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I don't blog about Doctor Who. It's not that I don't like the show. I just can't seem to find anyone else in my circle who watches it. I first discovered the show more than 25 years ago.

The show originally ran from 1963 to 1989. Because Doctor Who is an alien "time lord", he needs to be "regenerated" from time to time in a different look (an easy way to switch out actors). In the first 26 year run, Doctor Who was played by 7 different actors. The show was recently re-introduced in 2005 and is already on its second lead (ninth in total), David Tennant.

The show is about a mysterious time traveler who is simply known to those he encounters as "The Doctor". What we know about him is that he is the last survivor of a powerful race known as time lords who live to be impossibly old. They literally have the ability to manipulate time and space virtually at will. He travels through time and space, taking on new companions for a time, and fighting evil. His mode of transportation, a living spaceship known as a TARDIS, that appears no bigger than an outhouse, but which is as large as a battlecruiser in the inside. This apparent discrepancy is the result of folding space. The name TARDIS is actually an acronym for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space.

The show is whimsical and the special effects are kept intentionally low budget. In some ways it is remeniscent of the old Flash Gordon series. This show is pure science fiction. Impossible characters, doing impossible things, with little or no explanation. Yet all done in a way that is completely fanciful.

In the most recent episode, The Doctor, whose chronolgical age is at least 900 years old, comes face to face with what appears to be Satan. In all of The Doctor's travels, which include trips billions (with a "b") of years into the future and into the past, he has encountered the idea of heaven, hell, God and Satan, but never the real thing. The show does a nifty job of keeping the viewer guessing whether the creature they encountered was indeed Satan, or even the basis for the belief in Satan.

Depending on your religious orientation, it's either an interesting story or blasphemy. Personally, I like the way it was told. I further like the way they kept it open. But more than anything, I liked the way that in the face of an encounter with the devil, The Doctor remained true to his companion and his character.

The likability of The Doctor, is his fearlessness. It doesn't come off as recklessness, but as a fearlessness born of knowing what is really worth being afraid of. He is like a child in his wonder and enthusiasm, but peppered with the wisdom of the ages. That combination alone makes the show and entertaining distraction.

For more about the show, check out the history at http://www.solarnavigator.net/doctor_who_bbc_tv_series.htm

Labels: tv