Yes, you heard that right. I want to be Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in the new Star Trek movie. Yes, I realize this is a cheesy actors' trick, but the Hell if that will stop me. So, with all the characters in TOS you are probably wondering why Dehner? Well, let me tell you...
Every starship needs an intelligent female officer, particularly one with expertise in psychiatry (more so when there are such conflicted characters as in ST 2009). Plus, who doesn't love a perfect Hitchcock-esque blonde? Not only does Dehner possess mad psychiatry skills, she's working with ESP, which could prove to be incredibly helpful when encountering Federation enemies. Any woman who has the guts to stand up to a captain, surely deserves to be resurrected for the 2012 JJ Abrams Star Trek sequel, right?
What most people remember about Dehner (beyond the obvious mirrored contact lenses) is her being called "a walking freezer unit" by Gary Mitchell. Despite her cold exterior, she digs passionate love sonnets and can sass her superior officers like nobody else. Isn't it time that Dehner becomes immortalized as more than just a "lady doctor?" In 2012, there are no lady doctors, just doctors here. I'd like to see the kind of banter she might have with Bones should she encounter him in the new timeline. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman can do much better than "My assignment is to study crew reaction in emergency conditions. If there was an emergency I'd be interested in how that crew reacted." I want to see Dehner own her professionalism. She doesn't need to explain her cool confidence to anyone. Phrases like this need to be updated in the JJ verse, "Woman professionals do tend to overcompensate." Own it! Own your icy exterior, Dehner!
With this new timeline she doesn't have to go out the way she did in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Dehner was driven to see man's potential for advancement, but had the morality to see that men are inherently flawed and power hungry. She sacrificed herself and went out with the line, "I'm sorry. You can't know what it's like to be almost a god." Dehner gave her life in performance of her duty.
This is compelling stuff, people! If that doesn't sell you on the idea, we got our first glimpse of "ripped-shirt Kirk" in her episode.
This won't be the last time you'll hear me say this, but where are the blondes? The Original Series was full of blondes. In the JJ verse, all we get is one shooting out a baby, a very important baby, but still. Oh and don't think that one blonde in the background counts either.
Dehner says to Kirk of his relationship with Spock, "I understand you least of all. Gary told me that you've been friends since he joined the service, that you asked for him aboard your first command." This statement falls right into place with the new JJ verse. Let's make it happen for Dehner in 2012.
Czerwinski out.
If JJ puts blondes in the sequel, I hope it's not as Mudd's women. Remember, two out of three were blonde. I'd prefer shrewd lawyer Areel Shaw or Roberta Lincoln (at least she has a high IQ) over them. Given a choice beyond Chapel, Dehner is clearly a strong one. She's got it all - brains, ambition, chutzpah and a whole heck of a lot of knowledge of the human mind. With characters as conflicted as they are in the JJ-verse, they are in need of a psychiatrist on the ship. Let's make her Dehner, let's make her blonde and let's make her me.
