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Classic Who - Your Five Worst Companion Departures
Mulett
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Nowadays, we are used to companions having their own ‘story’, one that has a beginning, middle and end. Indeed, entire seasons can be written to prepare the audience for the upcoming departure of a companion.
But in classic Who a loyal, long-serving companion can have their departure bolted unceremoniously onto the end of a story and get booted from the TARDIS with barely a by-your-leave.
So, from classic Who, what are you top five worst companion departures and why?
I am thinking of those which are the result of poor writing or last-minute decisions rather than those you simply don’t like.
Here are mine:
But in classic Who a loyal, long-serving companion can have their departure bolted unceremoniously onto the end of a story and get booted from the TARDIS with barely a by-your-leave.
So, from classic Who, what are you top five worst companion departures and why?
I am thinking of those which are the result of poor writing or last-minute decisions rather than those you simply don’t like.
Here are mine:
- Mel: Perhaps the most bizarre departure of all. To be fair, Bonnie Langford did make the decision to go quite late in the day. But Mel’s decision to suddenly leave the Doctor for Glitz was completely out of character. And that oddly worded final scene between the two of them was so incomprehensible I still don’t understand it.
- Tegan: Wow, heartless! After an horrific adventure where she’d seen countless innocent people murdered right infront of her, long-serving Tegan wasn’t even allowed a few moments to have a hissy fit. In fact, when she tearfully said she wanted to stay on Earth, the Doctor couldn’t jump back into the TARDIS quickly enough. He didn’t consider for a moment that she might have been suffering from shock, and left her behind without any money or clothes. Worst of all, his swift departure gave Tegan no chance to catch her breath and potentially change her mind.
- Peri: This ending is more out-of-character for the Doctor than Peri. I understand that, in Mindwarp, he was prevented from saving her from a grisly death by the High Council. But when he discovered she was still alive, he never went back for her. Never has a companion been so appallingly abandoned. Poor Peri!
- Sarah Jane: Sarah deserved so much better than to be dumped by the Doctor at the end of Hand of Fear because he had to go back to Gallifrey (where humans weren’t allowed). The writers had plenty of notice that Elisabeth Sladen was leaving and such a great companion deserved a more substantial end than a single scene tacked onto the end of a mediocre story. Thank goodness for School Reunion!
- Leela: A very out-of-character end for loyal, strong, independent Leela. Not only did the Doctor break all the rules by taking Leela (an off-worlder) to Gallifrey, but the High Council then did an even stranger thing by allowing her to stay. And all because she briefly held hands with a Gallifreyan guard and decided it was love. Complete rot!
Your Worst (Classic Series) Companion Departure 88 votes
Susan Foreman
2%
2 votes
Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton
0%
0 votes
Vicki
0%
0 votes
Steven Taylor
0%
0 votes
Katarina
0%
0 votes
Dodo
36%
32 votes
Ben and Polly
2%
2 votes
Victoria
0%
0 votes
Jamie and Zoe
0%
0 votes
Liz Shaw
2%
2 votes
Jo Grant
0%
0 votes
Harry Sullivan
3%
3 votes
Sarah Jane Smith
3%
3 votes
Leela and K9 mark 1
17%
15 votes
Romana I
4%
4 votes
Romana II and K9 mark 2
0%
0 votes
Adric
2%
2 votes
Nyssa
3%
3 votes
Tegan
3%
3 votes
Kamelion
5%
5 votes
Turlough
0%
0 votes
Peri
9%
8 votes
Mel
1%
1 vote
Ace
3%
3 votes
0
Comments
Totally disagree here. I love the "I can't do this anymore" way this happened, and I'm sure the Doctor could see that in her eyes when it happen.
Mel's departure was ridiculous surely they could have found someone even a little more appealing.
Harry could have done with a better send off most of the last time we saw him he was an auton. Too bad he can't come back like Sarah Jane did.
Superb!
Liz - another one with no goodbye scene. I know that the decision to write Liz out was taken between seasons, but surely they could have given the Brig and the Doctor a few more words along the lines of "Good old Liz, we'll miss her". Instead we are left with a casual 'she's gone back to Cambridge' and the Doctor apparently utterly unbothered.
Harry is abandoned in Scotland. It might be his choice but neither the Doctor nor Sarah seem too upset, and he's treated as just any other UNIT chap in The Android Invasion (the real Harry is barely in it anyway).
I thought the way Harry was left behind was reflected in the New Who episode Parting of the Ways, when the Doctor and Rose rush off without giving Jack a second thought.
He did, but I think the issue is more that his decision to stay was such a small part of that final scene. Almost a footnote.
Harry had been a major part of Doctor Who for more than a year and deserved a proper goodbye scene.
duh!Davison:mad:
Would have been Sarah Jane, but all was forgiven because she had a proper goodbye in School Reunion.
Although the Doctor didn't explicitly say he would miss Liz, he did complain about losing her scientific skills.
I could have watch The Doc, Sarah and Harry til the cows come home. It just wasn't the same after Zygons.... I even held out false hope that all was back to normal when watching the Android Invasion - sadly my hopes were dashed
Also there was meant to be another story before Tegan's last story that would have built up to her leaving a little more but this was cancelled for some reason.
I agree that the reason's for Mel's departure are a little odd but I was so glad to be rid that I didn't really care (I never knew it was Bonnie Langford's decision to leave, now there's a shocker!) and did like the final scene between her and the Doctor.
And poor Peri, still stuck with King Yrcanos surely a fate much, much worse than death...
If only the production team had added a postscript to that scene of Peri and Yrcanos...
I'd have forgiven them entirely if Brian Blessed could have said PERI'S ALIVE!!!!!!
I voted for Peri's.
Mel's is the second worst departure for me, for reasons stated in the OP's post, and I'm a little surprised that no-one has yet voted for Mel, although that's probably because everyone was so glad to get shot of her!
Ahhhh, poor Mel. Unloved by Who fans, saddled with generally terrible scripts and almost unsayable lines. Her best performance was in Delta and the Bannermen - I think the holiday camp seemed to be Bonnie's natural habitat and she really delivered in that story.
So, sometimes I actually feel a bit sorry for her. But then I only have to watch something like Paradise Towers or Time and the Rani, and I'm back to thinking - thank God we did get shot of her pretty quickly!
Romana, a not yet 200 year old Time Lady decides seemingly on a whim that she wants to regenerate.
There's been a number of different reasons put forth in various media but as the TV show stands it seems a very stupid thing to do.
Its the same with Mel - later media (books I think) suggest the 7th Doctor telepathically prompted her to leave as her kind nature was preventing him from developing his 'dark side'. That was never a part of the TV show, so - as with Romana 1 - we have to go with what we saw at the time.
I have no issues with Liz's departure, funny enough, as I think her last scene is just really lovely and we have a lovely parting shot of her smiling and happy. I understand peoples problem with the abruptness etc, but sill, it doesn't really bother me.
Has anyone ever dared to try and explain the odd regeneration scene that goes against we've learn't about Timelords before and since or is it best just left forgotten about?
BF Short Trips:Companions - The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe - the TARDIS is jealous of Romana so locks her up, tries on a few bodies in front of the Doctor, masquerades as Astra for Destiny then thinks better of it and makes Romana regenerate into her Astra body. I've not read it for years but that's the gist of the tale.