Doctor Who Companions

As we approach Series 10 of the modern series of Doctor Who which features a new companion, I decided to make a list of all the companions and major recurring characters who have appeared in televised stories.

Susan Foreman (1963-1964) <>
Doctors met: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th
(Books/Audio: 8th) (Unofficially: 6th) <!>

Barbara Wright (1963-1965) ^
Doctors met: 1st

Ian Chesterton (1963-1965)
Doctors met: 1st

Vicki (1965)
Doctors met: 1st (Audio: 5th)

Steven Taylor (1965-1966)
Doctors met: 1st (Audio/Books: 5th, 6th)

Katarina (1965)
Doctors met: 1st

Sara Kingdom (1965-1966) ^^
Doctors met: 1st

Dodo Chaplet (1966)
Doctors met: 1st (Books: 6th)

Polly Wright (1966-1967) <TW>
Doctors met: 1st, 2nd

Ben Jackson (1966-1967) <TW>
Doctors met: 1st, 2nd

Jamie McCrimmon (1966-1969) <> &
Doctors met: 2nd, 6th

Victoria Waterfield (1967-1968) <D>
Doctors met: 2nd  (Unofficially: 3rd) <!>

Edward Travers (1967, 1968) <D>
Doctors met: 2nd

Zoe Heriot (1968-1969) <>
Doctors met: 2nd (Audio: 6th)

Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (1968, 1970-1975)
<> <W>* <D> <SJA>
Doctors met: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th
(Unofficially: 6th) <!> (Books: 6th, 8th, 9th)

Sergeant John Benton (1968, 1970-1975) <W>
Doctors met: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th (Books: 9th)

Liz Shaw (1970) <> <P>
Doctors met: 3rd  <!>

Jo Grant (1971-1973) <SJA>
Doctors met: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 11th (Books/Audio:7th, 8th)

Captain Mike Yates (1971-1974) <>
Doctors met: 3rd (Books/Audio: 5th, 7th) <!>

Sarah Jane Smith (1973-1976) $ <> <^> <-->
Doctors met: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th, 11th  <!>

Harry Sullivan (1974-1975)
Doctors met: 4th (Books: 9th)

Leela (1977-1978) <P>*
Doctors met: 4th
(Books: 7th) (Unofficially: 7th) <!>

K9 (Mark I, II & III: 1977-1981) # <SJA> <^>
Doctors met: 4th, 10th (Unofficially: 7th) <!>

Romana (1978-1981) <>*
Doctors met: 4th (Books/Audio: 5th, 7th, 8th) <!>


    Romana I & Romana II

Adric (1981-1982)
Doctors met: 4th, 5th  (Books/Audio:7th)

Nyssa (1981-1983)
Doctors met: 4th, 5th  <!>

Tegan Jovanka (1981-1984) <>
Doctors met: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
(Unofficially: 6th) (Books: 8th)  <S>

Vislor Turlough (1983-1984) <>
Doctors met: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th (Books: 8th)

Kamelion (1983-1984)
Doctors met: 5th

Peri Brown (1984-1986) &
Doctors met: 2nd, 5th, 6th  (Books/Audio: 7th) <!>

Melanie Bush (1986-1987)
Doctors met: 6th, 7th  (Unofficially: 3rd) <!>

Ace McShane (1987-1989) @ <P>*
Doctors met: 7th  (Unofficially: 6th) <!>

Chang Lee (1996)
Doctors met: 7th, 8th

Grace Holloway (1996)
Doctors met:  7th, 8th

Rose Tyler (2005-2006) <R> <^> <-->
Doctors met: 9th, 10th

Mickey Smith (2005-2006) <^> <-->
Doctors met: 9th,10th

Jackie Tyler (2005-2006) <^> <-->
Doctors met: 9th, 10th

Harriet Jones (2005, 2008) <^>
Doctors met: 9th, 10th

Jack Harkness (2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2020) % <^> <-->
Doctors met: 9th, 10th

Donna Noble (2006, 2008, 2009-2010) <^>
Doctors met: 10th

Sylvia Noble (2006, 2008, 2009-2010)
Doctors met: 10th

Martha Jones (2007) % <M> <^>
Doctors met: 10th (Books: 9th)

Francine Jones (2007) <^>
Doctors met: 10th

Wilfred Mott (2007, 2008, 2009-2010)
Doctors met: 10th

River Song (2008, 2010-2013, 2015)
Doctors met: 10th, 11th, 12th

Amy Pond (2010-2012) <11>
Doctors met: 11th

Rory Williams (2010-2012)
Doctors met: 11th

Craig Owens (2010, 2011)
Doctor met: 11th

Madame Vastra, Jenny & Strax (2011-2014)
Doctors met: 11th, 12th

Brian Williams (2012)
Doctors met: 11th

Kate Stewart (2012-2015) <D>
Doctors met: War, 10th, 11th, 12th

Clara Oswald (2012-2015) <12>
Doctors met: 1st, War, 10th, 11th, 12th
(Archive/Implication: 2nd-8th, 9th)

Danny Pink (2014)
Doctors met: 12th

Nardole (2015-2017)
Doctors met: 12th

Bill Potts (2017)
Doctors met: (1st), 12th

Ryan Sinclair (2018-)
Doctors met: Fugitive Doctor, 13th

Yasmin Khan (2018-)
Doctors met: Fugitive Doctor, 13th

Graham O'Brien (2018-)
Doctors met: Fugitive Doctor, 13th


Notes

This list omits recurring villains such as the Master, as well as characters from books and audio.
Also omitted are one time companions such as Astrid Peth and Jackson Lake.
Those who've met multiple Doctors have their primary companionships underlined.

<> Appeared in the 1983 special The Five Doctors.
<>* Appeared in The Five Doctors in archive scenes.
^ Reappeared in 1980 story Meglos as a different character.
^^ Reappeared in 1989 story Battlefield as a different character.
& Appeared in 1985 story The Two Doctors.
<!> Appeared in 1993 special Dimensions in Time.
<D> Appeared in Downtime (1995).
<W> Appeared in Wartime. * The Brigadier's voice was added retroactively.
<P> Appeared in the 1990s PROBE series.
<P>* Appeared in PROBE series as a different character.
$ Sarah Jane Smith reappeared in K9 and Company (1981), recurring in revived series and starred in <SJA>.
<SJA> Appeared in Sarah Jane Adventures series.
# K9 Mark I appeared with the 4th Doctor and Leela while Mark II was the 4th with Romana.
   Mark III went to Sarah Jane Smith and appeared in K9 & Company, the revived series and SJA.
   Also appeared unofficially in Search Out Space (1990).
<S> Appeared in A Fix with Sontarans.
@ Ace continued to appear in the 1990s in books and unofficially in Search Out Space.
% Appeared in Torchwood.
<R> Rose recurred in cameos in Series 4 leading to the Series 4 Proper finale.
Played a different entity with the War Doctor in the 2013 special The Day of the Doctor.
<M> Martha returned for three episodes in Series 4 meeting Donna Noble.
<^> Appeared in Journey's End (2008)
<--> Appeared in a cameo at the end of the 2009-2010 story The End of Time.
<11> Makes a cameo as a memory in The Time of the Doctor (2013)
<12> Makes a cameo as a memory in Twice Upon a Time (2017)
<TW> Appeared in Twice Upon a Time (2017, recast)

Fables of the Fauna

Update: I've been on break for a long time, but I thought I would post about a new project involving publishing a few of my short stories but with more visuals. Three of them are already on this blog.

The Deviating Seagull (Fauna in the Sky)
The Ostrich and the Vulture (Fauna of a Faraway Land)
The Fate of the Fox and the Owl (Fauna of Louloudhi Meadow)
The Zebra Prince (Fauna of Zapalinia)

Tale as Old as 25 Years: Bully for a Villain

Disney's Beauty and the Beast turns 25 and soon there will be an upcoming live-action film. (This article will not be talking about the Once Upon a Time interpretation because of reasons...)

In this article I talk about the villain of the film (who isn't talked about much compared to other villains like Ursula and Jafar, and arguably doesn't deserve much credit due to his bullying nature.) Unlike many villains who have a sensational or magical disposition/look, Gaston is represented very much as an alpha male (quite distinct from Captain Hook or Dr. Facilier for example.) While everyone knows without a doubt that Hades (from Disney's Hercules) is a monstrous villain, most of the characters don't see Gaston that way at all.

To be honest, Beauty and the Beast isn't really a villain driven film. The main plot of Belle meeting the Beast is mostly independent of the sub-plot involving Gaston until the end of the film when he riles up the villagers in a mob song to attack the Beast in a nearby castle that they didn't believe existed because of reasons. They don't like what they don't understand because of reasons.

Belle is smart enough to see right through Gaston and figure out that he's the real monster and yet none of the villagers see that. They love him (especially the three silly girls). He's majorly loves himself and the villagers seem to agree with him. He believes he's entitled to what he wants and no matter how much of an ignorant "how can you read this? there's no pictures" man or chauvinist ("It's not right for a woman to read") boar he is, people still view him as a hero while Belle sees him as primeval. (When I was younger I thought she said "prime evil"...)

Note that for the purpose of this article, I decided not to put any pictures of this man. What's amazing is how many people have seen this film for the first time who because Gaston is portrayed as an alpha male and not a typical cartoon or theatrical villain, there are many people who may not have figured out right away that Gaston was necessarily a villain at all.  There were probably many who did not see the belligerent signs and only figured out that Gaston was a villain after he wanted to harm the Beast. And that's only because we spent most of the film feeling sympathy for the Beast and discovering the real monster of the story.

Halloween Preview

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Face of the Pumpkin. 

Narrated by the newborn Pumpkin on Halloween night. 

As I took a better peek at the houses I spotted pumpkins with carved faces sitting in front of many homes. At first I thought I had found beings like me. It intrigued me and filled me with joy to see other Pumpkins. I climbed up the steps of one of the houses and thought about what to say. Somehow I felt more at ease talking to beings closer to my size and appearance than talking to the taller humans.                                                                                     

“Hello,” I said to them. The pumpkins did not move their mouths or eyes or even their heads. They did nothing. Unlike me, they did not have any arms or legs, so I expected them to sit still, but they did not even move their faces. I examined them and discovered that they had artificial faces and could not see me or hear me or know I talked to them. They did not talk or think about talking. People must have used them as decorations containing candles that enhanced the Halloween scene. Like all the other pumpkins, everyone in this town ignored me.

~~~~~~                                                                                        

As I continued strolling down the street, I felt the presence of someone behind me. I turned around and viewed a translucent man with a body of dim light. I could almost see through him. Despite his size and vibrance, everyone marched through him like an invisible being that did not exist. As I studied his eyes, a sight of surprise gasped from his face, as if he did not expect me to see him. He flew away from my view as if he blew himself away. I turned away in confusion and continued exploring the street, wondering if I might ever see the ghost again. 

A short time later, I spotted a house where people celebrated in their unfenced lawn. A tied-up object hung from a tree with the form of a green-skinned woman dressed in black, but did not live or breathe. The children covered their eyes with blind-folds and grabbed some sort of stick. They took turns beating the suspended figure. Some of them called the figure a witch...

~~~~~~~~                                                                                         

One of the children managed to beat the witch figure so much that out fell a ton of the treasures called candy. As I peeked myself closer, the scents of chocolate, licorice and other sorts of juicy sweetness filled my nose. Some of the children grabbed over a dozen pieces and placed them in the mouths, displaying the most satisfied smiles. Such sweetness opened my curiosity about the joy that this candy contained. After the children went inside, a few pieces remained under the tree that no one had retrieved from the ground. As I assumed no one could see me, I crept along the grass toward the tree. As I stepped into the middle of the lawn, two of the children peered out the window.

Their mouths dropped at the sight of a walking Pumpkin with arms, legs and a face. One of the kids opened the window and tossed a stone towards me. I jumped, wanting to hide myself. I did not have enough time to hide myself behind the tree without the kids finding me, so I retreated the yard. The two children opened the door to go outside, and threw stones at me....

Quote Cards from The Face of the Pumpkin

Here are two quote cards from the first chapter.