Has the Doctor ever had a companion from a different time?

[Sci]

True enough..

Mind you, some ppl don't regard the Brig as a full fleged companion, and he's been in multiple seasons.

Has the Brig ever actually travelled in the TARDIS?

* * *

My personal sense would be that a character qualifies as a companion if they willingly subordinated themselves to the Doctor in the course of an adventure, aiding the Doctor in resolving a crisis. So, to my mind, for instance, Captain Adele Brook in "The Waters of Mars" was not a companion, but rather an ally, because she never relinquished her command of the station or subordinated herself to the Doctor. I'd say the same about Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, in "The Christmas Invasion."

By contrast, I'd consider Astrid and Lady Christina both to be companions, even though neither one travelled in the TARDIS and Adele did, because both willingly subordinated themselves to the Doctor in the course of resolving a crisis.

So in retrospect, I suppose the question is not, Did the Brig travel in the TARDIS, but, Did the Brig subordinate himself to the Doctor's authority?

 

[Chaos Descending]

^^^ I can't remember any time the Brig has ever traveled in the TARDIS.

 

[Captain Pike]

Twice IIRC. The Five Doctors & Mawdryn Undead.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Good point.

 

[ParticleMan]

Speaking of TARDIS travel, I thought it was kind of a gyp that Wilf got to travel in the TARDIS, but only through space and not time...at least not through a significant amount of time.

But then, he did get to go into space on the Vinvocci ship and shoot laser guns, so I guess that kind of makes up for it...

 

[Technobuilder]

Where did the term Companion originate?

It seems like something that only comes from the PRESS side of Doctor Who that later got picked up by fans, or vice-versa.

It's not really something I'd even know of if I only watched the show and nothing else.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Couldn't tell you, to be honest. I've been a fan since 1983 and the term was well entrenched even then.

 

[Captain Pike]

Mind you, I'm just playing devils advocate as I often do. I regard Captain Jack as a full fledged companion - one of the new series best companions next to Donna. He is extremely well rounded and an interesting and likeable character, imo.

 

[diankra]

Where did the term Companion originate?

It seems like something that only comes from the PRESS side of Doctor Who that later got picked up by fans, or vice-versa.

It's not really something I'd even know of if I only watched the show and nothing else.

You're spot on. Like 'Planet', it's one of those terms that started out with one meaning, and then got stretched out by events until it's difficult to find a definition that holds together.

To start with, the companions are anyone apart from the Doctor who gets aboard the TARDIS, and more particularly anyone who seems to be a permanent resident for the foreseeable future. In the first nine seasons, there's only three 'non companions' who board the ship (Bret Vyon, in Daleks Masterplan, Salamander in Enemy of the World, and the Master in Claws of Axos).
Of course, by that standard, Liz Shaw doesn't count, even though she was the female lead for the whole of season seven. Which is why in the 1970s there's a lot more talk about 'the Doctor's assistant'.
Then by the early 1980s fandom is making lists and trying to be consistent about it - never a good idea!
I tend to stick with the rule of thumb Jeremy Bentham suggested in Doctor Who Monthly back in 1981: a companion is a character who scores two out of three out of...
1) Appears in more than one story.
2) Travels in the TARDIS
3) Is described as the Doctor's companion/assistant in the press.

On that basis, Liz, the Brigadier, Yates and Benton all count, as do Mickey, Jackie, Adelaide, Rory and Wilf. Travers and Glitz don't, and neither does Christina (though it seems a bit mean to discount her on a technicality. But if we let her in, then the waiting list also includes a lot of one-story 'companions' like Duggan, Todd, Sabetha and Altos, Richard Mace, Jane Hampden... Jane and Duggan even get a TARDIS trip!).

 

[scnj]

I doubt we'll get any companions from different places/times, since the writers seem to consider the companion as a way for us to identify with the Doctor.

Hell, even Captain Jack from the 51st century talked exactly like us, suggesting the English language will stay the same for at least three millennia, despite how much it's changed in the last century alone.

 

[Captain Pike]

Good point scnj. I wish the writers would consider these things.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I generally consider a companion as someone who travels with the Doctor, and whom the Doctor either invited to come along with or whom he doesn't immediately want to get rid of. In other words, someone who ends up in the TARDIS with the Doctor and who follows him on his adventures through time and space, though time travel is not necessarily a prerequisite (Liz). Most people forget that a companion is truly "The Doctor's Companion". In the end, it's HIM who accepts them as HIS companion(s), and that should be the truly defining factor.

So no, I wouldn't consider the Brig, Glitz, Benton, Grace, Chang Lee, or others of their ilk to be companions. The UNIT guys get to go home at the end of their day; most others had their own ways of getting to the next story besides a blue box, etc.

Mark

 

[Captain Pike]

How about Change Lee as a companion of the Master, rather than the Doctor? I can totally see that, but others may differ..

 

[captcalhoun]

Jack talks like us because of the TARDIS' universal translator germs.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Twice IIRC. The Five Doctors & Mawdryn Undead.

Three times, actually. You forgot his first visit: The Three Doctors.

 

[Captain Pike]

Ah yes. I was nearly going to say 3 doctors, but I had a flashback (at least I thought it was) that it was Benton instead...

 

[Starkers]

Where did the term Companion originate?

It seems like something that only comes from the PRESS side of Doctor Who that later got picked up by fans, or vice-versa.

It's not really something I'd even know of if I only watched the show and nothing else.

You're spot on. Like 'Planet', it's one of those terms that started out with one meaning, and then got stretched out by events until it's difficult to find a definition that holds together.

To start with, the companions are anyone apart from the Doctor who gets aboard the TARDIS, and more particularly anyone who seems to be a permanent resident for the foreseeable future. In the first nine seasons, there's only three 'non companions' who board the ship (Bret Vyon, in Daleks Masterplan, Salamander in Enemy of the World, and the Master in Claws of Axos).
Of course, by that standard, Liz Shaw doesn't count, even though she was the female lead for the whole of season seven. Which is why in the 1970s there's a lot more talk about 'the Doctor's assistant'.
Then by the early 1980s fandom is making lists and trying to be consistent about it - never a good idea!
I tend to stick with the rule of thumb Jeremy Bentham suggested in Doctor Who Monthly back in 1981: a companion is a character who scores two out of three out of...
1) Appears in more than one story.
2) Travels in the TARDIS
3) Is described as the Doctor's companion/assistant in the press.

On that basis, Liz, the Brigadier, Yates and Benton all count, as do Mickey, Jackie, Adelaide, Rory and Wilf. Travers and Glitz don't, and neither does Christina (though it seems a bit mean to discount her on a technicality. But if we let her in, then the waiting list also includes a lot of one-story 'companions' like Duggan, Todd, Sabetha and Altos, Richard Mace, Jane Hampden... Jane and Duggan even get a TARDIS trip!).

Seems really unfair to count Adelaide as a companion simply because she get's 30 seconds in the TARDIS while Astrid and Christina fall short. Especially since I'd consider both of them more of a companion than Adelaide.

I'm just wondering whether adding a 4th criteria in might help? Perhaps 4 could be that the person is the Doctor's only/main form of assistance? This would let in the Christinas of this world whilst still excluding the Maces and Duggans who might better be described as sub-companions.

 

[matthunter]

Ah yes. I was nearly going to say 3 doctors, but I had a flashback (at least I thought it was) that it was Benton instead...

'Twas both.

Though the TARDIS itself didn't do the travelling in that ep, it was more like being teleported (just while inside the TARDIS).

 

[Cutter John]

Where did the term Companion originate?

It seems like something that only comes from the PRESS side of Doctor Who that later got picked up by fans, or vice-versa.

It's not really something I'd even know of if I only watched the show and nothing else.

As someone said up thread, it was the standard term in the mid-80s wen I discovered the fandom.

Although I've been hearing the word 'Assistant' thrown around a lot more lately. In the British press and DW Confidential.