Best David Tennant "Doctor Who" companion

[jobycom]

Poll question: Best David Tennant "Doctor Who" companion

No, I'm not asking which one you want to boink, either.

[mucifer]

1. Poor Sarah was definately the worst Tom Baker companion

She's better now.

[surrealAmerican]

8. I disagree.

One of those Romanas was just awful, and there's always Adrick, a character so bad they had to kill him.

[jobycom]

12. Adrick was my first thought, too. I liked the Lalla Ward as Romana.

[WillParkinson]

29. Hush you!

I loved Adric when I was a kid (though I admit it wasn't anything to do with his acting skills).

[jobycom]

30. Was it the way he wobbled when he walked?

Because I was always told I walked like him. :)

[WillParkinson]

38. No, it was more for things like this...

The nice thing is that I found out that Matthew Waterhouse is gay! Something I did not know prior to this.

[mcollins]

2. Martha for sure.

smart and yummy.

[jobycom]

31. They were all smart and yummy.

To me, Martha was the most physically attractive, too. But they were all yummy, and portrayed as smart.

[mcollins]

32. True. But- if I had to choose just one

to be with on a desert island- Martha.

[jobycom]

33. I was going more for which one you'd prefer to watch on the Tardis with the Doctor

adventuring through time and space. The desert-island scenario is awfully similar in feel to the question I said I wasn't asking in the OP. Of course, if I were asking that question, I would have left Martha off the poll, because I would have already claimed her. And no doubt, she would want me, too. :rofl:

[mcollins]

34. with the Tardis,

I could have had a whole planet of desert islands, and have been able to go back in time and get her, before you did.

Check, Mate.

[jobycom]

35. .

Okay, I'll have to come up with a fix for that. :rofl:

[Deep13]

3. I have one question about Donna Noble/Catherine Tate.

Am I bovvered?



Nutter!

[realisticphish]

4. EIther first-season (but NOT second-season) Rose, or Donna

I think Donna wins out. Second season Rose got annoying, and when she started coming back, etc...

edit: though I suppose first-season Rose wouldn't be David... so I guess Donna :)

[Mojambo]

5. Donna's arc was the most interesting

I always thought Billie Piper was really overrated by the Whoniverse.

[Lance_Boyle]

6. What? No Kylie Minogue?

Granted it was only one Christmas special, but she was a David Tennant Doctor companion for that episode.

And boy did she suck at it.

[Xithras]

7. Donna Noble. Easily

The only Tennant companion I didn't like was Astrid (Kylie Minogue), but you left her off the list anyway.

Most companions fall into one of two groups. You have the "simple" companions, who only want to be good people and are often overwhelmed by the beauty of it all (think First-Season Rose, Jackson Lake, etc). Then you have the "adventure" companions who use their time on the TARDIS for adventure and exploring...and who are far more likely to mouth off to the Doctor when they think he's wrong (think Martha, Jack Harkness, Late-Rose).

Donna Noble was the only companion who consistently fell into both groups. She was like an awed schoolgirl every time they visited someplace new. When she stepped out of the Tardis and was confronted with something new, she was unwaveringly overwhelmed. Catherine Tate did an awesome job making her emotions believable. But Donna was also loud, opinionated, and wasn't afraid to call the Doctor on his principles when she thought they were BS (remember the argument about saving the people of Pompeii?) More than any other companion, she taught the Doctor that sometimes you have to set your principles aside, and just do the right thing.

Typically, it's the Doctor who permanently changes the lives of his Companions. Donna is one of the rare cases of a Companion changing the life of the Doctor.

[supernova]

10. Donna was his equal

moreso than the other companions.

They try to say that Rose is some kind a "love" that never would be, but it's Donna who really lights up his xmas tree. ;-)

[Xithras]

11. He loved them both, in different ways.

Rose really was one of the great loves of his life, and he didn't really move on until he met Donna. Martha and Jack were great companions, but some of his fire went out when Rose was lost. He'd lost the love of his life, and by his own actions. He couldn't forgive himself, and he didn't want to forget.

Donna relit that fire. While he may have fallen for her at the end, that love was different, and wasn't nearly as deep as the love he had for Rose Tyler. It was, in the grand scheme of things, the more important love though. Donna reminded him why he was out there in the first place. More importantly, Donna showed him that, as the last of the Time Lords, the "rules" existed only in his head. She expanded his view of the Universe...which is tough to do, since he'd pretty much seen the whole thing, beginning to end.

[jobycom]

23. See, I thought not. I thought Rose was his equal.

Donna stood up to him and carried her own water and all that, and I loved her. I'm not sure she wasn't my favorite.

But she wasn't his equal, until the last episode, and then only because of the genetic trick. And not even then, since the Doctor was still in control enough to decide to wipe her mind without her approval. In the exile episode with Rose, he sent Rose back to save her life, and she refused to stay gone. He had no control over her. She wrote her own future. That's what made her equal. Donna let her memory be wiped to save her life, but Rose always chose her own fate, even when the Doctor told her she had no chance to survive. That's what made her brilliant. Donna still needed the Doctor to do everything, even if she fought everything on her own anyway. She was brilliant. But Rose was his only equal.

[jobycom]

14. Funny. I saw Rose as the one who changed him. That's what the scriptwriters said.

She's the one who challenged him on killing the Dalek and made him see how much of a monster he could become. In the Season 4 finale he turned the alternate Doctor Who over to her because he said she needed to change him the way she changed the real Doctor, since he had just committed genocide against the next Daleks.

I loved Donna Noble's character, too, but I don't think she changed him at all, unlike Rose. I think she changed a couple of his decisions, like in Pompei, but she mostly brought out the side of him that Rose had created.

They were my two favorites. I don't know which one I liked better. The directors gave Tennant a whole slate of great companions, though.

[tigereye]

24. yeah she was pretty complex--

[surrealAmerican]

9. Anybody but Rose.

She was completely insufferable.

[jobycom]

15. No explanation, just a general insult?

Why was she insufferable? Obviously most people disagreed. No explanation on why you felt that way?

[surrealAmerican]

16. Just too invincible.

That may be because, when the actress is a celebrity with a following, the writers don't want to give her any flaws. A character without flaws is basically an intolerable creep if you're not already a fan for some external reason.

[jobycom]

18. I didn't know she was famous before.

I just thought she was a vulnerable but noble character. She screwed up, and risked a lot to overcome them. The thing I liked most about her (and Donna) was that they didn't play the helpless, shrieking "Oh James!" girls, they actually took initiative, disobeyed the Doctor, and changed him mind. All of them did that to some degree in the new Who series, and that was a good change over the old series (and over 99% of American films). She saved him a few times, she convinced him he was wrong, she disobeyed him and all odds at times. At other times she was vulnerable or failed miserably. She was the most equal to him. Even Donna Noble, who had a strong character and stood up to him, too, never overpowered him until the last episode where she became part Time Lord. Donna was strong but always a little dependend, always the companion, but Rose became the partner. The only other companions I ever remember doing that were Lalla Ward's Romana and arguably Jackson Lake.

What was Billie Piper before Rose? Was it a character you didn't like, or was it just the Rose character you didn't like her for? (I'm not arguing with you, btw, it's all opinion. I'm just curious.)

[tigereye]

25. pop star of some sort?- I liked her working class character and feistiness

but at times she was a bit too much, in terms of him falling for her, I guess. I thought that was a bit over the top. Granted, she did well with the role, but I preferred Donna and Martha, myself.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. Anyone who doesn't say Rose is wrong. Plain and simple.

Though Donna was also awesome, I like Rose - the relationship between her and the Doctor was something special and unique, and I thought the writers of the show wrote her part in the way that an earthen companion of the Doctor should be written. I just loved her, and was really sad when she ceased to be his companion.

And I'll also say that Donna was quite well written as well - a real counterpoint to the Doctor.

[JCMach1]

26. +1

[ceile]

17. Donna by a mile.

I was truly sad when they didn't bring her back for a second season (with or without Tennant). I bought season 4 specifically because of Catherine Tate and have watched certain episodes over and over (especially Planet of the Ood). I have been watching Doctor Who since I was a child and my dad introduced me to Tom Baker, and I don't think there was an as memorable companion (for me anyways) than Donna.

[jobycom]

20. She was definitely memorable. (spoilers)

It's like her whole character was the story of the season, not just a co-star. Her development to what she became, all the way to the final resolution, was like one narrative. And Tate pulled it off brilliantly. She was the only who would get into trouble and yell "Doctor!" in a way that didn't make her sound helpless, that made her sound more like she was in control but just needed the skills he had. I loved the Agatha Christie episode where she first finds the giant wasp. The first thing she does is yell "Doctor!" but as soon as she does she starts fighting the beast. Not a desperation move either, like tipping a chair over and running, but a direct attack on it.

The funniest scene with her I remember was that same episode when the Doctor is poisoned and says "Now I need a big shock," and without hesitation she said "One big shock coming up!" and kissed him. It wasn't the act, it was the comedic timing, that made it work.

I go back and forth on whether I liked her or Rose better. Rose started out helpless, which you would expect from her age, but she turned into an equal who defied the Doctor, the laws of the universe, and all the limits of her humanity to save the Doctor and Captain Jack. I wasn't as sold on her coming back from the alternate dimension in the big "All Companions" episode--when the Doctor set up crossing the void as impossible, you'd expect it to take more than one little hockey puck device to bring her back. But before that episode I loved her.

[LeftinOH]

19. Off-topic, but Catherine Tate's own TV show is Heeeeee-larious. n/t

[CBGLuthier]

21. Add me to the did not like Rose club

Because they crossed lines that were never meant to be crossed. Exactly what the hell made her so special anyway? The Doctor's moping around after her exile was just pathetic.

I am voting for Bernard Cribbens as Donna's grandfather. He was already the single funniest guest star in the entire run of Fawlty Towers.

[jobycom]

22. Oh crap!!

How did I forget him? :banghead:

What made Rose special was her loyalty and her refusal to give up against any odds. Even in the first episode she does that, but by the end she was destroying the Tardis and sacrificing her life to defy the Doctor's dying wishes to save him. She was spectacular, and I thought the Doctor's moping saved him as a character. If he hadn't felt anything, the whole series would have lost continuity and credibility (as much as you can use that word about the series, anyway) to me. He would have come off as too lifeless, too emotionless. His moping is what allowed Catherine Tate's character to work so well, because it created the void that she operated in. His mopiness allowed her to sway him with her pleas at Pompei, for instance. I didn't like Rose in the big comeback episode, I admit, but her character through the exile episode was admirable.

Sorry I forgot Cribbens. :( I guess he'll have to be "Other."

[DiverDave]

27. Rose, Hands down

But IF YOU WERE asking which, it's gotta be the last one. the brunette
I forgot her name
But I liked rose and her mom and mickey the best

[jobycom]

28. Lady Christina.

That would be Lady Christina. :)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

36. I don't know about you....

...but I dig the whole bisexual vibe from Captain Jack. Why the hell did they take off Torchwood? It was awesome!

[AsahinaKimi]

37. Steady on Sarah Jane!

*I know he wasn't a companion, but I always liked
Leftbridge Stewart! Brigadier!!



He was around during the Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, and Sylvester McCoy days.
I don't believe he appeared during any of the Colin Bakers episodes.

[jobycom]

39. He was mentioned in one of the David Tennant episodes.

In the episode about the Sontarans, the Doctor is arguing with a general in UNIT and says "I wish the Brigadier were here," (something like that, anyway), and the general says "Yes, but unfortunately he's on assignment in Venezuela." So as of 2009 he was still active, at least. :)

And I just looked it up, and the actor is still alive. He's 81.