Doctor Who assistants - Search/Destroy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/doctors/comp_mel.shtml

do any of Adric, the Brigadier, Turlough, or Harry etc. reverse the polarity of your neutron flow?

She sure is one finxy lady.

Leela was far and away my favorite. She was foxy and completely lethal; "Robots Of Death" is so classic it hurts. Zoe was also foxy and smart. My favorite TARDIS crew of all time is Tegan, Nyssa and Turlough, though. They were only together for two shows, but the whole evil companion thing was SO GREBT.

Lalla Ward. mmmmmmmmmmm.

And wasn't the thing about Ace that the storys became about her psychological enemies? So that the Curse of Fenric wasn't about blood drinking zombies and Nicholas Parson as a Parson but was actually about Ace's deep seated need for/hartred of her mother.

Anyway for the real issues - I'd wanna be trapped in a Tardis with Sarah Jane.

what ethnicity was Tegan meant to be? I mean, she sounded Australian, but Jovanka sounds kind of African.

Jamie
Zoe
Sarah Jane Smith
Romana I
Leela
Tegan
Turlough
Benny
Roz
Fitz

(Yes, I cheated and put book companions in there.)

Victoria was cute; too bad she was so UNBEARABLY SHRILL AND TWEE. I've never seen her on-screen portrayal, but I still wanted the monsters to pull her head off.

(Admittedly there are those who could make intelligent arguments that there are more useful things to do with your time than watch black & white episodes of a long dead sci-fi series, especially episodes which, even by the standards of the show, have particularly cheesy special effects. Well, they can suck my stiff, slimy Ice Warrior.)

Oh yeah, Ian Chesterton rules - heterosexuality in the Tardis, never to be repeated.

none of this of which has any relevance any more to the question so i shall now shut up...

and why is the tracer buzzing in my hand? (nb, this is not a ref to tracer hand)

Thought Ian and Barbara in the very early Hartnell shows were terrific and made for each other. Does anyone remember the rather touching "montage" at the end of "The Chase" when they got back to 1960's London - running around Trafalgar Square, knocking on a police box door and laughing? Wouldn't you have wanted them to be your mum and dad?

Liz Shaw - the blue stocking scientist with a nice line in mini-skirts and Brian Jones fedoras.

Sarah-Jane - Lis Sladen was great. One of those "centred/focused" actors who no matter how shit the script was, breathed life into her character and carried herself with dignity.

Leela - probably my favourite. "You will do as the Doctor instructs, or I will cut out your heart!"

Romana I - Mary Tamm was equally good, v. aloof, superior, just standing there looking fabulous and making pithy remarks. Like Glynis Barber/Soolin off Blake's 7 for much the same reason. Lalla Ward had her moments but I'll never forgive her for blubbing at the pepperpots during "Destiny Of The Daleks", something Tamm would never have stooped to.

Tegan/Nyssa - a double act really. Pete Davison was "my" Doctor, the guy who tuned me into Who back in the 80's and I wanted to grow up and be a Mormon so I could thoroughly debauch the pair of them.

Mel - don't start. Bonnie Langford acts like a demented Principal Boy throughout, but she gave an utterly crap character on the page her spirited best shot.

Destroy:

Zoe - catch her shrieking in "The Mind Robber".
Adric
Ace - utterly dismal and embarrassing attempt to keep up with the times. Aldred's a fine actress (great in emotional scenes) but the character - her terrible street yoof speak, her proficiency with hand-made explosives. Forget it.

BLOODY HELL.

Thankfully Tom has now explained to me how there are two Romanas. My favourite is obviously Romana TWO because of the RED SHOES OV DEATH. And the boater!

actually given that the Romanas were the only Timelord assistants, it is presumably actually possible that either or both of them were getting it on with the Doctor.

andy

Those Davison years saw a complete failure to grasp how the show works, c.f. companions. You can have more than one companion, but you have to do it very well for it to work; Jamie and Zoe, the original Series 1 team etc.

Frankly, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric were very thin characters, impoverished by some very misguided writing. Strange how I can actually stand Nicola Bryant's Peri and not these; maybe the sole companion format just sits more naturally and easy, even with a companion who was written similarly. She managed a bit more rapport with Davison and Baker at times than those 3 ever did (well at times I admit Tegan and Nyssa worked well, but only very fleetingly).

Anyway, one awaits with great interest to see how Ms. Piper fares within the pantheon of companions; my feeling is that she could surprise many and be one of the very best - and it seems likely her relation to the nature of the series itself will be larger than any companions since Ian and Barbara, right back at the start. But then such is my confidence in the production; a fantastic team of writers, so much time and thought going in, etc.

I think I read somewhere she would be quite feisty. I just wonder if Dr Who will get terrible ratings because some prat will put it on a weekday between 7-8pm up against ITV soap operas and noone will watch it and the BBC will just let it die due to poor ratings(like happened before)
It has to be on around 6pm at the weekend IMO.

I'd love it if she was completely drugged out and criminal but that's not going to happen.

Billie Piper is obv an arse-ette. I mean - Chris Evans! How can anyone bear to be in the same room as that tool, never mind live with him.

1/ She is the hottest with her PANDA EYES.

2/ She is a secretary who goes into the Tardis by accident. Does the experience turn her into a fighting space trooper - NO! In almost every story she ends up literally making coffee, particularly in bases under siege.

3/ Except when she realises that the way to kill cybermen is by using her nail varnish on them!

4/ She is an even better screamer than Troughton's other assistants.

5/ She is the only companion who never gets an official surname, according to something I read somewhere.

6/ There is a great will-they won't-they thing going on with co-companion Ben. Except will-they won't-they hadn't been invented as a mechanism of characterisation so you have to squint to see it. But there is a definite dynamic and quite an interesting one - bit of rough Ben is clearly interested in posh girl Polly, and only really ever gets motivated when she gets kidnapped or captured (which is often), the rest of the time he's all "can't we go back to the Tardis?". Polly on the other hand never really pays much attention to poor old Ben, she seems more interested in Jamie though mostly to mother him and enjoy his quaint anachronistic ways.

(I am a sad, sad man)

Has Eccleston always been a cock?

He's one now, for sure.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/09/middle-aged-white-men-pariah-industry-says-christopher-eccleston/

Times ran the same story a few days ago, & were getting shit for a near-identical headline. It seems like Ecclestone's actually saying "and that's how it should be" but I haven't checked the actual interview.

It is really interesting how paywalls and twitter allow newspapers to lie. It becomes necessarily difficult to verify what was actually said so people respond to the headline, the headline has ideological effects... (what Eccleston actually said in the next tweet of Jolyon’s) https://t.co/T0zD2KLwkP

— Tom Gann (@Tom_Gann) June 10, 2022

i wrote a thing

https://www.alanauch.org/wtob/2022/06/19/no-more-allegories/

Reading that notes and the unexpected shade is painful:

When it comes to Doctor Who, I’m always hopeful. I’m hopeful that this won’t be a “Picard”-style second act.

jesus, this thread

Sorry about the shade! I try to be kind and compassionate, and I certainly don't judge anybody who really likes the show. That sort of nostalgia is simply not my cup of tea these days.

No offense taken, I actually consider that show to be generally terrible! I've watched a trans youtuber talk about LGBT representation in Trek and how she had found and valued analogues to the trans experience in the '90s, but how much more affirming it was to see actual trans characters and actors on the show (as unwatchable as I find Discovery, I will applaud its inclusiveness, just as I do with Chibnall's tenure), so I'm excited for RTD II, and I really like your reading on "Turn Left"!