By Any Other Name....

[Aneurin]

Is it just me, or are Rex and Esther basically just Owen and Tosh with different names? The characters, with the exception of a couple of differences, are nearly identical so far. Esther even seems to be harbouring feelings for Rex with her quick sideways glances and whatnot. If I remember rightly, she was even originally going to be Asian like Tosh. And she is the computer whiz who is shy and unassuming, while Rex, like Owen, has a bad attitude and an enlarged view of his own self importance, just like Owen.

I like the characters, especially Esther, but they don't really feel new to me. I suppose these types of people are everywhere, so they are no less new characters than anyone else would be, but considering just how similar they seem, it would have made more sense to me to make a point of making them seem more different.

Or is it just me?

[Exterminate]

There was a scene in episode 3 where Rex says about sleeping with Vera and Esther just gives him a look. That there confirmed to me that they are basically the same characters. I loved Tosh, so while I don't mind a similar character, it makes me a bit bitter that they didn't just keep her alive if all they are going to do is rewrite her. I prefer Rex to Owen though, though again they are so similar

[Roranicus]

I agree that they share a lot of similarities, but for me they aren't similar enough that it distracts from the story. I think Tosh and Owen were definately used as a basis for these two though

[Tardis-Console]

I'm with Roranicus on this. I think they were definately used as a template, which makes sense really because they were popular characters and they worked well as a unit, but I don't think they are so similar that they are blatent copies of each other

[thefifthdoctor]

This is interesting, hadn't looked at them that way before.
I can see the similarities for sure.
Maybe that's the real reason I'm not a Rex fan lol!

[chrissymarieb]

I hadn't thought of this either until I read this post.  But now that I have I can definitely see the similarities, as TFD says.  But I agree with Roranicus that it's not close enough to be distracting.

[Nyki]

There's definitely something of Tosh in Esther, but I'm not so convinced about Owen/Rex.  Rex is a lot more gung-ho, and Owen wasn't generally trying to take charge all the time.