#counter-measures

Doctor Who: Classic era spin-offs, low-res pixel style!

Continuing my big series of pixel arts of the Doctor Who universe, here’s a selection of the spin-offs that evolved from Classic characters and situations. A lot of characters are lacking in visual reference material so I had to scour book/audio covers, promotional art, and occasionally fanart (especially from Paul Hanley, again). It was fun! Of course there’re many more spin-offs I didn’t cover, so sorry to Graceless, Big Finish’s Charlotte Pollard and other companion works, various Dalek and Cybermen audios and comics, other BBV and Reeltime video and audio productions, Kaldor City, other UNIT stories, Alan Moore’s Special Executive characters, Olive Hawthorne, The Forge, etc, etc. (And don’t worry, modern spin-offs will be coming later!)

See below for breakdowns of each image!

In the aftermath of this week’s brilliant Rosa episode of Doctor Who, there of course accumulate the inevitable complaints and bouts of whining from the self-appointed “purist” fans of the show who lament its supposedly newfound emphasis on “political correctness” and “social justice.” It strikes me as funny (I use that descriptor instead of the word “depressing”) that so many of these comments bring to mind the trappings and the settings of one of Doctor Who’s greatest-ever episodes: Ben Aaronovitch’s Remembrance of the Daleks, originally broadcast in October 1988 (happy 30th anniversary!) and starring Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.

The episode is most remembered for its reliance on action set pieces, reinvigorating the series with an old adversary and plenty of chases and escapes, rich supporting characters with actual things to contribute to the plot, a dash of nostalgia in the form of Coal Hill School and the possible origins of UNIT, and the first hints of a darker, more sinister nature to the titular hero we all thought we knew. And of course there’s the iconic scenes that everyone remembers: a Dalek chasing the Doctor OMG UP A FLIGHT OF STAIRS, and Ace cheerfully beating the stuffing out of Daleks with a baseball bat!

Since their very introduction in 1963, Terry Nation’s Daleks have never been subtle in their role as stand-in for the lessons of unchecked racism, if carried to its logical conclusion. Most tellingly in their 1974 origin story, Genesis of the Daleks, we learn that the Daleks are literally race hatred made flesh and given unstoppable armour and weapons. “Remembrance” drove home this point even further by pitting two factions of Daleks against one another, literally one side black and the other side white. Aldred’s character of Ace, still new to the show but already making a lifetime mark on the series, quickly brings her streetwise late-1990’s sensibilities to bear on early 1960’s London and recognizes not only the Daleks for exactly what they are, but also the subtler racist "dogwhistles" quietly sounding all around her. Hints of a romantic interest in the character of handsome blond-and-blue-eyed Mike Smith later turn cold when he tries to explain away his association with racists like Mr. Ratcliffe, with tired excuses like “needing to look after your own,” and “keeping the outsiders out.” When Ace discovers the blatant “No Coloureds” sign hanging in the window of Mike’s mother’s boarding house, it becomes obvious from where Mike soaked up his particular flavour of racism. Ratcliffe is himself, in turn, also an unapologetic bigot who saw meaning in the Third Reich’s arguments, even to the point of willing to be locked up for it. The nature of Ratcliffe's "The Association" is never made completely clear, but it's probably safe to assume it does not employ people of colour! Being 1963, the ghosts of WWII are still fresh in many minds, nevertheless Ratcliffe is quite content to throw in his lot with a group of alien interlopers who think nothing of enslaving children and using them for their own ends. Of course when the Daleks ultimately turn on Ratcliffe (and, eventually, Mike), it is at once familiar and inevitable: they are getting a well-deserved comeuppance but inexplicably, we still pity them –heck, we even stick around for the funeral, which is not AT ALL like the Doctor.

The parallels to Rosa are obvious: though it is 1963, Ratcliffe and Mike still very much embody the sensibilities of 1955 Alabama, complete with its bullying deputy sheriffs and municipal bus drivers. It is obvious that Mike’s mother would be just as comfortable refusing service in a Montgomery diner to Ryan and Yaz. They are only too happy to use what little power they have, to crush down those with still less. The ostensible villian of the piece, Krasko, a mysterious time-traveller with dangerous foreknowledge and a grudge (perhaps a disaffected member of some future iteration of Ratcliffe's "Association?"), might be thought of as a stand-in for the Daleks themselves. Certainly his views align with the mutants from Skaro who “hate each other’s chromosomes.” And of course the Doctor himself/herself (still getting used to that!) has repeatedly warned us of the dangers of meddling in the causality of history. McCoy’s Doctor muses over the potential fallout from such interference over a quiet mug of tea with John, a Jamaican whose own family history was beset by its own disturbing strand of racism. Similarly, Whittaker’s Doctor commits herself to protecting events as they are supposed to happen, even when ultimately the only thing she and her companions can do is remain exactly as they are, quietly sitting (or in Graham’s case, awkwardly standing).

Rosa hearkens back to this fondly-remembered (see what I did there?) story at so many levels. And even though one episode ends with the total destruction of the Dalek homeworld (yeah, there’ll be a price exacted for that later), and the other merely ends with a quiet act of seated defiance, the ripples sent out into history are equally powerful. I would add that both of these episodes also cement relatively new Doctors and their new companions as among the all-time best in the series’ history.

However when examining official documents it is hard to pretend that the Government's concerns were completely baseless  A number of the listed advisors would raise-eyebrows even without the spectre of Michael Magister hanging overhead and it is difficult to understand exactly what possessed Stewart to recruit them given the ready availability of less overtly questionable figures. Blatant aliases such as John St.Myth,  L.Z. Sundae, and Capt. C are difficult to excuse, even with Lethbridge-Stewart’s unambiguous praise of Sundae’s decisive actions during the so-called ‘Wenley Moor Incident.’ But these pale in comparison to his inexplicable, and infamously public recruitment of glam-rock icon Vince Cosmos.

“Celebrating 20 years of #DoctorWho on audio at Big FinishComing July 2019, the ultimate celebration of Doctor Who with THE LEGACY OF TIME. Classic and New Series Doctor Who will collide!Professor River Song meets her predecessor, another time-travelling archaeologist, Professor Bernice Summerfield. Kate Stewart travels back in time to classic UNIT and meets the Third Doctor and Jo Grant. The Counter-Measures team will be reunited with the Seventh Doctor and Ace. And the Sixth Doctor and his companion Charlotte Pollard once again meet Detective Inspector Patricia Menzies in a police procedural like no other! We return to Gallifrey, and more will be announced soon..”