Dr Who - Conclusions

Moral

If the Doctor became a moral hero in response to public demand, this is heartening. It is especially heartening because it happened in the age of James Bond and Clint Eastwood, when heroes were often not especially moral. It is also heartening that this heroism has remained essential to the character. The Doctor's motive for fighting evil is the recognition of the wonder of creation. This is a motive which a Christian should be able to identify with. We too should be angry when God's creation is marred by evil. However we might want to be wary of being too quick to identify good with diversity and evil with authoritarianism. There are evils perpetrated in the name of freedom. For example, we might want to question whether Captain Jack's 'flexible' approach to sex can itself be harmful.

The Doctor recognizes that moral standards must be maintained even in conflict. This recognition has always been part of Christian ethics. It has its roots in the Old Testament. It is good to be reminded that the interests of national (or even global) security need to be subordinate to higher principles. In this the Doctor is a radical critic of political pragmatism, like the great Old Testament prophets.

Postmodern games

There is no harm in fiction which openly proclaims itself as fiction, and plays games with the reader. This approach to writing became less frequent in the early post Enlightenment era, but it was a feature of older writing. For example, it can be found  in Chaucer. It is helpful to distinguish between:

• a postmodern approach to literary genres, which recognises that all literature is written within a particular approach and does not give us an uninterpreted picture of the world, and
• a postmodern approach to life, which denies that there is any truth to be known.

The series' residual emphasis on science might limit the kind of truth that is acknowledged. However, it is always acknowledged that there is a true answer to be discovered. Christians would want to emphasise this. They would also want to point out that science is not the only route to truth. The series goes some way to recognising this, with its emphasis on the importance of emotion and imagination over against pure reason. This is something the Doctor stresses in his conflict with the Cybermen.

Materialism

The critical attitude of the series sometimes becomes a cloak for introducing philosophical materialism, or for identifying human progress with Evolution. A Christian will want to question these things. This is particularly the case when this worldview claims that death and disease are somehow good. This idea has sometimes featured as a minor theme in some Christian approaches to the problem of evil, but for Christians it has traditionally been subordinate to the idea that death and sickness are consequences of the Fall, of people turning away from God.

Revival

Davies has done a wonderful job in reviving the series, and in introducing the new emotional realism and emphasis on relationships.

It is not in itself wrong for a family show to deal with sexual themes, although one would not expect such themes to be predominant. The subtle metaphorical approach some of the writers have developed for dealing with sexual themes is entirely appropriate. It is a pity that sometimes in the second season this has been replaced by smutty innuendo. This is especially true in Davies' own writing. Introducing such themes into the programme is certainly an improvement on using sexuality to manipulate the audience, as the series sometimes did in the seventies. However a Christian would want to question the idea that human progress inevitably leads to a more casual or diversified approach to sex.

Nor is it wrong for the writers to question some aspects of traditional family values, such as male domination, especially since this is done in a context which continually affirms the value of family relationships.

As for the sexualising of the character of the Doctor, I feel this is a big mistake; although the Doctor's celibacy is never explained or alluded to, it is somehow a part of him. It demonstrates that one does not need to be sexually active to be a complete human being and to find joy in life.

I have been a fan of Doctor Who ever since I watched William Hartnell at the age of four. I have loved the new series, which has been in most respects faithful to the old. In writing, any writer will express something of his own worldview and concerns. I fully accept Russell Davies right to do this, but I question some aspects of this worldview - especially the belief that it is non-religious. It is just as much a religious perspective as those views he condemns.

Dave Ferguson, July 2006