The Immortality Thing: Themes in Season 3?

The story arc for season 3 has often been labelled the ‘Saxon Arc’ or something similar and keeps referring back to the appearances or presence of Mr Saxon in episodes such as ‘Smith and Jones’, ‘The Christmas Invasion’, ‘The Lazarus Experiment’ and refer to the introduction of Professor Yana in ‘Gridlock’ and the chameleon arch and fob watch in ‘Human Nature’ and the ‘Family of Blood’. Maybe it is just me, maybe I am looking for something more but do I detect another theme, another thread connecting the stories of series 3, one a little more depressing but that rings true with Russell T Davies’s atheist beliefs. If this sort of comment already exists on the Web then let me know as I would be intrigued to read it, if not then read on and I may have thought of something new!

The other theme of series 3 could be read as a cautionary tale (or a joke) about the quest for immortality and the drive for survival, and not just any sort of survival but the ultimate survival story – of a species outliving the universe. ‘Gridlock’ re-introduces us to the Face of Boe, survivor of who knows how long; millions of years are mentioned by this just seems like a guess. Yet the Face of Boe dies after delivering his important message to the Doctor. The first alien, the first individual in the series to be denied eternity or rather to give up the curse of immortality. The Dalek two-parter (‘Daleks in Manhattan’ and ‘Evolution of the Daleks’) the leader of the cult of Sakro eyes humans with envy from the top floor of the Empire State building as he begins to understand that despite their puny nature the humans have outlasted the ‘superior’ Dalek race. The irony of a Dalek having to evolve into a hybrid Dalek-human to have a chance to acquire this survival ability, this ‘immortality’ of a species, is the crux of the two-parter. Next is the ‘Lazarus Experiment’ – a whole morality tale about the dangers of any individual human striving for immortality. The species may have it but not anyone individual. The two-parter, ‘Human Nature’ and the ‘Family of Blood’, aliens chasing the doctor to steal his individual ability to regenerate so that they may become immortal – a curse he inflicts upon them in the end. Hidden away in the flash-forward or flash-possible sequences as Nurse Redfern’s husband the Doctor glimpses the human condition, the ability to reproduce, to achieve some genetic immortality, even if he as an individual human perishes. Even in ‘Blink’, the Weeping Angels are near immoralities. Finally, the three-parter culmination of the series, ‘Utopia’, ‘The Sound of Drums’ and ‘The Last of the Time Lords’ reek of the curse of immortality.

‘Utopia’ sees the end of the universe and there cowering in the near darkness is the last of humanity. In a touching nod to Tom Baker’s indomitable speech from the ‘Ark in Space’, Tennant’s Doctor extols the survival virtues of humanity, but survival for what? A question Baker’s Doctor never thought to ask. For the last species the end of the universe is not a nice place, a darkening purgatory, where devolution (if there be such a thing which evolutinoary theory forbids) has produced a strain of cannibalistic humans and where even the legend of the Doctor has vanished. The last species is even denied the honour of putting out the lights; that happens naturally. But still humanity dreams of salvation, of reaching Utopia, a fruitless quest to which the Doctor devotes his full energies. Hopelessly fighting against the dying of the universal light, the Doctor propels humanity towards its final disappointment – there is no utopia.

The ‘Sound of Drums’ and ‘The Last of the Time Lords’ continue the theme of the despair of humanity’s survival as the Master perverts humankind into six billion flying steel balls rampaging from the end of time to take over the younger universe. Humans and a Time Lord will reign for eternity, but then what? Both the Doctor and the Master have seen the end of the universe, both know that there is an end to everything with no hope of redemption. With the Master, humanity would rule the universe and survive to the end again but the same fate awaits it. The inevitability of the physical dissolution of the universe welcomes whatever species survives until its end. Out lasting eternity does not result in a reward; there is no prize for survival, the gift of immortality is only despair and bitterness. This is the other theme of series 3 – immortality – who wants that curse?! An old, recurring, theme in Doctor Who as watching the ‘Five Doctors’ special highlights.

Yet Russell T Davies is not a pessimistic atheist; he is in fact quite happy and content. The end of the universe is inevitable, the end of humanity is inevitable, the end of everything will happen. But in-between, before the stars burn out, before the last weary breath is drawn there is a lot of life to get through, a lot of dreams to explore and a lot of hope to extinguish. This is the optimistic bit; the happy atheist knows that the end is not as important as how you get there. Families, friends, lives and loves as the host at Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the universe, says it gives you hope for the future of the universe, except, as we know there isn’t one.