How Doctor Who took a note out of Star Treks book for its new big twist

Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 1, titled "The Robot Revolution," premiered on April 15, 2025, and it appears the Disney+ show has taken some tips out of the Star Trek book for their new big twist. The first episode of the second season mainly focused on introducing Doctor Who's new companion, Belinda Chandra. How Belinda ended up as a partner to Doctor Who instead of Evelyn Miller's Sasha is not entirely pleasant, as rebel Sasha 55 ends up getting killed by the robots.

The first episode of Doctor Who Season 2 has a lot of ideas they're exploring, from robot revolution to a commentary against AI to time fractures and incel satire. We're barely given a backstory for Belinda, an overworked nurse whose problematic boyfriend named a star after her, before two robots from the planet Missbelindachandra One come crashing through her front door and whisk her off to outer space.

However, it is not how she ends up in outer space, but what the robots intend to do with her that screams Star Trek's Borg. It appears she has been kidnapped so that she can marry Missbelindachandra's de facto ruler and be integrated into a human-robot hybrid. It turns out this ruler is none other than her ex, Alan, who has now integrated himself with a machine and intends to rule.

How is Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 1 similar to Star Trek's Borg

The time fracture between Earth and Missbelindachandra One is responsible for Belinda's creepy ex, Alan Budd, ending up on the planet 10 years before her, even though he was kidnapped around the same time. After Belinda broke up with Alan over his manipulative habits, he immersed himself in gaming, going down the dark path of the incel culture. When he ends up at Missbelindachandra, he considers it to be another one of his games and merges with a machine. It appears he actually thinks he's in some video game and the people he's killing weren't actually getting killed, or maybe he was just a psychopath and didn't care either way.

After being attached to the machine for 10 years, Alan's body now actually had mechanical features, much like Star Trek's Borg, rather than Doctor Who's Cybermen. Alan, however, also has differences from Borg and Cybermen in that he is alone and in pain but consumed by his worst emotions. Alan is feeling diminished by Belinda's rejection of him, a projection of the incel culture, and in his anger tries to gain control over humanity to feel superior again.

Star Trek's Borg were introduced in The Next Generation Season 2, and they, too, much like Alan, were trying to perfect themselves with the help of technology. In this respect, Cybermen are different from Alan and the Borgs because their upgraded self using technology was something that they could not live with.

So, even though the first thought that comes to mind when we think of Alan's transformation is Doctor Who's Cyberman, it is actually Star Trek's Borgs that Alan is more similar to.

Trending

Keep reading Soap Central for more such pieces!

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback