It is interesting how we remember some Doctor Who companions and others are easily forgotten. I suspect few of the non-fan general public remember Mel or Nyssa wheras everyone still recalled Sarah Jane Smith even before her new spin-off series.
I'd say the main companions that will stay in the public mind are Susan, Jamie, Jo Grant, Sarah Jane Smith, Romana II, Rose Tyler & Ben Chatham.
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I'd say the main companions that will stay in the public mind are
... & Ben Chatham.
I find that hard to believe.
Cameron
Ben is much talked about on the Doctor Who Forum.
Ben is much talked about on the Doctor Who Forum.
One thread in the fan fic section does not make Ben 'much talked about'...
Cameron
I suspect few of the non-fan general public remember Mel
You mean Bonnie Langford? Course they remember her. They remember her and Sylvester McCoy when the philistine audience stopped watching. They make jokes about Mel in Little Britain for Christ's sake.
recalled Sarah Jane Smith even before her new spin-off series.
Because Genesis of the Daleks was repeated so often. The public remember Davros too for the same reason.
Susan
Nope. Otherwise Jenny wouldn't have blown out the media's mind. The writers like Moffat and Cornell oft have to remind of Susan - and she didn't even appear in The Eleventh Doctor. It was Ian, Barbara and Vicki.
Jamie
Companion of "the forgotten Doctor" according to DWM.
Jo Grant
Thanks to the nude Dalek photoshoot.
Romana II
Really? They remember Tom Baker marrying his assistant, but not a lot else.
Rose Tyler
What about Peri? Plenty of people remember her, for her unsmoothe chest.
And Frobisher?
What about Destrii? She appeared in Torchwood AND The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Sources say Lucie Miller will transfer to TV, so that just goes to show you...
Ben Chatham.
He's never been in the mind of the public. Or the newspapers. Even DWM have no idea who he is.
Donna Noble, however, got a standing ovation at the proms with hundreds of children screaming for her return. Odd how you don't mention that.
And where was K9? Huh?
You muppet.
BTW - lose this comment moderation bollocks. Don't you find it odd that no one posts here since you introduced that censorship?
"BTW - lose this comment moderation bollocks. Don't you find it odd that no one posts here since you introduced that censorship?"
Sadly comment moderation is necessary to avoid abusive posts from anonymous posters.
"Because Genesis of the Daleks was repeated so often. The public remember Davros too for the same reason."
Doesn't alter the fact that she is remembered.
"He's never been in the mind of the public. Or the newspapers. Even DWM have no idea who he is.
Donna Noble, however, got a standing ovation at the proms with hundreds of children screaming for her return. Odd how you don't mention that.
And where was K9? Huh?"
K9 is quite memorable, I'd accept that. However Donna is only known because she is the most recent companion. Will she still be remembered in 10 years?
"One thread in the fan fic section does not make Ben 'much talked about'...
Cameron"
He has featured in many threads.
Sadly comment moderation is necessary to avoid abusive posts from anonymous posters.
Spara, be honest. You don't GET any posts from anyone. Cam and I are the first ones to comment for months.
You are a forgotten man.
Doesn't alter the fact that she is remembered.
So you'll accept her because BBC scheduling made her remembered rather than her being popular with the public, but not Donna who achieved a greater popularity than Rose and Donna on her own bat?
However Donna is only known because she is the most recent companion.
No. Like I said, she gets more kudos than either Rose or Martha. Did they get petitions demanding their return live on TV? No. Donna did. Ergo, Donna more popular and ergo more memorable.
Will she still be remembered in 10 years?
More likely than Chatham, surely? He's still barely known after five years of you flogging the dead horse, and even Bernie's given up updating the blog.
Donna's last episode got the highest ratings ever. That means more people saw her as a companion than ANY OTHER companion. Logic states she is therefore more memorable as more people have a chance to remember her.
Ben hasn't done anything like that - half the threads he's been in are gathering dust in the archives. He's barely remembered now - 10 years? Doubt it. Rickitt will be long dead by then, what with the mysterious wasting disease he's got...
"Spara, be honest. You don't GET any posts from anyone. Cam and I are the first ones to comment for months.
You are a forgotten man."
Such is life.....
"So you'll accept her because BBC scheduling made her remembered rather than her being popular with the public, but not Donna who achieved a greater popularity than Rose and Donna on her own bat?"
I like Donna and I do not want to criticise the character. I do hope she'll maintain her popularity but its too early to tell.
"No. Like I said, she gets more kudos than either Rose or Martha. Did they get petitions demanding their return live on TV? No. Donna did. Ergo, Donna more popular and ergo more memorable."
Fair enough. I certainly liked her more than Rose & Martha.
"More likely than Chatham, surely? He's still barely known after five years of you flogging the dead horse, and even Bernie's given up updating the blog."
Ben is still much discussed on the DWF.
"Donna's last episode got the highest ratings ever. That means more people saw her as a companion than ANY OTHER companion. Logic states she is therefore more memorable as more people have a chance to remember her."
I accept that Donna maybe should have been in my list.
"Ben hasn't done anything like that - half the threads he's been in are gathering dust in the archives. He's barely remembered now - 10 years? Doubt it. Rickitt will be long dead by then, what with the mysterious wasting disease he's got..."
Adam has no wasting disease.
Such is life.....
Yeah, quote Ned Kelly, that'll make everything better...
I like Donna and I do not want to criticise the character. I do hope she'll maintain her popularity but its too early to tell.
She was popular in 2006 and she's even more popular three years later. So far so good.
Fair enough. I certainly liked her more than Rose & Martha.
Pity you couldn't write her convincingly, eh?
Ben is still much discussed on the DWF.
Yes, but DWF is no more than a grain of sand compared to the millions of viewers who watch TV. The average man on the street will know Sara Kingdom before Chatham.
Adam has no wasting disease.
...um, yes he does.
Stay in denial if you want, but don't say I wasn't honest with you.
I've voted for Saturday 6-7pm on your poll, because it'll do wonders for Doctor Who's ratings if it's in copmpetition with it.
(You don't seem to have a comments section for the poll...)
Obviously I would not want a Ben Chatham series to run in competition with Doctor Who. I'd rather Ben compete with some 'Celebrity Bonking on an Island' type ITV rubbish.
You say
I'd say the main companions that will stay in the public mind are Susan, Jamie, Jo Grant, Sarah Jane Smith, Romana II, Rose Tyler & Ben Chatham.
then say
Ben is much talked about on the Doctor Who Forum.
DWF isn't the public. Ask anyone not on this blog or DWF if they think Ben Chatham is the best Doctor Who Companion, and they will look at you with a blank face.
Ben Chatham is an obscure fan fic character, amongst millions of fan fic characters on the internet.
In all this time he has never become anything more. The BBC/bif finish etc, have never picked him up for use in any canon whoniverse works. None ofb hist stoties have been published, preciouse few are more than rough synopses.
The day you stop writing chtaham fics is the day Chatahm dissapears from the consciousness of the few people that actually visited the chatham threads on the myth makers board, on the one forum amongst many on the internet.
In 10 years time nobody will remember the smoothe one.
Tragic really.
Hold on, no it isnt.
My bad.
Enough of this self pity. Get cracking with your writing Spara - god, you're so hideously unprofessional you can't even remember to post it on your own blog...
See, this is why you've got nowhere in the last five years. You don't have any ambition.
I've had my characters published in newspapers, mentioned on TV and had an animated movie of them on deviant art in that time. What have you got to show for it - four abandoned blogs and an ex-pat cheese thief with anorexia!
The irony is BC COULD be a DW companion, and maybe even a popular one - except you've done absolutely nothing to make it happen bar sit on arse and expect people to do it all for you.
What chavish behavior.
"Enough of this self pity. Get cracking with your writing Spara - god, you're so hideously unprofessional you can't even remember to post it on your own blog..."
I am working on the next story.
"See, this is why you've got nowhere in the last five years. You don't have any ambition."
Rather a sweeping judgement. I would like to see my writing achieve some success.
"I've had my characters published in newspapers, mentioned on TV and had an animated movie of them on deviant art in that time."
Really? When were your characters mentioned on tv?
"The irony is BC COULD be a DW companion, and maybe even a popular one - except you've done absolutely nothing to make it happen bar sit on arse and expect people to do it all for you."
I am considering making a direct pitch to Big Finish.
I am working on the next story.
And the next two stories after that as well, so I hear. See, this is where you need discipline.
Rather a sweeping judgement. I would like to see my writing achieve some success.
And what success is that? A handful of readers, few of whom think it's any good?
Is that success?
Letters that DWM mock?
Is that success?
You have access to the DWF - haven't you noticed the section below the Myth Makers, the one about fan audios and films? If you had your wits about you, you could have had your stories FILMED with ACTORS, or at least on audio.
You could have got youtube to work to your advantage: more people visit that site than even KNOW of the existence of Doctor Who. With the right viral marketing and a willingness to talk to people, Ben Chatham could have been known to the world.
But what did you do?
Posted summaries in threads hardly anybody read. You don't even put your stories on your own blog. To all intents and purposes, you've done your utmost to keep BC OUT of the public domain.
Really? When were your characters mentioned on tv?
Well, it was on Australian TV, I doubt you'd seen it (mind you, few Australians did either). It was a show called Feedback hosted by Indiria Naidoo.
I am considering making a direct pitch to Big Finish.
Pointless, Spara. They closed their open submission policy years ago. Like the BBC, they wouldn't even READ your stuff (or, indeed, ANYONE'S stuff). You missed the boat there.
Your best bet would be the DWADs, if I'm honest. If you haven't heard of them, don't despair - even eminent whovianologists haven't heard of them.
However, I dare say you'd get along like a house on fire. Their latest story has collapsed in production hell and they need another. They are currently going through a phase of aping 1970s Pertwee/Baker stories. It might take a year or so to make, but such a story would immediately be made available on their website, torrents, etc. I dunno if they'd pay you, but it would get your work more exposure than it's had in the last five years.
This silly comment moderation system means I can't edit my comments and get the relevent links, but I'll post them in due course.
In the meantime, it's time you tried writing to order. RTD said that any author unwilling to compromise won't last and should stick to the autonomy of poetry.
With this in mind, here's a task for you:
Write the regeneration scene of DT into MS as you think would be most appropriate.
Right.
The DWADs are the Doctor Who Audio Dramas, an American group founded in 1981 and have been making audio stories ever since (technically meaning they've been making DW longer than the BBC has). They produce one or two stories a year and do not consider the BBC Wales series to be 'current'. They are on their fifth Doctor, JK Flynn. As this is an amateur production, they are more than understanding that cast and crew have real lives that intrude.
DWAD guidlines
Their archives of their older works.
Handy guides to their universe.
Their equivalent of OG.
That's pretty much it. Pitch them one of your stories, then write a script, they'll make it and before Matt Smith regenerates, you'll have a full-cast audio drama under your belt.
IF they think it's good enough, anyway...
I am considering making a direct pitch to Big Finish.
You said that 18 months ago. Either shit or get off the pot.
"Write the regeneration scene of DT into MS as you think would be most appropriate."
Ok I'll have a go at this.
Good!
Don't forget to include a description of the change as you would want to see it. No simple "suddenly he blurred and turned into a whiskerless youth". VISUAL detail!
For example, how RTD did it:
And then his head arches back - he convulses, as though every muscle is tense - still standing, arms splayed out. FX WIDE SHOT: orange energy EXPLODES out of skin! Strong, like a blast of steam, of lava, though the clothes stay untouched, energy funnelling out of the neck of his jumper, out of the sleeves of his jacket.
FX SHOT: CU his head, though now there's no head, just a fountain of energy, pouring up -
FX MID SHOT: the energy streaming out of the Doctor's neckline and sleeves, the orange now turning pure white -
FX SHOT: CU the Doctor. As the energy streams away, fades, revealing a brand new man, still wearing the same old clothes. He blinks, shakes his head, then is completely normal.
OK, it doesn't have to be THAT detailed...
And give the Doctor a good dying speech too.
Hello, Spara, this is Wilf from OG.
Thought I'd ask around and find out which classic series companions the not-we really do remember.
K9 came top of the list, and Jamie (aka the Scottish boy in the kilt), the Brig (aka that army bloke, the major, or the general), Leela (aka the one in the skimpy leather), Adric (aka the boy who died), Melanie (aka Bonnie Langford) and Ace (aka the girl with the explosives) all got mentioned.
No Jo, no Sarah Jane, no Romana...
...and (unsurprisingly) no Ben Chatham.
What do we conclude from this? Fan wisdom is irrelevant: good looks and good acting are no substitute for a gimmick.
A lot of comments here.How many different people post on Youth of Australias interminably dull and long and dull blogs?
How many different people post on Youth of Australias interminably dull and long and dull blogs?
Five.
Except for every other Thursday when it's one person with seven different log ins.
Cameron
Well, anonymous, you're one of them being one of the ones who comment on the blog in that you are the one who comments called anonymous because that is you and you're one of the ones who comment in your braindead and repetitious manner while being too backward and cowardly to give yourself a name. Surely you remember that time Mike Morris told you off for your incoherent, infantile whinings?
Oh, am I using too many words for attention span?
If so, good.
I don't want you near my blog.
Feisty little chook you are YoA. And it wasn't even Sparacus who rattled your coop. Hey well. Bored already. Why use one word when you use four thousand pointless ones.
And Kamelion was the best companion.
My God! You're absolutely right!
I'm so sorry, did I say "absolutely right"? I beg your pardon, I meant to say, "I don't give a pair of fetid dingoes kidneys what you think you spineless tool unable to even get a blogger ID".
I'll "f**k wit you mitts" whenever I damn well please, bitch.
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