{"id":2486,"date":"2011-02-24T10:15:03","date_gmt":"2011-02-24T15:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=2486"},"modified":"2011-02-24T10:15:03","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T15:15:03","slug":"rest-easy-soldier-rip-nicholas-courtney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=2486","title":{"rendered":"Rest easy, soldier: RIP Nicholas Courtney"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nicholas Courtney<\/a>, known to generations of Dr. Who fans as “The Brigadier”, has passed away<\/a>.\u00a0 With him passes an era of Dr. Who that fans of the new Doctors will never know.\u00a0 He was the Watson to the Doctor’s Holmes; a solid, stolid companion who stood on his own with no desire to chase after our favorite Time Lord or explore the universe.\u00a0 As the head of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, he had a job to do, and did it with such dignity and precision that he earned the friendship and respect of the Doctor, the very antithesis of the military mindset.\u00a0 The Brigadier’s whole character can be summed up from a scene in “The Daemons” where, confronted by a living stone gargoyle, merely turns to a nearby soldier and says “Right.\u00a0 Chap with wings.\u00a0 Five rounds rapid”.\u00a0 He was that cool — Kirk at the helm of the Enterprise cool.<\/p>\n

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Nick Courtney is also legendary in having appeared with all of the original seven Doctors — playing opposite William Hartnell as Space Agent Bret Vyon, and the rest as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart — not one to let his scientific adviser\u00a0 get the best of him no matter what threat the Earth was facing this time.\u00a0 His final appearance on the show, playing against 7th Doctor Sylvester McCoy, shows the loyalty of the character — he protests when receiving a call asking him to come out of retirement for the sake of his country.\u00a0 Then they mention that the Doctor is involved…<\/p>\n

I’m sorry; I am not doing this man justice by rattling off trivia known to the most fleeting of Dr. Who fans.\u00a0 All I know Nicholas Courtney from is his work on Dr. Who, but he was just—so—damn—good!\u00a0 Please — go watch his classic episodes (most of the Jon Pertwee run) and salute one of the greatest side characters science fiction has ever known.<\/p>\n

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