Why I like Cully
Cully is the son of Senex, leader of the eponymously peace-loving Dulcians in "the Dominators." He is the male version of the Rebellious Princess trope - a young hothead protected by the prestige of his family, but stifled by their sedentary and accommodating culture. He wants adventure in the great wide Somewhere. He's also apparently the only Dulcian with even half a brain, given that their science seems to be based on rote recitation and feels no need to be at all explanatory. Cully, though, not only observes but questions, takes initiative, and does not blindly accept what has been passed down to him.
When we meet Cully, he is leading tours of very nearly like-minded youngsters to the Island of Death, site of Dulkis's only nuclear test some 170 years earlier. It's a thrill-seeking expedition, but there are two important things about it. First off - it's not a scam. Secondly, you get the impression that Cully is getting more out of than his customers. They're three more interchangeable Dulcians - in fact their names are just the Arabic words for one, two, and three, and they're killed almost immediately because they're idiots. Despite humoring Cully by coming on this expedition, they're just...not that into it, continuing to be sort of passive and easygoing about the whole thing. And thirdly, and most importantly, Cully isn't stupid. He knows that what he's doing is dangerous, and takes no unnecessary risks. He's bringing them to the island, but has no intention of letting them walk around on it because it's horribly irradiated. He's justifiably suspicious when it turns out not to be horribly irradiated after all, and his caution keeps him alive when the rest of his party is murdered. Is rare to see a thrill-seeker character who is neither rash nor foolhardy, but Cully's well-developed spirit of adventure in no way interferes with his well-developed spirit of self-preservation. He is a very healthy and well-rounded mix.
This all serves to make Cully our heroes' chiefest ally among the Dulcians. He's way ahead of the game on knowing what is actually going on, having seen the Quarks and Dominators first hand and lived to tell the tale. He's also the only character advocating action against them. He's also open to new ideas. He believes the testimony of the Doctor and his friends because it agrees with his own and it makes sense, and he is willing to be led by them. He's not rebellious for its own sake, but for the legitimate reason that life on Dulkis is indescribably dull. And so he joins the team enthusiastically and proves to be a valuable part of it.
Cully takes on a role usually reserved for the Doctor in this story, which is that of the unaccounted for. He ends up entirely out of the Dominator's reckoning, and is therefore able to move freely and cause chaos. He teams up with Jamie, after the two of them get trapped in a bunker and presumed dead, and they enact a guerilla campaign against the cutest killer robots in existence while the rest of the cast is being held hostage. And it's super effective! And wonderfully satisfying in a Rock Beats Laser kind of a way. The Pacifist and the Piper - there's very little limit to what two young creative able-bodied men in skirts can accomplish when they put their minds to it. They're very well matched, and they manage to disrupt things enough and take out enough Quarks to completely hobble the Dominators' scheme. They're the thorn in the foot, the stinging gadfly, the one thing that just keeps going wrong, and it's fun. Jamie and the Doctor make such an excellent team that those rare moments we get to see Jamie team up with other people are a particular treat.
It's also significant that, being the son of the Director, Cully is able to help smooth the way politically for the Doctor et al., as little good as that accomplishes. But he gives them the ear of the very heart of Dulcian power (such as it is), as well as native expertise on, say, the local technology and such. And it's important to have characters like Cully - local allies invested in beating the baddies. It's not the Doctor saving some random planet - it's the Doctor helping Cully save his own planet, which is a really significant distinction. And a lot of what Cully needs is simply to be believed, valued and supported, which is sadly something only actual aliens are able to provide. Our heroes take Cully seriously, and that makes all the difference.
Cully is a bit of a Last Sane Man type, and he really is very competent and effective once he is allowed to be. He's also just plain a lot of fun. He's a Dulcian you can actually root for, which is important when the rest of the planet are Straw Pacifists and general wet blankets. It's hard to fight for someone who won't fight for themselves, but Cully will, and so is someone the audience can latch on to. I think he's great.
He's also, incidentally, played by a gentleman named Arthur Cox, who appears in "the Eleventh Hour" as the owner of the car Amy catches the Doctor's tie in. It amuses me to imagine that Cully did eventually escape from Dulkis to have wacky adventures of his own and eventually retire to Leadworth. But if he did stay behind and succeed his father Senex, at least the Dulcians are in good hands.
When we meet Cully, he is leading tours of very nearly like-minded youngsters to the Island of Death, site of Dulkis's only nuclear test some 170 years earlier. It's a thrill-seeking expedition, but there are two important things about it. First off - it's not a scam. Secondly, you get the impression that Cully is getting more out of than his customers. They're three more interchangeable Dulcians - in fact their names are just the Arabic words for one, two, and three, and they're killed almost immediately because they're idiots. Despite humoring Cully by coming on this expedition, they're just...not that into it, continuing to be sort of passive and easygoing about the whole thing. And thirdly, and most importantly, Cully isn't stupid. He knows that what he's doing is dangerous, and takes no unnecessary risks. He's bringing them to the island, but has no intention of letting them walk around on it because it's horribly irradiated. He's justifiably suspicious when it turns out not to be horribly irradiated after all, and his caution keeps him alive when the rest of his party is murdered. Is rare to see a thrill-seeker character who is neither rash nor foolhardy, but Cully's well-developed spirit of adventure in no way interferes with his well-developed spirit of self-preservation. He is a very healthy and well-rounded mix.
This all serves to make Cully our heroes' chiefest ally among the Dulcians. He's way ahead of the game on knowing what is actually going on, having seen the Quarks and Dominators first hand and lived to tell the tale. He's also the only character advocating action against them. He's also open to new ideas. He believes the testimony of the Doctor and his friends because it agrees with his own and it makes sense, and he is willing to be led by them. He's not rebellious for its own sake, but for the legitimate reason that life on Dulkis is indescribably dull. And so he joins the team enthusiastically and proves to be a valuable part of it.
Cully takes on a role usually reserved for the Doctor in this story, which is that of the unaccounted for. He ends up entirely out of the Dominator's reckoning, and is therefore able to move freely and cause chaos. He teams up with Jamie, after the two of them get trapped in a bunker and presumed dead, and they enact a guerilla campaign against the cutest killer robots in existence while the rest of the cast is being held hostage. And it's super effective! And wonderfully satisfying in a Rock Beats Laser kind of a way. The Pacifist and the Piper - there's very little limit to what two young creative able-bodied men in skirts can accomplish when they put their minds to it. They're very well matched, and they manage to disrupt things enough and take out enough Quarks to completely hobble the Dominators' scheme. They're the thorn in the foot, the stinging gadfly, the one thing that just keeps going wrong, and it's fun. Jamie and the Doctor make such an excellent team that those rare moments we get to see Jamie team up with other people are a particular treat.
It's also significant that, being the son of the Director, Cully is able to help smooth the way politically for the Doctor et al., as little good as that accomplishes. But he gives them the ear of the very heart of Dulcian power (such as it is), as well as native expertise on, say, the local technology and such. And it's important to have characters like Cully - local allies invested in beating the baddies. It's not the Doctor saving some random planet - it's the Doctor helping Cully save his own planet, which is a really significant distinction. And a lot of what Cully needs is simply to be believed, valued and supported, which is sadly something only actual aliens are able to provide. Our heroes take Cully seriously, and that makes all the difference.
Cully is a bit of a Last Sane Man type, and he really is very competent and effective once he is allowed to be. He's also just plain a lot of fun. He's a Dulcian you can actually root for, which is important when the rest of the planet are Straw Pacifists and general wet blankets. It's hard to fight for someone who won't fight for themselves, but Cully will, and so is someone the audience can latch on to. I think he's great.
He's also, incidentally, played by a gentleman named Arthur Cox, who appears in "the Eleventh Hour" as the owner of the car Amy catches the Doctor's tie in. It amuses me to imagine that Cully did eventually escape from Dulkis to have wacky adventures of his own and eventually retire to Leadworth. But if he did stay behind and succeed his father Senex, at least the Dulcians are in good hands.