| December 2009 |
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Dear All, Where to now for Doctor Who? Last week's special edition of Doctor Who brought us some interesting conundrums but, as Russell T. Davies (the director who has revived The Doctor's fortunes in recent years) prepares to leave the programme at The Doctor's next re-incamation I wonder where he is leaving our hero? Why? Well, for those who are not Sci-Fi aficionados Doctor Who has become the series in which some of the great philosophical and religious questions of the age are worked through in an accessible way. Yes, the Doctor still finds himself up against various alien species and all his usual Doctor Who traits are on display - a crazy, peculiarly English and sometimes manic eccentricity for example - but in Sunday's episode the doctor seemed to move 'off script'. What happened? The Doctor appeared on a space station on Mars just as its small band of inhabitants discovered that an alien species was attacking them. The species attached itself to the space station's occupants with deadly affect, but more than this, the species' intent was to hitch a ride on the earthling's space craft back to the Blue Planet in search of water - presumably it wished to take over Earth too. Throughout the episode the Doctor was heard to say 'I really shouldn't be here... I ought to be going now'. For you see, the time traveller knows all too well that the people he is with are all going to die: he knows the future, he has seen their obituaries but he also knows what comes of their scientific efforts and the advances humanity will make as others follow their courageous examples. But then he decided to interfere with the space time continuum. No! - He was not prepared to stand by and see his new friends die. No! - He was not prepared to see the alien species' aggression unchallenged. He is The Doctor, he can do anything, and he would be The Doctor Victorious'. He rescued his friends and brought them safely home to Earth but the episode ended uneasily: 'It's not right, Doctor' said one 'it's not right'. We may well want God to sort things out like The Doctor Victorious but it's just not right - our choices must be allowed to be play out to their (sometimes) dreadful conclusion. Instead, when our God bares his holy arm to save us, all that we see is a tiny arm reaching out from a manger. Somehow that image of God seems far more appropriate than the all conquering Doctor - but will he leam? Alec
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