"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Character Highlight: Sara Kingdom (Doctor Who)


Even though the First Doctor’s companions really do contain a fairly surprising amount of variety, for both the male and female companions, Sara Kingdom feels like someone different.  Her time on the show, though short, is enough to leave a lasting impression on fans (some Sara-related spoilers.)

Not to be confused with Sarah Jane Smith, Sara Kindom is a different animal altogether.  She hails from the year 4000, working as a Space Security Agent under Mavic Chen.  She carries a gun and knows how to use it – although the convention has changed somewhat in recent years, the number of companions who pack heat is still relatively small – but it’s more than just her skills that make her lethal.  Her unswerving devotion to Mavic Chen isn’t as discerning as it ought to be, and when the Guardian points out the Doctor and Steven as enemies to the Solar System, Sara doesn’t think twice about going after them with ruthless efficiency.

Luckily for the Doctor, he has the truth on his side, and while Sara is a loyal soldier who doesn’t ask questions, she doesn’t resist irrefutable evidence when she sees it.  Swept up with the Doctor and Steven on a journey that bounces them through time and space (alternately pursuing and fleeing the Daleks,) Sara is forced to face the ugly truth about her illustrious leader and her complicity in his traitorous actions.

She feels hugely culpable, and with good reason, but rather than let herself drown in her remorse, she takes her determination and supreme capability and points them at Mavic Chen, placing her former leader squarely in her crosshairs.  She’s never quite beholden to how the Doctor does things, but she sort of resigns herself to being along for the ride if it opens a path for her to thwart the Daleks’ evil plan (do they have any other kind?) and take Mavic Chen out of power.

Sara is the second companion in a row to die on the Doctor’s watch (“The Daleks’ Master Plan” does not play fair.)  With her predecessor, it feels like a bit of a waste, like the show gave up trying to figure out how to incorporate her.  With Sara, though… I’m not sure.  Certainly, it’s a shame to lose her, and I’d have preferred to see what kind of life she might have made for herself on the TARDIS.  That said, there’s a kind of balance to her death – like, despite the corner she turns joining the side of the angels, the universe still has to account for the lives lost at her hands before she started rolling with the Doctor – and you can’t deny the punch packed by that scene of her aging to death under the effects of the Time Destructor.

Also, I know that there are quite a few differences between the characters, but doesn’t she feel a bit like a proto-River Song?  Both are kind of Mrs. Peel types, beautiful but deadly, devastatingly good at what they do, and both of their names evoke a certain mystery. 

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