Who is Tumblr's favourite companion, find out here! -||- Reblog the masterpost pinned to the top of this blog to spread the tournament, the more people who vote the fairer the result will be! -||- I reblog passionate arguments for any companions, if I've reblogged an opinion you disagree with it doesn't mean I nescessarily hold it -||- I plan on using this blog for other companion tournaments in the future, so if you have an idea you want to see a tournament for send it to me! All ideas are tagged future tournament ideas if you want to see what might be coming up -||- I'm also happy to take suggestions for the companion line up, or anything else really -||- I'll do my best to be impartial, you won't see me posting any of my own opinions on here, just other peoples with equal chance an argument gets shared for both sides. However to keep future tournaments interesting I'm going to set up future brackets so matches between competitors with the best chance of winning happen as late as possible, and to do that I need to try and rank based on who i think people will vote for, and its hard to avoid introducing bias when I do, but hopefully there will be no bias other than that
I need everyone to go listen to the Older Nyssa audios. Extremely Doctor-like (derogatory) (affectionate) in that she's avoiding dealing with the trauma of her world being destroyed by locking in and developing an insane martyr complex, and who thinks humans are very interesting and is usually trying not to be *too* condescending about it. Also she's either a dubiously parental MILF or gay for Tegan depending on the source, both of which are awesome. (anonymous)
Vicki Pallister
Vicki Pallister, the light of my life, the shining star of 60s who (I don't know what I mean by that, I love them all). I just want you to stop for a second and consider the situation Vicki came from, stranded on planet with the mas murderer who killed her father who spends his days emotionally manipulating and lying to her through impersonating a member of the species he killed to terrify her, or pretending to be bed ridden so she'll wait on him hand and foot, she has one creature in the universe who shows her genuine kindness (who barbara kills in her first episode, by the way), and just, urgh. the rescue okay, its two episodes, go and watch it.
anyway yeah, she comes from all that and yet shes still a kind, brave, curious, chaos machine. story 2, story 2, the romans, her second story, she and the doctor decide the doctor should impersonate a dead man they found on the side of the road so they could visit neros court, vicki immediately makes friends with the court poisoner, and genuinely believes she accidentally poisoned the emporer, to which she is like, funny hahah oopsy daisy. also i know ive gone on about the hell that was the rescue and the events leading up to it for vicki, but not out of character, this girl befriended a horrifying looking alien creature and then became close personal friends with the woman who killed him. IN CHARACTER
i love her so much, and look i only mentioned sandy twice, i should get a round of applause for that (@sandymybeloved )
she's just so much fun. she's having a fun time and she's a delightful character. they should let her name every new species of bug (anonymous)
After Ian and Barbara leave, the Doctor is convinced that Vicki wants to leave too but she manages to convince him that she wants to stay (anonymous)
I need everyone to go listen to the Older Nyssa audios. Extremely Doctor-like (derogatory) (affectionate) in that she's avoiding dealing with the trauma of her world being destroyed by locking in and developing an insane martyr complex, and who thinks humans are very interesting and is usually trying not to be *too* condescending about it. Also she's either a dubiously parental MILF or gay for Tegan depending on the source, both of which are awesome. (anonymous)
Vicki Pallister
Vicki Pallister, the light of my life, the shining star of 60s who (I don't know what I mean by that, I love them all). I just want you to stop for a second and consider the situation Vicki came from, stranded on planet with the mas murderer who killed her father who spends his days emotionally manipulating and lying to her through impersonating a member of the species he killed to terrify her, or pretending to be bed ridden so she'll wait on him hand and foot, she has one creature in the universe who shows her genuine kindness (who barbara kills in her first episode, by the way), and just, urgh. the rescue okay, its two episodes, go and watch it.
anyway yeah, she comes from all that and yet shes still a kind, brave, curious, chaos machine. story 2, story 2, the romans, her second story, she and the doctor decide the doctor should impersonate a dead man they found on the side of the road so they could visit neros court, vicki immediately makes friends with the court poisoner, and genuinely believes she accidentally poisoned the emporer, to which she is like, funny hahah oopsy daisy. also i know ive gone on about the hell that was the rescue and the events leading up to it for vicki, but not out of character, this girl befriended a horrifying looking alien creature and then became close personal friends with the woman who killed him. IN CHARACTER
i love her so much, and look i only mentioned sandy twice, i should get a round of applause for that (@sandymybeloved )
she's just so much fun. she's having a fun time and she's a delightful character. they should let her name every new species of bug (anonymous)
After Ian and Barbara leave, the Doctor is convinced that Vicki wants to leave too but she manages to convince him that she wants to stay (anonymous)
he is such a good companion. he is shown to be smart, reliable, trustworthy, and kind. his first reaction to seeing the inside of the TARDIS in 'the three doctors' is "well it's obvious isnt it" after the doctor asks if he's going to say its bigger inside rather than outside. in 'invasion of the dinosaurs' benton was willing to let the doctor use venusian akkido on him so he could escape, /knowing/ that it would hurt. :] (@silliestcolressfan )
Peri Brown
her stepfather left her stranded on a boat after she told him she was leaving. the influence she had over kamelion. she chased the miniaturised master around his tardis and threatened him. her interactions with the rani. everything about her. (anonymous)
she has one of the best companion dialogue exchanges with the master:
Master (via Kamellion): ""You will obey me.""
Peri: ""...No.""
Master: ""I am the Master.""
Peri: ""So what? I'm Perpugilliam Brown and I can shout just as loud as you can.""" (anonymous)
fivey dies saving her (anonymous)
just. this bit in mark of the rani:
The Rani: Come to me. Keep an absolutely straight line.
Peri: I don't understand
The Rani: Stop bleating and do it!
The Doctor: Keep exactly in her footsteps, Peri
[Peri stumbles into the Rani]
The Rani: Incompetent fool! You're worthless!
The Doctor: Not to me, she isn't. You'll do well to remember that!
Peri: She was going too fast.
The Rani: Can you jump without falling on your face?
Peri: Sure
The Rani: Well, copy me and you're out of danger
[They jump over one of the Rani's contraptions that turns people into trees and walk over to the Doctor and the Master]
Peri: What was that all about?
The Doctor: You wandered into a minefield of the Rani's making
Peri: A minefield? [the Doctor hums] In there? But Luke! What about Luke? Where is he?
The Doctor: He just saved your life
Peri: [looking at the tree which used to be Luke] What?
The Doctor: I'll explain later (anonymous)
the bit in mark of the rani when the doctor's attacked and she decides to throw coal everywhere
she calls the master a gangster (anonymous)
teacher!rani x student!peri experimentation kink in the rani elite (anonymous)
she's awarded an honorary degree in botany (anonymous)
toxic rani/companion yuri (anonymous)
Mel Bush
Mel is an incredibly endearing little weirdo who gets slept on way too much. She's the nicest person you'll ever meet, she's genius levels of smart, she's like a hyperactive herding dog whose self-assigned job is fixing people, she is extremely protective of her fellow companions, she is so bad at lying that the Doctor has to deceive her too in order to make any of his deception plans work. She also has some weird toxic yuri thing going on with the Rani and sometimes she is just boiling over with righteous fury and tries to blow someone up or threatens to lobotomize the villain's robot lackey. She loves life so much that she would sacrifice herself without question to save people she's just met. She is so genuine and sincere and she's not all that good at social things sometimes and prefers to work with computers that don't have messy emotions. She also did not know what counting cards actually was and has been unintentionally cheating at card games her entire life. (@melscarrotjuice )
Strax
one of the funniest characters in the show (anonymous)
"Do not attempt to escape or you will be obliterated! May I take your coat?" (anonymous)
the scene with the memory worm in the snowmen (anonymous)
Oliver Harper
Brilliant extended universe companion of the First Doctor. His story is both something that is both true to how the 60s were and yet could never have been explored by the TV series at that time. A perfect combination and a wonderful addition to the First Doctor and Steven's history. Very well played and I wish he could come back for more. (@hartnellwho / @elden-12 )
In-universe, he is the first gay companion. His hair colour is bald. Fugitive from the law due to 60s homophobia. Braver than he first appears. He deserved better. (anonymous)
Ace was essentially the model for modern companions. With her being given more agency and a more complex relationship would the Doctor. She is exceedingly brave and intelligent. Once beat up a Dalek with a baseball bat! She was written as a realistic teenage girl but was still larger than life and extremely enigmatic. (anonymous)
I need everyone to go listen to the Older Nyssa audios. Extremely Doctor-like (derogatory) (affectionate) in that she's avoiding dealing with the trauma of her world being destroyed by locking in and developing an insane martyr complex, and who thinks humans are very interesting and is usually trying not to be *too* condescending about it. Also she's either a dubiously parental MILF or gay for Tegan depending on the source, both of which are awesome. (anonymous)
Vicki Pallister
Vicki Pallister, the light of my life, the shining star of 60s who (I don't know what I mean by that, I love them all). I just want you to stop for a second and consider the situation Vicki came from, stranded on planet with the mas murderer who killed her father who spends his days emotionally manipulating and lying to her through impersonating a member of the species he killed to terrify her, or pretending to be bed ridden so she'll wait on him hand and foot, she has one creature in the universe who shows her genuine kindness (who barbara kills in her first episode, by the way), and just, urgh. the rescue okay, its two episodes, go and watch it.
anyway yeah, she comes from all that and yet shes still a kind, brave, curious, chaos machine. story 2, story 2, the romans, her second story, she and the doctor decide the doctor should impersonate a dead man they found on the side of the road so they could visit neros court, vicki immediately makes friends with the court poisoner, and genuinely believes she accidentally poisoned the emporer, to which she is like, funny hahah oopsy daisy. also i know ive gone on about the hell that was the rescue and the events leading up to it for vicki, but not out of character, this girl befriended a horrifying looking alien creature and then became close personal friends with the woman who killed him. IN CHARACTER
i love her so much, and look i only mentioned sandy twice, i should get a round of applause for that (@sandymybeloved )
she's just so much fun. she's having a fun time and she's a delightful character. they should let her name every new species of bug (anonymous)
After Ian and Barbara leave, the Doctor is convinced that Vicki wants to leave too but she manages to convince him that she wants to stay (anonymous)
While she’s no scientist, she’s not stupid and we see her gradually grow more knowledgeable in scientific matters (in The Time Monster, for example, when she guesses exactly what the device the Doctor built does).
She’s resourceful (remember that she does happen to be a fully qualified UNIT agent who has studied escapology) and frequently gets the Doctor out of tight jams. She doesn’t hang around waiting for someone to tell her what to do—she uses her own initiative many times, sometimes with good results (such as when she frees the Doctor in The Sea Devils) and sometimes with bad results (when she tracks down the Master on her own in Terror of the Autons—though note that she does succeed in finding him, and by Frontier in Space she’s become immune to his hypnotism).
She has far more agency than she gets credit for. She knows what she wants and isn’t shy about getting it. In her first episode we learn she got her job with UNIT by asking her well-connected uncle for it, but she’s also immediately willing to do all the hard work involved. The first thing she does is try to put out a fire—no screaming involved, she just grabs the fire extinguisher and puts it out. It turns out she’s actually ruined one of the Doctor’s projects, but her eagerness and sweet personality win him over so quickly that he doesn’t have the heart to fire her. In The Mind of Evil, during a prison riot, she grabs the gun from the prisoner holding her hostage and turns the situation around, covering the prisoners with it and then casually handing them over to the governor.
In The Curse of Peladon, King Peladon offers her a life of luxury as his queen, but she turns him down. She also turns down Latep in Planet of the Daleks—who asks her to stay with him on Skaro—because she’s more interested in her own life on Earth. When she accepts Cliff’s offer of marriage in The Green Death, it’s not on a whim but something she genuinely wants. She isn’t willing to settle for just anyone.
(continues) When she and the Doctor visit the sexist Draconians in Frontier in Space, one of them tells her to not to speak, and her response is simply to tell him to be quiet so she can carry on talking. Later she remarks, “I think it’s about time women’s lib was brought to Draconia.”
Jo is passionate above all else, and it shows in everything she does. She throws herself into her work, she enjoys life very much, and she’s incredibly compassionate and driven to do good. In The Mind of Evil she takes care of the Doctor after his ordeal with the Keller Machine and treats the prisoner Barnham very kindly, showing more concern for him than anyone else does. She brings a captured Ogron a banana in Frontier in Space, showing kindness to a species even the Doctor treats with contempt. Her compassion is so strong that she tries to sacrifice her own life in The Daemons to save the Doctor, asking Azal to kill her in his place. This action is what ultimately saves them all, because Azal can’t comprehend her behaviour. And finally, she chooses to leave the Doctor because she wants to save the planet the old-fashioned way—not by going into space and fighting aliens, but through simple ground level activism.
Perhaps the most profound example of her strong spirit and her bravery is The Time Monster, when the Master’s actions threaten to destroy the entire universe. She’s trapped aboard his TARDIS, and the only way to stop him is for the Doctor to time ram the two vessels, which will kill all three of them. The Doctor threatens to do it, but the Master calls his bluff, pointing out that the Doctor doesn’t have it in him to destroy Jo. Jo has no such qualms and time rams the TARDISes herself, even though she knows it’ll kill her and her best friend. She believes it’s worth it to save the rest of the universe. “Think of all those millions of people who’ll die,” she says. “Think of all those millions of people who’ll never be born!” The three of them do survive through the intervention of Kronos, but that doesn’t take anything away from Jo’s decision to destroy the two TARDISes—a decision the Doctor himself wasn’t able to make.
Despite his strong desire to be free of his exile, the Doctor is clearly the most dependent one in their relationship. He worries that she might choose to stay with Peladon, and when he finally gets his freedom in The Three Doctors, Jo is sad but willing to accept that he probably wants to leave, but he instead chooses to remain with UNIT (which shows some great character development for Three, who lied to Liz to get her to give him the TARDIS key in his first serial and tried to abandon them all). In the end, it’s not the Doctor who leaves Jo but Jo who leaves the Doctor. She makes the decision to part ways, and he is clearly the one most affected by it, and can’t even stay for the rest of the party. It’s such a simple companion departure—no tragedy involved, just leaving to get married—and yet it remains one of the most heart-breaking moments in Classic Who. We rarely see the Doctor so upset over a companion’s exit.(anonymous)
She is the original nepo baby, got a job because of her uncle and it’s strongly implied she got put with the doctor so all the annoying people would be in one room and the brigadier wouldn’t have to deal with them too much. Every outfit is iconic, and she is part of the best era of Doctor Who: 3 and his gay and homosexual unit gang (anonymous)
Vislor Turlough
Turlough is an alien prince, a child soldier, a planetary exile, a would-be assassin, and a reluctant hero. He joined the TARDIS under orders to murder the Doctor, and instead was surprised to find himself caring for people other than himself for the first time in a long time. He’s sarcastic and superior and self-interested and a survivor. He pretends to be more of a coward than he really is. He’s an artist, he keeps up with the Doctor on technical subjects, and he only changes out of his fetish-bait school uniform to put on a pair of short shorts and a speedo. We don't learn his full name or what planet he's from until his final serial. He is my favourite companion <3 (anonymous)
My favourite ginger alien freak with no eyebrows who can't drive. Turlough has one of the best character transformations while travelling in the tardis. He goes from trying to kill the doctor so he can leave earth and go home, but ends up staying, and becoming more selfless and brave. Enlightenment is of the best doctor who stories of all time, and that is in no small part because of Turlough. A vote for Turlough is a vote for ginger weirdos everywhere <3 (@gothicacetheatrekid )
A self-proclaimed selfish coward who commits acts of unimaginable selfless bravery at the slightest provocation. A scheming intellectual on the outside, surprisingly dumb on the inside. He masks like his life depends on it (it does). Acts cold and calculating and bitter and sarcastic so no one ever sees the soft, deeply wounded little boy underneath. The perpetual outsider who never fitted in. His performed identity is weirdly attached to the school he was trapped at and HATED. He once took a quick break literally running from villains in order to fix his outfit. He's the weirdest freak. He's sopping wetTM. He may or may not be the Doctor's subby little boytoy. Nobody in the universe quite like Vislor Turlough. (@genderqueerpond)
Sarah is... She means a lot to me personally but I suppose that doesn't make for particularly compelling propaganda but I don't care. The thing is I loved SJA before Doctor Who, I loved Sarah so much that when I first started watching classic who i deliberately watched stories with sarah as a companion. I bloody dressed up as her for dress up day when I was in year six. Watching the premier of The Man Who Never Was, is a core memory for me.
I just, you know your first doctor burrows their way into your heart, and even if they don't end up being your favourite, they are at the core of your relationship with the show, what the baseline for the role is. That's sarah for me (with companions), and when I think about the show and my relationship with it, she's what comes to mind
My love of Sarah is deeply entwined with my very being I don't think I can even actually justify it. She is still awesome, especially in season 11 when her journalism and (pop 1970s) feminism was more at the forefront. She's also slightly nuts, what with impersonating her great aunt and all, but all the best companions are. And then in nu who... they'll never top that returning companion dynamic, of like, you made my life but you also ruined my life
I, it, she... SARAH JANE SMITH
(I'm going to go and have a cry now) (@sandymybeloved )
The Brigadier
1. The brigadier managed to keep the doctor from blowing themself up out of boredom while being grounded on earth, a truly impressive feat.
2. Anyone who got through multiple multi doctor stories and multiple doctors relatively unchanged deserves commendation
3. Is an inclusive employer!
4. The sheer commitment to not knowing what the doctor’s deal is, despite the length and breadth of his doctor who tenure is frankly the most impressive thing on the show. I respect the hell out of a man who sees multiple regenerations interacting, then sees the doctor regenerate before his eyes and yet still refuses to understand how regeneration works. King shit. (anonymous)
Shall I compare her to a queen in reign?
She art more brainsmart & more heartkind:
Rude Tens do fail her to appreciate,
And writers' rooms hath all too dim a mind;
But her eternal kickass shall not fade,
Nor lose respect of that world walk'st:
Nor shall Russ' brag she wander'st in Rose-shade,
When by eternal lines her wisdom talk'st:
So long as I can breathe, my eyes can see,
So long Queen Martha Jones will brilliant be (@buggreawlthys )
MARTHA JONES !!! She's a medical doctor in her own right, keeps the Doctor humble, and is one of the only modern who companions to leave of her own free will because she knows what's best for herself!! Despite crushing on the Doctor she doesn't let it control her and knows her own worth, and did I mention that SHE'S A DOCTOR HERSELF!!!! (Indigo)
She deserves it so badly and we all know it (anonymous)
The companion who deserves the title DOCTOR. My queen. The reason why I got into Doctor Who. (@thebookworminthetardis )
Nardole
him showing up disguised as a monk in extremis to give the doctor a message from river (anonymous)
he's always trying to stop the doctor from leaving the university because he's terrified missy will escape if the doctor isn't there (anonymous)
He helped Donna with her love of stars he is a solder who never killed anyone and is proud of that fact the doctor would have died for him and almost tried to but he wouldn't let him he loves the stars but never left earth but he still got to adventure (anonymous)
How dare someone so goofy & whimsifight break my heart like that? That pregnancy storyline was awful but she made it real & made it hurt. In the cheesiest or silliest of scenarios, Amy was the heart of the story, & of me. (@buggreawlthys )
Amelia Pond, like a name in a fairytale. Twelve years, and four psychiatrists - ""I kept biting them"". Slammed the Doctor's tie in a car door.
A lonely, homesick, misfit small-town little girl who grew up and ran away to the stars. Never could settle down, exactly like her Doctor. (@genderqueerpond )
The ultimate Wife Guy. Pathologically reason-minded & common-sensible. Beyond done with everything including the increasingly absurd number of times he dies. Holder of the single brain cell except when he throws it out the window to save Amy. A NURSE! (@buggreawlthys )
