5 Most Tragic Doctor Who Companions

Keeping with the Doctor Who theme, I thought I would look back over the five most tragic Doctor Who companions.  Granted, we are talking about a 50 year history, so I’m going to limit the list to the ones that I have personally seen, which limits the list down considerably.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD… LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD.

1) Adric

Adric joined the 4th Doctor during what is known as the E-Space Trilogy.  His adventures with the Doctor would continue even after the Doctor’s regeneration to his 5th incarnation, joined by Tegan and Nyssa.  Sadly, Adric died at the end of the Earthshock series, trying to use his extensive math skills to try to stop a runaway space freighter from crashing into the Earth.

2) Donna Noble

Donna Noble first came to the Doctor’s attention in Runaway Bride, one of the Christmas specials (this one bridging between the second and third series).  Though she did not join the Doctor on his adventures then, she would later return in the fourth series as his companion, replacing Martha Jones.  During this run, Donna would eventually become imbued with the total knowledge of the Doctor, becoming the Doctor/Donna.  Unfortunately, since no human is capable of dealing with such a vast abundance of knowledge, it begins to kill her.  The Doctor is forced to erase Donna’s memory of her time with the Doctor and return her to Earth.  Worse still for the Doctor, he cannot have any contact with her, since it would awaken those memories.

3) The Ponds

Amy Pond is known as the girl who waited.  The first human the Doctor meets after his rather violent regeneration, he helps the young girl deal with an issue in her room.  The Doctor then takes the TARDIS on a slight jump into the future, which brings him bot 5 minutes into the future, but some years.  A now grown up Amy agrees to travel with the Doctor on the night before her wedding to Rory Williams.  Soon, Rory has joined the two of them, the Doctor as one of his companions, and Amy as her husband.

The Ponds, as the Doctor keep referring to them, leave the Doctor in one of the most tragic ways possible.  Having saved New York from the Weeping Angels, The time travelers find themselves in modern-day New York, prevented from returning to the 1930s.  It is here that the Angels strike, sending Rory back to the 1930s once more.  Unable to save him in the TARDIS, Amy decides to stay with her husband, turning her back on the Weeping Angel and being sent back in time herself.

4) River Song

River Song was never a regular traveling companion of the Doctor, but they have shared many adventures together.  Ignoring much of her convoluted past (the who Melody Pond/regeneration stuff), River’s tragedy comes from the very nature of time travel.  The first time the Doctor meets Song is basically the last day of her life.  And, as the series progresses, the Doctor meets her again and again, sadly, in the wrong order.

5) Peri

Though Peri started as a companion of the 5th Doctor, she is most often associated with the sixth Doctor, having been present during the regeneration. During the season long Trial of a Time Lord, the sixth Doctor is forced to revisit events from his past that lead up to his being put on trial.  One of those events puts Peri in jeopardy as she is being prepped to become the host for a member of the Mentor race.  The tragedy here is that The Doctor is unable to save Peri not do to his own actions or inactions, but because he is taken by the Time Lords to be put on trial.  In essence, the Time Lords doom Peri to her fate.

About these ads