Paternoster Gang
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2015) |
Paternoster Gang Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax | |
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Doctor Who characters | |
![]() From left to right: Vastra, Strax and Jenny Flint, in the 2012 Christmas episode "The Snowmen".[1] | |
First appearance | "A Good Man Goes to War" (2011) |
Last appearance | "Deep Breath" (2014) |
Portrayed by |
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In-universe information | |
Species | |
Affiliation | |
Home |
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Home era |
Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax (informally known as the Paternoster Gang, together with
The three characters first appear in the
Since their first appearance, the trio have appeared various times to help the Doctor; they have a central role in the first half of "The Crimson Horror" (2013). Their last episode was 2014's "Deep Breath", the first episode starring the Twelfth Doctor.
They also have their own spin-off novella, Devil in the Smoke (2012),
Biography
Background
Vastra
Vastra is a female
Jenny Flint
Jenny's backstory in "The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later" (2013) shows she
Strax
Strax is a member of an alien warrior race, the
Appearances
Television
- "A Good Man Goes to War" (2011)
- "The Snowmen" (2012)
- "The Crimson Horror" (2013)
- "The Name of the Doctor" (2013)
- "Deep Breath" (2014)
Storylines
In their first appearance in "A Good Man Goes to War", the three, along with others who owe him favours, are chosen by the
In "The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later", a webcast set two days after the events of "A Good Man Goes to War", Strax is awakened by Vastra and Jenny, after they heal his wounds, and accepts their proposition to join them in London in 1888.[9][10] He subsequently becomes their butler.
They then appear in "The Snowmen" (2012), trying to convince the Eleventh Doctor to come out of retirement (into which he has retreated after losing Amy and Rory in "The Angels Take Manhattan"). They help the Doctor's future new companion Clara Oswald to find him and support them in their fight against the Great Intelligence. A high fall kills Clara, whose death indirectly lets the Doctor defeat the Great Intelligence.[1]
The trio — and more particularly Jenny — have a central role in the first half of "The Crimson Horror" (2013), set in 1893, in which they investigate a series of strange deaths. They travel to Yorkshire, where Jenny infiltrates a suspect community called Sweetville, led by Mrs Gillyflower. She finds the Eleventh Doctor, kept prisoner in Sweetville, and the trio reunites to help him defeat Mrs Gillyflower, by sabotaging the rocket she was planning to use to poison the skies. They discover that Clara appears to be alive (the Doctor's companion being another version of the one seen in "The Snowmen", coming from another era), but the Doctor does not explain why to Jenny, as he himself does not know the answer at this time.[2]
The three characters reappear in the
In "
Audio drama
Strax first appeared in
In 2019, four sets titled The Paternoster Gang were to be released featuring all three members. Heritage 1, Heritage 2, Heritage 3, and Heritage 4 were released in June 2019, October 2019, March 2020 and October 2020, respectively.
List of audios
- "The Haunting" – Jago & Litefoot & Strax (2015) – Strax
- "Young Winston" – The Churchill Years Volume 2 (2018) – Madame Vastra[21]
- "Inside Every Warrior " – The Eighth of March (2019) – Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax[22]
- The Paternoster Gang (2019–) – Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax[23]
Casting and development
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/Doctor_Who_Experience_%2830943573075%29.jpg/220px-Doctor_Who_Experience_%2830943573075%29.jpg)
McIntosh previously appeared in the series portraying two other Silurian female characters, sisters Alaya and Restac, in the two-part story "The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" (2010).[24][25][26]
Starkey previously played Commander Skorr, one of the Sontarans, in the two-part story re-introducing the species, "The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky" (2008).[27][28] He also portrayed another Sontaran character in "The End of Time" (2009–10)[citation needed] and in between appearances as Strax in "The Name of the Doctor" (2013) and "Deep Breath" (2014), he played two more Sontarans in "The Time of the Doctor" (2013).[29][30]
In November 2013, the long-running children's show Blue Peter announced a competition for fans aged 6–15 to design 'sonic devices' for the characters, with the three winning designs appearing in Series 8. The following month the winning entries were revealed as a Sonic Hatpin, Sonic Gauntlet, and Sonic Lorgnette for Vastra, Jenny, and Strax respectively.[19][31] The devices were featured in "Deep Breath".[3]
In an interview in the Doctor Who Magazine issue dated April 2015, Steven Moffat said that the BBC suggested a spin-off series about the characters,[32] but he rejected the idea due to his other commitments.[additional citation(s) needed]
Reception
Critical reception
The three characters have met with positive reviews from critics who praised their chemistry, as well as the humour concerning Strax and his Sontaran warrior habits, often at odds with the context.[17][33][34][35] Nick Setchfield of SFX called Strax "just the right side of crowdpleasing."[36] Discussing their first appearance in "A Good Man Goes to War", Dan Martin from The Guardian called the three "the finest thing about it, lighting up the screen with every appearance." He called their return in "The Snowmen" wonderful, calling Strax "scene-stealingly adorable". He also stated "with marriage equality so much on the agenda, the divine Vastra and Jenny can only be a good thing to have on screens at tea time."[17]
Notes
- ^ In "The Crimson Horror" (2013), Vastra believes that she has seen the symptoms of the "crimson horror" before, claiming that this had happened about 65 million years before 1893.[2] In "Deep Breath" (2014), she recalls seeing a dinosaur when she was a "little girl".[3]
- ^ In "A Good Man Goes to War" (2011), the battlefield where Strax is taking care of the wounded is captioned "Battle of Zaruthstra, 4037 A.D."[4]
References
- ^ a b Moffat, Steven (writer); Metzstein, Saul (director) (25 December 2012). "The Snowmen". Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ a b Gatiss, Mark (writer); Metzstein, Saul (director) (4 May 2013). "The Crimson Horror". Doctor Who. Series 7. Episode 11. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ a b c d Moffat, Steven (writer); Wheatley, Ben (director) (23 August 2014). "Deep Breath". Doctor Who. Series 8. Episode 1. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ a b c d Moffat, Steven (writer); Hoar, Peter (director) (4 June 2011). "A Good Man Goes to War". Doctor Who. Series 6. Episode 7. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ a b c d e "Madame Vastra". Doctor Who website. BBC One. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ^ a b "Doctor Who Mini Episode". BBC One - Doctor Who, Series 7 Part 1. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ^ "Jenny Flint". Doctor Who website. BBC One. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ^ a b Moffat, Steven (writer); Metzstein, Saul (director) (25 December 2012). "The Snowmen". Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One.
Dr Simeon: You realise Dr Doyle is almost certainly basing his fantastical tales on your own exploits, with a few choice alterations, of course. I doubt the readers of The Strand Magazine would accept that the Great Detective is, in reality, a woman. And her suspiciously intimate companion. Vastra: I resent the implication of impropriety. We are married.
- ^ a b "The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later". Doctor Who TV. 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ a b c Moffat, Steven (writer) (2013). "The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later". Doctor Who. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ^ Richards, Justin (18 December 2012). Doctor Who: Devil in the Smoke. BBC Books. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ISBN 978-1849907231.
- ISBN 978-1-84990-772-9.
- ^ "Vastra Investigates – A Christmas Prequel". BBC One - Doctor Who, The Snowmen. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ^ "Strax Field Report: The Name of the Doctor". BBC. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- ^ Gray, Scott (w), Collins, Mike, David A Roach (a). "The Crystal Throne" Doctor Who Magazine, no. 475–476 (August – September 2014). Tunbridge Wells: Panini UK Ltd.
- ^ a b c Martin, Dan (25 December 2012). "Doctor Who: The Snowmen – Christmas Special 2012". theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ a b Moffat, Steven (writer); Metzstein, Saul (director) (18 May 2013). "The Name of the Doctor". Doctor Who. Series 7. Episode 13. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ a b "Blue Peter viewers make Dr Who gadgets". ariel. BBC. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
- GamesRadar. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ^ "Churchill meets Madame Vastra!". Big Finish Productions. 13 March 2016.
- ^ "The Eighth of March". Big Finish Productions. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
- ^ "The Paternoster Gang Return!". Big Finish Productions. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
- ^ Chibnall, Chris (writer); Way, Ashley (director) (29 May 2010). "Cold Blood". Doctor Who. Series 5. Episode 9. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ Spilsbury, Tom; Starkey, Dan; McIntosh, Neve (August 2014). "The Victorian Adventurers". Doctor Who Magazine. No. 375. Tunbridge Wells: Panini UK Ltd. p. 17.
- ^ Chibnall, Chris (writer); Way, Ashley (director) (22 May 2010). "The Hungry Earth". Doctor Who. Series 5. Episode 8. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ Raynor, Helen (writer); Mackinnon, Douglas (director) (26 April 2008). "The Sontaran Stratagem". Doctor Who. Series 4. Episode 4. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ Raynor, Helen (writer); Mackinnon, Douglas (director) (3 May 2008). "The Poison Sky". Doctor Who. Series 4. Episode 5. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ Cook, Benjamin; Starkey, Dan; McMullen, Nathan (January 2015). "Dan Starkey & Nathan McMullen". Doctor Who Magazine. No. 481. Tunbridge Wells: Panini UK Ltd. p. 26.
- ^ Moffat, Steven (writer); Payne, Jamie (director) (25 December 2013). "The Time of the Doctor". Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ "Series 8 Sonic Devices for Paternoster Gang Revealed". Doctorwhotv.co.uk. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
- ^ Spilsbury, Tom; Moffat, Steven (April 2015). "Second Time Around". Doctor Who Magazine. No. 484. Tunbridge Wells: Panini UK Ltd. p. 16.
- OCLC 49632006. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ Wilkins, Alasdair (25 December 2012). ""The Snowmen" Doctor Who". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ Martin, Dan (4 May 2013). "Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror". theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ Setchfield, Nick (25 December 2012). "Doctor Who "The Snowmen" Review". SFX. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
External links
- Vastra on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki
- Jenny Flint on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki
- Strax on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki