Donna, hands down. She didn’t fall hopelessly in love with the Doctor; she ordered him around, she sassed him, she got him to change his views on life. I HATE what the Doctor did to her at the end. First time she’s ever been happy and he makes her forget the whole thing. Rose became Bad Wolf and she didn’t get her memory wiped.
Can’t respond to the poll. There’s no choice that corresponds to my answer: “Amy and Rory.”
Mr Pond*. Thought he was a wimp for most of his first series - then he waited for her for two thousand years, and I swooned…
Then he either turned awesome, or had been all alone. I must rewatch series one sometime, and see if there was more to him at the start than a fairly dull looking bloke in a nurses uniform!
- I voted Rory Williams, but really, we all know he was Mr Amy Pond
Having not watched the Docter since Tom Baker, Martha was my first and favorite of the companions in the new episodes with David Tennant.
I voted for Amy, but in retrospect, she is, genetically speaking, responsible for unleashing the worst plague in all the universes and all times: River Song. I have a feeling that is the real reason the Doctor locked her in the Pandorica, to save everybody from the birth of that smirking Mary Sue and her “Spoilers!” and “Sweetie!”.
She’s up there, but I think **Romana **(in both her incarnations) wins that title. But she’s a Time Lady herself, so that’s kind of cheating.
If we’re not counting Time Lord companions, I’d put Donna at #3 in terms of smarts after Nyssa of Traken and Liz Shaw.
Nyssa was great. She’d spend the whole episode puttering around in the background and then whip out some amazing piece of alien technology that would save the day.
I voted for Martha. She was both incredibly loyal and willing to destroy the entire earth.
I really don’t get people’s love for Donna. She barely became tolerable towards the end. For the most part, though, she annoyed the hell out of me. And the mother. Hated her too. I really liked the grandfather.
Amy is in third. Rory, though. Rory is a very close second favorite. He became such a badass.
I’m really looking forward to the new girl.
Rose.
I love them all and their individual stories but Rose was my first love so she gets top billing.
Rose!
I’m always just a bit suspicious of people who don’t like Donna. It seems to me that their complaint always boils down to that she isn’t sufficiently young, pretty, or worshipful.
Speaking of, not that I’d vote for her, but River should be on the list. She’s more of a companion than Jack, Mickey, or Wilfredd. Hell, she was conceived in the frickin TARDIS, you don’t get much more companiony than that.
This poll is interesting to me. Donna, in my mind, is in a league of her own as far as being the best companion. The others, as much as I like them, simply just cannot compete. Her character was by far the most interesting, her story arc by far the best planned out. The other companions were (relatively) flat with little development.
I haven’t seen any of the newest season (yet) but I cannot fathom why Amy is in 2nd place and nearly tied with Donna. This is so shocking to me because, for me, she is easily the worst of all the companions, and has almost killed Doctor Who for me entirely.
But yeah, Donna for sure. I also liked Rose, Jack, and Martha a lot too. In fact, I liked Donna’s dad too! I’m not ashamed to say that I will not miss Amy nor Rory even a little.
Martha. Gorgeous (moreso than Rose or Amy, IMO) and smart and not prone to hysterics like some of the companions. And I think Martha often gets short shrift in these polls because of the way she was written out. I didn’t like that whole unrequited love aspect of her story.
I like Donna a lot, too (after hating her in her first appearance). I think she has had the best overall arc for a companion in New Who.
The Companion is supposedly the voice of the audience, but they have been written a little too proactively. It makes for an interesting and fun character, but sometimes a little too much, where the entire arc is about them.
Donna reacted how real people actually would in the situation. And she treated her journeys as experiences rather than Extreme Sports Adventures.
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Amy Pond - My favorite by quite a bit. “Ohhhh, Doctor.” Just the way she reacts to things makes me smile.
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Martha
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Donna
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Rose
Rory is pretty much tied at the top with Amy and I don’t count him separately. The rest don’t count as full-time companions for me, but that is how I’d rank main folks.
Donna is my favorite. She had a great evolution from sad going nowhere life to smart take no shit Doctor Donna. I was a mess when the Doctor had to erase her memory of… everything! All that she had seen and done, all that had happened to give her the confidence to believe in herself!
Even happening upon that last few minutes of that episode and I’m sobbing.
And her Granddad, Wilf. Another last episode that left me sobbing. The look on the Doctors face as Wilf knocked on the door to get his attention, those knocks that the Doctor had been dreading. Torn and angry, that he was going to have to die to save this silly, loyal, wonderful old man who had gotten into this mess because of his loyalty to the Doctor.
Rose I liked because she was the first and she was spunky… Martha didn’t really develop much, blame it on the writers.
Amy I kind of liked from the get go, though she was a bit annoying. Poor Rory started slow but but as someone else mentioned, he waited 2000 years for Amy! How could you not love him.
Over the last season, Rory really hit his stride, he became the greatest companion Amy could ever ask for. The writers began to use him properly. I think Rory rates higher than Amy but it’s a tricky thing as we didn’t get him without her.
And River, fabulous River Song! Love her. She’s gorgeous and quite a match for any incarnation of the Doctor.
Captain Jack Harkness… Lusted after him from the get go. That kind of cockiness just dares you to see if he’s as good as he thinks he his.
You. Me. Rapiers at dawn. Two enter, only one comes out. Badmouth River Song, will you?
I didn’t say Donna was the smartest; I said she was the most clever. Subtle difference. In terms of intelligence, Romana I (Mary Tamm) was probably the strongest, but the OP did specify Nu Who.
K-9!
I’m still watching NuWho - I’ve only gone through Rose and Martha so far, other than the Xmas Special where Donna was absolutely horrible. (I understand she gets better, but right now - ugh!)
Still, I think I like Martha. Much more cerebral than Rose, though Rose did have more joie de vivre. And while at the end both of them saved the world, Martha’s was a marathon, while Rose’s was a sprint. Neither one easy, but it seems like Martha’s was more work.
I don’t understand why so many people hated her. Yes, she had the mooning over the Doctor thing…but so did Rose.
Nonetheless, I picked Jack. Because HAWT.
Donna. She grew so much, and became such a different person. The end of the Silence in the Library episodes, where she says “Is “All right” special Timelord code for not really all right at all? Because I’m alright too” won me.
And I’m still mad at what they did to her.