Women of Doctor Who celebration post

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

I was intending for my halfamoon contribution to be a post about the women in Doctor Who – and very quickly realised that could get very long and unwieldy, because the Doctor Who universe is not only enormous (thirty seasons and counting if you stick to the TV stuff alone; there are many hundreds of novels, comics and full-cast audio dramas) but it’s also got a ton of female characters who I adore, from bit-part characters with a few lines in a single episode to companions who spent years on the TARDIS.

The best way to go seemed to be a love thread/celebration thread, of a type I’ve done before for the companions. This time it’s a post about all the women of the Doctor Who universe, companions or not, from the classic series, new series, the ‘middle school’ books/audios/comics stuff, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures. It’s going to work in the same way as the post linked above: leave a comment with a character in the subject line, and people can respond with what they love about that character, their best moments or quotes, fic recs, drabbles, picspam, relevant links, or anything else. Any female character’s fine, though if it’s a minor character you might want to add the relevant episode title to the subject, especially if they share a name (I’m happy to squee over both Jenny from The Doctor’s Daughter and Jenny from Human Nature but we need to know which is which).

I’ll add a list of links to threads as they appear. I don’t want to dictate a bunch of rules for this, but it should go without saying this is meant to be a fun, positive thing on a comm that’s about celebrating women, so keep that in mind (“I love Mel, I don’t know why so many people hate her!” is a rhetorical statement, not a request for more information) and try not to passive-aggressively slam other characters while loving on your own (the difference between “Donna’s brilliant, I loved having a slightly older companion” and “Donna’s brilliant; finally, a companion who’s not a simpering schoolgirl”).

And… go!

New Who

Astrid Peth
Donna Noble
Jackie Tyler
Martha Jones
Rose Tyler
Reinette/Madame de Pompadour

Classic Who

Ace McShane
Barbara Wright
Dodo Chaplet
Jo Grant
Leela
Liz Shaw
Mel Bush
Nyssa
Peri Brown
Polly Wright
Romana I
Romana II
Susan Foreman
Tegan Jovanka
Victoria Waterfield
Zoe Heriot
Professor Amelia Rumford

Torchwood

Gwen Cooper
Suzie Costello
Toshiko Sato

SJA

Sarah Jane Smith
Maria Jackson
Rani Chandra

Non-TV media

Alison Cheney
Anji Kapoor
Benny Summerfield
Charley Pollard
Erimem
Evelyn Smythe
Izzy Sinclair

Comments

Barbara Wright

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

.

Re: Barbara Wright

[nam-jai.livejournal.com]

Oh, Barbara, how much do I adore her? Thrown into this strange, dangerous experience that she didn't choose and couldn't leave, she handled that experience -- and the Doctor -- with dignity, intelligence, courage and integrity. She's one of my favorite fictional women ever.

Re: Barbara Wright

[tree_and_leaf]

Barbara's smart, compassionate, and brave. She has a damn good crack at saving the Aztecs, pulling off the role of divine avatar with conviction and an awesome headdress. Later on, she drives a lorry at a bunch of Daleks and doesn't flinch.

The Doctor may be right about her not being able to change history in "The Aztecs", but she's never afraid to call him on his bullshit, and she changes him as much, if not more, than he changes her. If it wasn't for Barbara (and Ian, who she has a lovely relationship with), the Doctor wouldn't care about humanity or Earth. Which would be a pity, all things considered - it'd be a very short show, for one!

Re: Barbara Wright

[tigerkat24.livejournal.com]

I utterly love Barbara. I was a little "meh" about old!Who, and then Barbara walked on in all her glorious stubbornness and strength and amazing hair. I loved that she refused to back down on any of her principles. I loved that she refused to let the Doctor walk all over her--the scene in "Edge of Destruction" is one of my favorites. I loved that she was so utterly dignified in the face of occasionally bad writing and somewhat dubious costuming.

I also loved that she wasn't afraid or ashamed to be, well, girly. Her relationship with Leon in The Reign of Terror and her getting drunk and silly with Ian in The Romans are just so... she's just so unafraid, so poised and centered in herself. She was such an amazing companion.

Re: Sarah Jane Smith

[calapine.livejournal.com]

There never will be anyone as incredible ever again. I love her madly: her terror and fear of the unknown developing into acceptance and curiosity; her strength, her leadership skills, compassion, intelligence, her relationship with Ian. She tries to save the Aztecs, fiercely defying what the Doctor thinks is best, she takes over generalship of the Menoptra when they don't have a clue what to do next and destroys the Animus herself, she runs down Daleks and gets her very own companion, Jenny, when she's trying to save her world's future.

And Jacqueline Hill is one of the few people that can compete with Catherine Tate for best companion actress.

Re: Barbara Wright

[thisbluespirit]

Barbara's pulled off being a living goddess, changing the Doctor's mind, as everyone's noted. She also started off this whole adventure because she wasn't afraid to interfere out of concern for a school pupil.

When the TARDIS team are without her, they flounder in The Sensorites and then Jacqueline Hill comes back from her holidays and sorts everyone out.

Plus, she thinks that travelling with the Doctor is only probably the most exciting thing she'll ever do and she's a big part of the reason those early episodes are still so addictive today.

Re: Barbara Wright

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Barbara in The Romans!





I love her hair so much.

Re: Barbara Wright

[livii.livejournal.com]

Daleks. A lorry. Barbara. Need I say more?

Also, I love how free she got to be in the show - she had romances or interests, and so much independence. And in the end, I love how fandom pretty much agrees that she and Ian are the one, the original, OTP - yet no one forgets how awesome Babs is in her own right, in that pairing.