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Revision as of 10:19, 21 May 2010 by Kalbmkms (talk | contribs) (→Eleventh Doctor)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, a companion refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. The term is primarily used in Doctor Who fandom; these characters are often referred to in the press as "assistants". The term was rarely used in the classic series (1963–1989), while the revived series (2005–) makes more frequent use of the term. More often, however, the Doctor merely introduces his fellow leads as his "friends". In the 2005 series, the Ninth Doctor states that he "employed Rose Tyler as companion".
The Doctor usually travels with one to three companions. In most Doctor Who stories, the companion provides a surrogate with whom the audience can identify, and furthers the story by asking questions and getting into trouble, or by helping or rescuing the Doctor. Most of the Doctor's companions are human, with some exceptions such as Kamelion, Nyssa, Adric, Turlough, Astrid and Romana. Of the non-human companions, all apart from K-9 are members of humanoid races. To date, Romana and Susan are the only members of the Doctor's own race to travel with him.
Before the advent of the Ninth Doctor, the lives of the companions after their travels with the Doctor are rarely explored within the series. Three companions have memories of their adventures erased: Jamie and Zoe, by the Time Lords, and Donna, by the Doctor himself. Jamie and Zoe's only remaining memories are their first encounters with the Doctor whilst Donna has all memory of the Doctor erased, being re-introduced to him later as only "John Smith" who is visiting her grandfather Wilfred Mott. Some characters, specifically Susan, Jamie, Harry, Sarah Jane and K-9, guest-star in later stories. Zoe, Liz, Adric, Tegan, Nyssa, Turlough and Kamelion reappear in cameo roles, played by the original actors rather than in stock footage or still photos (e.g. Romana's later appearance in The Five Doctors).
On occasion, characters function as companions to series villain the Master, among them Chang Lee and the Master's wife, Lucy Saxon, whom he calls his "faithful companion".
History
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When Doctor Who was created, the dramatic structure of the programme's cast was rather different from the hero-and-sidekick pattern that emerged later. Initially, the character of the Doctor was unclear, with uncertain motives and abilities. The protagonists were schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who provided the audience's point-of-view in stories set in Earth's history and on alien worlds. Ian in particular served the role of the action hero. The fourth character was the Doctor's granddaughter Susan, who (though initially presented as an "unearthly child") was intended as an identification figure for younger viewers.
Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan Foreman, became unhappy with the lack of development for her character, and chose to leave in its second series. The character of Susan was married off to a freedom fighter and left behind to rebuild a Dalek-ravaged Earth. Doctor Who's producers replaced Susan with another young female character, Vicki. Similarly, when Ian and Barbara left, the "action hero" position was filled by astronaut Steven Taylor. This grouping of the Doctor, a young heroic male and an attractive young female became the programme's pattern throughout the 1960s.
When the programme changed to colour in 1970, its format changed: the Doctor was now Earth-bound, and acquired a supporting cast by his affiliation with the paramilitary organization United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT). The Third Doctor, more active and physical than his predecessors, made the role of the "action hero" male companion redundant. In the 1970 season the Doctor was assisted by scientist Liz Shaw and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, along with other UNIT personnel. The intellectual Shaw was replaced by Jo Grant in the 1971 season, and as the programme returned to occasional adventures in outer space, the format shifted once more: while UNIT continued to provide a regular "home base" for Earth-bound stories, in stories on other planets the Doctor and Jo became a two-person team with a close, personal bond. This pattern, the Doctor with a single female companion, became a template from which subsequent episodes of Doctor Who rarely diverged. The "heroic male" type occasionally returned (for example, Harry Sullivan, Adric, Turlough and Jack Harkness), but the single female companion was Doctor Who's staple.
Definition
There is no formal definition of what makes a companion. The Guardian muses in its OrganGrinder blog, "How do you qualify? Name in the opening credits, regular trips in the Tardis?" The definition of who is and is not a companion becomes less clear in the newer series. During the Doctor's three latest incarnations, his primary companions (Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, and currently Amy Pond) have fulfilled a distinct dramatic role, more significant than other, less-prominent TARDIS travellers such as Adam, Jack, and Mickey. The British press referred to Martha as the "first ethnic minority companion in the 43-year television history of Doctor Who" and the "first black assistant", despite the presence of Mickey Smith in the previous season—including several episodes in which he was invited to travel in the TARDIS with the Doctor.
The opening credits do little to clarify the situation. In the first two series of the renewed programme, the only supporting actor to receive a title credit is Billie Piper. In subsequent series, Freema Agyeman and Catherine Tate are credited in all episodes in which they appear. Furthermore, in the third series John Barrowman receives a title credit for his return to the show. Series four takes the credits to another level, including Agyeman, Piper, Barrowman, and Elisabeth Sladen for each of their reappearances. Noel Clarke also reprises his role in the series four finale; although listed as a companion alongside the other actors on the BBC Doctor Who website, Clarke is not credited in this way. Later, in "The End of Time", Parts One and Two, John Simm receives title billing for his antagonist role of The Master.
Companions in the new series also have a more flexible tenure than their classical predecessors. Several companion characters have returned to the series after leaving the Doctor's company, most notably in the series four finale "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End", which features the return of Rose, Martha, Jack, Sarah Jane and Mickey. This tendency, plus the increase in "one-off" companions like Astrid Peth and Jackson Lake, has further obscured the matter of who is and is not a companion, and when.
Role
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Companions have assumed a variety of roles in Doctor Who, as involuntary passengers, as assistants per se (particularly Liz Shaw), as disciples, as friends, and as fellow adventurers.
The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones; sometimes they return home, or find new causes—or loves—on worlds they have visited. Some companions (notably Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Adric and Kamelion) have died during the course of the series.
Most companions travel in the TARDIS with the Doctor for more than one adventure, although there are exceptions. Sometimes a guest character will take a role in the story similar to that of a companion, such as photographer Isobel Watkins who plays a significant role in "The Invasion" in the classic series, or Lynda in "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways" in the revived series.
Despite the fact that the majority of the Doctor's companions are young, attractive females, the production team for the 1963–1989 series maintained a long-standing taboo against any overt romantic involvement in the TARDIS: for example, Peter Davison, as the Fifth Doctor, was not allowed to put his arm around either Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) or Janet Fielding (Tegan). However, that has not prevented fans from speculating about possible romantic involvements, most notably between the Fourth Doctor and the Time Lady Romana (whose actors, Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, shared a romance and brief marriage). The taboo was controversially broken in the 1996 television movie when the Eighth Doctor was shown kissing companion Grace Holloway. The 2005 series played with this idea by having various characters think that the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler were a couple, which they vehemently denied. Since the series revival, the Doctor has kissed companions Rose, Jack, Mickey (on the forehead), Martha, Astrid, Donna and Amy, although each instance not in a romantic context (see also "The Doctor and romance"). Donna Noble vehemently denied a sexual interest in the Doctor when he invited her to join him and explained "I just want a mate," which she misheard as "I just want to mate."
Previous companions have reappeared in the series, usually for anniversary specials. One former companion, Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen), together with the robotic dog K-9, appeared in one episode of the 2006 series more than twenty years after their last appearances in the 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors (1983). The character of Sarah Jane also heads up a Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures with K-9. Another companion, Captain Jack Harkness, is the lead character in the spin-off BBC science fiction programme Torchwood. Not only have these former companions continued to make appearances on Doctor Who, they have sometimes been accompanied by some of their own companions from the spin-offs when doing so, including Jack's collegues Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones, and Sarah Jane's 'family' Mr Smith, Luke Smith and K-9 Mark IV. Other former companions from both the classic era and revived series have also returned as guest stars in the spin-offs, including Martha Jones on Torchwood, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart on The Sarah Jane Adventures (which will also host the return of Jo Grant in 2010). K-9 Mark I has also been spun off into its own series with an independent continuity.
When Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, the companion characters played a slightly different role, partly due to a strong focus on the character of Rose Tyler and characters connected to her. For example, although Adam Mitchell was a companion by the standard definition, he appeared in only two episodes and was arguably a less significant part of the 2005 series than Rose's sometime boyfriend Mickey Smith, who was not technically a companion but appeared in five episodes (or six, including a brief appearance as a child in "Father's Day"). Mickey later gained full-fledged companion status when he travelled in the TARDIS in the 2006 episode "School Reunion". In that episode, Sarah Jane Smith referred to Rose as the Doctor's "assistant", a term to which the latter took offence. This exchange might be regarded as indicating the new series' shift in approach to the companion role.
As of May 2010, Sarah Jane Smith is the only classic era companion to have been asked to travel again by the Doctor in the revived series. She declined his invitation in "School Reunion", but subsequently met up with the Doctor aboard a Dalek ship in "Journey's End" and travelled with him and several other companions in the TARDIS as they towed the Earth back to the solar system.
List of television companions
First Doctor
- Susan travelled with the Doctor prior to the events of "An Unearthly Child".
- ^ The Doctor takes Barbara and Ian from their time against their will in "An Unearthly Child".
- Vicki joins the TARDIS crew at the end of her first story, The Rescue.
- Unbeknown to the Doctor and Vicki, Steven took refuge in the TARDIS during the events of "The Planet of Decision" and is not discovered by them until "The Watcher".
- Steven left the Doctor in "Bell of Doom", episode four of The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, but returned to him shortly afterwards in the same episode.
- Sara Kingdom is not included in all lists of companions - the BBC's list of companions at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/companions/ excludes her.
Second Doctor
| Companion | Actor/Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Second Doctor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polly | Anneke Wills | 4 | The Power of the Daleks | The Faceless Ones | 6 |
| Ben Jackson | Michael Craze | 4 | The Power of the Daleks | The Faceless Ones | 6 |
| Jamie McCrimmon | Frazer Hines Hamish Wilson |
4–6 | The Highlanders | The War Games | 20 |
| Victoria Waterfield | Deborah Watling | 4–5 | The Evil of the Daleks | Fury from the Deep | 7 |
| Zoe Heriot | Wendy Padbury | 5–6 | The Wheel in Space | The War Games | 8 |
- Jamie was played by Hamish Wilson in The Mind Robber episodes 2 and 3.
- Jamie later appears in the Sixth Doctor-era story The Two Doctors, once more alongside the Second Doctor.
Third Doctor
| Companion | Actress | Seasons | First appearance | Last appearance | Appearances with the Third Doctor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw | Caroline John | 7 | Spearhead from Space | Inferno | 4 |
| Josephine "Jo" Grant | Katy Manning | 8–10 | Terror of the Autons | The Green Death | 15 |
| Sarah Jane Smith | Elisabeth Sladen | 11 | The Time Warrior | Planet of the Spiders | 5 |
- Sarah Jane Smith has had three subsequent appearances with the Tenth Doctor, as well as her own spin-off series K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Fourth Doctor
| Companion | Actor/Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Fourth Doctor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarah Jane Smith | Elisabeth Sladen | 12–14 | Robot | The Hand of Fear | 13 |
| Dr. Harry Sullivan | Ian Marter | 12–13 | Robot | Terror of the Zygons | 7 (6 as companion) |
| Leela | Louise Jameson | 14–15 | The Face of Evil | The Invasion of Time | 9 |
| K-9 Mark I | voice of John Leeson | 15 | The Invisible Enemy | The Invasion of Time | 5 |
| K-9 Mark II | voice of John Leeson voice of David Brierley |
15–18 | The Ribos Operation | Warriors' Gate | 17 |
| Romana I | Mary Tamm | 16 | The Ribos Operation | The Armageddon Factor | 6 |
| Romana II | Lalla Ward | 17–18 | Destiny of the Daleks | Warriors' Gate | 11 |
| Adric | Matthew Waterhouse | 18 | Full Circle | Logopolis | 5 |
| Nyssa | Sarah Sutton | 18 | The Keeper of Traken | Logopolis | 2 |
| Tegan Jovanka | Janet Fielding | 18 | Logopolis | Logopolis | 1 |
- Harry also appears in The Android Invasion.
- K-9 was voiced by Brierley in season 17, explained away as laryngitis within the programme.
- Subsequent models of K-9 have made appearances with Sarah Jane Smith in various episodes, due to the Doctor's giving Sarah Jane a version of K-9 in the aborted spin-off K-9 and Company. He has also appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures. K-9 is due to be the subject of his own spin-off, produced separate from the BBC, entitled simply K-9.
Fifth Doctor
| Companion | Actor/Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Fifth Doctor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adric | Matthew Waterhouse | 19 | Castrovalva | Earthshock | 8 (6 as companion) |
| Nyssa | Sarah Sutton | 19–20 | Castrovalva | Terminus | 12 (11 as companion) |
| Tegan Jovanka | Janet Fielding | 19–21 | Castrovalva | Resurrection of the Daleks | 19 (18 as companion) |
| Vislor Turlough | Mark Strickson | 20–21 | Mawdryn Undead | Planet of Fire | 11 (10 as companion) |
| Kamelion | voice of Gerald Flood | 20–21 | The King's Demons | Planet of Fire | 3 (2 as companion) |
| Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown | Nicola Bryant | 21 | Planet of Fire | The Caves of Androzani | 2 |
- also appears in Time-Flight
- ^ also appears inThe Caves of Androzani
- Without explanation in the stories, Kamelion is not featured in the five serials between his first and last stories (although he does appear in deleted scenes from The Awakening).
Sixth Doctor
| Companion | Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Sixth Doctor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown | Nicola Bryant | 21–23 | The Twin Dilemma | The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp | 9 |
| Melanie "Mel" Bush | Bonnie Langford | 23 | The Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids | The Trial of a Timelord: The Ultimate Foe | 2 |
- The series never establishes how the Doctor first meets Mel; she just appears mid-way through The Trial of a Time Lord. The Doctor's first meeting with Mel is recounted in the Past Doctor Adventures novel Business Unusual.
Seventh Doctor
| Companion | Actress | Seasons | First serial | Last serial | Appearances with the Seventh Doctor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melanie "Mel" Bush | Bonnie Langford | 24 | Time and the Rani | Dragonfire | 4 |
| Ace | Sophie Aldred | 24–26 | Dragonfire | Survival | 9 |
Eighth Doctor
| Companion | Actress | Series | Year | Story | Appearances with the Eighth Doctor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Grace Holloway | Daphne Ashbrook | Television movie | 1996 | Doctor Who | 1 |
Ninth Doctor
| Companion | Actor/Actress | Series | First episode | Last episode | Appearances with the Ninth Doctor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rose Tyler | Billie Piper | 1 | "Rose" | "The Parting of the Ways" | 13 |
| Adam Mitchell | Bruno Langley | 1 | "Dalek" | "The Long Game" | 2 |
| Captain Jack Harkness | John Barrowman | 1 | "The Empty Child" | "The Parting of the Ways" | 5 |
Tenth Doctor
- Lead-in to "The Christmas Invasion"
- Rose departs in "Doomsday" and makes brief cameo appearances in "Partners in Crime", "The Poison Sky" and "Midnight" before returning as a companion in "Turn Left". She also appears in The End of Time.
- Including the 2005 Children in Need scene and the three cameo appearances in series 4.
- Also appears in "School Reunion" and The End of Time.
- Mickey is introduced in "Rose" as Rose's boyfriend and recurs regularly before becoming a companion.
- Mickey departs in "The Age of Steel" before returning as a companion in "Journey's End", and also re-appears in "Army of Ghosts" / "Doomsday" and The End of Time.
- Introduced in "Doomsday"
- After initially refusing to join the Doctor on his travels in "The Runaway Bride", Donna returns as a regular companion from "Partners in Crime". She also appears in The End of Time.
- Martha departs in "Last of the Time Lords", but returns from "The Sontaran Stratagem" to "The Doctor's Daughter" and again for "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End". She also appears in a cameo role in The End of Time.
- Jack rejoins the Doctor in "Utopia" before departing in "Last of the Time Lords", but returns again for "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End". He also makes a cameo appearance in The End of Time.
- Wilf is introduced in "Voyage of the Damned", and recurs throughout series 4 as Donna's grandfather.
Animated serials
| Companion | Actor/Actress | Series | First Episode | Last Episode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martha Jones | Freema Agyeman (voice) | Series 3 | The Infinite Quest | The Infinite Quest |
| Cassie Rice | Georgia Moffett (voice) | 2009 Specials | Dreamland | Dreamland |
| Jimmy Stalkingwolf | Tim Howar (voice) | 2009 Specials | Dreamland | Dreamland |
Eleventh Doctor
| Companion | Actor/Actress | Series | First Episode | Last episode | Appearances with the Eleventh Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amy Pond | Karen Gillan | 5– | "The Eleventh Hour" | N/A | 14 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rory Williams | Arthur Darvill | 5– | "The Eleventh Hour" | N/A | unknown |
Kalbmkms (talk) 10:19, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
Future CompanionRiver Song from the Tenth Doctor episodes "Silence in the Library" / "Forest of the Dead" is an archaeologist who states that she has travelled with the Doctor in his relative future. Doctor Who Confidential referred to her as a "companion-to-come". River Song reappears in the Series 5 episodes "Time of Angels" and "Flesh and Stone". DeathsDuring the course of the show's history, companions have, on rare occasion, been killed while serving with the Doctor.
Additional companions have died while serving with the Doctor in the various spin-off media (the canonicity of which is unclear); this has included Jamie McCrimmon and Ace, both of whom were killed off in the Doctor Who comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine. McCrimmon is killed in a Grant Morrison-written strip entitled The World Shapers, and Ace in Ground Zero. Additional spin-off works have also postulated the final fates of some former companions in the years following their travels with the Doctor, such as Dodo Chaplet, whose death is indicated in the novel Who Killed Kennedy and Liz Shaw in the novel Eternity Weeps. Presumed
In the Big Finish audio production The Gathering, Tegan Jovanka is described as having a terminal illness, though her actual death is not depicted. Mitigated
Miscellaneous notes
Vicki, Polly, Mel and Ace are never given surnames on-screen. Mel Bush is fully named in production notes and promotional material, while Vicki Pallister and Dorothy McShane (Ace) gained surnames in spinoff novels. Polly's intended surname of Wright was rejected for fear of confusion with previous companion Barbara Wright. The production team had intended that, if revealed in the course of a story, Ace would either have the last name Gale (an allusion to the movie version of The Wizard of Oz) or whatever would suit the story. Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 Mark III returned in the 2006 series episode "School Reunion". She later reappears and acts as a companion in The Stolen Earth and Journey's End. Sarah Jane has appeared in three television series, namely Doctor Who, K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures. K-9 Mark III has appeared in two, (K-9 and Company and Doctor Who), as have K-9 Mark IV (Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures), and Captain Jack and Martha (Doctor Who and Torchwood). Nine companions have been with the Doctor during his regeneration:
During the Tenth Doctor's aborted regeneration in "The Stolen Earth", Rose, Jack and Donna were present. However, The Doctor managed to avoid his regeneration using his spare hand. He forced the regeneration energy into the hand. Donna then touched it and became The 'DoctorDonna'. See alsoReferences
External links
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