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{"id":5907,"date":"2012-01-24T09:17:32","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T14:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=5907"},"modified":"2012-01-24T09:17:32","modified_gmt":"2012-01-24T14:17:32","slug":"doctor-who-frontios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/01\/doctor-who-frontios.html","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who: Frontios"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ The episode \u201cFrontios<\/a> $\"\"$ \u201d from the classic Doctor Who series is in many ways a forerunner of the episode \u201c Utopia<\/a> $\"\"$ \u201d in the David Tennant era. The Doctor and his companions end up in humanity\u2019s far future. The Doctor shows concern for the policy of the time lords to not intervene \u2013 and of course, it doesn\u2019t stop him from helping, but he does say more than once that he\u2019d prefer that the time lords not hear about it.<\/p>\n

It also features something that became a major component of a season in the Matt Smith era: the destruction of the TARDIS. This time, however, it is indeed destroyed \u2013 but of course, not so completely that an implausible plot device cannot reassemble it.<\/p>\n

Any attempt to imagine the distant future can be related to religion. Humanity inheriting and inhabiting \u201cnew skies\u201d and \u201cnew earths\u201d is a theme in the Bible. In Frontios, humanity\u2019s survival depends on ingenuity, luck, and the Doctor\u2019s assistance. The two visions are very different, and for that very reason it is instructive to compare them.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"