A few nights ago I was watching “Sherlock” for the fourth or fifth time. In this watching I am in now in the 4th season. I realized many similarities to Doctor Who and then I realized that it was also related to Quatermass.

I realize that while many Americans (my most common readers) have a passing knowledge of Doctor Who and Sherlock, Quatermass may be too far in the past for my readers. So, let me explain.

If you watch American science fiction from the 1950’s you get spaceships, bug eyed monsters, ray guns, a militarized exploration of space and considerable amounts of fighting. British science fiction in many ways rises from the Quatermass films both from live television and the cinema. To quote wikipedia:

Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist originally created by writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the British Experimental Rocket Group. He continually finds himself confronting sinister alien forces that threaten to destroy humanity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Quatermass

YouTube has several of the original British programs some them apparently filmed live. And of course, you can see the movies, a number of which star the American Brian Donlevy. I heartily recommend them. A good start would be film. “The Quatermass Xperiment.”

That said, what common themes link all three of these very successful and very long running heroes? Each series deals with extraordinary problems, far more serious and often outside the realms of our real life experiences and even probability. Quatermass struggles against alien plots and obstructive government officials, Sherlock struggles against highly intelligent often diabolical criminal masterminds, and Doctor Who while primarily concerned with alien dangers faces a somewhat larger variety of opponents. All of the heroes have incredible skills and useful experience. Each has extensively prepared for these struggles.

Yes, but what is the unifying concept that makes all these not only similar but successful? It is the belief that applied intelligence and moral force can change what happens. Each one very often seems to be a minor player in a world gone made, a world in which the powers of government and law enforcement seem helpless, in which the smallest hope seems ridiculous. And yet, they still win. One of the reasons they are compelling entertainment is enormous odds arrayed against our heroes and the moral power and confidence of their stand against those odds.

The world that we live in often makes us feel helpless and useless. Maslow’s “the Jonah Complex” is very much in play these days as we confront an online world which empowers every totalitarian impulse, internet loon and international grifter. These three epics of heroism and meaning work to give us hope, examples of words and intelligence making a difference, changing an apparently pre-destined unfair and destructive outcome to a positive one.

Each of the three carries several of the same messages, that struggling for what is right is important and worthwhile. That good can and does often triumph. And finally, human intelligence, will and courage make a difference all the time every day in every way.

Certainly, art expressed in the form of television and movie entertainment carries moral responsibility. You do unfortunately see nihilism and other negative moral themes in some of this but currently this is still a minority. All three have serious faults, in particular, Doctor Who, which I believe peaked with Matt Smith and has been in decline ever since. But in spite of their faults their messages of moral struggle is a good one and worthy of an artistic endeavor even one devoted to mere entertainment.

James Alan Pilant