Doctoring the Doctor

As anyone who has been reading my blog over the years has probably realised, it would appear as I have not written anything for some time... that I had apparently gone on some kind of hiatus.  It would therefore be a little ridiculous for me to begin this post by saying something like "I have been strangely silent on the topic of recent developments in the world of  Doctor Who", when silence has pretty much been my modus operandi.

Nevertheless, my silence has largely extended beyond the realms of blogging... I've not said much on Twitter or Facebook.  Instead, I've sat on my mountain watching the shenanigans. I think now is as good a time as any for me to re-enter the fray on both the micro and macro level.

I suppose I should start by giving you some context.  I have been something of a traditionalist in terms of  casting the Doctor.  In the past I have maintained that the Doctor should be male, largely  for two reasons - firstly  because of in-universe consistency and secondly in terms of supporting a feminist counterargument about the fact that in terms of progressive non-violent fictional male role models, the Doctor is pretty much alone... and that taking that away is arguably killing the golden goose (this argument is similar to the one put forward by Peter Davison). I also do not find it a healthy way of breaking the "glass ceiling". To truly do that, a female character has to be positive and strong in their own right... without borrowing a male legacy.

I would say that in the case of the first argument, that it seems highly odd that a member of a species for which we now are to accept treats gender as physically flexible between incarnations, would take over a millennium to decide that he'd have a go on the other side of the fence.  Incidentally and purely for the record, I never treated the issue of race in that argument.  So does this mean that I would never be accepting of a female Doctor on this front alone?

No, not at all.

There are several ways on that sole argument that I would be happy to find a workaround.  In my own head, before Peter Capaldi inherited the role, I would have been content for the Doctor to have an entire set of female regenerations in the new cycle gifted to him (although I think the way he *received* those regenerations was written terribly).  I would have also have been content for him to die permanently and bequeath his title to say -  Jenny, Susan or Romana... after a reunion with any of them. Aside from this, there's also the notion that actually, the only reason the Doctor has never been a woman over the show's run until now, may have more to do with British societal attitudes restricting producers choice. It would seem the original producer never felt that the role would always be male... and fourth Doctor - Tom Baker, also provocatively put the idea of a female Doctor forward when discussing his departure.

It was my second argument, which whilst slightly more simplistic... provided more of a block.  Whilst I still maintain there is a valid point to be made in the argument... it is a wider problem that transcends Doctor Who and I think all progressively minded individuals could find common ground if we accepted that actually there's a need to deal with such things on the macrocosmic rather than microcosmic plain. Both arguments are actually correct. Girls need more positive role models and boys need more progressive ones.  If we wrote more characters that covered both these bases, this would be a non issue... nobody would need to demand any character be one thing in terms of representation... because representation itself would no longer be an issue.

For me it's not so much that there is a glass ceiling and more that both male and female characteristics have grown too big for the floor of the building they now occupy and the divider needs to be removed for both their benefit - the ceiling may be too low downstairs, but the floor is also too high upstairs.

However... all that musing is now by the by..  We find ourselves in a different world.  We all must face things as we find them... and not as we wish them to be. No doubt some, having read my contextual arguments... will assume that when the announcement of Jodie Whittaker's appointment came through, that I went all Chicken Licken and lost my mind in a red mist of vitriol.

And yet, they'd be wrong.

Jodie Whittaker is the new Doctor

Admittedly it did help that I wasn't watching the dedicated TV show (I was playing D and D at the time and caught the announcement via BBC News apps headline announcement), so I was removed from all the high emotion. However, I have to say that when the announcement came through I had a genuine peace about things. I think I'd compare my emotional journey as having been akin to an aircraft breaking the sound barrier.  As a vehicle approaches supersonic speeds, compressibility and drag generate flight instability, but once the craft has passed beyond supersonic, flight becomes smooth again.

There's a minor character in Babylon 5 who goes on a similar journey. Early in the third season, he is sounded out about the possibility of rebelling against Earth... and he seems against it (much to the disappointment of the command staff); however when everything hits the fan in the middle of the season and a fleet of Earth ships rocks up, he's given the choice to walk away... but stays loyal.

You can't always tell what way a person will jump based purely on their prior convictions.  It's also equally dangerous to make assumptions about a person's motives or about where they stand on a topic, purely on the basis of their arguments. One of my recurring fears at the moment is the polarisation of modern society.  Suddenly it seems, everything has become about "us versus them".  There is no middle ground.  At first I noticed this with the ultraconservatives and ultraliberals.... but it is a malignancy that has spread much further - Brexit, generation conflict, gender, nationalism... the fallout over all these is rooted in the same disease. It damages friendships and destroys dialogue. It takes no prisoners and causes collateral damage in the middle ground that gets denied.  This is a much larger topic which I hope to return to at a later date.

Returning to the topic of Doctor Who through the lens of this disquiet, I would encourage all fans of the show to be patient and bear with others who have different feelings about the change of direction/format. It seemed to me no sooner had the announcement been made, that a number of exaggerated responses came out from people with strong feelings on both sides:

• People saying the show is dead and refusing point blank to watch it any more.
• People making misogynistic remarks.
• People pre-empting negative responses and making vitriolic statements that those who held different views were never fans of the show.
• People "Virgin shaming" others who were against the idea.

That last one is something that particularly annoys me.  I find it ridiculous and unacceptable.  We live in a society that quite rightly frowns on and calls out against those who abuse/persecute select sexual minorities and yet turns a blind eye when people use another as a badge of shame. There is no shame... celibacy is a perfectly valid choice.  And for those who don't necessarily make that choice, but find themselves living under the banner... I think getting hung up on that one aspect of life leaves you a bit lopsided and sets you up for more trouble.

But really all these reactions are over the top. We absolutely need to respect that in many cases, people are needing to make a journey along the change curve.  Though I personally accept the change in direction, I do still harbour a few reservations... and having sympathy with some of those who now find themselves ostracised for the position they maintain, because I once trod their path... I find personal attacks and aggression towards them, unacceptable.

Capaldi's Doctor openly defies regeneration.

In conclusion though, having thought long and hard about the way The Doctor Falls ended, I'm actually starting to think that the show itself is going to do something very meta to the audience.  The Doctor's stubborn and this time physical refusal to regenerate, mirrors the emotions and thoughts of many people who are not sold on the idea of Jodie Whittaker taking over. The fact he runs into the First Doctor who seems to be at the point in his journey when he has to make the same decision only amplifies this. Could it be that this year's Christmas special will serve as group therapy for those who feel this way and are stuck on the change curve in the 5 stages of grief?

I think it just might.

All that remains to be said really is "good luck, Jodie".

• How do you feel about the change in direction/format of Doctor Who
• What are your hopes and fears going forward?

One Moment of Eightness

I quite literally gave out an audible squeal of joy earlier this week when the preview "minisode" for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special first came out on the Internet.

Entitled "The Night of the Doctor" (itself a clever play on the title of the forthcoming special "The Day of the Doctor"), at just over six and a half minutes in length, the episode is a unique treat that nicely adds a bit of onscreen continuity and connectivity from classic Doctor Who into the revived series.

The moment I am referring to of course is the return of the Eighth Doctor to our television screens after a 17 year absence - has it really been *that* long?

He's back... and it's about time! (Do you see what I did with the TV movie tagline there?)

Paul McGann's brief onscreen tenure as the Eighth Doctor is divisive for some people because of the nature of the 1996 TV movie and its subsequent legacy.  I for one was there in 1996 -  a mere 21 year old spring chicken at the time of original broadcast.  Looking back at the movie with hindsight, I can see all its faults and failings and why it received mixed reviews at the time.  It also didn't help that in the US, the movie was broadcast in a graveyard slot that didn't endear it to the audience who were deemed necessary to bring the Doctor into a new revived series.

However there's one thing about the TV movie that was in my opinion absolutely perfect and beyond question; that was Paul McGann's interpretation of the Doctor.

Now when asked who my favourite Doctor is, I have *always* maintained that choosing between the Doctors is a bit like choosing your favourite uncle... you kind of shouldn't do it. I still believe that and I always will.

Yet in spite of this I will say is that of all the Doctors, McGann's is quite possibly the one I most relate to - as much for off screen reasons as onscreen ones. Onscreen because of his character and nature (not so much the well meaning kleptomania), off screen because of the troubled way he has been received and the struggle for him to gain at least some recognition in a pantheon of equals.

The Eighth Doctor as we first saw him (well... once he'd appropriated some clothes)

What I really loved about the way the episode was shot, is that it gives us a couple of insights. The first of these for me personally is the Doctor's wardrobe.  In the classic series, the Doctor was always renowned for carrying an Edwardian vibe about him. However when Christopher Eccleston appeared onscreen in 2005, this had seemingly disappeared. However this seems to have been gradually seeping back in with progressive regenerations. With The Night of the Doctor we can see a reason for this. The interference with the Doctor's character that was caused by the conditions of his regeneration on Karn, provides a suspension of his character... and the change of his wardrobe provides a visual signifier of this.  To my mind it seems very clear that the chalice the Doctor drank on Karn wounded or stained his personality and just as wounds and stains fade over time or  some scars gradually come away as dead cells are replaced, the visual signifiers of who the War Doctor was, gradually fade from The Doctors reclaimed outward appearance. I don't think this is necessarily something that Steven Moffat intended... but it's a nice little touch that I think is there if you want it there as an explanation.

What I do think is interesting though, is the fact that Moffat decided to host the events of the Eight Doctor's regeneration on Karn. Long time Doctor Who fans will know from The Brain of Morbius that the previous story written on this world is one of the hot points for debates as to how many regenerations the Doctor has left.  Off screen this seems to suggest a deliberateness behind Moffat's writing - a statement of intent if you like, that indicates he is absolutely aiming to take on the explanation of how to get round a Time Lord's 13 life limitation during his tenure (probably even in the 50th or Christmas special themselves).  Perhaps we aren't even done with Karn either. Some of the lines of dialogue in the episode seem to imply the Sisterhood of Karn's abilities may yet prove to be a part of the deal with regard to bypassing the dreaded number 13 issue.

So all in all a televisual treat to see McGann again... and now it has spawned calls from various quarters for him to have a mini series that will give him a bit more meat to flesh out the bare bones of his TV appearances. This is something I would approve of, especially as McGann seems so comfortable in the shoes of the Doctor.

One final random thought I've had. We now know all 13 faces of the Time Lord we know and love as the Doctor. Shouldn't someone be commissioned to do a spoof of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper... featuring the First Doctor in the central position and John Hurt's War Doctor in the place of Judas?

Would love to hear your thoughts on the mini episode and any hopes and fears you have for the forthcoming big Doctor Who stories.

Here is the episode in case you have not managed to catch it on Red Button or online as yet:

Doctor Who: The Rings of Akhaten - What Should Have Been

It's been a while since I've blogged on the topic of Doctor Who, but I felt tonight's episode held some exceptional points that I wanted to reflect on. Now I know some of the physics was a bit dodgy to say the least... and the main antagonist very much reminded me of Wilson the volleyball from Cast Away, but  the acting and philosophy in the episode were great.

 

The essential plot revolved around a group of alien species who inhabit a cluster of asteroids that nestle within the rings that surround a red sun. Every thousand years the species gather to pay emotional tribute to a sleeping "god". The most important person in the ritualistic festivities is the Queen of Years, whose job it is to lead the gathered pilgrims in a song of lullaby that keeps the god asleep... thus allowing life in the Rings of Akhaten to continue. The current Queen of Years is a little girl named Merry, who is afraid of her inadequacy in the role thrust upon her.

 

Her fears appear to be justified when she is pulled into the pyramid on the asteroid where the god is presumed to sleep and confronted by a vampiric alien that is stirring from slumber, hungering for her song - her soul. Burdened with the knowledge that her people may die if the god is not appeased, she is petrified and yet willing to sacrifice herself to the beast. The Doctor recognises the beast for what it is however, a parasite that leeches on emotion and will not allow Merry to throw her precious and unique life away, to merely satiate the creature for a time.  The creature is apparen00tly defeated when it releases a beam of some kind of energy into the sun... and The Doctor, Clara and Merry prepare to make their escape.

 

There is unfortunately a catch.

 

The creature was not the "god". In fact the god is the sun itself, that hungers for the souls and songs of the people... and The Doctor realises the enormity of his error as it begins to become unstable, threatening the life of all who inhabit the rings.

 

 The Doctor tells Clara to get Merry to safety and attempts to face off against the parasite god.  From a distance, Merry decides to do what she can to help and sings melody to try and quell the sun.  The Doctor is invigorated by the voices of Merry in the pilgrims as they sing in the face of doom.  Knowing that the entity feeds on emotion and experience... and that he has over a millennium of such things under his belt, the Doctor gives an impassioned speech - challenging the entity to be satiated with all that he has seen, known and become:

"Can you hear them? All these people who lived in terror of you and your judgement; all these people whose ancestors devoted themselves... sacrificed themselves to you. Can you hear them singing? Oh you like to think you're a god.... but you're not a god, you're just a parasite eating now the jealousy and envy and... longing for the lives of others, you feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow. So... so... come on then.  Take mine. Take my memories. I hope you've got a big appetite because I have lived a long life and I have seen a few things.  I walked away from the last great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords; I saw the birth of the Universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment until nothing remained - no time no space... just me. I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a mad man. I have watched universes freeze and creation burn. I have seen things you wouldn't believe. I have lost things you will never understand and I know things... secrets that must never be told and knowledge that must never be spoken... knowledge that will make parasite gods BLAZE! SO COME OOON THEN! TAKE IT! TAKE IT ALL BABY! YOU HAVE IT ALL!"

Yet it is not enough... and as the Doctor slumps, the sun expands once again.

 

Clara has an epiphany and realises that she possesses something even more precious. She holds an autumn leaf whose falling brought her parents together and was regarded by her father as "the most important leaf in human history". She remembers her mother's promise to come whenever she was lost... and how that promise had been snatched away from her when her mother died. Flying back to the pyramid asteroid (I'm assuming the space scooters have some kind of ambient oxygen life support field), she holds out the leaf and points out what it represents - not memories of a life lived, but an eternity of what if's - possibilities that never came to pass because of what happened to her mother - days that should have been and never were. Completely overwhelmed by the influx of experiences and emotions that never were and gorged beyond its ability to satiate itself, the sun collapses in on itself... never to demand sacrifice ever again (major physics goof as the sun's destruction would result in the end of all life in the system).



Clara & The Doctor confront the parasite god at Akhetan

As the Doctor put it: "Infinity is too much... even for your appetite"

 

I know that with its theme of a jealous false god who greedily consumes the sacrifices and faithfulness of his followers, many saw the episode as a vitriolic attack on religion - particularly as The Doctor gives gentle digs at the people's belief that Akhetan is where the universe began... citing it as a "nice story" and reiterating the scientific explanation for the birth of the universe (something that I as a Christian have no problem with). However I found myself quite spiritually inspired by this story.

 

Just a week after commemorating the events of Holy Week, I saw parallels with the story of salvation that I felt compelled to share. We are like the people of Akhetan. We live our lives under the gaze of an entity that longs to consume us... that feeds off our pain and sorrow and unfairly revels in our eventual perishing... but that entity is not God. That entity is our broken human nature that we helplessly orbit, unable to escape. It doesn't matter how good we are... how wondrous our achievements, how noble our beliefs and intentions. Nothing within us is capable of satiating the hunger of the sinful nature. Just as the Doctor's vast storehouse of experience was incapable of staving off the hunger pangs of Akhetan... even the most reverent and devout of humans falls prey to the universal phenotype of our condition. We are all sinners, we all make mistakes.... it is an inherited condition:

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

Romans 5:12-14

Into this hopeless fray stepped hope itself.

Jesus is a human - He shared in our sorrows and our sufferings and yet being in very nature God, He was not automatically subject to our brokenness. Jesus Christ represents everything we should have been, everything we could have been if we had not followed the pattern of the World. Jesus represents the obedience of all humanity... that never was.

 

In Jesus there's quite a difference isn't there? There's an awful lot of sin but there's an infinity of righteousness on offer. Infinity is too much, even for death's appetite.

 

The unjustness of the Righteous One giving his life - an eternal abundance of obedience and goodness, for us in our corruption... completely satisfied the previously unending hunger of sin:

 

"Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."

Romans 5:18-19

Not for nothing did Jesus use the Greek word "Tetelestai" (which the English usually translates to "It is finished"), as he died on the cross. It is a word that means debt is paid in full.

 

That's our debt... we can have it paid. All we need to do is put our trust in the risen Jesus and accept what he did for us.

 

Jesus is too much... even for sin and death's appetite.

 

Redemption - Doctor Who: Let's Kill Hitler

The Doctor reappeared on our television screens tonight after an anxious wait of a couple of months... and he was back with a bang.

I had mixed feelings about A Good Man Goes To War (the mid series climax), there were many parts about it that I felt were fantastic but the ending felt a little disappointing and disjointed for me. Maybe I'm biased and I just didn't like how the big reveal was handled or where it was going. However I have to say that on its return, the latest Doctor Who episode pretty much blew my socks off.

It started with a hectic drive through a cornfield as Amy & Rory raced to rendezvous with the Doctor (who has as yet failed to rescue Melody); this was immediately followed by the arrival of "Mels", a lifelong friend of Amy who hast stolen a car with the intention of meeting The Doctor. There was a nice bit of foreshadowing here as Mels had driven through the "Leadworth Crop Circle" (the word Doctor inscribed in the corn by Rory's driving as he tried to attract The Doctor's attention), and crossed out the word by driving in a straight line.

Foreshadowing as Mels' driving crosses through The Doctor's name.

Mels then holds The Doctor at gunpoint and forces the TARDIS crew into an unscheduled journey which results in them materialising in Berlin, 1938 after a stray bullet damages the TARDIS. This ends up being a timely intervention for Hitler who is about to be "given Hell" by a squad of time travelling, miniaturised humans who travel around the universe in a humanoid robot "tesselator" meting out so called justice on history's worst criminals.

There are a few moments of humorous awkwardness (as could only happen when you travel through time and inadvertently save one of history's worst war criminals and end up locking him in a cupboard for his own protection), before we discover that Mels has been mortally wounded by a bullet and spontaneously begins to regenerate (honestly Steven Moffat has clearly gone for trecord for the amount of regenerations in a single series), as she takes the familiar form of Alex Kingston, we understand are at the beginning of River Song's story.

This is not the River Song we are familiar with however. This River Song is an assassin who is still well and truly under the programming of The Silence and still operating under her birth name of Melody Pond. The Doctor having foreseen the arrival of Melody takes steps to preserve his life... by disarming and hiding weapons; this proves in vain however, as Melody utilises a deceptive kiss laced with a slow acting poison. Melody runs away and causes havoc in a nearby Berlin restaurant as Rory and Amy give chase in a bid to apprehend her... closely followed by the tesselator whose crew perceive Melody Pond as a greater threat than even Hitler because she killed The Doctor (as seen in The Impossible Astronaut).

As they arrive on the scene of the restaurant they see all the panicked diners fleeing for their lives... in their underwear. Before they are able to act on this however, the tesselator miniaturises them and imprisons them inside itself at the mercy of its crew.

The tesselator begins to unleash its punishment on Melody, but is interrupted by The Doctor's lavish arrival and subsequent insistence that this stops. The crew of the tesselator cannot comprehend why The Doctor in his dying moments is displaying mercy to Melody when he possesses the knowledge that she is his murderer. Eventually they ignore The Doctor and proceed to give Melody "Hell". The Doctor in desperation and agony appeals to Amy and Rory to save her... which they do... but this in turn puts them in peril. The Doctor is in so much pain and is so weak that he is unable to do anything to save them... he desperately calls out to Melody to change her ways and save her parents. The TARDIS materialises within the tesselator in the nick of time... but its pilot is not The Doctor... it is Melody who has been taught by the TARDIS (and is indeed also a child of the TARDIS), who has heeded The Doctor's words.

As the Ponds rematerialise inside the restaurant, The Doctor's life ebbs away. He appeals to Melody to find River Song and pass on to her his final message and then breathes his last. Melody does not understand who River Song is... but Amy uses the tesselator to transmit an image of River Song... which convinces Melody that she is in fact one and the same. Realising the level of her mistake and understanding who The Doctor really is and what he means to her, River draws upon all the remaining regeneration energy inside her body to resurrect The Doctor.

"Hello Sweetie." River has a change of heart and brings The Doctor back to life.

I loved the central overarching theme of this episode... it was all about redemption. As Melody, River is exactly the ruthless, pathological killer that the Silence raised her to be and who the daleks were terrified of. Yet in spite of this, The Doctor still cares about who she will become and wants to prevent her from being harmed/killed. It doesn't matter what judgement or punishment others want to subject her to on his behalf, he sees her actions as answerable only to him. The following exchange perfectly sums this up:

The Doctor: What do you want with her?
Captain: She's Melody Pond. According to our records, the woman who kills The Doctor.
The Doctor: And I'M The Doctor... so what's it got to do with you?

This for me resonates very well with the central message of the Christian gospel. Our bad actions, our mistakes, our wrongness... these things are responsible for the death of Christ. He willingly underwent the crucifixion as a payment for the things we have done wrong... and all through his ministry and life, he made it very clear that we were not to judge others for the things that they get wrong... because in the final analysis all wrongs committed were committed against him. Even his dying words expressed to his Father in heaven, bore testimony to this:

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Luke 23:34a

In tonight's Doctor Who episode, Melody/River is very much the enemy and yet The Doctor sees past that... he sees her personal value - what she means to him as a person... and the individual she will become. In the same way, when we don't know God and are gravitating in a world without him and knowingly or unknowingly in rebellion against him, we are described as his enemies. However... just like The Doctor, he doesn't hold this against us and instead chooses to see our value to him and the untapped potential he has for us:

"For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

Romans 5:9-11

In the Bible when a person changes direction... they often gain a new name. Perhaps the most radical example of this is Saul of Tarsus. As much as Melody Pond had been conditioned to kill The Doctor... Saul had been trained to persecute Christians and we first meet him nodding in approval at the stoning of Stephen - the first Christian martyr. After having a personal encounter with the divine Christ, Saul did a complete U turn and became an apostle and apologist for the very belief he persecuted.  He became known as Paul.

The taking of a new name is symbolic, it speaks of gaining a new identity... one that is free from all the baggage that went before. So in Doctor Who, Melody Pond takes the name of River Song and in the Bible, Saul takes the name of Paul. We too have a heavenly name; we may not know its pronunciation... but it exists nonetheless (this is a theme that Max Lucado explores at length in his famous book "When God Whispers Your Name). We can begin to know it if we listen to God and allow him to work in our lives.

In both the case of River Song in Doctor Who... and Paul in the Bible, we see that there is a price to pay in return for our redemption. River passed on all her remaining regenerations in order That The Doctor could live again; Paul realising the great debt that had been paid on his behalf committed his life to God in a very special way.

It's interesting that in both fiction and real life, we see a recurring theme - that the price of a person's redemption comes at great personal cost to another... one that usually demands a life. It's equally interesting that the beneficiaries of said sacrifice (be they fictional or actual), often feel an obligation to give something back to the individual or individuals who paid the price for them.

What sacrifices have been made for you, that have positively changed the direction of your life? What are you doing or what will you do in response to those sacrifices that honours the person/people who made it? Do you recognise what I consider to be the greatest sacrifice of all and what does it mean to you, personally? These are just some of the questions I hope you reflect on having read this article.

If you have any thoughts about tonight's episode of Doctor Who yourself, or if perhaps if anything I have said here has given you something to think about that you wish to share, I'd very much love to hear from you.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Doctor Who: Matrimonial Bliss!

Tonight's episode of Doctor Who was truly magnificent and was yet another timely reminder to the Whoniverse's fiercest critics, that the show is alive and kicking. Penned by Neil Gaiman and titled "The Doctor's Wife",  the story focused on the intimate relationship between the Doctor and his "wife". It's a series highlight and features a solid story and some top drawer acting from Matt Smith and Suranne Jones.

The Doctor's Wife - a solid episode steeped in Who lore and rich in emotion.

As I'm sure you gathered before the show aired, the titular character was/is in fact the TARDIS. The master stroke that Neil Gaiman played was to hold a mirror up to the anthropomorphic relationship between The Doctor and his home/mode of transport. Many times we have heard The Doctor vocalise his attachment to the TARDIS, many more times have we seen him demonstrate it... on this occasion however, the TARDIS finally gets an opportunity to reciprocate and express its own affection for The Doctor.

The soul of the TARDIS is captured by a malevolent entity and lured into a "bubble" on the edge of the universe. There in the darkness, a being has quietly been luring Time Lords to their destruction... feeding off their power and cannibalising their body parts along with other aliens to sustain its servants. The Doctor arrives on this barren junkyard asteroid in the hopes of finding some good Time Lords who may have escaped the Time War and who can forgive him for his actions. It soon turns out to be a ruse however and the Doctor is trapped on the rock with his TARDIS personified in the form of Idris (played by Suranne Jones), as the malevolent alien entity known as "House" hurtles off towards our universe in search of more "food" in the physical TARDIS, with Amy and Rory trapped inside... subjected to it's evil tricks.

Back on the asteroid we are treated to some wonderful interaction between The Doctor and the TARDIS as they desperately try to cobble together a working makeshift TARDIS from the remains of all the other TARDIS hulks that have crashed on the asteroid.

Eventually they make it back to the real TARDIS interior in time for a final conflict. When all seems lost and Idris' body dies, the TARDIS' soul is released back into the console and reclaims her rightful home from the "House entity"... purging him.

We are also treated to the cryptic portentous message:

"The only water in the forest is the River"

This isn't the first time Neil Gaiman has used this dramatic tool. He did something very similar in his Babylon 5 episode "The Day of the Dead". Two things struck me with regard to this statement. Firstly that River's eventual fate was to be downloaded into the memory of the library planet in the episode "Forest of the Dead", I think the Doctor may very well be travelling there in the future to rescue River's essence (because both river and forest are referenced). Secondly the fact that there is only one kind of water present... and of course Amy also shares a water related surname. Does this mean that Amy will not be with the Doctor in the future... or that perhaps that there will be an impostor of Amy travelling with the Doctor at some point?

The episode succeeds as a whole because you really believe in the relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS, so much so that in her "death" scene... I found myself welling up along with Matt Smith.

I think the episode is very much about treasuring the moments. One segment of dialogue in particular sums this up for me:

Tardis: Doctor? Are you there? It’s so very dark in here.

Doctor: I’m here.

Tardis: I’ve been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I’ve found it now.

Doctor: What word?

Tardis: Alive. I’m alive!

Doctor: Alive isn’t sad.

Tardis: It’s sad when it’s over. I’ll always be here. But this is when we talked and now even that has to come to an end. There’s something I didn’t get to say to you.

Doctor: Goodbye?

Tardis: No, I just wanted to say … hello. Hello, Doctor. It’s so very, very nice to meet you.

Doctor: Please! I don’t want you to. Please.

 That scene really did have me weeping. Life is fragile... and the life we live in this world is temporary and all too brief. The knowledge that it all must come to an end is heart wrenchingly sad... most especially for those left behind. We should remember that although we eventually say goodbye to the people we have known and loved... that much more importantly we had the opportunity, the honour and the joy of saying hello to them in the first place and sharing a part of their journey too. As a Christian I believe that like the TARDIS, our loved ones may live on (by the grace of God). Although they are in a place where we can't commune with them... every so often the universe gives us a gentle reminder of who they were in order to reassure us of where they are.

The other thing that struck me in this episode is how everything that is truly important to us in life, requires a relationship. If we merely like or appreciate something... it is a one way thing and worthless. Friendships, partnerships, relationships, marriages, families, schools and even belief systems require a bond to work.

Even faith hinges on it.  If salvation was just about us expressing our belief or even our love for God, it would be of little value.

The Doctor believed that he had chosen  the TARDIS, yet it is now the TARDIS who tells him that  as much as he chose her, she chose him. She wanted to go off on a journey exploring the universe and he was the only one mad enough or willing enough to do it... the only one with the same desire to be free.

Ultimately, that is what I think has to happen in a journey of faith. We may start out thinking it's a one way thing, a series of devotional acts towards God... but sooner or later in life we have an encounter with the God we are worshipping and he becomes real to us in a new way. When that day comes it changes everything. We learn that inasmuch as we think we have chosen God... he  in fact has chosen us for himself too. When that day comes... it changes everything.

We, like the Doctor, may protest that we are not always taken where we want to go; God, like the TARDIS, gently reminds us that he always takes us where we most need to be. Just recently I had a personal experience that reminded me of this very thing.

At the end of the episode, The Doctor was deeply saddened that he couldn't communicate with the TARDIS in the same way any more... but is reassured when the controls start flipping and switching of their own volition. I am thankful that in my walk with God, that I don't need that kind of reassurance... you see God doesn't stop talking. True... sometimes he grows quiet... but it isn't because he is unable to talk to us, rather it is because we either need to rediscover our hunger for him... or because we are being encouraged to grow in faith in a hard but necessary way.

So I guess the questions I am asking tonight are.:

• Who is in control on your journey through life? 
• Who has chosen who?
• Is your faith or your life a one way thing?

May you be blessed as you seek an answer to those questions.

Doctor Who: Did I Say Epic? SPOILERS

I've just been watching the Doctor Who season 6 opener, The Impossible Astronaut. I thought it was utterly fantastic and highly disturbing. When I said in my last Doctor Who related post that I thought the trailer was hinting at an epic series... I realise I wasn't understating.

Kudos to Steven Moffatt for taking a gutsy move and apparently killing the Doctor forever, in the very first episode of the new series. It's got people scratching their heads, reeling in shock... scribbling down theories... and reacting strongly (with some seeing it as a tool to curtail the show and limiting it to a certain length in terms of episodes).

Is the Doctor's number finally up?

I don't think that's the case at all... and if you do, I humbly suggest you've probably bought into a deliberate red herring and swallowed it whole. If there is one thing Moffatt has a tremendous talent for, it's ratcheting up tension and suspense... and this I believe lies at the heart of what's going on. How do you add peril to a character who is seemingly unkillable (at least for another couple of generations), well it's simple... you kill them (in The Doctor's case by completely bypassing the "get out clause"! That way you have this shadow hanging over the character for at least the next episode and/or possibly the whole series. A master stroke. One warning here - don't expect Moffatt to simply retcon the death away... he's not RTD. Yes he may use timey wimey stuff to explain the situation but he won't flip a switch and deus ex machina his way out of the situation. I think the likelihood is that as the episodes/series go on, we will gain more and more insight into what was really going on in that seemingly final exchange... that will give us a new perspective and the proper resolution.

I thought the Silence were utterly creepifying. The exaggerated head size and skull like facial  features (sans mouth) made them look incredibly disturbing. Moffat has a penchant for plugging into our basest primordial fears and concerns in everyday life... and used this as inspiration for the Silence - how scary is an enemy that you can't remember even seeing?

The VERY sinister and creepy Silence.

The drama and suspense were neatly balanced with some top draw humour. The Doctor cropping up in history and drawing attention to himself in Enlightenment era art, a World War II prisoner escape tunnel and a Laurel & Hardy movie (complete with Fez), was good way to start the episode before taking a dark turn. The interaction between the Doctor and River was as usual flirty and charming... with the odd dash of cynicism on the Doctor's part. Calling her Mrs. Robinson was just brilliant though.

Next week can't come soon enough for me - Whomania is back... it is in full flow and it's going global.

I thought the episode was very appropriate for Easter Saturday. Firstly it reinforced what I was saying about Jesus and Brother Edward on Thursday... because the Doctor in this episode also finds himself in a situation where he knows his end is coming (he clearly knew who was in the astronaut suit and he knew exactly what was coming), yet the Doctor remained and accepted the fate put before him.

You also had River, Amy & Rory grieving and forlorn after the Doctor's demise, not knowing which way to turn or what the best thing. This made me think very much about how Jesus' companions must have felt, following Good Friday. If that wasn't enough you have the absolutely stunned reaction as the fourth invited party walks into the diner. Having just burned the Doctor's corpse... the mishmash of intense and varied emotions that hit Amy, Rory and River as they saw the Doctor walk through the door... perfectly mirrored the kind of expressions you might have expected from the apostles on Easter Sunday.

So as I said, all in all a great episode and a perfect one given the season.

I cannot finish this post without thanking the BBC for the wonderful, heartwarming and reminiscent tribute to Elisabeth Sladen (entitled: My Sarah Jane), that was screened on CBBC immediately after the episode... as well as the screen caption. I know some people will be wondering why the Nicholas Courtney (who playing the equally beloved Brigadier), didn't get a screen caption. I believe he will get one... the Beeb probably want to pay tribute to them respectfully as individuals and not cram them together like sardines. I also think Sarah-Jane's character is a very special one because more than any other companion or side character... she binds the classic and new series together. If you look at the tribute pages for Elisabeth Sladen you will see that she is appreciated by fans, new and old... right across the spectrum... that in itself pays tribute to the kind of sincerity and emotion Sladen brought to the role... and perhaps the biggest reason she will be deeply an sadly missed... but remembered and treasured with even greater fondness and respect.

Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor

Things have been a little quiet here of late again... haven't they? I've been quite busy over the last few weekends and have caught Doctor Who at very strange times. With the heat and various projects on the go, I've also struggled to find motivation.

But I didn't want to let the opportunity to contribute my views on tonight's episode (written by Richard Curtis), pass. So without further ado, here are some of my meanderings:

The important thing to remember about tonight's episode was that it was character driven and not monster driven. There was nothing particularly amazing about the Krayafis (space cockerel), it's presence on Earth served primarily as a menace to the already tortured mind of Vincent, and a plot device to bring the worlds of van Gogh and The Doctor crashing together.

Having said that, I do wonder about the space poultry... there is some ancient Alcester folklore concerning such a creature that is said to prowl a wooded hill near where I live... protecting the ill-gotten gains of a robber.

I think there were a couple of visual references to Clash of the Titans in the episode - The Doctor using a mirrored device to observe the monster (plus a nice touch with the visual nods to Hartnell and Troughton as well), and with the statue of Perseus and Medusa in the gallery. I also wondered if the shot of George and the Dragon on the church entrance was a reference to the Primeval episode that featured Tony Curran (the actor playing van Gogh); the episode in question concerned a medieval knight stranded in the modern world, pursuing a prehistoric beast.

While Curran's accent as the painter was questionable (blatantly slipping into his native Scottish twang), this I can easily forgive as his portrayal of the character was immensely sympathetic and emotional. Production-wise, Dutch accents can be hard to take seriously if not portrayed well by a non-Dutch actor, so he may have just decided to leave well enough alone. In universe you could easily attribute this to Amy understanding him with a Scottish accent through the TARDIS translation abilities.

There were some nice touches in the character interaction. Vincent perceiving that Amy was still grieving for Rory even though she could not even remember even him consciously herself; Vincent visibly struggling with his personal demons - constantly facing the rejection and lack of understanding dealt to him by his peers, and writhing with deep depression and anxiety during the night the Doctor and Amy needed him (reasserting himself by morning in bipolar fashion).

The final 10 minutes seem to be the crux to the whole episode... everything that has gone before leads up to this epilogue. If I am to believe the Twitterverse, you either love it or you hate it. I think this has a lot to do with where you are emotionally as an individual. Personally I loved it... and was quite upset that my viewing was disturbed during the sequence where van Gogh finally learns how his art has been received in hindsight. The tearful eyes of van Gogh as Bill Nighy's curator relayed just how much his personal struggles and how he translated them into some of the world's most beautiful art... had affected the generations since his death, elicited a similar response from me. Here is what he said:

"To me, van Gogh is the finest painter of them all. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved. His command of colour, the most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world... no-one had ever done it before. Perhaps no-one ever will again! To my mind, that strange wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world's greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived."

It reminds me very much of Don McLean's song "Vincent", and i offer it for your consideration now:

Van Gogh died with little in the way of either wealth or critical recognition. I think as human beings we all have a need for acceptance and recognition on some level. It doesn't have to be artistic recognition... but we all need to feel that our time on Earth is of some worth to the people around us. So in this respect, I think van Gogh's story and this episode of Doctor Who can resonate with us on an extremely deep level.

On the evening of broadcast, the BBC issued a post transmission statement saying that anyone affected by issues raised by the episode should contact a provided helpline. It was fairly obvious to me that this was referencing the mental health issues and not the fantasy elements. I cannot say how appalled I am at the cynical and mocking response from some quarters, towards a genuine attempt at the BBC to do some good.

A couple of thoughts occurred to me with regard to my faith tonight. They concern how we relate to one another as human beings... and how we can make a difference to others. It stems from the Doctor's words to Amy when she feels despondent after returning to the present and realising that van Gogh hadn't been saved from his early grave his experience in the modern world:

"The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things but vice versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant... and we definitely added to his pile of good things... and if you look carefully maybe we did make a couple of little changes..."

We can never fully know what effect our actions will have on the lives of others... but I truly believe that we need to strive to add to other people's "pile of good things" if we want to better their lives and our own. It is an attitude that I believe is fundamentally at the heart of Christ's command to love our neighbour as ourselves... and his appeal to us that the circle of who our neighbours are... is actually a lot wider than the people we take mutual comfort in.

People have free will and sometimes we can't pull them back from the precipice. Mental illness is actually a pretty good example of this. One of the reasons there has been a stigma attached to it for so long, is that we fail to properly acknowledge irrational behaviour. We look at it from a perspective and we try to rationalise the actions of those who suffer... which isn't really helpful. In these cases, I believe we should do our best to try and bear with those who suffer instead of trying to explain away or callously dismiss what they are going through. 

Going back to my general thought... a perceived negative outcome isn't a reason for us not to do our best to save people. Every one of us, if we just took a little more time to add to other people's "good pile" instead of obsessing over our "bad pile", we might be surprised at what a difference all those small changes make to the big, big picture.

Finally I want to make an appeal to people who may feel their contribution in life is minimalist, worthless and futile. Lately I myself have had thoughts along these lines, and so I'd like to invite you to walk with me on a meditation  I have based on tonight's episode of Doctor Who:

I would like you to close your eyes and imagine that you are in walking through an art gallery. As you pass by the masterpieces and works of your favourite artists, you notice an alcove to the side. Entering the alcove you see that the artist exhibited within is actually... you.  Take a good look at the paintings... maybe some of the scenes depicted are areas or times in your life that have been painful to you. Look closer though. I'd like you to imagine images of the people you care about, and who... even if you may struggle to accept it... care about you.

It might be helpful at this point to imagine that the curator of the gallery is here... and he is describing you in a similar vein to how Vincent was described. Perhaps the curator is someone important to you that you know. For me, the Curator is Jesus. Finally I want you to imagine there is an inscription on the wall. It is a passage from the Bible and it speaks of how God is always around us and how intimately he knows us:

"O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there;  if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you."

Psalm 139:1-18

You may feel deeply alone, unloved and not very special. However, I assure you that is not the way God sees you.

You are NOT alone and you ARE loved.

Doctor Who: The Time of Angels - Faith in the Dark

So... the Weeping Angels are returning with a vengeance....

I honestly didn't think I could be terrified any more by them... it's bad enough they have forced me to develop a phobia of stone statues in a churchyard... now I'm terrified of them coming out of the television!

There was certainly a lot to take in during the course of this episode... Moffat has certainly tossed a lot of cards onto the table.

Firstly there was the return of the mysterious and enigmatic River Song. Moffat certainly teased and tantalised us with tidbits. There were playful hints (again), as to exactly what the nature of her relationship with the Doctor is/will be. We also know now that she has a shady past... something that at this stage of his life, the Doctor may not be ready to accept. We also know that she has had flying lessons in a TARDIS... and appears to be more proficient than the Doctor (although I suspect he "leaves the brakes on" for dramatic flair), but the question remains... who exactly taught her? I'm also personally curious as to whether or not there is a link between Amy and River... they both used the exact same term of phrase to describe the Doctor's reason for museum visits.

Next we have the militaristic clerics led by their bishop, Father Octavian. Being a Christian I took special interest in this faction of soldiers. At a guess I'd have to say that their presence and the name of the crashed starship (the Byzantium), are a nod back to both the Roman Empire and the militaristic Roman church of old. Octavian was the original name of the Emperor Augustus and Byzantium was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Whilst they appear both pretty conservative and militaristic (particularly Octavian), I don't think they came across as negative. Quite how their involvement figures into the big picture I'm not certain... but lets not forget they were on a mission to protect the human colonial inhabitants of Alfava Metraxis and were sent to "neutralise" the angel. Curiously Octavian appears to be aware of who the Doctor is.

Then finally of course we have the angels themselves. As I said... terrifying as they were in Blink, Moffat has expanded on their background and abilities and made them much more formidable. Just as the daleks eventually neutralised the "staircase escape technique", the angels have a workaround for their quantum lock weakness. If you don't blink... and you look them in they eyes, they begin to turn you into one of them. The same goes with technical equipment or anything used to record their image.

"That which holds the image of an angel itself becomes an angel"

Amy inadvertently finds herself staring at the image of the angel onscreen... as it projects itself through a television screen and starts to attack her. This has dangerous repercussions for her as she herself finds herself (through psychological manipulation), turning slowly into an angel. The Doctor temporarily saves her from this fate by biting her hand which she believes to be stone.

Furthermore, the angel the clerics were sent to neutralise was a creature of incredible cunning and infinite patience. It bided its time, lying dormant for centuries until it sensed an opportunity to revive others of its kind on the planet. I thought it was curious that the characters were referring to the native Aplans as double-headed creatures when none of the statues had two heads... and then  in a marvellous twist we found out why! The statues were not Aplans but deteriorating angels who were now slowly being restored by radiation leakage from the Byzantium's engines.

As the Doctor, Amy, River and the surviving clerics run to the Byzantium crash site, they find themselves closed in by the angels (now communicating with the Doctor having killed cleric Bob and used his cerebral cortex to fashion a means of communication - this I thought was very similar to the way in which the Vashta Nerada communicated with the Doctor in Moffat's previous River Song story). As the lead angel boasts of its imminent victory and the characters' impending doom, it also tries to provoke the Doctor tino rage. The Doctor responds by stating the one thing you shouldn't put in a trap if you have any sense... is him. He then fires a cleric's pistol into the gravity globe... the sole source of light and protection from the nearing angels... and the show ends on a cliffhanger.

I think the name of the globe is a hint at how they might escape their initial peril (gravity globe... by destroying it, my guess is they will float or fall out of harms way), but this is pure speculation.

A couple of things stood out for me in this episode with regard to spirituality. The first unsurprisingly is the nature of angels - or more specifically... fallen angels. in the episode, the Doctor talks of the power of the angels being in their image. This is so true. One of my major concerns about the modern world's obsession with the occult, is the mistaken belief that all spiritual forces that make themselves out to be benign or benevolent... are exactly what they pertain to be. I'll be focusing on this in a later post that has been brewing for quite some time in my head.

In one passage, the Bible speaks of Satan masquerading as an angel of light. By wooing us with what appears to be kindness, he lowers our defences and opens us up to his more nefarious plans. In the Narnia stories, the White Witch appears to be benevolent in some scenes... until her dark schemes are revealed. When Jonathan Ross criticised the film version, for "confusing the audience" about who was good and bad between Aslan and the witch I had to break out with a wry smile. He was missing the entire point!

I don't know if you've ever seen the Usual Suspects, but there is an excellent line in it which is very telling:

"The greatest trick the devil pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

In the latest episode of Doctor Who, Amy has been put in personal peril because she was drawn into the gaze of an angel. Similarly if we become enamoured with the occult, we too can be drawn in and find ourselves in great physical, psychological and spiritual danger.

The other spiritual point I wanted to make was with regard to the Doctor himself; it's from the cliffhanger:

"There's one thing you never put in a trap if you're smart. If you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, ever, put in a trap: me."

That to me sums up the relationship between Jesus and Satan. In Gethsemane, Satan must have thought he'd got the ultimate one over on God... killing his Son in mortal form. He put Jesus in a fatal trap... but what he failed to anticipate was the fact that Jesus being in the trap was actually part of God's plan. When the lights went out on Good Friday, it was the ultimate cliffhanger.

However on Easter Sunday... Satan got utterly owned. Jesus may have subjected himself to The Law... but because there was no sin to be found in him, it had no power over him.

The Doctor asked his companions whether they trusted him, whether they put their faith in him... and they responded positively.... this was just before he plunged them into darkness and risk.

Similarly, God can ask us to put our faith in him whilst we find ourselves in the midst of very strange or nerve racking circumstances. I suppose the question we have to ask ourselves is when these times come... are we prepared to put our trust in him?

Doctor Who: Victory of the Daleks and the Supremacy of Love

I had mixed feelings about this week's Doctor Who episode, Victory of the Daleks:

Firstly, on the plus side I feel it has to be said that Matt Smith continues to hold his own as the last of the Time Lords. He echoes multiple Doctors of the past and channels his own unique energy into each performance.

There were brief glimpses of genius in the script: The Doctor using a jammy dodger biscuit as a fake TARDIS destruct button, Spitfires in space, and of course the creepy apparently subservient Daleks (which of course were nothing of the sort). There's just something a little darkly kinky about a Dalek drifting around proclaiming "I am your sooooooooooldier!"

"Would you care for a cup of teeeeeeaaaaaa?!???"

Most... hilariously surreal Dalek line... EVER!

All this is the kind of stuff that makes Doctor Who unique... that the amazing, fantastic, wonderful and terrifying things can all be found or suggested in the everyday mundane.

On the negative side it has to be said that the newly reincarnated Daleks look foul. The angles are all wrong and they look like they have been made out of cheap vacuum sealed plastic. It's almost as if they've been cross bred with a cheap Nissan Micra or Smart Car. I suspect they've been bulked up for the comfort of the operators. The mixed paint jobs are probably a nod back to the 60's film versions, but I don't think a variety of bright colours really work on Daleks. They are supposed to be a totalitarian supremacist race bent on destruction of all non-Dalek life, it seems fitting to me that their colour scheme should be restricted and repressed. Still... at least they didn't have fire extinguishers for extermination beams.

When they emerged in formation and confronted the Doctor, I wondered what they reminded me of... and then somebody hit the nail on the head on Twitter:

No wonder the poor Doctor looked so bemused!

I also felt the pacing was a bit off. When the Power Rangers new Daleks were revealed, it felt like there should have been a "To Be Continued" after the Doctor's reaction. It really could have benefited from being a two parter as some important elements were left rushed or unexplained. You could really tell the difference in quality between Moffat's episodes and this one.

In the climax of the story we discover that Bracewell - the Daleks' sleeper android, is a walking Oblivion Continuum bomb capable of destroying the Earth. The Daleks trigger his countdown mechanism as part of their exit strategy, and the Doctor has to abandon his plans to thwart them in a desperate bid to diffuse Bracewell as he builds up to critical mass.

The Doctor quickly realises that  the way to disarm Bracewell is to break the Daleks control over him... and to do that he has to help Bracewell reassert his sense of humanity. In trying to elicit an emotional response, The Doctor appeals to Bracewell's sense of sadness, despair, hurt and loss... all of which have no effect whatsoever.

Once again it is Amy who has an epiphany about how to resolve the situation. She copies the Doctor's strategy of appealing to Bracewell's emotions but instead appeals to his positive emotions... principally love.

Although perhaps not the most scientific of resolutions, I liked it. To quote William Hurt's character in The Village: "The world moves for love, it kneels before it in awe."

When she was still alive, my grandmother's favourite Bible verse which she knew from memory was this:

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13

As powerful as negative emotions are, love (in it's many forms), is supreme. Perhaps that's why we prize the emotion so greatly when we are enthralled by it, covet it when we are deprived of it... and grieved so deeply when we are robbed of it. That is why when, like the Doctor we are at the end of our resourcefulness, love in its supremacy will have the final word.... especially God's love.

In a dark world it's often very easy to lose sight of this truth and so I'd like to finish by quoting another doctor... namely Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr:

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."