scarfman: (heroes)
[personal profile] scarfman

[livejournal.com profile] evilgrins posted at [livejournal.com profile] doctorwho yesterday contending that the Doctor tends to kidnap his companions, compiling a list from memory. For twenty-four hours I resisted compiling a rebuttal, but I fell.

It's difficult for me to say the Doctor kidnaps anyone, since as a rule - at least before the Time War - he resists taking on a new companion as hard as he can. Often they are intentional or unintentional stowaways.

  • Doctor One
    • We didn't see his granddaughter Susan board the TARDIS. She may have stowed away or not.
    • He took off with Barbara and Ian aboard as an alternative to allowing them to report his presence to the 1963 authorities.
    • He took Vicki aboard as the only alternative to leaving an underage girl alone on an alien planet.
    • Steven stowed away.
    • If I ever knew details of Katarina's boarding or Sara Kingdom's boarding I've forgotten them.
    • Dodo was welcomed aboard, as the possible descendant of someone the Doctor wanted to think hadn't died two hundred years before, and because she looked like Susan.
    • Ben and Polly climbed aboard just before a takeoff because they wondered why the Doctor went into a police box.
  • Doctor Two
    • Jamie is goaded into boarding the TARDIS just before it departs by one or more of its current crew, but I don't know by whom.
    • Victoria is another Susan-surrogate, having lost her father to the Daleks.
    • Zoe is brought aboard only after being compelled to watch a video of the adventure when Victoria lost her father.
  • Doctor Three
    • Liz never set foot aboard the TARDIS that we know. (Of course, that was the year it never moved.)
    • Jo was invited into the TARDIS only after the Doctor had got to know her over three adventures already.
    • The Brigadier and Benton only boarded the TARDIS under emergency circumstances.
    • Sarah Jane snuck aboard.
  • Doctor Four
    • Harry was invited on as a practical joke.
    • Leela invited herself on against the Doctor's express wishes.
    • Romana was put aboard by the White Guardian against the Doctor's express wishes.
    • Adric stowed away.
    • Nyssa met up with the Doctor on Logopolis ostensibly only to get help finding her missing father, but then the Master destroyed her planet.
    • Tegan boarded the TARDIS thinking it was a police box.
  • Doctor Five
    • Turlough boarded the TARDIS with ulterior motives.
    • Peri was brought aboard by Turlough in emergency circumstances.
  • Doctor Six
    • Non-causal loop aside, we don't know how Mel originally boarded the TARDIS.
  • Doctor Seven
    • It was Mel's idea, not the Doctor's, that Ace board the TARDIS.
  • Doctor Eight
    • The Doctor asked Grace to board the TARDIS but she declined.
  • Doctor Nine
    • Rose was the first to be asked to board the TARDIS twice.
    • The Doctor asked Mickey aboard but he declined.
    • Rose asked Adam aboard over the Doctor's objections.
    • The Doctor asked Jack aboard as an alternative to allowing Jack to die after proving his worth.
  • Doctor Ten
    • The Doctor asked Rose a third time, being uncertain she still wanted to after he regenerated.
    • The Doctor and Rose asked Sarah Jane to come with them, but when they get Mickey instead Rose was more put out than the Doctor.
    • The Doctor asked Donna along, but she found him scary.
    • The Doctor strung Martha along with several just-one-more trips until finally admitting she was "never just a passenger".
    • The Doctor and the TARDIS both ran as hard as they could from Jack, but under special circumstances.
    • Spoiler for next season We don't know yet the circumstances surrounding the boardings of next season's companions, all return companions: Donna, Martha, and (according to the latest shooting news) Jack.
  • I didn't want to do this, I really didn't. There's a Saturday hour I'll never get back.

    Date: 2007-11-10 09:08 pm (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] laws-of-fizzix.livejournal.com
    Well, Ten accidentally took Jackie, the one time. But no intentional kidnapping, despite what Jackie said.

    Sorry about the loss of an hour, but that was actually a neat review of circumstances; as a silly fan, I've not met most of the companions, and this sort of thing helps.

    Date: 2007-11-10 11:17 pm (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] laws-of-fizzix.livejournal.com
    *headdesk* I wasn't thinking, I tell you!

    Date: 2007-11-10 09:23 pm (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] athelind.livejournal.com
    Don't forget that Ten also asked Jack along AGAIN after meeting up with him in Cardiff and taking him along for the Year That Never Was, but Jack declined.

    Date: 2007-11-12 04:09 am (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] athelind.livejournal.com
    Sci-Fi's where I watch'em. I'm too lazy to torrent.

    Date: 2007-11-10 10:42 pm (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] dave-iii.livejournal.com
    Heh... if you wanted to waste another hour you could list how everyone leaves. Not as many do so by dying as one might suppose, I'm sure. ^_^

    Date: 2007-11-26 11:31 pm (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] daibhid-c.livejournal.com
    And what a choice *that* is! She probably did something altogether different from both 8-)...

    Date: 2007-11-10 10:58 pm (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] blinovitch.livejournal.com
    Zoe was a total stowaway. She hides herself in a trunk, which the Doctor notices immediately. The video she watches is the Doctor trying to dissuade her from coming along.

    And Barbara and Ian were a total kidnap. You're being far too kind to the Doctor to suggest what he did was some kind of rational act proportional to the perceived problem.

    Date: 2007-11-11 03:24 am (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] elliptic-eye.livejournal.com
    Eep! I'm sorry you're out an hour of your Saturday, but thanks for posting the list—it's nice to have handy.

    Date: 2007-11-11 04:34 am (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] abates.livejournal.com
    Katarina helped Steven on board the TARDIS after he got wounded, ISTR.

    According to Business Unusual, Mel stowed away.

    Several of the times you've mentioned there (Tegan, Peri) it was a sort of unintentional kidnapping... I note that he didn't seem to make any attempt to return Peri back to Earth, and she didn't seem to mind anyway.

    Date: 2007-11-11 06:54 pm (UTC)
    From: [identity profile] purpleranger.livejournal.com
    Doctor Four -- K9 was a gift from Professor Marius.

    February 2026

    S M T W T F S
    1 234567
    891011121314
    15161718192021
    22232425262728

    Most Popular Tags

    Style Credit

    Expand Cut Tags

    No cut tags
    Page generated Feb. 7th, 2026 05:27 am
    Powered by Dreamwidth Studios