Who’s your favorite 4th Doctor companion? Note that this is from across all mediums and includes all TV companions and only multi-story companions from other mediums. Feel free to comment explanations for your choices, but you don’t have to. You can choose as many as you want.
I didn’t vote for any Big Finish companions mainly because I haven’t gotten around to any of them yet. And I listened to a few of the Nest Cottage sets, but it’s been years.
I vaguely remember enjoying what I listened to, but don’t remember any details beyond a Second Doctor clone in there somewhere. Were they really that bad?
I’m Mr Positive as much as possible but the Nest Cottage stuff is basically ‘The Tom Baker Show’ . He isn’t, to my mind, playing the 4th Doctor, he’s just being Tom and my tolerance for Tom when he’s being all Tom-like is pretty low. I just don’t particularly like his ‘persona’ when he’s on. And that’s how I feel about these stories. There is a marked difference between his performance in these and how he is in BF’s audios suggesting someone actually managed to direct him at BF.
This made me realize (although I didn’t vote for him here) that from what I’ve heard of Mike Yates in the Nest Cottage audios, I think him and the Fourth Doctor might be my favorite dynamic with Yates in it in general.
Part of me is a little surprised that Sarah Jane is in fourth place. It always seemed like she was everyone’s favorite. I’m not surprised that Leela’s at the top, especially since she’s Tom’s most prolific companion on audio. Personally, I prefer Romana II over Romana I, but that might also be because she had a longer TV run and has had a long life on Big Finish, especially in the Gallifrey series.
Has anyone listened to the stories with the Fourth Doctor and Ann Kelso or Margaret Hopwood? I’ve only met Kelso in her Dalek Universe appearances, so I don’t know how well she clicks with Tom.
I do like Harry. I think he got a little shortchanged with only having a few serials and literally not stepping foot back in the TARDIS the moment he was in the right time. (Though I suppose Ian and Barbara did the same, just with a lot more episodes in between…)
Harry gets a really good outing in the novel A Device of Death (set between Genesis and Revenge), and also shows up post-TARDIS travels in the novel System Shock, when 4 and Sarah Jane wind up in 1998!
I do like him but I think he suffers from not having any stories with just him and the doctor. Four, Harry and Sarah Jane are a wonderful team, but Sarah had time with the doctor on her own before and after so she gets more of a chance to shine. Also Sarah is such a wonderful companion that I think the direct comparison might make people less likely to pick him.
My favourites (so far, I’m up to Romana I currently) are Sarah Jane and Leela.
