Doctor Who assistants - Search/Destroy

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

And K-9.

Also, Zoe and Jamie rocked.

andy

I have a question, btw, has anyone here seen this panto-parody thing that's got Rowan Atkinson as the 9th Richard E. Grant as something like the 10th (quite handsome) Doctor, Hugh Grant as the 11th (handsome) doctor, Pryce or someone as the 17th master, Atkinson, Lumley ... oh hell:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0212887/

Point being, how on earth would a geek in Chicago get his eyes on this?!?

Custos, your description of Turlough made him sound even better than he was!
I hated his bright red eyebrows. I wanted to take a lawnmower to the guys forehead.

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"!