3000 page views and only one post away from 175! I'm thrilled that people are interested in reading my nostalgic impressions of tv, comics, audio plays and books from the more mainstream strands of pop culture. This afternoon's post continues Doctor Who's "Companion Chronicle"; part 3 focuses on Tardis crew members from E to H.
Emily Parr: a futuristic young bounty hunter whom the Tenth Doctor encountered in medieval England in the BBC Book The Krillitane Storm.
Emily Winter: 1920s silent movie actress whose life was saved by the Tenth Doctor in the IDW comic book series. She took the identity of a Torchwood operative on returning to her own time. Emily's arc seems to mirror that of Charley Pollard; they even dress alike...
Emma: the Ninth Doctor's fiancee in The Curse of Fatal Death. Who would have suspected how much this 1999 charity spoof would foreshadow Steven Moffat's showrunning? Julia Sawhala was in the frame to play Raine Cunningham/Raine Creevy in the original plans for Season 27.
Erimem: youthful female Pharaoh who reminds me of a similar character in 1977 issues of Conan the Barbarian. Palled around with the Fifth Doctor and Peri on audio for a few years, before settling down as royalty on Peladon.
Initially drawn as a young black woman although played by a white actress.
Evelyn Smythe : the first new companion created for audio by Big Finish. Tweedy but warm and witty, chocolate- loving academic Evelyn travelled with the Sixth Doctor in a cosy, almost marital relationship. Evelyn effectively rescued the reputation of the clownish and pompous Sixie. After her marriage to Governor Rossiter on the planet Vilag, Evelyn would eventually sacrifice herself to stop the Word Lord in a plot by the Seventh Doctor. She also appeared with Mel in a Sixth Doctor BBC book and was turned into a Cyberman in the webcast Real Time. But we don't talk about that.
Fey Truscott-Sade: Sapphic spy and adventuress Fey has surely the most camp name in comics, evoking both Joe Orton's Loot and the BBC's Round the Horne. A companion of DWM's Eighth Doctor, bluestocking Fey merged to form a gestalt entity with the Gallifreyan agent Shayde. She also shared a kiss with Izzy S.
Fitz Kreiner: Sixties layabout and would-be ladykiller Fitz was one of the Eighth Doctor's longest-serving companions in fifty-five BBC Books. An effective laddish foil to the Byronic Eighth Doctor and a surrogate brother, Fitz finally found a successful romantic relationship with the enigmatic criminal Trix in the final EDA, The Gallifrey Chronicles. Matt Di Angelo from Hustle voiced a husky wide-boy Fitz on audio.
Philippa "Flip" Jackson : chavvy new companion of the Sixth Doctor on audio. A less appealing version of Rose Tyler.
Frobisher: a shape changer in penguin form who accompanied the Sixth Doctor in DWM strips, one tedious, macho "caper" novel and two audio adventures. Robert Jezek created a voice which is part Woody Allen, part Al Pacino for Frobisher.
Graekatziasa'asterus ("Grae"): naive and curious young Time Lady. A recruit of the Celestial Intervention Agency, redhead Grae travels with an alternative Eighth Doctor in the Canadian fanfic Doctor Who Project.
Grace Holloway: cardiologist who operated on the Seventh Doctor, inadvertently triggering his regeneration into his eighth incarnation. The first companion to kiss the Doctor. Subsequently appeared as a guest star in the Nineties DWM strips.
Grant Markham: timid companion to the Sixth Doctor in two Virgin novels. Grant came from the colony planet Agora and displayed symptoms of Robophobia.
Greg Holmes: a 17-year-old student who travelled with the Audio Visuals Doctor (Nick Briggs) in the late 80s. Exposed to the "heaven or hell" drug Sargol by the rogue Time Lord Askran, Greg was later transformed into a super-evolved being in a Dalek experiment.
Harry Sullivan: UNIT's medical officer and temporary travelling companion of the Fourth Doctor. An old-fashioned chap rather flummoxed by feminist Sarah- Jane but recalled fondly by her in her own show. Actor and Who-author Ian Marter died tragically young; it seems to be inferred in the SJA that Harry is also deceased.
Heather McCrimmon: created by 10-year-old Joanne Hall for Doctor Who Adventures,
Heather has had more comic strip adventures than any other Companion !
Edinburgh University history student Heather may have been a descendant
of Jamie McCrimmon and that wildcat, Kirsty McLaren.
Thomas Hector "Hex" Schofield: long-suffering Scouse male nurse who teamed up with Ace for audio adventures with the Seventh Doctor. Played by ex-Brookside actor and pin-up, Philip Olivier. Hex's very real vulnerability, conveyed by Phil's light, boyish voice, is an effective contrast to the gung-ho Aldred and the sonorous McCoy.
Ian Chesterton: alongside Barbara Wright, the First Doctor's very first companion from Earth. I first "met" Ian in the Target books of the early 70s. Nearly a decade later, I watched the surviving 60s episodes and found Ian to be a slightly less rugged hero than the one depicted in the books. Ian would have more in common with Harry than with Fitz, Grant or Hex. But the tv Ian has a delightful and believable relationship with Barbara. No wonder they left together to tour in Rattigan's Separate Tables. Happily, in this century, William Russell lends his majestic tones to audio to revive Dr. Who's original action man.
Roy Castle's Ian in Dr. Who and the Daleks is merely slapstick comedy relief.
Iris Wildthyme: renegade Time Lady, transtemporal adventuress, unreliable narrator, Pop artist, gay icon, impostor: Iris is all this and more. The star of numerous novels and audios, parodying Beryl Reid, Patricia Hayes, and even Jane Fonda; in a delicious twist, incarnated on audio by Katy (Jo Grant) Manning. Paul Magrs' camp and genre-busting creation subverts Dr. Who while travelling in her London bus accompanied by butch lesbians and a talking stuffed panda.
Izzy Sinclair: the first regular companion for the DWM Eighth Doctor, lesbian sci-fi geek Izzy endured a brief spell trapped in the amphibious body of Destrii.
While more appealing than Sam Jones, on audio Izzy is a rather annoying parodic foil.
Evelyn, Fitz and Hex would be in my Top Twenty but Ian is definitely Top Ten.
Next: J - L
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