For me, two very important events happened yesterday and today. Yesterday, November 22, 1963, C.S. Lewis died, his death being overshadowed by the assasination of John F. Kennedy. Aldous Huxley also died that day too. Lewis is well known for his Chronicles of Narnia books and also for his Christian apologetical works, even giving a series of radio lectures during World War II which would later form the book Mere Christianity. Among many works, Lewis also wrote science fiction, The Space Trilogy, and also, what I consider to be his best work, Till We Have Faces, a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.
The second event happened on November 23, 1963. Doctor Who debuted on BBC Television. A science fiction show following the time travels of the eccentric and enigmatic Doctor, it has been recognized as the longest running science fiction television show in the world and also the most successful. It ran originally from 1963 to 1989. The series was regenerated in 2005 and has continued until present, although no full series was run in 2009. David Tennant, who played Barty Crouch Jr. in Goblet of Fire, was a fan of Doctor Who in his youth. Tennant eventually played The Doctor from 2005 through 2010. The show had an almost cult status in Great Britain and led to a shared experience called “behind the sofa,” in reference to hiding behind the sofa during the scary parts of the show and peeking out to see if they were over.
Connecting all this to Harry Potter, it’s well known that JK Rowling has expressed admiration of The Chronicles of Narnia and of Lewis’ work in general until she started to distance herself from comparisons to him and her work in recent years, for whatever reasons. However, both share strong literary roots. Lewis, like Rowling, loved Edith Nesbit and Jane Austen. Lewis supposedly said of Austen’s works that they had two faults, both of which were damnable, they were too few and too short. For more on the connections between Lewis and Rowling, there is an excellent book I’ve heard of, by some obscure but brilliant writer, called Harry Potter and Imagination. 
As an aside, I think if Lewis had the chance to read the Potter books, he would’ve been delighted! J.R.R. Tolkien, perhaps not so much…
As for connections between Doctor Who and Harry Potter, I’ve not heard of many, besides the mild connection between Tennant’s role as Crouch Jr. and The Doctor. Doing a bit of brief research, I came across some stories suggesting that Rowling might have been contacted about writing a story for the revived series but could not since she was still working on Potter. I also saw one story that claimed there was to be a Doctor episode about Rowling but that Tennant shot it down as being too silly even for Doctor Who. If you’d like to check some of these stories out, just google “Rowling Doctor Who.” Rowling is of an age that she could have watched Doctor Who in her youth. I’ve never seen any references, though, of her mentioning the show. Does anyone here know?
Feel free to share your thoughts on C.S. Lewis and on The Doctor.
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{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve also never seen references of Rowling mentioning Doctor Who, but in an episode during season 3 of the new series, the Doctor mentions having read and enjoyed the final installment of Harry Potter (this was before the release of DH; the Doctor is a time traveller). Also in this episode Martha shouts “Expelliarmus!” in order to defeat the alien/witches that are about to destroy the world.
Also, just want to point out that David Tennant was technically not the Doctor in 2005 – Christopher Eccelston played the Doctor in the first season of the re-imagined series. David Tennant only briefly appeared at the end of the first season as the 9th Doctor regenerated.
Thanks for posting this revgeorge! I’ve never read Till We Have Faces, but now I’m going to have to add it to my ever growing must-read list.
The Doctor and Harry are in the episode: The Shakespeare Code. Season Three, Episode Three.
Shane, thanks for giving the name of the episode – that’s exactly the one I was talking about. Shakespeare, the Doctor and Harry Potter all in one episode – brilliant!
I’m thinking I need to re-read Till We Have Faces. It really didn’t too much for me. I love Narnia and the Space Trilogy though, the latter being a rather odd group. Each of the books in the trilogy seems so different from the other, and the reasons why I like each is completely different for each one.
Just read Out of the Silent Planet and really enjoyed it. Speculative fiction with a Christian twist – good fun! I really enjoy Sci-Fi from around that time – John Wyndham, etc.
The tents in HP that are bigger inside than out – surely a reference to the TARDIS? Also, in both HP and Doctor Who evil is present on the earth, threatening its very existence, and yet most people are unaware of the brave souls defending us.
And thanks for the pic of my favourite Doctor.
“Happy Deathday” to all on November 22, 1963 RevGeorge, thanks, and yes that was certainly an unforgettable day in ‘63.
aerisflowers, thanks for the correction; it’s easy to get confused on The Doctor’s tenure since the various incarnations of The Doctor always appear on the last episode or so of the prior Doctor’s season.
Black Angus, glad to oblige with Baker’s picture portraying the 4th Doctor. The first Doctor for me. I can still remember the very first episode I saw of Doctor Who. Because of the length of his tenure I think Tom Baker was the first Doctor for many of those in my age range. I also have as favorites the Fifth and the Seventh Doctors. I haven’t watched much of the revived seasons but I did like the one episode I saw of Eccleston.
R.Ross, yes it was a memorable day, November 22. I was two years away from birth then but my mother remembers that day well. However, based on my influences in life, I consider Lewis to be the greatest loss that day. I’ve never read it, but Peter Kreeft has a book called Between Heaven & Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley. Anybody here read it?
Not really being a Dr. Who fan – could never get into the Daleks – I was reading with mild but steady interest until I came to the bit about Lewis being delighted to read Harry Potter but Tolkien not so much.
Because?
Tolkien’s beef with Lewis was his heavy-handed Christian allegory. JKR writes about the same theme with a much lighter touch, leaving the reader totally free to embrace the parallel, or simply be moved by the story of a young man’s self-sacrifice in order to save the world from evil, neither interpretation taking away from the other.
As a writer of high fantasy, Tolkien might have minded the witching world being set squarely in the middle of late 20th century England. But something tells me that the scene in Godric’s Hollow would not have entirely met with his disapproval.
Red Rocker, I never understood Tolkien’s objection to The Chronicles of Narnia to be anything to do with either heavy handiness or Christianity but entirely with allegory. Particularly with Lewis’ mingling of many different genres into his work, i.e. mythological things like Bacchus or with Father Christmas being present. I could quite certainly be wrong about that, though.
Anyway, my comment on Tolkien not liking Harry while Lewis did was meant in jest. I should’ve added the ubiquitous smiley face.
ISTR that Tolkien objected to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on the grounds that the Christian parallels were far too blatant. But he disliked the entire series, in part because of the haphazard mixing of creatures from many different mythologies — although there must have been more to it than that, since he himself mixed motifs from Finnish, Norse, and classical mythology into Middle-earth! I’ve seen it suggested that his real problem was that Lewis’s mythological creatures were divorced from their context, so that he had, e.g., a faun behaving entirely like a human being rather than as a faun would.
revgeorge, perhaps I misunderstood the origins of Tolkien’s distaste. I do remember that he didn’t like the mishmash of mythologies. Since I too found the juxtaposition of centaurs and fauns and talking beavers and wolves mice and Father Christmas jarring, I could not but sympathize.
That might be seen as support for your argument that Tolkien would not like Harry. But I don’t see it that way. Lewis took those fairy tale elements, and put them into his allegorical tale in undigested form, much like raisins and orange peel in fruit cake: totally intact and standing out from the body of the cake. JKR, on the other hand, steeped them all in such potent storytelling brandy, that they do not appear to stand out, but rather form the distinct bits of a pleasing uniform whole. In other words, a much better kind of fruitcake.
Must be getting close to Christmas…
Steve, thank you for that helpful clarification. Certainly, Tolkien would perhaps have been right about the blatant nature of the Christian parallels in LWW, especially if Lewis’ intent was to slip things past sleeping dragons. However, Lewis’ work did resonate with me when I first heard it & that was well before I could conceive of any Christian parallels, hearing it first read by my fifth grade teacher in story time.
Red Rocker said, “Lewis took those fairy tale elements, and put them into his allegorical tale in undigested form, much like raisins and orange peel in fruit cake: totally intact and standing out from the body of the cake. JKR, on the other hand, steeped them all in such potent storytelling brandy, that they do not appear to stand out, but rather form the distinct bits of a pleasing uniform whole. In other words, a much better kind of fruitcake.”
I think that would be a valid criticism of Lewis as opposed to Rowling. I really, really need to read Michael Ward’s Planet Narnia since if I remember rightly he addressed some of these criticisms.
I also add my thanks for that picture of Tom Baker, revgeorge. Yes, he was a hammy actor, but hey! look at the concept of the program. Anyway, he remains for me the quintessential Dr. Who. Does anyone else remember Peter Davison, who was one of the brothers on the ” All Creatures… ” BBC miniseries as a much younger Dr. Who? I thought he did a good job as the Dr., though not supplanting my favorite TB. Incidentally, the older brother in the All Creatures program, who played Siegfried, was Robert Hardy, who plays Fudge in the Harry Potter series. It’s a small world, isn’t it? *leaves hurriedly before Joivre can hurl a brick at me for mentioning a schmaltzy Disney tune!*
Ha! Fricka – what you don’t know about what I listen to on my mp3 won’t hurt you. But I’ll give you a some clues – there’s a mermaid, a boy from Arabia, a wooden boy, a boy from India, a girl from China, and a beast. And I’m not too proud to say I love them all.
I remember the pressure on Peter Davidson having to step into Tom Baker’s shoes. Even as a teenager I was impressed by the way he quickly made the role his own. He’s my second-favourite doctor (greatly aided by his companions).
Maybe Korg could set up a poll for favourite doctor/baddie/companion…
Peter Davison was a favorite of mine too. His companions helped too, even idiot boy, as we used to fondly call Adric.
My other favorite companion is Ace. For baddies, I liked both incarnations of The Master. Roger Delgado brought a suave, gentlemanly evil to the role, and Anthony Ainley brought a more intense, maniacal flavor to the role.
According to my dad, who grew up watching the adventures of the first doctor live on BBC, there was pressure on each new Doctor that took over the role. He told me that it usually only took a couple of eposides for the audience to warm up to (i.e. fall totally in love with) the new actor. Peter Davison is also one of my favourites – it was great to see him re-live the role in the short ‘episode’ Time Crash for Children in Need two years ago alongside David Tennant’s Doctor.
Red Rocker, love your Christmas cake analogy for JKR. She does draw from so many mythological traditions yet she weaves them seamlessly into her world. (‘Tis definately the season – my mum’s cake is soaking up brandy in our attic right now!)
Ace was a great companion. Sarah Jane was my favourite, followed by Tegan and Nyssa.
C’mon now, Black Angus. I KNOW that your favourite was Peri Brown followed by Leela.
A poll might be fun. There’s too many villains to do in a poll and I’d only get bagged because I left out someone’s favourite…
My favourite villain is Sutekh from The Pyramids of Mars- my all-time favourite Dr Who story. Genuinely scary… as they all were when I was a kid.
CSL, HP, the Doctor…these are a few of my favourite things…
Thanks for a very important clarification, aerisflowers. Chris Eccelston was (is) my Doctor!
Connections between HP and the Doctor–other than the obvious, that they’re both outstanding SF, with mind-boggling amounts of sheer awesomeness? And they deal with questions of time, death, suffering, and faith. What about the time-travel sequence in PofA? And the Daleks, like the Death-Eaters, have a monomaniacal racial supremacy mindset–’the ultimate ethnic cleansing machine.’
HP seems somewhat like the sort of thing JRRT would dislike. I think the children would annoy him. He became increasingly selective in his taste as he grew older.
But CSL wrote viciously against ’school stories’ and their destructive influence to children (see ‘On Three Ways of Writing for Children’, for instance). I don’t think he anticipated JKR’s blending of school stories with fantasy, though.
I just finished Voyage to Venus. What an absolute cracker!
Sci-fi in the aid of theology.
Another similarity between JKR & CSL: very imaginative and powerful explorations of the Big Issues in life and death.
I’m a bit surprised to be the first one to point this out here, but the discussion wouldn’t be complete without noting that Tom Baker turned in an unforgettable performance as Puddleglum in the BBC’s 1990 dramatization of The Silver Chair.
CSL’s objection to “school stories,” as I recall, was that they gave a false impression of what a child could expect to happen in reality (face it, you’re not going to become the most popular boy when you score the winning point in the big game). The HP books mostly avoid that particular weakness quite handily, and have probably given more than a moment or two of comfort to many school outcasts.
Tolkien might have given very few parts of the series a grudging nod, but would have detested JKR’s haphazard abuse of linguistic roots; my guess is the first “expelliarmus” would have soured him permanently on the whole idea.
CSL loved Sci-Fi and disliked TV and cinema, so who knows what he would have though of the Doctor?
Eric P. – I always learn something here! Could you elaborate for me about JKRs linguistic root meanings? I always thought they were quite fitting – (but I see I might be in the dark about this and would like to learn about it). I know of Tolkien’s disdain of an auxiliary language – (legend precedes it) but even he had an Elvenlatin that seems to have a shared euphony with Ms. Rowling’s old spell terminology. I am now wondering what I’m missing.
whoops that should have been no legend precedes it.
Hmmm. “haphazard abuse of linguistic roots” is not how I view JKR’s use of names for spells and potions, Eric. She does, after all have a degree in French, which is a latin-based language, and if you examine the spells she names, most of them fall in the category of latin-derived. I’m not so sure that JRRT would have been turned off by her use of these terms, either, as his area of linguistic expertise was Saxon language. At any rate, many of the names Jo uses seem playful and fitting–they often bring a smile to my face when I hear them. Even the really serious ones, like the names of the unforgivable curses, seem to fit the bill. In contrast, I can’t remember Gandalf ever really speaking a spell–he uses his staff, yes, and mutters words that Bilbo or Frodo don’t understand, but the hobbits (and thus the readers of his books) are pretty much left in the dark as to what he’s actually doing. In my view, it takes more work to do as JKR has done, and actually name spells and explain how they work. Just my two knuts on that.
Tolkien was an enthusiastic advocate of one particular auxiliary language – Esperanto. He wrote:
My advice to all who have the time or inclination to concern themselves with the international language movement would be: “Back Esperanto loyally.”
http://esperanto-usa.org/en/node/685
Did you know that Professor Tolkien took a great interest in the international language movement.
He supported Esperanto which can be seen at http://www.tolkienbooks.net/html/esperanto.htm
Your readers may be interested in http://www.lernu.net
Obviously, Tolkien of all people didn’t have any problem with invented words or languages. He even wrote an academic essay, “A Secret Vice,” about his lifelong hobby of constructing imaginary languages. (This appears to be it.) JRRT is also on record as saying the Lord of the Rings is “primarily linguistic in inspiration.” This is even more apparent in the Silmarillion.
However, I recall (without double-checking sources) that, as a philologist, Tolkien preferred made-up languages to follow the rules of language rather than simply sounding evocative. JKR scores major points in the latter but not so much (as far as I can tell) in the former. Though she obviously isn’t just creating sounds at random–there are clear echoes from Latin, Old French, etc.– the etymologies don’t seem to be there. (“Haphazard abuse” in my previous comment was probably too strong; “Unsystematic evocation,” maybe.) That doesn’t bother me a bit, myself, but then I’m not a fastidious professor of philology. And Tolkien’s literary tastes were known to be a bit, shall we say, selective.
The best book I know of for examining Tolkien on linguistic and literary grounds is The Road to Middle-Earth by Tom Shippey. [Amazon link.] Buy, read, devour.
Thanks Eric P. That book looks interesting – I think I’m going to give it a try. I wonder what he would have thought about Klingonaase!
“You have not experienced Shakespeare, until you have read it in the original Klingon.”
Oh Eric P. – I just saw your website. Another musician! Man, we’re taking over the pub and running amok here. Very cool that you are an actual, bona fide working composer. Ok – here’s a joke -
What do you call a composer who breaks up with his girlfriend?
Homeless.
Ok – another one:
What does a composer say when he gets to work?
Do you want fries with that?
Another musician! Man, we’re taking over the pub and running amok here.
Actually, you should form a band and provide some music. We’ve already got one wrocker in Library Lily. Perhaps another few bands, and we can have music every night.
Ha! Travis – do you play the harmonica? We should have a Hog’s-Head-palooza one of these days!
My favorite (which is a bit mean): What’s the difference between a large pizza and a professional musician? A large pizza can feed a family of four.
What style of music were you thinking for this band… perhaps Heavy Mithril?
Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day.
Give a fish a man, it’ll eat for weeks.
Hem, hem. Why no, my humour isn’t morbid at all…
Fricka–the words that Gandalf mutters in FoR are actually variations of elvish phrases. Spells, apparently, were spoken in native language in Middle-Earth. Thus, an elvish door has an elvish spell. Presumably, magic in middle earth is bound up in the substance of language, rather than individual words. And I think silent spells certainly play a role. Galadriel disparages the term ‘magic’ as being to broad and vague to refer to all the various sorts of power in Middle-Earth.
Tolkien, as Eric points out, actually created three functional languages (!), two related (Sindar and Quenya) and one independent (Dwarvish–forget the actualy name). They had detailed linguistic histories. For the Rohirrim, he used formal Anglo-Saxon.
What he would have probably detested about JKR’s spells is precisely the ‘playful’ aspect you mention. He was terribly serious about language (as an Oxford professor in philology, I guess he can be excused!).
And, for all you total geeks out there–Gandalf utters a spell to light wood for a fire on Caradharas. Geek points to you if you know what it is without peeking! (I don’t!)
Mr. Pond, Khuzdul is the Dwarvish language. I only remembered the first word in Gandalf’s spell “naur.” The whole thing is “naur an edraith ammem,” which very, very roughly translates to “fire (or flame) to save us.”
Eric P and Mr. Pond – who raised you two?! Did Tolkien have two sons? I just figured out you are two brilliant brothers with a healthy sense of humor (although Mr. Pond, you need a little help there with that fish joke
). I love it – siblings at the pub!