British Heroes: Civil War

Many years ago, when superhero franchises were young, I assembled a team of British heroes as a counterpart to Marvel's The Avengers. Now that those guys are back and fighting amongst themselves in Captain America: Civil War, I thought it would be fun to update this idea and ask: 'which British team of heroes could win in a fight?'

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Team Doctor and Team Sherlock!

Top Five Faceless Villains

While we all enjoy a good villain to boo and hiss at (such as these fearsome females), sometimes it can be more interesting and unsettling to have a more unknowable - faceless - antagonist. In this list I won't be looking at baddies who hid their faces like The Claw from Inspector Gadget but those soulless villains, often corrupt corporations or surveillance states, who conspire against our hero for their own nefarious, and usually nebulous, ends. Evil organisations such as James Bond's SPECTRE aren't eligible as they often have a single leader (in SPECTRE's case, Blofeld) who acts as the hero's nemesis rather than the organisation themselves.

Wolfram & Hart

Appeared in: Angel 

Built around the premise 'what if lawyers actually were as evil as people say they are?, Wolfram & Hart are the demon-worshipping law firm that plan to end the world on Buffy spin-off Angel.
We get to know several of the firm's smarmy employees over Angel's five season run but we never meet the mysterious 'Senior Partners' - beings who are basically personifications of evil. An organisation of humans as the evil enemies of our traditional monster hero, W&H are the perfect villains for the more moraly-grey world of Angel. 

HYDRA

Appeared in: Marvel comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Originally featuring in The First Avenger, HYDRA were used to a brilliant effect in The Winter Solider. In the Captain America sequel, that niggling doubt about the modern world - that we're all being spied on for evil purposes - turns out to be true and, what's more, the good guys we thought we could trust (namely SHIELD) are in fact controlled by HYDRA, the ex-Nazi terrorist organisation. HYDRA are one of the best faceless villains, as they have no one head person in charge. Quite literally as their catchphrase is 'cut off one head, two more will take its place.' Hail HYDRA!

The 'Listen' Creature

Appeared in: Doctor Who - 'Listen'

Number three on our list is a bit of a different one; rather than a headless organisation this one is an unseen creature. The most ambiguous Doctor Who monster, 'the perfect hider' that the Doctor hunts for in 'Listen' is left unseen, leaving it to the audience to make up for themselves whether such a creature exists. It's a sophisticated twist on the usually front-and-centre Who antagonists - but, come on, that is clearly an alien standing behind Clara...

The Village

Appeared in: The Prisoner

Probably the most nebulous of the villains on this list, we never get any real sense of what the mysterious overseers of the Village in 60s spy series The Prisoner actually want. We know they wish to find out why our nameless hero Number Six resigned from his job but just why it is so important we never find out. Regardless, the ever-changing figure of Number Two, who runs the Village, the unique architecture and the almost-lobotomised residents make the Village one of the most insidious faceless villains in all of fiction. But, as Number Six always asks, who is Number One?

Big Brother

Appeared in: Nineteen Eighty Four 

Turning our list on its head is our leader. All Big Brother is is a face - whether he exists or not is never discovered but the image of Big Brother is certainly used by corrupt dictators IngSoc to keep control of the dystopian Britain featured in Orwell's seminal novel. Created in the forties, Big Brother infamously predicts the rise of the surveillance state. If you need proof that Big Brother is the most evil faceless villain on this list it inspired the inexplicably long-lasting Big Brother reality series. It may appear that we are the ones who are watching Big Brother but, in fact, Big Brother is watching you...

Top Five Immortal Characters

Immortality has always been a popular trope in all forms of fiction, as it's a perenially fascinating topic. As such there are many great fictional characters who never shuffled off this mortal coil - and here are some of my favourites. 
To keep things interesting I've banned myself from putting any Doctor Who characters on this list (really, I could fill the whole lot up with Who folks - The Doctor, Captain Jack, the Master, the Cybermen...). So read on for a who's-who-and-also-not-in-Who of immortal characters. Hurry up, before we all die of old age...  

 Vampires

Fiction is full of vampires tortured by their immortality, so I've bundled them all into one for the sake of variety (and to represent them I've chosen one of the world's more underappreciated vampires; the Count from Sesame Street. Not enough evil undead give their eternal lives to teach young children arithmatic). They come in different groups. Many like to spend eternity causing bloodshed - Dracula. Some like to spend it righting wrongs - Genevieve Dieudonne who fights the aforementioned Prince of Darkness in Anno Dracula. And others like to switch between both - such as TV vampires Hal York and Spike. Whatever the type, though, you can rely on a vampire to spark an interesting discussion on the nature of immortality. 

The Hempstock Women

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is really the story of two ancient forces battling each other with a small ordinary boy caught in the middle. While the terrifying Ursula is vehemently on the side of the bad, the Hempstock women serve as the boy's saviours and prove that immortality doesn't have to make you tortured - it can just make you wise. The three Hempstocks (almost personifying the stereotypical three witches) and the nature of their long shelflife is well dealt with; we know they were around at the time of the Domesday Book and beyond but we never really find out who or what they are. The Hempstocks tell us that, yes, we don't understand all the mysteries of the universe but sometimes it's better not to. 

 Peter Pan 

It is an oft-discussed notion if one would choose immortality. Certainly, most of the characters on this list would call it a curse. But Peter Pan, the Boy Who Never Grew Up, chooses to be immortal rather than face the terrors of adulthood. At first, just as Peter does, many of us would love to be carefree children forever but there's tragedy in Peter's decision, as ably presented in the surprisingly good 2003 film and messed about with in Steven Spielberg's Hook, as he cannot do such grown-up things as reciprocate his feelings for Wendy. Ultimately, though, it's up to you whether Peter's life is a blessing or a curse, making him one of the most interesting immortal characters around. 

Edward Scissorhands

I was going to put Frankenstein's monster on this list but then remembered that immortality is not really an attribute of Mary Shelley's original creation, more of the films that it spawned. So instead Frankie's gothic cousin Eddie takes his spot on this list. A cross between the monster, the Beast and Tim Burton himself, Edward is an innocent who, just like the monster, is corrupted by the outside world. Unlike Frankie, he's also one half of a doomed romance, partly made impossible by his immortality. Edward serves as a warning that it's no fun to be different. 

Tithonus 

 While others on this list might not have enjoyed their immortality, they at least had the comfort of being frozen in time, never ageing. Unfortunately, Tithonus, one of the unluckiest figures in Greek Mythology, learnt the hard way that your should always check the fine print when wishing for eternal life. After falling in love with this lowly mortal, the goddess Aurora pleaded with Zeus to make him immortal - unfortunately, she forgot to ask for everlasting youth. Thus, Tithonus grows into a withered husk of a man - who his immortal lover eventually grows tired of. Tithonus is the epitome of all immortal fictional characters as he embodies the idea at the heart of all of them; we might all wish for longer lives but you have to be careful what you wish for. 

Scribble Creatures Spotlight: Lucifer Box

Kicking off last month with Return to Oz, a new regular feature on this blog will look at personal favourites - books, fictional characters, films ETC - which I think go unfortunately under-appreciated in the big wide world. This month, we turn to the exploits of a rather fiendish fellow...

Secret agents are going through something of a renaissance at the moment. On TV, there are shows like Marvel's Agent Carter and Toby Whithouse's The Game and the cinema is chock-a-block with retro, cool spies, such as those in Kingsman and The Man from UNCLE. Something tells me, however, that one retro secret agent you won't be seeing on screen any time soon is Mark Gatiss' debonair, if decadent, Lucifer Box.

Appearing in three novels by the Doctor Who and Sherlock writer, Lucifer Box is apparently a dandified artist - an early 20th century playboy who resides in No 9 Downing Street ('someone's got to live there'). In fact, Lucifer is the top agent of the Royal Academy, the front for Britain's Secret Service.
On the face of it, what with Gatiss being a big name on telly, Lucifer Box's stories seem perfect for an adaptation for a mainstream audience. However, his adventures are far wackier and more eccentric than the average spy thriller. And, even in 2015, possibly too risqué. Lucifer himself, as he carefully puts it, 'travels' on both 'the number 38 bus and the 19.' If you can imagine Captain Jack Harkness crossed with Oscar Wilde you have Lucifer in a nutshell.

Filled to the brim with wit and Gatiss' rich, descriptive writing style, the Box books are, as you would expect, something of a Bond pastiche but only to a certain degree. Unlike many perennial heroes, Lucifer Box ages, with each instalment moving the story forward several decades. The first sees a young Box in Edwardian times, the second a middle-aged Box in the 20s and the finale of the trilogy has Box, now an elder statesman, investigating one final case in the 50s. As such, Gatiss is allowed to unleash a tirade of pastiches, going from Edwardian garden party stories to the pulpy horrors of the 20s and 30s to the spy novels of John Le Carre and Ian Fleming. The books may be, as Gatiss puts it, 'bits of fluff' but that doesn't stop them from being an incredibly quotable, memorable and just genuinely enjoyable novel series.

So while Lucifer Box may deserve to rub shoulders (and probably more, knowing him) with the likes of James Bond and Sherlock Holmes in the Hall of Famous Heroes, I can't see it happening. Still, with a fine trilogy of novels out there as it is, perhaps it is better that way. After all, some Boxes are best left unopened.

The Books

The Vesuvius Club

Lucifer is sent to investigate the disappearance of a number of eminent scientists in Naples - just when he has started courting the lovely Bella Pok. However, aided by his new valet Charlie Jackpot, Lucifer realises he has bigger problems on his finely-manicured hands when he uncovers the sinister machinations of the Vesuvius Club. Can Lucifer use his artistic license to kill to save the planet from a calamity of volcanic proportions?


The Devil in Amber

Lucifer, now feeling his age, is sent to New York to observe the suspicious activities of fascist leader Olympus Mons - but is framed for murder in the process. As resilient as ever, Lucifer escapes to Norfolk where he uncovers a plot to rule the world more diabolical than any he has faced. Is it possible for Lucifer, saviour of the world, to beat Lucifer, prince of darkness?

 Black Butterfly

An elderly Lucifer finds himself on his final case when pillars of the establishment keep dying bizarre deaths. The mystery takes him from Soho to Istanbul to Jamaica and back into battle with an old enemy - and into the path of the deadly assassin, Kingdom Kum. Will Lucifer, now well past his prime, survive an embrace by the lethal wings of the Black Butterfly?

Top Five Fictional Female Villains

Last week, there was a shocking reveal at the end of the penultimate episode of this year's run of Doctor Who. It turned out that - oh, it's been a whole week now, I can say it - the mad Marry Poppins-esque Missy who has been terrorising the Doctor is in fact... the Master!
So to coincide with the return of the Doctor's greatest adversary in a very different form, I thought it time to look at the most despicable women from the halls of fiction, an illustrious category that the Master now belongs to. In no particular order, I give you the most terrible, terrifying and iconic female villains.

Morgan Le Fay
Appeared in: The legends of King Arthur

I'm something of an enthusiast of the legend of King Arthur. I don't claim to be an out-and-out expert but I appreciate the tales as something like the founding fathers of British storytelling and always enjoy dipping into the wealth of interpretations of the stories (although I was never that fussed about the popular BBC series Merlin, oddly enough). The legends, of course, have brave heroes in King Arthur and Merlin but also have a great villain in Arthur's half-sister, Morgan Le Fey (sometimes called Morgana) who acts as the main antagonist in most modern versions. Lusting after the throne of Camelot, Morgana will stop at nothing to end Arthur's reign, including using her own son, Mordred, to kill his uncle (and sometimes father) in battle. She's been hounding King Arthur in various forms over roughly a thousand years - you don't get much more of a determined villain than that.

Irene Adler
Appeared in: 'A Scandal in Bohemia' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and numerous film and TV adaptations and literary pastiches.

Technically, Conan Doyle's original character from the Sherlock Holmes canon was not a true villain - Holmes was against her in the case but her only crime is a dalliance with a European royal in her youth. In most adaptations, however, her character is extrapolated to become a proper criminal. Much like Catwoman is to Batman, she and Holmes tend to work on opposite sides of the law but nevertheless harbour an affection for each other, sometimes this is unspoken, sometimes it is a fully-fledged love affair. This version of the character has been explored recently in both Sherlock and the Robert Downey Jr films but in Elementary, the character was taken further. The presumed dead ex-love of Sherlock, Irene turned out to be a female Moriarty in disguise. Changing a male master criminal into a woman - I'm sorry, Moffat, I think someone beat you to the punch.

The Other Mother
Appeared in: Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Neil Gaiman's Other Mother from his exquisitely creepy children's novel Coraline is less of a villain in the femme fatale mould of Morgana and Irene and more of a walking nightmare. A creature from a realm of her own devising, like a spider in its web, the Other Mother lures children into her lair to feast on their souls. To entice the children, rather than use a house made of sweets, she acts as a loving parent... just one with buttons for eyes. The Other Mother is an utterly terrifying creation, playing off the inherent childhood fear of adults you trust to look after you turning out to do the opposite. As well as the simply intrinsically scary image of people with buttons for eyes. something which resides firmly in the uncanny valley.

Miss Havisham
Appeared in: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

As a creation of Dickens, the claim that Miss Havisham is a cast-iron villain is a less clear one than with others on this list. The woman has a sympathetic backstory and eventually repents her wickedness, but she is still the greatest thorn in Pip's side as he tries to woo the love of his life, the icy Estella. Having been jilted at the altar, the ageing bride-to-never-be forever wears her ragged wedding dress and plans to use her adopted daughter, Estella, to break the hearts of men everywhere like her's was broken. Miss Havisham is someone whose own debilitating heartbreak and thirst for revenge has blinded her to how her actions affect others. Firstly, not only does she torment Pip merely to wallow in his pain but, more importantly, she raised Estella to be nothing more than her foot soldier, to go and act out her wish to destroy all men for her. 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', indeed.

Dolores Umbridge 
Appeared in: the Harry Potter novels by JK Rowling and its film series, played by Imelda Staunton

The most despicable character in the Harry Potter series. Yes, Voldemort killed Harry's parents. Yes, Bellatrix Lestrange killed Sirius Black but neither of them wore such an alarming shade of pink.
Outwardly twee, Professor Umbridge harbours a deep lust for power and a sadistic streak as great as the Dark Lord's own, shown in the gruesome punishments she dishes out in detention and her placement at the head of the Ministry of Magic's witch-hunt (sorry, muggle-hunt). From her prissy, condescending nature to her more despotic tendencies, Umbridge is unlikeable to the core. In fact, Umbridge is so repulsive you can hardly stand to look at her photograph. That's why I've put her last, so you don't have to look at her for too long. And that's the truth because, as Umbridge herself likes to brand people with, I must not tell lies...


'Death in Heaven', the Doctor Who finale, is on tonight at 8.00 pm on BBC One.

Favourite Fictional Characters: On Valentine's Day

To celebrate Valentine's Day, I thought I'll treat you to some poetry. Prepare, readers, for some romantic verse, inspired by an unlikely bunch of poets...

The Eleventh Doctor: 

Fezzes are red

My TARDIS is blue

Bow ties are cool

Just like you

 Sherlock: 

Roses are red
Violets are blue
The statistical chances of you finding someone with whom you can tolerate a lifetime are incredibly low, meaning you should probably spend your time on something more constructive than a feeble attempt at attracting a short-term romantic partner.

 Homer Simpson: 

Roses are red
Like the floor stains at Moe's 
I will spend time with Marge
Tomorrow on Valentine's - d'oh!

Batman:


Roses are red
Violets are blue
Poison Ivy is green
The Joker's hair is too





The Tenth Doctor:

Rose's jacket was red
...
Oh, God, Rose!
*Buries head in hands, sobbing*






Have a happy Valentine's Day, folks.

Favourite Fictional Characters: The Doctor by Doctor Who fans

Look everyone, it's Christmas! But if you're a Doctor Who fan, this month won't just mean it's coming to the end of another year but that the greatest show on the planet's 50th birthday year is drawing to a close. To celebrate, here's the next entry in this blog's 'Favourite Fictional Characters' series which will focus this time on that oft-mentioned character on this site, the lost Time Lord, the Oncoming Storm, the Threatener of Rabbits, the Doctor. And to help me talk about him, I've got in contact with some people in the know...

Firstly, perhaps the immediate thing that comes to mind when thinking of the Doctor is that he is, first and foremost, a hero, as @Face_4radio quite rightly said on Twitter.

@ChristianABone I love the Doctor because he is there to save the day, always with an impossible smile on his face...
— GallifreyFallsNoMore (@face_4radio) November 4, 2013

Literature, books, television and  films are full of heroes. We like a good hero. However, what sets the Doctor apart from most is that he chooses to be one. James Bond is employed to stop bad guys, Sherlock Holmes solves crimes as mental stimulation and Batman only prowls Gotham City every night so he doesn't have to mope around Wayne Manor. In contrast to these fellas,  the Doctor grew as a character - beginning as someone tottering around the universe to gain knowledge, by the time of his second incarnation he was proclaiming 'some corners have bred the most terrible things... they must be fought!' Nowadays, the Doctor is a hero through and through, with the Moment in 'The Day of the Doctor' saying that the 'sound [of the TARDIS] brings hope wherever it goes.' As a boiled-down statement of the role the Doctor has in his own show, 'he is there to save the day', is right on the nose.

Although sometimes, he doesn't manage it...

@ChristianABone @face_4radio He is a hero but is far from perfect. Indeed it is a surprise the dead companion body count is not higher.
— Richard George (@RichardGeorge37) November 4, 2013

Despite being an alien, there is much humanity to the Doctor. Like the best of us, he is kind and brave and fights for peace but, like all of us, he is flawed. He is often reckless - messing up Amelia Pond's life by promising he'd return in five minutes  - or conversely, manipulative - using Ace as a pawn in a game with an ancient evil. Often, as these examples illustrate, it is the Doctor's closest friends that bear the front of his mistakes. Often embarking on trips in the TARDIS for the time of their lives, in extreme circumstances, while with the Doctor his companions sometimes reach their end of their lives, as Richard George points out above. Katarina and Sara Kingdom met their deaths while fighting the Daleks and, most famously, Adric died trying to destroy the Cybermen.
This is, for me, one of the key reasons he is such an interesting character. While The Doctor is not infallible he always carries on, hoping to make up for those he failed to save. As in 'The Day of the Doctor', sometimes he even changes history just to save the day. He is certainly an imperfect hero, but a hero nonetheless.

@ChristianABone I love the Doctor as a character alot but love the story equally as it is ever growing & changing potentially limitless
— Anthony & Jessica (@MythicDocWho) November 7, 2013

As writers and Doctor Who fans Anthony Burdge and Jessica Burke say above, the show is effectively limitless. I would argue that the same is true of the Doctor. While heroes who sometimes fail to save the day do exist, the Doctor is truly unique in that he can be stretched in all directions, he can be entirely different - a wholly different man, even - yet still be the same character. He can be old and crotchety, young and energetic, middle-aged and eccentric and anything in between.

And, finally, to round off:

@ChristianABone @face_4radio The thing about Doctor Who is you never know where you are going to end up next.
— Richard George (@RichardGeorge37) November 4, 2013

On this, the eleventh day of the twelfth month, when soon the Eleventh Doctor is about to face his final hour before he becomes the Twelfth, we know very little about the future of the Doctor. But, wherever he's headed, he'll always be a near-immortal (in the narrative of the show and in the public consciousness) children's hero with proper foibles who never stops growing and changing yet will always be the same man. That's why he's our favourite fictional character.

Favourite Fictional Characters: Ellen Ripley by Mr Rumsey

To kick off the special gothic-themed run of posts that are going up this October, here's the second in an ongoing series by guest bloggers on their favourite fictional characters. This month, James Walpole, of Mr Rumsey's Film Related Musings, is discussing his favourite character, the lead from the classic Sci-fi/Horror film series Alien. Before we start, let's give a big hand to Mr Rumsey for putting together an out-of-this-world article! Done that? Good. The one of you who is now missing an arm, I'll give it back to you another time...

Ellen Ripley has come to symbolise the ultimate female character for me, the one by which I measure all others across film, literature, and video games. She undertakes a transition across four films that promotes the maternal instinct, intelligence, bravery and an ability to adapt and survive in ways which are almost exclusively reserved for male characters, whilst the films also confront issues of rape, sexual threat, and the loss of a child, and Ripley is developed enough to make mistakes, miscalculate a situation, and react impulsively.  This incredibly strong character is important to me not only as a landmark in film and gender history, but also because I've grown to really like her. She is endlessly entertaining; whether she is being funny and ballsy, or is terrified and fighting for her and others’ lives. What’s more I can really relate to her struggles, and that’s something that’s very important considering I'm a young male viewer in his early twenties.

Although Ripley has a handful of romantic connections to other characters, even if some of these are barely hinted at or are left on the cutting room floor, she does not suffer as a character from these relationships. She is never constructed through these male figures, and miraculously she passes through the hands of multiple screenwriters and directors, without ever once becoming the besotted and helpless female archetype. Yes, she is portrayed as an object of sexual desire, and by that I mean both for humans and aliens, but she isn't defined by that attribute unlike many female characters. Her sexual appeal is considerably more relevant to the series’ concerns with sexual fear, rape, abortion, childbirth and the male psychological fear of impregnation, than it is relevant to her character traits.

When I watched Alien, Ripley was one of the first empowered female roles that I had experienced. I use the term empowered carefully as I think it is quite troublesome, and I certainly do not believe that a well written female character needs to take on ‘male attributes’, i.e. picking up a gun and being able to kill, this technique often backfires anyway. Ripley is empowered because she is fully fleshed out as a character; she’s alternatively weak and strong in different situations, she is conflicted, she makes mistakes, but she also learns from them - look to the supporting character Lambert to see the female role that Ripley has evolved from. I knew that I had found something here that strongly affected me. Ever since I re-watched this film I have had a very strong interest in female roles, they now are normally the characters which interest me most when I read/watch/write something, and this part of my personality, I've come to realise through writing this post, is largely tied into the character of Ripley.

Ellen Ripley has few real rivals in terms of female film characters; Sarah Connor is perhaps her only true challenger, but you could also consider Louise (Thelma and Louise), Beatrix Kiddo (Kill Bill), Raimunda (Volver), or say Marge Gunderson (Fargo). The reason for me that she rises above these other great characters is simply that none of those have such a rich and developed character, one that has been built-up over time and multiple films into being a strong female role model – a woman that doesn't rely on her sexuality, but is both believable and relatable.

If you are interested in contributing a future guest post, please send me an email at chalbo@outlook.com, tweet me at @ChristianABone or leave a comment below!

Favourite Fictional Characters: Samantha Carter by @missvariety

Earlier this year, I announced that I was planning to do a blogathon on the subject of favourite fictional characters. However, recently I had a change of heart (to quote a certain criminal mastermind: 'I'm so changeable!') and decided it will now be a monthly feature. Hopefully, readers of this blog will enjoy other wonderful, talented fiction-fans talk about their favourite characters - to make a change from me blabbing on about mine (go on, have a guess who they are). First up, a huge thanks to @missvariety for writing this great, personal piece  - worthy of opening this new series of guest posts for your enjoyment. 

There are many TV shows, books, games and films that I love and within their stories contain some of my favourite characters. Many of these are recent adventures, either still being produced in the pages of novels or broadcast on our televisions. However, my choice takes me back to when I was a teenager, a TV series I was introduced to by my Dad and has often shaped my own interests and personality.  

Stargate SG-1 had already been running for seven seasons until I discovered season eight as it aired. Immediately captivated I spent the following summer earning enough money each week to buy a season. The story itself deeply interested me due to its basis in our own history; one of the characters was an archaeologist, a profession I'd wanted to follow for years. The discovery of a Stargate, a ring that produced wormholes which could transport you across space, opened a whole new realm of possibilities. The characters themselves were relatable and fascinating. The world created felt real. It was my first real fandom, and I was hooked. 

Of course, it was also my first introduction to a very real, and a very impressive female character. Samantha Carter walked into the first season as Captain, and left as a Colonel, with a brief stint in command of the off-world base at Atlantis. Sam was my first experience of a strong, independent and intelligent fictional female role model. What makes Sam stand out from the others is her attitude; she’s in the military, she’s a woman in a man’s world. She enters the first episode defending her own gender, she’s not to be argued with nor put down. As each episode is concerned with travelling through the Stargate a new culture is visited each time which often challenge our own perception of the world, as we do theirs. A first season episode entitled 'Emancipation' contained a community where it was believed that women were ''property''. Through this episode Sam challenges this view, ultimately winning a battle of hand to hand combat with the chieftain in a display of strength and agility. 

However, Sam is most well-known because of her intelligence. Sam is a scientist, and a bloody good one at that. She engineered a lot of the technology around making the Stargate work, and is quite expert in her field. If something needs a scientific fix, Sam’s the one that makes it happen, and this often happens. Yet she’s not just an action hero. She’s also very compassionate, loving, but foremost, very loyal. For me, personally, Sam Carter was a realisation that women didn't have to be quiet, we could be badass and awesome. Sam was everything I ever wanted to be. Sam was my first, and my best, role model. 

If you are interested in contributing a future guest post, please send me an email at chalbo@outlook.com, tweet me @Chalbo100 or leave a comment below!

Top Five Fictional Sidekicks

To tie in to my upcoming mini-blogathon concerning favourite fictional characters, I thought I would follow on from my previous post, Top Five Fictional Characters With No Name, with a list of the best sidekicks from fiction. A hero is nothing without a loyal trusty sidekick who will never leave their side - as I, a humble blogger, am nothing without readers. So do read on and discover a few of the most loyal and trustiest sidekicks of them all.


Baldrick
Appeared in: the Blackadder series, played by Tony Robinson

It's a staple of comedy that the main character will have a bumbling idiotic sidekick and the fiendish Edmund Blackadder's servant through the ages, Baldrick, is the epitome of the stereotype. As with the best double acts, Baldrick is a perfect foil for his wily master; with a brain not big enough to be spread over a small water biscuit, he often tries to aid Blackadder in his schemes with a 'cunning plan' that always fails to live up to the promise. On a side note, if you're not familiar with the Blackadder series it's the Shakespeare of television comedy and is a clever as a fox that's been made professor of clever at Oxford University.


Ron and Hermione
Appeared in: the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling and film series, played by Rupert Grint and Emma Watson

We're all familiar with these two. That boy wizard in the glasses would surely have never made it through all the magical mayhem if it were not for his infallible friends. Both are likeable characters; while Hermione is the intelligent one, Ron is generally seen as the comedy sidekick thanks to the character's presentation in the films (though Rupert Grint does a great job, particularly in The Deathly Hallows: Part One) but he is more fleshed-out in the books. As with everything in Rowling's stories, Ron and Hermione come from familiar moulds but the moulds work well, hence why they are moulds in the first place. Moulds.

Nick Carraway
Appeared in: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

When thinking of classic sidekicks one's mind doesn't necessarily jump to the narrator of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. However, I'm fond of Carraway (not neccesarily Tobey Macguire's film version, although I didn't dislike him as others did) and find his friendship with Gatsby rather Holmesian/Watsonian. Like many other classic sidekicks, we see the hero of the story through Nick's eyes; while Gatsby is the star of the novel, Carraway, his closest friend, is an equally well-fleshed out character who contrasts and compliments the protagonist. Definitely a sidekick. A great sidekick.

Sarah Jane Smith

Appeared in: Doctor Who, the Sarah Jane Adventures and K-9 and Company, played by Elisabeth Sladen

In its illustrious fifty-year history, Doctor Who has featured many beloved sidekicks, or companions as we fans call them, for everyone's favourite eccentrically-dressed, Sonic Screwdriver-using alien. But of them all, Elisabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane Smith is the most treasured; a character that every companion created since is measured up to. An intelligent, adventurous journalist, Sarah was the star of her own popular spin-off show (that was only cancelled upon the event of Sladen's untimely passing) and, like the Brigadier, has worked with multiple Doctors. Sarah Jane is simply the Doctor's greatest friend.


Dr Watson
Appeared in: the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and numerous film and TV adaptations and literary pastiches

In a list of the greatest fictional sidekicks, who else could take the top spot over Baker Street's finest doctor, chronicler and moustache-spotter, Sherlock Holmes' right-hand man, Dr John (sometimes James, but let's not get into that now) Watson? He is everything the hero's best friend should be; an everyman to contrast with the hero's extraordinary nature but also with a streak of brilliance to be of aid to the hero. Together with Holmes he is known for being one half of the greatest friendship in literature but even by himself Dr Watson is one of the most popular and enduring characters fiction has ever produced.

Top Five Fictional Characters With No Name

After fifty years of mystery, it has been promised that this Saturday in the current series finale of Doctor Who, the Doctor's name will be revealed in the aptly-titled 'The Name of the Doctor.' To celebrate the occasion I thought I would draw up a list of other fictional characters that remain nameless (one of whom the Doctor may cease to be come Saturday). It's not so much a definitive list than a few characters from disparate strands of fiction that, I think, use their namelessness effectively. So, please, read on, whatever your name is.


Nobody Owens
Appeared in: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The protagonist of Neil Gaiman's excellent young adult novel The Graveyard Book, Nobody Owens, known as 'Bod', was made an orphan as a baby after a mysterious killer murdered his family. Instead, Bod was raised, naturally, by the resident ghosts of a graveyard he called home, with the novel following his adventures in and out of the cemetery. Technically, Bod may not count for this list as he is given a name by his surrogate spook-relatives but Nobody is only called such as his adopted mother says 'he looks like nobody but himself.' That's hardly a name now, is it?


 Captain Jack Harkness
Appeared in: Doctor Who and Torchwood, played by John Barrowman

If you only know of John Barrowman's flighty adventurer Captain Jack from Doctor Who, you may be a bit surprised by his placement on this list due to the fact that, well, he has a name. However, in his own spin-off series Torchwood, it is revealed that Jack stole the identity of the real Captain Jack Harkness, an American WW2 soldier, back in the days when he was a bad'un. It's a clear attempt to make Jack more like the Doctor and perhaps isn't mined to too large a degree but it does add to the character's enigmatic and very long life (he's immortal, remember).

The Joker
Appeared in: Batman comics and numerous film and TV adaptations

I'm sure you're all familiar with this fellow. Mad as a box of frogs, the Joker is Batman's arch-nemesis. Sometimes a fairly harmless trickster others a psychotic killer, whatever version of the character it is his past is reliably convoluted and unknowable. Apart from in Tim Burton's Batman where Jack Nicholson's Clown Prince of Crime is called, um, Jack, and in Alan Moore's The Killing Joke graphic novel, where his name is ... also Jack. Well, apart from those examples, the Joker is made all the more threatening due to his namelessness as the less we know of his origins and motives, the more we wonder. Which is far more potent; a large reason why he is such an effective and popular character.


Number Six
Appeared in: The Prisoner, played by Patrick MacGoohan

In the superb sixties series, The Prisoner, a man resigns from his (unknown) job returns to his London flat where he is gassed and wakes up in the Village. A surreal, remote town full of brainwashed individuals and run by the face-changing Number Two, he seems to have been brought there so 'they' may find out the reason why indeed he resigned. As each inhabitant of the Village is assigned a number, we never find out our protagonist's name as he, each episode, tries to escape the Village. The importance of Number Six's lack of a name and his constant refusal to back down to the powers behind the Village is summed up in his famous phrase: 'I am not a number, I am a free man!' The series itself I highly recommend; it's truly iconic and has influenced such modern successful series such as Lost and Life on Mars.


The Creature
Appeared in: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and numerous film, TV, literature and theatre adaptations

The greatest nameless character from all of fiction surely has to be Mary Shelley's sorrowful, passionate and volatile creation. We're all familiar with his story: the outcome of an experiment to create life by Victor Frankenstein, the Creature is shunned by his 'father' and forced to fend for himself upon which he learns humanity's best and worst qualities. Played by Benedict Cumberbatch, pictured left, who shared the role with Johnny Lee Miller in the fantastic Danny Boyle stage production, the Creature is defined by his lack of identity; constantly searching for his place in the world rather than being the inhuman monster that the people he encounters take him for. The Creature's story perfectly encapsulates why our names and identity, things we take for granted, are so important to how the world perceives us and how we view ourselves.


Talking of fictional characters.... Before we get too philosophical, this post acts as a forebear for an upcoming small blogathon I'm hosting concerning our Favourite Fictional Characters. If this interests you, have a read about it here.

Favourite Fictional Characters Blogathon - Would you like to contribute?

Dear all,

For no other special reason than fun, I'm hoping to soon play host to a blogathon with the theme of favourite fictional characters and so am looking for wonderful people who would like to get involved. Whether you're a blogger or not, I'd love you to get in contact if you're interested in writing a guest post for this blog on your favourite character from all of fiction. If you would like to contribute, let me know by sending an email at chalbo@outlook.com, tweet me at Chalbo100 or leave a comment below.

Thanks folks!

Chalbo