I think this to why can't we have companions without issues.

On the plus side at least she can act a dam site more than Donna or Martha

This! (only without Tegan)


In the 1960s people were fascinated by aliens and time travel and people 'like us' travelling with the Doctor - who was the star of the show and you knew it. Which didn't mean you didn't come to care about the companions, but you saw them 'accompanying' rather than 'starring'.

[quote=TheSilentFez;65242778]Unfortunately for you, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find a modern television drama which doesn't deal with characters' back stories. People nowadays like to know about the characters in the shows they're watching and like to see that their stories have a bit of depth; that they themselves have a story to tell.
I can't think of a single modern show where nothing was revealed about the main characters' pasts/QUOTE]

Which means it's what happens these days whether viewers want it or not. Some people don't particularly want to know everything about every character if it detracts from the person the show's meant to be about, especially in the very limited time allowed. Some may well want to know, but it doesn't mean it's popular with everyone.


Nope, it's much the same! Because some people have had a similar reaction to both Amy and Clara, probably because their first trips in time and space were so similar and they acted in a similar way and both saved the day in the end, which is seen as unlikely to say the least. Amy eventually gained a valuable and much-needed added dimension when Rory came along, the question is will Clara.

Martha was fairly badly acted yes but she had her moments. Donna was terrible.

I like Martha and Donna.

It is probably actually a testament to Catherine Tate's excellent acting that you didn't like her character, as Catherine and Donna are completely different!

trouble with watching clara is shes trying to much to act like matt smith, the bit in the tardis when they set off just looked to choreographed

I can't stand Clara and I wanted to like her. I loved her in the Christmas special and wish she'd just been a Victorian character for her entire run.

I've felt lukewarm towards Doctor Who since series six though. It doesn't do it for me anymore for some reason, and I get far more pleasure out of re-watching episodes from series 1 - 5 than any of the newer ones. I think I'm taking a break from new episodes for a bit. I was just so bored watching the latest one.

As long as she doesn't become a love interest then Clara will be fine

Terrible idea. I wish she'd been Oswin the Junior Entertainment Officer. Characters from the future are surely a lot more interesting?

Barbara and Ian.

Even K9.

[quote=ea91;65263858]Terrible idea. I wish she'd been Oswin the Junior Entertainment Officer. Characters from the future are surely a lot more interesting?/QUOTE]

Why? I'd love to see a character from the past react to the present and future. If written and played well it would be fun.

I'll admit that when Rose appeared on a Scotish highland in Tooth and Claw she expressed no such concerns, nor when she appeared in the presurised hull of a research station on Krop Tor.

Donna was also unconcerned about the dangers of a vacuum when she arrived in anicent Pompei, similarly she gave it no thought on the ood planet which was clearly within a planetary atmosphere that sustained humans happily wandering about.

Amy gave gravity little thought when she stood in New York Central Park, nor indeed on Salisbury Plain.

However whilst Martha failed to raise concerns about solar radiation in Shakespearian London she did ask the question when she found herself in a hospital on the moon. The fact she asked such a question impressed the Doctor in fact.

But to be fair to them all they did not find themselves standing on a tiny asteroid in a ring of such with no visable means of protection.

[quote=Ivy Rose;65272229]
I'd settle for any companion who wasn't from early 21st century Britain, just for a change. Amy Pond was a massive departure for the 'new' series, just because she wasn't from London.

Clara might seem like a backward step, but is she really? She's a 21st century Londoner, a Victorian Londoner, and a ship's entertainment officer in the future. I suspect there's a reason for her 'unrealness', as there is for why the Tardis dislikes her...

Well done for comparing different things as though they were the same!

The moon - well established as a place with no atmosphere and certainly no cities. At least to Martha at that point, and nothing else was visible, except for the ships that had brought them there. From all her history and science lessons, she would know for definite that the moon couldn't sustain us. She would have been inundated with that information, so to ask the question wasn't that much of a leap.

The Rings of Akhaten - as soon as they left the TARDIS (which, as soon as the doors had opened and they weren't immediately sucked out into space, might have been a clue of an atmosphere), they could see the city on another rock - and if it's already populated, doesn't that give a clue? It might have been something the Doctor had mentioned before they left the TARDIS - and why would she not trust his word now that he saved her life?

Isn't she Northern? She has a Northern accent.

I will ignore your sarcasm. Except to point out that Martha's concerns about the moon were because it was not the Doctor who had taken her there, and the lack of atmosphere on the moon is common knowledge and would occur to anyone.

I would imagine anyone travelling in the Tardis with the Doctor would have decided that they would have to trust him to know what he was doing, and that he wouldn't take them somewhere where they would immediately die.

Alternatively, as has been pointed out to me numerous times on this forum, we don't see all the conversations between the Doctor and the companion - she may have asked him about all this stuff before she stepped out of the Tardis.

If I must imagine that all Amy's grieving about her baby went on behind the scenes, I can imagine that information about the breathability of the air and the effects of gravity also occurred in private.

Or maybe the Tardis, along with the translation device, lets all Tardis visitors know whether they are safe or not.

In any case, it's such a trivial point compared with so many others that people haven't questioned that I don't really know why it was ever a problem.

Edit; I see sebbie has put it more succinctly. Thanks sebbie.

Thank you very much!


So Clara's science lessons didn't point out that flying on a moped through space in civillian clothes and no air tank couldn't sustain us? The state of Education these days.

And the Doctor giving a pre-landing information package detailing the local weather conditions, time zone and warnings about pick pockets? Doesn't sound much like him.

That she could see a city on another rock across space from her means that that rock can sustain life, not the one she is standing on surely? To bring Martha back into this, the fact that by standing on the moon she can see from light polution that the Earth is populated and can sustain life does not automatically mean that the moon she is standing on can.

As a further example when Donna landed in Pompei she asked how she could understand the language, she didn't freak out, she didn't demand an explanation but she knew something wasn't right and she asked a question. Seems fair enough.

Thank you very much.

Modern Clara doesn't seem to fancy the Doctor at all.

Quite the opposite in fact...

...perhaps she would like to meet Vastra & Jenny.

Perhaps she will and perhaps that's the .

Again, different things being compared as though they were the same... You're really very good at that.

I shan't bother to say much, as you didn't really want to understand it last time. But I will state that once the audience has seen the question answered, there's no need for it to be dealt with again on screen - except for comedy value.

She will be meeting them in three weeks time

So, someone you're willing to trust leads you to an unknown place that he has specifically chosen because he thinks you'll like it. When you open your eyes to the amazing sight he has offered to you, the first thing you say is, "why am I not dead?"

If you're breathing, you're obviously not at immediate risk of suffocating. The details can wait.

Martha's education tells her we cannot survive on the moon because space has no air to breathe and has the added dangers of solar radiation and freezing temperatures.

The same education would also tell us (Martha and Clara) that we could not survive on a small rock in space, or a moped in space because of exactly the same conditions.

How exactly am I comparing apples & shoes?

If you're referring to Donna then since you are of the opinion that the Doctor gives his companions all the information they need before opening the door then surely he would have explained about the translation ability? You can't have it both ways.