Eighth Doctor Adventures/Characters: Difference between revisions

* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: He once stuck his fingers up an opponent's nose.

* [[Creepy Good]]: Sometimes. Anji occasionally has an [[Uncanny Valley]] reaction to him, particularly in ''Camera Obscura'' when he faints and she notices that his "muscular-skeletal frame" is unnaturally flexible. Also, his emotional responses are often a little bit off -- he's sometimes not upset by things that upset everybody else, and even when he is upset he tends not to show it. And there's the [[Stealth Hi Bye]] thing he often does, and he didn't have a shadow for a while... he even kept a couple of pet bats in the TARDIS at the beginning of the series, one of which almost scares the crap out of someone in ''Vampire Science''.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Every now and then.

"There was a time when it always seemed to be Saturday when I was on Earth, and the children's programmes were excellent, if my memory doesn't cheat." He made folding motions with his hand and muttered something that sounded to Fitz like "robots in disguise". The Doctor grinned, disarmingly. }}

** As well as comic books:

** And, of all things, model trains:

{{quote| (''Anji has just found a box of model train things'') Though she had hurriedly, if somewhat guiltily, hidden this even further back in the cupboard, she suspected it was only a matter of time until the morning arrived when she couldn't cross the console room without having to step over miniature tracks and leap tiny buildings.}}

* [[Good Thing You Can Heal]]: He gets injured in almost every single book, usually multiple times. He's been shot, stabbed, squished flat, beaten almost to a bloody pulp, etc., and unless he's been [[Brought Down to Normal]] [[Healing Factor|it rarely takes more than a couple days for him to heal]]. [[Determinator|Perhaps unsurprisingly]], he tends to take advantage of this fact by treating his own body as a [[Stone Wall|meat shield]], [[I Can Still Fight|doing irresponsible and foolhardy things while bleeding all over the place]], and just outright acting like a [[Macho Masochism|masochist]].

{{quote| He placed his foot on the Doctor's injured <ref>(broken and, considering the fact he's not up and walking on it, probably quite badly so)</ref> leg. The Doctor gasped. "How long until this heals? A few days? A few hours? Twenty minutes?''[...]''"<br />

* [[Idiot Hero]]: This merits a mention although it's not strictly true. [[Unpleasable Fanbase|Some fans]] have referred to him as "the congenital idiot", or "[[Dumb Is Good|the congenial idiot]]". <ref>("congenial", although making more sense, is less common)</ref> He gives the impression of having less [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] and more genuine, guileless foolishness than most Doctors, but he is regularly shown to actually have brains he just doesn't always use.

* [[Innocent Fanservice Girl|Innocent Fanservice Guy]]: He seems to consider life clothing-optional, although recognizes that the preference is for clothing. Good thing he's [[Mr. Fanservice|attractive]].

* [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]: Suggested that it might be [[Justified Trope|justified]] by the fact that when he starts to get his memory back, he still finds it useful to pick and choose the things he lets people find out he remembers.

* [[The Mentally Disturbed]]: His mental health is somewhat variable. He's usually sort of a high-functioning [[Cloudcuckoolander]], but he has moments of being certifiably insane. ''The Slow Empire'' plays this for [[Black Comedy|fairly dark humor]] and mentions that after developing [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]], he occasionally couldn't distinguish between TV and reality, and so had attacks of being able to be [[Driven to Suicide]] by the [[Crapsack World|utter depressingness]] of ''[[Eastenders]]'' <ref>(suggesting, incidentally, that the boredom of [[Walking the Earth]] alone turned him into a bit of a [[Daytime Drama Queen]])</ref>, and due to watching [[Superman]] he got some odd ideas about [[Clark Kenting|disguises]] and "the relative position of the trousers and [[Underwear of Power|underpants]]". He also seems to think that someone who was having a nosebleed four days ago may still need a handkerchief. He even had what may have been a momentary [[Axe Crazy]] blackout in ''City of the Dead''. In ''The Blue Angel'' he has an alternate self who apparently suffers from schizophrenia, completely averting [[Funny Schizophrenia]]; it's reasonably understated and not [[Played for Laughs]] at all. <ref>(Also, his POV in ''The Blue Angel'' is occasionally written in a subtly strange way — for example, he tends to bring something up which doesn't make a lot of sense without further explanation and then drift away from the topic, which is a [[wikipedia:Thought disorder|symptom of schizophrenia]].)</ref>

* [[Soapbox Sadie]]: She's a vegetarian, supports Amnesty International, etc.

* [[Spiritual Successor]]: It's easy enough to see her a spiritual successor to Ace, as well as a sort of prototype for the new series companions.

* [[Unrequited Love]]: With [[Oblivious to Love|the]] [[Master of the Mixed Message|Doctor]], predictably enough.

 

=== Fitzgerald "Fitz" Kreiner ===

 

* [[Action Survivor]]: He starts out this way -- he didn't even really want to go with the Doctor that much, but he didn't really have [[You Can't Go Home Again|any other choice]]. But eventually he embraced the whole adventurer thing. He still has almost all the additional traits mentioned under the trope, though: [[Perma Stubble|stubbly]], [[Non-Action Guy|non-actiony]], uncommonly decent, etc.

* [[Audience Surrogate]]: He's sort of a bookish geek with some kind of crush on the Doctor, and he thinks he's cool and sometimes is.

* [[Backstory]]: Fitz's backstory is elaborated on often throughout the series. Let's just take this from his birth to his introduction into the storyline:

{{quote| ‘Fitz,’ Anji hissed. ‘Are you telling me you really don’t mind trotting around starkers in a collar and lead?’<br />

He grinned. ‘Are you kidding?’ }}

* [[Character Name Alias]]: He's pretended to be called Frank Sinatra and James Bond, and there's probably more.

** Based on his rant to {{spoiler|Father Kreiner}} in "The Ancestor Cell", he's also used [[The Saint|Simon Templar]].

* [[Death Is Cheap]]: He's "died" at least twice (three or more if you count [[Future Me Scares Me|Father Kreiner]]). Once, he only survived because the Doctor, Anji, and the TARDIS loved him very, very much and believed in him. [[It's Been Done|He did the Tinkerbell Jesus routine first]], without the [[Narm]].

* [[Deceased Parents Are the Best]]: [[Double Subversion|Double Subverted]]: his mother [[Death By Origin Story|dies in his first book]]. However, she became psychotic after his father died, so she couldn't raise him, and once he was of age he had to take care of her. However, they were still apparently very close and he still misses her years later. The advice she gave him when he was younger is part of what made him such a [[Nice Guy|good person]].

* [[Drives Like Crazy]]: Almost every time he's behind the wheel of a car, he hits something with it. It's [[Car Fu|usually intentional]], but sometimes it's not. Is there really any call to "crunch" the gearstick?

* [[Erudite Stoner]]: The personality without the pot. You can't make him angry without a serious effort, his thought processes are often not exactly normal, he eats like it's going out of style, and as the series goes on he becomes a bit of a [[Big Brother Mentor]] to Anji and then Trix, and the Doctor too in a way, not to mention all the [[One-Shot Character|One Shot Characters]] he tends to take under his wing. Also, he's been calm and philosophical about the end of the world. Suddenly becoming a tangled-up [[Noodle People|noodle person]] merely inspired in him dismay about how long it'd take to untangle himself. He once had a couple shots of liquor and fell fast asleep while right under Sabbath's nose — Sabbath being the guy who once ripped out the Doctor's heart bare-handed (well, [[Gloved Fist of Doom|glove-handed, but is that any less scary]]?). Sure, Fitz can be scared easily, but he's just as likely to be extremely calm about terrifying things.

* [[Five-Finger Discount]]: He knows how to pick pockets, although it's never revealed why. The rather boring explanation is that [[Kleptomaniac Hero|the Doctor]] taught him, but it'd be [[Canon Fodder|more interesting]] if he was a street urchin at some point in his childhood. He also carries a lockpick (possibly stolen) because he got tired of picking locks without one.

* [[Friendless Background]]: In ''Frontier Worlds'', he mentions having only had one friend during primary school. By the time he's introduced, he doesn't actually seem to have ''any'' real friends. It's certainly not that he isn't likable -- even before all the [[Character Development]] kicks in he's quite charming -- it's just the half-German thing. It's quite possible that almost two decades after the war ended, plenty of people wouldn't have had a problem with it, but he was sufficiently [[Break the Cutie|embittered]] by a childhood of being [[Kids Are Cruel|physically attacked]] for his heritage that he was afraid to let anyone get too close.

* [[Genre Savvy]]

* [[Girl of the Week]]: He has a girlfriend in about half of the novels. [[Cartwright Curse|It basically never lasts.]]

* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: No, it's not; Fitz is cool in his own way, and he smokes, but he makes smoking look kind of dorky. In ''Demontage'' there's a very awkward scene where he realizes too late that he's not allowed to smoke, gets very apologetic, and ends up putting out his cigarette on his hand. Ouch. He's constantly annoyed and frustrated by how hard it is to smoke after the late 20th century. And in pretty much every other book he's shown to be less physically capable than most other characters because of his smoking, and his friends don't hesitate to give him a hard time about it. So, [[An Aesop|don't smoke]], because it's not allowed in the future, you'll end up wheezing and red-faced all the time, and also all your friends will constantly nag you to quit.

* [[Trauma Conga Line]]

* [[Unfazed Everyman]]: When he finally meets the Doctor, his mother ''really'' snaps, [[Offing the Offspring|tries to strangle him]], and is finally killed by the Doctor. He's also wanted by the police due to a misunderstanding, leading him to join the TARDIS crew. Instead of having a [[Heroic BSOD]] about his new status as an orphan and wanted man, he's pretty sanguine about the whole thing. Then again, he's canonically a fountain of denial.

* [[Unfortunate Names]]: Yes, his name really [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Fitz]] him. Sure, he's [[Never Heard That One Before]]. His last name is still a nuisance, but less of an entertaining one — in recently-post-WWII England, having a German surname is apparently enough to make him worry about getting his head kicked in, so he goes by Fitz Fortune when first introduced. It's mentioned that, since "Fritz" is such a [[Stock Foreign Name|stereotypical German name]] that it's used to refer to all Germans, the other kids used to call him "Fitz the Fritz". This also leads to [[Gannon Banned|newbies who see the German surname, get confused, and call him "Fritz"]].

* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]]: Since he's an [[Artificial Human]], he can impress computers with his brain, generate anagrams, play guitar and do crossword puzzles better than he used to, and maybe some other things not even worth mentioning. Apparently, his thoughts have a "deeper structural underpinning" which computers really dig, or something. Considering the fact he's the closest thing you can get to being an [[Erudite Stoner]] without ever being implied to be on any illegal substances, this is kind of funny.

* [[Wife-Basher Basher]]: If you bully women in front of him, he's likely to [[Non-Action Guy|hurt his fist on your face]].

 

* [[Jerkass]]

* [[Pet the Dog]]: It's quite touching when she demonstrates the ability to feel happiness that doesn't come from ''schadenfreude''. When she {{spoiler|becomes a TARDIS and gains a Randomiser}}, she ends up "on a damp grassy hillside, having her face licked by a giant singing butterfly. Nice, for a while." By her standards, that's a big deal.

* {{spoiler|[[Spaceship Girl]]: And ''how'' — she eventually turns into a walking, talking ''TARDIS''!}}

* [[Sugar and Ice Personality]]: Subverted. She sometimes seems to show her softer side, but if it's ever genuine, she does an amazing job of denying it afterward.

* [[Token Evil Teammate]]

 

=== Anji Kapoor ===

* [[Only Sane Man]]

* [[Platonic Life Partners]]: With Fitz. They're basically each other's [[Not Love Interest|Not Love Interests]]; they have relationship drama and occasionally act irrationally because of their feelings for each other, but the only flicker of attraction between them is wholly on his side. She seems to get a little possessive of him, perhaps actually in a wholly non-romantic way, when Trix flirts with him.

* [[Unfazed Everyman|Unfazed Everywoman]]: Moreso than any other companion.

* [[Unusual Dysphemism]]: Once addressed the Doctor as "You useless [[Curse Cut Short|otterfu-"]] To be fair, he was being quite useless.<ref>But definitely not doing [[But You Screw One Goat!|that other thing]].</ref>

* [[Waif Fu]]

* [[Women Are Wiser]]

* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]: Because the Doctor just sucks at navigating. No wonder she has some choice expletives for him.

* [[Enigmatic Minion]]: Heavily lampshaded when Fitz, Trix, and Anji make a short film about [["Previously On..."|the plot developments so far]]. Trix, playing Sabbath, declares:

{{quote| "Working as I am for unspecified higher powers, the nature of my misguided plans remains frustratingly obscure, [[Evil Laugh|ha ha]]!"}}

* [[Expy]]: Of the Master. He's far from the same character with the [[Serial Numbers Filed Off]], but they have a lot of similar personality traits, such as [[You Make Me Sic|pedantry]], [[Man of Wealth and Taste|a fondness for elegant dark clothes]], [[Deadpan Snarker|snarkiness]], etc.. They both function as a recurring villain who often [[Enemy Mine|collaborates with the Doctor against a more immediate menace]], occasionally [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|of their own making]]. In general, their relationships with the Doctor are quite similar: they often get along civilly, are [[Not So Different]], and have a ton of [[Foe Yay]], despite the fact they're, you know, arch-enemies. Also, Sabbath was originally supposed to have been [[The Man Behind the Man|working for the Daleks]], something the Master's done once or twice. Where the Master had Ogrons (ape-like aliens) as henchmen, Sabbath just has regular old apes. Interestingly, Lawrence Miles, who came up with Sabbath, objected to Sabbath's gradual drift into [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|Suspiciously Similar Substitutehood]], as he intended the character as more of a [[Darker and Edgier]] version of the Doctor.

** Larry intended [[What Could Have Been|Sabbath to take the Doctor's place as the hero]], turning into him via the Doctor's biodata or...something. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

* [[Genius Bruiser]]

* [[A Glass of Chianti]]: Anji earns his respect by knowing the right way to drink brandy.

* {{spoiler|[[Heel Face Turn]]}}

* [[Ignore the Fanservice]]: His sidekick du jour in ''Camera Obscura'' [[Show Some Leg|Shows Some Leg]] to convince him to help her get out of the [[Bedlam House]] where she's locked up, but he doesn't even look. She has a fairly low opinion of men and considers it strange that he's [[Pet the Dog|nice to her]] without showing any sexual interest in her. So, on the one hand, he claims to be [[Above Good and Evil|amoral]]; on the other, he does have some [[Even Evil Has Standards|standards]].

{{quote| His face was pale and fleshy, but not at all unattractive as he entered early middle age. In his youth he was, [[Urban Legend Love Life|allegedly]], a master of seduction...}}

* [[Large Ham]]: In sort of a quiet, mysterious way, anyway.

{{quote| '''Anji''': ''[...]'' a posturing ham like Sabbath. If he pulls that sinister, mysterious act on me again –}}

* [[Not So Different]]: The main difference between them, morality-wise, is that the Doctor feels more remorse when he has to [[Shoot the Dog]] or do anything else dubiously moral, and when he doesn't it's because of his [[Blue and Orange Morality]] tendencies. But Sabbath is only slightly more likely to think the ends justify the manipulative or murderous means.

* [[Not So Above It All]]: Apparently, he's seen ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]''. Well, it's clearly relevant to his interests, what with the monkey henchmen.

* [[Oxbridge]]: ''The Adventuress of Henrietta Street'' mentions both that he went to Cambridge and {{spoiler|has him participating in what's apparently a [[wikipedia:May Ball#Ball crashing|fine old Cambridge tradition]] of party-crashing in a gorilla costume. Except he was invited. But he still had to be an enigmatic, incognito jerk}}.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: In both ''The Adventuress of Henrietta Street'' and ''Camera Obscura'', he has a [[Little Miss Badass]] as a [[Sidekick]], and seems to care about them quite a bit. Also, he becomes more likable as he and the Doctor become more like [[Friendly Enemy|Friendly Enemies]], and his civility towards Anji demonstrates that he has good taste.

* [[Sue Donym]]: Close enough, anyway: almost all his aliases are terrible, obvious, and related to his usual pseudonym, such as Holiday, Mistletoe, and Mr. [[wikipedia:G. K. Chesterton|G.K.]] [[wikipedia:The Man Who Was Thursday|Thursday]] (the [[Genius Bonus]] just makes it worse).

* [[Super Not-Drowning Skills]]{{spoiler|: Except not really.}}

* [[Ubermensch|Übermensch]]: He certainly seems to be aiming for this trope, in a less [[Omnicidal Maniac|mindlessly destructive]] way than the typical villainous [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]. He's surprisingly charismatic, considers himself [[Above Good and Evil]], and thinks the Doctor is [[Good Is Old-Fashioned|old-fashioned]] for [[The Fettered|having a strong moral code]]. In ''The Domino Effect'', he gives quite a lecture about how the Doctor's values and the Doctor himself are hopelessly outdated:

{{quote| ‘You think of yourself as Time’s Champion, Doctor. You believe everyone should subscribe to your cosy, libertarian values. [...] The universe would be a nice, safe place if only everyone followed your proper, civilised code of conduct. [...] You couldn’t be more wrong. Everything you believe is a lie. You’re an anachronism, a leftover from a previous reality – I see that now[...] You don’t hold the solution to anything any more – you’re part of the problem. The sooner you step aside, the better for all concerned. A new history is coming!’}}

* [[Mind Screw]]: They were created by, and largely written by, Lawrence Miles, so this is only to be expected.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Did we mention they wear black robes and animal skulls?

* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]: They're doing their best to smash it into little bits.

 

[http://www.redscharlach.co.uk/ [[File:minitrixicon_5572.jpg|frame]]]

A rather mysterious young woman who comes from sometime after the 21st Century and used to work for the villain. (It doesn't stop her making fun of him, though.) Talented at disguising herself and had a rather entertaining habit of appearing in disguise before she was officially introduced. Her first book is ''Time Zero''.

* [[Ambiguously Human]]: She claims to much [[Older Than They Look|older than she looks]] and from a reality without humans, and it sounds almost plausible. Then she adds that her kind [[To Serve Man|ate all the humans]] and she's had her flesh-devouring jaws surgically reduced, and it starts to sound like she's just [[Consummate Liar|lying her head off]].

* [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny]]: She has a notoriously short attention span, and the Doctor becomes resigned to the uselessness of telling her to not wander off. She once ate most of a box of chocolates because she said chocolate helps her concentrate, and after eating them said she couldn't concentrate because of all the caffeine.

* [[Broken Bird]]

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Not as much as some examples, but she's sort of [[Goldfish Poop Gang|mildly]] antagonistic when first introduced, she's far from trustworthy, her alignment can generally be best described as [[Chaotic Neutral|Chaotic Selfish]], and she gets Fitz wrapped around her little finger (although she scares [[The Chick|him]] on occasion). <ref>(He probably finds it unusual that in this list, he gets to top for once!)</ref> And she enjoys dressing glamourously ([[Woman in Black|often in black]]) as often as possible.

* [[Green Eyes]]: Her green eyes are often described as "catlike", and she's a rather untrustworthy [[Tsundere]].

* [[Heel Face Turn]]

* [[The Hedonist]]: For her, saving the universe is ''almost'' as important as money, clothes, and chocolate.

* [[Master of Disguise]]: Usually with a dose of [[Wig, Dress, Accent]].

* [[Mysterious Past]] / [[Multiple Choice Past]]: Because she lies her head off about it all the time.

* [[Tsundere]]: {{spoiler|She's occasionally ''dere'' for Fitz.}}