the Trouble With Companions

In the Doctor’s history he has nearly always travelled with a companion/assistant/friend. His first companion was his own granddaughter Susan. His first none family companions were Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. His first none family companions he kidnapped; they could only return to their own time and location after travelling two years with the Doctor and after confiscating the Daleks time machine. The trend was set. The companions became a very important ingredient of the show. They talked to the Doctor, asked the viewers’ questions and got in trouble. Everything needed to make the show not only exciting and relatable, and not in the least understandable.

Barbara & Ian

There is a maximum of how many we can take at a time. Experience learns that a total of three companions is a bit much. Let’s take the most recent threesome to accompany the Doctor on a regular basis. It’s been back in the Christopher Eccleston time. His companions were, listed in order of importance, Rose, Captain Jack and Mickey. In School Reunion, not even the worst example, Sarah Jane was added including K9, which made Mickey realize he was the tin dog of the group. He was left behind, with K9, in the car to wait for what was to come or for the Doctor and his other companions to finish. I must note, Captain Jack was not there. Luckily or fontunately, Mickey got to drive the car through a glassed door to release the school kids out of the building. Fates of the third companion could be worse.

Rory, Amy’s Rory, is the most recent victim of bad or absent story lines for him. He ends up dead a lot or useless in the background. There have been loads of stories where he wasn’t even present. That reminds me of a Peter Davison story, Kinda, in which Nyssa is not feeling well and stays behind in the TARDIS to rest while the Doctor, Tegan and Adric go off having an adventure. We only see Nyssa in the first and last episode of the story. A fate worse than…?

It seems a little bit strange and silly to me. Looking at Star Trek I see a much bigger regular cast. Some might be more popular than others, but the whole cast is fairly well served over the series’ life. It must be noted the ladies are worse off. Natasha Yar dies and the involvement in stories reduces. Lt. Worf is in a lesser extent a victim. It seems however, the least popular characters have reduced roles to play over time. A sensible choice. In case of Doctor Who, that’s not always the case. Let’s take Nyssa once again. She could have been quite interesting. She’s a very developed and sensitive alien girl with a lot of potential. That potential is never really exploited, rather ignored. Hardly any writer wrote or knew how to write for her character and therefor this character got neglected. This makes Nyssa one of the least interesting characters in Who history. A shame. Rory at least developed from an awkward, bumbling boy to a kickass last centurion.

Mickey and Rory; the tin dogs. They did redeem themselves.

The problem might also lie with the presence of the Doctor. He is the hero and has to save the day. His companions almost automatically end up in lesser roles in which they get in trouble and have to scream. It must be said the role of the companions has changed. These days the girls have to be streetwise tough girls who do stupid stuff and still get themselves in trouble. It’s a shame, because of that, they don’t come across as likable. They’re no Sarah Janes, though Rose was and still is very popular.

What I like about the Star Trek cast is the equality among the cast. Even the less popular cast members are very popular. However, Captain Kirk and Dr. Spock are much better known than the rest of the original Enterprise cast. I suppose that goes for TNG as well, with Picard, Riker and Data being best known. As for the other Star Treks, here the best known characters tend to be the captains.

The conclusion must be that in stories we can only deal with a maximum of three main characters. And less is more.