ZONK, YOU SUCKERS

MARTHA

"But is it real, though?

I mean, witches, black magic and all that, it’s real?"

THE DOCTOR

"‘Course it isn’t!"

MARTHA

"Well, how am I supposed to know?

I’ve only just started believing in time travel.

Give me a break."

THE DOCTOR

"Looks like witchcraft, but it isn’t. Can’t be."
'Doctor Who'

Of course, in Toobworld, Magic does exist. We've seen it in episodes of 'Supernatural'. We've seen an afrit in an episode of 'The X-Files'. Magic used to be found in Sunnydale, California, and it still resides on Morning Glory Circle in Westport, Connecticut.

The point is, the Doctor was wrong. He's probably the greatest scientific mind in the TV Universe, but he's not perfect. As much as Russell T. Davies tries to fashion him to be some kind of god, he's just a Gallifreyan man, Time Lord though he may be.

As much as we like to believe otherwise, the heroes in our TV shows are not perfect, not all-knowing. And just because they declare something that doesn't make it true. At best it just means that they have not been exposed to the actual truth about the situation.

"There are no vampires. Sadly."
Dr. Walter Bishop
'Fringe'

Walter was emphatic about this point, but there's O'Bviously something more going on here. Before 'True Blood' came along, we could have splained away Walter's declaration as being from a man who had never made contact with vampires, or with evidence of their existence.

But now, thanks to the synthetic blood-drink Tru-Blood, vampires have come out into the open and live among mortal humans. It's true that we don't see them in every TV show (or do we? I've got my suspicions about Henry Cole on 'The Unusuals'. Kidding.), but that doesn't mean they're not out there. It's the same situation with the puppet people, the lunar waste dump explosion, and the Eugenics Wars. They all exist in Toobworld, but that doesn't mean they always have to be the focus of attention in each show. How many times did Vietnam come up in ALL of the sitcoms of the late sixties and early seventies. In the grand scheme of things, not often.
The fact that Walter denies their existence then must have some deeper meaning. I don't think it's like a Republican presidential candidate denying the concept of evolution, or the leader of Iran denying the Holocaust. But there must be some reason why Walter is obstinate about vampires not being real. The only pozz'ble splainin I'm willing to entertain right now, however, is that while he was incarcerated in the mental institution, Walter wasn't kept abreast of what was happening in the outside world.

Otherwise, I don't think that would be a smart move to make such conjectures when it comes to a TV character in a show that's still in production. I'll just leave it as one of Walter's mysteries......

Oh yeah. And the Doctor lies about his age.

SHOWS CITED:
'Fringe'
'Doctor Who'
'Supernatural'
'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'
'Bewitched'
'The X-Files'
'Sesame Street'
'Space: 1999'
'True Blood'
'Star Trek'

BCnU!
Toby O'B