The Doctor is an alien time traveler in a BBC TV series started in 1963 und has been running until now. Frequently, Dr. Who & companion(s) visit famous moments or persons of earth history (e.g. in the past: Moon Landing, Vincent van Gogh, World War 2, Queen Victoria, eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Shakespeare, Signing the Magna Carta, Robin Hood, London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, Winston Churchill – just to name a few) – usually to prevent some alien emergency, interference with history or an attack on earth.
The combination of a difficult (and changing) personality of The Doctor, the relationships to the companion(s), the (authenticity) of the historic (or possible future) moments in combination with science (fiction technologies), a lot of action and (preferably) non-violent solutions made the series a cult for many – not only in Britain, but increasingly all around the world. I recently got addicted too and added it to my list of best TV series of all times. But to describe its fascination and increasing complexity is not the scope of this article. I want – after this very short and very simplifying introduction – focus on a synchronicity that has happened last week.
Recently Doctor Who series 11 has started and last Sunday (10/21/2018) it’s third episode aired. It led The Doctor into 1955’s Montgomery, Alabama (USA). One day before the famous 1st of December when seamstress Rosa Louise Parks would refuse to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. Creating one of the most historic moments in US history.
It was a great episode – exciting and entertaining. It described the 1955 situation in the US very realistic, bringing this threatening and oppressive times to life in just a few short scenes. So far, TV at it’s best. But I would not write about it here, if there wasn’t far more there to that! I write about it, because something happened in real life (not on TV):
Nearly 63 years after Rosa Parks courageous refusal and just two days before the airing of this Dr. Who Episode about it, something very similar happened. Not on a bus, but on an RyanAir plane.