Written by The Revisionist
Rose Tyler sets the standards when it comes to Dr Who companions. What more could a character like The Doctor need? She was willing to travel universe, fight danger, save planets, and teach The Doctor a few tricks along the way.
Looking at some fan favorites they now appear to fall short of what the Doctor needs. There are companions who spent most of their time in the TARDIS whinging, moaning and making a thorough pain of themselves. I can only assume that as each of them was pretty good looking The Doctor kept them around for reasons other than universal adventure. Why else would he put with Tegan?
But the worst companion in the history of Who is Peri. She hated everywhere she went, complained incessantly and then for reasons never fully explained left The Doctor to marry some right royal thug. Women.
The Doctor soon got a new one though and she's right up there with the best. Crazily, Mel Bush as played by Bonnie Langford is right down there in the mind of all good fans. The conventional wisdom is that she was awful (both actress and character) but it's time to take a look at the evidence.
Langford's performance is very 'theatre' - she projects her voice as if she didn't realise that the BBC had microphones in the mid 1980s. When she screams the effect is similar to being in a microwave. She cooks from the inside and gradually gets to the skin by which time you've had it. However, I recommend taking a close look at her performances because the character is superb.
Mel is there for adventure, the thrill of the universe and everything she can get out of the experience. When we first meet her she sets the pace of the story, much like Rose in many of her adventures. There's been a murder and The Doctor is quite interested in unravelling the plot but it's Mel who leads the investigation. She's fantastic.
The main problem for the character is she's in the lowest period of Dr Who's history where true classics can't be found and perhaps that's a reason for her reputation as being a poor companion. It's unfounded and I think the time has come to view her stories again considering what kind of a person The Doctor would want to have on board the TARDIS.
You can have years of moaning from a serial bore like Peri or you can embrace the universe with Melanie Bush and have fun no matter what the danger. Anyone for a carrot juice?
The Undefinable Magic of Dr Who
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2 comments:
Mind you, as seen in the clip at the Battersea Bad Wolves video night on psychodelia in Doctor Who, it was Bonnie Langford that killed the show - regardless of the character's assets!
Well, having missed the clip it's impossible to comment on the specifics.
Although placing Bonnie Langford at the top of the list of reasons that the show was cancelled in the late 1980s, when she only appeared for a year and a bit while JN-T, Eric Saward, Andrew Cartmell, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy consistently produced bad product for years on the trot seems a little bit harsh to me.
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