We all have favorite characters and there’s characters we talk about more than others. Let the spotlight shine on the characters that you don’t talk about that often.
Ooh, ok!
I’ll go with Michael Brookhaven, because what’s more brilliant than a Faction Paradox member who runs a film studio? Of course, there’s much more to him than that, but I don’t need to spoil things…
I think that a character who is not talked about in a good way enough is Craig. I know that James Corden is an awful person, and I don’t want him back on the show, but I really like both of his episodes (especially the first one). I think they provide a great tone shift in the show, and that is largely because of his character. It is a bit like Elton from “Love and Monsters,” characters who are in no way shaped to be the main companion in a Doctor Who episode, yet they take centre stage.
To add to the Faction Paradox discussion, Cousin Justine isn’t talked about enough in my opinion. She’s probably the closest thing to a main character for the FP series and has appeared in such a wide variety of stories that she’s always brilliant in
I already mentioned him before, but he is still worth bringing up in this conversation.
Rescue Operational Security Module, or ROSM for short (the image above is his only official illustration).ROSM consists of a rescue ship with onboard AI and twenty roving assault units.
Why I love ROSM so much is because, even though the story he is from (Embrace the Darkness) might not be the best thing ever, I still love it with all my heart, one of the reasons being ROSM - in my opinion, he is one of the best robot characters not just in Doctor Who, but I dare say in all of fiction!
Allow me to explain.
Usually, when an AI character is introduced, they usually follow one of the two patterns: either a robot with a degree of self-awareness, but still following what it was made to do (example - AUTO from “WALL-E”); or a fully self-aware robot that even eventually develops feelings and becomes more humanized for the general audiences to understand him (example - Andrew from “The Bicentennial Man”).
What I noticed is that pretty often in fiction self-aware robots who develop feelings fall into a trap. They develop them out of nowhere, even though they are physically incapable of doing that - our emotional responses are controlled by a complex biochemistry, robots lack that. So they either just develop them out of nowhere, or the emotional responses are patterned after something or somebody. For example, Ultron’s hatred came from early Hank Pym’s resentment of humanity; or AM from “I have no mouth and I must scream” developed his hatred because he was built for war, and war is born from hatred.
However, we rarely get a glimpse of what a truly self-aware artificial mechanical lifeform would think like. The only example we have so far is the T-800 from “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”. And finally, Doctor Who got his own now - ROSM.
ROSM truly feels alive in a very intriguing way - he is living, but he doesn’t feel. He has many logical constructs running his core, but he is open to different suggestions without sticking too much to the programming. When the Doctor claims he has superior knowledge, at first reluctantly (because the Doctor is an unknown lifeform), but ROSM agrees to hear him out. And when the Cimmerians directly attack his system, ROSM slowly starts losing one element of his logical constructs after another, his view of reality falling apart.
I don’t know how else to explain that. ROSM really feels like a unique and very rare take on AI, which in my opinion is often way more interesting than an AI that just follows the steps of its creator. This does make good stories, don’t get me wrong, but it’s nice to have some more representation of a different side of the coin.
Edit: And another note, Ian Brooker does a FANTASTIC voice for him. I don’t know how, but ROSM just doesn’t sound like a human voice put through a filter - he genuinely sounds mechanical and artificial, in the best way possible.
I really like Brian Williams and I wish he had more episodes. I just think he’s really charming. He’s far from the first character to be “just a regular Joe/Jane ending up in alien shenanigans” but he just brings good and funny dad energy. Him then deciding to dedicate a ton of time to helping the investigation in The Power of Three is also something I love.
Still sad P.S. never got filmed. ![]()
Jackson Lake!
How I’d love a Christmas box set of him thinking he’s the Doctor and getting in trouble in Victorian London.
I absolutely adore David Morrisey (he walked past us once, outside a pub. He saw me and my friends staring and went “you alright, lads?” He was playing the Governor on the Walking Dead at the time, so probably thought we were gobsmacked because of that role: but no! He was in Doctor Who!
)
I’d love to see the character be used in the EU a bit more. I need to pick up a copy of that 10 doctors of Christmas book or whatever it’s called, to see what they do with him…
I know you lot all think she’s popular bc I never shut up about her but I can assure you I am the only Allison Williams fan on earth ![]()
Also we should talk about Bambera more. Why does nobody love her like I do…
I haven’t seen an episode with Bambera yet, but I absolutely loved her in “Animal”!
There’s not enough Allison Williams love, if you ask me
perhaps you should step it up!
(Everybody brace!)
Doesn’t hurt at all that Brian Williams is played by Mark Williams. Also played Olaf Peterson, Arthur Weasley, and Father Brown.
And definitely Jackson Lake and Bambera…
Wow, I’ve seen glimpses of Father Brown because my mom sometimes watches it when it airs, how did I never notice this?
I listened to an audiobook of a short story from The Adventures After yesterday set around / after P.S with Brian and oh my god it was so good! Would highly recommend to fellow Brian fans
That was my favourite story from that book, insanely good.
Right, okay, character I’ve genuinely not seen a word said about on here that I love? She’s not even really a Doctor Who character, she came from a whole different franchise (I think it’s some kind of Dungeons and Dragons spinoff thing?), and then Arcbeatle was in their we’re just crossing random shit over phase, and turns out Jhe Sang Mi and Chris Cwej are the perfect character combination lol. Just a girl with a huge sword and her brainwashed time traveling dad (in honour) just trying to have fun while the universe is probably still collapsing from the War in Heaven. I love them.
The old man who stands outside asking for donations in Human Nature, I like him, always felt his death was actually rather sad.
Just wait, I’ll love her when I finally get to her season
‘Her season’ like she’s not just in one episode ![]()
![]()
That makes her even more special!
The magic of an Aaronovitch minor character ![]()
