Some back-story. In 1968, at the end of Season 5, producer Peter Bryant and script editor Derrick Sherwin introduced the character of Zoe Her(r)iot. She was supposed to be a genius-level astrophysicist from the late 21st Century, but, as was the fate of many a promising companion, she was quickly reduced to the roles of screaming and asking stupid questions. When planning 1970's Season 7, Sherwin didn't know whether the actress would stay. When she did leave, he essentially created another Zoe (a phrase that will be funny to anyone who's been watching Caprica), giving himself a second chance to properly give the Doctor an intelligent scientist as a companion. This time they got it right, and the resulting character, Liz Shaw played by Caroline John, remains in my opinion one of the series' best companions. Sadly, this was not the opinion of incoming producer Barry Letts, who felt that no one wanted to watch two scientists natter away, and that what the Doctor really needed was someone to "hand him test tubes and tell him how brilliant he was," which is exactly what the Brigadier tells him at the beginning of Jo Grant's first story, Terror of the Autons (8.1).
When, a couple of weeks ago, I suggested the writers experiment with not-alienating ways to bring back elements from the "classic series" to tell a good story, a greyer Jo insisting "But Doctor, it is the Age of Aquarius!" to a whole new actor isn't quite what I had in mind.
Still, it'll be written by Russell, and when he sets his considerable talent to writing an individual episode rather than The Biggest Thing You've Ever Seen, the results are usually more impressive than they would be in anyone else's hands, so Jo will probably end up seeming much more badass and interesting than she ever actually was.
Still, it'll be written by Russell, and when he sets his considerable talent to writing an individual episode rather than The Biggest Thing You've Ever Seen, the results are usually more impressive than they would be in anyone else's hands, so Jo will probably end up seeming much more badass and interesting than she ever actually was.
Meanwhile, in actual Doctor Who, Amy Pond is wonderful (still not convinced she can act more than her trademark "surprised" look, but 1. what other expression would you be wearing under the circumstances? 2. we'll presumably find out in the upcoming "Amy's Choice" (31.7)), River Song is great (although the thought of the Doctor having a bossy wife makes me cringe), and the Weeping Angels can now do more than send you back in time to lead a fulfilling life (I've been thinking about how, if they did that to me, I could stop Doctor Who from getting terrible in the mid-'80s). My enjoyment of "The Time of Angels" (31.4) was hampered a little by the fact that I don't find the Angels as scary as I am clearly supposed to. Then again, the video thing was cool, but I was hoping it was the result of its crazy timey-wiminess, not just a previously unknown magic power. Nevertheless, I'm liking the story. And I might not find the Angels scary - because, you know, statues just aren't that scary - but I like the way they exemplify the aesthetic of the uncanny (familiar, but strange), which isn't a bad well for Moffat to keep returning to, especially given that the first thing ever in Doctor Who was a police box that hummed (non-musical).
But anyway, you know who were the best companions? Ian and Barbara. Introduced a full half-episode before that old fella who would come to be called the Doctor (and probably created before he was), they are the best arguments against the notion that companions are just there to ask questions and get into trouble. Not only are they more intelligent and resourceful, and better in a crisis, than the average human, but they were joint-protagonists with the Doctor in a way that not even 21st Century companions have been. In The Aztecs (1.6), for example, Barbara poses as the reincarnation of a high priest, and her "servants" are demoted to sidekick status. Even when the Doctor is lecturing her about how she can't change history, The Aztecs remains Barbara's story. The fact that Doctor Who suddenly becomes The Adventures of Ian and Barbara for a several of The Keys of Marinus (1.5) which feature the Doctor at all doesn't seem at all strange. Able to be chief strategists, action heroes, or romantic leads at the stories demand, there is so much more writers could do with Ian and Barbara than subsequent companions. It is telling that the next time the TARDIS had four occupants, during Peter Davison's first season as the Doctor (Season 19), the writers had to keep finding increasingly implausible reasons to take one companion out (Nyssa actually sleeps through all of Kinda (19.3)). Then again, half the writers of Season 19 sucked.
Today's Doctor Who writers and producers should look to Ian and Barbara for inspiration when intra-TARDIS relations need spicing up. Because once Amy's run her course, the young-Doctor-and-his-hot-young-female dynamic may be starting to seem old. I may have mentioned this in an earlier post, but in a recent interview Moffat pointed out the fact that in all his Russell-era stories he's always brought in a second companion (Captain Jack in "Empty Child", Mickey in "Fireplace", Lawrence in "Blink" (with Sally as the companion I guess), and River in "Library") because it adds so much potential. Because you know what's really old now? Sexual tension. Give him an old companion please! We're so used to seeing badass young people on-screen these days that when older characters are badass it seems surprising and inventive. (Example: Rose in Lost.)
Or, you know, they could just get Jo Grant could come back. She's old.
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