Companions: Fifty Years of Doctor Who Assistants (17 page)

As one companion remained on Gallifrey, the next came from there. The Doctor still had K9, and for a further three seasons they were joined by another member of the Doctor’s own race – in the shape of Romanadvoratrelundar, a young Time Lord (or Lady, depending on the story) who had never left Gallifrey before. For the first time in
Doctor Who
history the TARDIS was over-crowded with intelligence; Two Time Lords and a brilliant dog-shaped sentient computer. Who was going to ask the questions the audience needed answering?

Romanadvoratrelundar – Mary Tamm/Lalla Ward
(
The Ribos Operation
to
Warriors’ Gate
)

Romanadvoratrelundar doesn’t want to travel with the Doctor, she is quite content to continue her academic life on Gallifrey, but her presence is requested by the President of the High Council of Time Lords, later revealed to be the White Guardian, posing as the president
(
The Armageddon Factor
). She is assigned to assist the Doctor in his search for the Key to Time, an ancient artefact that has to be assembled to restore the universal balance of good and evil. After a bit of initial sparring – her haughty attitude is in complete conflict to the Doctor’s own bohemian outlook on life – the Doctor decides he doesn’t like her name; it is too long. He suggests shortening it to Romana, but she doesn’t like Romana.

‘It’s either Romana or Fred,’ the Doctor insists, at which point she says she prefers Fred. That settled, the Doctor calls her Romana. (Curiously, later the Time Lords on Gallifrey refer to her as Romana in
Arc of Infinity
even though the Doctor came up with the name – we must assume, therefore, that this name change was transmitted to them at some point – perhaps just before
Full Circle
, when she is ordered back to Gallifrey?)

It is unclear if ‘Time Lady’ is a real term, or an invented one, since initially she calls herself a Time ‘Lord’, and does so on several further occasions. Only once does she refer to herself as a Time Lady, in
City of Death
, whereas in
State of Decay
Aukon calls her a Time Lord, yet in the same story Adric says she is a Time Lady (but then again, what does Adric know?).

During their Key to Time mission, Romana mellows slowly. She starts off with a massive superiority complex. Having graduated from the Time Lord Academy with a triple-first, she is easily irritated by K9, believing academic knowledge is better than field experience, and is rather smug in her ability to land the TARDIS better than the Doctor. For a long while she is bossy, and loves ordering the Doctor around. The one time she goes off on her own to locate a Key segment, she does so in record time, not distracted by the Doctor’s usual habit of getting involved in the adventure of their travels. But her encounter with Professor Amelia Rumford and Vivian Fay on 1970s Earth in
The Stones of Blood
helps to ground her – she learns to favour the quaint things of life, bringing her down from her lofty ways. Her sense of superiority comes in useful on the planet Tara (
The Andriods of Tara
) where she is forced by Count Grendel to play the part of Princess Strella, Romana’s physical twin. This is not the first time we have seen Time Lords wearing the bodies of other people; notable instances include the First Doctor who was the double of the Abbot of Amboise in
The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve
, the Second Doctor and Salamander in The Enemy of the World, and much later, in
The Caves of Androzani
, the Doctor regenerates into a copy of Gallifreyan guard commander, Maxil, who he previously met in
Arc of Infinity
.

It would appear that the idea of being a princess appeals to Romana on a certain level since when she later regenerates in
Destiny of the Dalek
s she intentionally takes on the appearance of Princess Astra who she met on Atrios in
The Armageddon Factor
.

She enjoys dressing up, and is often seen to be selecting clothes suitable for the location in which they land. She particularly appears to enjoy the fashions of Tara and Earth, although in the latter instance the Doctor does point out the impracticality of her shoes.

Although she eventually comes to trust and respect the Doctor, in
The Stones of Blood
she is enticed to a cliff by a vision of the Doctor, who then pushes her over the edge. When he later rescues her, she is very wary of him, but such doubt soon passes and they develop a relationship of mutual respect – almost.

It is never established on screen the reason behind Romana’s regeneration, or indeed which regeneration it was. It has always been assumed that it is her first, but there is nothing in the official canon to back this up. She undergoes a most peculiar regeneration, doing so off screen, and it is when she enters the console room that the Doctor realises she has regenerated – although at first he confuses her for Princess Astra. He tells her she can’t go around wearing someone else’s body (a point he later ignores in his sixth incarnation when he is walking around wearing the body of Commander Maxil) and she has to change it. She does, going through a selection of options before returning in the guise of Astra, now wearing a pink and white version of the Doctor’s clothes. The Doctor highly approves of her attire, and eventually gives up on convincing her to change her appearance again. It is only many years later in stories like
The Christmas Invasion
and
Let’s Kill Hitler
that we discover that a Time Lord’s body remains in flux for several hours after a regeneration, allowing some Time Lords to continually alter their form to fit their personal ideal. This explains, in part, why Romana is able to control her regeneration in such a way (albeit somewhat more extreme than shrinking the arm length or growing a new hand).

The new incarnation of Romana is much more flighty, with a buoyant personality. Witty and relaxed in equal measure, it seems that in some ways she has fashioned herself on the Doctor, even to the point where she is often seen to lie about her age. When she first arrives on the TARDIS in
The Ribos Operation
she states that she is almost 140, but in
City of Death
, now quite settled into her new persona, she says she is 125, and later in
The Leisure Hive
she decides she is 160. The previous friction between them seems to have fallen by the wayside; it is quite clear throughout the remainder of their time together that they greatly enjoy each other’s company, to the point where, when she is summoned back to Gallifrey in
Full Circle
(having only been assigned to the Doctor for the Key to Time mission), she spends some time sulking in her room unwilling to return to Gallifrey and give up her life with the Doctor. On the surface there seems to almost be some romantic overtones to their relationship; they’re highly flirty and complimentary with each other, like in
State of Decay
when the Doctor tells her, ‘You are wonderful’ and she responds with, ‘Am I? I suppose I am. Never thought about it.’ And when she leaves, the Doctor tells her that she is the, ‘Noblest Romana of them all.’

Despite all this, she still maintains her superiority to most that she meets, but is scared witless by the Daleks – whom she claims to know nothing about, a clear lie. This fear is often evident when she is alone with the monsters, without the Doctor to support her, or others to lead, notable in such stories as
The Horns of Nimon
. In
City of Death
she, like the Doctor, is aware of time fluctuations and later, in
Meglos
, is aware of the time loop they become trapped in. She prefers the computer pictures of Gallifrey over the hand drawn and painted pictures of Earth – to the point where she states that the Mona Lisa is only ‘quite good’. At some point she builds her own sonic screwdriver, which is better than the Doctor’s, not that he will admit it of course, but he still tries to palm it and switch it with his own (
The Horns of Nimon
).

In
State of Decay
she is quite horrified by the idea of vampires, and knows nothing of their Great War against the Time Lords. She is endlessly irritated by Adric, who stows away in the TARDIS at the end of
Full Circle
; she is very dismissive of him, constantly casting him dirty looks – possibly an indication of her subtle romance with the Doctor, finding the boy an unwanted intrusion of her perfect set-up with the Doctor and K9. This is, in fact, backed up somewhat when she starts thinking of leaving the Doctor shortly after Adric becomes a permanent fixture aboard the TARDIS in
Warriors’ Gate
. Indeed she strongly disagrees with the notion of taking Adric back to N-space with them.

When Adric learns that Romana is thinking of leaving, he doesn’t believe her – this only exasperates her more and as a result she shows an even stronger irritation at his constant questions and smug attitude. The boy fails to earn her respect. Initially she is terrified by the appearance of the wounded Tharil, but later shows concern for the way they are being treated by the crew of the
Privateer
– enslaved and used to help pilot through the time winds, being a time-sensitive race. Her concern becomes so great that she decides she will not leave them, and this is a big factor in her eventual departure from the Doctor. Her goodbye is abrupt, leaving the Doctor with no choice but to accept it. Possibly for the best, since it seems likely that it would have been a very painful goodbye for both of them.

Indeed her departure is as abrupt as her arrival, which adds a nice symmetry to her time aboard the TARDIS. Since K9 has been damaged by the time winds, and cannot return to N-space, he remains with Romana to help her free the Tharils. Adric, showing concern for her despite her treatment of him, asks the Doctor if she will be alright. The Doctor beams, his smile belying his sadness, ‘Alright? She’ll be superb!’

Up to this point the Doctor only ever travelled with humans or, in two instances, people from his own world (Susan and Romana), and so with the introduction of Adric a new run of non-human companions began, continuing up until the penultimate story of the Fifth Doctor (
Planet of Fire
).

Adric was the first male companion since Harry left in 1975, some five years previously. He was one of the most contentious companions in
Doctor Who
’s fifty-year history. But was he all that bad?

Adric
–
Matthew Waterhouse
(
Full Circle
to
Earthshock, Time-Flight
)

Following his introduction there is no mistaking Adric’s two most dominant character traits; immaturity and arrogance. He wants to be one of the Outlers, a small band of teenage rebels on Alzarius (one of whom is his brother, Varsh) but he thinks himself superior to them. He holds a position as one of the elite but has seemingly turned his back on his roots. Arguably Adric is comparable to characters often seen in 1960s kitchen sink dramas – wanting to better themselves but not having the capacity to achieve their absolute goals. His arrogance is slightly more complicated though; he wants to be accepted for his mathematical excellence, but also be one of the ‘gang’. In
Full Circle
Adric agrees to steal river fruit, just to impress his brother. He fails miserably. However, when the Outlers threaten Romana he stands up to them, showing an unusual level of loyalty and bravery. On the other hand, in
State of Decay
he betrays the Doctor and Romana to the Three Who Rule and later claims it was a deliberate ploy. This conflicting self-serving attitude continues throughout his run in the series.

Nevertheless, Adric is a very clever boy. For instance, when Romana becomes possessed after being bitten by the Marshspiders, he and the Outlers scarper into the TARDIS, with Adric managing to pilot the time ship into the Starliner – a skill worthy of the Doctor. Adric is not very emotional; his scientific mind doesn’t let him shed a tear when he witnesses his brother die at the hands of the Marshmen. He just takes Varsh’s string belt, the badge of the Outlers, as a keepsake. However, as he faces his own death in
Earthshock
he clings tightly to Varsh’s belt, as though this is his one final act of bravery.

We never discover much about Adric’s family life, beyond his brother. Indeed it is not made clear if his parents are still alive in
Full Circle
or if they are actually dead. One can assume that they are dead, since in
Earthshock
he states there is nothing for him to return to on Terradon (the ultimate destination of his people following the events in
Full Circle
). But then again, considering the lack of consideration Adric often displays for others, it could just be that he doesn’t consider his parents reason enough to return home. Either way, he never once mentions them.

K9 is the first to discover Adric after he stows away in the TARDIS. At first K9 is keen to stun him, but Adric convinces K9 that since he is a stowaway he should be allowed to leave the TARDIS. Such logic cannot be argued, and so Adric follows the Doctor and Romana onto an unnamed planet in E-space. He arrives at the village sometime later, and is caught stealing food by Marta, a local resident who has recently lost her son to the Three Who Rule – the vampire lords. Realising the woman’s sadness, Adric wilfully plays on it and gets himself settled with food, having forgotten about the Doctor and Romana. Despite his forceful and selfish nature, Adric is not as strong-minded as he likes to believe. Aukon, one of the vampire lords, easily enthrals him and takes him back to the castle. At this point, Romana is still rather fond of Adric, or at least feels some kind of duty to him, and when she discovers he is a captive of the Three, she refuses to leave the castle until she has found him. She need not have bothered, since he is very ungrateful for the rescue and betrays her to Aukon the moment she finds him. He later states that he only pretended to want the eternal life offered him, but Romana is not entirely convinced. Indeed, all the evidence suggests that Adric is quite serious about taking the offer, and only changes his mind when he realises the danger he is in. (This is compounded much later when he is equally entranced by another offer of eternal life – this time as an android in
Four to Doomsday
.) As a result the Doctor is determined to return Adric home.