Doctor Who: 9 Greatest Stories Not Yet Adapted

8. The Ninety-Five Theses

With a quick reenactment of a week's worth of AP History classes I had in high school, let me fill you in on Martin Luther and The Ninety-Five Theses. In the early 1500s the Catholic Church was being a jerk, and in order to make money, selling things called "indulgences" which were essentially "get out of purgatory free" cards. Then anyone you sinned, rather than going to confession and repenting, was told they needed to pay for these indulgences in order to gain absolution. And then, when people went to confession and told Martin Luther (a German monk) that they had already purchased indulgences, he was pissed! So pissed, that he wrote the Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences and posted them on the door of the castle church in Wittdenberg. This action and over the next few weeks the documents spread across Europe and aided in kick starting the Protestant Reformation. So that happened. And this could be a very cool, monk-filled episode of Doctor Who I think. Maybe the Catholic Church weren't the only ones selling these, it's possible there was also an alien race selling "indulgences" that had more power than the redemption promised by those sold by the church. Or perhaps the church was trying to get these tiny pieces of paper to as many people as possible because a "divine spirit" told them to, but really, the spirit would be an alien race! Just think of it. It would be historical! Action-packed! An episode of biblical proportions!