Dr Who - Season 30 (4) [SPOILERS]

[eni6ma]

Works for me, but I will have to disagree about witch blade. Granted you may not have like it but that does not mean it had no worth. I liked it, it was unique it did not try to be like other shows. Season 5 of Dr. Who will be bit of let downer, so few episodes. I wish that scifi channel or someone else could replay some of the classic Dr. Who, none of the channels in my area have them. The selection on DVD is sad to say the least.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Journey's End aired last night in the US. I enjoyed it a lot. From the 'reunion' feel of it, one would think it was an end-of-series ep, but I'm glad it's not. It was nice to see K9 pop up for a moment to do his bit. I hope the hint that Martha and Mickey will join Torchwood happens.

But, the music... much of it, especially in the second half, just seemed so syrupy, and overwrought. It was also mixed too loud, easily as loud as the dialog. I found all this very distracting. UGH!

 

[The Doctor]

They do seem to overdo the music quite a bit sometimes.. drowns out the dialog. Doesn't help when Tennant goes into rapid-fire dialog mode to have a loud soundtrack drowning him out.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

I had never noticed it being as loud, or as over-wrought, in the past, as it was for this ep.

I'll admit I miss the early days of AV receivers, when they had a separate volume control for the center channel, so you could easily raise the volume of the dialog, independently of the rest of the sound track. But now, it's all balanced using the built in computer, and a mike in the listener's position. Hard to adjust independently, and requiring a time consuming rebalance, if you want to return to normal.

 

[Galahad]

Just got back from Scripture Union Camp... one of the female leaders thinks I looks like Tennant which is so blatantly untrue, I suspect she either had a soft spot for me... or is just confused due to being from Essex (bless her).

I did my Doctor Who seminar on the Wednesday and it was received pretty well. The knack is to do an "advert" at breakfast that is interesting. I totally stole the show by referencing my previous year's Superhero seminar advert and then climaxing my advert with a regeneration scene (I pulled a crafty switcheroo with another leader who was identically dressed).

You had to be there.

I had a hand-out that I distributed that summarises the points I was making (with a list of verses I thought were appropriate at the end), if you want to take a look you can get a copy and look at it by following this link.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Galahad just do not push the biblical parallels too far, The Doctor is not a Christian.

 

[Galahad]

Which is pretty much one of the first things I pointed out at the seminar.

The intent was purely illustrative and not about claiming a character as a Christian icon.

With respect I think you are being a little paranoid.

However, I will also point out that we live in a society that has been saturated with Christian culture for nearly 2,000 years... to the point that even secular culture inadvertently borrows from it many times. It can't be helped, it has entered the cultural subconscious of the West.

In the New Testament Paul uses several parallels from foreign cultures in order to help his audience understand something about the Christian faith. In one city, he uses an altar dedicated "To an Unknown God" as a way of introducing the Gospel. He also uses in other letters, segments of Greek hymns that are dedicated to Zeus. Was Paul claiming Zeus as a Christian icon? No, he was using something familiar to help convey something that was unfamiliar.

My main aim was to try and help the kids realise that they don't just have to sit and listen to a guy in a pulpit to experience God, there are many ways to be inspired for the person who is prepared to listen.

Anyway back to Doctor Who and rumour has it the next Children in Need special may also be a multiple Doctor story with 5,6 and 7 in the plot.

 

[The Doctor]

Galahad just do not push the biblical parallels too far, The Doctor is not a Christian.

Well, if you want to look at it one way, The Doctor and the Jesus-character share something in common: They preach non-violence but have followers all too willing to kill in their name. At least where I live, both would be considered tree-hugging hippie pinko commies if anyone actually paid attention to their messages instead of being so hung up on the messengers.

 

[darth_librarian]

Sorry Andrew, but one does not have to take it very far at all to see it. The Christ metaphors in the new Dr Who are blindingly obvious even at a shallow level.

Take the end of Season 3, especially when he turns into a glowy angel thing after being 'thought about' (prayer ?) by the whole world and defeats the Master (Satan), before forgiving him for his sins. Then on the next Christmas special, he saves the day on Christmas. And there are glowy angels again (be they fallen ones).

I think you could have a field day with this topic and take it as far as you like, and folks all over the Internet already have. Just be sure to get some other religous icons in there for the sake of comparison !!

 

[The Doctor]

The symbols are there because you choose to see them as such.

You watch and comment on a show that delves into alternate dimensions and realities and such, so here's an acronym for you: Generator Of Dimensions

Now that's clearly an acronym for God.. but does that have a Christian slant or Jewish slant or Muslim slant? No. I'm a self-proclaimed Atheist. (it's safe to say I believe in a Creator/God/Generator Of Dimensions/collective consciousness/aliens/"The Is-Ness"/etc., just not the deities of organized religion... hence the self-applied term of opposition) The things you see as angels and Satan and all that nonsense, I see as collective consciousness and transfer of energy and a positive attitude of forgiveness that have no connection to the divisive and enslaving ways of organized religion.

Perhaps you do not perceive connection to all around you, but I do on some level. I have had past experiences with projecting and receiving feelings from others: What you would call empathy. I've affected someone as far as 200 miles away. I've affected my fiance driving home from work without her making contact with me in any way. I once felt a relative call out for help as she was undergoing a horrible trauma that led to her death. Dismiss them as you will.. because I'm pretty sure most of you will dismiss them.. but the experiences happened to me. Others in my life have confirmed it. Research the Global Consciousness Project if you require a more scientific slant to the search for what connects us.

For a more topical slant, check out the episode guide for "Doctor Who Classic" to see the listed influences of each old episode. Buddhism and other "Eastern" religions seem to come up as much as, if not more often than, "Western" religious references. Doesn't account for the new episodes, but as RTD is (if I recall) an admitted Atheist, perhaps his real intent may surprise you. Only he knows what that intent is. What we see in his work is just reading tea leaves. We see what we want to see, even if we just want something to be offended by and divide ourselves over.