The new companion, Ace, is consciously different from almost every companion before her. An example can be seen above, where she makes the decision, upon meeting a Dalek, to attack it with a baseball bat that has been souped up by the Doctor. Aside from being rather awesome, it also reflect well on her character. She's not a passive voice in the story, allowing for events to happen and her to react to them, instead she gets massively involved with the action and the emphasis here is clearly on action. She's fond of explosives, fighting, and all of that sort of thing, which makes for an interesting dynamic between her and the Doctor. Indeed, the cliffhanger to this story is crafted in such a way that puts her in peril, but gives her an RPG that she could fire, although this could possibly be at the cost of her own life. It's a far cry from the days when the companion would just scream for the cliffhanger.
Another example of Ace's character can be found when she wanders around the 1960's flat in which she's been staying. Upon seeing a sign that says 'No Coloureds', she views it with disgust and immediately leaves, unable to cope with the institutionalised racism present within the time period that the story is set in. It's a scene that both reflects on the notion that a lot of time has passed between the 1963 time in which this story is set (notably the year when Doctor Who first premièred) and the 1988 time in which this story was broadcast, with a more tolerant society being developed that welcomed a multicultural landscape, and shows the character of Ace as someone who is not willing to let these things pass her by. But it also acts as a mild commentary on the story itself, that I shall perhaps look at a bit more in the next couple of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment