4. Sarah Smart (Jennifer, The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People)
Again, while I suspect one of my new series choices may annoy fans, I'm confident this one isn't going to surprise anyone either. In fact, for anyone who patiently sat through this two-parter, Smart seems to rank in favour only slightly above the abominable CGI used to further "enhance" her character at certain points. That this is a story littered with doubles and only makes Smart's role all the more mysterious: As written, this character is supposed to be, originally, a mousy and quiet team member of the facility she works at. Her "Ganger", or genetic double/avatar, is supposed to be the most subversive and sinister of the doubles; playing Rory for a fool due to his sympathies for the "actual" Jennifer. Also, she needs to communicate the "memories" of previous flesh avatars that were recycled for their flesh into new ones, and at some points just be violently disturbed as a result. That's a pretty demanding role, huh? Unfortunately, it seems all the budget went ANYWHERE but this two parter for this chunk of the series - Other episodes went to America, paid Michael Sheen and brought Neil Gaiman's epic visions to life, did location filming on a (real) pirate ship and paid Hugh Bonneville, and did Star Wars on a budget ("A Good Man Goes To War"). "Flesh/People" gets the short straw and has a location monastary serve as a processing plant with minimal set dressing and costumes, and easily the LEAST post-production. So, really, other than some prosthetics, the performances REALLY needed to count. One guess who couldn't pull it off. The perverse part is, the OTHER female role, that of Foreman Cleaves (Raquel Cassidy) had an actress whose range in this episode capably covered MANY bases - She goes from authoritarian and tough to a surprisingly good take on depressed and resigned to an almost certain death as her ganger - Her dark sarcasm is one of the few highlights. Why SHE wasn't inhabiting the role of the most complex character is confounding. Jenny seems to be hiding something the minute she meets Rory. Is this her Ganger? Is she shy? I know we're supposed to be confused about who's who later on, but we're never sure about her in the first place - Which is when Rory is supposed to become fond of her anyway.... so shouldn't she be appealing? Sarah Smart seems to have come to Doctor Who almost exclusively from a background of both contemporary and period drama as well as light mystery (Agatha Christie and "Midsomer Murders", for example). This excuses her unfamiliarity with sci-fi concepts. It does NOT excuse her inability to manifest basic emotions and motivation here. This story does have problems, but the role of Jenny with a much better actress would've solved many of them - And made Rory not look like an easily led twit.
(Less than) Shining Moment:
In "The Almost People", Jenny needs to motivate her "gang" to fight for its life and kill their originals - She does this by giving a stirring speech about the memories she can still feel from previous "flesh usage" before it was recycled into another Ganger. The aforementioned Foreman Cleaves Ganger seems to regard Jenny's "passion" with absolute dismissal, which is ironic - You'll be doing the same at home. Smart seems totally unsure of the words she's saying and has all the conspiratorial commitment of a toddler about to soil itself - Something bad is indeed brewing in her, but it's impossible for her to get anything good out of it.
In a parallel universe where game shows' final jackpots and consequent fortunes depend on knowledge of obscure music trivia and Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker Doctor Who episodes, I've probably gone rich, insane, and am now a powermad despot. But happily we're not there, so I'm actually rather pleasant. Really.
