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BEGINNING The companions from the first part of the series, schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright (Doctor Who) , and the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman , play out different roles following their genders. Ian, in particular in An Unearthly Child and The Daleks , performs some of the more stereotypical male functions - he explores, commands, and dictates. By comparison, the female characters explore, but with more timidity. They often scream and faint when encountering an unknown, or hostile character. With that gender dichotomy in place, it's also important to recognize the series' occasional subversion of that premise. For instance, Susan Foreman 's technical expertise in The Daleks runs afoul of that gender stereotype. Another major function that the original companions serve - as the stand-in for the audience. Because Doctor Who was premised on historical fiction, with its increasing narratives on science fiction, it became important to have an intermediary who can track the viewer's unfamiliarity with the surroundings, or the goings on. The Doctor is unsuitable for that role, as he is typically steering the events, and as a plot device tends to know more than he's saying. So - the companion will typically ask: "what is that," or a variant of that question, prompting some bit of backstory that is critical to the ongoing narrative. "THE WARRIOR" AND "THE SCIENTIST" The adoption of Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot to the series, in the second doctor's reign, establishes two archetypes that continued in different iterations throughout the series -- the warrior character and the scientist character. Jaime's headlong flight into harm's way, his brandishing a pen-knife and continual reference his roots as a scottish highlander warrior, marked him as a character creating action throughout the storyline. Conversely, Zoe Heriot acts in a more cerebral manner, helping the doctor uncover the mystery through reason and deduction. Of the two archetypes, the warrior seems to stand in for the audience for narrative explication. In many episodes during the run of Zoe and Jaime, the doctor would explain a concept to Zoe. She would appear to understand. If Jaime was present, they would both condescend to him in explaining it further. So, while Jaime stood in primarily for the audience, that role shifted between the scientist and warrior role. |
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