Doctor Who assistants - Search/Destroy

Mary Tamm was up the duff when she left - did she leave of her own volition or was she pushed? It would be great if they'd written her pregnancy into the show, and had the Doctor express a smidgin of regret for the terrible, terrible fun they'd had before never seeing her again.

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

Tegan was supposed to be from Melbourne, if I remember correctly. She ROCKED. Best companions of all-time:

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.

You haven't seen Victoria on-screen? So haven't seen Tomb of the Cybermen? You must, you must!

(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.

i've always had a soft spot for the harry sullivan/ sarah jane smith years myself. lis sladen was impossibly nice when i met her as an awe struck young fan, but weirdly got on with my mum like a house on fire. most charming who actor i met when i was on full on obsessive mode though was anthony ainley - say what you will about the second master, i've rarely met a nicer bloke. he rather seemed to cling on to me as a last attempt at normality before the really scarey who fans with their knitted daleks came a calling and said to me "oh dear, i do so hope you don't end up taking it all quite so seriously as some of these poor people" which i thought rather sweet. jon pertwee on the other hand seemed incredibly bored until you mentioned anything non who based - in my case "the navy lark" - when suddenly the whole thing just ended up being a lot less of a chore for him

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

Jo Grant rules of course. Katy Manning = uber hornX0R.

dr c likes screamers

How much crack does Dan Perry get through? Mary Tamm has been plankish in everything I've ever seen her in. she was a very good corpse in the recent Jonathan Creek xmas special.

Romana I was aloof and superior. Romana II was piney and inappropriate (see the bizarre histrionics at the beginning of "The Liesure Hive" for a great example; she's bopping along the beach like striped tree stump until K-9 gets near the water, at which point she becomes a shrieking fishwife tearing out clumps of hair over the death of her only son, only to go right back to wooden regret in the next scene).

whereas Romana I's emotional repoertoire ran the spectrum from "aloof" to "superior" and back again. With "corpse" she was just showing off ;-)

Alan, she's really great in "The Pirate Planet" and "The Ribos Operation". I haven't seen it in years, but I remember her being great in "The Androids Of Tara", too.

oh have your Romana I. I don't think it helps that her character was somewhat incidental to many of the key to time stories (esp Pirate Planet), which compounded with the ice-queeniness makes me remember her as insipid. Androids of Tara was as good as it got. she didn't get much of a run to establish herself i suppose.

If you want insipid, I give you the initial Jo Grant stories. Good God, I wanted to shake her when she first came on the show. Who knew that she was capable of being as fantastic as she was in "The Green Death" based on "Terror Of The Autons"?

I've had this sudden thought of a Sontaran or Cyberman stumbling onto this thread and thinking "Doctor' Who's assistants... Search & Destroy! Resistance is Useless!"

mmmm, probic vents

You hardly need to play up the implicit rudeness of the Sontarans.

"implicit"?????

rudest dr who monsters! Alpha Centauri. that plant in Nightmare of Eden (oh my arms, oh my legs, oh my everything).

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

Search:

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.

yow! now I got a reason to re-view sides nostalgia
classic = growing up and finding out the actresses formerly old-as-yer-mum were/are ROWRRR!

Good old bag of soil.

When this thread was originated I did not know how much of a minger Ace was.

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!

first Romana was always being rude to the Doctor, therefore she is the best.

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.

tonight, as part of children in need, there appears to be a doctor who edition of 'the weakest link' featuring old doctors, assistants and talking tin cans.

andy

Ooh goth-space trilogy on UK Gold tonight! And an entire WEEKEND of compost coming up on UK Gold. Hee.

OMG WHO'S ON THE WEAKEST LINK??????

Oh it'll only be McCoy, and maybe Davison. Betcha.

And K-9.

Search (in order of greatness): Leela, K-9, Romana II, Nyssa, Romana I, The Brigadier.
Destroy (in order of heinousness): Sarah Jane, Tegan, Turlough, Peri, everybody else.
Pour out a forty oz for: Adric.

Custos, you are on crack. Tegan, Turlogh and Sarah Jane are three of the five best companions (the other two being Leela and Romana I, natch).

Also, Zoe and Jamie rocked.

i worked out that custos is actually homer simpson yesterday but i can't remember why!

unfortunately to get to watch the weakest link thing you have to sit through 3 hours of 'an up next music from donny osmond'. pah.

andy

Tegan once made an unforgettable crack. Only from memory, correct me comic book guy, etc, but I think the Doctor was talking about a planet wasteland where nothing ever happens and Tegan said 'I should show you Brisbane'.

Of course, Leela wins with Romana a close second, but I named my daughter after Sarah-Jane.

Turlough is very high up there, no doubt, esp. if we discount purely salacious motives (those included, I pretty much agree .. Leela, Romanas, Sarah Jane, Jo, in something like that order ... hey, how come no one mentioned Kamelion, haha).

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, you are on crack.
No, Dan. You smoked my stash last night.
Lemme break this down...
Tegan: Whiny and unhelpful. Sure the actress was a hottie but the character deserved to be kicked, literally, out of the TARDIS's front door while travelling at transrelativistic speeds. And she kept getting mind-controlled and possessed. For each time that Turlough bungled trying to kill the Doctor on purpose, Tegan would get 2 or 3 attempts to accidently kill the Doctor.
Turlogh: I admit, this guy had a great backstory (evil judas from another world), but the actor played him like a deranged speedfreak. Watch him froth at the mouth as hey jabbers "Tractators! Tractators!"
Besides, his eyebrows have me the creeps.
Sarah Jane: Not a hottie, not very helpful as a companion, spent all her time screaming and needing to be rescued. Sarah Jane is the anti-Leela.
BAH!

i worked out that custos is actually homer simpson yesterday but i can't remember why!
No, I'm Otto, the goofy metalhead bus driver.

sarah-jane was the best and only and all the others were mere shadows. except for nyssa. but I'm over it now.

Dude, are you kidding????? VICTORIA WATERFIELD was the anti-Leela!

Custos, your description of Turlough made him sound even better than he was!

Dude, are you kidding????? VICTORIA WATERFIELD was the anti-Leela!
This name does not ring a bell. She's outside my Dr Who Knowledge.
(Caveat: I only know about assistants from After John Pertwee but before Sylvester McCoy.)

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.

Victoria was an 18th century lass who travelled with the 2nd Doctor and really didn't do anything BUT scream. Seriously. She was more of a screamer than all of the other companions put together.

K-9 is the only one I really liked.

oh, and you wouldn't have wanted to see the Weakest Link thing, it was awful, it was those people from Dead Ringers one was Ann Robinson, the other a doctor, McCoy, Colin Baker, K-9, A Cyberman, and some other bad guys I didn't recogonise.

Has anyone mentioned the "official new Doctor Who story" on bbc.co.uk? It's called the scream of the Shalka, it's flash animated, and does seem to say quite clearly that it stars Richard E. Grant as the ninth doctor. Which is strange because (I) that means both stars of Withnail and I are back-to-back doctors. (II) it's a bit obvious (see the Curse of Fatal Death brian was talking about above) and (III) he's really well known.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/shalka/

Victoria was an 18th century lass who travelled with the 2nd Doctor and really didn't do anything BUT scream.
I guess I have to find some old videos. 'cuz I can't imagine a Doctor's assitant more feeble and neurotic than Sarah Jane.

Shalka thing is very mixed... REG has his moments of spot-on comic timing (he's playing the Doctor in rather a Colin Baker/Hartnell angry/irascible manner, mixed with McGann), but the whole thing feels a little patchwork.

Companions:
Search:

Leela (Louise Jameson) - despite a distinct lack of rapport with Tom Baker, she works superbly, esp. in Season 14 and "Horror of Fang Rock". The much-admired minimalist costume, and the fiery, resourceful savage quality make a fine combination.

Romanas I and II (Mary Tamm & Lalla Ward) - slightly aristocratic superior Time Lady types... work wonderfully well with that genial and *knowing& quality the series projected in those last two Graham Williams-produced seasons. Tamm is the more beautiful, yet Ward is wonderfully teasing in "City of Death". Shouldn't forget that Ward played the part in a more serious (well some of the time) vein in Season 18, particularly in "Warriors' Gate", and that Tamm is sublime in the first 4 stories or so of S16. If one likes that sort of slightly haughty ice maiden tendency; which concealed an interesting level of naivety about things compared to the Doctor.

Ian & Barbara (William Russell & Jacqueline Hill) - stalwart, well-characterised pair of teachers. Don't think Russell is the last instance of heterosexuality in the TARDIS... Jamie in more than one story indicates such leanings, as ambiguously does Pertwee's Doctor in "The Green Death"... Barbara is a very strong character; see, "The Aztecs", "The Romans" and many more; idealistic, and reasoning. A shame they never really thought to bring any more history teachers into the TARDIS. What did Chesterton study again...? Surely a more masculine science or maths...? ;-)

"Jamie & Zoe!" (Frazer Hines & Wendy Padbury) - they work wonderfully in the Troughtons I've seen (most surviving Troughton seems to be from Season 6). Precocious, slightly impudent brainbox girl (with real '60s' futurist costumes) and the loveable old Scots fish-out-of-water himself. The 3 actors seemed to be so suited to each other, and put so much spirit into things.

Liz Shaw (Caroline John) - perhaps an under-explored character and one who never left earth (well barring the tomfoolery of Ambassadors #1 in the TARDIS), but one of the more intelligent companions, who yeah, also had some incredibly short skirts; particularly in "Inferno" and "Ambassadors". ;-)

Ace (Sophie Aldred) - An example of the writers getting it together and really putting some extra thought into characterisation. Aldred's no great actress, but in Season 26 she is served by some excellent writing. Ace is one of the more substantial characters of all the companions, though in S25 she could get annoying with all the pseudo-street/hip tendencies. All works really well though, in the learning curve that produced the wonderful final season.
Not at all as attractive as the likes of Liz, Peri, the Romanas, Leela for me, sorry. :)

The Brigadier (Nick Courtney) - brought to life gloriously by the actor. In early stories, he is a calculating, professional and at times edgy figure... in the later guest appearances, he is a loveable crusty old uncle sort. In the middle (seasons 8-11) he is a bit of a caricature; admittedly this can be enjoyed on some level, but it gets irritating. Not the actor's fault. He seemed to take on a new lease of life in the two stories he had with Tom Baker's Doctor; there was more of a clash of perspectives between the two, and the comedy all came off better. Particularly a wonderful double-take in "Robot" after this great exchange:
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: [On neutral monitoring of superpower missile bases] Naturally enough, the only country that could be trusted with such a role was Great Britain...
The Doctor: Naturally, I mean, the rest were all foreigners.

Mixed:
Sarah-Jane Smith (Lis Sladen) - one of the most down-to-earth and likeable companions in the show; seemed close to a 'real person'. Yet, occasionally quite tiresome. Her departure scene cannot be beaten though; wonderfully played by Sladen, and particularly ambiguously by Baker... she works as a breath of fresh air in the tired late Pertwee episodes. She's wonderfully integral to the plot of "The Time Warrior". She did lose a bit of her distinctiveness as the seasons passed however; where did the strong feminist views go, or the sharp tongue?

Jo Grant (Katy Manning) - ill-served at times by scripts, but Manning gave an increasingly likeable, distinctive portrayal in her later stories; particularly things like "Frontier in Space" (a yawn of a story generally), "Carnival of Monsters" and "The Green Death" most of all, as we see her fall for the eccentric 'younger doctor' hippy scientist, Jones. She really doesn't work very well in her first few stories; not quite to grips with the part yet.

K9 (voiced by J. Leeson in the main) - Oh, loveable addition to the series for kids, or a pointless way of solving narrative difficulties, like the Sonic Screwdriver? I'm maybe some way in between, but it must be said that John Leeson's voice is wonderful as K9 and he did have so many choice lines: in the "Pirate Planet", "She's PRETTIER than you, master" (on Romana I, compared to the Doctor... indeed ;-)) and responding to the ludicrous cockney Time Lord of "The Armageddon Factor":

Drax: 'Blimey, it's a dog! Who's a little tin dog, then?'
K9: 'Your silliness is noted.'

;-)

Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown (Nicola Bryant) - absurd first name, and bizarre in that she had one of television's few on-screen romances with Brian Blessed... okay, she had a habit of being sour and bitchy, but there were depths in the character - more so in general than Tegan perhaps - that were occasionally explored. She worked really well with Davison, and I do actually enjoy at times the love-hate rapport she has with Colin Baker. There is enough tenderness there in selected moments of Season 22 to suggest this, behind the bickering. I think Bryant did as good a job as she could with what she was given, especially considering she was forced to put on an accent foreign to her. Writing for the character was occasionally abysmal - see "Timelash" - and often tended to make her scream or become the object of lust of some perverted figure. Such sweet scenes as the one with Alexei Sayle's DJ in "Revelation" (that's really *the* 6th Doc. story that got it all right...), arm-in-arm with the Doctor at the start of "Mysterious Planet", the nice finale to "Mark of the Rani"... here you get the impression that she'd be a really nice person to know, which is always the mark of a good companion.
I feel Peri's underrated, and sadly was short changed too often by writers. Could have been one of the best companions, if her sweet side was more often brought out, or if her screwball sourness was ever really explained/explored in depth.

On a baser note, she had some nice flattering/revealing costumes... (there's no way around viewing DW companions in this way really!)

Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) - generally successful, but in a very low key. Nice attempt to make a companion clearly alien in her outlook and way of speaking. Not enough was made of her.

Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) - OK, he's clearly not an example of 'heterosexuality in the TARDIS', yet I'm not suggesting he is well, a gay man. Just a bizarre throwback to Bertie Wooster almost, who somehow is involved in the military - admittedly as a medical figure though, am I right?

Ben and Polly (M. Craze and Anneke Wills) - again, far too little exists in the archives... yet, I'd say they seem pretty good. Polly actually not at all the stereotyped 60s dolly bird - though she indeed has the look down pat - and Ben a likeable, 'able seaman'. 'Was he a taste of heterosexuality in the TARDIS or not?' Discuss. ;-)

Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) - seen too little to fully judge; she seems okay. Good in "The Myth Makers" by all accounts. Nicely scornful and petulant in "The Time Meddler".

Steven Taylor (Pete Purves) - not seen enough really. Though he was entertaining in "The Time Meddler" as a smug, slightly raffish, though at-heart-likeable chap. A fine comic foil for Hartnell in that story.

Vislor Turlough (Mark Strickson) - I like the fact that they tried to do make a very dubious-intentions based companion. Strickson was all right as well. Some slightly hammy acting, but it's fun - I can't quite recall his histrionics in "Frontios"... It was a shame, again, that he was made rather more bland after "Enlightenment", and played less of a part generally in the stories.

Destroy:

Grace (Daphne Ashbrook) - From the McGann TVM. She just didn't work really; a sketchy, ill-defined character. Too Scully-esque in the scepticism; not enough sense of who she really is.

Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford) - just not the right actress or part really for a companion. Comes across best in the runaround "Delta and the Bannermen". Is awful in "The Ultimate Foe" and from all I remember "Time and the Rani".

Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) - I am aware he has some support from female quarters, c.f. his indie maths quality. All I can say is that he was a millstone around a few stories' necks; an insufficient actor, straitjacketed by those ridiculous yellow pyjamas he constantly wore. Works slightly better with T. Baker than Davison.

Tegan (Janet Fielding) - Some good moments, but too much tiresome whingeing. Best in "Enlightenment", with that talk about love with that strange Mariner (IIRC ?) character.

Kamelion (voiced by Gerald Flood IIRC) - pointless android who had a first and last story but nothing in between as he was too impractical to use!

Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling) - the screamer par excellence (well, close to Mel in that regard...) which must alone make one dubious of her. Yet, she doesn't impact on the stories badly at all; though generally adds little either. Amusing use of her talents in "Fury from the Deep". I suppose she does actually have a lovely reflective scene with Troughton's Doctor in "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and is key to the plot of "Evil of the Daleks"... but generally, not a good companion.

Dodo (Jackie Lane) - sadly, she has seemed just wet in most of the things I've seen her in. Overplayed in an irritating vein by the actress.

Tom, you are fairly OTM except for your short-changing of Tegan.

I confess it's years and years since I've watched many Davison stories... perhaps re-evaluation may be in order. I go from what my memories are. "Enlightenment" (one of the few I've watched in the last 2 years say) certainly seemed to present her better than some.

My favorite Tegan stories (not that I've seen many of them in a while):

Kinda
Snakedance
Arc of Infinity
Enlightenment
The Awakening
Frontios
Resurrection of the Daleks

Earthshock is one of the best stories ever for the simple fact that it ended with Adric dying in a fiery explosion.

Dan OTM! THat death scene was worth the 2quid I paid for the video.

I love any moment in DW when Adric is denigrated... He was an appallingly silly and irritating little 'maths nerd'. I seem to vaguely remember Tom Baker's Doctor on many occasions giving him withering rebukes in those late Season 18 stories. And Nyssa had some quite cutting spats with him I seem to recall.

Oh, and I missed Susan - the very first - from my epic trawl through the companions... I'd say mixed really; she's great in the stunning opening episode, "An Unearthly Child" but too often is a bit of a screamer in later stories. We get to see far too little of her mooted intelligence.