Somebody I have always wondered about is Susan, back when it all started. From what I understand, she left to stay on earth in the future after a Dalek story, but has she ever been mentioned since?
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but was she not a timelord too?
Personally I think that a great story would be to meet up with her again, as I think that thread of story was just left hanging around.

What does anybody else think?

We saw Susan in The Five Doctors - there was no explanation of where she'd been, what she'd been doing, whether she was still living on Earth, etc.

Also I don't think it's ever been explained explicitly whether or not she's a timelady/lord...

There is indeed plenty that could be cleared up there - and a lot more than the normal companion, given that she is the Doctor's granddaughter. A catch up in today's programme would no doubt beg more questions regarding the Doctor's family...

That'd probably explain a bit too much for a lot of fans - I don't think I want to know...

Susan has always represented one of those slightly awkward moments in Doctor Who. Why did she refer to the Doctor as Grandfather, even after they had left Earth? And was her name really Susan? Was she a Timelord, and if so, why would the Doctor leave her on the planet Earth as SAK says with a human partner?

She returned in The Five Doctors of course where she was introduced to the Fifth Doctor.
"I'm Susan," she says.
The Fifth Doctor smiles and says, "Yes, Iknow," before giving her what I always take to be a long lingering look of fondness. Nothing else is ever said and she refers to the Fifth Doctor as Doctor, not Grandfather.

Former script editor Eric Saward wrote a story in the Radio Times 20th Anniversary special back in 1983 which apparently went some way to explaining who Susan really was. I wonder if anyone here has read it?

I haven't read the RT story, but one of the new adventures novels explained about Susan and how she ended up travelling with the Doctor. I think it was covered in Lungbarrow (available to read for free on the BBC site.) I know the books were officially endorsed by the BBC, but I'm not sure they are officially regarded as 'canon.'

Yes I read it - I have absolutely no recollection of what it said however. It was 23 years ago and I was only 11 at the time! I remember my parents threw the bloody thing out and I was gutted !!!

Have you forgiven them yet, jim?

Not by me, they're not!

I started reading Lungbarrow but my interest waned fairly quickly. I suppose I should give it another go some day.

I never liked K9. I'm interested to see him again for nostalgic reasons. As SJS is back he's just part of the continuimg 'Dr Who is back' excitement, which I've for over a year now. I know RTD likes the mutt.

I found it quite slow to start with; for me, most of the interesting stuff came in the final third of the book.

I've been meaning to read it again, but I no longer have my paperback copy and there's something about trying to read a novel on a PC screen that I just don't like (ignoring the inconvenience of trying to read in bed with a PC monitor sitting in your lap! )

I think K9 would make an excellent drinks trolley in my front room!

God no! We haven't spoken since...

Just as long as your carpet isn't too plush, BG - perhaps wood flooring would be a better bet?

Would any one like to see Tegan again?

can't see Janet Fielding agreeing to that somehow

You could be right, but hasn't she returned for a Big Finish production lately?

I believe so, although I got the impression it would be a one off thing..but who knows, I quite liked Tegan

Going through some of the other characters that could be brought back...

I always thought Nyssa was quite a good character in terms of her scientfic background whilst not being a 'know-it-all'. Also, we all felt a bit sorry for her that the Master 'killed' her father (and she looked quite nice )

I hated Turlough!, and Ace, and in fact just about any companion from Colin Baker onwards, including at an extreme level of hatred, Mel (Bonnie Langford).

However much people may call Adric a know-it-all, I'm sure these are the same people who felt a few tears at the end of Earthshock.

I'm sure this has been covered in other threads, but they couldn't really bring back Leela without a lot of baggage (i.e. she was left on Gallifrey, which is supposedly destroyed, so how/why did she leave!)

I have said this before, but I think Lynda would have made quite a nice long-term companion (if she hadn't been sucked into outer space...)

Crikey! It's only a TV programme!

When I think about it, there are probably some characters who were not companions who could make good return visits. Their appearance could easily be dismissed by a line from the Doctor saing something like, "I've crossed swords with XXX in the past" or something which would not confuse or annoy new viewers and would allow us oldies the joy of seeing an old character returning.

Tobias Vaughan would be a good candidate (I can't remember if he was killed at the end of The Invasion or not) as would Henry Gordon Jago from The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Yes please!!!!

I had a real thang for Tegan/Janet Fiedling when I was a lad!

Peri

Jo Grant

Binro.

(dfjdfjdfljfljdsfjjfdlfjd)

My option was I can't get enough of classic characters returning.

I'm aware I'm not in the majority vote here.

But it depends on which characters they bring back.

F**k The Slitheen,.....I'd be really happy to see a few more old enemies back.

The Daemons
The Sea Devils
Ice Warriors
Those 'Robots of Death' thingys. They freaked me out a bit as a kid.
And give the Autons a proper story next time Russell you tight git.
I love me Autons I do.

And I would have loved this Fenric to have reappeared due to what I read in last year's speculation.

And another name that cropped up in last year's speculation was that some character who played elaborate games with the Doctor in his Patrick Troughton era might have been behind it all. Was that 'The Mad Monk'? Or am I thinking of something else?

So I think there's plenty of good stuff they can resurrect. And I believe that they can be re-introduced at a much faster rate than at present.
The redesigns and new realisations are always something to get excited about as well.

A lot of very interesting characters could be brought back. And maybe ones that I never got to see first time around.

I would actually.
The prospect of the Cybermen has kept us in operation since the last series finished.

Obviously yes, the characters have to be treated right.

Just as they can piss the opportunity up a wall with old characters, they are certainly as capable of doing it with new ones...The Slitheen spring to mind.
And to be honest about The Geith, they are okay, but I can take them or leave them to be honest.

And what other new enemies did they introduce last year? Not a lot really.
Cassanda and one or two supporting characters, and a few human characters for certain episodes, but there wasn't that much.

So for that reason I believe that there is plenty of space for one or two old characters each series.

If they can write well for new characters, there's nothing to say that they can't write well for some old ones.

I would much prefer some old enemies than celebrity cameo appearances.

Just as they could ruin the memory of old characters, they could just as well improve on them, the skill of using them is the key to this, and how well the reintroduction is implemented.

And I kind of like the idea of merging old with new to create a complete feel of continuity. This could in time make us feel as though Doctor Who was never away, and we forget that DW had ever been away. One nice big timeline.

Stories from the past can even be developed further, hopefully not overcooked, and even twisted on their head.
I see some trepidation about bringing old characters back, but in reality we should also feel the same anxiousness about any new characters, but for some reason people don't seem to be. There is an equal chance of either new or old characters failing or succeeding. I don't see any reason why there should be fear.
Good writing is good writing, it is as important to new characters as well as older ones.

It can work.
The Klingons in Star Trek were a bit dodgy,...but their reinvention was very impressive.
Battlestar Galactica used to be a bit of an embarrassment...NOW look at it.

K9 is wank though.
But I think the real problem here should be more about ideas in general, not just ideas concerning older characters.
K9 might be shit idea, but so might some other new character.
Such as some new character that was designed as part of a Blue Peter competition.
To be honest, I'm a bit worried about those cat people. The design looks well cheesy, like a cartoon that's been scribbled on a scrap of paper in 5 minutes, yet there have been some excellently designed older characters, which have even been fleshed out with their own personalities and backgrounds.

The caution needs to be equally exercised when creating new characters, not just the old ones. There is nothing to say that a failure is any more likely when it concerns an old character as opposed to a new one. They are both as likely to succeed or fail with the writing as far as we know.

I think mixing things up a bit is something to be excited about, and to be embraced. Of course there will be a bit of fear about whether it will be as good as we hope, that fear was there with the Daleks, and there is some fear with the forthcoming return of the Cybermen.

It's probably the fear that keeps us excited and on our toes.
Without the buzz about the return of an old character we'd probably be only worrying about The Slitheen being used again anyway.
It's the fear of how well they do things in the future that keeps us excited.

I'd bet you that if any of the old characters we've listed in the thread were rumoured to be returning, we'd adapt to the fear and end up licking our lips at the prospect, really relishing the excitement of what RTD will do with them.

It can be done, and it can be done rather well.
I am very open to the idea, and I trust that a degree of care would be taken with their re-introduction to the show
Last edited by Alrightmate : 24-03-2006 at 06:07