Companions past and present

[ichabod @ichabod]

@puroandson  I simply turned off the music portion (I have a programme which allows me to do that -it’s not for purchase unfortunately) and heard the dialogue. In the end we had what’s called a ‘dry score’ or ‘dry run;’ whilst that was very helpful it’s not for everyone, I’m afraid and lowers the megahertz output by dozens of decibels causing a timbre change in the voice as well

I’ve often wished for something like that, but sounds like it’s really best for just accuracy.  I’d hate for the voices themselves to be changed.  Coming up on 77 in October, and my hearing has slowed down a little, and I do have problems now in noisy restaurants, in conversation.  I’ve been to a few concerts on the modern model, with amplification loud enough to pulverize stone — and walked out because of it.  I carry a little box of ear-plugs around with me these days, against sudden auditory assaults and noisy settings that I’m stuck in for a while.

I hope our favorite hybrid isn’t gone from these discussions for long — but the world does wag on for all of us, making its demands.  Good luck with the variations!

[Anonymous @]

@ichabod

yes thank you

typically I come across snippy myself! And I don’t want to do that. It’s a mixture of Crohns stuff, impatience (a rather bad trait of mine) and writing whilst thinking. I really, really have to work on that!

But yes, once I put my mind to it and allot even an hour a day I should be able to nut out some choons: a newish piano has been installed and I’m getting used to it.

Boy, the guy who brought it in was a ‘wag’ for sure. My mum, bless her, would have loved him! He was like Rose’s Dad! He looked the same and was talking about making his next big buck. Rose’s father wasn’t a companion but I thought he time travelled, knew the Doctor and so….voila: a part-time companion.

So, we’ll be around -but you know what they say, even the good things, if habituated, have a negative affect (and I mean on others around me in this instance) then it’s time to break the cycle a bit.

My enjoyment here is hardly ever occluded. If I become snippy time for a short break ‘abroad’ 🙂

So, yes, ichi, back to my variations!  <rummaging through sheet music whilst hooting>

Puro and Son

[janetteB @janetteb]

@Puroandson. I hope I did not say the wrong thing. I am worried now. I was tired when I posted the other night and maybe did not express myself well. BTW you never come across as “snippy”.

I think we are all in need of some Dr Who to discuss. Too much real life, and on the wrong threads too. Maybe we should do some re-watches of BG Who to keep the conversation on track.

Whatever please don’t go too far away. You and son are both greatly appreciated here.

Cheers

Janette

 

[Anonymous @]

@janetteb

oh no of course you didn’t !  No, I’m the snippy one with my “give it a rest” to another member.

Oops! People are very kind here -honestly, I’ve spazzed out about 4 times in 6 months. Even the puricle shakes his head and winces. But no, it was another conversation entirely.

Goodness, Janette, you couldn’t be more gracious!

Kindest,

Puro Solo

 

[TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros]

@puroandson I’m sad to hear that you’ll be taking a break, it’s your consistent posting which really keeps this place alive, anyway enjoy a little holiday from the forum (as I’ve been recently) and I hope we’ll have some Doctor Who news to discuss soon.

@janetteb re-watching BG who sounds good! I’ve just recently made my brother and my dad watch Horror of Fang Rock with me, they say that they’re enjoying it so far (only half way through) but my dad preferred The Mind Robber which I also showed them, I’m desperately trying to convert them into Doctor Who fans!

Anyway keeping on topic, Leela is a very good companion and in my opinion very funny, though apparently Tom Baker didn’t like her at all until after Fang Rock (her fourth story!) and nowadays doing Big Finish together they’re very good friends! There’s a fun fact for you!

[Anonymous @]

@puroandson
I find Jazz concerts and blues generally louder than rock concerts, per se: possibly because the former were usually five or six hours long. The longer, the better.

The ones I attended were not like that, perhaps because they were high school or college concerts performed by music students within an academic environment.

Returning to the thread topic, which companion do people think is the best at screaming, so far?

I think my favourite scream was actually performed by, Sophie Aldred (Ace), in Big Finish Productions, “Zagreus,” although she was not actually playing Ace at the time. But to me it was, as the director said in the CD extras, “top.” 🙂

[janetteB @janetteb]

Ah Screaming companions. @stitchintime I recall TEgan (Janet Fielding) screaming a lot but perhaps that is just because the character and her absurd accent annoyed me. (Janet had been living in London for some time when cast in Dr Who  and lost her accent so they sent her to voice coaching to re learn what they thought of was an Aussie accent. Urgh)

Cheers

Janette

 

[Missy @missy]

Nope, no rest will be given, not when I am trying to make a  reasonable comment.

Agree with me or not. If anyone can see the sense in paying good money to go and see your idols sing, then scream all the way though the experience – either they are strange or I am. This has been going on for decades and, no doubt, will continue, but, surely I’m allowed to mention it and have a rant?

At said concert I could hardly hear a note because of all the screaming. strangley, I was annoyed.

The companions mentioned above, didn”t scream in the same way, or for the same reason, so, that’s dead in the water.

Rant over.

Missy

 

 

 

[Missy @missy]

My apologies if I  upset anyone by the above post.  I was angry, and one should never answer anything when angry.

Although I feel and meant everything I said, perhaps I could have expressed myself  better.

This is a fun forum, all about a programme we all love. there shouldn’t be any animosity.

Missy

[MissRori @missrori]

@janetteb, I agree that it’s frustrating having no new Who to discuss.  Perhaps there should be a thread to talk about expanded universe stuff like the novels and comics?  There’s plenty of that out there still.  😉  I am getting so impatient for Series 10 and more of the Twelfth Doctor and getting to know Bill…

[MissRori @missrori]

I was over at comic book artist Rachael Stott’s Tumblr a few minutes ago.  She is one of the current artists on Titan’s Twelfth Doctor title — she’s the best artist working on it, IMO — and at her Tumblr she sometimes posts original art and even the occasional cute comic of Twelve.  This one she just posted is a very funny salute to the first companion departure…(on the page, click to enlarge it)

http://rachaelstott.tumblr.com/post/148595125628

[winston @winston]

@stitchintime    I find the AG companions are not very screamy at although they all screamed once or twice. Rose was a good screamer but Donna was great at shouting. Sarah Jane was a pretty good screamer in the BG Who and early Mickey was a decent screamer until he found his mojo and got fierce.

 

[thehumantimelord @thehumantimelord]

I’m new here and I’ve never been on a forum before and was wondering if you guys could let me know on some etiquette and let me know how this works if you guys don’t mind.

[Missy @missy]

@thehumantimelord I’m new here and I’ve never been on a forum before and was wondering if you guys could let me know on some etiquette and let me know how this works if you guys don’t mind.

Hello there  I think it’s simply a matter of not being insulting, or swearing too much. have a look at Etiquette at the top of the page.

Missy

[thehumantimelord @thehumantimelord]

@missy thank you! I actually didn’t see that until a minute after I posted this haha

[Anonymous @]

@thehumantimelord

actually on the swearing part? That’s fine. Some of the moderators themselves use some blue language -as long as you don’t swear at some one it’s all good. 🙂

enjoy!

[thehumantimelord @thehumantimelord]

@puroandson OK thanks. I’ve been trying to cut back on the swearing though anyway, haha

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@missrori @winston @ichabod @missy

I wrote out most of this reply to your discussion on the Husbands of River Song thread, and then realized that it really belonged here!  🙂

Sometimes people have to find themselves in particular places, circumstances, or company, in order to achieve their full potential. This has been in the front of my mind lately due to some writing I’ve been doing, and then my son brought it up again yesterday in a sports context. He was talking about certain footballers who didn’t make much of an impression until they ended up in a particular situation, and then became like comets, and the exact reasons for the change weren’t always obvious. Sometimes the place into which someone is born, or winds up through circumstance, doesn’t allow for the right kind of growth. Then we can wonder, when the Doctor chooses a companion, is he subconsciously seeing something in that person that can only be released by the particular qualities of the life he leads? Eleven did say something like “I never know why, I only know who.”

This is one reason why Donna’s fate was so upsetting. She was self-aware enough to actually understand what life with the Doctor could mean to her, she sought it out, and became something she would never otherwise have been. And then it was all taken away from her, like a reset. Except that she might not have been completely reset after all. Like the Doctor’s experience in both Heaven Sent and Hell Bent, perhaps the reset wasn’t complete, and although the memories were gone, the inner changes that they brought remained? Because I think that was explicit in HS/HB, it suggests that it could also have been true for Donna. I’d love to think so!

[ichabod @ichabod]

@arbutus — I agree that the Donna Solution (! if we can call it that) was awful; on the other hand, look what an excellent stimulus it was to the beauty of “Hell Bent”, how many years later?  The Doctor tries to do a Donna, is rebuked in spades by Clara, and *bang* — right before our eyes, the character of the Doctor grows, because this time he sees the injustice that has been pointed out to him (it’s not as if Donna didn’t try).  Of course it’s not right for him to decide against Clara’s strenuous objection, blot out her memories, even in order to spare her danger, and he not only sees this, but immediately acts on it.

Look at what that rebound against the Donna thing does: it gives Moffat a chance to to demonstrate (not just *say*) that he himself has grown, in his understanding of the messages of feminism, and that he insists on DW itself share in that growth by the way the problem is resolved.  And the contrast between the Donna incident and the Clara decision also shows us some other truths, if we care to look.  For one thing, the change in the Doctor’s approach tells us that yes, his attachment to Clara is something very special (as S8-9 have told us all along) in that he was sorry to memory-wipe Donna, but he realizes that he can not do that to Clara — IMO, because she’s become, over their time together, more real and compelling a *person*, independent of him and his ideas of her, than other companions have normally been.  With this, a complementarity is created and established: in the Doctor’s company, Clara grew into her own “Doctor” capacities.  And in Clara’s company, the Doctor grew into a (comparative) super-being fully aware and *respectful* of the subjective validity of his human human companion.

Which also pretty much refutes Missy’s gibes about humans — or this human, at any rate — being the Doctor’s “pets”.  Not that he doesn’t treat them as if they’re pets sometimes, but when push comes to shove in “Hell Bent”, he realizes he must treat Clara not as a precious object to be preserved at all costs, but as an equal, entitled to keep her own memories and run her own risks.

None of which would work so well without the Donna Disaster as a backdrop, clearly called up in viewers’ minds (“I’ve done it before — it won’t hurt this time”) as a contrast to what happens in “Hell Bent”.  But that also means, to me anyway, that there are no wispy trails of memory for Donna, post-wipe, or at least none that she’s able to follow up to any degree (without the head explosion thing happening).

Neat; really, really neat: the Right hand realizes, explicitly, just what the Left hand did, all those episodes ago, and does better this time.  Now, that’s what I call true character-development.  Of course with the Doctor, though, there’s always the possibility of regression sometime in the future, for some other show-runner’s reasons.  But for now, this is part of why I found S8-9 so deeply satisfying.  Not everything worked — it never does.  But the things that worked were  Big things, as I see such matters, and they worked brilliantly.  I miss Moffat already, and he’s not even gone yet . . . !

[winston @winston]

@arbutus  @ichabod   Poor Donna was robbed of her experiences by a brash ,impulsive Doctor who does the first thing he can think of to save her ,despite her tearful protests. He doesn’t listen to Donna, he knows what is best for her. In his defence he was fighting the clock as Donna’s brain  was already burning up. He still does it and has to deal with the guilt after. The 12th Doctor has learned a lot since then about humans and himself and he learned to listen. He listens to Clara , truly listens  and they ” toss the coin” to see who will lose. He won’t ask her to do anything he isn’t prepared to do himself. I love the 12th Doctor.

[ichabod @ichabod]

@winston   He won’t ask her to do anything he isn’t prepared to do himself. I love the 12th Doctor.

Yup.  My guy too.  “See me” becomes “I hear you”.  Long sigh of satisfaction.

[MissRori @missrori]

Well, 12 did once say he’s made a lot of mistakes in his lives and it was time he did something about them…  😉

[winston @winston]

@missrori  and @ichabod  I can’t wait to see the new companion and how she comes into the Doctor’s life. There is so much to look forward to and to wonder about. Will she live on the Tardis like Rose, Martha and Donna or have home bases and travel with the Doctor when he calls, like Clara and Amy and Rory? What time is she from? Why does she want to travel with him?  At least I have something to think about while I wait.

[Missy @missy]

@winston: Couldn’t agree more about the 12 th Doctor, he’s the best. there is something very human about this Doctor. He has all the qualities we do, his biggest being tactlessness. He hides his true feelings by being irascible.

I have always felt his vulnerability. PC is so right for the part.

Missy

[SeverusOswald @severusoswald]

Well …

New Who

I loved all five companions so far on New Who. The first companion I watched was Martha. I thought she was smart, kind, and a great character and I don’t get why so many people dislike her. Does anyone else have a reason? I’d love to here it. Anyway, Martha’s exit was a bit limp and Donna proved much more funny and she worked great with David Tennant — but I sort of missed Martha too. It was only then that I started watching Rose. I liked her as a companion, but I preferred the other two. Sure, she was funny and kind and all that, but I thought the other two were much stronger characters. Then Amy arrived, and I loved her, and I formed a sort of loyalty towards her that I didn’t have toward the others. I was deeply upset when she and Rory left, and I remained hostile towards Clara until SHE left and then I realised that Clara was an even better companion. Dammit. Don’t tell Amy.

So my overall order is

Clara, Amy, Martha, Rory, Donna, Rose.

I also love River and Jack.

Please don’t kill me I’m sorry I don’t like Rose or Donna as much as the others! They’re still amazing characters!

 

Classic Who

I can’t go through all the companions here, but here are my top five.

Sarah Jane, Brigadier Alister Lethbridge Stewart, Romana, Ace, Jamie and Jo joint.

I’m sorry, they were just the best. But all companions are great! Well, except for some, Ahem, Adric, Melanie, Kamelion, Adam … but not too many.

[SeverusOswald @severusoswald]

Well …

New Who

I loved all five companions so far on New Who. The first companion I watched was Martha. I thought she was smart, kind, and a great character and I don’t get why so many people dislike her. Does anyone else have a reason? I’d love to here it. Anyway, Martha’s exit was a bit limp and Donna proved much more funny and she worked great with David Tennant — but I sort of missed Martha too. It was only then that I started watching Rose. I liked her as a companion, but I preferred the other two. Sure, she was funny and kind and all that, but I thought the other two were much stronger characters. Then Amy arrived, and I loved her, and I formed a sort of loyalty towards her that I didn’t have toward the others. I was deeply upset when she and Rory left, and I remained hostile towards Clara until SHE left and then I realised that Clara was an even better companion. Dammit. Don’t tell Amy.

So my overall order is

Clara, Amy, Martha, Rory, Donna, Rose.

I also love River and Jack.

Please don’t kill me I’m sorry I don’t like Rose or Donna as much as the others! They’re still amazing characters!

 

Classic Who

I can’t go through all the companions here, but here are my top five.

Sarah Jane, Brigadier Alister Lethbridge Stewart, Romana, Ace, Jamie and Jo joint.

I’m sorry, they were just the best. But all companions are great! Well, except for some, Ahem, Adric, Melanie, Kamelion, Adam … but not too many.

[janetteB @janetteb]

@severusoswald You are certainly allowed your favourite companions and we don’t all agree. That makes life more interesting. I am sure even Adric has his fans not sure Adam would but then he wasn’t meant to be liked.

I think Martha was really let down by the writing. In some episodes she shone, but other times the character felt wasted. I think it was a shame she didn’t move over into Torchwood, where her character might have been able to grow a bit though Torchwood was well and truly on the downhill trajectory by then.

I would not disagree with your list of favourite companions from old Who but I would add Leela.

cheers

Janette

[SeverusOswald @severusoswald]

@janetteb I loved Leela too, but didn’t think she was as good as a couple of the others. She probably comes close sixth to my top five.

[SeverusOswald @severusoswald]

@janetteb I agree that Martha’s writing wasn’t quite as consistent as some other characters, but I think she was severely underrated! Some people think that she was weak, whiny and dependant on the Doctor, though I thought she took being constantly compared to and in the shadow of Rose fairly well. And she was actually incredibly strong in some episodes, like when she walked the entire Earth to defeat the Master and rescue the Doctor and when she had to live in the early nineteen hundreds as a maid and had to battle sever racism.

But then everyone is entitled to their own opinion. What’s your New Who order?

[thehumantimelord @thehumantimelord]

@severusowald I used to believe she was my least favorite companion but then I went back and watched a bunch of episodes with her and it totally changed my perspective. I think it was because I missed Rose because I used to think no one could be better than her, what did you think of Donna?

[thehumantimelord @thehumantimelord]

@severusoswald I used to believe she was my least favorite companion but then I went back and watched a bunch of episodes with her and it totally changed my perspective. I think it was because I missed Rose because I used to think no one could be better than her, what did you think of Donna?

[Missy @missy]

@severusoswald; My favouite companions are/were;

Rose, Clara and Donna, in that order, Amy and Rory had their moments, but Martha? She was all right I suppose, I didn’t not like her. Of course River.

Missy

[SeverusOswald @severusoswald]

@thehumantimelord I really liked Donna, I thought she was really funny and worked well with David Tennant, but occasionally she got on my nerves. Occasionally. Also, my whole family has had bad experiences with The Catherine Tate Show, and they all instantly hated her, and sort of tried to turn me against her.

[Missy @missy]

It’s a shame, CT could be coarse, but then so was PC in The Loop.

She was my husbands favourite companion.

Missy

[thehumantimelord @thehumantimelord]

@serverusowald I know she got on my nerves a bit sometimes too like her sas was a little too much sometimes. I didn’t know she had a show. I probably never heard of it due to me being in the US. Was it bad?

[thehumantimelord @thehumantimelord]

@severusoswald I know she got on my nerves a bit sometimes too like her sas was a little too much sometimes. I didn’t know she had a show. I probably never heard of it due to me being in the US. Was it bad?

[SeverusOswald @severusoswald]

@thehumantimelord Apparently. Well, my parents hate it but most of my friends love it.

[SeverusOswald @severusoswald]

@thehumantimelord Apparently. Well, my parents hate it but most of my friends love it.

[toinfinityandbepond @toinfinityandbepond]

Catherine Tates most well known character, with extra added Tennant

 

[MartinD @matomen]

Guys, it would be awesome if someone could help me,

I am looking for a doctor quotation:”Oh Clara, my dear Clara” in actual  episode.
If someone know where it is, I would be really impressed and happy.
Thanks 🙂

 

[Roskowe @roskowe]

I’m just wondering why they would model Clara after Sara from Tegan and Sara. Didn’t Clara even say “I’m not a bargain basement stand-in for someone else.” Which would mean might actually be a stand-in for Sara from that band. But why? Is there some sort of significance to Sara? The last series even premiered on their birthday.

[gamergirlavatar @gamergirlavatar]

After the latest episode, we got a preview of the new companion, Bill. From what we heard, she as a plain life and will soon be going on crazy adventures, just like the rest (this isn’t a bad thing). She says she serves chips, this reminds me of Rose posing as a cafeteria worker even though Rose was undercover. I hope The Doctor doesn’t take on the role of a teacher again, seeing that twice with The Tenth Doctor but we’ll see what will happen. It can be a great story. I think Bill will have a great start but we will have to wait and see.

[Missy @missy]

@gamergirlavatar;

She looks really promising in the trailers. April is so far away. Can I stand it?

Missy

[Kharis @kharis]

Since you asked in the lead into this forum, yes, I liked Adric.  It seems very popular not to like him, but I liked him and felt he was very heroic and tragic.

[Mirime @mirime]

Poor Adric, you know I completely forgot about his existence. In my defence I was very young. Tegan and Ace were my favourites BG.

AG I think Donna was excellent, and I was dubious as I’ve never been a fan of Catherine Tate. I actually stopped watching for a bit, but caught up again and found I’d been wrong!

Bill, so far, is great. From the trailer I was worried she was going to be a bit CBeebies, but she isn’t at all.

[wolfweed @wolfweed]

Since we first saw Bill in her ‘other’ patched jacket (patches as clues) at the Riverside promo, I thought that Bill might riff off of Ace (Dorothy) – And she certainly has her street cred (Girls Aloud & teddy bears aside). Also the ‘Liking girls not boys’ thang & the expertise in cult sci-fi references are ingredients shared with Izzy Sinclair, the 8th Doctor’s comic strip companion…

 

[wolfweed @wolfweed]

A handy guide to Ace’s bomber jacket patches…

 

[McCotton @mccottonthedoctorfan]

I’ve done a lot of thinking about this subject.  Who is my favorite companion?  It’s actually a companion from the audios.

Sixth Doctor companion Evelyn Smythe

[Missy @missy]

@mccottonthedoctorfan:

I haven’t heard many audios, so I don’t know who she is.

Missy

[McCotton @mccottonthedoctorfan]

@missy Well you can get a lot of Big Finish’s early stuff for cheap.  They discontinued the CDs and only sell them as downloads.

My tip would be to sign up and get a Big Finish account (it’s free), and then get the Big Finish app and sync it to your account. Then, whatever you buy as a download, you can download it to your phone or other device for listening.

Now, onto the companion.  Portrayed by the late Maggie Stables, Dr. Evelyn Smythe is a 55 year old College history professor.  She makes her debut in the audio, “The Marian Conspiracy,” where the Doctor is investigating a nexus point linked to her history.  After the matter is resolved, she continued to travel with the Doctor, making way for some of the Sixth Doctor’s best stories, including my current favorite, “Jubilee.”

Even though he’s often considered the worst incarnation of the Doctor because of the stories he had during his 2 season run, a lot of fans agree that the Sixth Doctor was redeemed on Big Finish.  I personally think Evelyn played a huge role in that as well.

On top of that, Colin Baker and Maggie Stables played off each other so well.  I really love the dynamic between the Doctor and Evelyn.  Like the Second Doctor and Jamie, or the Tenth Doctor and Donna, the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn are best friends.

[Author]

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