Saturday, June 30, 2007

Doctor Who finale - prayer, forgiveness and grace

I've heard worse sermons than tonight's final episode of the third (new) series of Doctor Who.

Russell T. Davies isn't known for his apologetics for the Christian faith. Yet there were insights into the state of the human soul to be grasped.

The grotesque inhumanity of human kind - the human orbs from the future getting pleasure out of killing the present day humans.

And the ability of humans across the world to unite for a good cause - thinking/praying the Doctor back to health and youth - admittedly with the help of a 15-satellite telepathy network!

The Doctor - a God-like character - willing to forgive the Master who had tried to kill him and the population of the Earth. To paraphrase "What am I going to do with you? (pause) I forgive you." Not able or willing to eliminate the last of his type - the only other living timelord .

And yet the Master unwilling to accept the the Doctor's offer of grace - and the prospect of living with the Doctor in the Tardis. Salvation refused, won't regenerate, won't change.

There's the pain of the Doctor as the Master dies and is cremated on the pyre. An evil man laid to rest, yet still his kith and kin. No pleasure.

Season two ended with a runaway bride running through the Tardis doors. Season three ends with the Titanic slicing through the Tardis walls like an ice berg, heralding the theme of the Christmas special, which will no doubt end with Martha calling in the Doctor and reuniting for Season four. And we got the nod for the next season of Torchwood on BBC Two - either in the Autumn or as previously reported in early 2008.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I laughed my ass off at the end when Jack said "they used to call me the Face Of Boe" and wandered off, completely oblivious to the fact that eternity was stretching out ahead of him.

I must say, I've enjoyed David Tennant much more in this series. He seems to have settled into the role, and his newfound celebrity status.