{"id":14121,"date":"2013-04-20T21:03:49","date_gmt":"2013-04-21T01:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=14121"},"modified":"2013-04-20T21:03:49","modified_gmt":"2013-04-21T01:03:49","slug":"doctor-who-hide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/doctor-who-hide.html","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who: Hide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The latest episode of Doctor Who, \u201cHide,\u201d illustrates the classic tension in the show between offering scientific explanations for the seemingly supernatural, and positing the reality of the paranormal. Spoilers ahead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The episode presents itself as a ghost story. It has a haunted house, an apparition, and the Doctor and Clara turning up and presenting themselves as \u201cghostbusters.\u201d There are quite a number of humorous points, including when Alec Palmer responds to the Doctor\u2019s introduction of himself as \u201cthe Doctor\u201d by asking \u201cDoctor what?\u201d to which the Doctor replies, \u201cIf you like.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the one hand, the spooky apparition turns out to be a time traveler stuck in a bubble universe, moving at a different speed than our universe so that the glimpses people get of her are all from a single moment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

On the other hand, it is a psychic empath (Emma Grayling) who makes the connection with the lost time traveler, Hila Tacorian. And so, as ever, Doctor Who seems both to scientifically debunk a claim to the supernatural, and embrace the supernatural as possible within the universe it envisages.<\/p>\n

It is a clever idea to have the Doctor travel from the beginning of Earth to the end, in order to take pictures that will allow him to get a better picture (literally and metaphorically) of what is going on. That also allows the question to be raised of how the Doctor can be OK with simply seeing the entire history of a planet in that way. Here is the relevant bit of dialogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all ghosts to you \u2013 we must be nothing\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, you\u2019re not that\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen what are we?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the only mystery worth solving\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The interaction between Clara and the TARDIS is also a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

The episode also hints at why the show is enjoyable even when it doesn\u2019t make rational sense. The episode turns out to be not a ghost story, but a love story<\/a>, as the Doctor observes. Like LOST, it is the emotional connections, and not the explanations, that are supposed to be satisfying.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

There are connections with the season\u2019s story arc. The Doctor went there not primarily to rescue a lost time traveler, but to consult an empath about Clara. Emma tells him that she is a \u201cperfectly ordinary\u201d girl. But she did earlier warn Clara not to trust the Doctor, since he has a sliver of ice in his heart.<\/p>\n

There are elements that intersect with religion, inasmuch as the \u201cghost\u201d \u2013 whether a supernatural \u201cwitch of the well\u201d or a scientifically-explicable distant descendant and would-be time traveler \u2013 is being helped to \u201cfind her way home\u201d as a \u201clost soul.\u201d The focus on love, empathy, and other connections which have a real impact on the universe (and others!) in ways that are not obviously explicable in scientific terms is something that can also be related to religion.<\/p>\n

What did you make of \u201cHide\u201d? And why do you think it was called that?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest episode of Doctor Who, \u201cHide,\u201d illustrates the classic tension in the show between offering scientific explanations for the seemingly supernatural, and positing the reality of the paranormal. Spoilers ahead. The episode presents itself as a ghost story. 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