Friday, October 25, 2013

Top 5 Reasons Why Mormons are Drawn to Dr. Who



November marks 50th years since the original episodes of the time traveling show Dr. Who premiered in the United Kingdom. Though it did stop for a while, it has returned in a modernized version of the series that is still going strong.  The secret is having a main character who can regenerate after he is fatally wounded and comes back looking completely different. If one actor is done with the role, another one can pick it right back up.

Since moving to Utah, I’ve found that many of my LDS friends were huge fans of the show. I hadn’t watched a single of the hundreds of episodes, and I actually started with the newer version. It took a season or two, but now I’m a card-carrying “Whovian.”

As I’ve watched the series, I thought “This is a pretty great series for LDS families.” And I think there are many reasons for that, so here are my top 5.  

1. It can be suspenseful and scary without resorting to buckets of gore and dismembered limbs. (They can even make giant pepper shakers with plungers sticking out of them seem scary)
2. You can dress up as a different Doctor for Halloween for 13 years (and counting)  using stuff you can probably find at D.I.
3.  They keep the language to a pretty PG level. (Though I don’t understand all of their British expressions.)
4. The Doctor always tries to solve his problems non-violently, tackling things with no more than a (sonic) screwdriver.
5.  We always sing about if we could hie to Kolob. He could probably actually do it. In fact, he goes many places and times, so that the show is an interesting blend of science fiction and historical fiction.  You might actually learn something!

If you want to celebrate 50 years of the doctor, the BBC is broadcasting a special 50th anniversary episode in November, even going so far as to showing it in some movie theaters. You can find the closest one to where you live here: http://bbc.in/NorthAmericaCinemasTDOTD

If you are just getting started, you can watch Dr. Who on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.


Allons y!

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