Doctor Who IV - Everything Whovian - Would you like a jelly baby?

[ChrisIII]

The problem possibly with the Season 19 crew was that you had three smart types - the Doctor, Nyssa and Adric - with Tegan really both the bossy one and the audience viewpoint. I think it’s important to remember actually that Tegan was distinctive in being the first non British companion (space Brits don’t count) and someone not wanting to be there. I think it’s clear too that Five had a fondness for Nyssa over the other two since her intellect was decent compared to his (the Doctor clearly has a type when it comes to arguably romantic relationships). Adric is probably the odd one since once Nyssa was around his role seemed secondary, hence why he got removed. Then Nyssa was removed in Terminus presumably because the BBC thought audiences liked Tegan more and they wouldn’t want an all alien TARDIS crew?

Of course Nyssa was pretty much replaced with Turlough who was also an alien, although one mainly not as obvious at first (Turlough had spent time on Earth and seemed to understand Earth customs, fashion and stuff, while Nyssa like Adric seemed to struggle a bit with some of the lingo, especially in stuff like "Black Orchid"...and Nyssa didn't get anything contemporary Earthish until right about when she was about to leave.)

[Matt]

I'm just finding the idea of Adric being called smart ... interesting. Mathematical genius, at least in theory, but severely lacking in common sense and general usefulness.
Then again, Tegan wasn't very useful either. The only companion of that era who seemed to have a clue what she was doing was Nyssa.

[ChrisIII]

She seemed a bit more resourceful in her later seasons.


Kind of interesting that pretty much Davison's companions all pretty much had some tragic backstories. Tegan's aunt got shrunk/killed, Nyssa lost her foster mother, father and then her entire planet; Adric's brother was killed, and Turlough was an exiled prince.

It's sort of implied that Peri's home life is troubled too (and one of the audios makes things worse)....and of course there's Ace. We never really learn much about Mel at all.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Sacha Dhawan was one of the finalists for the 13th doctor so I'm curious how series 11 would've been with him at the helm. At the very least, Demons of the Punjab would be drastically different.

Riz Ahmed feels like he'd be a working class Doc like Eccleston. Shazid Laatif feels like an another byronic take like Mcgann's.

I wanna see Helen McCrory take over from Whitaker. Thats my dark horse candidate.

[Matt]

Goran Visnjic is my pick at the moment.
I get the feeling it'd get a lot of the mum viewers back, at very least.

[Somecrazyaussie]

The problem possibly with the Season 19 crew was that you had three smart types - the Doctor, Nyssa and Adric - with Tegan really both the bossy one and the audience viewpoint. I think it’s important to remember actually that Tegan was distinctive in being the first non British companion (space Brits don’t count) and someone not wanting to be there. I think it’s clear too that Five had a fondness for Nyssa over the other two since her intellect was decent compared to his (the Doctor clearly has a type when it comes to arguably romantic relationships). Adric is probably the odd one since once Nyssa was around his role seemed secondary, hence why he got removed. Then Nyssa was removed in Terminus presumably because the BBC thought audiences liked Tegan more and they wouldn’t want an all alien TARDIS crew?

Adric never gelled with 5. He worked much better with 4 (hence why i am glad Big Finish is doing more with that dynamic). Davison preferred Nyssa and, out of the three, she had a legitimately strong narrative thread (her father's body was hijacked by the Master, the Traken union was annihilated). In the Doctor she would find a new father figure and he would have felt more responsible for her welfare (which would have been a nice nod to Troughton who was Davison's "Doctor").

The trouble is, she was too smart. They had done away with Romana for that very reason.

[Somecrazyaussie]

I'm just finding the idea of Adric being called smart ... interesting. Mathematical genius, at least in theory, but severely lacking in common sense and general usefulness.
Then again, Tegan wasn't very useful either. The only companion of that era who seemed to have a clue what she was doing was Nyssa.

Well, he still was a teenager. He always had a reckless streak and thought he knew it all.

[Somecrazyaussie]

She seemed a bit more resourceful in her later seasons.


Kind of interesting that pretty much Davison's companions all pretty much had some tragic backstories. Tegan's aunt got shrunk/killed, Nyssa lost her foster mother, father and then her entire planet; Adric's brother was killed, and Turlough was an exiled prince.

It's sort of implied that Peri's home life is troubled too (and one of the audios makes things worse)....and of course there's Ace. We never really learn much about Mel at all.

Mel is explored more in the novels and in Big Finish. The best use of her that comes to mind is Business Unusual. She mets the Doctor and her "computing" skills are essential to the plot.

[Somecrazyaussie]

yeah I'm not letting Chibnall off the hook here. Maybe another way to put it is, don't bite off more than you can chew. If the story structure NOW doesn't lend itself to doing more than one companion, might not be a good idea to bring on more than one companion unless you're sure you can make it work. A better writer could make it work, possibly, but it sounds like his/her job would be cut out for them (since as stated the story structure is different), so even the better writer would avoid it.

RTD is a much better writer and even he wisely avoided it during his tenure. Nobody should let Chibnall off the hook (not after the roasting he gave Pip and Jane Baker). I can understand why he decided upon three companions and I can see what he was trying to achieve. But there is no writer currently involved with the show who has been able to navigate the problem of giving everybody enough to do. Which is what happened in the 80s.

[ChrisIII]

McRory could be interesting, she's been in the show before of course but that wasn't a problem for Colin Baker and Capaldi, or companionwise for Freema and Gillian.

Jodie plays the Doctor a lot like the younger versions (Davison and Tennant in particular) so it'd be interesting to see Helen take on perhaps a somewhat older, maybe stricter version like Capaldi's take.


Olivia Coleman, Hayley Atwell, Rachel Weisz and a few others have often been brought up as choices for female Doctors too. Judi Dench was a name mentioned during the casting of the TV movie but obviously that's a bit past though (Although I wouldn't rule out a guest role).

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Ravenous 2 is a step up from ravenous 1. They struck a better balance between the "normal" adventures and the "arc".

[Derek Metaltron]

I always thought Emma Thompson would have been a great choice but she is probably too old and busy for the role now. Would love to see Haley Atwell as the Doctor.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Yesterday, I was relistening to "Companion Piece" and i thought the Nine was a fun villain.

Im interested in 3 companions but series 11 didn't do a good job selling me on it. Granted it also didn't sell me on a series of standalone episodes. I guess i just prefer arc based storytelling.

[Somecrazyaussie]

McRory could be interesting, she's been in the show before of course but that wasn't a problem for Colin Baker and Capaldi, or companionwise for Freema and Gillian.

Jodie plays the Doctor a lot like the younger versions (Davison and Tennant in particular) so it'd be interesting to see Helen take on perhaps a somewhat older, maybe stricter version like Capaldi's take.


Olivia Coleman, Hayley Atwell, Rachel Weisz and a few others have often been brought up as choices for female Doctors too. Judi Dench was a name mentioned during the casting of the TV movie but obviously that's a bit past though (Although I wouldn't rule out a guest role).

The next Doctor won't be a female. I reckon they will likely return to a male (who I have a suspicion might be a person of colour).

[ChrisIII]

So some of the advertisements for Sunday's episode say it'll be another 'shocking twist" episode similar to the Master reveal at the beginning of this season. Given that we're at the halfway point this season I'm guessing it's another addition to the "Timeless child" arc.