{"id":96818,"date":"2023-12-06T19:44:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T00:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=96818"},"modified":"2023-12-06T19:45:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T00:45:13","slug":"doctor-who-wild-blue-yonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/12\/doctor-who-wild-blue-yonder.html","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who, Wild Blue Yonder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Wild Blue Yonder<\/a> is one of those claustrophobic episodes in which the Doctor and perhaps a handful of others are trapped in some situation in a specific confined location. In this case, having just the Doctor and Donna<\/a> (and the Doctor and Donna) was delightful (even in this creepy episode), given that this represents a brief return for both actors. For someone like me who is a huge fan of Doctor Who in general but who has a particular interest in religious themes on the show, the episode had a lot to offer. Due to a TARDIS malfunction (the show\u2019s go-to explanation for so many things) the Doctor and Donna end up at the edge of the universe, about which the Doctor doesn\u2019t miss the opportunity to speak condescendingly in relation to humanity\u2019s lack of understanding of how the universe can be both endless and have a beyond. The Doctor says that they have arrived on a spaceship beyond which lies the \u201cabsolute nothingness\u201d at the \u201cedge of creation.\u201d The Doctor says that he has \u201cnever been out this far\u201d and indeed no one had been before them, a statement contradicted by the presence of the spaceship they are on.<\/p>\n

Having sensed grave danger the TARDIS dematerialized. The Doctor had inserted the sonic screwdriver into the keyhole to prompt the TARDIS to regenerate itself. The Doctor explains that he had disactivated the HADS (Hostile Action Displacement System<\/a>) since otherwise they\u2019d never materialize anywhere interesting, but presumably the reset also reactivated it, hence the dematerialization of the TARDIS. Although it would have been natural to assume that the TARDIS simply remains dematerialized under such circumstances, the Doctor muses aloud about where the TARDIS goes when it\u2019s on its own. He suggests that it materializes somewhere, is worshipped, a city and eventually a civilization grow up around it, is forgotten, the city and society collapse around it, and the TARDIS nonetheless remains. This brief aside offers yet one more instance of the trope of something scientific being mistaken for something of religious significance, but as so often the rest of the episode raises problems for that caricature which denigrates religion at science\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

For just as the nothingness out of which some insist the universe came to be is not really \u201cnothing,\u201d so too in this episode \u201cno-things\u201d from the \u201cnothingness\u201d turn out to have been watching our universe, intrigued by our wars, our games, our lives. They\u00a0take the form of the Doctor and Donna to observe but ultimately seeking to take their forms as a way of entering our universe and existing there, to their own malevolent ends.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no need to recount all the episode\u2019s twists and turns as the Doctor and Donna seek to prevent this happening at any cost. That the TARDIS ultimately reappears so that they can escape is not really a surprise. Along the way, we have the fact that humans can believe two contradictory things at once mentioned as something admirable about our species. The Doctor also claims that vampires and ghosts cannot cross a line of salt without counting every grain and, by treating it as fact, forces them to comply. The Doctor later worries about the fact that he has invoked a superstition at the edge of the universe, presumably hinting at something to be revisited later, or perhaps that by doing so he has introduced that into the fabric of our universe\u2019s reality. Either way the episode shows that science fiction that pokes fun at religion (primitive people worshipping the TARDIS, for instance) brings it back by telling stories about monsters and ways of stopping them that are magic overlaid with a thin veneer of scientific-sounding mumbo jumbo.<\/p>\n

The Doctor tries to stop thinking at one point, before acknowledging the impossibility of doing so on a ship full of questions. That\u2019s rather like life, I\u2019d say.<\/p>\n

Let me just mention a couple more highlights before I conclude this brief reflection on the episode \u201cWild Blue Yonder.\u201d It was a nice touch that, before the Doctor knows that Donna\u2019s form has been taken by some \u201cnothing\u201d from beyond the edge of the universe, that being says that as the DoctorDonna she remembered all the things that happened to the Doctor since the Doctor and Donna parted ways, including the Flux and the Doctor not being from Gallifrey and not actually knowing where they are from. Later, the Doctor avoids talking about it with the real Donna in characteristic fashion.<\/p>\n

Wilfred Mott appearing at the end in what will be his final appearance<\/a> was a deeply moving surprise. Wilf utters words about the Doctor that are a fitting conclusion for an episode that at times seems like it might be anti-religious yet turns out to be quasi-religious in a science fictiony sort of way. Wilf says, \u201cI never lost faith\u2026He\u2019ll come back and save us.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked from what, Wilf says that everyone\u2019s gone crazy and \u201cthe whole world\u2019s coming to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

What that entails we\u2019ll see in the last of the three 2023 Doctor Who holiday specials, which seems poised to show a return of the Celestial Toymaker. In that episode, the Doctor is somehow already aware of the Celestial Toymaker\u2019s existence and recognizes his domain. The Doctor says, \u201cHe\u2019s a power for evil. He manipulates people and makes them into his playthings.\u201d The Toymaker says to the Doctor, \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for you a long time\u2026It\u2019s so nice to see you again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later the Doctor explains, \u201cThe Toymaker is immortal. He\u2019s lasted for thousands of years. Very occasionally, of course, he loses a game, and then he has to pay the price [the destruction of a world he has created]\u2026but he himself is not destroyed. He goes on forever.\u201d\u00a0The Doctor predicts that he will encounter the Toymaker again. Perhaps in the upcoming episode \u201cGiggle\u201d that is what we\u2019ll be treated to.<\/p>\n

What did you think of \u201cWild Blue Yonder\u201d? How did it compare in your estimation to other similarly creepy and claustrophobic episodes?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

Wild Blue Yonder is one of those claustrophobic episodes in which the Doctor and perhaps a handful of others are trapped in some situation in a specific confined location. In this case, having just the Doctor and Donna (and the Doctor and Donna) was delightful (even in this creepy episode), given that this represents a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":96824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[1677,2765,17552,17555],"class_list":["post-96818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-doctor-who-science-fiction","tag-celestial-toymaker","tag-doctor-who","tag-nothingness","tag-wilfred-mott"],"yoast_head":"\nDoctor Who, Wild Blue Yonder<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wild Blue Yonder is one of those claustrophobic episodes in which the Doctor and perhaps a handful of others are trapped in some situation in a specific\" \/>\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\/2023\/12\/doctor-who-wild-blue-yonder.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctor Who, Wild Blue Yonder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wild Blue Yonder is one of those claustrophobic episodes in which the Doctor and perhaps a handful of others are trapped in some situation in a specific\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/12\/doctor-who-wild-blue-yonder.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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