Steven Taylor
From WhoniverseWiki
| Steven Taylor | |
|---|---|
| Character | |
| Companion of | The First Doctor |
| Created by | Verity Lambert (Producer) |
| Played by | Peter Purves |
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Human |
| First Appearance | The Chase |
| Native Place | Earth |
| Native Time | Probably the late 22nd or early 23rd Century.[1] |
| Alias | Diomede[2]; Steven Regret[3] |
| Occupation | Space Pilot |
| Known Friends | The First Doctor, Vicki Pallister, Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Dorothea Chaplet |
| Known Enemies | Various enemies of the Doctor |
| Base of Operations | The planet of the Elders and the Savages, formerly the Doctor's TARDIS, formerly Mechanus |
Steven Taylor was a companion of the First Doctor
Contents |
Description
Steven is sceptical[4] and sarcastic.[5] And is not really interested in exploration for its own sake.[6] He is a Protestant,[7] although he isn't sure if he believes in heaven, having seen little evidence of it.[8] And is not prepared to use a sword, even in self-defence.[9] His worst moment was failing to save Sara Kingdom.[10]
Abilities
Steven is a space pilot.[11] He carries a Swiss army knife.[12] He has a somewhat limited knowledge of Greek mythology.[13] During his time on the TARDIS he learnt to operate a number of the controls.[14] He can sing, sight-read music, and play the piano.[15] He can also play the harpsichord.[16] He is also familiar with Sherlock Holmes stories.[17]
History
Earth to Mechanus
Steven's education included learning pills.[18]
At one point, Steven visited the ruins of New York City after the Daleks destroyed it in the 22nd Century.[19]
Steven became a pilot because he wanted to affect social change, and ended up flying a battleship built from modified Dalek designs in a series of wars between Earth and its colonies and various alien species. His role on the ship was as a helmsman.[20]
Steven once had shore leave on the colony world of Roylus Prime after an uprising there had been quelled. Whilst there, he saw a soldier clubbing a woman with the butt of a standard issue laser rifle and fracturing her skull because she didn't move off the street fast enough. Her death made him believe that he had been fighting for the wrong side, and he still dreams about her because he feels guilty for not trying to intervene. He vowed not to let anyone else suffer if he could help it and successfully pursued a case against the soldier in question, but lost the trust of his comrades and any hope of promotion in the process. He was restricted to be a one-man non-combat pilot.[21]
Before he left Earth to, ultimately, land on Mechanus, Steven lived in a cramped apartment in the middle of a Hive block.[22]
Steven was in Red Fifty flight.[23]
Steven's ship was shot down by Krayt fighters over the planet Mechanus.[24] He was stranded on the planet for two years with only the Mechanoids and his toy panda Hi-Fi for company.[25]
On the TARDIS
Steven's spell on Mechanus was ended by the arrival of the First Doctor, who was on the run from some time-travelling Daleks. The Doctor and his companions helped Steven to escape from the Mechanoids, after which Steven stowed away on the Doctor's TARDIS. The next stop in the TARDIS was England in the year 1066, where Steven had to be persuaded by the Doctor and Vicki that he had actually travelled in time. On this trip, they put a stop to an attempt to change history by one of the Doctor's own people.[26]
The TARDIS crew then visited Spain in the era of Torquemanda and had an unexpected run-in with the Spanish Inquisition.[27]
The TARDIS crew then visited Venice, where they would got themselves involved in the events of the Armageddon Convention, and to a frozen London in 1814. Their next stop was a planet on which the Rills and the Drahvins had both crash-landed, and a brief trip to a planet where a psychic rabbit forced Steven and Vicki to perform a fairy tale, before erasing their memory of the events.[28]
Following this, the TARDIS landed outside ancient Troy, during the famous Trojan War. The Doctor was responsible for giving the Greeks the idea of the famous Trojan Horse, whilst Steven took on the identity of Diomede. Whilst Vicki left, the Doctor and Steven were joined by a Trojan handmaiden called Katarina. She accompanied the time travellers to the year 4000, where they tried to stop a Dalek plan to conquer the Galaxy. During these events, Katarina was trapped in an airlock with a madman, and sent herself into space in order to save her friends. Steven and the Doctor also allied themselves with SSS agent Bret Vyon, who was killed by another SSS agent called Sara Kingdom, who mistakenly believed them to be a threat to Earth. Sara realised her error and helped them defeat the Daleks. However, she was caught up in the effect of a Dalek device called the Time Destructor, and Steven and the Doctor were unable to save her from ageing to death.[29]
After this, the TARDIS's next stop was in Paris 1572, where Steven befriended a young Hugenot girl called Anne Chaplette. Steven suggested that the Doctor take Anne aboard the TARDIS, allowing her to escape from a massacre that was due to happen the following day, but the Doctor refused, much to Steven's disgust. On the next stop, Steven stormed out of the TARDIS, only to return a few minutes later. During this gap, a young girl called Dodo entered the TARDIS, and the Doctor hypothesised that she was a descendent of Anne, due to a similarity of surname. The TARDIS then travelled to New York in the same timezone, and the Doctor, Steven, and Dodo helped prevent a powerful race of aliens from unwittingly causing chaos across the planet. During these events, Steven and the Doctor were somewhat reconciled.[30]
The TARDIS then arrived in the far future, after the destruction of Earth. The crew encountered the last humans from Earth, who were on a ship which was taking a 700 year journey from the now destroyed Earth to the planet Refusis. Unfortunately Dodo was carrying a cold, which infected the humans. This allowed their Monoid servants to take over the ship. The TARDIS returned 700 years later, as the ship arrived at its destination, and the crew helped broker a peace between the two groups. The next stop was in the domain of The Toymaker, a powerful entity who attempted to trap the crew in his domain by making them lose games. Eventually the three time travellers managed to outwit him. However, they then ended up in Tombstone, Texas, and got involved in the events leading up to the infamous shootout at the OK Corral.[31]
Eventually, the TARDIS landed on the planet inhabited by the Elders and the Savages, The Elders had been oppressing the Savages, but the Doctor persuaded them to change their ways, and persuaded Steven to stay behind to lead their society.[32]
References
- ↑ In Salvation, Steven remembers seeing the damage the Daleks did to New York City during their first invasion of Earth, suggesting that he comes from a time fairly soon afterwards.
- ↑ He adopts this alias in The Myth Makers
- ↑ He uses this alias in The Gunfighters
- ↑ At least in The Time Meddler
- ↑ In several stories, beginning with The Time Meddler
- ↑ Galaxy Four
- ↑ He claims this in The Massacre
- ↑ Or so he says in Bunker Soldiers
- ↑ The Massacre
- ↑ In the final episode of The Daleks' Masterplan, as revealed in The Celestial Toymaker
- ↑ As established in The Chase
- ↑ As seen in The Myth Makers
- ↑ In The Myth Makers, he's heard of Troilus and Hector but not Cressida or Diomede.
- ↑ As seen in The Ark and The Celestial Toymaker
- ↑ As seen in The Gunfighters
- ↑ Vicki mentions this in Frostfire
- ↑ He mentions them in Bunker Soldiers
- ↑ According to Ash (Short Trips: A Universe of Terrors)
- ↑ As mentioned this in Salvation
- ↑ According to Salvation page 58
- ↑ This incident is mentioned in Salvation page 58
- ↑ This is mentioned in The Empire of Glass
- ↑ He says this in The Chase
- ↑ He mentions this in The Empire of Glass
- ↑ As established in The Chase
- ↑ As seen in The Chase and The Time Meddler
- ↑ This is mentioned in The Empire of Glass page 60
- ↑ As seen in The Empire of Glass, Frostfire, Galaxy Four, and Short Trips and Side Steps Planet of the Bunnoids
- ↑ This is what happens in The Myth Makers and The Daleks' Masterplan
- ↑ As seen in The Massacre and Salvation
- ↑ As seen in The Ark, The Celestial Toymaker, and The Gunfighters
- ↑ As seen in The Savages
