Companions: Fifty Years of Doctor Who Assistants (20 page)

Romana first escapes E-space in the 1994 novel,
Blood Harvest
, with the aid of the Seventh Doctor and Bernice Summerfield. She is given a seat on the High Council by the time of
Goth Opera
and is president by
Happy Endings
(by this time, K9 Mk II has also been freed from E-space). It is from this point that the timelines seem to diverge, since Romana’s time as president in the novels is very different from that witnessed in the Big Finish audios. In the novels published by BBC Books, Romana returns in
The Shadows of Avalon
, newly regenerated into her third body and sets about hunting down the Doctor’s companion, Compassion, who has evolved into the first fully sentient TARDIS. There is a war between the Time Lords and an unknown Enemy, and Romana intends to be ready for it. In
The Ancestor Cell
, the Doctor destroys Gallifrey and retroactively erases the Time Lords from history, but Romana is implied to be one of the very few survivors, in the novel
Tomb of Valdemar
.

Things run in an almost parallel way in the Big Finish audios, with Romana making her first appearance as president in
The Apocalypse Element
, having spent some time as a prisoner of the Daleks. Upon her escape she and the Sixth Doctor work together to repel the Daleks’ first attempt at invading Gallifrey. She returns heading the Time Lords battle against the Neverpeople, wishing to kill the Eighth Doctor’s companion, Charley, who is a gateway between this universe and the Never-universe. Like the books, Romana is pitted against the Doctor, and the story ends with the Doctor fleeing. She continues on in the series
Gallifrey
, alongside Leela, where we discover that Romana, in her first body, was corrupted by an ancient evil entity called Pandora. She regenerated to free herself of the taint, but in the
Gallifrey
series Pandora returns in the body of the First Romana and claims herself Imperiatrix of Gallifrey, provoking a civil war. Romana succeeds in destroying Pandora, but is deposed of her position and has to flee Gallifrey. She ends up travelling through various alternative versions of Gallifrey with Leela. At the end of the fifth series of
Gallifrey
we are left with something of a cliffhanger – Romana and Leela are about to return to the original Gallifrey when they hear the sound of the Daleks, who are invading every single version of the Time Lord home world…

Adric doesn’t have much of an Expanded Universe with the Fourth Doctor, but he does appear in the
Doctor Who Annual 1982
travelling alongside K9 Mk III (before the robot mutt was sent to Sarah in
K9 & Company: A Girl’s Best Friend
).

The most notable companion exclusive to the Expanded Universe of the Fourth Doctor is Sharon Davies, who has the honour of being the first black companion in any
Doctor Who
medium. She appears in thirteen comics and prose stories in total.

The F
if
th Do
ctor

Peter Davison

‘There’s always something to look at if you open your eyes.’

The Doctor
– Kinda

Adric
–
Matthew Waterhouse
continued... (
Full Circle
to
Earthshock
)

Almost immediately after the Doctor regenerates, Adric is kidnapped by the Master. For a long while neither Tegan nor Nyssa realise this, as the Master forces Adric to create a block transfer computation of himself, which proceeds to help them dematerialise the TARDIS from the Pharos Project and then helps guide the Doctor towards the Zero Room, a place in the TARDIS that helps the Doctor recover from his regeneration. The ersatz Adric is quite knowledgeable about regeneration, although this may well be because the Master is feeding him the information, or it could be that the Doctor explained regeneration to him at some point after Romana left.

As a prisoner, Adric’s mathematical clarity is used to create
Castrovalva,
another block transfer computation, which in truth is a complex space-time trap used to destabilise the Doctor further. Adric shows an amazing amount of will power in his attempts to resist the Master’s control, creating several images of himself to communicate and warn both Tegan and Nyssa. It is almost certain that Adric gives Shardovan (a denizen of Castrovalva, and thus a block transfer computation also) free-will to help the Doctor defeat the Master. As Castrovalva starts to collapse only Adric can see the way out (as he created the place). The strain on him is obvious; by the time they reach the TARDIS, Adric is almost green, looking quite sick.

Once more Adric’s fickle and inconsiderate nature comes into play when the TARDIS arrives on the Urbankan ship in
Four to Doomsday
. He is easily taken in by the promises offered by Monarch – being transferred into android bodies that will never wither and die. This produces the first real crack in his relationship with the Doctor, something that is never quite fixed throughout the remainder of Adric’s travels. It gets to the point where the Doctor calls him a ‘young idiot’ and tells him he is not, ‘so much gullible, as... idealistic’, which in itself is no bad thing, but idealism mixed with Adric’s level of naivety makes for a very unfortunate combination. He often speaks too freely, revealing too much to those who enquire, usually with no thought as to the consequences. This could be seen as his need to be accepted; as an outsider Adric is always trying to find a place to belong, but unfortunately his desire to impress often fails and comes across as arrogance.

Adric is often impulsive, as shown when on the
Kinda
world of Deva Loka and he closes the Total Survival Suit (TSS) before the Doctor can warn him not to touch it. As a result they are marched to the dome of the Earth expedition. Still, he is shrewd enough to play along with the unhinged Hindle in order to get a key to free the Doctor from his cell, even though the rescue attempt does ultimately fail. He later panics as he enters the TSS and ends up almost killing Aris, one of the Kinda, but the Doctor is able to eventually talk him down and release him from the metal suit. Later (in
The Visitation
) the Doctor is seen to be berating Adric rather strongly for his carelessness on Deva Loka; such arguments punctuate their relationship from herein, leading to their biggest falling out in
Earthshock
when Adric is insistent on returning to Terradon and plots a course through a CVE, even though the Doctor is certain he will kill himself if such an attempt is made. The Doctor is clearly upset at the thought of losing Adric, despite the abrasiveness of their relationship, and playfully hits him on the head when Adric admits he doesn’t really want to go back to Terradon, even though his calculations are correct. ‘Well, it proves a point,’ is Adric’s retort.

Despite his alien origins, Adric does come across as a typical teenage boy at times. At the party in Cranleigh Hall in
Black Orchid
he would rather stuff his face with food than join in, until Nyssa forces him to dance. Although often it is his arrogance that comes across, every now and then he shows moments of cheekiness, which Tegan warms to, even though verbally they spar a lot. Often it is Nyssa who proves to be the calming influence, since the Doctor just seems to be irritated by the continual arguing going on in his TARDIS. Tegan’s concern for Adric is strongly displayed when he is forced to remain behind on a space freighter that is heading on a collision course with Earth – she struggles against the Cybermen as they drag her off, and in response Adric can only offer a sad smile. Despite his outward attitude, it seems that Adric does indeed have a fondness for Tegan. Adric is almost saved from the fate of the freighter by Captain Scott, however, at the last moment, as the doors to the escape pod close, Adric jumps out – certain he has worked out the final course correction. He begins inputting the data, unaware that a damaged Cyberman is in the vicinity. Before he can see if his computations are correct the Cyberman destroys the console. Adric can only stand and watch as Earth rapidly approaches, twisting Varsh’s Outler badge in his hands, bravely accepting his fate, ‘Now I’ll never know if I was right,’ he says.

Adric’s death affects the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan in very different ways. Tegan is the most vocal, vehemently insisting the Doctor take the TARDIS back to save Adric but the Doctor cannot since the Cybermen damaged the control console. In
Time-Flight
a phantom of Adric appears briefly to warn Tegan and Nyssa away from Kalid’s domain, but they spot his badge for mathematical excellence the Doctor had used to destroy the Cyber Leader, and realise it is not really Adric.

It seems the Doctor carries a lot of guilt with him over Adric’s death. This is probably what drives him to such extremes to save Peri’s life in
The Caves of Androzani
and explains why the very last word to pass through his mind before regenerating is ‘Adric’.

Nyssa
–
Sarah Sutton
continued... (
The Keeper of Traken
, and
Logopolis
to
Terminus
)

Nyssa’s scientific knowledge comes into play in
Castrovalva
when she shows an understanding of the Zero Room – a room that creates a null interface, cutting off the influences of the outside world, allowing Time Lords to recover from difficult regenerations. Later, when the room is accidentally jettisoned from the TARDIS to save them all from Event One (the creation of the universe), it is Nyssa who hits upon the idea of building a Zero Cabinet (in which the Doctor can safely recover) from the remaining wall of the room. She also shows a good understanding of recursion – where ideas and concepts fold back on themselves. Even though she cannot pilot the TARDIS, she is able to understand many of its controls merely by deduction. She later claims she is also an expert in bio-engineering and cybernetics, once again reminding us of the true level of advancement the Traken Union reached before its destruction. She finds it very difficult to look at the Master – since he is walking around with her dead father’s face (yet it seems she has all but forgotten about this the next time they meet in
Time-Flight
).

She is a lot more mature than Adric and always sensible, instilling in the Doctor a great faith in her technical ability. She develops a very strong relationship with Tegan during their initial travels together and is clearly upset by the idea of Tegan leaving at the start of
The Visitation
, although of course this departure doesn’t come about since the TARDIS arrives in the wrong century. She learns the Charleston from Tegan in
Black Orchid
. They meet Ann Talbot (Nyssa’s doppelg
ä
nger) and the two girls play a joke at the fancy dress ball by wearing the same outfit. Her playfulness with Ann brings Nyssa out of her shell somewhat, and she is rather bemused by the initial attention she receives as people try to work out if Nyssa is a member of the extended Talbot family. She is kidnapped by George Cranliegh, the former fiancé of Ann, demented and disfigured by a tribe of Indians, but she is eventually released to the safe arms of the Doctor once George realises the mistake, and is quite disturbed to watch him fall to his death as a result.

Her experiences on the Urbankan ship such as almost being transferred into an android body proves too much for Nyssa’s gentle soul, and she collapses from the stress, later finding it hard to even focus on a game of chess. Thus, the Doctor builds a delta wave augmentor, which induces her into a deep level of sleep so she can recover (
Kinda
). She awakens four days later.

After Adric’s death she is very subdued and spends time helping the Doctor rescue the survivors of the space freighter, returning them home. The loss is made worse when, after returning the passengers of Concorde from prehistoric Earth in
Time-Flight
, she and the Doctor rush off in the TARDIS to avoid official questions, accidentally leaving Tegan behind.

It is unclear for how long Nyssa travels alone with the Doctor, but when we next see them in
Arc of Infinity
they do appear a lot closer, with Nyssa having become much more outspoken – almost as if she is filling in for Tegan’s absence – pointing out the problems with the TARDIS quite brazenly. Nyssa has become extremely protective of the Doctor, her one last link to her lost life. Her impassioned plea to the High Council of Time Lords on Gallifrey to intercede and save the Doctor’s life brings her to tears, and she resorts to violence to try and save him. Like on Traken, she doesn’t use a lethal weapon, merely a staser on stun, until the Doctor stops her. She can do nothing but watch as the Doctor is seemingly killed. She is distraught and retires to the TARDIS, unwilling to talk to anyone for a while, but she is easily persuaded that the Doctor is still alive, taking any bit of hope offered to her. When she discovers that the Doctor, via the Matrix of Gallifrey, has been in contact with Tegan who is in Amsterdam, Nyssa is very pleased at the idea of seeing her again, and sure enough when they are reunited the women immediately bond. Once again Nyssa has the two most important people in her life with her – Tegan, her best friend, and the Doctor, the man who reminds her of her father.