Ace McShane
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Ace McShane |
| Occupation: | companion of the Doctor, explosives enthusiast |
| Relationships: | Seventh Doctor |
| Fandom: | Doctor Who |
| Other: | played by actor Sophie Aldred (IMDb, Wikipedia) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This article or section needs expansion. |
Ace McShane is a character in Doctor Who. She is a companion of the Seventh Doctor.
Fandom
Ace was the last companion of Classic Who, and is fondly remembered by many fans. Some describe Ace as the best written female companion from the classic series.[1] Many admired her lack of screaming (compared to other Classic Who companions), and praised her character's development throughout the series run. She is also remembered as the companion who beat a dalek with a baseball bat.
She had a lot of agency and subverted the damsel-iness that defines a lot of companions, in both the Classic and New series. Ace was wont to go exploring on her own, which gave the writers a lot more leeway in storytelling, making her run one of the least formulaic, and she didn't take shit from nobody but nobody, allowing greater tension to be shown between Team TARDIS and the natives whose time period they're dicking around in without resorting to the violence of the Sixth Doctor era. She has a lot in common with Amy Pond, both in terms of being a bit over the top, but also being full and equal companions to the Doctor, not just hitchhikers or followers.[2]
For me, Ace was the only companion from the classic series to be more than just a character. Like everyone here said, she didn't just scream and get captured; she developed, became more interesting and mature as she traveled with the Doctor. The Ace in Survival is unfathomably different from the Ace in Dragonfire. That's not something that could be fully said of (probably) (literally) any of the preceding companions, and it's become so important that we now take it for granted with the modern companions.[3]
There has been much debate about Ace's sexuality since the classic series aired. At least two writers for the show said they had imagined Ace as a gay character and wrote her as such.[4][5] As a result, Ace is shown to have chemistry with both male and female characters, but her sexuality is never addressed in canon. Many fans headcanon that Ace is a lesbian/bisexual character.
Shipping
- Mel/Ace
- Ace/Seventh Doctor
- Karra/Ace
- Ace/Hex
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanvids
- Run With Us (an Ace & Seven fanvid) by Calapine (2006 or earlier)
Meta
- Ace's Many (Doomed) Loves by nostalgia-lj. This is a picspam by nos. While the image links are no longer working, the commentary is itself a tongue in cheek meta on Ace's various love interests.
- ACEISM: The Character of Ace and the Subtext of Anti-Prejudice. by Zepo (1999)
Other
- Ace Picspam, another picspam by nostalgia-lj
Example Art Gallery
Cover for Mounds of Time with the 7th Doctor (1992)
Art from The Agony Column #1, here the Seventh Doctor (1994)
Archives & Fannish Links
- Ace McShane tag on the AO3
- Fanfics during the 7th Doctor's era featuring Ace, on A Teaspoon and an Open Mind
- Multi Era fanworks featuring Ace, on A Teaspoon and an Open Mind
References
- ^ Comment by u/AboriakTheFickle on /r/doctorwho thread, Why was Ace awesome? (2019)
- ^ Comment by u/Sr_Carlos_Danger on /r/gallifrey thread, Why All the Love For Ace? (2016)
- ^ Comment by u/Machinax on /r/gallifrey thread, Why All the Love For Ace? (2016)
- ^ Rona Munro>you a LJ post by melengro (2008)
- ^ Ace McShane, tumblr post by Invisible Bi Characters (2014)