I'll never cease to be amazed that there are Doctor Who fans who are both
conservative and religious... The show has continually rallied against
everything you stand for, and you seem to hate every new episode, and yet you
still watch. I'm willing to bet you have quite a collection of whips and
handcuffs hidden in your closet, because you just have to be a masochist.
Necessary Weevils
13 hours ago
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ReplyDeleteIf anything Doctor Who is one of the least abrasive to religion and faith than any other sci-fi show I can think of. Star Trek, for instance always harps about how religion ruined everything. It wasn't until after Rodenberry died that we got episodes with the Bajoran (sp?)religion that moved multiple seasons along. Other shows like BSG, and stargate are especially negative on religion.
I know you can look at it both ways, but just think of the episode "Gridlock", faith is essentially what kept everything going when many would lose total hope in a situation like that. It has been a while since I've seen it, but when everyone starts singing the song to keep strong, it was pretty moving. if I recall Martha shed a tear, and not a condescending "look at these primitive people" tear, but a "holy crap that's beautiful" sort of tear.
The Impossible Planet even had the Doctor coming face to face with a creature that the Doctor implied was the basis for the devil. rather than having stories in the vein of the "ancient alien" hypothesis in which we worshiped aliens as gods, Doctor Who actually has deities within, something other sci-fi shows refrain from doing. This isn't saying that the show always paints this in a positive light, as generally we see dangerous cults, and the like, more often than not.
In fact the most devout atheist showrunner in Russel T. Davies, seemed to treat the whole issue with a lot of care, most likely to not piss off viewers. this from the same guy who basiclaly created the pinnacle of atheist movies in "the second coming" a few years prior.
I hate the mentality that you can't like sci-fi if you are religious, some guy at work always talks about that and I roll my eyes. if someone's faith is so weak that a silly fictional show can disrupt it, than they have more problems than a show can mess with.
Thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few Doctor Who stories and novels that are a little too anti-religious for my taste. St. Anthony's Fire, by Mark Gatiss is probably the worst offender.