Day 207: The Wheel In Space Episode 4

Let's have a talk about Jarvis, the Wheel's neurotic controller. He's such an interesting character because of what he isn't, rather than what he could be. He's a small man, who wanders about shouting and generally being suspicious of everything that's happening, yet stubbornly refusing to believe anything that falls outside of the realm of the laws of Physics, meaning that he doesn't believe that there is a Cyber-invasion, choosing instead to spend his time in opposition to the Doctor and all of his new allies whom he has gathered to fight the Cyber-Force. What's interesting though is the fact that he is an anti-Captain Kirk. Captain Kirk represents your stereotypical hero, a man who is intelligent, caring and more than willing to fight if needs must. He's what you think of when you consider a spaceship captain, which indicates that Jarvis has been written such that all of the stereotypical captain traits have been chucked out of the window and replaced with their opposites, to show the differences between what normal writers for television series would do, and what Doctor Who writers can do.

And it is at this exact moment that I suddenly realised: in over half of the stories this series, we've dealt with slightly insane leaders of scientific groups. It's a testament to how well defined each of them are that I didn't realise this sooner, but also worth pointing out that I generally write these quite late at night, showing that my mental faculties aren't really up to scratch at this time...