Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site duke.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!duke!nlt From: nlt@duke.UUCP (N. L. Tinkham) Newsgroups: net.tv.drwho Subject: "useless" companions Message-ID: <4948@duke.UUCP> Date: Fri, 19-Oct-84 18:29:31 EDT Article-I.D.: duke.4948 Posted: Fri Oct 19 18:29:31 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 21-Oct-84 15:04:54 EDT Organization: Duke University Lines: 36 Rob DeMillo writes: > Why are the majority of women with the Doctor completely wimpy > useless humanoids? The only exceptions that come to mind > are Leela (she was great), Romana (although she seemed to do > her fair share of screeching), and (barely) Tegan. > Any thoughts about this? ************************** Good question. I hate to suggest the obvious, that many of the writers see the women in the show as functioning primarily 1) to decorate the set, and 2) to give the Doctor someone to rescue when things get dull. This is the 20th century, after all. Perhaps a kinder explanation would be that it takes work and imagination (on the part of both writer and actor) to create a complex character, and, although the characterization in Doctor Who is generally well above the average for television programming, not all the characters have been as fully and imaginatively developed as they might have been. (It's unfortunate, though, that more care couldn't have been taken with the female companions who lasted for several seasons -- Jo, Sarah, Tegan, and Nyssa were not minor walk-on roles.) Another factor, I think, is that the Doctor Tom Baker created was so forceful that a strong and forceful companion was needed to "balance" his character; anyone with less charisma would look "wimpy and useless" by comparison. I have found it interesting to watch those companions who travelled with more than one Doctor. Sarah next to Pertwee's Doctor was a headstrong feminist; next to Baker, she faded into the background. And Adric (in my opinion) seemed much stronger alongside Davison than with Baker. That doesn't explain Nyssa, of course, as she was with the fifth Doctor. I suppose she suffered mostly from having to share the stage with Tegan and (Turlough or Adric). There might have been time to develop her character more fully if she had travelled with the Doctor alone for awhile between "Time-Flight" and "Arc of Infinity". N. L. Tinkham duke!nlt