Was Liz Shaw's mistake being too intelligent?
Continuing my (re)watch of Classic Who, I'm now in Three's era, which is where I came in during the 1970s, but not for a year or two into Pertwee's run.
Two, you were wonderful :) And Jamie and Zoe's loss was heartbreaking. I'm so glad War Games survives in full.
But now there's Three, and the ongoing battle between the Doctor's ego and the Brigadier's 'toy soldiers with guns'. The two of them have some wonderful scenes together, with absolutely classic lines striking at each other's pomposity. There's the Doctor's military intelligence is an oxymoron, and the Brigadier's basilisk stare and counterstrike after the Doctor leaves with what he thinks is a parting salvo:
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart : ""Pompous, self-opinionated idiot," I think you said, Doctor."
The Doctor : "Yes, well, we don't want to bear a grudge for a few hasty words, do we? No, not after all the years that we've worked together. Now, come along, my dear fellow. Put on a smile..."
But now I'm in Three's second year and the wonderful Liz Shaw - scientist, physicist and medical doctor, more than intelligent enough to keep up with the Doctor, and also more than capable of bringing him down a peg or two when he needs it (though she does like him a lot, and it's mutual) - has been written out. We get one line of explanation from the Brigadier to the effect that Liz has returned to Cambridge, and that she said all the Doctor really needed was someone to pass him his test tubes and tell him how brilliant he was.
Her replacement as the Doctor's assistant is Jo Grant, who appears to have very little going for her other than her looks - though we do find out that she has useful skills, which she demonstrates early on by talking people into doing things they weren't inclined to do, and being disingenuous in order to get information out of people - which always helps. What she does lack is any understanding of science, even to the point of not having passed science at A-level. In other words, she couldn't be more different from Liz. (Don't get me wrong; I like Jo, but the contrast couldn't be greater).
Liz was strong, refused to be patronised and took no shit from anyone - not the Doctor, not the Brigadier, and definitely not anyone who made the mistake of assuming she was someone's secretary. Of course, to survive as a woman academic in Cambridge in the very early 1970s she'd have to be very tough indeed, on top of being probably more intelligent than the men around her. Bet they never promoted her to professor.
Caroline John - the actress playing Liz - was pregnant and might not have been able to continue in the role in any case, but Barry Letts, incoming producer, had already decided not to continue with the character. The BBC site doesn't say why, but this is noted on Wikipedia:
As the essential role of the companion in Doctor Who is to ask a lot of questions which the viewers might be asking themselves, incoming producer Barry Letts considered her character was unsuitable and decided against renewing her contract.
So companions can't be more intelligent than the audience? Yet we'd already had Zoe, who the Doctor described as a genius - though at the same time we had Jamie, who did need to have things explained to him. Later, however, Four had Romana, who certainly felt she was more intelligent than the Doctor.
Farewell, Liz. The producers may not have appreciated you, but I did, and so did the Doctor.
Two, you were wonderful :) And Jamie and Zoe's loss was heartbreaking. I'm so glad War Games survives in full.
But now there's Three, and the ongoing battle between the Doctor's ego and the Brigadier's 'toy soldiers with guns'. The two of them have some wonderful scenes together, with absolutely classic lines striking at each other's pomposity. There's the Doctor's military intelligence is an oxymoron, and the Brigadier's basilisk stare and counterstrike after the Doctor leaves with what he thinks is a parting salvo:
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart : ""Pompous, self-opinionated idiot," I think you said, Doctor."
The Doctor : "Yes, well, we don't want to bear a grudge for a few hasty words, do we? No, not after all the years that we've worked together. Now, come along, my dear fellow. Put on a smile..."
But now I'm in Three's second year and the wonderful Liz Shaw - scientist, physicist and medical doctor, more than intelligent enough to keep up with the Doctor, and also more than capable of bringing him down a peg or two when he needs it (though she does like him a lot, and it's mutual) - has been written out. We get one line of explanation from the Brigadier to the effect that Liz has returned to Cambridge, and that she said all the Doctor really needed was someone to pass him his test tubes and tell him how brilliant he was.
Her replacement as the Doctor's assistant is Jo Grant, who appears to have very little going for her other than her looks - though we do find out that she has useful skills, which she demonstrates early on by talking people into doing things they weren't inclined to do, and being disingenuous in order to get information out of people - which always helps. What she does lack is any understanding of science, even to the point of not having passed science at A-level. In other words, she couldn't be more different from Liz. (Don't get me wrong; I like Jo, but the contrast couldn't be greater).
Liz was strong, refused to be patronised and took no shit from anyone - not the Doctor, not the Brigadier, and definitely not anyone who made the mistake of assuming she was someone's secretary. Of course, to survive as a woman academic in Cambridge in the very early 1970s she'd have to be very tough indeed, on top of being probably more intelligent than the men around her. Bet they never promoted her to professor.
Caroline John - the actress playing Liz - was pregnant and might not have been able to continue in the role in any case, but Barry Letts, incoming producer, had already decided not to continue with the character. The BBC site doesn't say why, but this is noted on Wikipedia:
As the essential role of the companion in Doctor Who is to ask a lot of questions which the viewers might be asking themselves, incoming producer Barry Letts considered her character was unsuitable and decided against renewing her contract.
So companions can't be more intelligent than the audience? Yet we'd already had Zoe, who the Doctor described as a genius - though at the same time we had Jamie, who did need to have things explained to him. Later, however, Four had Romana, who certainly felt she was more intelligent than the Doctor.
Farewell, Liz. The producers may not have appreciated you, but I did, and so did the Doctor.