lunar-roving-vehicle:

ARTHUR: Why’s it called that, Skip?

DOUGLAS: What?

ARTHUR: Ottery St. Mary.

MARTIN: I’ve no idea.

ARTHUR: Do you know, Douglas?

DOUGLAS: Yes.

MARTIN: Do you?

DOUGLAS: Certainly I do. You see St. Mary is the patron saint of Devon, and she, of course, was famously martyred by being eaten alive by otters.

ARTHUR: Really?

DOUGLAS: Oh yes. Rabid otters. And so she’s always portrayed in pictures absolutely covered in otters.

ARTHUR: What, eating her?

DOUGLAS: Sometimes, in the more fire and brimstone churches. Elsewhere, the assumption is they’re all in Heaven now and have made up, so they’re just shown milling about her, nuzzling her affectionately and offering her ottery kisses and gifts of haddock.

MARTIN: Douglas…!

ARTHUR: Why would the otters go to Heaven, if they ate a saint?

DOUGLAS: You’ve put your finger, Arthur, as is so often your way, on the crux of a thorny theological problem. So far, our best guess is simply that St. Peter’s got a real soft spot for otters. He looks into those whiskery faces and goes “You guys! I can’t stay mad at you” and lets them into Heaven.

Cabin Pressure 3x04 “Ottery St. Mary”

(Been working on this bit-by-bit throughout the week…in between intense bouts of homework, of course…)