, there would have signs. The colonists would have seen them and not settled the planet. But if it was Rassilion using the Hand to mess with the star, things start to make a lot more sense. Especially since the Romulans use black holes to power their warp drives. And don't use dilithium. 

This also stitches the absolute disaster of a plot that is the Burn a bit. Not only is it a little less far-fetched if there is a puppet master, it makes sense that Rassilion would take out the Romulans first. Since they are the only major power that would not be effected by the next phase of his plan. 

What is Rassilion's end game ? Well, I think he's the one who created the Time Wars. Having fought in the Last Great Time War, he would know exactly how to do it. Which strings to pull. And then the governments do exactly what he wants them to do. They totally outlaw time travel. Leaving him with a total monopoly on time travel and unshackled to play god.

And the beauty is that nobody is every going to suspect him, because everybody thinks he doesn't exist. He's 'just some character from some old TV show'.  

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

Ruining Victor's Day (Part 2)

 Where were we ?

 Last time, we ended with Coulson about to go Time Lord... (Long story, you might want to read Part 1) ...which is exactly what happens. Coulson regenerates into...a young Martin Freeman ? Yes, that would be my plan. The regeneration saves Coulson's life. But....wouldn't people have noticed Everett Ross being a Time Lord ?

No, because the Humans aren't used to turning into Time Lords. So Coulson is out cold. It is at this point that the Sisterhood of Karn arrives and uses a piece of technology called a Chameleon Arch on him. The Arch turns a Time Lord into a Human and stores the 'extra' bit inside an old-fashioned fob-watch. 

When the Doctor used the Arch, he didn't remember who he used to be and became a Human called John Smith. So Coulson becomes Everett Ross. As for how much of Ross' memories are real...? A lot. 

He became younger because Time Lord cells are much denser then Human ones. And there is only so much mass and energy to go around. So he really did enlist in the Air Force, married his (now ex-)wife and served in the CIA.

Why do it like this ?

There are lots of issues with the MCU. But IMHO one of the biggest problems is that it has lost it's heart. Putting Coulson back into the MCU is a big step towards giving the universe its heart back. And I think Freeman can pull it off. (Besides, he's already in the MCU.) Plus, this gives 'Ross' a whole new arc. It's a way to stir things up, big time. And if they do want to bring Clark Gregg back, he can portray his Life Model Decoy from Agents of Shield. It's a way to have your cake and eat it to. Time to move on to....

Avengers: Doomsday

For most of this movie, Ross is still Ross. He thinks the fob-watch belonged to his grandfather. But something is already brewing....with Yelena Belova. Back in Black Widow, all the ladies of the Red Room were exposed to anti-mind control gas. But the important thing is that Yelena was the FIRST person to be exposed. And the residue of this gas caused the fob-watch to start to whispering to her. 

At the end of the movie, Ross is horribly injured and near-death. Yelena has finally found the fob-watch and is racing to get the watch to Ross. And on this cliffhanger, the movie ends...

Avengers: Secret Wars

Yelena reaches Ross in time and opens the fob-watch. The transformation heals Coulson's wounds. His character development for this movie is dealing with having both Coulson's and Ross' memories. What could possibly make things even worse is the presence of Coulson 1.0 in the form of his LMD. Like a multi-doctor story, except different. 

Coulson 2.0's knowledge of Mephisto then becomes the spark that help the heroes to come up with a plan to defeat Victor von Doom. 

The Future

I don't know how many movies Martin Freeman has left on his contract. But when his contract runs out, Coulson regenerates again. Also, I figure that having a Time Lord added to the mix would get the attention of the Time Variance Authority. Maybe opening the door to a season 3 of Loki ? Other then that, who knows ? *Touches nose* Who knows ? 

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302) 

Mephisto All Along (Part 1)

Or...The Plot that  I think Disney and Bad Wolf should write. But won't have the balls to, because...(copyright) lawyers. 

Okay, the Whoniverse is Earth (Dimension) 5556. Marvel had the Doctor Who comic right from 1979 until 1999. So it is part of the comics that form the basis of the MCU. With that technical detail out of the way, where did I get this idea...

Recently I watched two ScreenCrush videos about IronHeart. The first was about who (else) made a deal with Mephisto, while the second was about possible future plots created by the show. And that was when a possible road map sprang into my head.  

Basically, this is what I would do if Doctor Who went forward. As for what the deal is with the red text...I wrote a version 1.0, but then had some addition ideas. So now you're reading version 1.1. Is it any good ? Well, I hope you will read it and decide for yourself. So enough preamble and on to...

The Plot

Our plot starts in the days of ancient days of Gallifrey. Here, Mephisto make a deal with two of the planet's Founding Fathers...Rassilon and Omega. But he does not succeed making in making a deal with Tecteun, who is too busy with her Timeless Child experiments. 

This deal is why (as stated in the episode The Five Doctors)  the official history say that Rassilon was a great leader, while the myths say he was terrible tyrant. The myths are true, because the Mephisto's influence was corrupting Rassilon (and many of the ancients Gallifreyan/Time Lords, who were a pretty evil bunch).

And then Tecteun succeeds. She adds Regeneration to the mix. Now, when you make a deal with Mephisto, you're stuck with him for life and the afterlife. Humans only have ONE life. So the deal sticks. 

But in the End of Time (Part 1) the Tenth Doctor talks about regeneration to Wilfred Mott. And he says it's like dying. Everything he was dies and some new man saunters away. My take would be that because both the personality and the body that made the deal is lost, the deal doesn't stick. Humans are stuck with the deal forever, Time Lords are stuck for one Incarnation. They regenerate, the deal expires.

Which Omega figures out. More important, he starts broadcasting his theory far and wide. To all his people, who then start using this loophole to get out of their deals. Mephisto's control of Gallifrey is crumbling. 

In revenge, Mephisto makes Omega lose his marbles and manipulates the last few people he still has control over exile Omega into an alternate dimension...which is the place that The Rani was trying to liberate him from in the Reality War.

After the last of Mephisto's influence is gone, Rassilon then white-washes the history book to make it seem like he brought Gallifrey out of it's dark ages. And to score PR-points, he starts a campaign against evil. He destroys Earth 5556's copy of the DarkHold, he wipes out the local version of the Symbiotes, gets rid of the vampires, fights the Racnoss, etc, etc.

All of this turns around Gallifrey's image. And Mephisto sees this happening. Between losing the planet and them suddenly being know as ancient, powerful good guys, he is pissed. But then he finds the perfect person to make a deal with. The person who will let him wipe out the Time Lords. DAVROS. 

He gave Davros the knowledge to create the Daleks. And the downside, the cost for Davros of this deal is pretty obvious. The missing half of his body, the wheelchair, the mutations and the blindness. The whole Last Great Time War was Mephisto trying to get rid of the Time Lords. Except, it didn't work. Yes, they suffered a great deal. Yes, they went through the Hell of war. 

But as we saw in The Day of the Doctor, they survived. Thanks to the Doctor and Clara, with an assist by UNIT and the Zygons, they found hope. So he has to try again. His new plan...placing the Timeless Child files some place where he knew The Master would find them. And this time, it did the trick.

How to weave all of this into new episodes ? 

Originally, my plan was for a single page of the DarkHold to be the McGuffin that starts the plot. But that was slightly off, so....The Doctor is trying to figure out the identity of The Boss. The Boss not only employs Beep the Meep, they also own the Time Hotel. 

My plan is for Mephisto to be The Boss. So, why did M send Anita Benn to help the Doctor in The Reality War ? Well, he wasn't being kind. He didn't want Omega to tell the Doctor the truth about Gallifrey's ancient times. 

Following a trail of clues, the 16th doctor - played by Billie Piper - finds a single page of the DarkHold in the Gallifreyan archives. Which make the Doctor decide that she needs a companion....

Who I think the companion should be....

This whole thing is so unhinged already that I figure it's a case of Go Big or Go Home. So my pitch....Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson.

How would that come about ?:

The Doctor recognizes the page of the DarkHold and realizes that they will need an expert of Earth 616. (We learn that the Doctor has watched all of Agents of Shield and Agent Carter.) But the Doc also realizes they can't just pluck some random person from that universe. Fortunately, there is another option...

In the two parter Dark Water/Death in Heaven, Missy aka The Master tried to turn all of Earth's dead people into Cybermen. As part of that scheme, she used a piece of a supercomputer called the Matrix. A supercomputer designed to store the minds of dead people. 

That Matrix hard-drive was confiscated by UNIT and is still sitting in the Black Archives. So the Doctor snatches Coulson from the end of his life. Events from the Agents of Shield episode The End are not altered, nor are Seasons 6 and 7 of Agents of Shields. 

The only thing that is altered is that it was only Coulson's body that died. Everything else is safely in the Matrix. The Doctor grows Coulson a new body, one that lines up with Clark Gregg's current age - the body being older due to having to work with Earth limited technology - and they are off to the races...

The New Bit

Following more clues, 16 and Coulson eventually find their way to the planet of Karn. Home to the Sisterhood of Karn. The sisters are a religious order who guard an eternal flame and the secrets of Regeneration. The Sisterhood survived the Master actions and we learn that they have another page from the DarkHold.

Back in the days of ancient Gallifrey, the Time Lords removed two pages from the DarkHold as part of the study to figure out how to destroy it. One for themselves and one for the Sisters. The Time Lord page is the one the Doctor found in the archives. The Sisters used their knowledge to create a Mephisto detector with the DarkHold page as its power source.

The Sisters can't kill Mephisto, but they've figured out how to exile him from their universe. This is why he has taken on the alias of the Boss. He needs henchmen to his work. And he uses the Time Hotel to get around. Because if he used magic to move around, the Mephisto detector would go off and the Sisters would exile him.

The Conclusion

The Doctor sacrifies herself to use Regeneration energy to destroy the Time Lord page - exposing it to regeneration energy is how the ancient Time Lords destroyed the book back in the day - and becomes the 17th Doctor. 

This gives Coulson an opening. Using a spell her got from the Sisters, he goes back to Earth 616 and drags Mephisto along. This kills Coulson and leaves Mephisto locked out of Earth 5556 (again). But the Sisters have one last trick up their sleeve.

The Time Lords have a piece of technology called a Chameleon Arch, which can turn a Time Lord into a human. But the Sisters have figured out how to do the reverse. So Coulson regenerates into....and that's all we have time for today. To be continued...   

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302) 

Connecting the MCU to Dr Who....

 ...Is the answer hiding to plain sight ?

A while back, there were a couple articles floating around explaining the (possible) connection between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Whoniverse...

Screen rant's Article (22 July 2022)

We've got this Covered's Article (23 November 2022) 

However....in the months since these came out, we learned that Neil Patrick Harris will be playing the Toymaker in the 60th anniversary specials. But here's the thing.....the character is actually called the Celestial Toymaker. Combine this with the fact that before the Time War, the Time Lords could travel between universes as easily as you and I can change socks. 

And Ego was making babies with any species he could. So, why not some lovely Time Lord/Lady ? If the Toymaker is actually a Time Lord-Celestial hybrid (and Starlord's half-brother) it would explain a thing or two. 

The Time Lord half of his DNA could give him the capacity of regeneration, explaining why the Toymaker looks different now. And the Celestial half would make him more powerful then the base model Time Lord.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Kang the Conqueror's Earth 5556 counterpart that turned the Division into a bunch of universe destroying, power hungry schmucks. Not openly, of course, but pulling strings from the shadows....

Anyway, those are my thoughts,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash) 

More Stormy Weather for Trek

Hello Alex, 

A while back, I told you how Star Trek was in major trouble. Guess what, things are not getting better. So, what has been happening on that front ? Well, here is what I can tell you...

Halo Show

 

The Halo show has begun putting out trailers and if the show is half as good as the trailer(s), the Star Trek: Discovery is in major trouble. Because Halo is SO going to bury Disco when it comes to ratings and reviews. Speaking of trouble....

Quantum Leap

Peacock is not doing well, so NBC needs a big show. And maybe, just maybe that is why they gave approval for a Quantum Leap reboot. Right now, they have only opened the door for a pilot. But if it gets an season order, that's another competitor for Star Trek. Meanwhile, over at the BBC...

Doctor Who

There is an odd rumor going around that David Tennant - aka, the 10th doctor - is going to come back and become the 14th doctor after Jodie Whitaker leaves. I don't think it's going to happen, but it's the first time in ages that Dr. Who has had a positive buzz going on. Which proves that it can still happen. And if Russell T. Davis plays his cards right, Doctor Who is going to be a serious threat to Trek.

The CW/Discovery+

Circling back to streaming services not doing well, this includes the CW and Discovery+. Discovery+ is Warner and the CW is half Warner-and half CBS. This seems like a problem for the Babylon 5 reboot, but it might not be as bad as you think. Because the B5 reboot is still in development. 

And because Warner owns the rights, there is nothing to keep them from selling their shares in the CW and then simply putting B5 on HBO Max instead. (As their new Science Fiction heavy hitter.) They could even use the money from selling the shares to pay for Babylon 5 (and its start-up costs).

Also, if I was pushing the buttons at Warner, I would fold Discovery+ into HBO Max to fatten up its catalogue of shows and take everything successful from the CW, while cancelling Naomi and Batwoman. (Which are both suffering horrible ratings and reviews.) 

All in all, with the right manager behind the driving wheel, Babylon 5 is far from out of the picture. What is out of the picture, is....

Star Trek: Picard

After Season 3, Picard is done. They make it sound like this was the plan all along, but I'm not buying it. You see, a while back, Netflix sued Secret Hideout for the right to send them packing after Discovery Season 3. They won the lawsuit and did just that. 

So CBS had no other choice but to buyback the right to Discovery and move it to Paramount+ But after they did so, they tried to spin it as if it was part of their plans for Paramount+ But it wasn't. They HAD to do that. 

Hence, I don't buy this "It was always planned" bit for a second. I think Amazon Prime followed Netflix's example and send them packing. I think they are replacing Trek by either Mass Effect, (new) Stargate or both (at the same time).

And that's where my update ends.

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

Still on this mortal coil....

....and moving forward

Hello world,

So....it's been a while since I've blogged or tweeted. The simply truth is that there hasn't been that much to share. Work on book three of the August Smith adventures - which will be titled Cairo - has (finally) begun.

Up until now, it had been frozen solid. If you listen to the same music again and again while you are writing, it will begin to loose its effect. Fortunately, I remembered that I have three season worth of CSI on DVD. The bad news is that Gil Grissom and company are distracting. But at least things have gone from frozen solid to slow.

And why do I only have three seasons of CSI and not all of them ? Well, I guess now would be a good time to talk about the....

ER Effect

ER (aka Emergency Room - created by Michael Crichton) was a great show in the early seasons. I still liked the later seasons, but I do agree with the major criticism of the show. As ER went along, the storylines got bigger, which eroded the realism.

In my humble opinion, CSI also suffered from this. I understand why it happened - the writers were trying to hold onto their viewers - and it is one of the major pitfalls of (television) writing. It doesn't mean that the writers are bad. And it is really hard to avoid. Anyway, it made me bow out of CSI after season four. But I'm digressing, which is my Segway back to...

Bullhorn

The typing is done. I also found somebody to check the text for mistakes. (Typos, missing words, etc.) I've also got tomorrow set for a major planning. (Looking for a photo that I can use for the cover. Setting some deadlines.) I'm also going to work on republishing Hollywood (aka Book one of the August Adventures) as an E-book. Bullhorn will be published as both a traditional book and an E-book. And with that, we move on to...

TV-Season

Finally, tomorrow (24-9) is the start of premiere season. For me, it starts with the latest addition to the NCIS-verse, the reboot of Magnum PI. I really liked version 1.0, so they will have to do really well to make the new version worth my time. (It's been stated that Magnum PI will crossover with Hawaii Five-0, which has been established as being part of the NCIS-verse by means of connections to NCIS Los Angeles and MacGyver.) Still, I'll give it a shot.

As for the end...well, for me that is Supergirl on 14 October. And between that is plenty of action. Alas, Star Trek Discovery is not coming around until 2019. Fortunately, I have a crazy woman in a police phone box to give me my sci-fi fix until then.

And with that, this post comes to end.
Take care.

Edmond Dantes

Fact, fiction and physics

Hello world,

Okay, so I sort of did this post ages ago. (All the way back in 2011. But trust me, do yourself a favor and don't look it up. For....) It was badly written and since then some things have changed. So here comes version 2.0.

Several decades ago, Gardner Fox created the DC comics multiverse. Back in those days, he suggested that while he slept, he dreamed of several fictional characters, because he ended up 'in tune' with an alternate universe where his characters were real.

While this may have been meant to be tongue-in-cheek, the times have changed. And with it, so has our understanding of physics. And also the scientific multiverse. Which is where the line between the two multiverses begins to start blurring.

Quantum theory proposes a particle will not take one path, but every path possible. Or....Anything that can happen, will happen. And even the tiniest slither of a chance is enough. (You don't need a fifty percent chance, or even one percent.) Thus leading to an infinite amount of universes. And infinite versions of people and events. And this applies to all matter in existence...

Including actors, sets and props. So, what does this mean for the border between fact and fiction ? Does that mean that the actor and the character as basically two versions on the same piece of matter ? For does that mean that - somewhere out there, in the vast multiverse - these characters are real ? And - since nothing truly exists in a vacuum - so are their fictional universes ? Making (the fantastic) Mr. Fox's claim considerably less tongue-in-cheek ? And what are the moral implications of that ? For example....

Since it is the laws of physics that control what can happen, and not the copyright law. Does that mean that both the BBC's Time Lords and Marvel's Asgard exist ? And does that mean that the Asgard chose not to help the Time Lords during the Last Great Time War ? (Remember, if this theory is true, we're talking real life here. Which makes the fact that these two races are from two different franchises a non-factor.)

And that's just one example. So...does this theory hold up ? And if it does....what does it mean ? Decide for yourself ?

Edmond Dantes

Crossover Idea(s)

(Or am I the only who noticed this ?)

 

Hello World,

 

A short post today. But I have this thing knocking around in my head for ages.

As many a Whovian will be able to tell you, the coordinates for Gallifrey are 10-0-11-0-0 By 0-2.

 

But now looks what happens if we count the numbers we have. (Ignoring the by, since its not a number.) Ten (1) zero (2) eleven (3) zero (4) zero (5) zero (6) two (7)

                                                                                          

This leaves us with seven numbers. Now if we add /\ (Earth's point of origin) , this starts to look a lot like an intergalactic Stargate address hiding in plain sight.

 

 

 

 

But wait....isn't it impossible to use a glyph more then once in a Gate address ? Indeed, but if add the position in the sequence to the number, this problem is solved. (So 10 + 1, zero + 2, etc.)

 

The new sequence would be 11, 2, 14, 4, 5,6, 9 and then PoO. Presuming the PoO is zero and not counted, we can figure out the actual sequence by counting (rotation wise) from PoO. (So 11 is the 11th symbol, 2 is the 2nd, etc.) So maybe, just maybe....Gallifrey has a back door ?

 

Edit: After completing my original post, I was watching Twin Destiny's (Stargate Universe) and wondered something...

 

Eli assumed what happened was a freak of physics. But what if it wasn't ? What if the Time Lords want Destiny to complete its mission as well ? They have the know-how, the technology (the Hand of Omega) to manipulate stars and the perfect cover story. The Doctor Who Television show. If anybody brings up the possibility, they will be shot down, because the Time Lords are a fictional species.

 

And on top of that, who created the Hand of Omega ? Omega. The thing is....the symbol omega looks a lot like a Stargate with the bottom part hidden under the floor. Like it is on Atlantis and Destiny. Coincide ? Decide for yourself.

 

Regards,

 

Edmond Dantes