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

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments: Liz Shaw (Doctor Who)


Liz is one of my favorite classic Who companions.  Her time on the show is too short, and it kills me that her season is earthbound, but this smooth, unrufflable scientist is so amazing.  The Doctor is a lot for a pragmatist to take, and she rolls with every punch, bringing intelligence and a cool calm to her episodes (spoilers.)


Fixing the Device (Series 7, Episode 4 – “Spearhead from Space:  Episode 4”)

It’s always a little tricky for super-smart companions, because the Doctor is also super-smart, obviously, and so he gets a lot of the brainiest moments:  analyzing the alien substance, doing the important formulas, or, like here, jerryrigging the device that’s going to defeat the baddies.  Since this is an entirely different kind of science for Liz, who’s encountering all this alien stuff for the first time, it’s hard for her to compete with that, but she still manages to hold her own pretty handily.  When the Doctor’s device fails to work at a critical moment and he’s flailing around with a Nestene wrapping its tentacles around his neck (of course,) it’s Liz who frantically fixes it, getting the device working again just in the nick of time.


Catching Quinn’s Lie (Series 7, Episode 7 – “Doctor Who and the Silurians:  Episode 3”)

This is an instance where the Doctor is the initial doer of something clever, but Liz is smart enough to pick up on it instantly.  Quinn “happens upon” the site of the Silurian attack while “passing by.”  The Doctor, rightfully suspicious, stops Liz from describing the Silurian to Quinn and asks him to give Liz a ride back to headquarters, at which point he changes his story and invents an excuse.  Liz twigs that there’s no way Quinn just could’ve been passing by given where he claimed to be going.  That’s a sharp eye for someone who, by the way, has just regained consciousness after being knocked out by a Silurian – never count Liz out.


Determining the Formula (Series 7, Episode 11 – “Doctor Who and the Silurians:  Episode 7”)

When the Silurians unleash a deadly virus on humans, the Doctor works tirelessly to find a cure.  He’s just sent word that he’s found it when he’s attacked and kidnapped by Silurians.  Liz discovers his disappearance and the mess the Silurians made of his lab; the formula for the cure is there, but it’s in amongst all his calculations and formulas that didn’t lead to the answer.  Working under a serious time crunch, Liz sifts through the formulas and determines which must be the right one, relaying that information just in time to start synthesizing a cure and save lives.


Helping Lennox Escape (Series 7, Episode 16 – “The Ambassadors of Death:  Episode 5”)

Captured by the extremists and forced to work for them to keep the similarly-captured aliens alive, Liz has already escaped and been recaptured once.  Now, since the guards are likely to be watching her even closer, she instead hatches a plan to get Lennox out so he can get help.  Liz concocts a story about needing more isotopes for the aliens, necessitating a supply run from Lennox, and when the guards are skeptical, Liz sells them on it, arguing that it’ll be on them if the aliens die.  She shows off multiple kinds of smarts here, taking advantage of the guards’ comparative scientific ignorance to make up a story they’d buy and playing on their fears of angering Reegan if anything goes wrong on their watch.


Standing Up to the Guards (Series 7, Episode 16 – “The Ambassadors of Death:  Episode 5”)

I’ve brought up this moment more than once, and I’ll keep bringing it up whenever I can because I just love it so much.  This is after Liz has succeeded in getting Lennox out, and while she waits for him to get a message to the Doctor, she’s on her own among enemies.  Reegan leaves a guard watching her, who gruffly warns her not to try anything, and Liz coolly replies, “Don’t worry.  I won’t hurt you.”  All alone with dangerous people who’ve killed before and are now threatening her, she still holds her head up and refuses to let them intimidate her; that’s my girl.

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