Companions: Fifty Years of Doctor Who Assistants (26 page)

Something very strange has happened by the time we next see the Doctor. He arrives at a space station controlled by the Time Lords and is put on trial (
The Trial of a Timelord 1-4
). Only he arrives without Peri and has no idea where she is. He soon finds out, but not before he is shown a couple of recent adventures. The first is set on Ravalox, and it is immediately clear that quite some time has passed for both the Doctor and Peri since they left Necros. Peri’s hair is much longer, and they now have a close and quite tactile relationship. They think nothing of walking through a damp wood arm in arm, under an umbrella. Even their banter, once snippy and derisive, is now light and good natured. Finally Peri has found her Doctor again. She finds herself uneasy on Ravalox, unable to shake the feeling that she has been there before – the Doctor remarks on the similarities it has to Earth, and he wonders why. Peri is less interested in the mystery, until they come across the remains of Marble Arch Underground Station. She is very upset to discover that somehow the Earth was almost destroyed in a fireball and then shifted halfway across the galaxy, and reminisces about how London should be, as if she has been there before (not in
Attack of the Cybermen
, since the things she describes do not match what she experienced during her brief visit to London in that story). The Doctor attempts to comfort her, explaining that this is over two million years in her future, the Earth she knows is still there, just as she remembers it. This, however, doesn’t help and she simply wants to leave, but the Doctor cannot until he discovers what happened to Earth – why was it almost destroyed and shifted half way across the galaxy?

When captured by the Tribe of the Free, Peri is promised several husbands by Queen Katryca, but it is not an idea that amuses her. She is, however, amused by intergalactic con-man Sabalom Glitz.

Her sadness over Earth’s fate has a lasting impression on her because later, while on Thoros Beta (
The Trial of a Timelord 5-8
) she expresses a desire to return home, to be surrounded by people she loves, which is a nice bit of progression from the girl who was so willing to escape her home life when we first met her in
Planet of Fire
. But it is not all future hopes on Thoros Beta, for it is there that we discover Peri’s own fate – or do we? Unfortunately we learn about this adventure via the Matrix, which the Doctor later discovers has been tampered with, thus much of the adventure did not happen as we see it. This throws up all kinds of doubt as to what we see, but we can assume much of it is true – even if the attraction between Peri and warrior King Yrcarnos is a little odd. It is believable that Peri would be disgusted by the attentions of a ‘dirty old war lord’ on the planet Thordon, as well as her compassion for the Lukosor, a werewolf-like creature that was once the loyal companion of Yrcarnos. And it is certainly easy to believe that she would be unimpressed, almost disturbed in fact, to discover that Thoros Beta is the homeworld of Sil, and even more so that the Doctor knew and did not tell her. But what is hard to understand is the Doctor’s betrayal of Peri – almost from any angle it seems wrong and completely out of character. Had it happened shortly after his regeneration it might be acceptable, but considering the development of their relationship it just makes no sense at all.

For a while the Doctor believes that Peri was killed on Thoros Beta, that her body was used to house the mind of Lord Kiv, Sil’s superior, and that the Time Lords then used Yrcarnos as an assassin to destroy Peri’s body and everyone involved in the unholy experiments being conducted on Thoros Beta. Later though, after he defeats the threat posed to him and Gallifrey, he is relieved greatly to hear that Peri survived after all, and has been set up on high by Yrcarnos.

How Peri must have felt at the Doctor’s sudden disappearance (being taken out of time by the Time Lords to stand trial) we will never learn, but it is unlikely she will have taken it well.

Peri’s confused departure was a good indication of the upheaval in the series at time, and it continued with the introduction of Mel – the first companion, since Susan, to not even get an introduction story. She was simply just there. But that was the least of the confusion surrounding this character...

Mel
–
Bonnie Langford
(
The Trial of a Time Lord
to
Dragonfire
)

To demonstrate that things improve, the Doctor, while on trial, shows an adventure set at some point in his own personal future (
The Trial of a Time Lord 9-12
). At this point he is travelling with an Earth girl called Mel. They have clearly been travelling for quite some time, since not only does the Doctor state that he would ‘trust Mel with my life’, but he has always envied her ability for almost total recall. This implies that it has been quite a long association. They have a very easy and lightweight friendship, with Mel looking to the Doctor with great affection. She is polite, bubbly and always charming; clearly excited about the adventure she is on. We never learn how they meet, nor indeed where she is actually from (although all this is mentioned in the character profile on the official documents, nothing is made of it on screen, so it has no bearing on the narrative). She is defiant and will not be cowed by anyone. She is also fiercely loyal to the Doctor, and will not tolerate anyone talking badly about him. During a moment of reflection the Doctor points out that Mel is not known for being subdued and thoughtful; she can only smile at this, knowing the Doctor is quite right. She clearly places a high value on life, and is saddened by the death of the Vervoids, even though she understands why it was necessary.

She is pulled from the Doctor’s future and brought to his trial by the Master, as a witness, and the Doctor is not entirely sure what to make of her, especially when she enthusiastically calls him Doc (
Trial of a Time Lord 13-14
). She is rude to Glitz, who has also been called as a witness, and treats him with total disinterest – clearly not as susceptible to his false charms as Peri was. She admits she is ‘truthful, honest and about as boring as they come,’ which is a little disingenuous since, although the former attributes are true, she proves in her encounter with the Vervoids that she is far from boring.

Once the threat is averted, the Doctor is offered the position of President of the High Council and again he refuses, leaving the Time Lord space station with Mel, a companion from his future that he hasn’t actually met yet.

The Sixth Doctor

Expanded Universe

Probably more so than any other previous Doctor, the Sixth Doctor’s Expanded Universe is, primarily, focussed on fixing the perceived mistakes the television series made with both Peri and Mel. Peri who, as mentioned in the previous chapter, has a very confused ending, whereas Mel has a very confused beginning. Does the Expanded Universe fix this? Yes… and no.

Before we get to the over-complicated post-
Trial of a Time Lord
Peri, we will take a look at her back-story as revealed in several novels and audios. The only child of Paul and Janine Brown, Peri was born in 1966 (her parents were married on 21st November 1962). When Peri was thirteen her father died in a boating accident. Coincidentally, her parents and her stepfather are all archaeologists.

Peri has a habit of leaving the Doctor in the Expanded Universe stories. After the events of
The Reaping
(2005), Peri leaves in tears, unable to deal with the deaths of her friends. She has barely departed the TARDIS though when, in another tragic turn, her mother is killed, leaving her completely alone on Earth. When the Doctor comes back for her, she returns to his side, not wishing to stay on Earth alone.

In the 2004 short story,
Chaos,
included in the
Short Trips: Past Tense
anthology, Peri becomes homesick for 1980s America and leaves to pursue a life in New York City. However, she grows frustrated with her job there and soon quits before rejoining the Doctor.

On television, in
The Trial of a Time Lord
, we discover that Peri did not in fact die on Thoros Beta, and this is explored in the Expanded Universe, in such stories as the 1996 novel
Bad Therapy
and audio play
Peri and the Piscon Paradox
. Peri and Yrcanos have three children; two sons and a daughter who go on to sire her at least three grandchildren, a few of whom would meet the Doctor and Frobisher in the 1994 comic
The Age of Chaos
.
Peri and the Piscon Paradox
goes into some detail about what exactly happens to Peri following the events of
The Trial of a Time Lord
. It transpires that as a result of Time Lord interference in her timeline there are five versions of Peri: one is, of course, killed in
The Trial of a Time Lord
, another becomes the wife of Yrcanos and a warrior queen on Krontep, while a third can only recall the events of her introductory story,
Planet of Fire
. The fates of the remaining two are somewhat vague although there is speculation that one returns to Earth in
Bad Therapy
. Another version, possibly the fifth, returns to twentieth century Earth with Yrcanos as depicted in the Target novelisation of
The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp
, in which she becomes the manager of Yrcanos the Wrestler.

Bad Therapy
shows a highly dissatisfied and stifled Peri, now Queen Gilliam, on Krontep, as she makes a discovery whilst exploring the archaeological ruins of the first king of Krontep. Her discovery is an opportunity to escape, through time and space, by activating crystal globes left by Petruska; the first king’s wife. Smothered by her own relationship with Yrcanos, who is obsessively in love with her, she uses the escape route to flee Krontep and return to Earth, where she comes into contact with the Seventh Doctor – it is not a happy reunion, what with Peri slapping him for never returning to her.

In the 1994 Marvel comic,
Age of Chaos
, the Doctor travels to Krontep and finds himself on a quest to track down Peri’s grandchildren (Artios and Euthys – her two grandsons who have plunged Krontep into civil war – and her granddaughter, Actis, who is very much like Peri in her temperament and taste for adventure). This particular outing is especially noteworthy as it is written by Colin Baker. His motivation behind writing the story was, according to him, because he felt somewhat responsible for Peri, and the mistreatment the character received during the making of
The Trial of a Time Lord
.

An older Peri appears in the 2004 audio story,
Her Final Flight
, although this is a virtual-reality Peri created by an enemy in order to try and trick the Doctor into self-destructing the TARDIS. Although she is illusionary, the story explores the relationship between the two and especially the Doctor’s guilt on having to abandon Peri some twenty years before.

According to producer John Nathan-Turner in the 1987 reprint of his book
The Companions
(sound familiar?) the original plan for season twenty-four was to open with a story introducing Mel properly, having Mel meet the Doctor for the first time. However, this never came about due to the unfortunate removal of Colin Baker from the role in late 1986. As a result we are left with a companion who never, technically, meets the Doctor. That is until 1988 when Target released the novelisation of the final two episodes of
The Trial of the Time Lord:
The Ultimate Foe
. At the end of the book we see the Doctor, directly after leaving the Time Lord space station, dropping Mel off on the planet Oxyveguramosa where his slightly older self is waiting for her. The post-
Trial
Doctor then heads off to his uncertain future, knowing that one day he will not only meet Mel but also become the Valeyard.

This first proper meeting is chronicled in
Business Unusual
, a 1997 novel by Gary Russell, by which time the Doctor has been travelling both alone, and with various other Expanded Universe companions (more details later). The Doctor spends a lot of the novel trying to avoid Mel, knowing that to meet her means he is on the path that will lead to the Valeyard, but time conspires against him and meet her he does – although he has to go to great lengths to pretend he doesn’t know her.

We learn much more about Mel during her Expanded Universe travels with the Sixth Doctor; more than is ever revealed on television. When she meets the Doctor she is twenty-five years old and not only a computer programmer, but a computer genius with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science. She comes from Pease Pottage, Sussex, 1989, and her full name is Melanie Jane Bush, daughter of Alan and Christine.

There is further biographical information to be gleaned in
Catch-1782
, a 2005 audio drama, where we learn that Mel had a passion for science from an early age and was encouraged by her uncle, Dr John Hallam. She acknowledges his influence and views him as being largely responsible for her later success in academia at university. Hallam, in 2003, tells a colleague, Professor David Munro, about Mel’s gifted proficiency with computers. In
The Juggernauts
, a 2005 audio story, we discover that she has an excellent knowledge of the computer languages BASIC, COBOL and FORTAN.