Rose was the first companion after the Time Wars, unless there’s someone who hasn’t been shown yet. Wouldn’t loosing his entire race leave the Doctor a tad vulnerable to getting more involved than normal with someone? That’s always been my internal fanwank on it.
Yes, I know that it’s really a change in the times and the target audience, but that’s the way I think of it to make the continuity feel right.
The Brigadier was never a companion in that he never travelled with the Doctor in the Tardis: he was, as Commander of UNIT, in theory the Doctor’s superior in the Doctor’s capacity as Scientific Advisor during his Time Lord imposed exile on Earth {for meddling in Time, for those who are relatively new to the series: the Time Lords had a strict “hands off” policy when it came to intervening in the affairs of others}.
Although that didn’t stop them from using him to do their dirty work from time {ahem} to time} when it suited them, notably in “Genesis of the Daleks” when they tasked Tom Baker with stopping Davros from ever creating the Daleks.
A bit late joining this thread.
I’m an old Doctor Who fan. I watched the Jon Pertwee episodes as a kid and have enjoyed the series ever since.
I have to say I was surprised at first by the romance with Rose, but like Yllaria said, She was his first companion after loosing his entire race. Must have been more vulnerable than usual.
The thing I didn’t like was the retcon about Sarah Jane loving the Doctor there is, as far as I can tell, no evidence of it in the original series.
Besides if he was going to get off with any of the earlier companions Leela or Peri would be my guesses.
Depends who you’re asking, in Journey’s EndDavros identifies Mickey, Captain Jack and Rose’s mum all as companions, along with Donna, Rose and Donna.
Mickey earned the Doctor’s respect and was invited to join them, that counts.
I’m still not sure if the Doctor was jealous of Rose’s affection for Jack, or Jack’s affection for Rose - who was going to get left at the sharp pointy end of that triangle? Jack had to go, either way.
It scares me to agree with you… 
You could have omitted the comma there.
Just to mention, if it isn’t already common knowledge, that the re-introduction of Sarah Jane was in part to launch her spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, aimed at the young teen audience. It’s generally a bit lighter than Doctor Who, with a plucky young girl as the real lead in the show. K-9 appears occasionally but is often given some excuse for being elsewhere to avoid too many deus ex machina moments (or maybe just to avoid the stairs).
And Donna Noble really grew on me - she went from really extremely grating to being someone who, despite being “the best temp in Chiswick”, could hold her own against the Doctor and keep him in line. I was disappointed that the Doctor-Donna thing resolved itself the way it did, but then there were a lot of disappointing things about that episode.
I’m not an expert on Old Who–Tom Baker was My Doctor. And I can fully understand why Sarah Jane could never settle for a plain old human after leaving him. But here’s #10 with some male companions. (Check out the site for the artist’s wonderful graphic of his female companions.)
My opinion of Rose? Doctor #9 was in shell shock from the Time War & her bubbly humanity was just what he needed. But #10 was not so repressed–so the affection between Doctor & Companion came very close to human love. Now she’s safely (?) locked away on Pete’s World with Her Very Own Doctor; don’t know yet whether or not this is a happy ending.
Martha’s love for the Doctor was a bit of a drag. But he did kiss her first, even if he had an ulterior motive. She got over it & walked away. (Not that she can’t reappear to help out in future adventures.)
Donna irritated me mightily at first but became My Favorite Companion. Surely, she realized he was a cutie but, as a full grown woman, she’d snap him like a twig! Definitely not her type; Jack certainly caught her eye. But Donna ended up breaking many hearts at the end.
Can’t wait for the further adventures of The Doctor & His Companions (& His Companions’ Families)! His story just keeps getting richer.
It’s interesting, I do get that Martha was probably the best looking of the new companions, but I found her character very annoying. I liked the Donna Noble character and she played off the Doctor great.
I already mentioned that I really liked Leela. It seemed like she and K-9 rescued the Doctor far more than he rescued them. It made it fun. She was never indecisive and often added great fish-out-of-water comedy. That and as a 12 or 13 year old I found her very sexy.
Jack is an interesting companion, but I think it was a good idea to use him in small doses. He would have changed Doctor Who too much if he was a full time companion. He is basically a Captain Kirk. Doctor Who was never really about weapons and dozens of gadgets. He makes a great guest, but spinning him off was a smart move.
Jim
Seemed about as overt as you could get, short of sporting a rainbow sticker on the TARDIS.
Jack did have one of my favorite quotes from the series though. “Who looks at a screwdriver and says ‘Oh yeah! That should be more SONIC!’?” Just struck me as funny.
She was definitely one of the best of the original run. I especially liked the fact that she was absolutely fearless and was willing and able to kill if necessary.
One of my favorite lines was when she was being held prisoner and was about to be killed in “The Talons of Weng-Chiang.” Instead of being afraid, she threatened Greel that even if he killed her, she’d seek him out in the afterlife and hunt him down.
For the revivial, I really like all the companions. Donna Noble started out as annoying, but really grew as a character over her run. It makes her final fate all the more tragic, as she was back to being shallow and superficial.
Having little exposure to the actress who played Donna (I have seen some of her skits on Youtube and don’t get the humor), I actually REALLY liked her, especially as the series progressed. I’ll even say that I got a bit misty at her fate at the end of the most recent finale. I wanted not just more Donna, but her father as well, who was the best of the family members in the modern series.
Rose was the first so I like her well enough, plus poor Mickey who finally earns respec’ at the end. Martha seemed to have been fitted as a Rose 2.0 and they did not let her be enough of herself to matter. She was a fox for sure, but that didn’t help me like her any more on the show.
It seems to me that the biggest change between the old series and the new is the inclusion of the Companions’ families and the friction between the Doctor and the families. I can’t remember anything like that in the old series.
Do you mean her father or her grandfather?
Wilfred Mott was a damn fine character and it’s a shame to lose him from the show too. Taking on the Daleks with a paintball gun was inspired (if not remotely successful).
OTOH, Martha Jones’ mother had the scariest eyebrows this side of Ming the Merciless.
Actually, he did once. At the end of The Five Doctors, he returned to his own time with the Second Doctor via the TARDIS.
Yep, that should keep my geek cred account paid up for another year.
You should demand a refund, for you forgot Mawdryn Undead!
Both of you forgot the Three Doctors in which the Brigadier accompanies Doctor #2, and Sgt. Benton into Omega’s black hole domain, and then leaves alongside them, Doctor #3, Jo, and a few one-off characters.
I mean, really, how could you forget the Brigadier’s immortal reaction to seeing the inside of the TARDIS for the first time?
“So THIS is what you’ve been doing with U.N.I.T. funds all this time!”
God, I miss the Brigadier: “All you want an assistant for is to hand you things and tell you how clever you are.”
Well, you can’t blame him.
“Is there anything *I *can do, Doctor” (Brigadier)
“Pass me a silicon rod, why don’t you?” (Doctor)
Absent-mindedly stirs coffee (tea?) with rod.