Why I like Adric and other Doctor Who Companion musings

[seawasp]

Per a request from nhw I am posting a little ramble on the reasons I happen to like one of the apparently least-liked companions in DWho history.

Adric was, to me, a quintessential geek -- a genius with an insatiable curiosity. He was one of the few DW characters I could personally empathize with. He was a KID, too -- not one of the grown-ups whose job is to be stupider than they might otherwise be in order to allow the Doctor to look as brilliant as he was. He was impulsive, but not stupid, and willing and able to improvise a decent plan of attack to deal with problems he encountered.

He didn't seem to get into trouble as SENSELESSLY as many other companions; being a kid excused many of his actions, and he demonstrated level-headed thinking and a willingness to learn and act under direction -- again, which other companions often did not.

All this changed, of course, when Peter Davison took over, though the seeds were sown in the preceding eps. Nyssa slowly took over all the Smart Companion tasks, leaving Adric to play (a rather unbelievable) second fiddle.

Adric worked best with the pseudo-family dynamic of the Doctor, Romana, and Adric. This was, I believe, intentional.

I therefore saw the slow shift -- taking Adric from "bright semi-adopted kid with a potential to adapt and learn ANYTHING due to his origin" to "token Rebellious Kid played off against Better Companions", as a disservice to the character I learned to love in the beginning. And his ENDING crystallized things back to that original character, his last lines echoing back directly to the original Adric: "Oh, now I'll NEVER know if it would work."

NOTE: According to a number of sources, behind the scenes there were other reasons for Adric's departure; apparently the actor had a drinking problem early on and was hard to work with. But as viewers, we don't see any of that.

My favorite (old series) companion was undoubtedly Leela. In addition to her obvious appeal to any young male viewer, the important thing about Leela was that she was tough as nails, afraid of almost nothing, and saved the Doctor on almost as many occasions as he saved her. (Has ANYONE ever killed a Sontaran with a simple melee weapon before or since?)

Romana and K-9 were my other top favorites, again because they brought a level of competent usefulness to the Companion role which was in general absent from most other companions, who were more foils and sounding boards than anything else.

Comments

[shana.livejournal.com]

I never saw Adric. I do remember Leela, though.

I really haven't seen that much Doctor Who ... and almost all of it was with Tom Baker.

[jiawen]

My favorite companion is Leela, for much the same reasons you liked her. A great role model for girls, I think.

Adric always seemed whiny to me, but I definitely liked his smarts and rebelliousness.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

His final line was "Now I'll never know if I was right." Which was perfect. I liked Adric simply because was so smart, and was frustrated by not being the smartest guy in the room much of the time.

My favorite companion of all time? Jo Grant, hands down.

[k-kinnison.livejournal.com]

I prefered the Companions in the Tom Baker era. they seemed to be a bit more independant and used more as good characters instead of a way to move along the plot line.

Rommana 2 was my fav, tho Leela and K-9 are a close second, and Jaime is the third (the ladies fav)

[rugor.livejournal.com]

I liked Adric too.

In fact there is a character in the SF novel I'm working on who is named Adric Calthran, and his first name is an homage. (The character bears no resemblance, but does share the name).

[baronger.livejournal.com]

Adric was one of my favorites too, as well as Leela. Though Tom Baker is always the doctor I think of when I think of the Dr., so that may have something to do with it too.

I must say the first Dr. of the new series though was wonderful.

[guy-jin.livejournal.com]

if you could only watch one doctor, Tom Baker would be the one to watch.

[guy-jin.livejournal.com]

My favorites were Romana (more the doctor's equal than any companion before or since), and K9 (sometimes I wish K9 and company had taken off); I also have a soft spot for Ace (though she was stuck with a sub-par doctor) as well as Jamie and Zoe (but only in combination).

Adric

[(Anonymous)]

My experience with Adric is sort of mixed.

I was first introduced to him in the books rather than the episodes and I liked the character in the books.

Then a couple of years later I saw him in the show and thought he came off as way too much of a whiner.

Comment on an ancient post . . .

[angelapwade.livejournal.com]

Glad I'm not the only one in fandom to feel that Adric gets a bum rap!