I understand this, and I've debated this point a lot in the past. But, for me, what irritated was the fact that Clara was made out to be The Most Important And Special Ever. Yes, all of RTD's companions did something epic (Rose practically becomes God for a minute or two, Martha walks the Earth, Donna saves every universe) but it feels like Moffat's tried to top the lot with Clara. She jumps into the Doctor's timestream and saves his life presumably thousands of times over from the GI's meddling. She's there when he first nicks the TARDIS. She's there to help resolve every defeat, all throughout his life, also saving worlds and universes in the process. Beyond that, she was also quite integral into helping Matt's Doctor save Gallifrey at the end of the Time War. Then, as if that all wasn't enough, she ends up in the Doctor's childhood and apparently influences the Doctor as a child. Enough already! Sure, let companions do big and epic things, but reel it in a bit and do it sparingly.

(Applies to all writers, not just Steven --) I just wish they'd stop trying to top/raise the stakes all the time. It's beyond ridiculous now.

I somewhat agree with this. But sadly, things aren't like they used to be. Companions are no longer the Doctor's "assistants", they are more like his friends.

I like Clara, but I think she lost her purpose after TNOTD.

I'm torn with Clara. I do agree her story was done in "Name" (she even explicitly says that, IIRC). But then I'm glad she was back in Series 8 - because she really grew into her own, became an actual character, etc. (I tend to forget her non-relationship with craptastic Danny Pink). And this leads to another fault I have in the writing of companions - that they outstay their welcome (and this also applies to RTD's era too). Clara's story was arguably done by "Name". One could argue "Death in Heaven" is a neat end for her too. Or "Last Christmas". I'm not sure where else they can take the character now. Inject some fresh blood, please!

Sorry, kinda derailed the topic slightly by discussing companions. Ties back into the thread though - I do hope Clara's successor isn't given a lame 'label' like everyone else has had lately.

Right. So just the same as the Moffat cases, then. All characters have nicknames and catchphrases and vocal tics. "From Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North" to "Oi, Spaceman".

Apart from that Harriet line ("yes, we know who you are" etc) I wouldn't say any of the 'tags' attributed to the RTD companions solely define them though**, whereas I feel they do in the Moffat era. And this, for me, is a negative thing because it's like stripping a character down to a catchphrase. Character isn't a strong point of Moffat's writing, IMO, so reducing them to a catchphrasey tagline doesn't help.

Mind you, everything seems to require some tagline these days. "Dark" springs to mind - everything's gotta be darker for some reason. And "feisty" was used a lot during Gillan's time (and into Coleman's first series too) - a word I'm sick to death of hearing with regards to female characters.

Less telling more showing please. Soundbites are old hat now.

(**Plus in RTD's time, apart from 'the oncoming storm' and 'last of the Time Lords' for the Doctor, the companions didn't require some kind of catchphrasey tagline to be mentioned on screen. For Amy, we have 'the girl who waited' and this is said by characters a few times. Same regarding Rory 'the lone/last centurion'. Same with Clara the 'impossible girl'. RTD's companions all did epic things etc., but we didn't get like "Rose, the Bad Wolf" or "Martha, walker of the Earth". We saw these things play out - we didn't need characters to actively say out loud a brief tagline/catchphrase, like they do with Amy The Girl Who Waited, Clara The Impossible Girl, etc.)

Until proven otherwise - it was all 11's fault Him and his nicknames

There's still time for 12 not to label his first unique companion

The type of thing The Doctor might say to Clara.



Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

I didn't mind 11 calling Amy "Pond" or her calling him "raggedy man". It went back to when they first met when she was little. River also called 11 "sweetie" or "honey" again out of love and affection. Clara and 12 have a different relationship. They have known each other for a while now. Clara was an adult when she met him and they are good friends but not romantically involved. So they use their real names just with a different tone of voice.
Sure they will get on fine for most of S9.

They just need to write less of 12's rudeness to Clara (stealing Strax's unique character trait, that...) and affable "Ha, the fans want him to be alien so we'll write that as someone with aspergers having a hard time grasping human social concepts instead of anything truely alien" misunderstandings ("A whole room for not being awake?" etc)
and 12 would be pretty much perfect.

He's a Time Lord not the Mad Hatter

This!

They really don't, though. "The Girl Who Waited" is only used in four episodes, not counting the episode with that title, which is really just an in-joke. And only in situations where her patience and faith in the Doctor are entirely relevant to mention.

The examples given (waited, centurion, impossible) all refer to things the characters have done, things they've become, not who they are to the Doctor. They don't describe who the characters are, but act as shorthand to the audience to remind them of certain character aspects or plot points. Easier to say "the impossible girl" and have that instantly connect to Clara's mysterious backstory than say "the girl who keeps appearing in different places and dying off and I don't know why".

This is my issue though, really. You've put it better than I have, so thanks for that and apologies for my earlier rambles. I don't like the fact that the writers sometimes feel we need shorthand. The audience isn't thick - they remember things. Even the more 'casual' viewers these days are more like fans and find things out. I'm all for shorthand in things like online articles or reviews, but they're not necessary in the show. As for your example of "impossible girl" being better than the mouthful that is "the girl who keeps appearing in different places and dying off and I don't know why" - the point is they shouldn't need to keep saying this or reminding the audience of this to the point where they need a shorthand, IMO.

Again, the phrase "The Impossible Girl" was only used in four episodes. Four out of all the one's Clara has appeared in.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Awww.chakoteya.net%2Fdoctorwho+"impossible+girl"

Why shouldn't they remind people? If it's relevant, it conveys information about how it relates to the scene in question. It's nothing to do with people being thick - in fact it hinges on people not being thick and remembering the backstory.

I've been rewatching the Tom Baker era for the last year (just two to go) and there are times when his humour is just as much kid's TV slapstick as any of the modern doctors. The reason Lalla Ward, and quite probably Tom, decided to leave the show when they did was because the new production team under John Nathan Turner wanted to aim the show at a more adult audience and ditch all the kids stuff.

I don't remember having an issue with it at the time but, by Sylvester McCoy I was getting really irritated when the show didn't take itself seriously. One particularly egregious, literal, cliff-hanger springs to mind!

But like it or not, childish whimsy and slapstick eccentricity has been a feature of pretty much all of them. It's the show we signed up for, no use complaining about it now!

I probably wouldn't mind so much, had they not done it with every companion since 2010. That's when these 'taglines' bled into the show. Amy, the girl who waited. Rory, the lone centurion. Clara, the impossible girl. Heck, even the TARDIS was nicknamed 'Sexy'. I'm surprised (but chuffed) Danny didn't get one. (Clara's is the worst because it was laboured so much during 7B's airing - both within episodes and within every article/interview surrounding the show. Not to mention the word "impossible" needs to be banned from Doctor Who. So overused. Clara being 'the impossible girl' completely got in the way of her character -- Moffat's even confirmed this and spun it to make it sound deliberate -- she was literally a catchphrase in 2013.)

Danny did get one: 'PE'. And it was used more than 'Mad Man in a Box', if I recall correctly.

UPDATE: Just went through the transcripts. He called Danny 'PE' (I'm not including the times he calls him 'PE Teacher', just when he refers to him as 'PE') 8 times - four in a single episode.