Post #1:What makes the best companion?
Welcome to my new weekly set of articles that deal with some of the biggest questions in the entire whoniverse. This week we deal with one of the largest questions asked by many fans. What makes the perfect Doctor who companion. Personally my favourite is Sarah Jane, largely due to the fact of her having her own amazing spin off series with great writers and interesting characters. Another of my favourite companions is Wilfred Mott.
There are a lot of reasons why most people love Wilf. In the end of time he stands by the Doctor until the end. He is willing to sacrifice everything to the Doctor. In the end David Tennant saves him. Anyways enough about my favourite companions on to the biggest subject at hand. What makes the best companion? I used to think that you need a good actor in order to make an amazing companion. I dislike Colin Baker's doctor because of his temper,however he is still an amazing actor and a very nice man in real life. Same with Peter Capaldi he plays quite an aggressive doctor although he is a nice man in real life to. In this picture of forty-nine companions there are eighteen from the newer series. Although there are two k-9s (different marks of the character).
If you love Doctor who and so do your friends try my challenge. The challenge is to try and name as many companions in Doctor who as you can whoever names the most wins! For hard-core fans name the ACTORS that have played the companions in the show. My friends and I tried this and the highest I could get to for actors was nine. I personally think that what makes the best companion is good writing along with some deep character development throughout their run as a companion. I think companions coming back after their runs hardly ever works for the character. Sarah Jane came back in "School Reunion" and Rose went on and on about how she hated her the whole episode, which didn't make sense.
Doctor who is strange, amazing and quite wonderful at delivering good companions and the amount of amazing ones over the last fifty years is great. We are extremely lucky to have Doctor who in are lives after its cancellation in 1989. We are also lucky to have those companions in are lives. The actors shape the way the companions are and so far we have only had a couple of bad companions who probably couldn't help the fact that they're were received badly because of the way they were written. Thanks for reading, come back next time for more about Doctor who.
Post #2-Genesis of the Magicians Apprentice:
Welcome back to another post on Judging the Series. In this post I look back to the classic story Genesis of The daleks and compare it to the latest story in doctor who's long history The Magicians Apprentice. Already you know which story is going to come out on top and which one is going to come out second. Genesis has one of the greatest doctors of all time with two great companions, Apprentice has a pretty good doctor with an ok companion and the master tagging along as well. Genesis of the Daleks is still to this day my favourite Doctor who story of ALL time. When I began watching it I thought to myself if the fans enjoy this so much does that mean that I have to kiss it to death (S9 quote used there). Genesis is easy to love because it doesn't drag on like some classic stories and has an amazing enemy that we have never met before Davros creator of the daleks.
We know as fans that the doctor can destroy the daleks easily. However he has never met the creator of them ever before. Maybe the doctor has finally met his match and that he won't be able to destroy Davros. One of biggest criticisms of the Magicians Apprentice is that we already knew that the Doctor along with Clara would survive because he is the doctor and Jenna Coleman is confirmed for the rest of the series, just deal with it. I have already reviewed The Magicians Apprentice along with the Witches Familiar on my other blog called "Let's Talk Doctor who" so if you want more detail on what I loved most about the episode and what I liked least just read my reviews. Anyway Genesis is a brilliant six part story that aired from the 8th of March-12th of April 1975.
If I was a fan back then I would be extremely sceptical about this story as I would think that the writer (Terry Nation) might not handle the pressure of writing the most popular doctor who monster's (Dalek) back story. Davros is brilliant in many ways like how his chair looks and how he looks. I have a major issue with the Magicians Apprentice second part (The witches Familiar). My issue is that he apparently have eyes this isn't mentioned at all in all of Classic doctor who or New doctor who why would you bring it up now. This just seems like a giant waste of time and shouldn't have been written into the script. All in all I would give the Magicians Apprentice/The Witches Familiar a score of 6.5/10 (I might have rated it a little higher in my other article).
Anyway Genesis is the obvious winner of the two and is quite brilliant and a 10/10 on a whole. However Magicians Apprentice/The witches familiar is a story I can't 100% decide on and I think is just a 6.5 as a whole. Re-watching it and Genesis is a great way of finding more things that you like and dislike about both of these stories.I want to thank you for reading this article and I hope that you enjoyed it. Next week I will be comparing another two stories (The Time warrior/The Sontaran Stratagem & The poison sky). Thanks for reading,peace out :D
Post #3-Inspecting The Time Warrior
Welcome back to another post on Judging the series. Today I will be looking through two Sontaran stories (The Time warrior and The Sontaran Stratagem/ Poison sky). It was difficult to choose which story came out on top however I think that I have finally made my verdict. The time Warrior introduces Sarah Jane into Doctor who and I love it for that. However Sonataran Stragem/Poison Sky introduces the sontarans to a whole new generation of children and I love it for that. The Time warrior starred Jon Pertwee (3rd doctor) and Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith).
The Doctor is called back to U.N.I.T to investigate a number of scientists that have gone missing from a top secret security institute. Following the kidnappings back in time to Middle Ages, he is unaware that investigative journalist Sarah Jane has stowed aboard the TARDIS. As events unfold, the Doctor discovers a sinister alien, intent on altering the future of mankind... (Description from BBC DVD). I really enjoyed Time Warrior on a whole and I loved its plot and I loved how it introduced Sarah Jane into the show. The time warrior is an amazing story that remains as a classic in Doctor who history as it did introduce the Sontarans and Sarah. My final verdict on the story is a nine out of ten. Robert Holmes writes some great stuff and this remains as one of his greats. Thanks so much Holmes if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have Sarah and the Sontarans!
Martha Jones (Former companion of the Doctor) calls him back to Earth for an investigation by U.N,I.T. It turns out that the Sontarans are invading Earth and killing people off by using poison gas in peoples cars. Martha is captured by the Sontarans and a clone of her controls things until the doctor finds out that she isn't Martha. The Sontarans are destroyed by the Doctor and the Earth is saved... (My Description).I also really enjoyed The Sontaran stragem/Poison sky and I loved what it has done for Doctor who and how creative it is and how brilliantly it is written. However it didn't introduce Sarah Jane. It was still a great story written by Helen Raynor who needs to come back and write another two parter because this one was great. My final verdict on the story is an eight out of ten. Helen Raynor has written a great story however Holmes wins because of introducing Sarah Jane.
The Time warrior wins overall with a nine out of ten. Next week I will be reviewing Terror of the Zygons and The Day of the Doctor. I hope you have enjoyed this week’s face off. The next article will be posted by the 20/10/15. Thanks so much for reading, peace out :D