Doctor Who Christmas Special Criticised By Christian Groups - Is Dr Who The Second Coming?
All of us loyal Dr Who fans only have a few days left before we can watch the Christmas special, starring Australian pop tartlet Kylie Minogue as the Doctor’s assistant.
Titled Voyage of the Damned, it follows the Doctor trying to persuade passengers on a ship of his magical powers, and in the process saving them from a meteorite storm.
Nice story, original, fun, and it should be exciting to watch. But wait, what is that there on the horizon? It’s some religious zealots who assume once again have taken to assuming everything is about them.
Unbelievable as it may seem, some Christian groups have criticised the programme’s makers for allegedly insinuating that the Doctor is the second messiah. Oh dear God, how the hell did they come to that conclusion.
It’s true that there have been some threads of storyline, and dialogue which have hinted at the fact that the Doctor may be more than just a mere mortal, but that’s because he’s a timelord, not a human. No-one has ever said that the Doctor is the reincarnation of Jesus!
The Christian hardliners then accused this particualr episode of subverting religious iconography.
Stephen Green, Director of the organisation Christian Voice maintained that the Doctor isn’t a patch on the true messiah:
The Doctor would have to do a lot more than the usual prancing around to be a messiah. He has to save people from their sins.”
Well duh, why the hell do you think the show is making out he’s a messiah then… err, they’re not!
Series writer Russell T Davies defended the use of the imagery in the episode, saying:
“The series lends itself to religious iconography because the Doctor is a proper saviour. He saves the world through the power of his mind and passion.”
Look, I know it’s Christmas and all that, but that’s no justification for trying to latch on to the publicity being given to one of the biggest television shows of the holiday. This accusation, coming when it does, stinks of just trying to get the Christian faith mentioned in the newspapers, and especially the names of the groups making the claims.
Like the whole hoohah surrounding The Golden Compass, religious groups basically try to hijack high publicity launches, shows, and movies, and claim they have even the remotest thing to do with them.
Doctor Who is a legend, but no-one is suggesting he is the second messiah, so just shut up. At the end of the day, it’s a TV programme, not an advert for Atheism, Christianity, or any other faith or belief system that people choose to follow.
All of us true fans can just enjoy sitting down in front of the TV come Christmas day and watching Doctor Who save the planet, and mankind for the umpteenth time on the past few years. Oh hang on, maybe they DO have a point?
Dr Who, Doctor Who, Who, Christian, Religious, Christmas, Kylie Minogue, Russel T Davies, The Golden Compass, UK, british, Brit, UK
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:47 am
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Kylie called a ‘pop tartlet’ before. It was an apt description when she did Locomotion (nearly 20 years ago! - except Aussies being Aussies we called her the Singing Budgie) but since then she has earned a slightly more dignified title.
March 31st, 2008 at 10:35 pm
[...] wasn’t too keen on her character, and performance in the Christmas special but having seen previews of her in the new series at the cinema over the last few weeks, I think [...]