4
Adventures in Crime and Space
Doctor Who?
Now, who doesn’t love the Doctor?
Doctor Who?
Yeah, that one. But behind that charming veneer
that has gripped us for the past fifty years is a sinister
undertow. We all realize that the Doctor takes companions
with him on his adventures, but how many of them have been
taken against their will? My friends, the Doctor is actually a serial
abductor, guilty of multiple counts of kidnapping!
Now, for the purposes of this analysis, let’s assume that the British
abduction statute is substantially similar to the American federal counterpart. (Because, come on, I’m not researching that.)
According to § 1201(1)(a) of the United States Code:
Whoever unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, or carries away and holds for ransom or reward or otherwise any person . . . when the person is willfully transported in interstate or foreign commerce . . . shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
Doctor Who, the TARDIS, and any other fictional characters in this article are property of the British Broadcasting Corporation
The Doctor has certainly transported people to foreign places, and considering the Doctor’s propensity to retain souvenirs from his travels, the court could likely construe the Doctor’s travels as commerce- driven. Also, although the Doctor does not hold his companions for ransom or reward, the word “otherwise” allows any reason for the unlawful taking of a person to be punishable under the statute. So that leaves the question of whether or not the doctor has seized, confined, inveigled, decoyed, kidnapped, abducted, or carried away any of his companions.The common thread all these actions have in common is a nature of nonconsensual taking, so this analysis will focus on the nonconsensual abduction of known companions.
By Leigh Monson (Forth Regeneration)