Why I like Ramon Salamander
Ramon Salamander, the titular Enemy of the World. Of course I like him - everybody likes him. The people of Europe love him for rescuing them from famine with his innovative sun-storers. His underground troglodytes love him for braving the horrors of the surface world to secure them uncontaminated food stores. Fariah loves him for letting her taste Griff's excellent cooking. And Jamie loves him for being just so darned handsome. And isn't he just? That noble brow, those magnificent eyebrows, that fabulous dress sense, that Napoleonic stature! In all things, he is the very model of a modern Australian dictator. And it certainly doesn't hurt that he's played by Patrick Troughton.
Ramon Salamander is the Second Doctor's Identical Stranger. I've mentioned that Acting for Two is one of my very favorite tropes, and when it's as fantastic an actor as Patrick Troughton, that's just an added bonus. Also, I love obvious foils for the Doctor. It's rendered all the more effective because Salamander and the Doctor are really nothing alike. And the most impressive thing is that, once they get going, they don't even look that much alike. They certainly don't sound anything alike, which is a nice complication on the trope. I really really love that the Doctor has to practice Salamander's accent, and it takes him a couple of tries. It's something he has to work at. And Salamander, when he inevitably impersonates the Doctor in return, has the good sense not to speak, knowing his accent will betray him. Which, yes, everybody impersonating everybody! It's an all around fun conceit, executed flawlessly.
Even if he didn't happen to look just like our hero, Salamander would be a compelling villain. First off, he's intelligent - and actually intelligent, unlike, say, the Eric Kleigs of the world, whose vaunted intellect does little to hide a blithering idiocy. No, Salamander is both naturally clever and extremely good at what he does. He's usually one step ahead of his enemies and never really slips up, except for that one stray scrap of newspaper, and even that he recovers from well. He's very methodical, never overextending himself. He doesn't saddle himself with incompetent henchmen, but neither does he kill so many people as to leave an obvious trail of bodies. And his plan is ultimately a rather brilliant one.
Salamander is a classic Villain With Good PR. He's fantastically charismatic (by contrast to the Second Doctor, who likes to project a false sense of weakness). More than that, though, Salamander is good at winning people's trust and admiration. He is charming, confident, self-effacing, and utterly ruthless - and he can turn that charm off and back on again like a light switch. He casts himself as a benefactor - saving the world from horrible famine, warning of imminent natural disasters and such, braving the terrors of a radiation ravaged landscape to retrieve precious supplies...the fact that he himself is responsible for those disasters just ensures that his predictions are never wrong. Whether this geological blackmail succeeds or not, he comes out ahead - the hero who saved the countryside or the voice of reason foolishly unheeded. Either way, his reputation as a generally nice guy grows, as does his overall power and influence.
Salamander is, at his core, a con man. A fantastically successful con man. He's been at this for five years already, and only a tiny tiny resistance group think that anything's wrong. And that is only because the other party in his great Two-Man Con has been telling them so.And I have to say - I love the two-man con. I mean this particular one, athough two-man cons in general are also pretty great. But I especially love any con which involves convincing an otherwise reasonable group of people that the world as they know it has been utterly destroyed. It's always an unexpected twist, and it takes an amazing amount of gall on the part of the con man. And Salamander pulls it off beautifully, not only keeping an entire population prisoner underground doing his dirty work for him for five solid years, but getting them to love him for it as well!
It has been said that a likeable villain is at least as important to a story as a likeable hero, and Salamander is an extremely likeable villain. He's also competent, genuinely threatening, and wonderfully well dressed. Salamander has style, and he knows it. Audacity and intelligence, charm and cunning. And everything he does makes sense. There's no Evil Gloating or unnecessarily complex plan or Evil For Its Own Sake. He's got a Machiavellian genius to him - he knows it's better to be loved than feared, and makes the most of both. "The Enemy of the World" has a larger than usual contingent of really fabulous supporting characters, an unexpected and remarkably compelling plot, and Jamie and Victoria in matching skirts - but it is Salamander who really makes the episode. He's a fantastic villain and an utter joy to watch.
Ramon Salamander is the Second Doctor's Identical Stranger. I've mentioned that Acting for Two is one of my very favorite tropes, and when it's as fantastic an actor as Patrick Troughton, that's just an added bonus. Also, I love obvious foils for the Doctor. It's rendered all the more effective because Salamander and the Doctor are really nothing alike. And the most impressive thing is that, once they get going, they don't even look that much alike. They certainly don't sound anything alike, which is a nice complication on the trope. I really really love that the Doctor has to practice Salamander's accent, and it takes him a couple of tries. It's something he has to work at. And Salamander, when he inevitably impersonates the Doctor in return, has the good sense not to speak, knowing his accent will betray him. Which, yes, everybody impersonating everybody! It's an all around fun conceit, executed flawlessly.
Even if he didn't happen to look just like our hero, Salamander would be a compelling villain. First off, he's intelligent - and actually intelligent, unlike, say, the Eric Kleigs of the world, whose vaunted intellect does little to hide a blithering idiocy. No, Salamander is both naturally clever and extremely good at what he does. He's usually one step ahead of his enemies and never really slips up, except for that one stray scrap of newspaper, and even that he recovers from well. He's very methodical, never overextending himself. He doesn't saddle himself with incompetent henchmen, but neither does he kill so many people as to leave an obvious trail of bodies. And his plan is ultimately a rather brilliant one.
Salamander is a classic Villain With Good PR. He's fantastically charismatic (by contrast to the Second Doctor, who likes to project a false sense of weakness). More than that, though, Salamander is good at winning people's trust and admiration. He is charming, confident, self-effacing, and utterly ruthless - and he can turn that charm off and back on again like a light switch. He casts himself as a benefactor - saving the world from horrible famine, warning of imminent natural disasters and such, braving the terrors of a radiation ravaged landscape to retrieve precious supplies...the fact that he himself is responsible for those disasters just ensures that his predictions are never wrong. Whether this geological blackmail succeeds or not, he comes out ahead - the hero who saved the countryside or the voice of reason foolishly unheeded. Either way, his reputation as a generally nice guy grows, as does his overall power and influence.
Salamander is, at his core, a con man. A fantastically successful con man. He's been at this for five years already, and only a tiny tiny resistance group think that anything's wrong. And that is only because the other party in his great Two-Man Con has been telling them so.And I have to say - I love the two-man con. I mean this particular one, athough two-man cons in general are also pretty great. But I especially love any con which involves convincing an otherwise reasonable group of people that the world as they know it has been utterly destroyed. It's always an unexpected twist, and it takes an amazing amount of gall on the part of the con man. And Salamander pulls it off beautifully, not only keeping an entire population prisoner underground doing his dirty work for him for five solid years, but getting them to love him for it as well!
It has been said that a likeable villain is at least as important to a story as a likeable hero, and Salamander is an extremely likeable villain. He's also competent, genuinely threatening, and wonderfully well dressed. Salamander has style, and he knows it. Audacity and intelligence, charm and cunning. And everything he does makes sense. There's no Evil Gloating or unnecessarily complex plan or Evil For Its Own Sake. He's got a Machiavellian genius to him - he knows it's better to be loved than feared, and makes the most of both. "The Enemy of the World" has a larger than usual contingent of really fabulous supporting characters, an unexpected and remarkably compelling plot, and Jamie and Victoria in matching skirts - but it is Salamander who really makes the episode. He's a fantastic villain and an utter joy to watch.