Ace travelled with the Seventh Doctor between 1987 and 1989, and had a penchant for badges and blowing things up! Here are some of the best Ace Doctor Who stories…
The Curse of Fenric
Before you watch the first of our Ace Doctor Who stories, a word of warning – you will need to concentrate, and you might have to take notes. ‘The Curse of Fenric’ is a great adventure, but it’s complicated. At the same time, it puts Ace at the very heart of the action and it’s chock-full of drama, timey-wimey goodness and, surprisingly, romance.
One of the most memorable parts about the first of our Ace Doctor Who stories is the scene in which she distracts the guard at the army base so that the Doctor can sneak by unnoticed. At first, the Time Lord is nonplussed as to how, exactly, Ace plans to ‘distract the guard,’ and she firmly reminds him, “Professor, I’m not a little girl.” This is code for ‘using her charm to enchant the guard with her sexuality.’
This was a ground-breaking moment for a Doctor Who companion and almost a coming-of-age moment for the series, and for Ace herself – even if the dialogue was a little strange. “We’re not even moving yet,” she utters. “Hardly cruising speed. Sometimes I move so fast, I don’t exist any more.” Cover your ears, kids.
But this is not the only reason we included ‘The Curse of Fenric’ on our list of Ace Doctor Who stories. The adventure also delves into her personal history and, unknowingly, Ace ends up saving the life of her grandmother, and her mum. This is particularly painful for Ace, as she has a turbulent history with her mother, and at the story’s conclusion she stares agonised at a photo of the child, teary-eyed as she tells the Doctor, “She’s my mum, and I don’t love her! What’s wrong with me?”
And whilst we never really get an answer to that question, it was no coincidence that Ace encountered her mother. The earth-shattering revelation in ‘The Curse of Fenric’ is that an ancient, god-like being has been manipulating her life for years, even interfering with her travels with the Doctor. In short, he has been slowly reeling her into the events that reach a climax in this story. (As I said, you might need to take notes!)
Survival
Like many of the adventures from Season 26, ‘Survival‘ puts Ace at the front and centre. In the next of our Ace Doctor Who stories, the character finally returns to Perivale to catch up with her old friends. The place is gritty and rough, and it’s clear that she had an eventful childhood. “The police let you off with a warning, didn’t they?” says Sergeant Paterson, one of Perivale’s residents. Alas, we never find out what the incident was.
Equally ambiguous are the references to Ace’s sexuality. She develops a particularly strong attachment to one of the Cheetah people, a character named Karra, but the full extent of this attachment is left for the viewer to unpick.
According to the writer Rona Munro, much of this implied romance would have been crystallised by the actors’ performances, which were hampered by the fur-covered masks which the Cheetah people were ultimately given. “I think the actors that were cast, from what I was told, were doing all this wonderful expressive facial work,” she said, “and then these Puss in Boots things were dropped on them – and so then you can’t see what they’re doing under there. Particularly Karra and Ace, there were whole amazing scenes between them and for me, that was supposed to be my lesbian subtext – and you can’t see it!”
Still, ‘Survival‘ is a worthy entry on our list of Ace Doctor Who stories, and an important one on her character’s journey – even though, sadly, this ended up being the last of her adventures with the Seventh Doctor.
Ghost Light
‘Ghost Light’ is another of those Ace Doctor Who stories which you will have to pay close attention to. This adventure from Marc Platt is about as complicated as it gets, and demands your full attention throughout. We’ve created a handy guide if you want to get the most out of this story!
And like the other Ace Doctor Who stories on this list, ‘Ghost Light’ riffs on the character’s personal history, and it marks an important moment in her relationship with the Doctor. She mistakenly tells the Time Lord about an old house in Perivale that frightened her and he, without telling her, takes the TARDIS there. He wants to know what it was that drove her to burn the house down when she was a teenager.
This culminates in one of the most famous moments in the Seventh Doctor era – the classic ‘burnt toast’ scene. Ace rumbles the Doctor’s game and confronts him. “Don’t you have things you hate?” she asks. The Doctor replies: “I can’t stand burnt toast. I loathe bus stations. Terrible places, full of lost luggage and lost souls… Then there’s unrequited love, and tyranny, and cruelty…”
It turns out that Ace picked up an “aura of intense evil” when she first visited the old house. “You’ve learned something you didn’t recognise when you were thirteen,” the Doctor tells her. “The nature of the horror that you sensed here.”
“It’s alien,” Ace concludes.
As such, ‘Ghost Light’ may be one of the most complicated Ace Doctor Who stories on our list, but it is probably the most famous, and it’s one of the true fan favourites of the Seventh Doctor’s era – even if some people don’t quite understand it!
Which is your favourite of all the Ace Doctor Who stories? And do you agree with the choices on this list? Let us know in the comments below.
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