The
word “cult” refers to a religious movement or group whose rituals, beliefs, or
practices might be judged bizarre by society as a whole.
I
use the term “cult” an awful lot on this blog, partly because it denotes the
fact that this site doesn’t (typically) discuss mainstream productions, and
partly because “cult” is part of a term (“cult TV”) that is frequently searched
on the Internet.
Of
course, some people will tell you that the term “cult” is pejorative, and that
such a descriptor diminishes the production which is described. This may indeed be true, though I don’t
consider the adjective cult pejorative.
But
cults -- odd and sinister religious or
spiritual movements -- have indeed appeared prominently throughout
television history.
Doctor
Who (1963 –
1989) has probably featured more than its fair share of cults during its long
run. In the early 1970s serial starring
Jon Pertwee, “The Daemons,” for instance, the Master (Roger Delgado)
masquerades as the Magister, the head of a pagan cult attempting to conjure the
demon, Azal. As The
Doctor is quite
happy to prove to Jo (Katy Manning), however, Azal is not a demon and does not
derive his power from magic. Instead, he
is an alien being with more advanced science than that known by man. The whole serial pits human superstition --
in the form of the cult -- against the Doctor’s enlightened rationale for
science.
Another
Doctor
Who cult -- the Sisterhood of Karn (featured in the Tom Baker serial
“Brain of Morbius”) -- is depicted as a Time Lord ally, and one in possession
of the mystical “Elixir of Life.” It too
seems an unholy blend of mysticism and science.
In
Buck
Rogers in the 25th Century (1979 – 1981), the first episode
produced after the theatrical pilot, “Awakening” was titled “Planet of the
Slave Girls.” It involves a charismatic
leader, Kaleel (Jack Palance) with the capacity to mesmerize his flock. Such is his cult’s belief in him as Leader
that the cult-members die upon Kaleel’s touch.
This episode may have been inspired by the 1978 Jonestown incident,
which also involved a cult following.
The nine-hundred deaths at Jim Jones’ community occurred on November 18,
1978.
The
short-lived series about an island in the Bermuda Triangle where all
time-streams cross, The Fantastic Journey (1977), featured
an episode called “An Act of Love” which served as indictment of religions in
general and cults, specifically. Here, a
colony built near a live volcano routinely performed human sacrifices in the
hopes of quieting the mountain. At the
end of the episode, Roddy McDowall’s Jonathan Willaway told the cult priestess:
“You are trying to make deals
with volcanoes." Then he tells her,
very directly, to take her people from the time zone and "leave superstition behind."
In
the Chris Carter series, Millennium (1996 – 1999),
Scientology was ridiculed as a cult called “Selfosophy” in the Darin Morgan
episode “Jose Chung’s Doomsday Defense.”
In this case, those involved in the cult were instructed to purge
themselves of all negativity, and buy-up every last copy of their guru’s
science fiction novel. You may recognize
the historical antecedents for this story *ahem.*
A
fertility cult -- shades of The Wicker Man (1971) – appeared in
rural America in the Smallville episode (“The Harvest”),
and agent Scully (Gillian Anderson) found herself trapped with dangerous cult
members in another small town in “Road Runners.” In this episode of The X-Files, the
cult-members worshiped a strange, possibly extra-terrestrial worm that burrowed
inside the backs of human beings. That was a fate Scully only narrowly avoided.
An episode of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
also saw humans worshiping (the living…) head of Vilgax as some kind of
Cthulu-like deity.
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