A Doctor Who Xmas list: The Best Companions
The lucky Brits and those fortunate enough to have a cable provider with BBC America (fie upon thee, Cablevision!) will see Saturday's early kickoff to Matt Smith's second season in Doctor Who, "A Christmas Carol." Considering the excellence of the previous season -- and the fact that it's the end of the year -- it's a perfect time for a Doctor Who list! Of all the many traveling companions that the Time Lord has had through his 11 (!) incarnations, which ones were The Best?
It's hard to sort out some of them. After all, many of the Companions (nice, safe term, right, BBC?) were chosen as eye candy or as plot devices, yet their role has evolved over the nearly fifty years of the series' existence. Now, in the Russell T. Davies/Steven Moffat era, most of the people who accompany the Doctor through Time & Space aren't simply Sally Expositions who say "What is it, Doctor?" They have intricate backstories and well-defined characters. And, um, they're often ridiculously hot, too. Hey, Mars Needs Women, and The Beeb Needs Ratings, dammit!
Related Aside #1: Before I go further, a little musical Doctor Who treat for the holidays: a clever song, "Bigger on the Inside," done to the tune of "Baby It's Cold Outside." Take a listen while reading! Hat-tip to comics and Doctor Who scribe Paul Cornell, who mentioned it on Twitter this week. Related Aside #2: Cornell is also participating in Tor's cool-sounding The Twelve Doctors of Christmas -- 12 days of Who-related fiction and content, beginning December 26.
Finally, a tip of the Coronet of Rassilon ("And very fetching it is, too!") to Mike Ferguson, who demanded -- in a friendly way -- that this list must be done on this blog. It's taken me a while, Mike, but here we go! To be on this list, the Companion must have actually traveled in the TARDIS with the Doctor at some point. I'm excluding Companions from sources other than the TV series ... with a couple of exceptions. Counting down from, appropriately, 11:
11. Leela (Louise Jameson), 1977-78. The fierce warrior of the Sevateem and her skimpy leather hunting outfit. She certainly was unlike any Companion seen up to that point, having little compunction about killing enemies, and I dug the Henry Higgins-Eliza Doolittle relationship between Tom Baker and Louise Jameson. That Leela's stories occurred during the great, dark, gothic Philip Hinchcliffe era (regarded by many as the series' best prior to the 2005 relaunch) didn't hurt.
10. Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), 2007. I bounced poor Martha all over this list before settling her here. She gets high marks for being one of the Doctor's most competent Companions, able to handle every task whether it's mental or physical. She gets bonus points for being the best straight-up, "Once more into the breach!" warrior since Leela. So why isn't she higher? I can't shake the character's annoying family, who hung around as plot devices, and after dealing with Rose's family for the previous two years, enough was enough, Russell T. Davies.
9. Bernice Summerfeld (Lisa Bowerman in audio), 1993-recurring. OK, many of you might be saying, "Who is Bernice Summerfield?" Benny was created by the aforementioned Paul Cornell during the dark days of the 1990s when Doctor Who was off the air, and the only source of new Who content was Virgin's New Adventures line of novels, mostly focusing on Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor. Benny was a 26th century archeologist with more chutzpah and moxie than Lara Croft, and the character was a huge hit with the fans. She even made it into Big Finish's line of audio adventures over the past decade, with Lisa Bowerman appearing as Benny alongside Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as the Doctor and Ace. Lastly, huge bonus points to Benny for -- as far as we can tell -- being the only Companion to have sex with the Doctor! (She pretty much rips the clothes off of Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor in The Dying Days, the final Virgin Doctor Who novel.)
8. Romana II (Lalla Ward), 1979-81. Romana was a "Time Lady," a fellow Gallifreyan, and so was better able than most to keep up with the Doctor's babble and even set him straight a few times. Of course, that didn't keep Romana from getting into trouble as much as any other Companion! Nevertheless, Lalla Ward as Romana was a joy to watch -- smart, funny, and extremely charismatic. The chemistry between her and Tom Baker brought a smile to every viewer's face. And it continued: She and Baker married shortly after she left the series! (And, no, the marriage didn't last.)
7. Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), 1968-recurring. The superb, never-ruffled Brigadier has traveled with the Doctor on several occasions, so yeah, he counts as a Companion! Classically British in the best sense of the word, the Brig would often pooh-pooh the Doctor's scientific solutions to a crisis and look for something to shoot. This series' in-joke paid off big time in the 7th Doctor story, Battlefield, when the Brigadier returned to the show after a long absence, shot a demon with silver bullets, and essentially saved the day. Quote: (Directing soldier to fire at target) "Chap with wings - five rounds rapid!"
6. Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright (William Russell and Jacqueline Hill), 1963-65. How can you separate these two? The schoolteachers introduced us to the Doctor in the series' very first episode, An Unearthly Child, and they left together two years later. Not only did they give us, the viewers, a reference point in those early days, Ian and Barbara helped to "humanize" the Doctor, forcing him to confront his own stubborn beliefs and eventually compelling him to view the people around him as more than just pieces of history data. Barbara's argument with William Hartnell's Doctor in The Aztecs, where she attempts to violate history and persuade the Aztecs to follow a more peaceful path over his near-panicked objections, remains one of my favorite Who moments. And for a skinny '60s teacher, Ian could kick ass.
5. Ace (Sophie Aldred), 1987-89. Speaking of kicking ass, there's Ace. A juvenile delinquent with a knack for explosives, Ace was bold, reckless, completely devoted to "the Professor," and fearless, shooting anti-tank missiles at Daleks and taking on Cybermen with only a slingshot and a bag of gold coins. She was the culmination of then-producer John Nathan-Turner's desire to feature "interesting" Companions, and while her backstory -- such as it is -- seems weak compared to what's happening in the series now, Ace did blow up a path for these current Companions to follow.
4. Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), 2006, 2008. Unlike her predecessors in the new series, Donna had no romantic interest in the Doctor. She simply wanted adventure, and dammit, the Doctor was going to show her some, whether he liked it or not. And without the "love albatross" around her neck, Donna was a great Companion. She took no guff from anyone -- well, except her mother -- and she was probably the most "grounded" of any of the Companions since Ian and Barbara. In The Fires of Pompeii, when the Doctor horrifically realizes that HE is responsible for triggering Mount Vesuvius and killing thousands of people in ancient Pompeii, she stands beside him and won't let him face that decision alone. Sniff, you're a good person, Donna. Bonus points for the epic tragedy of her departure. Double sniff.
3. Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), 2005-06. Yes, Billie Piper is hot. There, I said it. Moving on... Rose is significant in being not only the first Companion of the resurrected series, but in being the first Companion whose actor got top billing with the actor playing the Doctor! She also was the first Companion to get a fully fleshed-out backstory and personality, making the character vibrant and exciting in ways beyond Billie Piper's attributes. Did she do more than most Companions? Not really, but the mold-shattering impact of her first stories still leaves an impression. As with Donna Noble, Rose would've stayed with the Doctor forever if she had had her way.
2. Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), 2010-present. I adore Amy Pond. OK, she's attractive, and she's red-headed, and she's got a Scottish accent. Beyond that, Amy packs a determination and confidence that I don't think has ever been in the series. In her own way, she's more intimidating than Leela, more tenacious than Donna, more resilient than Rose and Ace, and sexier than the whole lot of them. With a look, she makes it clear than she wants the Doctor and isn't about to let the Laws of Time get in the way.
1. Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), 1973-76, recurring and ongoing: Ah, Sarah. I'd almost think that her top placement here is due to nostalgia, since she was on the series when I first started watching Doctor Who during the classic Tom Baker years. But that would be excluding the fact that she's returned to Who in recent years -- even starring in her own series -- and is just as awesome! Originally on the series as a sign of the times ("women's lib"!), Sarah is nosy, smart, feisty, and fun. Like some of the "tougher" Companions, Sarah could trade insults with monsters and aliens, but with Sarah, you could always see that, underneath, what was happening terrified the shit out of her. But she stood firm nevertheless. Terrific acting by Liz Sladen and a a great way to endear the character to the fans. For longtime followers of the show, she's still the most popular Companion. And the best.
Honorable Mentions: Zoe, Captain Jack Harkness, Jamie McCrimmon, Lucie Miller (from the Big Finish audios).
Worst Companions: Melanie Bush (AIEEEE!), Adric, Nyssa. (Yawn.)
Now discuss! But don't comment on your own comment or you'll trigger the Blinovitch Limitation Effect.