Companions: Fifty Years of Doctor Who Assistants (50 page)

As for biographical details there’s really very little to be gleaned from the Expanded Universe in terms of Donna. In the 2008 novel,
The Ghosts of India
, Donna mentions a cousin called Janice who must be a cousin on her father’s side as Wilfred Mott, her maternal grandfather, informs the Doctor that Donna is his only grandchild in the TV episode
The Sontaran Stratagem
. While in
The Lonely Computer
, a short story published on the BBC website in 2008, Donna talks about working in telemarketing, and more specifically about the ‘primitives’ she was forced to work with, one of whom was a staunch Manchester United fan. You can understand this not getting a warm reception from Donna, who is a staunch West Ham United fan.

Amy does a great Dalek impression. In
The Silent Stars Go By
, a longer than usual 2011
Doctor Who
publication featuring the Ice Warriors, Amy tries to describe the Daleks, saying, ‘Ras-py voiced a-liens who talk like this and yell ex-ter-mi-nate.’ She makes her debut in the 2010 novel, Apollo 23, and is joined by Rory in
Nuclear Time
, a 2010 novel, that has Rory comparing a quiet town to the one in
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
.

Like Tegan and Donna before them, Amy & Rory aren’t slow in coming up with a reference to popular culture. Perhaps the most memorable moment though is when Rory notices that the Cemar, in the 2011 novel
The Good, The Bad and The Alien
, look just like meerkats. He turns to Amy and says ‘simples’ referencing the comparison website character, Aleksandr the Meerkat. Another worthy inclusion is Amy’s reference to
Doctor Who
in the 2011
Doctor Who Magazine
comic story,
The Professor, the Queen and the Bookshop
, where she is seen to be reading a copy of
Shada
, the 2012
Doctor Who
novel.

The dynamics of the relationship between the Doctor, Amy & Rory, and all its tensions, bickering, affection and teasing are played out in the Expanded Universe, often following up the repercussions of events in the TV series. In
The King’s Dragon
, a 2010 novel, Rory confronts the Doctor about having kissed Amy in the TV episode,
Flesh and Stone
. Rory actually slaps the Doctor in
The Cornucopia Caper
, a 2012 comic strip in
Doctor Who Magazine,
after which the Doctor states that he has been slapped by angry brides, angry mothers and angry archaeologists. When trying to impress Amy by telling her that the Doctor has taken him to the moon, Rory gets the response ‘been there, done that’ in the novel 2011
Heart of Stone
, a two-in-one book also featuring the story,
Death Riders
. The Doctor’s approach is criticised somewhat in
Death Riders
when Rory observes that without his sonic screwdriver the Doctor would simply resort to smashing controls with his shoe. In the same story Amy steals the Doctor’s catchphrase of ‘Geronimo!’ leaving him feeling quite indignant at having missed out on an opportunity to use it; the catchphrase actually gets far more usage in the Expanded Universe than it does in the television series.

In regard to any new biographical details to be found in the Expanded Universe there are a few to be gleaned. The 2010 novel
The Forgotten Army
, tells us that before she moved to Leadworth, Amy grew up in Inverness, Scotland, which is also the home city of Karen Gillan who plays the character. According to the 2011 audio drama,
The Gemini Contagion
, Amy didn’t see the point of learning French at school as she never believed she was ever going to go anywhere other than Leadworth (how wrong could she be!). The 2010 novel
The King’s Dragon
includes the first reference in any
Doctor Who
media to Rory’s family. Both Amy and Rory mention his grandmother and the especially impressive gravy she used to make.

Perhaps the most poignant piece of biographical information though is given in the 2012
Doctor Who Magazine
comic strip,
Imaginary Enemies
, which is the final story to feature Amy and Rory. At the story’s close the reader is presented with a series of images representing the later years of Amy and Rory’s life after
The Angels Take Manhattan
, where they were trapped back in time by the Weeping Angels. Rory is pictured as a doctor, suggesting that he took his medical career further.

Other moments worth mentioning here are Amy slipping in a huge pile of dung in
The Forgotten Army
, a 2010 novel, which is packed with humour in a similar vein. In the 2012 novella,
Magic of the Angels
, Amy dons a sparkly catsuit once worn by Zoe Heriot, the Second Doctor’s companion, while the Doctor wears the Third Doctor’s outfit. Confusing!

So far Clara has only appeared in a handful of comic strips in
Doctor Who Adventures
, and one original novel,
Shroud of Sorrow
, which takes place on 23rd November 1963, the day of the very first episode of
Doctor Who
. This book also features Totter’s Lane with much reference to
An Unearthly Child.
Understandably, due to the ongoing mystery of Clara, little of interest is revealed about her.

The Tenth Doctor has a whole host of Expanded Universe companions. Heather McCrimmon is probably the most distinctive companion created for the comics; created by Joanne Hall, the ten-year-old winner of a competition to create a companion for the
Doctor Who Adventures
comic strip. In terms of pure story count, Heather became one of the longest-serving companions, but her most interesting attribute is that she is a direct descendent of Second Doctor companion, Jamie, and his Expanded Universe wife, Kirsty. Such is her importance to the Doctor, that just before his tenth regeneration (
The End of Time
), he visits her briefly to save her life, much like he does with the television companions he travels with.

Other companions include Gisella who appears in several novels. An apparent twelve-year-old girl in charge of the underwater research base at Flydon Maxima, she is revealed to be an android in
The Pictures of Emptiness
. Space Major Jon Bowman, a one-off companion for
Prisoner of the Daleks
is notable for the similarity between his name and Captain Jack actor, John Barrowman. Majenta Pryce is another of those rare companions, in that she’s not native to Earth. From the planet Vessica, she travels with the Doctor in the comic pages of
Doctor Who Magazine issues #394 - #420
. Heather is joined by Wolfgang Ryster, created by Hamish Cough, the twelve-year-old winner of a competition for
Doctor Who Adventures
. A sixteen-year-old exchange student from Austria, Wolfie leaves at the same time as Heather and is there when the Doctor drops by to save his and Heather’s life prior to the Doctor’s tenth regeneration. Matthew Finnegan and Emily Winter also join the Doctor for a series of adventures in IDW’s
Doctor Who
comics.

Not to be outdone by his past selves and their predilection for strange comic companions, the Eleventh Doctor travels for a time with a robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex called Kevin Grimlock in the pages of IDW’s
Doctor Who
comic, first appearing in
When Worlds Collide
. He leaves the Doctor to become the security chief of a space station in
Space Squid
. The Doctor is also joined by another shapeshifter (following on from the successful Kamelion and Frobisher) by the name of Decky Flamboon in
Doctor Who Adventures
– another result of a create-a-companion competition, this time created by Mitchell Collett.

No mention of the Eleventh Doctor’s Expanded Universe companions is complete without acknowledging his very special companions, the entire crew of
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D,
including Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William Riker, Lieutenant Commander Data, Counsellor Deanna Troi, Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge, Lieutenant Worf, Doctor Beverly Crusher and Guinan. They all appear to help the Doctor, Amy & Rory combat a combined army of Cybermen and Borg in the pages of IDW’s
Doctor Who/Star Trek: The Next Generation
crossover extravaganza. It’s just a pity Donna isn’t about at the time, being a Trekker she would have had a field day on
Enterprise.

The Br
ig
a
dier

Nicholas Courtney

‘I just do the best I can.’

The Brigadier
– Battlefield

Brigadier Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. No book about the Doctor’s companions would be complete without an entry for the Brigadier – even though he was not technically a companion, he is the one character who transcends the entire series, and almost every Doctor, in one media or another. The Doctor’s oldest friend…

Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart – Nicholas Courtney
(
The Web of Fear
to
Terror of the Zygons
and
Mawdryn Undead, The Five Doctors
and
Battlefield
plus
Enemy of the Bane
)

When we first meet the Brigadier he isn’t even a
brigadier
, but rather a colonel in the Scott’s Guard. While the Great Intelligence is planning an assault on London with its robotic Yeti in the 1968 story
The Web of Fear
, Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart takes control of the armed forces there and bumps into the Doctor while searching the London Underground. They do not have the most auspicious of starts, with Lethbridge-Stewart being initially suspicious of this impish little man. The Doctor proves his worth, and the seeds of their friendship are planted when Lethbridge-Stewart places his trust, not to mention the safety of his men, in the Doctor’s hands. After defeating the Great Intelligence, Lethbridge-Stewart considers the Doctor a hero, but the Doctor disappears after he learns that a reporter wants to make him a household name. It is some four years before they meet again, by which time UNIT (the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) has been formed to counter alien threats, and Lethbridge-Stewart has been promoted to brigadier and commander of the United Kingdom branch of UNIT.

UNIT is investigating the strange goings-on at International Electromatics, run by industrialist Tobias Vaughn. The Doctor and Jamie stumble into things there and are spotted by UNIT surveillance, and brought immediately to a reunion with the Brigadier. It is a happy meeting, and the Brigadier immediately enlists the Doctor’s help to prevent
The Invasion
of the Cybermen. Sometime later the Brigadier is trying to draft Liz Shaw into being UNIT’s scientific advisor (
Spearhead from Space
). He talks about the Doctor as an expert on alien life, unaware that the Doctor is about to fall into his life in a rather permanent way. Freshly regenerated by the Time Lords and exiled to Earth, the Third Doctor is not initially accepted by the Brigadier, who doesn’t believe it is the same man, even though the Doctor clearly knows him. He gradually warms to this new Doctor, who is somewhat brusque towards the Brigadier, dismissing him with a wave at one point. Once the first Nestene invasion is defeated the Brigadier asks the Doctor to stick around in case they should try again. The Doctor becomes UNIT’s unofficial, although unpaid, scientific advisor, with Liz now serving as his assistant.

The Doctor remains for several years, even after his exile is rescinded, and over time an extremely strong friendship is developed between the two men. It takes some time, however, since the easy companionship the Brigadier and the Second Doctor enjoyed is gone, replaced by a Doctor who is less forgiving of the Brigadier’s military mindset. One of the most notable early examples of them clashing was at Wenley Moor in
Doctor Who and the Silurians
. Once the Doctor has successfully beaten the Silurian plague, he wishes to broker a peace between humanity and the Silurians (the original owners of the Earth), and as soon as his back is turned, the Brigadier sets off charges and destroys the Silurian hibernation settlement beneath the moor; to the Doctor this approaches genocide, or at the very least murder. Their relationship remains strained for a short while afterwards, but still stranded on Earth the Doctor continues in his role as scientific advisor.