FANTASY CASTING tiem

[elliptic_eye]

Leaving aside for a moment the question of whether or not they'd ever do it, what do you reckon would be the up- or downsides of an alien companion?

It's been forever since we've had one onscreen, and I can't think of any that were radically alien: We've got Susan (probably), Leela (kindasortanotreally)*, Romana, Adric (distinguishable from a

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

Downside, it'd be hard to do well. If they went with someone visibly alien, it'd be a lot of work and money to not make it look cheap and cheesy every week. If not, it'd be hard to keep from falling into the 'practically human' trap like they have in the past. And writing them as obviously alien would be tricky to pull off. If RTD was sticking around, I wouldn't want that on account of him bungling it.

Upside is, it can be awesome! It makes the universe seem a lot bigger and less Earth-centric, allows human companions to actually be quite bright and know things about other cultures and eras of history while giving them someone to exposition at who legitimately wouldn't know this stuff, and would allow for new personalty developments that you're not likely to get. Plus, odds are they'd make it an alien and a human (to give the proverbial "ordinary viewer" someone to identify with), and multi-companion TARDIS teams are win.

[elliptic_eye]

I think the writing would be far harder to pull off than the makeup, but that could be in part because I'd happily watch some guy who'd been dyed fire engine red and nought else.

And writing them as obviously alien would be tricky to pull off.

Quite, but they've also been doing it with one of the regulars for 40 years already. With varying degrees of success, granted, but I'd like to think that bouncing a non-human companion off the Doctor would help bring out both the alien and the familiar in both of them. Says the girl who's never managed the Doctor-as-alien-thing at all herself.

[It] allows human companions to actually be quite bright and know things about other cultures and eras of history while giving them someone to exposition at who legitimately wouldn't know this stuff

Ooh, hadn't even thought of that-so many cringe-worthy moments would go bye-bye, truly.

Plus, odds are they'd make it an alien and a human (to give the proverbial "ordinary viewer" someone to identify with), and multi-companion TARDIS teams are win.Yet

[wolfy_writing]

I was mostly thinking of Farscape, with the makeup; they did well with strategic body paint for a lot of the aliens, but even that was difficult enough that one of the aliens had to leave for health reason. But I agree, one relatively cheap and highly visible marker would work well.

The right writers definitely can hit the line of human enough to work as a character and alien enough to be distinctly different. It's tricky to pull off, though. I like to think I'm getting the hang of making aliens properly alien in fic. New Who seems to have fallen down on the Doctor being alien; not exactly failing to include it, but making him too human most of the time and then adding in "Look, he's alien!" moments that don't flow.

I definitely like the idea of an alien and a human companion. And the exposition not involving the characters either inexplicably telling each other what they both know, or someone inexplicably not knowing something they logically should.

[eve11]

Non-human companions would be cool, but like amy_wolf noted, it would be tough to pull off on a weekly basis. Maybe they could do something like in Star Trek or Stargate and have aliens inside humanoid hosts? Then again, they might be able to pull off alien with a good yet simple makeup job.

(PS, your icon is great! :D A while back I made this one but it's a "fake" icon because it's way over the size limit, though I still find it amusing:

[elliptic_eye]

Maybe they could do something like in Star Trek or Stargate and have aliens inside humanoid hosts? Then again, they might be able to pull off alien with a good yet simple makeup job.

Yes to both-while the Vulcans are by no means the best thought-out notion ever to grace sci-fi, for the time, Spock was a pretty good example of simple makeup that merely signaled that the character was an alien, followed through with radically different rules of behavior. I'm sure Who could duplicate the trick if they wanted.

Your non-icon is LOVE. :D Planet of Short-Shorts jokes will never get old. (ryttu3k is responsible for this one, by the way.)

[stoplookingup]

Okay, here's the first cracky idea that jumped into my head: Some alien has occasion to save the Doctor's life, a fact that in his culture makes the Doctor his personal property. But as he's a basically nice, easygoing guy, he goes off and has wonderful adventures with the Doctor -- all the while treating the Doctor as a kind of chauffeur/personal bodyguard/beloved pet. The Doctor acts like this drives him crazy, but you can tell he's actually quite turned on amused.

Well, I SAID it was cracky.

[elliptic_eye]

IUEHDUEWDEW IN LIGHT OF THE NAS, I WOULD TOTALLY READ THAT FIC WATCH THAT SHOW.

Well, I SAID it was cracky.

Feel like writing it? :D I think it could be rather awesome, if done well.

[stoplookingup]

OMG, the thought of writing that scares the crap out of me --but I'd definitely read it, too!

It's a bad idea to mention alien companions around me at the moment

[biichan]

In the later Eight audios there's C'rizz who actually is Very Alien and is in fact from another universe. I mean, he's still bipedal and vaguely human shaped, but he's got a exoskeleton and scales> and can change color. His world view is quite alien too. He used to be a monk and is rather awesome

(Why's it a bad idea to mention alien companions around you at the moment?)

[elliptic_eye]

I'm not wildly fond of Charley, but she's not so "OMG obnoxious" that I wouldn't be more than happy to try an awesome story with her in it--I liked Neverland/Zagreus well enough, and C'rizz sounds awesome. So, 'tis decided! Thanks for the rec.

having the Doctor and companion be stranded somewhere on some strange world and having someone they meet help them make more sense of the place(...) well, that might work well on the show if they ever decided to, um, borrow that kind of thing from Big Finish.

Given the way they've been mining Big Finish, I am now almost convinced that such a thing will come to pass. :D But probably the TV gods would not be so munificent.

[elyssadc]

I can't think of anything I would love more than the Doctor having a truly alien companion. I think it would work best, however, in a multi-companion TARDIS. I can't imagine that Team Cardiff would give up on the idea that a companion is what makes the Doctor accessible to the audience, so they are always going to want a human. Personally, though, I ♥ multi-companion TARDIS teams and it would get around the whole "viewers can only relate to people that look just like them" crap.

[elliptic_eye]

it would get around the whole "viewers can only relate to people that look just like them" crap.

Do you think Moffatt believes that crap along with RTD? I get the impression from GitF'ace that he'd be open to an historical companion, but I can't think of any non-evil aliens he's given us...