/who?
Doctor who is a popular television show that originally started in 1963. On November 23rd of this year marks its fiftieth anniversary since it originally aired. The show had sixteen years between the original to the new series but remained alive in various forms.1 It is a BBC show meant for children though it has a great adult fan base. This website will be focusing on the new series which consists of seven series to date with the upcoming fiftieth anniversary episode.
The show is based around The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, usually with a female human companion.He travels with his companions because he is the last of the Time Lords. The other Time Lords are in a Time Lock, which means that nobody can leave or enter event in time, the Time War against the Daleks. The Doctors companions are faithful to him and believe in him to the end. He battles many evils on his journey’s and makes many enemies and friends. He saves civilizations from distraction including his beloved earth on many different occasions. The only time the Doctor is unable to save people is when it is a fixed moment in history. He has gone through eleven regenerations which will be discussed later.
The Doctor pops in and out of history and worlds like both the gods of mythology and the super heroes of science fiction.4 Religion itself within the show is seen as a counter to the science of the Doctor and his scientific explanations.5 It is typical, especially in the original run of the series, that the Doctor and his companion to use the people of religion against the villains. They also counter the leaders or followers of religion from using their religion as self-advancement or self-importance. Overall religion is presented negatively in Doctor Who.6
The Doctor has been called many different things throughout the series from sweetie to the Time Lord Victorious but no one person knows his true name. This may be contributed to the fact that many see the Doctor as a god within the show. He does not wish for those around him to see him for who he truly is. The Doctor is always running from his past and something terrible he as done but does not wish anyone to know about it. At the end of the sixth series (the clip above) this question was presented as the ultimate question that the Doctor was running from, Doctor Who? At the end of the seventh and most recent series it ends with a twist of who he might be which is the premise of the anniversary episodes which is due to air soon.
Another interesting thing is that one fan has god as far as to state that Doctor Who is his region, which he explains in his article online.7 He explains exactly why he believes that this happened to him in explaining why he thinks that the Doctor is a god like character which is the argument for this website.
Like many other science fiction writers Doctor Who deals with religious elements. Well written science fiction has always found an audience.2 Just like those writers the Doctor Who writers of Davis and Moffet explore the Doctor in different views as a religious icon. Davis views him as behaving like a god but did not know he was a god, whereas Moffet’s Doctor realizes he what he has become.3
