Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we review Doctor M'Benga, a recurring character from TOS.
The character of Dr. M'Benga was created for an episode that was written by Darlene Hartman and purchased by the showrunners but never made it into the TV show. Although his first name is never spoken on the episodes he does appear in later, in this script it was reportedly Joseph.
Dr. M'Benga is the ranking chief medical officer on the Enterprise when Dr. McCoy is off the ship. We don't see him take over much, but we do get to see him participate in a couple memorable episodes. First, in A Private Little War, he treats Spock from a gunshot wound using the experience he gained while serving a medical internship on Vulcan. The highlight is the doctor slapping Spock silly to drop him out of his Vulcan healing state.
In another appearance in the episode That Which Survives, he supervises an autopsy of a redshirt who dies following the touch of an alien creature. His work on this autopsy reveals that the death was not caused by a disease or organism, but instead, by cellular disruption brought on by the touch.
Dr. M'Benga is the ranking chief medical officer on the Enterprise when Dr. McCoy is off the ship. We don't see him take over much, but we do get to see him participate in a couple memorable episodes. First, in A Private Little War, he treats Spock from a gunshot wound using the experience he gained while serving a medical internship on Vulcan. The highlight is the doctor slapping Spock silly to drop him out of his Vulcan healing state.
In another appearance in the episode That Which Survives, he supervises an autopsy of a redshirt who dies following the touch of an alien creature. His work on this autopsy reveals that the death was not caused by a disease or organism, but instead, by cellular disruption brought on by the touch.
QUOTE
Dr. M'Benga was also to be the brother of a commander who was to be the first officer on the USS Hope in a spinoff show called Hopeship, but that never occurred. Thus, this character with Ugandan heritage could have been a branch to the bigger Trek world, had it not been for the show running decisions behind the scenes. As it is, Dr. M'Benga is memorable for the few times he is on screen in TOS.
Booker Bradshaw played Dr. M'Benga, who acted through the 1970s before becoming an accomplished TV series writer for shows like Planet of the Apes and Different Strokes. He died in 2003 due to a heart attack, but his contributions to many TV shows will live on forever.
----
Contact me with segment suggestions @BuckeyeFitzy on Twitter! Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment