orthogeeks

I remember when I was much younger; somewhere between 8 and 10 years old.  I was at church listening in on a conversation between my mother and an older female parishioner.  The woman was saying to my mother, “I think it’s necessary for children to be exposed to evil.”  I suppose her point was that it may do more harm than good to shelter a child from certain realities that he must surely one day face.  I remember that at the time that seemed rather foolish to me.

But of course, it tends to happen anyway.  And what important and interesting happenings those are!

The first time you get picked on by a bully.  The day you realized you would one day die.  The first time you are used by another human being.

How important, in those contexts, are our introductions to terror?  How much did we learn from them; their initial impact, but also the way in which the terror is dealt with by our hero?

So we return to the Doctor, and to the Theme.

We should regard Theme in both senses;  the musical as well as the literary.

I offer this quote from the Wikipedia article on the subject:

“The theme has been often called both memorable and frightening, priming the viewer for what was to follow. During the 1970s, the Radio Times, the BBC’s own listings magazine, announced that a child’s mother said the theme music terrified her son. The Radio Times was apologetic, but the theme music remained.”

Yes it did.

There’s an important segment of the theme music, known as the “bridge” or the “middle eight”, which “is an uplifting interlude in a major key that usually features in the closing credits or the full version of the theme.”

These two elements of the theme combine to create a complete picture of the soul of the show.  At the beginning we have darkness and a fear of the unknown.  The darkness is dispelled by a stab of light: in the music the middle eight; in the show itself, the Doctor.

In answer to the woman who gave that advice to my mom all those years ago: All people will, at one time or another, encounter evil; hatred, fear, injustice.  The important thing is not that we stress the fact that these exist; this will become abundantly clear to them as they grow up.

The important thing is that we discover good ways in which their minds can be excited by the possibility of hope offered by such characters as the Doctor.  That possibility is made manifest for Christians by the Lord Himself, to whom we attribute the title Our Sure Hope.  We’re responsible for tilling the soil, making sure that our offspring become the “good ground”; ready for the Sower.

Say!  That gives me an idea for another essay!  Garth!  Rejoice!