The Sound of Drums

"Each Timelord child,
Approaches the eye,
Forced to behold the vortex,
To be inspired or run,
But as I gazed into the vastness of time,
I heard the sound of drums." - Chameleon Circuit

I really should have named this post Eye Roll since it’s about Doctor Who which causes my wife to roll her eyes when I bring it up. I only recently became a Doctor Who fan. I saw it in the instant queue and thought about watching it but never did. I knew that they had rebooted the series in 2005 but I only watched bits and pieces of the old episodes on PBS when I was growing up and I was never really a fan of it at that point. 

I had two friends that talked about it constantly though. Making jokes, references, posting links, getting into lively discussions about it and I never had a point of reference to understand them. Frequently they would tell me that I needed to watch it and that I would enjoy it. So, finally one night with Lindsey off somewhere with the girls and Sam not even being thought of yet I watched Episode 1 “Rose”. I thought well it has Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and I’ve liked him in most of the things he’s been in so why not? It was weird, even for me. Weird and very British. However, I thought well that was just the first episode maybe it improves so I watched a second one, “The End of the World” that was even weirder especially every scene with Lady Cassandra. So, I was done with the Who for a while.

Sometime later, I tried it again. This time I picked up much further in the series. Series 5, The Eleventh Hour with the first appearance of Matt Smith and the 11^th Doctor. This episode was more entertaining then what I had seen but I didn’t understand half of what he was talking about in it.  I watched two more episodes after that “The Beast Below” and “Victory of the Daleks” but just felt that I was missing a ton of context. So once again I was done with Who for a while.

Then about a year ago my friend Surge was discussing Dr. Who and I said I had tried a couple of episodes but didn’t really get it. He told me I had watched them wrong. I needed to start back over with Series 1 and the 9^th Doctor and watch through episode 6. If after “Dalek” I still wasn’t interested nothing would change my mind. So I did. Episode 3 was “The Unquiet Dead” and featured Charles Dickens and I loved it. Episodes 4 and 5 were well done and Episode 6 “Dalek” was humorous, emotional and suspenseful. I was hooked. I recently finished catching up with Dr. Who on Netflix and anxiously awaiting them adding series 7 to the instant queue. 

So, I've been trying to figure out why this appeals to me so much compared to other shows I had fallen in love with such as Chuck, Leverage an Big Bang Theory.  I could say well I'm a geek and I like Dr. Who as proof of my geekiness. I could also say the standard, it's well written, well acted, and rather clean, thought provoking, entertainment. That also would suffice. 

However, his story, as does all great stories, points back to the greatest story every told. The gospel of Jesus Christ. The main themes I have picked up from Dr. Who have been compassion and regeneration. Frequently the Doctor finds himself facing the horrors of our worlds, though they may physically be aliens, it's things we are all familiar with. Hatred, bullying, tyranny, cynicism, bigotry, slavery, exploitation, complacency. Many occasions he ends up facing these things along as the one man who can stem the tide of the oncoming darkness and even sacrifices his life for them only to regenerate (re: resurrect) more clever, resourceful, and powerful then before. He constantly urges people to think better, do better, be better then they think they can. His one consistent motive in all of this seems to be compassion, not just for his friends but for his enemies as well. 

However, much like the OT saints we also see him as a deeply flawed character. One who is plagued by loneliness and for however many people, races and planets he has saved he has destroyed just many as his enemies rile his long suffering temper. 

For me I think this clip sums up The Doctor the best for me. 

If you are ever interested in some well written Sci-Fi I certaintly suggest Dr. Who. Just give it a few episodes and let it grow on you.  :-)

Glen