The Secrets of Det-Sen

A story with an absolutely stellar atmosphere, but sadly, also some generic story beats.

 

The party lands in Tibet, high on the Himalayan mountains. Soon, they meet up with a group of pilgrims, and decide to join them on their travels to a nearby monastery. Trouble arrives, however, when the monastery is attacked by bandits.

 

The best part about this story, is the start. The party sits around the pilgrim camp and has some interesting conversations. Dodo gets to talk with a girl her age off-screen (off-speaker), while we explore a potential relationship between Steven and the girl Pema. At the same time, we hear the Doctor talk with the wise pilgrim Oddiyãna about the principles of Buddhism.

 

And that last part is really interesting. The Doctor mentions how the beliefs of his own people are very similar. This comparison works on multiple levels. We explore the concept of energy and we are all made from it. It connects us. This can be linked to the Doctor Who concept of regeneration, where energy is also key. Later on in the story, we also come across the ideas of pacifism, which is of course similar to the “No interfering” mentality of the timelords.

 

It also works on a meta level. Key figures in the Doctor Who mythos, like Barry Letts and Christopher Bailey, were Buddhists themselves. So yes, Doctor Who and Buddhism are quite linked in places.

 

And that’s genuinely really interesting to explore. Especially with such an early incarnation, which generally allows for more time to touch on these kinds of elements. It’s very engrossing and explorative in an understandable way.

 

But after episode 1, it completely stops. Not the introduction of Buddhist concepts, but the explanation of them. When we enter the monastery, we still come across pacifism, mysterious bells and the ability to reach a high plane of existence, but these are no longer explained, just mentioned. And this becomes a bit of a problem once the real conflict of the story starts.

 

Bandits arrive and take over the Monastery. However, due to the pacifist nature of the monks, they just let it happen and don’t fight back. The story draws a lot of attention to this, with monks praying while chaos is happening around them.

 

Now, I’m far from new to this Doctor. You know how he would handle a similar situation in the past. He would inspire the locals to fight for their rights and take back what is rightfully theirs. The British attitude!

 

But usually, the reason others don’t attack is because of fear. Or ineptitude. These people don’t attack because it is their religious belief that all life is equal, thus no life should hurt other life. And the story draws very little attention to this difference in beliefs. It goes about it like it would any other time.

 

And that kind of gnaws at me. It would help if the concept of pacifism and the ideas behind it was explored as in-depth as the other concepts in part 1. Those barely show up at all now, but got much more attention.

 

Instead, we’re just supposed to be on board with our regular crew. The Doctor keeps repeating how they have to fight. The monks and pilgrims keep repeating that that is not their way. This continues until Steven has somehow convinced the monks to fight off-screen. The only one left to convince is Oddiyãna, who the doctor keeps degrading by calling him “My boy” every single time they speak. And I mean every other sentence, not evert now and then.

 

There’s an underlying tone of superiority, which is slightly disturbing. Like the reasoning for fighting doesn’t even have to be made. That it is just the natural way to handle this kind of situation, no questions asked. Even we, the audience, shouldn’t ask questions. It happened off-screen, deal with it.

 

At the same time, the early exploration of Buddhist concepts now shows the contrast with what could be. It kind of hurts the story now. Imagine that kind of depth in the central conflict. If the story had gone that route, it could have been an all time classic. But the run of the mill just stays in place.

 

Before we wind down though, I should probably mention that big fluffy thing on the cover. Technically, the Yeti are in this story. They are basically not plot relevant and serve no real purpose. I assume this is somehow linked to the story “The Abominable Snowmen”, but that’s speculation on my side. I’m not there yet.

 

They really have no reason to be in this story, though. They mostly look cool on the cover. They do eventually come in and help free the monastery, which the monks were already doing, so…. cool, I guess. They’re a distraction, nothing more.

 

“The Secrets of Det-Sen” takes a closer look at a religion that is still practiced today. Yet the actual concepts of that religion are only used as set dressing for a basic base-under-siege tale. It almost reaches for something truly magical, but then quickly decides to play it safe instead. While still okay, it could’ve been so, so much more if it had just taken that leap.