Thanks to the miracle of Netflix, my family and I are able to spend quality time together by glutting ourselves on entire seasons of worthwhile TV programs, compressing years, if not decades, into a few weeks. Past generations may have had to endure one episode a week of their favorite series, plus a summer full of re-runs, but streaming on-demand has put an end that level of suffering. Of, course, we’re a bit behind the rest of the world on the latest happenings in some of these programs, but it’s worth it to be able to watch them all. At. One. Sitting.
I believe it is part of my kids’ cultural heritage to be as traumatized by the opening bars of the Twilight Zone theme as I was, to have the shared experience of hooting in derision as Capt. Kirk dodges Styrofoam “rocks” thrown by an extra in a vinyl lizard suit. And maybe I just want them to have the same simple enjoyment in these old shows that I did at that age.
Take Doctor Who, for instance. My memories of that British import are particularly pleasant, involving the ritual of scarfing down home-made pizza while enjoying the duct-tape and bubble-wrap enhanced adventures of the kindly Time Lord every Saturday afternoon. Being a rather literate family, we really enjoyed that the writing didn’t talk down to the viewer, even though it was originally developed as a children’s program. We appreciated the humor and the solid good vs evil morality of the Doctor’s universe. Not preachy, not subversive – just good, old fashioned fun. So, we considered ourselves fairly solid fans – of the vintage series. Regarding the new series, we were caught up in an “Old Trek vs New Generation” mindset and weren’t interested in any new-fangled incarnations of our beloved time-traveler (even if his adventures were given heightened credibility due to an actual special-effects budget).
But eventually, we gave it a try and were… beyond surprised. I love looking for God’s workings in unexpected places, and He’s sure at work in this series. The fact that many of the writers are (presumably) atheists or agnostic can’t stop them from bringing a transcendent luminosity into their scripts. The dialogue and relationships between characters simply burst with joy, humor, pathos, and yes – love, whether agape, erotic or just plain human companionship.
The intricate storylines weave themes touching on the glory and meaning of Creation, the dignity and sacredness of the individual, the horrors of tampering with nature, the ideal of always putting others above self. Stated in not-so-hidden words is the idea of a “plan” or destiny behind all of Creation and everyone’s part in its tapestry.
At the center of this vast, pulsating tapestry is the character of the Doctor; enigmatic at times but ultimately familiarly human in his behavior and attitudes. Actually, there’s something about him beyond mere humanity that’s also familiar: A virtually ancient being taking a keen interest in the welfare of mankind, to the point of (repeatedly) laying down his life for it; his almost miraculous powers, his uncanny ability to be where he’s most needed, often in response to a call for help (in one episode, as a direct answer to a child’s prayer to “Santa” – St. Nicholas, the Patron Saint of Children!), his repeated lessons about the value of each individual in the overall plan of Creation, the mercy and compassion with which he acts, his antipathy towards evil, even the fact that his features change periodically remind us to look deeper for the Hidden Christ in our daily encounters, that appearances are not what they seem. Even the concept of the TARDIS being bigger on the inside has proven helpful in our household for aiding young ones to get a tighter grasp on the mystery of the Eucharist. Okay, it helps me, too!
I could go on and on with more examples of Christian symbolism and worldview, implicit or explicit. You get the picture. On the one hand, it’s not surprising that writers coming out of the tradition of British literature – and Western culture in general – would include these themes. Skeptics claim this disproves Christianity, but I belong to the Lewis-Tolkien school that maintains there’s a bigger truth beyond these themes than mere cultural bias. Given that all Creation was created through Him and for Him, is it any wonder that these echoes should resound even in the consciousness of atheists?
Ink, far more scholarly than my own, has been spilled on this subject, as well as the more familiar themes contained in the Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. It is to be expected that Christian writers like Lewis, Tolkien and Rowling (yes, she is a Christian, even if her themes are handled a bit amateurishly), would have deliberately included these echoes in their works. What’s so delightful about these messages appearing in the Doctor Who phenomenon is that it’s so unexpected.
Of course, Doctor Who is not a perfect program; it does glamorize a few moral flaws directly related to our broken disordered culture. And since there are a lot of writers working on it, viewpoints can shift around a bit. It is, after all, a rollicking, imaginative space-opera, not a dramatization of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. But given that it is a pop-culture product of post-Christian society, it’s a pretty amazing reminder of how God’s voice can be heard almost anywhere if we open our ears and hearts.
I truly believe that it’s no accident that millions of young people around the world are open to the idea of the Universe being run according to a plan, that every part of Creation has value, that when the Earth itself seems lost to overwhelming danger, there is one Person they can call on for help, someone who responds with mercy, compassion and who will even give His life if needed. Whether they have a soft spot in their heart for a heroic hobbit, a majestic lion or a time-traveling wanderer, the important thing is that a seed has been planted, hearts are opened a crack and souls are ready to listen.
It’s all good.