{"id":6552,"date":"2012-02-28T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-28T13:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=6552"},"modified":"2012-02-28T08:06:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-28T13:06:00","slug":"doctor-who-trial-of-a-time-lord-the-mysterious-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/02\/doctor-who-trial-of-a-time-lord-the-mysterious-planet.html","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who: Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cThe Trial of a Time Lord<\/a>\"\"\u201d is an episode (or sequence of episodes, depending how one thinks about it) that I remember vividly from when I was younger. I also remember before I saw it, a friend of mine telling me some things about it that were so mind-bending I was sure he was lying. But he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"\"As I watched the first four parts of \u201cThe Trial of a Time Lord<\/a>\"\"\u201d \u2013 known as \u201cThe Mysterious Planet\u201d \u2013 it dawned on me that there is only one other Doctor I could imagine offering anything quite like the combination of belligerence, mockery, insults, deference, and sarcasm in his outbursts during the course of the trial<\/a>. It is the Eleventh, played by Matt Smith. I never really thought of the continuity between those Doctors until now. It is a shame that Colin Baker\u2019s Doctor is the favorite of very few<\/a>. His role both in bringing back much of the original Doctor as well as preserving key elements of the subsequent ones, and uniting them in a single persona, is pivotal, in ways that I suspect are underappreciated by fans.<\/p>\n

If you like Matt Smith\u2019s Doctor, definitely give Colin Baker\u2019s a try, if you haven\u2019t already.<\/p>\n

I also was struck when reading today about a rumor that Benedict Cumberbatch will have a role on Doctor Who soon, that he might make an excellent Valeyard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"There are lots of interesting elements in \u201cThe Trial of a Time Lord<\/a>\"\".\u201d A number of them relate to religion. There is a Biblical reference (to being turned into a pillar of salt) made by the Doctor. He makes the quip when referring to an entity known as \u201cthe immortal\u201d who turns out to be a robot, and so we have the theme of science being misunderstood by primitive people in religious terms. There is also the turning of a black light converter into a totem pole by surviving humans, who also believe that space travel angered the gods, causing a catastrophe (a solar flare) that damaged the Earth and killed most of Earth\u2019s inhabitants. The few surviving books are regarded as sacred texts \u2013 they are Moby Dick<\/em>, The Water Babies<\/em>, and\u00a0UK Habitats of the Canadian Goose<\/em>. It is a nice touch that they didn\u2019t have all the surviving books be classics. What history leaves behind can indeed be haphazard, and open to misinterpretation later on.<\/p>\n

The Doctor also gets into a debate with the robot about the relative value of humans (\u201corganics\u201d) and robots, suggesting that those who programmed the robots neglected to include moral values<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In relation to religion, there are two key quotes from the Doctor that are really interesting and worth highlighting: \u201cNothing can be eternal\u201d and \u201cThe purpose of life is too big to be knowable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you seen \u201cThe Trial of a Time Lord<\/a>\u201c? If you have never seen it but are a fan of the current show, or haven\u2019t seen it in a while, I highly recommend it. It will remind you of everything that makes classic Doctor Who so enjoyable. And the initial sequence has the kind of special effects the show long lacked.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Trial of a Time Lord\u201d is an episode (or sequence of episodes, depending how one thinks about it) that I remember vividly from when I was younger. I also remember before I saw it, a friend of mine telling me some things about it that were so mind-bending I was sure he was lying. 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