so considering how much you post about him I feel I should know this by now but i just realized i have like no clue so
who is benton? (feel free to yap as much as you want about him!!)
BENTON!!! SERGEANT JOHN BENTON [link to his tardis wiki page here!!]!!!! He is a lovely guy that works at UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) mainly as a Sergeant (3rd Doctor era) (formerly a Corporal (introduced as such in 2nd Doctor TV story 'The Invasion'), later a Warrant Officer Class One -> RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major) (first shown in 4th Doctor TV story 'Robot'), and in the case of this one story (Tale of a Time Lord), a Brigadier????) and later works as a used cars salesman (first mentioned in 5th Doctor TV story 'Mawdryn Undead', mentioned in the new unit audio series in the audio story 'Call to Arms'), and a pub owner (also 'Call to Arms').
Benton is so lovely. So lovely that he gets called nice things by other characters in universe (Jo: 'My lovely Sergeant Benton' (3rd doctor TV story 'Planet of the Spiders'), 'quite a sweetie' (companion chronicle audio story 'The Doll of Death'). Sarah Jane Smith: 'dear benton' (DWM short story by Nicholas Courtney 'Fond Memories'), Miss Hawthorne literally calling him 'a good boy' (in the novelisation of 'The Daemons'), and other such compliments (3rd Doctor TV story 'The Daemons'), etc. obviously i haven't read/listen to/seen everything) AND by actors themselves (ie, Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) calling him 'dear benton' in an interview). And of course by yours truly :).
Benton is very loyal and does let himself get hurt for friends and allies. Multiple times even. And he'll even occasionally attempt to continue working/fighting even when hurt. What a passively suicidal man he is. Stories with good examples of these things are: Audio 'The Doll of Death' (gets attacked heavily by dolls and shot in the arm while protecting Jo, tries so very hard to join the Brigadier in fighting despite all that. He is so bad that he cannot stand and spends a lot of the audio losing blood and just not being in a great state), TV story 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs' (he allows the 3rd Doctor use 'Venusian Akkido' to incapacitate him to stage an escape), TV story 'The Mind of Evil' (he insists that he is fine and capable of working and taking charge of this prison after being a) severely concussed and b) ambushed by the Master's lot), etc. in the Past Doctor Adventure (PDA) 'The Devil Goblins from Neptune' it is mentioned that 'Benton would willingly have walked into a withering barrage of gunfire for either.' about the Doctor and the Brigadier, further proving his loyalty and how passively suicidal he is. His loyalty is bordering 'working dog that wants to please so badly' at this point, which is partly where I get the whole 'dogboy' thing from.
Crucially, he is intelligent (despite how much I call him a dumb puppy and that). Benton can easily understand complex things without question (such as in 3rd Doctor TV story 'The Time Monster' where he can easily understand what TOMTIT (Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time) does (see transcript excerpt below)
HYDE: But we've done it. We shoved that vase through and brought it back, in there.
BRIGADIER: But shoved it through where, for goodness sake?
BENTON: Sort of through the crack between now and now, sir.
HYDE: Right, you've got it.
and also in the next TV story 'The Three Doctors' with the iconic reaction to seeing the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than outside, which is 'Well it's quite obvious, isn't it?', and also comprehending that there can be multiple Doctors in one place at the same time.)
Another thing about Benton is that his life sucks. When he was around 7 ish, in 1944, his younger brother, Chris, died and he blamed himself for it for years. His dad also died later in service by a grenade. He wanted to be in the military just like his dad, who more wanted Chris to be like him. While at UNIT he is constantly getting hurt, especially getting head injuries. Sometimes it's physical, sometimes it's a psychic/mental attack, sometimes it's him getting drugged, and sometimes it's getting a gun pulled on him. Sometimes it's a mix of these. Usually it is. Because Sergeant Benton cannot catch a break (except for technically when he just gets to do mundane jobs at UNIT, such as making tea and coffee for people. Because then he isn't in a life threatening situation. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to enjoy doing these things and would clearly rather be out on the field and dying heroically. Something something Benton is passively suicidal). Sometimes he is just being made to feel sad and hurt, whether it's because friends have gone away (Jo, the Doctor) or because it's a coworker pulling a gun on him (Captain Yates). Sometimes his hurt is a Virgin New Adventure (VNA) mentioning in a throw away line that at one point he had melanomas (skin cancer) (no literally in VNA 'Happy Endings' it mentions that he has scars on his hands from it. in a throw away line. Can this man get a break pleaaaaaase I knowwww that John Levene (his actor) had everything under the sun and never got a break but please??????). And sometimes it's said coworker from earlier deciding that he isn't very good at selling used cars (EXCUSE YOU MICHAEL, BENTON IS THE ONLY PERSON WHO COULD CONVINCE ME, A CAR HATER WITH ATTENTION AND SIGHT ISSUES, TO BUY A CAR. JUST SHUT UP WHY DON'T YOU MICHAEL NOPONY ASKED).
A crucial thing about Benton to know is that he is also very obviously a car fucker. He loves cars a lot. Too much. Key moments for me are in that one scene in 'The Daemons' as seen in my post [link] and also in a short story produced by Candy Jar Books called 'Car Wars' where he describes this maserati in a very oddly erotic way [link to my post]. Sure, this is just two sources, but that's enough for me. That's enough proof for me. That Man Shags Cars.
I think I've made this post long enough so take a complimentary jo AND benton for the road ^w^
