I used to watch Dr. Who avidly in high school, at least until my local PBS station stopped showing it. In recent months, I’ve been rediscovering the series by getting episode DVDs. I bought two more the other day, one of them featuring the Fifth Doctor and his companion, Peri. Within five minutes’ viewing of the episode, I came upon a deep and clear realization.
I hate Peri with every atom of my being.
She’s whiny, thunderingly stupid, and as helpless as a newborn kangaroo. I don’t know whether she’s American, Canadian, or British, because her accent is all over the linguistic road. She not only makes the female gender look bad, she makes for a good justification for Dalek invasion.
My question to other Doper fans is this…of all the companions, who is it that you cannot stand, and why?
I always thought that Mel was the most roundly despised companion, mainly on the basis that she wasn’t even remotely hot, while at least Peri had that going for her.
I don’t know, there’s always her fashion sense. Is it my imagination, or have most of the companions suffered from a crippling lack of style? I mean, even for the times, the clothes they wore seemed tacky and unflattering. And I’m mainly talking to you, Sarah Jane and Tegan.
It’s probably just my own personal taste, but I just don’t find Peri that attractive. Maybe my blinding hatred of her keeps me from appreciating her physical attributes.
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I don’t know, there’s always her fashion sense. Is it my imagination, or have most of the companions suffered from a crippling lack of style? I mean, even for the times, the clothes they wore seemed tacky and unflattering. And I’m mainly talking to you, Sarah Jane and Tegan.
[QUOTE]
Peter Davison remarked how his female companions were bundled up to a rather ridiculous degree because he really was the first Doctor who was young enough for sexual tension to possibly be a problem, and the producers wanted to make sure that it never did. Eventually, they DID let Tegan and Nyssa dress down a bit.
Mel was so hated she didn’t even last a full season. Thank God.
Peri was whiny, but that was intentional. Though I don’t know why it was intentional, it was a huge misfire of an idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sixth Doctor’s bad rap was caused by her presence more than anything else.
I never liked Sarah Jane, because she was so dull. But my least favourite was Peri.
I think Nicola Bryant (Peri) is a dual US-UK citizen, and has spent much time in both places; that’s the cause of her bizarro accent.
That said, her drowning rescue scene in her first episode (title eludes me) was wonderful eye candy.
Still she was annoying.
But my least favorite companion was Ace. Always sulky, brooding; someone I wouldn’t feel very comfortable hanging out with; I would have dumped her as soon as possible. But the actress (Sophie Aldred) is as sweet as can be (had the chance to meet her 10 years ago).
There are few companions I out-and-out loathe. Mel and K-9 are pretty high up on the antipathy scale (though I like John Leeson quite a bit), but after those two, even the annoying ones — your Adrics, your Peris — have their redeeming moments. (Adric is great in Earthshock, and Peri very good in Caves of Androzani.) And I adore Ace and Sarah Jane. So there.
Looks like I’ll be covering much of the same ground.
Adric - whiney, boring, nerdy guy who wanted to show off how smart he was, glad he got killed.
Mel - Just remember big red hair, and irritating voice. But much of my dislike of her is tied to my general loathing of Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor.
Ace - all of her personality was in that stupid bat she carried around. I always wondered why such a “tough girl” wouldn’t acquire better weapons considering the stuff she kept running into. Again colateral hatred due to being companion to McCoy as well.
K9 - only hated him when they were supposed to be outdoors. The limits of what they could do with him while filming meant he would either slow them down, be disabled early for most of the story, or “Batteries de-ple-ted, losing po…wer, Massss-ter…” I had no problem with him on a space station or in an urban setting.
I can’t hate Peri, I have too many fond memories of teenage hormonal lust for her.
Mel. By a long, long way. Partly because it was, you know, Bonnie Langford. She of the irritating voice, stage school acting, fake fixed grin, boney dancer’s figure and too much make up. And I hated Sylvestor McCoy as the Doctor too. Which is a pity as he always came across as a nice guy. But that whole period in the Dr Who’s history was a disaster.
Poor Adric. Everyone hated him. No-one was sorry to see him die.
Those who are having a go at Peri are suffering from delusions of what a Doctor Who companion is there to provide. Peri had plenty of the right stuff to make up for any of her other failings.
Well, in some companions, even in the Tom Baker years, the companions’ clothing was godawful. Maybe it was just because of the prevailng fashions in those years. <shrug>
Featuring a loathsome character was intentional? Why? Why? Why?
I have to agree, a rather a weak attempt at a “tough” companion. I’ve always wanted the show to have a kick-ass female companion, someone who could save the Doctor’s alien carcass every in a while. But I guess it was not to be. No, Leela doesn’t count. She was too brain-dead.
Coincidentally, Caves of Androzani is the Peri episode I bought. If she’s “very good” in that, I shudder to think of the craptastic performances she gave in other episodes.
Futile Gesture, I’m sorry, but I’m of the belief that a companion should not make me want to beat her into a mass of shattered bones and ruptured organs with a shovel. But again, the blinding hatred thing. Plus, I’m a heterosexual woman, so her charms, whatever they may be, have no effect.
On a positive note, I agree with you about Romana. She’s just about the only one who seemed to keep up with the Doctor intellectually. I also like Tegan because she wasn’t afraid to question his actions or point out his failings.
I don’t remember that much about Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor, what was so bad about him?
No Leela fans about, hrm? I never watched much beyond the 5th Doctor but she was my fave by a long shot. <sub>the noble savage in a rough wool fishermans’ sweater – yowza</sub>
And I’d have to totally disagree about Romana. Version 1 was an ice-queen, and version 2 just resulted in an excess of otherworldly smartitude, esp. when played against Tom Baker. Also, the little sailor suit and straw hat were far too twee.
Which was the Aussie / NZ one? The flight attendant from early in the Peter Davidson series? And was there not also a skinny red-headed male in there someplace?
<sub> and speaking of males, let us not forget Harry and the Brigadier… </sub>
I disagree about her attributes, at least about Romana 1. Her cool was part of what made her likable and different from the screaming career victims that were the previous companions. But I agree about that damn sailor suit. Again, par for the course in companions’ fashions.
That would be Tegan. I liked her, she had spunk. Turlough was the readheaded one. Him I could leave or take.
I wanted to hate Harry, but the Doctor picked on him so much I felt sorry for him. But I did like the line, “He’s only fit to treat sailors.”
That was Turlough, the would-be assassin of the Doctor. One of the more interesting companions, story-wise, actually. Somehow he always reminded me of Vyvyan from the Young Ones - but without the cojones.
But as far as I’ve seen, the most hated companion of all time is easily Adric. Everyone loves Earthshock because he gets snuffed in the end.
No one knew what to do with him.
