Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for the Doctor Who season 14 finale.
Summary
The spoon in theDoctor Whoseason 14 finale holds a much deeper meaning than initially appears. The penultimate episode of this season ofDoctor Whoreveals that The One Who Waits as the Fourth Doctor villain Sutekh, but he’s the size of a titan now instead of a man. WithSutekh hiding aboard the TARDISat the start of the finale, the Doctor can’t use their time machine to take on the villain. This leaves the Doctor, Ruby, and Mel helpless as the world starts dying at the hands of Sutekh.
to fight back, the Doctor uses the time window in conjunction with Ruby’s thoughts to createDoctor Who’s Memory TARDIS. The semi-functional machine needs a real-life metal object to power it and metal becomes hard to come by when everything starts turning into dust. Luckily,a kind stranger on a faraway planet gives them a spoon, which grants the Memory TARDIS the power the Doctor uses to help take Sutekh down. In addition to being a whimsical plot device, the spoon in theDoctor Whoseason 14 finale connects back to the Doctor’s history and purported philosophy.
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The Spoon Symbolizes The Doctor’s Pacifist Philosophy
The Spoon Is A Utensil That Isn’t Easily Used For Violence
Even thoughthe Doctor repeatedly betrays their pacifist ideals inDoctor Who, the spoon in the season 14 finale is the most recent example of the show asserting the main character as a pacifist. Rather than saving the world with a knife or fork, both of which could easily be used as a weapon, the Doctor saves the world with a spoon. This points to the false assertion thatthe Doctor will always prefer peaceful methods of diplomacy over violence.
The spoon as a representation of the Doctor’s true pacifism is just the most recent implicit lie inDoctor Who.
In reality, the Doctor is, at best, a collectivist-realist pacifist – or someone who is morally opposed to war but believes that lethal violence can sometimes be morally okay in pursuit of justice and peace (an idea that Dr. Paula Smithka dissects inThe Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture As PhilosophyviaSpringer). With this in mind, the spoon as a representation of the Doctor’s true pacifism is just the most recent implicitlie inDoctor Who.
Doctor Who Has A Long History With Spoons
The Doctor Has Used Spoons In Many Different Capacities
The spoon at theend ofDoctor Whoseason 14is far from the first time spoons have played a significant role in the show. The Seventh Doctor played the spoons in both ClassicWhoseasons 24 and 25. In the animatedDoctor Whoserial Infinite Quest, the Tenth Doctor takes Baltazar’s ship down with the hydroxide fungus on a spoon (though it’s unclear whether Infinite Quest is considered part ofDoctor Whocanon). The utensil comes back into play withthe Twelfth Doctor, the lover of soup and wielder of spoons.
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They famously used a metal spoon to fight Robin Hood in one of thebest stories ofDoctor Who. The Thirteenth Doctor also makes their sonic screwdriver with melted spoons made of Sheffield Steel. On top of all these references directly related to the main character, the Spoonheads are one of the sillier aliens that the Doctor has gone up against. These metal humanoid robots have a spoon instead of a head, hence the name. The spoon inDoctor Whoseason 14 is a nice reference to the beloved utensil.
