I thought I would make a few comments about the First Doctor and each of the companions who travelled with him. I will not be making any comments about Ben and Polly yet as they are still travelling with the second Doctor so they will be included in my summary of his time. So here goes:
The Doctor
Not always ranked very high on the list of favourite Doctors, William Hartnell should at least be given credit as the man who started it all. I happen to think that he made a bloody fantastic Doctor and one who had a real character development throughout his tenure.
From the first episode the Doctor wasn't necessarily a person you would like to meet. He effectively kidnaps Ian and Barbara, is prepared to kill a caveman who is slowing down their escape, will lie to his companions to force them to explore the Dalek city for his own curiosity. Then of course there's the story when his real paranoia about Ian and Barbara makes him completely lose it with them and he demands they leave the ship, no matter where the ship may land, effectively throwing them overboard!! From here, after he discovers the error of his ways, he softens down a great deal and although he is still prone to angry outbursts when he doesn't get his own way, he becomes a much gentler character and is actually actively seeking out ways to help the people he encounters rather than simply try to run back to the TARDIS as the first sign of trouble.
The Doctor would go on to form true bonds with the companions he travelled with along the way. The most significant of these for me always seems to be the story of Ian and Barbara. From being two interlopers that were thrust upon him, by the the time it comes for them to leave the Doctor is genuinely upset to see them go.
William Hartnell was a fine actor, he could do both the serious and the funny stuff excellently. He is also well known for his many famous slip ups with his lines, fondly nicknames "Billy-Fluffs". Back in the 60s television shows would tend to recorded as if they were going out live. Editing was a pretty expensive business back then so pretty much if you made a mistake with one of your lines then it would have to stay in. Therefore some absolute corkers go through! eg "anti radiation gloves....drugs!"..."floating around in Spain...space!" etc
By the end of his time on the show William Hartnell was suffering from ill health but it's rather sad the way he was treated for his last few stories as he was gradually phased out of the series.
Susan Foreman
The Doctor's granddaughter. There's still a great deal of mystery around Susan. It seems strange looking back on the series that one of the Doctor's first ever companions was actually a member of his own family. But what happened to her mum and dad? These are things that we still do not know 50 years down the line!
I've never been a great fan of Susan unfortunately. She always seems to be the one who goes hysterical or twists her ankle and at times this can cause the Doctor to be taken out of the story as he is having to constantly look out for his granddaughter.
There are some stories where she is allowed to shine, such as in The Sensorites when she develops psychic powers but these developments are few and far between. She also has some nice moments when she shares a story with someone around her (apparent) age, for example her relationship with Ping Cho in Marco Polo.
As much as I don't really like Susan as a companion I do have to admit that she has one of the finest leaving scenes in the shows history and William Hartnell's parting message to her would be one of the most well known moments of his tenure.
Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright
I wasn't sure whether to mention these two separately but decided to talk about them together as they really do form a team and if Sarah Jane's research is correct actually end up getting married upon their return to Earth!
Absolutely two of my all time favourite companions. Everything from the way they are forced into travelling in the TARDIS and going on these wild adventures, right up to their eventual leaving scene which surpasses even Susan's, it's all fantastic.
Barbara development from being a "a very unwilling adventurer" to being the woman who is trying to instigate a complete revolution to the Aztecs way of life, you can see how life in the TARDIS and all the possibilities that presents has rubbed of on her.
Meanwhile Ian is very much the action hero. With the Doctor being an old man it would be difficult to take part in some of the more action orientated scene such as jumping across chasms and getting into sword fights (although the Doctor does get into some of his own sword fights). Therefore Ian fills this role in the show.
Also during the earlier stages of the show it was very much Ian and Barbara who were considered the main characters. The Doctor started of as a bit of an anti hero and more of a device to move Ian and Barbara from A to B and cause conflict within the group. Therefore Ian and Barbara were two of the most important companions in the entire history of the show. Jacqueline Hill who played Barbara is sadly no longer with us but William Russel who played Ian is still alive and it would be awesome to see him make a reappearance in the 50th anniversary special. Not sure how they'd get around the fact that Ian and Barbara are not supposed to have aged since the 60s according to Sarah Jane's research. Maybe her research was flawed...
Vicki
Vicki was brought in to be the "Susan replacement" and she fills the role perfectly without any of the annoying aspects of Susan. For a start she is not the Doctor's granddaughter so he can be a little bit more independent of her as he does not have to be protective of her. That sounds awful, he is protective of her obviously but..well she's not family..so it's not quite the same..if you get what I saying.
Vicki is allowed to get up to her own adventures, away from the Doctor where as Susan would pretty much just tag along with her Grandfather. It's Vicki who persuades the Doctor to show Ian and Barbara how to pilot the Dalek time machine back to their own time and space. She's also there to help introduce Steven to life travelling in the TARDIS. She's not my favourite of companions but I do like Vicki.
Steven Taylor
It's quite difficult to judge Steven as a companion as he has the sad misfortune of having most of his stories missing. It seemed strange at first to see Peter Purves in an acting role as he more well known now as a presenter. The stories he shares with Vicki are all pretty good but he never really seems to gel with Dodo.
He also has quite a confrontational relationship with the Doctor, most famously evidenced at the end of The Massacre when he storms out of the TARDIS after the Doctor has left thousands of people to be slaughtered.
Katarina
One of the more ill conceived ideas for a companion. Katarina was a replacement for Vicki after Vicki left during the events of The Myth Makers. Unfortunately it was quickly realised that a companion from ancient history was never going to work as she would inevitably spend too long asking to many questions and be completely confused as to what was going on around her.
However her introduction to the series is not a complete loss as we get the first companion death in the shows history during the events of The Daleks' Master Plan. Poor Katarina. She was only in the show for a few episodes and she still gets a better exit than Dodo will!
Sara Kingdom
Is Sara Kingdom officially a companion? A bit of a grey area here. Companions usually tend to be those characters who travel from one story to the next and Sara Kingdom is actually only in the one story..and yet she does do a fair bit of travelling round in the TARDIS and as such some people consider her to be a companion...Honestly! Some Doctor Who fans have proper debates about such important matters!
Unfortunately having only seen The Daleks' Master Plan once I don't have a great memory of her character. I know she kills her own brother which is pretty shocking and then goes on to have one of the most horrific deaths at the end of the story as she ages to death on a dying planet! The Daleks' Master Plan really is a blood bath for companions!
Dodo Chaplet
Dodo arrives at the end of The Massacre, apparently as one of the ancestors of Anne Chaplet whom Steven had befriended and feared to be dead. When she first arrives she has quite a strong Mancunian accent which stood out at the time as being unusual in Doctor Who. Unfortunately by the next story it was deemed that her accent should change. No explanation was given of course. Maybe it was the TARDIS's telepathic circuits working on her speech so that more aliens would understand her. I'm grasping at straws here!
She also famous as having officially (there is no doubt about it) the worst leaving in Doctor Who. She just disappears with just a message left for the Doctor that she is staying on Earth. Utter crap!
So there we go. The first Doctor's era is complete. Coming soon are my thoughts on the second half of Season 4 as the tenure of the second Doctor begins!
No comments:
Post a Comment