THE THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - A HAT SQUAD TRIBUTE TO HARRY LANDERS

We're running the Theory of Relateeveety on Tuesday this week because we have two connected theories.....

HARRY LANDERS
(seen here with guest star Gloria Swanson)

From Deadline:

Harry Landers, who co-starred in the popular 1960’s series 'Ben Casey' as neurologist Dr. Ted Hoffman, has died. The actor passed in October at 96 years old.

While working on 'Medic' with Richard Boone, he got to know Jim Mosher, the series’ head writer, who went on to pen the pilot for 'Ben Casey'. He was cast as Ted Hoffman and also directed three episodes. Following the series’ successful five-year run (1961-1966), Landers continued to work in film and television.

As noted, Landers died in October, but his death was not announced until January.

This Theory of Relateeveety is dedicated to his memory.  But be warned: there be speculations here.....

Dr. Ted Hoffman was a neurologist at County General Hospital alongside Dr. Ben Casey from the 1950s onward.  In 1950, when he was about to turn thirty, Dr. Hoffman's girlfriend gave birth to a son who was named Theodore Hoffman Jr.  But before Teddy Junior was a year old, they separated, with the girlfriend granted custody of the boy.  She moved to Los Angeles to raise the child on her own.

Hoffman had an older brother who was already living in Los Angeles where he was an LAPD sergeant in the Homicide Department.  Sgt. Hoffman had been mentored by veteran detective Les Hart and eventually worked on at least one case with Lieutenant Frank Columbo.

Like several other characters in Toobworld, the Hoffman brothers were related to the televersion of a celebrity - their second cousin was Dustin Hoffman. 

Dr. Hoffman’s son Teddy grew up in L.A. with an affinity for the Law and with no interest in following in his father's footsteps.  (He may have been inspired by a lawyer who lived next door to them, one Perry Mason.)

Having established himself as a criminal investigator in the City of Angels, Teddy Junior began his own law firm, Hoffman & Associates.  He was married to a woman named

Annie and they had a daughter named Elizabeth.  It is through Elizabeth that the Hoffman lineage continues, although when she married and took her husband’s name (perhaps combining it as Hoffman-What’s-His-Name), the actual nominal link to the Hoffman family tree was obscured.  That distance from the Hoffman name would continue far into the future as the women in the lineage changed their name upon marriage.

Unfortunately, the definitive Toobword information… information… information… about the Hoffmans is lost at some point around the year 2174 when Earth was invaded by the Daleks.  Records were destroyed by the Daleks and by the Rebels.

But we pick up the family tree again in 2219, the year Arthur Coleman was born.  Here we had a case of telegenetics in which the DNA of Dr. Ted Hoffman was echoed exactly.  And like his look-alike ancestor, Arthur Coleman became a doctor.

From the TARDIS Data Wiki:

Dr. Arthur Coleman was a former Starfleet officer, and chief surgeon on Dr. Janice Lester's two-year expedition on Camus II.

Coleman was removed from his last starship posting as chief medical officer after Starfleet Command, in cooperation with the Starfleet Surgeon General, cited him for "administrative incompetence" and making "flagrant medical blunders".

In 2267, Coleman joined an expedition headed by Dr. Janice Lester to Camus II as the expedition surgeon. For the next two years, he fell in love with and conspired with Dr. Lester to use a life-energy transfer device to switch her mind into Kirk's body and vice versa. When the plot was foiled and Dr. Lester was deemed insane, he asked to be allowed to care for her. (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")

It was probably ethically wrong for Dr. Coleman to care for Dr. Lester when he was in love with her.  And it could be that he crossed the line in medical standards by having a sexual relationship with her… which resulted in a pregnancy.

And so we’ll keep an eye out for any future Colemans and Lesters who might show up in Future Toobworld after 2270. (2300 if they’re adult characters.)

Good night and may God bless Harry Landers......