Abe's All-Media Post

[TheAbe]

Hello all. I thought of this neat coolly keen way to pass the time. It's pretty simple. Occasionally, I will give my opinion on a piece of media (book, comic, video game, movie, tv show, etc). It might be very, very specific. Afterwards, anyone is allowed to comment on that media or comment. However, please do not add posts here creating your own thoughts about something new. For example, if I post on Dracula, feel free to write about Dracula, vampires, how my comments are dumb, etc. Please do not write your own review of Transformers 2 here. You can create your own thread for that. Make sense? Ok, I'm about to start.

[TheAbe]

While laying in bed last night, I think I came to realize why I am such a Whovian (One who likes Dr. Who a lot).

I like Star Trek, sure. It's ok. But I don't love it or anything. The same is true for Star Wars. It's okay, but it doesn't give me a nerd on or anything. I'm like that for a lot of traditionally nerd topics. You won't see me obsessing about the latest anime with mecha or anything.

What I do nerd out over, however, is Dr. Who. It has a smaller budget, cheesy special effects, but it has a lot of character and charm. However, last night, I finally realized why the Doctor strikes me so much.

I AM the Doctor.

Ok, follow me on this.


I don't know if you have ever been exposed to the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator or not. Here's the quick rundown.

In order to classify various personality types, they created four spectrums of ways to analyze a person's personality. By charting each person on these four dichotomies, they can create 16 combinations of types.

Let's look at each of these in turn.

Everyone is either an Extrovert or an Introvert. How comfortable are they in new social surroundings? Do they have many friends with few close ones, or just a few really initimate friends. Do they energize by spending time alone, or with people? The extroverts thrive in new social circumstances, the introverts are less so. Are you an I or an E?

The next category is Intuitive vs Sensing. Where do you get the information you use to make a decision? Are you an N or an S? An N is more comfortable talking about nebulous ideas, whereas an S wants to talk about concrete things. One likes philosophy, the other math. One likes religion, the other foreign languages. One likes poetry or literature, the other science. Generally, these are very general terms.

The next level are Thinkers vs Feelers. How do you initially respond to a new situation? Do you think about it or feel about it? Logic or emotion? Would you rather be cold headed or warm hearted? Justice or mercy? T or F?

the last level is Perceiving vs Judging. Do you order your life? When you go on a vacation, do you plan it in detail, or just go with the flow? Do you send back RSVPs immediately? Do you have to have your calender with you at all times? P or J?



Now, let's look at me. I am an ENTP. I have a weak E, so I am close to I. I have a very strong T and P, with a decent N. I am ruled by my T, and it dominates the rest of me.

Let's look at the Doctor:

No question, the Doctor is first and foremost a P. I'd say that's his strongest category, no question. He never plans, he just heads in and improvises. He often doesn't even plan his course, just goes where the TARDIS takes him. Very, very P.

Right after P is the next obvious - T. There is no question that the Doctor is a thinker and a logician. He approaches problems analytically. He is so T, that when others are running for their lives, he will often stand in the gap and use logic to solve problems. He also regular misses what people are feeling, including his companions. That is the trademark of a T.

He is also quite, quite E. No question that the Doctor is extroverted. He thrives on social interaction. He loves meeting new people, new social interactions, and more. He inserts himself into conversations and social situations with glee. Very E.

That leaves the N/S category as the only one that is not obvious. Let's take a look -0 The Doctor is a scientist, but he loves talking about nebulous stuff. He is amazingly perceptive, but very intuitive. He will go by his gut at times and go by appearances at others. As such, I'd say he is very close to the line, just like I am close as an E.

However, at the end of the day, I'd say that he prefers to be an N, by a bit. He misses what people are feeling, and in addition to that sometimes being the result of a T, it is also the consequence of being an N. A T will say something logical, without intending for it to be anything other than logical, but say it in such a way that an F will take offense. An N will just miss that a person is ever feeling anything at all.

Take Martha for example. Doctor misses her feelings for him. That's an N thing to do.

So, although it is close, I'd say the Doctor is an ENTP, but you might agrue he is, instead, an ESTP.

And I am an ENTP.

Is it any wonder that this guy who traipses all across the universe and helping others, and who is, in many ways (at least in England) a character as iconic as Santa, who has my exact personality type, would be someone I identify with (a lot)?

So. I think that may be the root of my fascination with El Doctore.

[TheAbe]

Here are some of the things that professional sites say about the ENTP type. See how much they apply to The Doctor.

"ENTPs are known for their quest of the novel and complex. They have faith in their ability to improvise and to overcome any challenges that they face. They are highly independent, and value adaptability and innovation. They may be several steps ahead of others in encouraging and valuing change. They hate uninspired routine and resist hierarchical and bureaucratic structures that are not functional. They need freedom for action."

Remember that The Doctor was a renegade from his own people, because he wanted to change people and Time Lords were sworn to non-intervention.


"ENTP's wish to exercise their ingenuity in the world of people and things. Found in about five out of every hundred people, ENTP's extravert intuition; thus they deal imaginatively with social relationships as well as physical and mechanical relations. They are very alert to what is apt to occur next, and always sensitive to possibilities.

ENTP's are good at analysis, especially functional analysis, and have both a tolerance for and enjoyment of the complex. Usually enthusiastic, ENTP's are apt to express interest in everything, and thus are a source of inspiration to others, who find themselves caught up by the ENTP's enthusiasm. This type is delighted over many things and so is easy to please, often showing the effervescence of their NF counterpart, the ENFP. The ENTP is the most reluctant of all the types to do things in a particular manner just because that is the way things always have been done. They characteristically have an eye out for a better way, always on the lookout for new projects, new activities, new procedures.

ENTP's are confident in the value of their pursuits and display a charming capacity to ignore the standard, the traditional, and the authoritative. As a result of this open attitude, they often bring a fresh, new approach to their work and their lives. The ENTP is a keen judge of the pragmatics of both the social and the mechanical, and may become expert at directing relationships between means and ends."



If that isn't The Doctor to a T (heh, mixed metaphor), I don't know what is.

[TheAbe]

If you look at ESTP (which I think The Doctor may be closer to), you'll see some things that fit the Doctor well (life of the party) but much that do not. The ESTP is more pragmatic, ends justify the means, less innovative in their solutions. Which The Doctor is most certainly not.

[kerbythepurplecow]

I think that given enough caffeine you become a hard E rather than a weak one. I find it interesting that you just identified the correlation between your personalities. While I don't think I ever really sat down and thought it out, I do believe that that was always a foregone conclusion in my mind

[TheAbe]

To Fred


Ever wonder about things like divorce, death, or other serious topics as a young child? Imagine being 6 and living through the MLK assassination. Luckily for most, Fred Rogers was there to educate you in ways no other children's show did.

From a special on assassination to teaching people about death when the goldfish on the set died, Fred Rogers used his show as a opportunity to talk about things long before they were en vogue. With a unique voice that expressed nothing but compassion and love, Fred Rogers would talk about everything from disabled students to parents that got divorced.

Watching Fred was like spending time with a friend. When other shows were glitz and glam, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood was simply a small show done in a small studio in Pittsburgh by a Presbyterian minister. The puppetry was meant to be a medium to teach people lessons without exposing them to their biases. On other shows, puppetry was used simple because it was popular. On other shows, songs were used because they were popular. Here one man wrote, sang and performed them in order to teach lessons.

I don't think any celebrity has ever been as grounded as Fred Rogers, and I'm not sure there ever will be another again. Meeting him on the street was like meeting pure love made manifest. I am rarely touched when a celebrity dies, much less shed a tear. However, I cried the day Fred Rogers passed from our world to the next. That day the world grew a little dimmer.

To Fred!

[TheAbe]

Just did some research. I'm an ENTP. So is the Doctor. What major major fantasy character is an ENTP? Gandalf.

Me, The Doctor, and Gandalf.


And not all heroes are Ts. For example, Captain Kirk in an ENFJ. ISTP for Sherlock Holmes. INTJ for Picard. I think the ENTP has to be dynamic, think outside the box, willing to find creative solutions, and bound by principles of logic and justice. I think mentors often make good ENTPs in fiction (like Gandalf, for example). Let's take Frodo and do him real quick. He's very I. He's very F. He's very J. Probably an ISFJ. (J's are content to do one or two things in the their very, very well, Ps like to learn about a large number of topics, flitting from one to another), Frodo just wanted to go home, have a comfortable life, and like Sam, be a gardener. That's very I and J in there, plus he is very sensitive to people's feelings and observant of surroundings, making him appear to be an SF to me. That means Frodo is the anti-Gandalf in personality - exact opposites in every way.

[kerbythepurplecow]

Hey sweet! I'm a Picard! Woot! Hopefully that means I'll be a sexy bald man as well.

[md22mdrx]

ISTJ here ...

Strongest -> weakest
S -> I -> T -> J

going by % differential in the chart ...
25%->23%->6%->0%

The J is a 50/50 with the P.

ISTJ would put me at Darth Vader, Bruce Wayne, or Mr. Spock?!? What kinda site am I looking at? ISTP would put me at The Dude (T.B.Leb.), Hans Solo, or Ron Weasley. Yay me.

[TheAbe]

Degrassi:

Aaron made light fun of me for watching the 5 seasons of Degrassi Junior High/High. I just picked up the final two seasons and watched them. before I did so, I rewatched seasons 1-3. Amazing. Amazing!


Let's talk about why Degrassi is one of the top teen shows of all time, period.

1). Degrassi looks very, very real. In order to cast it, they hired around 50-60 children to act in the show. All shots of characters in the school show other characters in the background acting naturally, and its the same faces over and over again. The people employed are real children, not actors who were hired after national searches and so forth. They are simply the local kids in a district in Toronto. As a result, they look real. The students look like a real student body, with very few truly hot people. In fact, no child female character on the show is truly hot, and only a handful of the male child actors are truly hot. On a scale of 1-5, there are a handful of 1s and 5s, and some 2's and a few 4s, and a bunch of 3s. They look like real children, because they are the locals in a neighborhood.

2). The plotlines are fantastic. In order to have an educational component, almost every episode of the series has what I call an "Event" plotline, where one character goes through an event and must react to it. These events include death of a parent, getting into a fight, shoplifting, eating disorder, suicidal thoughts, and more. These events propel the characters and those around them into interesting storylines. These were very ahead of the times. There are two stories that deal with homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, abortion, AIDS, and more. Many of the shows were outright banned in various countries where Degrassi was shown, especially the 4th season episodes about a character who gets an abortion and the subsequent fallout. Then you have the normal story plotlines, where characters are falling into and out of relationships with other students. So you have story plotlines and event plotlines all happening at the same time. Different episodes feature different characters, so there is no central main characters. You may have an episode where some main characters never have speaking parts, but they are still in the background doing realistic things

3). Believable acting. Nobody here is a great actor (except perhaps the two actors who play Joey and Caitlin). Sometimes they say things in awkward ways or stumble through lines. The result is very realistic and believable dialogue. The best single acting job is when the character of Wheels does the two part episode where his parents are killed in a car crash by a drunk driver.

The result is a highly influential (it won an Emmy), drama that was ahead of its time in terms of plotline and filmed the show in a very different way than most shows. It's indie, Canadian, PBS, avant-garde teen angst to the maximum. I loves it.

Analysis of the show will continue next.