The pro-life cause garnered some assistance from an unlikely source over the weekend with a broadcast of the cult hit sci-fi show Doctor Who.
Catholic Vote (CV) reviewed of the October 4, “Kill the Moon,” episode of the longtime BBC series, calling it the most pro-life Doctor Who ever.
“'Kill the Moon' was a thoroughly pro-life story,” CV says, “yet it was effective. It did not preach or caricature. The dialogue sizzled. It was riveting, morally serious, and often fun.”
Doctor Who and his companions for this episode, Clara and Courtney, land on the moon in the year 2049 to investigate changes in its physics which have been wreaking death and destruction on Earth. They learn that the moon is actually a giant space egg about to hatch.
The pregnant moon is confirmed with a lunar ultrasound, and the fetus’s image presented with a look similar to what a pregnant human mother would see – although it is winged and the size of a planet.
In response to Clara asking what it is, the Doctor reminds viewers of the Lord fearfully and wonderfully making his creatures, saying, “I think it is unique. I think that’s the only one of its kind in the universe. I think that that is utterly beautiful.”
CV conveys that the Captain Lundvik character represents the abortion mindset.
The hatching is already triggering calamity on earth, and they aren’t sure if it will destroy the earth when it hatches.
“How do we kill it?” Lundvik says.
And with that, the fate of creature comes up for debate among others, alternating between characters recognizing life and dehumanizing it.
The episode details how the abortion mentality drives everything to death, CV says, because Lundvik is not murderous, but she has descended into hopelessness. She only sees the destruction that could occur if they don’t choose death.
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Personifying the abortion-minded mom, Lundvik is not a villain, instead she feels trapped. She doesn’t want to abort, but she’s convinced there’s no way out.
“Listen I don’t want to do this. All my life I dreamed about coming here,” she says. “But this is how it has to end.”
The Doctor then lays out the consequences of choosing death in graphic terms, punctuating a theme of loneliness.
The show moves to a new level, CV says, when Doctor Who becomes the emotionally distant boyfriend and embodies the supposed empowerment of abortion.
He takes off, knowing the right thing to do, but leaving the women to make the decision alone, telling them, “I can’t make this decision for you,” and, “It’s your moon womankind. It’s your choice.”
Another plot development shows selfishness in today’s culture.
The women poll the Earth’s inhabitants on whether to kill the fetus, each individual country voting by either leaving its lights on or turning them out. One by one, each nation turns its lights off, leaving the Earth dark.
During the countdown Lundvik intends to push the nuclear button but Clara intervenes, turning the weapons off permanently.
As she does, a screen flashes that the destruction has been “ABORTED.”
The creature hatches, Earth is not destroyed, and a new moon results, with everything restored. The characters then work through their varying approaches to the issue and resulting consequences, good and bad.
“The moon baby was not a monster, but neither was Lundvik,” CV says. “Her motivations were understandable, and we could relate to all her conclusions. She didn’t want abortion, she just felt she had no choice.”
CV says it’s not bad for an episode of campy sci-fi to offer the message that despair is not the answer, friendship and life is.