Doctor Who assistants - Search/Destroy

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Turlough is loathesome and creepy but is also very watchable - his knee-jerk cowardice is a terrific character trait plot-wise (and makes his few brave scenes pretty memorable) though I think a short run as a companion suited him best.

Tegan can be awful but it's very hard to imagine the Davison stories without her.

Black Orchid was an odd story in that it was almost as if it started life as an ordinary period costume drama and Dr. Who was just thrown in as an afterthought.

around the same moment she sees some prisoner the cops have hauled in and says "Put him to the torture!".

what ethnicity is Tegan meant to be?

I don't she was as bad as Nyssa, although there's a good chance I'm mixing them up.
Typical behaviour of the Doctors assistants during the Adric/Nyssa/Tegan era:
1) Adric would help think up a possible solution to the problem.
2) Nyssa would tactfully offer advice on what Adric got wrong, and offer an improved version of the solution.
3) Tegan would neurotically pace back and forth and complain about how they were all doomed.
4) The bag guys would capture Nyssa and Tegan.
5) The bag guys would **KILL** Adric.
6) Tegan would bitch and complain while Nyssa surrepticiously would find a way to free herself.
7) The Doctor shows up just in time to see that Nyssa has solved the problem.
8) The show ends with no theme music, just a shot of Adric's broken star badge.