Why I Like Sandy
Finishing up Dragon Month, let's talk about Sandy the Sand Beast. It is, naturally, a large quasi-reptilian monstery thing, native to the planet Dido. Our heroes encounter it (him?) during their escape from the mountainside temple where the TARDIS has inopportunely deposited them. Swords coming out of the wall Indiana Jones style force Ian towards a precipice - he can be stabbed or plummet towards the waiting jaws of the beast below. Like the Shrivenzale, the Sand Beast therefore functions as a sort of a guard dragon, protecting the sacred spaces of Dido from unwary intruders.
The design on the Sand Beast is really cool. It doesn't obviously look like anything terrestrial, although it does look familiar. It's pretty obviously what the Didoan ceremonial robes worn by Koquillion are based on, which is a really nice touch. There's an almost jewel-like construction to it - simultaneously beautiful and ugly, and wholly alien. And it only has two legs. Its body-type resembles a mudskipper or sea lion, something transitional between two environments. Perhaps it swims in the sand...how awesome would that be? All this to say it's really nice to see different types of animal shapes. There are so many different ways life can be, and I always appreciate it when science fiction really takes advantage of that fact.
But this article is called "why I like Sandy" not "why I like the Sand Beast." The most remarkable thing about Sandy is that he has a name. Who would name a hideous toothsome monster? Who else but little Vicki. Vicki explains (too late) that Sandy only eats vegetables (unlikely with those teeth, but who knows what Didoan plantlife is like I take it back; having looked at the pictures a bit better, those are clearly molars. Well done team!) and that she has trained him to come to the ship for food. This, I think, tells you everything you need to know about Vicki. Stranded on an alien world, all her people and family murdered, she encounters a beast three times her own size and thinks "I KNOW. It'll be my friend!" And then takes the appropriate scientific steps to tame and train him - the level of their interaction is actually very realistic. She's like a fairy-tale orphan or princess, making friends with all the forest creatures in her exile, except in this case the forest creature is a GIANT SAND BEAST. This is the same girl, of course, who goes on to think that Daleks are cute and befriend giant ants and killer robots. Vicki is extremely innocent, but she lives with one monster and in constant fear of another, and she knows that it's not scales and claws that mark the difference between a monster and a man.
It also showcases just how extremely lonely Vicki is, how much in need of family and companionship. And how poorly served by the adults in her life. Vicki is more capable than the people around her realize, and able to make her own way and her own decisions. When Barbara sees Sandy, she leaps into protective mode and shoots him with the flare gun. Barbara is a BAMF and ever-resourceful. But she is also not listening to what Vicki is trying to tell her - she assumes she understands the situation better than this half-grown teenager. We tend to talk about Barbara as being "flawless" but no character is flawless, and busybodiness is definitely Barbara's fatal flaw. And Vicki is devastated. As would you be if someone came along and shot your pet, literally your only friend in the world. It's a rare example of a child-adult conflict where the child is entirely in the right, outside of an Adults Are Useless narrative. And it's the first of a large number of situations where Vicki needs to exert her own autonomy against the adults in her life - Bennet's betrayal, of course, but also things like poisoning Nero (rather than let some poor slave be poisoned instead), fomenting revolution on Xeros (because who else is going to?), being abandoned (unintentionally) by the TARDIS crew but stowing away on the Dalek ship anyway, and putting Steven in his place when he tries to take charge as the Action Man and resident Adult. Adults and Vicki don't get along terribly well - which is perhaps why she works so extremely well with the Doctor, who is anything but.
Sandy's short tragic story also goes to show that there are more ways to be a BAMF than by shooting things. Vicki (poisoning Nero aside) is staggeringly non-violent. Among other things she's just too small. But that in no way prevents her from being a bad ass. It takes more derring-do to befriend and tame the dragon than to shoot it in the face. And of course to retain that fundamental goodness and love of all living things (and occasional robots) throughout the absolute horrors that befall poor Vicki. Poor Vicki. Poor old Sandy. And you have to love tiny tiny people with giant monsters for pets. It's a winning combo, and it's nice to see monsters that are just animals, doing their thing. Sandy is a guard dragon, a trainable animal, and a lonely girl's best friend. May he rest in peace.
The design on the Sand Beast is really cool. It doesn't obviously look like anything terrestrial, although it does look familiar. It's pretty obviously what the Didoan ceremonial robes worn by Koquillion are based on, which is a really nice touch. There's an almost jewel-like construction to it - simultaneously beautiful and ugly, and wholly alien. And it only has two legs. Its body-type resembles a mudskipper or sea lion, something transitional between two environments. Perhaps it swims in the sand...how awesome would that be? All this to say it's really nice to see different types of animal shapes. There are so many different ways life can be, and I always appreciate it when science fiction really takes advantage of that fact.
But this article is called "why I like Sandy" not "why I like the Sand Beast." The most remarkable thing about Sandy is that he has a name. Who would name a hideous toothsome monster? Who else but little Vicki. Vicki explains (too late) that Sandy only eats vegetables (unlikely with those teeth, but who knows what Didoan plantlife is like I take it back; having looked at the pictures a bit better, those are clearly molars. Well done team!) and that she has trained him to come to the ship for food. This, I think, tells you everything you need to know about Vicki. Stranded on an alien world, all her people and family murdered, she encounters a beast three times her own size and thinks "I KNOW. It'll be my friend!" And then takes the appropriate scientific steps to tame and train him - the level of their interaction is actually very realistic. She's like a fairy-tale orphan or princess, making friends with all the forest creatures in her exile, except in this case the forest creature is a GIANT SAND BEAST. This is the same girl, of course, who goes on to think that Daleks are cute and befriend giant ants and killer robots. Vicki is extremely innocent, but she lives with one monster and in constant fear of another, and she knows that it's not scales and claws that mark the difference between a monster and a man.
It also showcases just how extremely lonely Vicki is, how much in need of family and companionship. And how poorly served by the adults in her life. Vicki is more capable than the people around her realize, and able to make her own way and her own decisions. When Barbara sees Sandy, she leaps into protective mode and shoots him with the flare gun. Barbara is a BAMF and ever-resourceful. But she is also not listening to what Vicki is trying to tell her - she assumes she understands the situation better than this half-grown teenager. We tend to talk about Barbara as being "flawless" but no character is flawless, and busybodiness is definitely Barbara's fatal flaw. And Vicki is devastated. As would you be if someone came along and shot your pet, literally your only friend in the world. It's a rare example of a child-adult conflict where the child is entirely in the right, outside of an Adults Are Useless narrative. And it's the first of a large number of situations where Vicki needs to exert her own autonomy against the adults in her life - Bennet's betrayal, of course, but also things like poisoning Nero (rather than let some poor slave be poisoned instead), fomenting revolution on Xeros (because who else is going to?), being abandoned (unintentionally) by the TARDIS crew but stowing away on the Dalek ship anyway, and putting Steven in his place when he tries to take charge as the Action Man and resident Adult. Adults and Vicki don't get along terribly well - which is perhaps why she works so extremely well with the Doctor, who is anything but.
Sandy's short tragic story also goes to show that there are more ways to be a BAMF than by shooting things. Vicki (poisoning Nero aside) is staggeringly non-violent. Among other things she's just too small. But that in no way prevents her from being a bad ass. It takes more derring-do to befriend and tame the dragon than to shoot it in the face. And of course to retain that fundamental goodness and love of all living things (and occasional robots) throughout the absolute horrors that befall poor Vicki. Poor Vicki. Poor old Sandy. And you have to love tiny tiny people with giant monsters for pets. It's a winning combo, and it's nice to see monsters that are just animals, doing their thing. Sandy is a guard dragon, a trainable animal, and a lonely girl's best friend. May he rest in peace.