New Doctor Who Series Discussion *Spoilers*

They are all tag-alongs though....

What might be interesting next season is if Capaldi doesn't have a regular companion but a series of short term companions, people who'll be a companion for a few episodes before moving on or someone who acts as a part-time companion. What also might be interesting would be a companion that's not from today but from either the past or future.

As interesting as that maybe we HAVE had that in previous companions.

I mean in 2005 we had Jack who was from the future IN the past

Ummm Capt Jack...

Since the new show launched, Jack's been basically the only competent male companion, and while Jack was awesome, he's also kind of tough to relate to because he's (a) immortal-ish, (b) from the future with a ton of gadgets to the point where he's almost like the Doctor, and (c) pansexual (which, at least for me, makes him a little tougher to relate to). Point is, he's not just a regular bloke that the Doctor decided to bring along.

All the other male companions who have been regular blokes have generally been the butt of the joke most of the time, and given a handful of moments to redeem themselves.

Consider:

- Adam --> turned out to be a greedy twerp who wound up with a dataport in his head.
- Mickey --> was the tin dog. 'Nuff said. Got one or two moments where he got to be heroic, and otherwise...was just the tin dog.
- Rory --> tin dog Mk. II.

this actually even pre-dates the relaunched show. Thinking back, you had Turlough who was a shifty coward much of the time, Adric who was an insufferable know-it-all who also was REALLY poorly written and seemed to join the badguys as much as he worked for the good guys... I think maybe the last competent one was Harry, and I've not seen enough of his serials to really recall whether he was alternatively useful or useless.

I guess what I'm saying is it'd be nice to see the TARDIS crew a bit more rounded out. Danny had potential, but he never really was on the crew, and now he's all cybered up so he won't be back. But where's an Ian or even a Ben? Where's a Brig? One of the strengths of this season (in my opinion) was the tension between Danny and the Doctor and how Danny could hold his own with the Doctor in terms of physical capabilities and moral strength. He just came at things from a different perspective.

I think the dynamic is due for a bit of a shakeup. The old Leela/Sara-Jane/Rose/Amy/Clara thing...it's just getting kinda formulaic. This season was better because at least Clara didn't "lurv" the Doctor the way previous female companions had, but we've got a simply different Doctor now. I'm also not saying that we need to jettison all female companions. To the contrary, I think having female companions on board is a real strength for the show. I'm just saying they should expand beyond that. The Doctor can still handle plenty of the action, but it'd be nice if there was more to the show than just the Doctor and his latest female companion. With Capaldi, I think that's really possible.

Well, according to the (4th) Doctor: "Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!".
I decided to do another marathon re-watch of all Who and I've realised Ian and Barbara set the bar very high for competent companions. If you ignore the one or two times that a writer decided Barbara needed to twist her ankle to slow the group or get captured (a common problem for several early companions, and more to do with the pacing/serial nature of the stories) then they both come out pretty well. Ian sword-fights, knows unarmed combat and pressure points, is a science teacher who actually uses the knowledge (rather than needing a girlfriend constantly reminding the audience/Doctor that he's a science teacher), stands up to the Doctor, etc.
And take Barbara, even with some of the almost-unavoidable 60's prejudices that creep into the scripts, she still comes across as strong, independent, and confident in her own abilities. Look at how many times she takes charge, such as in Dalek Invasion of Earth (organising, planing a bombing raid complete with robo-disguises, repairing a 100-year old engine and smashing a truck through Daleks. Not to mention standing up to the Doctor in The Aztecs, route-marching through a swamp on Skaro (in fetching Thal-trousers), solving the whodunnit murder on Marinus, firing a flare-gun at (what she thought was) a monster to protect Vicki.... I can see what Moffat was getting at when he said he thought Donna was how Barbara would be written now.

Angelus Lupus said:

Well, according to the (4th) Doctor: "Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!".
I decided to do another marathon re-watch of all Who and I've realised Ian and Barbara set the bar very high for competent companions. If you ignore the one or two times that a writer decided Barbara needed to twist her ankle to slow the group or get captured (a common problem for several early companions, and more to do with the pacing/serial nature of the stories) then they both come out pretty well. Ian sword-fights, knows unarmed combat and pressure points, is a science teacher who actually uses the knowledge (rather than needing a girlfriend constantly reminding the audience/Doctor that he's a science teacher), stands up to the Doctor, etc.
And take Barbara, even with some of the almost-unavoidable 60's prejudices that creep into the scripts, she still comes across as strong, independent, and confident in her own abilities. Look at how many times she takes charge, such as in Dalek Invasion of Earth (organising, planing a bombing raid complete with robo-disguises, repairing a 100-year old engine and smashing a truck through Daleks. Not to mention standing up to the Doctor in The Aztecs, route-marching through a swamp on Skaro (in fetching Thal-trousers), solving the whodunnit murder on Marinus, firing a flare-gun at (what she thought was) a monster to protect Vicki.... I can see what Moffat was getting at when he said he thought Donna was how Barbara would be written now.

Click to expand...

BINGO!

Now, some of that was because with an elderly Doctor, they couldn't have the Doctor handle physical action himself. And to a certain extent, sure, you need the physical companions (e.g. Ian, Jamie) taken out from time to time, so that they can't just muscle their way out of a situation. But even so, these were generally competent people at what they did, as opposed to the more buffoonish companions that many of the men were.

And as for the women, Who in the 60s and 70s had a tough time with them, but Barbara was a FANTASTIC role model. She wasn't the screamy "Help me, Doctor!" kind of damsel in distress that most of the female companions seemed to degenerate into over time. The modern female companions are better about all of this, but I thought that Donna was probably the best balance of all of them. I guess that's what I'm looking for: a male version of Donna (who isn't the Doctor). Like I said, Danny had real potential for this, but they just ended up not using it. But someone like Danny would be a welcome addition to the TARDIS crew. Capable at certain things that the Doctor might have blind spots for, but not, like, a "mini-Doctor" the way Jack was.

Liz Shaw was my favourite female companion from the classic series. Sadly she was only with us for one season.

Competent, likable, and not afraid to call the Doctor on his ****.

I haven't got to the 2nd Doctor yet, but Solo is right about Jamie being another (maybe the only other) great male companion. I was watching "The Doctors Revisited" which apparently aired in the U.S. in the run-up to the 50th. Moffat was talking (in the 2nd one) about how each Doctor has their 'ideal' companion, and in nearly every case it's a young girl... except for #2 and Jamie. I agree, their relationship was brilliant (can't wait to get to those episodes - tempted to skip Dodo, and even Ben & Polly aren't that interesting). 2 and Jamie just worked well as a dynamic. Even ignoring the fans (and fanfic) that suggests it was more than just friendship, the double-act comedy, the way the Doctor would patiently explain things to Jamie, or make fun of the kilt (and hairy legs), it was all great. Maybe it the two of them were written now we'd have some of the same humorous moments of mistaking them for a couple that 10 and Donna got (or Sherlock and Watson). Hmm.. now I seeing Donna as modern mix of Barbara and Jamie, and realising that's not a bad thing.
While we're still in Troughton's tenure, the other companion I'd suggest as a good role-model (or template to draw from) is Zoe: feisty, smart (more so than the Doctor) logical, funny, tough (can kick ass), talks computers into exploding, but using logic and programming language (unlike, say Kirk, who uses nonsense or getting it to fall in love with him). All of that, without needing to be built up as some big mystery or plot device, or reduced to 'she was born to save the doctor' or ending up as annoying.
I rather think this suggests that, despite his admiration for old Who characters, Moffat can't write female companions as well as they did in the 60's. I'm more convinced than ever that Capaldi deserves new writers and a new show-runner.

The Doctor and Jamie are probably my favourite combo of them all!

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I wad saying jack was a reoccurring companion. And he was a great character...but he won't be back he's an impossible thing. Unless miracle day fixed him.

Before I post this, I apologize if I've posted this idea before. If I haven't then I hope to see what you all think of this idea.

We know that David Bradley plays William Hartnell in the docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time, which covered the creation of Doctor Who. And he looks amazingly like Hartnell. And since most of the first series is missing due to many circumstances, why not have the BBC dig up the original scripts for the episodes and recreate the missing episodes, and recreate them in the same old-school fashion, and have David Bradley play the first Doctor? Think about it, them filming them in black and white, and in the same way they did at the time, using model miniature and practical effects, recreating the original TARDIS set, men in full body suits for alien creatures... Basically doing the missing episodes like how it was done in the old days. They could easily recreate the missing episodes. How interesting would that be to watch? Or is the idea way too out there, and is something that long-time fans would feel is a cop-out?

I was really hoping that she would be leaving.

Could be a bluff so its more surprising when she does.

I've enjoyed Clara and her arc this season (I didn't see a whole lot of her before this season and the last few episodes of last season). It might be interesting to see what happens with her now that Danny Pink is dead - although, the conclusion of last season did seem to be the obvious exit point for her.

I do understand that they may want to keep her around as fans might still be adjusting to Capaldi's Doctor and she's a good way to connect to the series prior to Doctor #12.

Nuts. I was about done with Clara. *****, why can't they just let these stories play out naturally? Clara's departure felt natural at the end of this season. Having her pop up and say "Just kidding!!" totally robs the finale of its emotional punch.

Again, Moffat is to blame for this. I mean, when it comes to an established actor saying "I'm leaving," and you build a bunch of stories around it and THEN they say "Uh....can I stay?" the answer shouldn't be "Well, fans like your character, so even though it totally destroys the integrity of all the stories we told for a year and most of the ones we have written htus far for next year....sure!!" This is solely Moffat's responsibility to exercise control, but I swear to god the man does not know the meaning of the word "restraint."

Here's a little tip before everyone gets their undergarments in a twist: There are two main UK tabloids that should be dismissed out of hand regarding any Who rumours: The Mirror and The Sun. Offhand, I can't remember any howlers The Mirror has predicted, but as I recall The Sun (a paper with equal journalistic integrity) has previously claimed David Bowie and Woody Allen as upcoming guest stars. So unless it comes from the BBC, don't panic.

Edit: I just read the link, a "show source", "the insider"..? Yeah, definitely a credible and verified source of information there, excellent journalism :rolleyes :facepalm

Phew. I really, really hope Clara's done. This season was good for her, but otherwise...I'm just done with that character and that era of the show. It's time to move on already.