Today, I follow up on last week's post on the topic of love and Doctor Who, specifically the Doctor's encounters with romance or at least something that kind of sort of looked like romance if you tilt your head at just the proper angle and squint. Now I'm looking at the companions and their liaisons of love which tended to be end of a fairly positive note. This was mostly because the companion was leaving.
The first time that happened was at the end of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The Doctor's granddaughter Susan met and fell in love with David, a member of the resistance against the Daleks. The Doctor comes to the conclusion that following her grandfather as he wanders through time and space is no life for Susan so he leaves her behind. It’s a heartbreaking moment for both even if Susan and David do truly love each other. Carole Ann Ford who played Susan had chosen to leave because she was't given opportunities to expand her character. Since it was the Doctor and not Susan herself who decided her exit, Carole may have had a point.
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| "This hand crawling up my shoulder: could THIS be love?" |
Jo Grant's encounter with Professor Clifford Jones has it ups in down. In a parallel to her early days the 3rd Doctor, Jo ruins one of Clifford's experiments, much to his irritation. But over the course of events of The Green Death, both become very much aware of how attracted they are to each other. When Clifford proposes to Jo, Jo doesn't hesitate to say yes.
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| "Let me tell you kids just two words: Mutual. Funds." |
The Doctor gives his blessing to Jo but is sad to see his assistant go as he drives off alone into the night. Apparently it was a very strong and productive marriage; when Katy Manning reprised Jo Grant (now Jo Jones) in The Sarah Jane Adventures, we learn that Jo has a whole bunch of kids and grandkids and is still a loveable ditz.
At least Susan and Jo got some build up to their relationships with these men before being shuffled off. You might be forgiven for being surprised by Leela’s decision to remain on Gallifrey with her true love, Commander Andred. That’s because over the course of 6 episodes of the serial The Invasion of Time, there is no indication of any romantic attaction between the two.
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| Oh, the sweet and powerful passion of true...tangential awareness! |
The fault lies with Graham Williams who was really, really hoping that Louise Jameson would sign on for another year despite Louise giving the producer every indication that she was opt to move on. So there was no contingency plan for Leela’s exit until a last minute insertion of interaction between Leela and Andred in part 6. For her part, Jameson had hoped Leela would be given a heroic death scene. Instead Leela had to settle for marriage.
Peri Brown got both. At the end of Mindwarp, the 2nd story of the Trial of a Time Lord arc, Peri has lost her hair and her mind with an alien's mind being placed in her body. In the aftermath of that, she gets shot dead by King Ycranos. Don't worry, Peri's not really dead and winds up married to Ycranos and there's nothing creepy about that.
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| Peri with her future murderer - slash - husband (in that order!) |
Companions in the revived Doctor Who had some interesting pairings for our companions. Some companions were of a mind to pair up with the Doctor himself. Rose Tyler declares her love for the Doctor at the end of Doomsday. During the wrap up of Journey's End, Rose does get to spend the rest of her life with the Doctor. Well, a version of the Doctor. Well, a human version of the Doctor, one with only one heart and the ability to say "I love you" to Rose. So Rose finds true love with a guy who is basically a duplicate of the guy she was in love with. No, not a bit weird.
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| Thanks for playing, Rose! And please accept this lovely parting gift! |
We see Mickey Smith and Martha Jones paired up in one of the closing scenes of The End of Time Part 2 which, shades of Leela and Andred, THAT came out of nowhere, didn't it?
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| Smith and Jones, married alien hunters and probably the least screwed up couple in this feature. |
But it is kind of cool we have two former companions but from different times travelling with the Doctor finding each other.
Then we got the companions that broke the "rule" of no sex in the TARDIS, Amy Pond and Rory Williams. After they were married, they continued to travel with the Doctor, providing an interesting twist on the whole Doctor/companion dynamic.
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| "I wonder how long they're going to stand there with the doors open. Are we trying to air condition the entire universe? OK, one more minute then I'm putting my foot down!" |
And now we have Clara Oswald and Danny Pink. This is a relationship that some time is being taken to develop, from the meet cute to the very, very awkward first date to that first kiss.
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There does seem to be something happening here; we meet one of Clara and Danny's descendants so something must work out, right? However, remember we're dealing with Steven Moffat here. If he's got us thinking that Clara and Danny have a future because we've seen that future, we can probably expect to be pulled in some maddenly frustrating direction we didn't anticipate.
So that's a look back at Doctor Who companions...in love! (Awwwww! Cute!) When one travels with the Doctor through time and space, there's no telling what wonders may be found, perhaps even the greatest wonder of all, love. (Enough with the "Aw! Cute!" already!)
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Tomorrow is Sunday and with it comes a review of The Caretaker. The Doctor has gone under "deep cover" (he changed his coat!) at Coal Hill School. What dangers await the Doctor and Clara? And will Danny finally tumble on to Clara's double life as a school teacher/space-time adventurer?
We'll find out tonight and I talk about here tomorrow.
Until then, be good to one another.
Dave-El
I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You
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