new Doctor Who companion unveiled

[Artemis@BC]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17456505

I'm still in denial that Amy -- and more importantly Rory -- would ever leave ...

[Wyliefan]

She has a tough act to follow. I only very recently started watching, so it's really hard for me to imagine it without Amy and Rory, even though I know that constant changing of actors and characters is how the whole thing works!

[Amy L]

I hope this one has an interesting backstory. We're overdue for another non-Earthling.

[znachki]

I'm more worried about the way Amy & Rory might leave. I'm still not over Donna.

[Amy L]

They are the Doctor's (sorta) in-laws, which doesn't bode too well for them. The more invested he is in people, the worse they seem to end up.

[victoriaheidi]

She's gorgeous. Best of luck to her...Amy is quite a beloved companion to follow.

I'm also not over Donna.

[Cloudy_Gumdrops]

I don't want Amy/Rory to go. They're what I watched season 5 and 6 for. Try as I might I just can't get attached to 11. I've come to view him as the comic relief.

Clearly, the rumor about Sophia Myles was a red herring.

[danceronice]

I'm more worried about the way Amy & Rory might leave. I'm still not over Donna.

Especially since they keep describing Amy's (note specifically Amy) departure as "terribly tragic." I mean, really? More tragic than Rose getting trapped in an alternate dimension when we were told she would never be able to come back? More tragic than Donna getting all her growth and character development wiped away "for her own good?" If so, Moffat, what have you got left?!? (Not to mention it can't be "kill Rory." They've done THAT so many times it's practically a meme. "Rory's dead, must be Thursday..."

You know, in Classic Who, Companions didn't HAVE to leave by dying horribly or being mentally destroyed (or getting their own spinoff where they become borderline-sociopathic saviors of the world and almost all THEIR companions die horribly.) Most of them, in general, got to leave and go back to some sort of a life. (Well, except Adric, but who cares? No one likes Adric!) New Who, otoh, I think the only ones who really get to leave on their own terms are Martha and Mickey (he counts!), and that only seems to be because no one's really wanted to bring them back to torture some more. (We'll let the obvious unfortunate implications of that slide...)

[Cloudy_Gumdrops]

More tragic than Donna getting all her growth and character development wiped away "for her own good?"

Poor Donna, her departure really is the most tragic. And Wilf has to see her that way after seeing how much better she had been. I love Wilf. Bernard Cribbins is such a wonderful actor.

Rose got a happy ending at the end of the day with Ten II. And them getting to be with Jackie/Pete/Tony in the alternate dimension.

Martha/Mickey are married and being all vigilante and stuff.

Sarah Jane has her son and K-9 and got the proper goodbye she wanted at the end of School Reunion (then later on obviously).

Not really sure about Jack as I never watched Torchwood.

[Amy L]

Jack is a total mess. And if you work for him, there's about an 80% chance of dying violently.

[danceronice]

Rose got a happy ending at the end of the day with Ten II. And them getting to be with Jackie/Pete/Tony in the alternate dimension.

Hence my saying 'we're told.' Yeah, it got retconned and they made up Handy as a consolation prize (with the dubious order to 'fix him' after he committed genocide* just like she 'fixed' Nine), but her tenure as a proper companion ends with nearly being sucked into a vortex and then being told she's stuck in an alternate universe. And of course that still ends with Ten alone and free to be even more morose.

Martha/Mickey are married and being all vigilante and stuff.

Hence my not including Martha's departure as tragic (she actually CHOSES to leave, more akin to Sarah Jane before SHE got retconned into 'pining for the Doctor'), but the unfortunate implications occur with her and Mickey, who spend about thirty seconds of actual screen time together, and they're married because...they're both black while their white exes (or in Martha's case white unrequited crush) are together (at last in cloned form in Ten's case). I'm sure that they would say they'd pair the spares even if Mickey or Martha were another race but...

Sarah Jane has her son and K-9 and got the proper goodbye she wanted at the end of School Reunion (then later on obviously).

Sarah Jane got a perfectly good departure the FIRST time around--she's one of the many many MANY Classic Who companions who got on with her life. Allegedly. The business about her pining away and never finding a man to equal the Doctor (remember, we're talking Third and Fourth Doctors here, not the bishies from New Who) is more or less out of nowhere in School Reunion.

Not really sure about Jack as I never watched Torchwood.

Hoo boy. Let's just say the first two seasons started out with the Torchwood team consisting of Jack, Ianto, Owen, Tosh, and new recuit Gwen. By the time "Miracle Day" (which I haven't seen) rolls around, the only ones alive are Jack and Gwen and that's mostly because Jack can't die (at least up to a point) and Gwen's the 'main character' after Jack.

[Cloudy_Gumdrops]

I wasn't arguing with you danceronice. I was just listing off 10s companions and the lives they ended up living as opposed to Donna who got her memory and character growth wiped out. It's just what I was thinking.

I don't mind that Martha/Mickey ended up together. I don't see a problem with pairing up the two black characters considering New Who has been rather representative of interracial pairings. Martha/Mickey do have a few things they could've bonded over, like, traveling with The Doctor, feeling like second best to someone else (Rose and Ten respectively).

[Michalle]

I wasn't arguing with you danceronice. I was just listing off 10s companions and the lives they ended up living as opposed to Donna who got her memory and character growth wiped out. It's just what I was thinking.

I don't mind that Martha/Mickey ended up together. I don't see a problem with pairing up the two black characters considering New Who has been rather representative of interracial pairings. Martha/Mickey do have a few things they could've bonded over, like, traveling with The Doctor, feeling like second best to someone else (Rose and Ten respectively).

But it's done in such a perfunctory way that it sort of does feel like it is literally ONLY because they are both black, rather than anything else.

[Amy L]

RTD claimed it was kinda done as a joke, since their names are Smith and Jones (which was the title of an episode). Maybe that's true, but I'm imagining it was more like, "Yeah, they're Smith and Jones... and the black ones! It'll be funny!" Though I doubt anyone would ever get Rusty to admit anything like that.

[Wyliefan]

Not to mention it can't be "kill Rory." They've done THAT so many times it's practically a meme. "Rory's dead, must be Thursday..."

That's a mercy. I think I could handle practically anything if they can at least be together.

(So now watch Moffatt put his thinking cap on and come up with something so dreadful I can't handle it even if they ARE together.)

[danceronice]

But it's done in such a perfunctory way that it sort of does feel like it is literally ONLY because they are both black, rather than anything else.

Exactly. They barely have any screen time together and even less dialogue together and the 'they're married' thing is entirely offscreen. I could buy them bonding over both knowing the Doctor, but it's so out of left field it really looks regrettably like "Hey, they're both single, they're both sloppy seconds, they're both black-perfect!"

[Nell411]

Exactly. They barely have any screen time together and even less dialogue together and the 'they're married' thing is entirely offscreen. I could buy them bonding over both knowing the Doctor, but it's so out of left field it really looks regrettably like "Hey, they're both single, they're both sloppy seconds, they're both black-perfect!"

IIRC Marth and Mickey were originally intented to be in Children of Earth but it took to long to get going and Freema Agyeman and Noel Clarke both ended up with other jobs. However I do agree with you. It does feel like they go put together because they are both black and sloopy seconds.

[LilJen]

I'm more worried about the way Amy & Rory might leave. I'm still not over Donna.

Heck, I'm still not over Nine. Gotta go back and watch his series (only one!! a tragedy!!) again.

[Cachoo]

I have hopscotched all over this series to know who you are talking about but not any current updates. Whatever happened to River Song (the companion's daughter?)

[Amy L]

She's in jail for the Doctor's murder. Although she didn't actually do anything to him, she's sacrificed herself in order for him to keep up the ruse that he's dead. He breaks her out (or picks her up whenever she breaks herself out) and they have off screen adventures together. No word on whether Alex Kingston will be back in the upcoming season.