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Doctor Who anniversary

11/24/2013

1 Comment

 
I have always enjoyed Doctor Who. Any series that can last over fifty years deserves attention. I have been watching some of the newer editions of Dr. Who and the special anniversary episode.

Of all episodes, the one below is one of my favourites. It contains a correct allusion to Nietzsche's famous phrase that if you stare into the abyss it stares back at you. By that he meant that if you stare at something long enough, that something becomes you. In the line uttered by Rose, she says that she stared into the TARDIS and the TARDIS stared into her. The TARDIS is the vessel, disguised as a police officers booth, that travels through dimensions of space and time. I won't get bogged into the minutiae of the episode or series but essentially, Rose stares into it so that she can locate the doctor and save him. And, consequently, she absorbs as the spirit of the TARDIS.


Interestingly, in a further existential, Nietzschean homage, she says that she creates herself. In a kind of Kabbalistic manner she takes the text of "Bad Wolf" and scatters the text and words in space. The remaining slivers and shards will guide her, as a message, to this very place, this very time. In Kabbalistic mystical tradition, the text of the Hebrew words contain within them doorways to the divine. Through analysis of the text, we can reach the divine. Further, our duty as human beings is to engage in tikkun olam, meaning to heal and restore the world. In a like manner, the text "Bad Wolf", which occurs in the series, is intended to guide her to this moment when she can heal the doctor and set what was wrong, right again.

Empowered by the spirit of the TARDIS, she is able to protect her doctor, repel enemies and see into time and space. She says to emperor of the Daleks (the enemies), that he is "tiny". She accuses them of being false gods. A further allusion to Genesis occurs when she says says that she can see every atom of their existence and she divides them. In Genesis, the act of creation involved separation and division of light and darkness, land and sea, animal that swims and flies and even separation and division of humans into male and female. She cannot let go, she can even bring life. And brings life to one of the characters.

The doctor understands that she cannot have that kind of power and live. In a sacrificial act he takes the power from her, in an act of love, and then expels it back to the TARDIS. What is not played in this clip but which occurs later is that, as a result, he dies.

A lot of deeper allusions within this scene and powerfully acted and scripted. Enjoy!
1 Comment
Dan Drazenovich
12/21/2013 08:31:51 am

Great Commentary

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    The title of this blog is an allusion to the famous work of Blaise Pascal.  This blog represents the variety of my interests and thoughts on any given day and are  strung together, like Pascal's Pensees, in no particular order. I work in the field of mental health,  education, and human rights. I write and am a human rights advocate. I enjoy poetry, jazz, spirituality, politics and a potpourri of other interests that you will see reflected in this blog.

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