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Salvation
(Steve Lyons) |
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 Name: The Gods of the Latter-Day Pantheon
Format:
Book.
Time of Origin: New York, 1965.
Appearances: "Salvation".
Doctors:
First
Doctor.
Companions:
Steven
Taylor and
Dodo.
History: Although one of The Doctor’s most
potentially powerful opponents, it is important to note that the Gods weren't
exactly evil - at least, not deliberately. They were mainly simply confused
by everything they picked up from around them, their nature being essentially
blank slates, with those who observe them shaping their forms, powers and
personalities on Earth. Since so many people were crying out for higher
powers to save them from themselves during the turbulent time that they
arrived, the Gods’ appearance became defined by that vision, but
prior to their ‘definition’, some earlier sightings of the
Gods had been of monsters with teeth and tentacles - the common science-fiction
alien of the time - and even The Doctor simply saw them as aliens determined
to conquer Earth at first, because, even in his first incarnation, he was
by now used to things like that.
Although
the first group of Gods landed in London in 1965 due to some unspecified
link between their world and Earth - The Doctor’s companion
Steven
Taylor speculated
that they may have come to Earth in the past and inspired the gods
then, but this is suspect at best -, all
but one of them died upon arrival, this one survivor unintentionally
killing an old man called Neville Albert Miller after it assumed
his form. When Dorothea ‘Dodo’ Chaplet -
a young girl who did shopping for the real Miller - arrived later
that day, the
entity kept her ‘hostage’ in the house to prevent her
revealing his presence to the public. Although exposure to Dodo prompted
his personality to shape itself based on her feelings rather than
the others of his kind being defined by the wishes of groups - to
the extent that he called himself Joseph as it was an unthreatening
name -, his misunderstanding of this world resulted in him almost
raping her. Fleeing the house, Dodo fled into a nearby Police Box
in search of safety, encountering the First
Doctor and his current
companion Steven -
the two currently at odds over The Doctor abandoning the people of
medieval France to "The
Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve" in their last visit -
just before The Doctor moved the
TARDIS to
prevent its discovery by the police.
The TARDIS having only moved to New York in
the present without moving anywhere in Time, The Doctor decided to
take Dodo on a tour of the city - Steven preferring to wander the
city on his own to sort out his current feelings regarding The Doctor’s
actions -, the two discovering a gathering in a nearby church of
the other group of Gods, calling themselves the Gods of the Latter-Day
Pantheon. This group consisted of five people; the Patriarch, head
of the Gods, Max, the God of Materialism, Dennis the God of War,
Norman the God of Order, and Jennifer the Goddess of Free Love. The
God's manager, Alexander Lullington-Smythe, allowed five people in
to meet the Gods, The Doctor amongst them - Dodo gaining access as
well by claiming that she had to ‘look after him’ -,
but The Doctor’s attempt to question the Gods was interrupted
by Project Blue Book - an early American UNIT -, allowing the Gods
time to escape.
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| William Hartnell |
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Steven’s exploration of New York was cut short
when he encountered Norman during his wanderings, Norman saving him from
death after he was stabbed by a mugger only to subsequently incinerate
the mugger based on Steven's instinctive thoughts of the moment. Realising
the need for a human influence to guide their actions, Norman requested
the aid of Steven and Kathy Marchant - a journalist and daughter of the
general in charge of Blue Book - to help them understand the world and
spread the word of the Gods. At the same time, The Doctor's alien nature
was discovered, but he was saved from dissection when Jospeh showed up
and began killing the people who killed his friends, although he withdrew
to join the other Gods after Dodo told him that what he was doing was wrong.
With Joseph now serving as their God of Peace, the Latter-Day Pantheon
constructed a ‘gateway to Heaven’ and invited people to enter
it - including a scientist called Carter who had been working with Blue
Book -, their new independence prompting Lullington-Smythe to join forces
with Blue Book, The Doctor and Dodo when they rejected his attempt to get
them to charge for miracles.
As he continued to study them, The Doctor learned the
truth about the Gods when discussing how Dodo and Marchant perceived the
Gods, Dodo describing Jennifer as a beautiful representation of the freedom
of spirit while Marchant saw her as a disease-ridden whore and the personification
of failing morality. He also realised that as their influence grew they
would inevitably come into contact with contradicting faiths and beliefs,
which would require more complex solutions than simply healing injuries
and providing clothing; not only were they asked to kill a rapist while
being told that killing was wrong, but a visit from representatives of
the Ku Klux Klan to request a definitive statement on the inferiority of
the negro further divided the Gods, Joseph objecting to the conflict while
Jennifer favoured universal acceptance even as Dennis, Norman and Max argued
for the financial stability that would result after the conflict restored
order, leaving the Patriarch further confused at the contradicting faiths
of the modern world.
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| Dodo |
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With tension increasing after Joseph took
Dodo through the gate - motivated more by what he wanted than what Dodo
wanted at this point -, Steven rejoined The Doctor, prompting The Doctor
to confront the Patriarch after he incinerated one of two neighbours who
came to him simply to settle a minor border dispute. Hoping to prevent
further death, The Doctor confronted the Patriarch directly, provoking
the Patriarch to strike him down with a fireball only for The Doctor to
be merely slightly singed as his faith in himself outweighed the people's
shaken belief in the Patriarch, particularly after Joseph acted against
the Patriarch after realising what The Doctor was trying to do. As ‘Heaven’ -
really the Gods’ home planet, just as malleable as they were - began
to fall apart from the contradicting views of the afterlife, Joseph began
to increasingly doubt himself, prompting the outraged Patriarch to turn
Joseph into a human - really just cutting him off from his powers temporarily
- and declare to his remaining followers that they would prove their powers
by intervening in Vietnam. Although Marchant was tempted to let them stop
the war, The Doctor convinced him that such a plan would simply render
the Gods more powerful and conflicted as further people became aware of
them, prompting him to put The Doctor’s plan into action. With Lullington-Smythe
having sabotaged his reputation to make the Gods’ reputation even
more suspect, Blue Book launched a bomb at the Gods and their followers,
Steven and Dodo helping those who had gone to ‘Heaven’ return
to Earth while Joseph remained to try and help his people (Although The
Doctor doubted that he could maintain his identity alone). Although Steven
initially assumed that the humans came through safe because the Gods were
protecting their most loyal followers, The Doctor explained that actually
the bomb had been a dud; since the followers assumed that the bomb could
harm the Gods, it had thus done so. With Marchant using Lullington-Smythe’s
damaged reputation to claim that the Gods had all been an April Fool’s
Day prank organised by Lullington-Smythe, The Doctor and Steven departed,
taking Dodo with them as their new companion in confidence that history
had turned out as it should. |
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