Those who know me well know that I’ve been a Doctor Who fan since I was about five years old and watched Jon Pertwee take on the Daleks in the classic episode Day of the Daleks. Anybody sitting in Poulton Methodist Church
Given my fandom you can be sure of where I have been for the past two Saturday evenings at 6pm; in front of the television watching the new series of Doctor Who; and so far it’s been fantastic!
I loved the opening comedy scenes in last weeks episode, especially the Laurel & Hardy cameo and thought what a brilliant contrast they were with the deadly seriousness that followed. Doctor Who, at its best, has always mixed comedic moments with moments of terror and it did it in spades last Saturday. The death of the Doctor was totally unexpected, despite a foreshadowing that one of the series regulars would meet their death in the first twenty minutes; and a brilliant concept that has yet to be resolved. Similarly the regeneration of the little girl at the conclusion of the two part story has left me, and I suspect, millions of viewers wanting to know more.
The mystery of River Song continues with all the evidence pointing towards her being the Doctor’s wife – the one thing she will almost certainly turn out not to be. We also ee the Doctor’s first kiss with Dr Song, which for her is the last kiss they share and a very poignant moment. For me the most mysterious aspect of River Song is her superior control of the TARDIS, pointing perhaps towards her having Gallifreyan origins since the Doctor can hardly have taught her how to operate the TARDIS with greater skill than he himself possesses. We have been promised answers this season and I look forward to seeing the revelations to come.
The Silence were one of the best aliens we’ve had since the series returned in 2005. The concept of an alien that can make you forget all about it the moment your back is turned is a chilling one and the visual realisation was superb and completely convincing. I hope that we see more of them and the indications are that we will.
As a Student Minister I was also interested in the story from a Christian viewpoint. Taken up in the moment I was swept away with the Doctor’s victory over the Silence; but later questioned the legitimacy of killing all the Silence present on earth. The 10th Doctor always gave his enemies the chance to surrender (which they never took of course) but the 11th incarnation seem to be a touch more ruthless and I’m not always easy with the decisions that he makes.
On a brighter note there was also a theme of humankind being freed from something that was dominating their behaviour and stopping them from being truly human. This is, of course, what the gospel says that sin does to us, it makes us less than God created us to be because it mars his image in us; so just as the influence of the Silence had to be removed from the world by the Doctor so the influence of sin has to be removed from our own lives by Jesus death on the cross in order for us to live as free and fully human beings.
I also thought there was a nice faith parallel. River Song throws herself out of the window of a skyscraper in New York absolutely certain that the Doctor will be there to catch her, which of course he does. Jesus sometimes asks us to take risk for him, to do things that from a human point of view seem to be absolutely stupid and too risky by far. Do we trust Jesus to be there with us? Have we the faith to take him at his word?
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