Sunday, May 20, 2018

Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments: Jamie McCrimmon (Doctor Who)


I’ve mentioned, on more than one occasion, that Jamie is one of my favorite classic Who companions, so it’s of course fun to talk about instances of him being brave/tough/clever.  With companions who tend to respond more physically to threats, it can sometimes be hard to identify their best moments without sounding repetitive – i.e., Jamie fights the soldiers, Jamie fights a Kroton, Jamie fights an Ice Warrior.  However, for my favorites, I was able to find a variety of cool Jamie moments that demonstrate a number of different abilities.


Working Together with Kemel (Series 4, Episode 40 – “The Evil of the Daleks:  Episode 4”)

Sketchy racial politics aside (Jamie is attacked by an unspeaking “swarthy manservant” while searching for the kidnapped Victoria,) I like what goes on here.  Jamie, when confronted, intitially fights Kemel, but when the fight puts Kemel in risk of falling to his death, Jamie decides to save Kemel instead.  Jamie recognizes the potential for an ally in Kemel, and though their ability to communicate with one another is limited, they quickly come to understand each other, their mutual interest in rescuing Victoria, and the benefit of working together.  That partnership proves crucial, as each saves the other’s life more than once throughout the ordeal; Jamie is often one to jump into a fight, but here, he’s better served by trusting his instinct to befriend his opponent rather than finish him off.


Getting into Salamander’s Good Graces (Series 5, Episode 18 – “The Enemy of the World:  Episode 2”)

Obviously, this is a coordinated infiltration with multiple moving parts, and it’s safe to say that Jamie is probably not its brainchild; Astrid most likely sees to that.  However, it’s a good plan – staging an attack on Salamander’s life for Jamie to thwart, letting him show off his skills and defense knowledge, which gets him a job working for Salamander – and Jamie carries it off well.  There’s a lot riding on him to be convincing.  Even apart from the plan, if Salamander doesn’t buy it, Jamie is likely dead.  But Jamie does a fine job playing his part, no small feat for someone who doesn’t always improvise well.


Fighting the Quarks (Series 6, Episode 4 – “The Dominators:  Episode 4”)

This is a good example of Jamie doing what Jamie does best.  He has for once, managed to temporarily get himself out of trouble, but seeing his friends in danger, he immediately sets about trying to help, endangering himself in the process.  Here, he diverts a Quark away, drawing its fire to him and leading it to a vulnerable spot where he and Cully can drop a boulder on it.  A smart plan that feels pretty rooted in Jamie’s skill set, and again, a good example of him putting his friends’ safety before his own.


Intercepting the Bomb (Series 6, Episode 5 – “The Dominators:  Episode 5”)

And a second Big Damn Hero moment for “The Dominators” – this is a good serial for Jamie.  While this moment is played a bit for laughs, with the Doctor declaring, “It’s so simple, only you could have thought of it!”, it is a good notion, and again, it relies on Jamie’s skill set of more practical thinking compared to the Doctor and Zoe’s genius.  The Dominators are boring a hole in the surface of the planet to drop a seed device that will set off the internal volcano, and neither the Doctor or Zoe can see any way to stop it.  It’s Jamie who comes up with the “simple” but effective solution:  dig an underground tunnel perpendicular to the Dominators’ borehole and intercept the seed device on its way down.


Saving the Doctor (Series 6, Episode 28 – “The Seeds of Death:  Episode 6”)

Aw, bless.  Here’s Jamie leaping into danger again for the sake of his friends.  This time, he does it in a pretty big way.  The Doctor has been sent up to the moon base by T-mat, where the Ice Warriors have him held captive.  Jamie convinces Zoe to program the T-mat to send him up as well, where he arrives moments before the Doctor is due to be executed.  Jamie physically tackles one Ice Warrior while the Doctor uses his solar device against another.

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