BOOK OF LISTS - APPENDIX 3: TOP FIVE FAVORITE TWO-TIMERS

And the Appendixes keep rollin' in.....

DEFINITION OF A TWO-TIMER

What's a Two-Timer, you might ask? Rather than go to the trouble of typing up a definition all over again, I'll just go back to the first part of the original countdown and cut-and-paste what I wrote there. Far more efficient way of doing things for a lazy old sod like myself!

Here it is:

With a constant theme of the TARDIS going somewhere new and different almost every week, we've been lucky to get a little bit of consistency thrown in now and again. Sometimes, the Doctor returns to a location he's been to before to enjoy a second visit. Like, say, the human/monoid colony ship, or Peladon, or even Satellite Five. 

But I find what makes the series more enjoyable is when he runs into the same character for a second time. There's been some nice returning good guys like Professor Travers or Rigsy. And there's been some very nice baddies, too. Like Lytton (who ended up being a bit of a good guy in the second story) and the Lady Cassandra (who also kind of turned nice toward the end too). I like to refer to characters like these as two-timers. Not because they've double-crossed the Doctor in some way (or, maybe, cheated on him?!). But because we see them twice in the show. 

 If you enjoyed that definition so much that you'd love to see it in the original entry, here's the link:

https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/06/book-of-lists-top-5-two-timers-number.html

You can, of course, read the rest of the essay if you'd like. You can also continue the countdown by just following the entries after that. I have noticed in my stats that some of you are actually bothering to go back and read those original posts. Thanks for your interest. 

THE LIST

As usual, of course, I don't expect you to go back and read those entries that I wrote. If you're just interested in the short version, here's a list of my Top Five Two Timers. From least favorite to most: 

Craig Owens (The Lodger, Closing Time) 

Professor Travers (The Abominable Snowmen, Web of Fear)

The Monk (The Time Meddler, Dalek Masterplan)

Sil (Vengeance on Varos, Mindwarp) 

The Rani (Mark of the Rani, Time and the Rani)

In the last few seasons since I compiled that list, we've had another Two-Timer come along that I really ended up liking a whole lot. I get the impression that the rest of Fandom is only so fond of him as he hails from an era that folks don't seem all that pleased with. But, as usual, I don't really care how others may feel about him. I have my peculiar tastes and I love to stick to them!   

THE NEW FAVORITE TWO-TIMER

Back in the Classic Series, the Sontarans were always the most entertaining of the warrior races featured on the show. Daleks and Cybermen were cool, of course, but I wouldn't call them true warriors. They didn't really follow any code of honor. They were just merciless conquerors. The Ice Warriors were also quite fascinating, but they eventually became goodies. Whereas you could always count on the Sontarans to be these nasty, belligerent jerks that lived by some weird set of rules that only really made sense to them but justified all their homicidal behavior. Even in stories that weren't so popular with all the fans like The Invasion of Time and The Two Doctors, we still tended to enjoy how the Sontarans were used in the plot - even if we weren't so happy with the plot, itself. 

Sadly, that seems to have changed during New Who. When they first appeared in Series Four, they were off to a good start. Sontaran Stratagem showed a fair amount of promise. Poison Sky, however, kinda fell flat on its ass. Oddly, I was particularly bothered by the fact that Sontarans seemed to be vulnerable to bullets, now. I'm quite sure that Classic Who Sontarans were never meant to be that easy to kill. I do really like Strax. But you're not really getting a real Sontaran story whenever he's featured. You're just getting some nice comic relief. So, as it stands, the Sontarans are not the warriors they once were. Which is disappointing, really. Doctor Who needs a good militant species that is genuinely threatening but is also almost a satire on the mentality of fascism. 

Super-controversial opinion: I do believe we finally found that in the Stenza. Series Eleven, technically, featured them in three episodes. Although they are only discussed in The Ghost Monument, we still learn a fair amount about their culture. At the very least, we discover that they're quite happy to enslave scientists to get them to build more effective weapons for them. They're also into ethnic cleansing. We will eventually learn that they are quite fond of sniper-bots, too. As they make their return in a later episode. Again, we don't actually see any Stenza in the adventure, but Ghost Monument helps to build their reputation. 

Of course, the two episodes that do actually feature a Stenza teach us all kinds of other interesting facts about the species. They have an obsession with preserving their "trophies". Not only do they stick the teeth of fallen enemies into their face, but they really like putting their acquisitions into stasis to just look at for the rest of eternity. They have all sorts of peculiar rituals, too. The way they choose a new leader is somewhat contrived (I especially like that cheating on the rules of the ritual is okay - as long no one catches you!). There are even some subtler nuances to the whole Stenza Code of Honor. Like the way Tim Shaw's teleport jump can't be fully completed until someone accepts his arrival. 

All these things, I find, have made the Stenza the best warrior race of the New Series. They dethrone the Sontarans from that status because, quite simply, those potato heads just aren't getting the representation they used to. But what gets me to love the Stenza so much, of course, is the notorious Tim Shaw. And he is the new Two Timer that has made it onto this list. 

FALLING TO EARTH

One of my favorite things about Tim Shaw is the way he actually gets his name. You know he's the type who wants the Universe to tremble in fear of him. So I love that the Doctor seems to intentionally pretend like she can't pronounce his ominous title and switches it to something more mundane. The fact that she continues doing this throughout their ensuing encounters and that Tim Shaw just gives up on getting her to say his name correctly is all-the-more amusing.

But that's just one of many things that makes the character and the race he hails from so interesting.  Tim Shaw really is a well-crafted character. Which is important since the crux of the season very much rested on his shoulders. If one is not careful, an alien warrior race can easily come across as quite generic. There's quite a few of them out there in the Doctor Who Universe. Not just returning monsters like Sontarans and Ice Warriors, but there's a few "one-time-onlies" like the Drahvins or Skonnons that have shown up now and again. If they're not careful, the warrior race that a writer creates can become quite vanilla. There's enough of them about to cause that. 

Not so with dear 'ole Tim Shaw, though. Everything about him intrigues me. Even the funky environment suit that he wears looks pretty cool. He's everything that you want an overly-aggressive aspiring tyrant-to-be. And more!

Part of what makes him so interesting is how he is introduced into the story. For quite a bit of The Woman Who Fell to Earth, we learn nothing about him. He is just this mysterious figure that is going around killing people and pulling their teeth out (I love how, if you're watching carefully, you can see him breaking open the jaws of his victims after he's killed them - so gruesome!). We even believe that his collection of bio-mechanical eels is an enemy alien rather than a tool he is illegally using in his challenge. The plot only fully assembles during Tim Shaw's initial confrontation. Things feel slightly similar to something from the Predator franchise but in a good way. It's not a total rip-off - but there's a bit of the same vibe. 

Oddly enough, an alien warrior causing all sorts trouble on Earth just to claim a trophy is not really something we've seen in the show before. So it makes for a nice story. Of course, how the monster is written and visualised is only part of the battle. The actor playing him is the real determining factor in its success. Samuel Oatley plays the role with much gusto and relish and really gets us to believe in the character. There is no doubt in our minds that Tim Shaw is a nasty old baddie that you don't want to mess with. He really brings him to life and puts tonnes of energy into every shot he's in. 

It's also wickedly cool that he kills people in the same way Kane did from Dragonfire. The whole suit that he's wearing isn't just cool armor, it's keeping him alive in temperatures that are impossible for him to live in. Just one more thing that makes the Stenza even more interesting...

There's a lot going on in that second confrontation up on the cranes. The scene is played more as a re-statement of the Doctor's core ethics. Most specifically, it declares the very specific code that Thirteen adheres to. After several incarnations of a Doctor who had slightly looser morals, Thirteen is back to trying to preserve life at all costs. This gets specifically illustrated when Karl kicks Tim Shaw over the edge of the crane arm. She scolds him heavily for doing it. Even though Tim Shaw is a really horrible person, in this Doctor's view, everyone deserves to live. 

Even though the whole sequence is about making the new Doctor shine, she needs a suitable foil to do this with. Tim Shaw provides that contrast beautifully. He is everything the Doctor despises. And yet, she still tries to believe he might have a better nature. That he can choose to improve. It's a great moment when he succinctly replies: "I choose to win!" and then gets his own weapon used against him. This is the sort of stuff I love in hero/villain stand-offs. 

As he plummets over the side and teleports out, we can't help but wonder if we'll see Tim Shaw again. And, in many ways, we're hoping we will. As a first enemy of a new Doctor, he really does well. 

RANSKOOR AV KOLOS (I ALMOST SPELT IT RIGHT WITHOUT HAVING TO CHECK)

In his second appearance, Tim Shaw is used to illustrate another important theme within the TARDIS crew. His first adventure helped the Doctor find herself. On Ranskoor Av Kolos, he causes Graham to question how far he's willing to go to avenge the death of his wife. This is part of what makes me love this character so much. He is a catalyst as well as a villain. 

But beyond sparking things in other people, there is a nice arc built into Tim Shaw, as well. In his first encounter, he is at the height of his game. He's just a hair's breadth away from becoming the ruler of his people. But then he is toppled and must re-build himself in his defeat. From his failure, however, comes something far more powerful than anyone had anticipated. He's now a legitimate threat to the Universe. Or, at the very least, the galaxy. 

Essentially, Tim Shaw is now a planet-eater. 

Probably one of the things I love most about The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos is how the fallen Stenza warrior actually says something quite inspirational. "The Universe provides." - he proclaims. But, because those words come from his mouth, the whole thing becomes ominous. It's a beautiful truth that sounds better when the Doctor says it later. But, from Tim Shaw, it sounds very dark. That's the mark of a true villain. The same sentence can have a totally different connotation when he says it. 

There is another nice confrontation between the Doctor and Tim Shaw in his second story. I like how the Time Lord remembers that she's gotten a new coat since they met. I also love his gigantic iron lungs that pump away in the background the whole time. But it's not just a bunch of fun aesthetics, it's a great little reunion between the two of them with some enjoyable banter.  

But, of course, the real meat of the story is the showdown between the fallen Stenza warrior and Graham. It's great how Tim Shaw genuinely taunts the man. Convinced, already, that Graham isn't the sort of person that would kill him. It is great how the strife between Ryan and his granddad is finally brought to a close as they end up dealing with this monster together. Tim Shaw is almost symbolic, in this sense. He represents the bad blood that has existed between these two being brought to its ultimate rest. It's not often that you see a villain in a Who story becoming a plot device like this. 

Placing Tim Shaw in stasis is great poetic justice. But it also implies something that I quite like. By no means is Tim Shaw well and truly defeated. Someone could break into that floating palace someday and set him free. He could become a three-timer. 

If they can keep writing him so well and Oatley keeps his portrayal so strong, then I'm happy to see him come back. 

HIS RANKING

The alteration to the list in my last entry was somewhat contrived. I'm going to go much simpler this time. Sorry, Craig Owen, you were a great character. But I'm bumping you down to Sixth Place and giving your position to Tim Shaw. You're both really fun to watch - but I like Tim Shaw just that little bit better. Maybe if Craig had stuck a few teeth in his face, he might still have won! 

I especially like that there's still some New Who representation in this list. The rest of the Great Two-Timers hail from the Classic Series. And, rightfully so. Two-Timers were very nicely done during that era (I'm still just a little bit ashamed that Lytton didn't quite make it into this list. I guess he's Seventh Place). New Who has done some good work in this department too, though. So a character from that period deserves to be in the list. 

I know most fans don't have much of anything nice to say about Series Eleven. It may even bother you that I have chosen someone from this season to be on this list. But I really do love all the great things that Chibnall achieves through the character in both of his stories. His villainy, in many ways, helps with some crucial arcs of the whole season. But, on top of that, he's just a really great alien whose origins have been well-conceived. Not only would I love to see him back, but I'd love to see more Stenza, in general. 

Even better: how about a war between the Sontarans and the Stenza? Where the Stenza totally kick the potato heads' asses!   

That completes another update. We're getting towards the end of the month. Time enough for two more entries, though. Both of them will deal with some pretty big issues....