{"id":8252,"date":"2012-07-03T15:40:53","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T19:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=8252"},"modified":"2012-07-03T15:40:53","modified_gmt":"2012-07-03T19:40:53","slug":"doctor-who-the-ambassadors-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/07\/doctor-who-the-ambassadors-of-death.html","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"The episode \u201cThe Ambassadors of Death<\/a>\u201d has as its downside something characteristic of a great many Doctor Who episodes, and arguably of the entire phenomenon of LOST: a suspense-filled and intriguing premise<\/a> is eventually resolved in a manner that doesn\u2019t live up to the build-up. Nevertheless, the premise and the exploration of it is itself enjoyable, and the episode has some truly fantastic moments. For those who have only seen the newer seasons, it has elements which one can only assume inspired, even if only subconsciously, key elements from the last season, starting with \u201cThe Impossible Astronaut.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Doctor even gets to go into space using more primitive human technology.<\/p>\n

\"\"The episode raises some interesting questions which become characteristic of the Pertwee era. The final episode with Patrick Troughton, \u201cThe War Games,\u201d suggested that human beings were the most brutal species in the galaxy. In \u201cThe Silurians\u201d the Doctor had many criticisms to offer of the approach of the military to the unknown. Here in \u201cThe Ambassadors of Death,\u201d the Doctor will find a manner of dealing with relations that might seem to have no hope of anything but out and out conflict. Issues of war and peace are to the fore throughout the Pertwee era. But if the actions and attitudes of the military are often one-dimensional, there is still something impressive about the Doctor\u2019s not only willingness but insistence on and ability to see beyond such simple solutions to the possibility of dialogue and of peace.<\/p>\n

If one wishes to connect these episodes with something in the newer seasons, it would probably be \u201cThe Beast Below\u201d where, prodded by the Doctor to do precisely what we just described \u2013 look beneath the surface and see what\u2019s really going on at a more fundamental level, Amy sees a way to a more satisfactory resolution when confronted with conundrums involving profound injustice, human survival, and a seemingly insoluble situation.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, to put it in broader science fiction terms, the ultimate theme of Doctor Who is \u201cThere is no Kobayashi Maru \u2013 no such thing as a no-win situation.\u201d And perhaps the message is that, while that may or may not be factually true, it is better to live as though it is.<\/p>\n

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

The episode \u201cThe Ambassadors of Death\u201d has as its downside something characteristic of a great many Doctor Who episodes, and arguably of the entire phenomenon of LOST: a suspense-filled and intriguing premise is eventually resolved in a manner that doesn\u2019t live up to the build-up. Nevertheless, the premise and the exploration of it is itself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,61,90],"tags":[503,544,861,2765,6262,8169,9904,10890],"class_list":["post-8252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-who-science-fiction","category-morality","category-star-trek-science-fiction","tag-aliens","tag-ambassadors","tag-astronauts","tag-doctor-who","tag-kobayashi-maru","tag-no-win-situations","tag-radiation","tag-science-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\nDoctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The episode "The Ambassadors of Death" has as its downside something characteristic of a great many Doctor Who episodes, and arguably of the entire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/07\/doctor-who-the-ambassadors-of-death.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The episode "The Ambassadors of Death" has as its downside something characteristic of a great many Doctor Who episodes, and arguably of the entire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/07\/doctor-who-the-ambassadors-of-death.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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