AN OPEN LETTER TO AMANDA TAPPING

Dear Amanda

First of all may I say that I have enjoyed your acting and producing/directing in the past, and it is good to see a woman breaking in to the male dominated world of TV directing.

Now that you are in this position you have the opportunity to show women as strong characters, which is what I would like to write about now.

I have watched Continuum since the start despite finding it difficult to identify and sympathise with the main character Keira Cameron. My problem is not with her, per se, but what she represents. When watching a programme that has as its hero someone that is trying to safeguard a corporate fascist future and is fighting against "terrorists" that are trying to prevent a dystopian, Orwellian future from developing then I tell you what I am not supporting: fascism. Go  Liber8!

Fair enough, she does have to ensure the future pans out correctly because she has to ensure that her her family are going to be there when she gets back. I know that there is a film with the name but can one go back to the future, is she not going forward in going back? Either way I do not like the future she comes from. As far as I'm concerned there is too much corporate control exerted over us now. I wish that they would hurry up and lose all their money so that we can start again and have Butchers shops, tailors and  Grocers stores, and so on. But I digress, as usual.

Anyway, leaving that aside I would like to ask you a question: why does Keira keep crying? Here you have the opportunity to show her as a strong woman able to survive in a mans world and deal with the same problems as them in the same manner, and what happens when she is in a tricky situation, like being captured by the timelords, or whatever they are? She starts blubbing.

Apart from anything else she is supposed to be a computer controlled future militarised cop, the sort of cop that has their empathy removed so that they can make calculated, logical decisions. There is no way that she would be bursting into tears. Not even when thinking about the family that she left behind in the future. She is supposed to be a robocop, but damn! In this show we get the one robocop that is flawed by traces of human feelings.

Then we have Carlos Fonnegra, her partner. Given all the weird stuff that he has accepted since the start of the first series why can't the guy get it into his head that even if there are two Keiras they are still the same person? When he meets the one that came back from next week he is all "well how do I know I can trust you? I've only just met you. I have known Keira 1.0 since the beginning of season one. How do I know you are the same as her?" Really, Carlos! Its simple.

One is from the year 2077 and one is from next week. However, the one from next week is also from 2077 and has time travelled twice. The one from next week knows about the one from 2077, but 2077 doesn't know about her. To save Carlos too much of a headache 2077 Keira gets herself shot and dies. Now there is only next weeks Keira who has all the knowledge and experiences as the 2077 version. Perhaps next weeks Keira shouldn't have asked Carlos to get rid of 2077s body, thats what started his meltdown. Come on Carlos, whats so confusing about that?

Next weeks Keira, who I shall now refer to as just Keira, as 2077 is out of the picture, then furthar confuses him by telling him that ther are two Alecs: one chooses to run  his fathers corporation, the other chooses love. Keira explains that there is a right Alex and a wrong Alex and she has to get rid of one and also find her killer. The right Alex is the one who came back for Emily, the other is now an anomaly, as future Alex, all powerful leader did not take over his old mans company.

Having got rid of an Alex things should normalize, but will the future that Keira came from still be the same? How come she locked up the right Alex and let the other continue in the timeline? I know he is the one from that timeline but he is not the one that shaped the future - or is he?

Anyhow, Keira has had an eye opening experience that made her look at the world differently. Does this mean she is going to switch sides now?

In closing, could I just ask you to consider not letting Keira cry. She's supposed to be a double-hard bastard like xena. You didn't see Xena sobbing all over the place, did you? In addition it may be an idea to increase Fonnegras IQ score a bit.

So keep up the otherwise good work and I'll carry on watching

yours sincerely

Des