FANFICCERS' FRIEND - WHEN MORK MET THE DOCTOR

Back on November 9^th, the new outfit for the Thirteenth Incarnation of the Doctor was revealed…..

I admit I wasn’t crazy about it but it grew on me.  I suppose I just need to see it in action and see if it really is functional.

But my first impression, as is my wont, was that it reminded me of another space-traveling alien.  And within the first hour after the outfit debuted, somebody else photoshopped the same idea:

As most of Team Toobword knows, most TV shows share the same dimension.  It takes a lot to force a TV show to be banished to some other dimension (reboots, alternate presidents, zombies, etc.)  So for me, the Gallifreyan Time Lord shares the same world as the Orkan immigrant Mork.

And I think this new outfit was something the Doctor ended up having to wear after his own clothes were ruined in an adventure with Mork.  Later, the Doctor put those clothes away, until the day came when a new Incarnation was rummaging about for something to be her signature look.

Yeah, there’s a fanficcer opportunity here.

THEN

TODAY?

For this incarnation of the Doctor to have met Mork as seen in this picture, she would have had to travel back in Time to the mid-70s to the early 1980s.  After that, the actor who played Mork, Robin Williams, began to show signs of aging.  Nothing drastic, some wrinkles, receding hairline, touch of gray in that hair.  But the thing is, Orkans age backwards – they’re born, well, they’re hatched from an egg, looking like older humanoids and their physical appearance goes into reverse until in extreme old age, they look like babies.

I just realized something – when Lyle Waggoner showed up as Xerko, a fellow Orkan, he must have been younger than Mork since Waggoner was older than Williams.  And this is why we could never see Ralph James in the role of Orson, an Orkan elder.  Here’s what James looked like in an episode of ‘Kojak’:

So even if Mork was still alive (more on that later), there’s no way Robin Williams could be playing the role even though without his streak of creative genius the show would probably never have launched.  It’s the same reason there is a shelf life to actors who play ghosts, immortals, and most androids – Time marches on.

So the role would have had to be recast as the Toobworld timeline progressed, with the next actor taking on the role being younger than Robin Williams yet still looking like him.

And that’s why the Thirteenth Incarnation would have had to go back to the 1970s to actually bring life to this picture of them together.

I know what the basis for my story would have been – Mork and Mindy under attack again from the sultry Necrotons Captain Nirvana and her guards Kama and Sutra.  But this time they were sent to Earth Prime-Time to kidnap Mearth, the hybrid baby son of Mork and Mindy.  We didn’t delve into this character more than just for the chance to watch Jonathan Winters cut loose with his improvisational talents to play a baby.  But what if it turned out that Mearth’s unique physiology, perhaps something in his blood, could be some kind of panacea highly desired throughout the galaxy? 

Even if Mork had been recast, this still couldn’t be anything more than a written story.  It couldn’t be filmed as part of Jodie Whittaker’s tenure as the Doctor – Jonathan Winters is dead as well and Pam Dawber is decades older now than she was back then.  (O’Bviously.)  And a grown man as a baby doesn’t really play in print to my way of thinking.

However….  This could be a modern day story and televised as well, with Mindy showing her age and her son recast with a younger actor playing an older Mearth.  The premise could still be about the Necrotons wanting Mearth’s blood as a panacea.  I think an audience would be more receptive to the idea that Mearth could be recast than they would be for a different actor playing Mork.  I’m not even sure they would continue watching if Mork was pronounced as having died before the story began.  However, it could always be said that Mork had returned to Ork.  

So with the Fates currently smiling on us as of this writing, Pam Dawber could return to the role of Mindy McConnell.  But who could play the older Mearth?

Once upon a time I would have suggested Kevin Meaney.  It really is a shame he’s gone; I thought he was hilarious.  But forty years on, based on Jonathan Winters original look, perhaps John Bradley, who gained fame for playing Samwell Tarly in ‘Game of Thrones’, might work.

I admit my photoshopping skills are poor.....

Anyway, that’s my idea for a fanfic crossover between ‘Mork And Mindy’ and ‘Doctor Who’ inspired by this picture of Robin Williams with Jodie Whittaker.

If you end up writing a story about Mork and the Doctor, send me a copy.  I would love to read it!

Nanu Nanu!