Companions: Fifty Years of Doctor Who Assistants (21 page)

In
Snakedance
she makes a huge deal about changing into new clothes, supporting all on-screen evidence that, other than the fancy dress party in
Black Orchid
, she has indeed worn the same clothes since leaving Traken. Perhaps continually being in the clothes from her home has helped her deal with her loss. If so, then changing out of them could be seen as an indication of her finally coming to terms with the loss, and being able to move on. This notion is backed when she departs the TARDIS a couple of stories later.

Also in
Snakedance
, after learning Tegan is still infected by the Mara (a malignant entity that temporarily possesses Tegan on Deva Loka), Nyssa insists her friend put on a device to keep her free from the Mara’s influence. In
Mawdryn Undead
Nyssa meets Turlough, a school boy. She decides he seems ‘quite nice’ despite Tegan’s initial distrust of him. She, like Tegan, is convinced that Mawdryn is the Doctor, in a badly mutated regenerated state, even though there is little physical evidence for this. He is clearly not wearing the Doctor’s clothes, and has a strange brain mass erupting from his head.

The Brigadier – who is teaching at Turlough’s school some six years earlier (in 1977) – offers Mawdryn the benefit of the doubt, but is less sure than either Nyssa or Tegan. For reasons not fully explained, both Nyssa and Tegan become infected by exposure to Mawdryn and his ship, and they cannot leave without being aged to death or regressed to babies. The Doctor, no doubt still suffering from the guilt of Adric’s death, decides that he will sacrifice his remaining lives to cure his two friends. Of course, such a course proves unnecessary since the meeting of two Brigadiers (one from 1977 and one from 1983) causes the Blinovitch Limitation Effect, curing Nyssa and Tegan instead (again, as with the infection, it is not explained why the meeting of the two Brigadiers does this).

We never get to see Nyssa develop a relationship with Turlough. In
Terminus,
Nyssa’s final episode, the girl from Traken becomes infected with Lazar’s disease. But as she deteriorates Tegan and Turlough are not around to offer her comfort.

She eventually finds a way to cure her illness, and believes she can do the same for the other infected. Learning the importance of self sacrifice from the Doctor (and possibly Adric), Nyssa initially tells Tegan about her decision. Tegan is very upset by this – the two of them having only been recently reunited after their unexpected separation – and tries to tell the Doctor to convince Nyssa to remain with them. The Doctor, although clearly not wanting to lose Nyssa, knows she is doing what she feels is right, and he cannot fault her for that. It is a sad, but final farewell, ‘Like you, Tegan, I am indestructible.’

When the Doctor is regenerating in
The Caves of Androzani
a vision of Nyssa tells him, ‘You’re needed. You mustn’t die, Doctor’.

Tegan Jovanka
– Janet Fielding
continued… (
Logopolis
to
Resurrection of the Daleks
)

The Doctor barely has time to get to know Tegan in
Logopolis,
but still assigns her the job of ‘co-ordinator’ in
Castrovalva.
While he recovers in the Zero Room, Tegan begins to organise the crew.

She quickly learns how to reconfigure the TARDIS, with a few hints from the Doctor, and is quite pleased that she is able to pilot it to Castrovalva – although she is later disheartened to learn that it would have ended up there anyway, since the Master used the captured Adric to pre-set the co-ordinates.

Tegan is very determined to return home and to her job, despite the constant disappointments with false landings, and insists on wearing her stewardess uniform throughout her initial journeys – only changing once, to attend the fancy dress party at Cranleigh Hall. In
Four to Doomsday
the Doctor offers her a TARDIS key, which she doesn’t accept immediately, still smarting over the Doctor’s inability to return her to Heathrow, but she does take it eventually if only to stop Adric having it.

When she explains to the Urbankans about modern day Earth fashions
(
Four to Doomsday
), she does a sketch to demonstrate and proves herself to be an exceptional sketch artist. She also understands the Aboriginal dialect spoken by Kurkutji, even though the language he speaks almost certainly would have changed over the intervening twenty thousand years – presumably the TARDIS’ telepathic circuits help Tegan to do this. We discover that the idea of being immortalised as an android horrifies her, but her main concern is always for Earth (whenever Earth is in danger, most other concerns become secondary to her). Even in her panicked state she manages to pilot the TARDIS a short distance, showing some aptitude for it after all.

She is, temporarily, possessed by the Mara on Deva Loka (
Kinda
), after it works its way into her unconscious in the ‘place of shared dreams’. She is freed after the Mara transfers to Aris, and for a while she remembers almost nothing of the possession. However when the Mara is contained in a trap of mirrors, Tegan looks at it, wanting to see what possessed her, and a small portion of it is able to escape into her deep unconsciousness. The horror of having her mind controlled by anything remains with her, as witnessed by her response to the Terileptil’s attempt at mind control in
The Visitation
.

By the time of
The Visitation
Tegan is close friends with Nyssa, and expresses sadness at having to leave, but she is determined to get on with her life, and is therefore somewhat annoyed when the Doctor fails to get her back to her own time, ‘Call yourself a Time Lord? A broken clock keeps better time than you do. At least it’s accurate twice a day, which is more than you ever are!’

The Doctor considers her bad-tempered. When they later arrive in 1925, Tegan decides she wants to remain with the TARDIS, yet she continues to wear her uniform, perhaps clinging to her old life. She enjoys her time at the party in Cranleigh Hall, mixing with the guests, calling it a ‘hoot’. There she demonstrates her dancing ability by taking part in the Charleston.

Like the companions before her, and despite their earlier differences, she assertively supports the Doctor. When the Doctor is accused of murder, she point blank refuses to accept such an accusation and strives to prove him innocent in her usual argumentative way. In
Earthshock
she admits she is just a ‘mouth on legs’, but nonetheless is willing to suit up and take the fight to the Cybermen. She is devastated by Adric’s death, even though she did not particularly like him, and is furious when the Doctor refuses to go back in time to save him, regardless of the Doctor’s reasoning.

The Doctor finally brings the TARDIS to Heathrow in
Time-Flight
, reuniting her with Concorde and prompting her to question if she wants to stay there. It is curious that, for the first time since entering the TARDIS in
Logopolis
, she leaves
with
her handbag (which no doubt contains her personal documentation). It is almost as if she expects to remain behind, which is exactly what happens. By the time she returns to the TARDIS it is no longer there – the Doctor and Nyssa have left without her.

The next time we see Tegan is in
Arc of Infinity
when she visits Amsterdam to spend some time with her favourite cousin, Colin Frazer, who is backpacking with his best friend, Robin Stuart. Colin and Robin arrive a day earlier than Tegan, and as such they can’t find a hotel, so spend the night in the abandoned Frankendael mansion – during which time Colin is kidnapped by the Ergon. We never discover how much time has passed for Tegan, although we do learn that she lost her job and returned to Australia. We can infer, however, that since her grandfather is unsurprised to see her in
The Awakening
which is set in 1984, that her visit to Amsterdam is not too long before this, most likely at some point in 1983. Upon arrival she meets Robin who tells her about the disappearance of Colin, and his later zombie-like behaviour. She is annoyed the local police will do nothing to help, and investigates the mansion herself, coming face-to-face with the Time Lord legend, Omega.

Omega is an old adversary of the Doctor, who uses Tegan as leverage. Tegan manages to get a message to the Doctor, telling him that she is in Amsterdam, and although her main concern is for her cousin, this is quickly replaced by her need to help the Doctor. Eventually she telephones Colin to see how he is, before explaining to the Doctor that he is now stuck with her, since she has no job. Nyssa is delighted, but the Doctor is clearly less so.

She probably should have remained on Earth.

Almost immediately Tegan comes under the influence of the Mara and she unknowingly alters the TARDIS co-ordinates for Manussa. The Doctor creates a device to prevent the Mara from taking hold, but the device is removed, and the Mara consumes her. Eventually the Doctor frees Tegan from the Mara, but she is still concerned that it exists within her. The Doctor places an arm around her when she starts to break down and says, ‘Brave heart, Tegan.’

Following this ordeal she decides she wants to return to Earth – not to leave, just to be surrounded by familiar things. The Doctor obliges, but the TARDIS becomes trapped in a warp ellipse and materialises aboard Mawdryn’s ship (
Mawdryn Undead
). She immediately takes an active dislike to Turlough; she doesn’t trust him at all which is wise as it turns out, but she does warm to the Brigadier when she encounters him in 1977 and discovers he knows the Doctor. Nevertheless she does find it difficult to take orders from the old military officer, thinking him a chauvinist. After finding him in a transmat capsule, she, like Nyssa, is oddly trusting of Mawdryn, believing him to be the Doctor, despite the obvious clues. Mawdryn is more concerned about returning to the ship than the whereabouts of Turlough. When the Doctor agrees Turlough can join the crew Tegan is unhappy about the addition.

On
Terminus
, she and Turlough become trapped together in a ventilation shaft, and despite their time together they do not strike up a friendship, but remain abrasive, even though Turlough tries to smooth things over with charm.

In
Enlightenment
the TARDIS arrives on
Shadow
, apparently an Edwardian racing yacht, at the behest of the White Guardian. The Doctor takes Turlough with him to explore, asking Tegan to remain in the TARDIS in case the White Guardian attempts to make contact again. She wants to go with them, but realises the Doctor is placing a great trust in her, so she does as asked. She is quite charmed by Marriner, the first mate, but is later repulsed by his probing her mind (again the taint of her experiences with the Mara lingers). She is also very uncomfortable with the room he has prepared for her – littered as it is with things from her mind, including a picture of her Aunt Vanessa and her air hostess uniform. As she says, it is a strange mix of her room in the TARDIS and her room in Brisbane. She experiences the symptoms of sea sickness, and with the departure of Nyssa finds herself drawing closer to Turlough, although she still doesn’t quite trust him. Once Turlough chooses the Doctor over Enlightenment, Tegan begins to become more relaxed around him.

She is less than impressed by their brief stay in thirteenth century England during
The King’s Demons
, and discovers her knowledge of British history is not as good as she thought it was – despite her historian grandfather’s teachings. This visit ends with the addition of a new travelling companion, the shape-shifting android, Kamelion, who is being used by the Master. Tegan is unimpressed by the idea of the android joining them. This at least explains why she never refers to him again; happily forgetting that he is in the TARDIS.

Later, while they enjoy a well-deserved rest in the Eye of Orion (the most tranquil place in the universe), Tegan is alarmed when the Doctor starts to lose his temporal cohesion (
The Five Doctors
). In the Death Zone she is surprised by the arrival of the First Doctor, recognising that his former incarnations should not exist at the same time (possibly recalling the last time the Doctor’s lives overlapped in
Logopolis
with the ethereal Watcher). She is determined to explore the Death Zone with her Doctor and is joined by Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter (although it is never clear if Tegan is made aware of this familial connection, but they do share some time chatting over food, so it is likely Susan would have mentioned it). Both watch in shock as the Doctor and the Master are attacked by a squadron of Cybermen, resulting in the Doctor being transmatted away.

As a result she joins the First Doctor, who heads to the Dark Tower. She finds him a little miserable, but clearly enjoys his company, calling him ‘Doc’. This is unusual as she has never really used such a nickname before – perhaps this is Tegan’s way of distinguishing the two Doctors in her mind. In the Dark Tower she feels something oppressive, but the First Doctor simply explains it is fear being transmitted from the mind of Rassilon. He tells her to simply ignore it. Once in the Tomb of Rassilon she is reacquainted with the Brigadier and meets Sarah, as well as the Second and Third Doctors.

At the end she, like Turlough, is convinced the Doctor is about to say goodbye after being asked to become President of the High Council once again, but the Doctor explains that he has no intention of returning to Gallifrey. Tegan is amused that he is willing to go on the run in a ‘rackety old TARDIS’ but the Doctor points out, ‘Why not? After all, that’s how it all started.’