Doctor Who

An archive of blog entries about British science-fiction programme Doctor Who.

UK TV

More favourite characters

28 August 2006 Rob Buckley 25 Comments

The top TV characters meme lives on! Stu_N has added his list to the mix; Marie’s crafted a much-admired ‘women only’ list; and there are other suggestions in the comments list of the original meme.

In addition to my original 20, we’ve now added

21) Stringer Bell from The Wire

22) Stewie Griffin of Family Guy (thanks Rosby!)

Stu_N has tempted me with David Callan, Will Scarlet and Steel, but I’m still not sure they’re great characters. I’m half-tempted to add Robert de Rainault – aka the Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin of Sherwood – simply because he was:

a) clever, unlike every other version of the Sheriff of Nottingham so far (and I suspect to come)

b) able to kill Robin Hood. Yes, kill him, stone dead. Well, technically, “so filled with crossbow bolts then trampled by horses that we couldn’t stick his head on a pike outside Nottingham castle because no one would recognise him” dead.

But I’ve decided not to. Again, good but not great. Still Stu_N and Marie both had one name in common on their lists, which has prompted me to come up with a 23 and a 24 for my list.

Drum roll (humour me)…

At 23, we have Liz Shaw from Doctor Who; and at 24, we have, from The Avengers… Cathy Gale.

Who they? I’m glad you asked. Because in both 23 and 24’s cases we have a similar thing happening. We have two pioneering, feminist characters whom everyone’s forgotten, in favour of two not-quite-so feminist characters.

Let me alpha nerd you for a moment…

Continue reading “More favourite characters”

Some of my favourite TV characters

25 August 2006 Rob Buckley 23 Comments

Okay, so Scott’s already got in on the act and Lisa looks like she’s raring up to do her own posting elsewhere, but here’s a list of some of my favourite TV characters in response to Jess Whedon’s. In no particular order.

  1. Neil Burnside, The Sandbaggers. Lots of explanation over here.
  2. David Creegan, Touching Evil (US version). Lots of explanation over here.
  3. Stringfellow Hawke, Airwolf. Because he was just so hard
  4. Callisto, Xena: Warrior Princess. One of the few villains to have a good – and sympathetic – motivation. Plus how many characters get to die yet end up a god?
  5. Chandler, Friends. Fantastic until he got neutered by Monica.
  6. Lieutenant Castillo, Miami Vice. Even harder than Stringfellow Hawke. That’s how hard he was. The less he said, the harder he got.
  7. House, House. Do I really need to explain this one?
  8. The President, The West Wing. Moral, dynamic, powerful and a complete nerd who speaks Latin. We need more characters like this. He made me want to be American, anyway.
  9. Turlough, Doctor Who. Slippy, weasly and great fun – for three stories. Then he went off the idea of killing the Doctor. Oh well.
  10. Anya, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Just endlessly entertaining.
  11. James T Kirk, Star Trek. Well, he was great, wasn’t he?
  12. Spock, Star Trek. And so was he.
  13. Lynda Day, Press Gang. And so was she. Pretty much like most editors you’ll meet, in fact.
  14. DI Rosie Campbell, The Paradise Club. I just loved this posh, Oxford-educated police officer trying to spew out police slang, be street and it all going pear-shaped, every time.
  15. Chloe Sullivan, Smallville. Smart, funny, loyal, brave, and willing to put up with a constantly broken heart for the sake of friendship – the best sidekick a superhero could want
  16. Tony Hancock, Hancock’s Half Hour. The funniest man who ever lived.
  17. Avon, Blake’s 7. Seriously, just watch any episode and you’ll understand.
  18. Jarod, The Pretender. A genius who could be anyone he wanted to be. Great character, shame the show got silly.
  19. Nasir, Robin of Sherwood. Britain’s answer to Lieutenant Castillo.
  20. Austin James, P.R.O.B.E. Another genius, this one scientific. From the brain of Isaac Asimov and pretty much like all his other characters, James was the proto-House of his day

I’ve left a load out, I’m sure of it. But that’s a good crop to be getting on with. Depressingly few women in there, though. How do we up the quota? Give me suggestions!

UPDATE: And Stringer Bell from The Wire! He’s a drug-dealer, but he goes to economics classes in the evening. You’ve got to love that.

Audio and radio play reviews

Colin Baker cameo amuses. Plus what would you like to see on this blog?

23 August 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

AppropriationNew Who fans, you won’t care about this.

Old Who fans: if you haven’t been listening to Big Finish’s ‘Gallifrey’ series, you won’t have heard Colin Baker’s uncredited cameo in Appropriation. No, he’s not the Doctor – he’s Commander Maxil. Amusing, non?

Just a quick poll for regular readers: I know I said I wouldn’t mention or review the Big Finish stuff in this blog, but would anyone want me to? And is there anything else you’d like to see more – or less – coverage of?

Today’s RTD enlightenment

16 August 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Probably the last RTD quote of the week, again from Doctor Who Monthly:

“I’ve always got a much more complicated, science-fictiony version of each episode in my mind,” he persists, “and I always filter that out, and go for the more straightforward version – the more emotional, honest version.

”For example, there was a great, complicated version of ‘Tooth and Claw’ in my mind, where, at the end of the episode, Queen Victoria is killed, and that creates the parallel universe, which becomes the world of ‘Rise of the Cybermen’ and ‘The Age of Steel’. It would have been the most brilliant ending because the Doctor and Rose would have just stood there and gone, ‘That’s not meant to happen!’

“But it’s very subscription channel, cult audience male sci-fi. And I loved that version. In any historical adventure, with Queen Victoria, you know that she’s not going to die, so it would have been the most exciting thrill in the world. But the price we’d have paid for that would have echoed on. Three episodes later, they’d still be saying, ‘Ah, yes, when Queen Victoria was killed by a werewolf…’ That’s when you start to lose viewers. It’s a brilliant moment, but its legacy is too complicated, and too dark, in a boring way.”

Interesting, no?