Angry Gods and Sexy Bods -- A Look Back at Doctor Who's 1977 "The Face of Evil"
A hidden gem in the wonderful 14th Series of BBC1’s “Doctor Who”, The Face of Evil first aired over a four week period during January 1977. The story holds up remarkably well forty years later, with relevant commentary on violence, religion and politics. Played by fan-favorite Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor lines from these episodes are still highly quotable even with a present day meme countering the Trump Administration’s use of alternative facts:
What makes the Doctor different from most other heroic
characters is that he can be wrong, and his error in The Face of Evil is a doozy: Repairing
a space-bound colony’s super computer causes it to go mad, becoming the
god-like oppressor Xoanon and sorting out analytical technicians and physical survey
teams over time into the competing tribes “Tesh” and “Sevateem” while
declaring the Doctor the “Evil One”!
When the Doctor revisits the unnamed colony centuries later he spends
the rest of the serial fixing his mistake stopping Xoanon’s malevolent eugenics
experiment.
Leela is such a great character because she serves multiple
purposes. She is the Doctor’s soundboard,
a regular character who allows the Doctor to explain information to the viewer (much
like Robin to Batman and Watson to Sherlock Holmes). She is also a strong woman character, capable
in her own right. Lastly, Leela could be
objectified by a male audience.
The actresses who portrayed the Doctor’s companion pre-1977 were
just as beautiful as Louise Jameson, the actress in the Leela role, but Jameson
as Leela appealed to various fetishes. Jameson herself said that the BBC wanted a feisty, intelligent, interesting woman, but without clothes for an outfit! Leela's appearance (scantily clad in leather) appealed visually to leather, jungle and
sexy sci-fi fans. What happens to Leela story-wise appealed to techno-fetishists.
In The Face of Evil Leela was:
and 3) Transformed (into a robot assassin).
The “Doctor Who” showrunners used this
formula later with the Clara Oswald character, subjecting her to these three
techno-fetishes as well (albeit in different episodes from 2012 -2015). And when this Pretty Vacant comic creator
fleshed out his Gigi Gutierrez character to appeal to women as a strong
character yet be objectified by male techno-fetish readers he could look back
at a 40-year legacy.
Gigi Gutierrez Tranquilized, Mannequinized (Transformed), Hypnotized and Cryonized (Frozen) |
Shows still utilize this formula successfully today (HBO’s
Game of Thrones and Westworld, Starz’ Black Sails). It’s good that various media can still make it work, because
so many different, well-made stories can be told with just a little sex appeal
to start things off!
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