Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

[Archonic Energy]

This is another thing which bothers me. Why are such a majority of companions female?
Along with, of course, why are they all contemporary and human?

Thu, you know why they are all contemporary and human. they represent us in the whoverse. they get things explained to them so we can understand what's happening, because it's primaraily targeted towards the younger demographics who won't neccicarily understand the complexities of life.

now the female part... in the absence of Gallifreyian females, maybe he just likes human females.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

This is another thing which bothers me. Why are such a majority of companions female?
Along with, of course, why are they all contemporary and human?

Isn't the "contemporary companion" thing mainly a nuWho trend? I seem to recall that a lot of classic Who companions are from various times and places? Maybe? I'm not sure.

[Weezer]

Isn't the "contemporary companion" thing mainly a nuWho trend? I seem to recall that a lot of classic Who companions are from various times and places? Maybe? I'm not sure.

Yeah, it is a nuWho trend to have purely contemporary companions, but even oldWho had plenty of contemporary or near contemporary companions. And oldWho still had a predominance of attractive female companions, and they were even worse about the companion only being there to be rescued by the Doctor, with a few notable exceptions.

[Sunken Valley]

Thu, you know why they are all contemporary and human. they represent us in the whoverse. they get things explained to them so we can understand what's happening, because it's primaraily targeted towards the younger demographics who won't neccicarily understand the complexities of life.

Yes to this. 3 other reasons.

1. It's very difficult to effectively mimic someone from an earlier or later timeline. Sooner or later you'll let some mistake slip and the history buffs will be all over you.
2. An Alien Companion would be accused of being too "humanised". It's not the 80s anymore (the last alien companions were Peter Davidson's Nyssa, Adric and Turlough). You can't get away with giving the alien the same values and personality as a human.
3. Reference Jokes. The Doctor can't make them up unless he has someone who'll get it listening.

Why the companion is often a female and its never been an all boy ensemble on the TARDIS:
1. Doctor Who prides itself on being a gender equal show, not a boy show or a girl show. That way you need a mix of genders. How better to do than make the deuragonist female.
2. If it was all men, the public would scream for gender equality.
3. The companions get themselves into trouble every other episode. The Doctor has to save them. The Doctor looks more heroic doing so if he's rescuing some helpless female. Terrence ***** (writer for Doctors 3 and 4) even said the role of the companion was to be tied up and screaming for the Doctor's aid.
4. Sex Appeal.

[Timeras]

Isn't the "contemporary companion" thing mainly a nuWho trend? I seem to recall that a lot of classic Who companions are from various times and places? Maybe? I'm not sure.

There were some and it didn't matter. It only ever came up when it was essential to the story. Otherwise you wouldn't notice. Jamie never had difficulties with things that he couldn't have experienced in his own time, Zoe didn't have special knowledge or futuristic equipment. Companions from other planets had no trouble blending in or getting along with people.

If they are not realy different, it is just pointless to call them aliens. And if they are different enough that it actually matters, the diffenence will have to be adressed in every single episode, long after it stopped being interesting.

[Androgeus]

In slightly different news, more Doctor Who Audio plays are being broadcast on radio 4Extra starting this evening, involving the 5th Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nissa.

[Pink]

On the topic of non-contemporary and non-human companions, I have to say that this season has been enjoyable so far for teasing and playing around with this. Dinosaurs in Space and The Snowmen both handle things in such a way that was very enjoyable and I hope proves a step to picking up any of those introduced as future companions, or at least occasional guest companions. (And the previews do seem to indicate we haven't seen the last of the Lizard Lady Detective).

[Thufir]

Thu, you know why they are all contemporary and human. they represent us in the whoverse. they get things explained to them so we can understand what's happening, because it's primaraily targeted towards the younger demographics who won't necessarily understand the complexities of life.

Non-contemporary and/or non-human companions would still need things explained to them.

Yes to this. 3 other reasons.

1. It's very difficult to effectively mimic someone from an earlier or later timeline. Sooner or later you'll let some mistake slip and the history buffs will be all over you.
2. An Alien Companion would be accused of being too "humanised". It's not the 80s anymore (the last alien companions were Peter Davidson's Nyssa, Adric and Turlough). You can't get away with giving the alien the same values and personality as a human.
3. Reference Jokes. The Doctor can't make them up unless he has someone who'll get it listening.

Why the companion is often a female and its never been an all boy ensemble on the TARDIS:
1. Doctor Who prides itself on being a gender equal show, not a boy show or a girl show. That way you need a mix of genders. How better to do than make the deuragonist female.
2. If it was all men, the public would scream for gender equality.
3. The companions get themselves into trouble every other episode. The Doctor has to save them. The Doctor looks more heroic doing so if he's rescuing some helpless female. Terrence ***** (writer for Doctors 3 and 4) even said the role of the companion was to be tied up and screaming for the Doctor's aid.
4. Sex Appeal.

Someone from a later timeline can certainly be mimicked, because no-one knows better to contradict the show. As for history buffs getting annoyed at past companions... I imagine history buffs already get annoyed at things on Doctor Who...
So, give the alien companion different values?
Make different jokes? Save the references for when someone's around who will get them?

And then, well, since you're making the gender equality argument it behooves me to point out that the idea that rescuing a helpless female is more heroic than rescuing a helpless male is sexist, and I don't see why you couldn't have a mixture of the two.
Also, if sex appeal is a concern, why should it be put in only for the portion of the audience who are attracted to women?

Finally, all these arguments hinge on the premise of the Doctor only having one companion at a time, which is equally rubbish and something that shouldn't be as almost-constant as it has been.

[Hullabaloo]

1. Doctor Who prides itself on being a gender equal show, not a boy show or a girl show. That way you need a mix of genders. How better to do than make the deuragonist female.

Now it could really get interesting if the Doctor reincarnated as a women!

[CurlyKitGirl]

My example wasn't with the Doctor. It was going travelling with someone. Someone could offer to show you every country in the world, and have you try every food ever created. All well and good, but unless you have some kind of connection to that person, you're not going to commit a big chunk of your time - let alone your safety to that person.

A connection, yes. But a connection does not automatically mean a romantic connection. If anything, if someone walked up to me, out of the blue, offered me that, proved they were on the level, all I could think would be 'This is the start of a truly beautiful friendship', then I'd grab some stuff and be off.
That's the problem with such a focus on romantic connections nowadays: the beauty in simple companionship and friendship. Not to sound like Twilight Sparkle or anything, but having friends you sincerely trust, love and care for is a joy. Last year, I was sitting my uni finals, and I spent a fair amount of that last term helping a friend not to have a complete emotional/nervous breakdown because of the callous cruelty of some of the people she thought were her friends.
Perhaps to the detriment of my results. I don't know. I don't care.
See, I love her very much. She's my friend. And if I can, I will always try to help them.

I like seeing great friendships. I like having them. I wish people would be more aware of that sort of thing in media. Especially now we have The Internet. Some of my best friends are people I meet for perhaps a week total every year. Some of my friends I've never even met, and most of them I don't know what they look like.
And I don't care. We're awesome, and we're friends.

And that was pretty much the rest of my point, too. Ask any writer of genre fiction - if you want your audience to believe your nonsense, silliness and magic, you have to make the real stuff believable.

So friendship isn't believable?
Let me bring out some genre fiction for you:
Discworld: stunning genre fiction - and that genre is usually sci-fi/fantasy + [another genre]. Is there romance? Yes. Carrot/Angua; Vimes/Sibyl; Those Two Guys from Monstrous Regiment; Magrat/Verence; Moist/Adora; Nutt/Glenda and a few others. Fifty books and this die-hard fan is hard pressed to name even ten successful couple who had a romance subplot.
Oh! Mort/Ysabel; Susan/Lobsang; Nobby/Tawneee and Granny/Ridcully. Although those last two failed, and the one in the middle is only hinted at. Oh, and with the exception of five of the named couple (most of which are comprised entirely of one-off characters) all the other relationships (including, notably, Nobby/Tawneee) have been rather subtle, complex and lasted over numerous books.
On the other hand I can name literally scores of awesome friendships, cordial enemies, just enemies, working professional relationships and so on.
While I don't deny that human/dwarf/other interaction and relationships make things real, I do think that a romantic relationship is one of the last interesting ways to do so. And why? I can't explain here as Pratchett does very realistic (i.e. messy, subtle and fairly long-term) romance. Next point!

The Marvel Cinematics Universe: it's mostly sci-fi with a touch of fantasy thrown in. So classic spec fic. It took two whole films for the Pepper/Tony thing to actually get to the point where they say 'I love you as more than a friend' and for it to be reciprocated, and it was a very messy road to get there. As for Thor, I think most people agreed that the kind-of-there romance plot tumour was unnecessary and kind-of ruined the film as it drew away from the main relationship in the film: the Thor/Loki dynamic and everything about it. And the Cap/Peggy thing was always going to be a never-quite-there romance, as was common in WWII when a lot of potential romances were cut short even before they officially expressed interest in each other due to the war.
And Th Avengers would have been ruined with romance in it. Yes, it was nice to see bits of Tony/Pepper as normal interactions between the two and even Cap's lingering frustration and sadness over his seventy-year-sleep. But it was focussed on the Avengers and the plot, and I didn't think it was any less real or believable for being almost totally devoid of any romance whatsoever.
(Although I will admit I loved Tony's endlessly flirty dialogue with everyone he meets ever)

Relationships are needed to create human interest, but they don't have to be romantic either.

You've been using Donna as an example of a good non-romantic companion. Be that as it may, but she did have a strong personal connection with him. In that instance, it wasn't romantic, but it was a very strong friendship.

Exactly. A strong personal relationship =/= romance. That was his point: you don't need romance to create a strong bond between two people.

Same thing with Sarah Jane, as addressed in her appearances with the post-2005 Doctors. Even if their relationship never was romantic, romance is used as a metaphor to discuss it.

Yes, it was. Because Rose is a heartless bitch who deserves to die in all the fires.

Sure you have to make the real stuff believable. I don't see how romance has to be a part of that, at all. It is an added separate plot point that only occurs because the writers dictate that's how they're going to tell the story. Platonic friends can have just as many adventures and engage in just as interesting (often more interesting from my view) interactions than romantic relationships can.

I think it's because people believe they're obligated to put in a romantic plot point. See further up my post for why this isn't true. I think, at least for major budget ventures, it's to get a wider demographic. Personally, some of my favourite stories of all time are almost completely romance free.

Not saying I don't like romance, some of my favourite stories of all time are based on a romantic relationship between two people, but I'd ike to see less romance forced into a story.

As to Donna, I used her as an example once, but anyway they're friends, they do friendly stuff like have snark and go on adventures and so on. It is not at all the same as the romantic arcs that we saw with Rose, Martha, or Amy/Rory. For one it can be split much more easily into a narrative than romantic tension and resolution can.

And with the exception of 'The Doctor's Daughter' I love so much of season four. And while I do for seasons one - three as well, that endless pining and bitching and jealousy about being the Doctor's one twu wuv really puts me off some of the stories from those seasons.

I have seen romantic plots play out in real life. But they are nothing like those seen on tv or movies. I would agree that romantic subplots do not add to the realism because of how they're unrealistically overblown. Most romances I've witnessed involve one guy asking one girl out. Agreeing that they like each other. Continuing to like each other for lengthy periods of time before they split do to disagreement, or just not being particularly good for each other. Sometimes someone cheats on someone else, that's basically the highest point of potential interest right there, and let's be honest here, it's still almost remarkably boring. Some few stay together. That's the whole story. Nothing at all interesting within them. Nothing that would be anything like the long looks, the will-they-won't-they crap, and the DRAMA that appears in any given show on the subject. It is unbelievable, or at least not regular, which would make it a part of the fantastic elements of the story not a part that was grounded in realism.

While I'm kind of in between Eldan's, Diekenes' and Kosmopolite's opinions on the realism of romance in fiction as opposed to real life - I've experienced - well, witnessed - a bit of everything they have. Romance done well is good. Romance slightly exaggerated is good. Romance totally overblown is also good. Understated romance is also good. All of them are realistic and happen, to some extent, in real life.
But honestly, if I wanted good drama I'd go for friendships any time. I'd be more torn up about losing a good friend than over someone I was attracted to. And again, I point out the power of friendship or family. There can be just as much drama and whatnot in a platonic relationship.
People can be instantly heartbroken and terrified a familial relationship will never recover from an argument/incident because those really matter.

And to bring it back to who, if you meat the most different, interesting person ever, who introduces you to yet more people totally outside what you've known before - of course you're going to develop feelings for someone.

Feelings do not end at sexual/romantic interest either. If I meet the most different, interesting person ever who does all that there's a fair chance I'd grow to hate him.
Seriously, just take a moment to write down the Doctor's personality on paper:
an arrogant genius; often forgetful to the point of serious absent-mindedness; doesn't like being proved wrong (albeit not every incarnation is like that); stubborn; self-hating; more than a bit of a Stepford Smiler; great with children; hypocritical (some incarnations more than others); condescending (some moreso than others); sometimes a bit of a buffoon; compassionate; cool; dorky; geeky; away with the fairies; extremely eccentric; a significant portion of the universe is terrified/in awe of him; God complex; sneaky; loves cats; more than a bit childish; inexplicably awesome; bitter and eternally optimistic.
Frankly, I'd be torn between giving him a good slap and being exasperated because I'm stuck babysitting. He's so full of contradictions (which is fine, most people are), but yeah, I'd be torn between babysitting and hitting him.
It's one of the reasons I like 'The Lodger' and 'Closing TIme' so much. It's very much how an ordinary person would react to knowing someone like the Doctor. But at least he got to hang out with Eleven who I think is significantly more tolerable than Ten. Long story short: I'd not mind hanging out with him occasionally, but long term . . . there would be wistful thoughts of hitting him over the head with a two by four.

None of that has been in my experience with meeting new and interesting people, and I have met quite a few. I cannot think of any I have had romantic feelings for. Especially considering the average time spent with any non-Doctor character is less than a day. Has to be a pretty fast romantic subplot that, which just makes it less realistic.

I could easily see people being fascinated by the Doctor and never forgetting them though. I once spent several hours on a train sitting next to some guy talking quite happily about fantasy novels and how they deserve to be studied more. He was certainly very interesting, and I wouldn't have minded getting to know him a bit more, but hey, people come and go. I know his general appearance, and that we had somewhat similar taste in books; doubt we'll ever, ever see each other again, or that we'd even recognise each other if we did. But he was a good travelling companion, we hit it off, I enjoyed some of the books he suggested, and it was a nice way to spend three or four hours.
I don't even know his name. He might have told it to me, but it was getting on for five years ago or so, and he was just someone who made an otherwise boring trip something to remember.
The Doctor could easily be like that, but moreso because things actually happen around the Doctor that would make him very interesting and unforgettable.

Now, let me specify. I'm not saying it's impossible, or even that romantic relationships developing over time is unlikely. It isn't. But we've already been down that road with: Rose, Martha, Amy, and River. And that's not including the one-shot characters. It's enough. Let's do something else.

And another reason I'd like less romance and more other relationships: romance has been done to death. I will say though, that I don't have much of an opinion about Amy though seeing as I've not seen season five.

Pretty sure you're wrong about this. Random shipping/slash does not necessarily equal romance. I'm certain Curly appreciates a good romance element in a story, but not to the point that it could be considered 'her thing'.

Honestly? As far as Doctor Who goes, I don't really ship at all. Amy/Rory is perfect, I truly believe there is at least good romantic chemistry, if not a serious relationship going on between Two and Jamie - and that was based off of one serial, and it's cute so I ship it.
I do not seriously ship Doctor/anyone, although I can and will admire subtext and suggested UST because it's fun. I'm ambivalent about Doctor/River, and I'll ship Doctor/Master for UST, ho yay and funsies most definitely.
I like pointing out the chemistry. I like interesting characters. I like flirting.

And if we cast out romance into all my stories. I do like a good romance, it's practically dictated by the fact that I have hormones, but what it comes down to (and I've said this lots) ultimately is character development. But I don't honestly ship people all that much, so I don't really mind stories that do romance/interfere with OTPs and whatever. If it fits, and fits well, I'll go along with it.

Well, except I flat out refuse to ship Spock/Uhura. And Rose/Ten; I admit there was potential for Rose/Nine, but nothing else. And I've been known to all but abandon any story that starts shipping Zutara even if it fits the characters in the story because no. Also, Kirk/Spock forever. And probably Sarah/Jareth.

But mostly, romance is just 'eh'. Some are good, some are bad, some turn out contrary to how I think they should. I'm just generally not opposed to it even though the world could do with more focus on platonic relationships.

Reinette never liked her Madame de Pompadour life. The only thing she wanted was the Doctor. But she didn't try to do anything about it. She just waited. Amy didn't have a life. She was a kissogram who wasn't going anywhere. They even said the Doctor ruined her life. Clara yes that's true for now. But I give you all my 100% Guarantee
that she won't be any different. There will be a problem. And this time, you'll all see it.

And Romance people, you can't avoid Clara/Doctor. Moffat has said he is "smitten by her". However, the love triangle element "won't be done in the way you think"so there's still hope.

'Smitten' - 'to strike or hit hard, with or as if with the hand, a stick, or other weapon'; 'to afflict or attack with deadly or disastrous effect'; 'to affect mentally, morally, or emotionally with a strong and sudden feeling'; 'to impress favourably; enamour'
In short: a powerful emotion that strikes suddenly. I have been known to describe myself as smitten with [book], [concept], [person] and [place]. I have even been enamoured with them.
Never have I found myself in romantic love with any of them.
While 'smitten' can and does often imply romantic feelings/attraction, it does not always mean so.

edit: I forgot. Clara/River romance? I think I can live with that

Me too bro.

2. An Alien Companion would be accused of being too "humanised". It's not the 80s anymore (the last alien companions were Peter Davidson's Nyssa, Adric and Turlough). You can't get away with giving the alien the same values and personality as a human.

Which is a good thing. Madame Vastra; Strax; Data; Spock; Worf; Q; the Faun; the angels in Supernatural; any character labelled fey/faerie; most deities.
They're interesting because they're not quite human. That's one of the reasons I'm begging for a non-contemporary human from earth to be a Companion. It provides a contrast to allow us to look at our society from an outsider's view; it allows us to look at other cultures (real or imagined); it allows for interesting things to happen.
It's one of the key concepts of Good Omens and generally anything by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. When Death tells Susan that

HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE [...]YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

it helps us to see 'little lies' in a new light. The central theme of Good Omens is that “It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.”
Both Aziraphale and Crowley received commendations for doing work humans did without any encouragement from them, sending the pair into fits of awe/despair respectively. Why? “Potentially evil. Potentially good, too, I suppose. Just this huge powerful potentiality waiting to be shaped.” Humans are much better at being good than angels, and much better at being evil than demons.

And that's that. A character outside of normal human scope, looking at normal human things and seeing them.

3. Reference Jokes. The Doctor can't make them up unless he has someone who'll get it listening.

Why do we need them? Referential humour/pop culture while funny, is very topical, and will limit the humour/appeal of the story to newer generations.

[Weezer]

Your post is way too long for me to respond to all of it, I agree with almost all of it. There's one thing I need to point out though:

Rose is a heartless bitch who deserves to die in all the fires.

This is by far the most accurate description of Rose I've ever seen. She's just an awful person in so many ways.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Your post is way too long for me to respond to all of it, I agree with almost all of it.

Yeah, I do ramble a lot at length; I make no secret of that.

There's one thing I need to point out though:

[insert blunt statement about Rose]

This is by far the most accurate description of Rose I've ever seen. She's just an awful person in so many ways.

*high fives*

I have all the vitriolic dislike-verging-on-hate in the world for Rose. She . . . *le sigh* . . . I just remembered she makes stupid cameos in season four.
Well no, season two slowly solidified my hate, culminating in the season two finale.
'This is the story of how I died' melodramatic little tit. Sorry, never going to get over that finale. Yeah, fine, you're stuck in an alternate universe away from people you know and . . . 'love'. That sucks.
And yet. Your AU!father - the person you literally ruined all of time for - is still alive, he's even attracted to your mum, you're millionaires, you're alive.
Not the best situation, but by far from the worst.
'This is the story of how I died'. THis is the story of how I slapped you in the face you whining little failure. And, of course, she is hateful. And lazy. And just -

Need to stop this. Everyone knows how I hate Rose.

[Thufir]

Honestly? As far as Doctor Who goes, I don't really ship at all. Amy/Rory is perfect, I truly believe there is at least good romantic chemistry, if not a serious relationship going on between Two and Jamie - and that was based off of one serial, and it's cute so I ship it.
I do not seriously ship Doctor/anyone, although I can and will admire subtext and suggested UST because it's fun. I'm ambivalent about Doctor/River, and I'll ship Doctor/Master for UST, ho yay and funsies most definitely.
I like pointing out the chemistry. I like interesting characters. I like flirting.

I think that's more what I meant when I said 'random shipping'. As in, you're not going to actually go on talking about it, writing fanfiction of it or even mentioning it again after the review in question; but when something happens which could be taken that way, you point it out kind of as a joke.

Also, Doctor/Sexy OTP.

Why do we need them? Referential humour/pop culture while funny, is very topical, and will limit the humour/appeal of the story to newer generations.

Actually, I'd be kind of amused if we got a non-contemporary companion alongside a contemporary one and then the Doctor might once or twice make references to non-contemporary pop culture and confuse the contemporary companion. It'd be a nice touch. Have the Doctor quote a film from 2316, or some Gilbert & Sullivan, or something.

[Hopeless]

So... anyone care to guess who or what the new companion is exactly given she's effectively died twice and looks like is either important thanks to the Silence or the Daleks and everyone's pretty much forgotten about the Doctor...

Romance wise there's still River Song well hopefully...

And as for Rose well as long as those extra-dimensional borders remain shut we really don't have to worry about her reappearing now do we?!

[Kosmopolite]

As to how Clara is going to be - and why she keep being reincarnated - I'm not sure. I actually haven't seen many theories online, which is odd.

Much as it's something that gets rolled out whenever there's a new character mystery - maybe she's a character from the Doctor's past trying to catch up with him. A Time Lady maybe using Time Lord tech to connect with this bloodline throughout time? Iffy, I know, but a thought.

There's also the idea that she's Wilf. Remember? The Doctor kept bumping into him and Donna because it was destiny that Wilf would be the end of his 10th incarnation. The same scenario seems to be happening now, but with the same personality in different bodies. Perhaps something timey-wimey in which that personality must have an integral part - a fixed point in time?

Yeah, I'm spitballing. Any other thoughts?

[Philistine]

Just to point out: The show "get[s] away with giving the alien the same values and personality as a human" all the time. In fact, not only does the show "get away with" it, at least some portion of the audience actively demands it - and if ever the Doctor, who is after all a thousand-year-old time- and dimension-hopping alien, should fail to conform to their values (which are highly specific in both time and place), they run to the Internet to complain about what a bad role model he is.

[CelestialStick]

Why no romance? It's pretty much a staple in fiction and doubly so in modern fiction.

I don't get why some old-school Who fans are anti-love/sex/romance. Hell, I figure Peri and 6 had some excellent, angry sex. ;)

I started watching Doctor Who in 1982, I think that makes me "old-school" by your reckoning, but I always wondered why they didn't have any romance. One of the things I've liked about the rebooted series is that they do finally have some romance.

[Kato]

Oh gosh, there's been a lot of discussion again...
A few words on non-earth/non-present companions: I'll agree there would be (possible) problems I'd very much welcome it. Yeah, there are issues, like the morals.
I guess we have three possible scenarios:
1) Take a character who's not from present day London Earth and give him pretty much the same values and traits as present day humans. (That's a pretty generalizing statement but I think you know what I mean) This would... defeat the purpose of the character mostly except you might as well just use a normal human and don't need to spend a bunch of money and make-up and costumes and whatever.
2) Use a companion who for the most part agrees with present day values but has a few quirks. This would at least require some originality I guess since there are present day people who... well, have quirks and weird opinions on things. Like if we introduce a polysexual character (again), or someone who has very little moral qualms about violence, or someone who is used to being pampered, etc... Pretty much any character you can think of can be found somehow in present day society so is there really a merit to creating an alien or different-time human for it?
3) Have someone who grew up in a society entirely different from modern day Earth. That opens a whole lot of opportunities but it also raises questions, mostly how would that person fit with the Doctor's idea of what a companion should be like.

I'm not saying I'm against new, different companions, but I don't want them for the sake of being alien. I just don't want to feel either "why would s/he be a companion?" or "why did they go through the trouble of using an alien if they could have just used a normal person?" (Well, not from the "today is a tiny spec in space time" perspective but from the "what makes them more interesting than a normal person" perspective.)
There are possibilities for good-non human characters, obviously but they aren't blatantly obvious quirky characters.

Regarding references... I think it could even be funny if the Doctor tried to make modern day references at his alien companions only to realize they don't get them to the point of "I spent too much time with those 20/21th century humans" which could even be a serious plot point. (Possibly) (Then again, I think Who never was that big on modern day references... most blatant I can think of was Ten's Potter jokes)

And... while I think with Rory around for most of the last season I think I should correct my earlier statement a bit but I don't see the problem with having a slightly bigger cast again, like constantly a male and a female companion and possibly a third of either gender (or none, for all I care). But during the earlier seasons of the new series it really mostly was the Doctor and his girl companion and if the Clara era goes back to this it would be a bit disappointing.

[dps]

Sunken - take a deep breath.

You are angry to the point that you are declaring a wide array of facts about the new companion that are simply not true or knowable yet, simply because of a one-off event that was displayed as being cute, but ultimately meaningless. Clara clearly talks to lots of strangers, given that her mother is frustrated about it. She doesn't seem to apply any special meaning to this one. Her previous selves haven't been waiting passively around for anyone, and I don't imagine her next one will either.

The thing is, even if Sunken is overreacting, the point that Moffat has done this little motif of a female companion or would-have-been companin meeting the Doctor first as a child and then again as an adult several times now. I don't necessarily think it's sexist or creepy or the like per se, but the fact that Moffat keeps repeating it is getting a bit creepy. I'm not angry about it, but it's getting old--it needs to be given a rest.

Yeah, it is a nuWho trend to have purely contemporary companions, but even oldWho had plenty of contemporary or near contemporary companions. And oldWho still had a predominance of attractive female companions.

Depending on exactly who you count as a companion, in Classic Who, the Doctor had 2 robotic companions, 5 human-appearing alien companions, 14 contemporary or near-contemporary human companions, 3 human companions from the past, and 4 human companions from the future. The male/female split (not assigning a gender to the robots) was 7/19. That might be a bit misleading, though, in that on average the male companions often stuck around longer than the females.

In Nu Who, not counting Clara, the Doctor has had 8 companions who are from contemporary or near-contemporary Earth, 1 human from the future, plus River Song--given her timeline I have no idea how to classify her. The male/female split is 5/5--this seems surprising, but the situation is almost the reverse of that in Classic Who--the only male companions who were around for any length of time were Jack and Rory.

Interestingly, there hasn't been a human companion from the past since the 2nd Doctor's era; and the only human companions from the future since then are Leela, Jack and arguably River. And except for Susan, all non-human companions (including the robots) were from the 4th and 5th Doctor's eras.

Also, if sex appeal is a concern, why should it be put in only for the portion of the audience who are attracted to women?

I think that the idea is that the Doctor himself has that covered.

Finally, all these arguments hinge on the premise of the Doctor only having one companion at a time, which is equally rubbish and something that shouldn't be as almost-constant as it has been.

I agree that the Doctor shouldn't be limited to 1 companion at a time as the standard situation. I would say that it's largely a New Who thing, but that's not quite true. It really started at the end of the 5th Doctor's era. From the time Rory came back through his and Amy's final departure has been by far the longest stretch that the Doctor has had more than 1 companion since Tegan left the Tardis.

As to how Clara is going to be - and why she keep being reincarnated - I'm not sure. I actually haven't seen many theories online, which is odd.

I've had about a dozen differenct theories since Asylum of the Daleks was broadcast (can't recall if I've posted any of them here), but after what we've seen in The Snowmen and the prequel, none of them seem to fit. My personal favorite was that the Doctor is just hallucinating her, but we've seen other characters interacting with her when he's not there, so that would seem to be out.

[Weezer]

I've had about a dozen differenct theories since Asylum of the Daleks was broadcast (can't recall if I've posted any of them here), but after what we've seen in The Snowmen and the prequel, none of them seem to fit. My personal favorite was that the Doctor is just hallucinating her, but we've seen other characters interacting with her when he's not there, so that would seem to be out.

Maybe this whole season is just another Psychic Pollen induced hallucination. At the end he'll wake up with Amy and Rory still on the Tardis and Clara never having existed. Shortly thereafter Moffat is lynched by a mob shouting EXTERMINATE.

[comicshorse]

I started watching Doctor Who in 1982, I think that makes me "old-school" by your reckoning, but I always wondered why they didn't have any romance. One of the things I've liked about the rebooted series is that they do finally have some romance.

As a fellow 'old school' watcher this to occured to me and I did like it when romance was introduced. Note however the 'did', I'm going with the 'has been done, give it a rest and try something different' approach

On the alien companion thing I'd just point out that both Lela and Romana were alien and came off as so without it becoming something that had to be mentioned every 10 seconds ( I remember particularly liking Lela worshiping the tardis).

[Dienekes]

Maybe this whole season is just another Psychic Pollen induced hallucination. At the end he'll wake up with Amy and Rory still on the Tardis and Clara never having existed. Shortly thereafter Moffat is lynched by a mob shouting EXTERMINATE.

Ahh the Dallas solution. I'd be cool with more Amy/Rory. I want them to see the end of the Silence Arc, and have that end be Rory continuously punching the Silence leader in the face. For like 20 minutes straight. Just face punching.

[Weezer]

On the alien companion thing I'd just point out that both Lela and Romana were alien and came off as so without it becoming something that had to be mentioned every 10 seconds ( I remember particularly liking Lela worshiping the tardis).

I definitely think that Lela and Romana (especially Romana I) are the best example of aliens done right as companions. Doesn't hurt that they are my two favorite companions by far. I personally loved Lela's penchant for trying to stab everything that moves. Sadly she grew out of that rather quickly.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Maybe this whole season is just another Psychic Pollen induced hallucination. At the end he'll wake up with Amy and Rory still on the Tardis and Clara never having existed. Shortly thereafter Moffat is lynched by a mob shouting EXTERMINATE.

That would be hilariously trollish.

[Aotrs Commander]

Ahh the Dallas solution. I'd be cool with more Amy/Rory. I want them to see the end of the Silence Arc, and have that end be Rory continuously punching the Silence leader in the face. For like 20 minutes straight. Just face punching.

Works for me!

Actually, throw in some Daleks beating Rose with their plungers - or possibly just repeatedly running her over - for good measure.

[Dr. Simon]

Hmm... too many posts to quote anyone directly, but, on the subject of companions it occurs to me that different incarnations of the Doctor have different attitudes towards them.

One and Three both start off as thinking that they don't need them (except for Susan at the start, different because she is a relative) but ultimately come to grudgingly like and respect them - best exemplified by One's attitude to Ian and Barbara who start off as unwanted annoyances and become boon companions, and Three with Jo, who follows much the same arc (a good poignant moment comes at the end of The Green Death when the Doctor quietly leaves Jo's engagement party. I'd also perhaps put Nine in this category.

Two and Five seem to like having a small gang of companions along to ejoy the ride, both are of the more easy-going incarnations. Eleven, to a degree also follows this pattern.

Four, Six and Ten seem more prone to bring someone whose job it is to be impressed by them, although with the earlier Doctors the companions, although often in awe of the Doctor, are also not afraid to puncture his pomposity. There is also a great meeting of equals with the Romanas, also partly due to the real-life fact that the actresses could hold their own against Tom Baker's own pomposity.

Seven and Eleven, on the other hand, seem to pick people because there is something interesting and wierd about them - hard to generalize with Seven too much as there's only really Ace to go on (Mel being a holdover from Six); but Ace's background with Gabriel Chase (and the fact that she is in the wrong time when he meets her), the Crack in Time in Amy's bedroom and now Clara as the Girl Who Lived Ttwice ... as much problems to be solved as they are people.

[dps]

As a fellow 'old school' watcher this to occured to me and I did like it when romance was introduced. Note however the 'did', I'm going with the 'has been done, give it a rest and try something different' approach

On the alien companion thing I'd just point out that both Lela and Romana were alien and came off as so without it becoming something that had to be mentioned every 10 seconds ( I remember particularly liking Lela worshiping the tardis).

Leela wasn't an alien. She was a human from the future--specifically, from an Earth colony that had regressed to a primitive technological level.

[Strawberries]

Leela wasn't an alien. She was a human from the future--specifically, from an Earth colony that had regressed to a primitive technological level.

As Captain Jack then, basically (well, aside from the regression). And by the way, I also liked how Captain Jack was handled, by the way.

[Sunken Valley]

News!

Who wants to know how Strax came back? Your Answer in this 3 min short.

News from the Radio Times.

Bells of St John
Seems the Spoonheads are the main villains. And behind the evil wi-fi. Also, this one's has a mystery to solve.

Rings of Akahaten
Has 3 different monsters in it.

Cold War
Made Moffat's hair stand on end. His fave of the 8.

Hide
Has a love story or two in it (and a twist). Monster in it confirmed as "Witch in the Well"

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS
Nothing new really

The Crimson Horror (confirmed title for episode 11)
Cofirmed as Doctor Lite. The Episode will be about Strax, Jenny and Vastra doing investigations. But the Doctor will appear at the end.

Nightmare in Silver (changed title for Neil Gaiman episode).
Set on alien planet. Scariest thing Neil has done.

Finale still has no name (See below for guess).
Set partially in Victorian London. You know the monsters in the trailer with victorian garb, no eyes and sharp teeth. The Whispermen, which are found here. Also this episode will reveal something about the Doctor we haven't heard before.

My Guess: Titles still being hidden at this stage has happened once before. Season 4 episode 12's title was hidden for being too spoilerific (Stolen Earth). This title is probably the same. Thus, I posit it is "fields of trenzalore" or some deviation. I also posit trenzalore is somewhere in rural england, which will be seen in Crimson Horror.

Thoughts?

[Aotrs Commander]

News!

Who wants to know how Strax came back? Your Answer in this 3 min short.

Bwahahahahaha!

Seriously, we need more Strax as guest companion. He's freaking priceless.