Top 5 Doctor and companion relationships in New Doctor Who
BBC, DOCTOR WHO
We all know that the companion and Doctor relationship in Doctor Who is a significant one. It can mean everything, and can literally make or break a season. If someone feels that a companion doesn’t get along with the Doctor, then we won’t want to watch as much. Therefore, relationships that work, whether they’re best friends, in love, or something else entirely are incredibly important.
The Doctor couldn’t make do without his companions. Over the past 14 years since the series began to reair on BBC, there have been many different companions. Which seem to be the favorite among the Whovians? Which ones stand out amongst the rest? This isn’t just my opinion, but an opinion of everyone as well as those on Twitter!
We can talk about the new companions all we like, but we wouldn’t be here without the amazing and wonderful companions that got us here, would we?
BBC
5. 12 and Bill
Twelve and Bill is an important Doctor/Companion relationship because it showed how a friend can help bring out a different side of someone. The Doctor had just lost Clara, someone he had loved, or at least cared for. We also know that he had lost Missy, who was stuck in the vault for the next thousand years, and he was basically stuck on Earth, watching over her.
Something about Bill caught his eye, and she was brought into his life. The adventures with Bill were on a different level than other Doctor/Companion relationships. Bill didn’t really care about what was going on, which sometimes was a good thing and sometimes wasn’t. They were on the same level. It wasn’t an alien showing someone else how the wonders of the universe this time.
This time, it was two friends that seemed to be on the same level. Nothing showed that more than when the Doctor was talking about Missy. The scene where the Doctor and Bill were drinking soda and eating chips on the roof resonated with so many fans, and it makes sense. It showed a different kind of relationship we hadn’t seen since David Tennant. Someone who put this person on the level as themselves.
BBC
4. Amy and the Doctor
I realized this weekend that I never talk about the Eleventh Doctor, despite the fact that there’s so much about him I love. And in this Top 5, when we’re talking about the best companion and Doctor relationships, how could you not talk about the Doctor and girl who waited, Amelia Pond?
The Doctor has been best friends with his companions, we know that’s true. But there was something different with Amy. Maybe it was the fact that there was always something more brewing below the surface, even with his marriage to River? Maybe it was the fact that Amy eventually got over her crush on the Doctor and finally let Rory be the one person for her, they were the best of friends?
Or maybe it was because Amy really didn’t take the Doctor’s pretending. That whole Rule #1 thing? Amy may not have caught when the Doctor was lying, but when she figured it out, she did everything she could to get him to tell her the truth. She didn’t take the lies to try to make things better.
Of course, there was also Amelia as a child. In the last minutes before his regeneration, we see the TARDIS covered in paintings and colored pages. Is it possible that before Amelia was Amy, he saw his own granddaughter in Amelia?
BBC
3. Twelve and Clara
This relationship has sparred many debates in the fandom. When Clara was with the Eleventh Doctor, there was an obvious flirtation and relationship there. Once he regenerated, what was the right way to go about it? There were rumors that Moffat wanted to continue the flirtation but Capaldi wasn’t interested in doing so.
There became the most co-dependent Doctor/Companion relationship, I’d ever seen. And the best part was, it worked! Clara became the Doctor’s number one person. It was funny in some ways, as we saw her give him cards for what to say in certain situations, the fact that she was his “carer”. When Danny Pink, Clara’s boyfriend, died, and Clara thought she had destroyed all of the TARDIS keys, the Doctor asked why something like that would change how much he cared about her.
Editor’s Note
Because I can’t be 100% unbiased at all times, I do believe that the Doctor loved Clara, especially as 12. He just realized it too late. It wasn’t until after Face the Raven, a horribly gut-wrenching episode, that he realized it. That’s where Heaven Sent and Hell Bent came from. Clara was always in love with the Doctor, which is why she stayed with him even though nothing would have happened with Danny if she wasn’t with the Doctor.
Clara had so many options to leave, and so many times she almost did, but she never did until she had to. And the Doctor went for a billion years in his Confession Dial to get to his TARDIS. While most people claim that the Doctor and Rose are the best companions, these are my favorites.
Ten and Donna, BBC
2. Ten and Donna
Ten and Donna are my second favorite Doctor and companion because I love that she was there for him right after Rose left. Truly, it’s Donna in The Runaway Bride that is my favorite version of her as a companion. She was brilliant when she came back, but who knows what would have happened if the Doctor had met a quieter girl who wouldn’t have stepped up.
Even though Donna left at the end of the episode, she did more for him in helping him stay the good man he is throughout Martha’s season. It was painful to see how much he still thought about Rose (mostly for Martha’s sake), without that little push, who knows what would have happened?
Even though fate had so much more than just meeting the Doctor for Donna, without that friendship, neither would have grown. The Doctor finally, realized he could live on without Rose at the end of Martha’s season (again, poor Martha), and Donna realized she was worth more than just being a temp. The best part about her season is seeing her confidence grow stronger. It’s also what makes the end of it so sad.
Ten and Rose, BBC
1. Ten and Rose
There are so many reasons that Ten and Rose have become the iconic Doctor Who couple that they have been. Many people love that the Doctor found someone he really did end up loving, something that hadn’t been so obvious on screen before. But Rose also left so many imprints on the Doctor’s life.
First, she was the one that brought him from Nine, which was almost like a younger War Doctor, a Doctor who was still angry at everything that happened and made him a new man. Her love for him helped change him as he regenerated — whether it was for her or because of her, she was still the reason.
Of course, there were many on-screen moments that had our hearts wishing that the Doctor would just fall in love once, but he couldn’t say it. However, the imprint of Rose stayed important to the Doctor. We saw it in the 50th when her body was chosen for the War Doctor as part of the conscience’s face. And there were also less conspicuous moments as well. For instance, doesn’t Jenny, the Doctor’s Daughter, look a lot like Rose?
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