The latest elimination game seems to be throwing up this question a lot, so I was wondering what everyone else thought! Tardis Wiki does not offer us a lot of clarity, and at the bottom of that page has a nice discussion about the arguments that have been had about what makes someone a companions.
I think for me personally, a companion is someone who goes along with the Doctor on their adventures for at least a good chunk of a season. To me, Astrid and Adam Mitchell are NOT companions because they were too one off, and I donât think I would define the Brigadier as a âcompanionâ either, though I think I could be persuaded on that one. Yates and Benton, definitely no though. But then again, Captain Jack, yes. Perhaps, then, for me, itâs vibes based. I donât know.
What does everyone else think? Is Liz Shaw a companion despite her lack of TARDIS time? Do Wilf and the Brigadier count?
One thing to keep in mind with 3 is that we canât really use TARDIS time as a good indicator of whether someone is a companion during his era because the TARDIS wasnât working for a lot of it.
With Liz Shaw, she accompanied the Doctor for her season, and was traveling around in Bessie with him, and Bessie is practically the TARDIS substitute for the era.
The Doctor spent a lot of time with the Brig, more then a lot of people who are definitely considered companions. And he did travel in the TARDIS once, as well. (The Brig met an awful lot of Doctors, tooâŚ)
For me the decision on who I count as a companion is definitely more based on vibes.
My general definition is someone who has at least one adventure with the Doctor while having a somewhat major role, but from then on it is purely vibes.
Anyone with more than one adventure I would definitely count as a companion or at least companion adjacent. Though even there I sometimes have exceptions.
For me Wilf would definitely be a companion, Adam I have to reluctantly give the companion status, but I donât really count Astrid as a companion for example.
Exactly this! What youâd define as a TARDIS team as in the Pertwee era takes on a different flavour. To me, Iâd say the whole UNIT family counts. Liz, the Brig, Benton and Yates. Jo and Sarah are much less disputed, as they fill the role in a more traditional sense through Pertweeâs final two seasons (not to mention Sarahâs time with the next Doctor!)
But thereâs a point to be made that itâs very hard to define a rigid set of rules for this, with how much the show has changed over 60 years weâve got enough fringe cases and technicalities that no definition works 100% of the time. As a pedantic example the Brigadier actually travelled in the TARDIS in three stories. The Three Doctors, Mawdryn Undead, and for the trip home in The Five Doctors. Thatâs more stories than Adam or Kamelion, who are generally less contested.
I would probably define a companion as someone who accompanies the Doctor on a full-time basis, eliminating characters like Wilf or Craig Owens (who yes, I really am mentioning in the same breath. The actors arenât remotely on the same caliber of course!) but if you were to scrutinise it from a chronological, in-universe perspective, you could very easily argue that Harry Sullivan doesnât count, because Robot through to Zygons all happen so back to back in a shorter timeframe and Harry leaves at the first opportunity. Iâm certainly not advocating arguing against Harry, but you can see how easy it is to find these fringe cases in any reasoning!
you could very easily argue that Harry Sullivan doesnât count, because Robot through to Zygons all happen so back to back in a shorter timeframe and Harry leaves at the first opportunity
Itâs worth noting that Ian and Barbara also left at the first opportunity. They just didnât get one for a good length of time.
And with Sara Kingdom these things contradict one another!
Or the fact that Katarina lasts for all of an hour. That isnât what youâd call a âfull-time basisâ, yet her companion status isnât one Iâve ever felt the need to dispute.
I have seen some people define a companion as someone who travels with the Doctor in the TARDIS for more than one trip.
This wouod of course mean that some characters, who we generally regard as companions, donât fit the definition.
Liz never travelled in the TARDIS, but sheâs definitely a companion (you could get around this by stating that she was, in fact, an âassistantâ).
This would also mean that Katarina and Sara Kingdom donât count, because they only travelled with the Doctor for one trip (unless you count the EU, of course, which adds more stories for Sara). I donât care about Katarina, but Sara should definitely be a companion, as she is awesome!
Itâs difficult to find an exact definition, so we should all just go with whatever works best for us.
âHey, you know that character that you like? Yeah! The one who hung around with the Doctor for a while. Yeah, that one. Theyâre a companion if you like.â
