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Adric and Amy

Written by Andrew Weston Sunday, 08 May 2011

Doctor Who Compandium

Each month I’m going to be looking back at the companions that have travelled with the good Doctor and investigating them to see what exactly made them successful – or, in the case of some, why they didn’t really work as companions.

So, let’s start at ‘A’ with a couple of polar opposites: teenage stowaway and mathematical ‘genius’ Adric, and head-turning fiery Scots kissogram Amy Pond.

Adric

Adric. Short for... Adric. Itself, the name was an anagram of the surname of one of the founding fathers in the development of quantum mechanics Paul Dirac, and which no doubt came about because of script editor Christopher H Bidmead’s desire to make the science of the series as real as possible. It was another wink in that direction, unlike the character himself.

We see little of his family, merely his brother Varsh, who ends up dying as a result of the events of Full Circle. It obviously affects Adric, but beyond this story it’s a character point that rarely resurfaces. We learn little of his background aside from this, other than that he’s a gifted mathematician and has a star for ‘mathematical excellence’. He’s certainly not the ‘Artful Dodger in space’ that was originally mooted. He’s no more likely to pick a pocket or two than he is to stick his tongue down Nyssa’s throat (and I apologise for the image this conjures up). He doesn’t rely on his wits at all, rather becoming irritating because of the upfront way he parades around his mathematical ability. Admittedly he does manage to save the Earth from the Cybermen, but at the cost of his own life – which some might say couldn’t come soon enough. It’s all well and good being a clever-clogs, but it definitely impedes on his social skills.

While Adric may be an expert in numbers, you’d find more agreeable personalities on the dark side of Skaro. Witness the rather sexist manner in which he behaves towards Tegan and Nyssa in Four to Doomsday, the argument with the Doctor in the TARDIS at the opening of Earthshock, or his petulant behaviour following the Doctor helping him out of the TSS in Kinda. He always seems to know best, and spends some of his time working for the enemy either voluntarily (Four to Doomsday) or not (State of Decay, Castrovalva), eating (pretty much his only role – but not roll – in Black Orchid), or generally getting on the nerves of all and sundry he comes across (the standouts being Four to Doomsday, Kinda and The Visitation).

It’s no one person’s fault and indeed the stories listed are – bar one exception – from the Fifth Doctor’s era. It’s easy to forget that the character accompanied the Fourth Doctor for the lion’s share of a season and those stories range from the very good – The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis – to the exceptional – take a bow ‘art masquerading as family sci-fi show’ Warrior’s Gate. It’s only when the older man/young boy relationship changes (and yes, I am aware how wrong that sounds) that Adric seems to really suffer.

In The Keeper of Traken, the introduction of Nyssa serves him well, Adric having someone of a similar age to relate to. She’s even an equal to him intellectually, and is as adept in bioelectronics as he is with mathematics. When she returns in the next story he’s even pleased to see her (who wouldn’t want a girl who was a bioelectrical specialist?). Yet after Logopolis comes Adric’s downfall.

While never the greatest and most innovative character, Adric was the first male companion since Harry, and it was a brave move to include another after so long. However the times they are a changin’, and so is the crew and the dynamic of the TARDIS, and it clearly affects the boy. Sniping at the others, clearly unsure of his place anymore, his Doctor is gone, replaced by a young imposter. He’s ill at ease with the combined might of Tegan, Nyssa and a new Doctor. He’s out of depth, out of his own universe, and it shows.

If Adric had been more like his initial character outline, the ‘Artful Dodger in space’ perhaps he would have been more readily accepted by fandom. Perhaps a more experienced actor would have turned in a more accomplished performance and won over the hearts and minds of fans, so instead of punching the air at Earthshock’s climax people would have shed a tear. It’s easy to talk in hindsight about the character’s flaws, but why was no one so critical at the time? The production team it would seem were more concerned with the transition from one Doctor to another, and who can blame them? The longest serving Doctor leaves to be replaced by a much younger man. To say there was an element of risk involved would be an understatement. Yet poor old Adric was saddled with a role that did him no favours, and ultimately led to his demise.

Male companions have always been in the minority in Doctor Who, and when they are as ill-defined as Adric it’s no wonder. While he was involved in some excellent stories, his own part was less so. If the character had been given a properly thought out role rather than hinging on a phrase that ultimately meant nothing, then he may have been better remembered for all the right reasons.

Sadly Adric is a case in point of how not to create a Doctor Who companion. Unlike the next example...

Amy

Amy aka Amelia Pond aka ‘the girl who waited’ aka ‘the legs’. Steven Moffat’s first companion creation, a fiery redhead who’s not afraid to show her sexuality. There are those (Daily Mail readers mostly) who have cried, ‘In a family show? Certainly not!’ There are those who have embraced her with open arms (and many who’d like to in real life!) and applauded her character because she is real.

There’s a very real danger of companions slipping into generic companion mode, yet Moffat avoids this by grounding her in reality and giving her a recognisable base. Yet what is interesting is the mystery that comes with her. She lives alone in an empty house with no parents and an aunt that we never see.

Oh, and a “hell of a scary crack” in her wall.

By setting up a mystery around her character specifically Moffat weaves a new and exciting storyline for his leading lady that is layered up throughout the series, building her role in a way which hadn’t been done to the same extent before. The mystery is tied into her life, and while other characters before have had elements of this, none so intrinsically as Amy’s arc.

A central mystery, a boyfriend (later husband), and a connection to the Doctor throughout most of her life – there’s something a little different about Amy, to the extent that we don’t even know the whole story even now.

Through the first few episodes of her first series there is an excitement, an urgency almost, to the adventures that take place. We’re witnessing a companion grow before our eyes – quite literally in The Eleventh Hour. As both child and adult she is given a thrilling introduction, first praying for a saviour before our errant Time Lord crashes out of the sky, then as a ‘policewoman’, the camera panning up to reveal a grown Amelia (and yes, you do get those legs!) who’s handcuffed the Doctor to a radiator.

Amy doesn’t think twice about leaving her fiancé behind on the night before her wedding, so caught up is she with the mythical figure from her childhood returning. It only occurs to her as she goes off to investigate (as all the best companions do) in The Beast Below to recall her real, grounded life, which is by comparison far less exciting. She earns her companion stripes in this story though, taking a leap of faith and saving the population of Starship UK and the poor unfortunate Star Whale.

The mystery surrounding her thickens through the next two stories, with the Doctor more than a little surprised at her lack of knowledge of the Daleks and then with the reintroduction of the crack from her bedroom on board the Byzantium. In the latter story, Amy is really put through the emotional wringer, in danger of becoming a Weeping Angel or being killed by one at every turn. It’s no wonder that when the Doctor takes her home once more she tries to force herself on him. As she herself says, she’s been through a lot, and it’s a natural human reaction after a period of stress and danger. Sure, maybe it’s a little extreme for Doctor Who, but it goes someway to highlight Amy as a three dimensional character and not a cipher.

The feelings that Amy has for the Doctor are put into sharp relief when Rory joins the crew, with Amy not sure exactly what she wants. It’s more likely that her feelings for the Doctor are rather confused than that she actually would choose him over Rory. It does take Rory ‘dying’ to make her see where her true feelings lay, but it’s obvious that deep down she would have always chosen him anyway – though it probably would have taken her longer to realise the fact. Again, that’s not a slight on her person but yet another affirmation of what a well-rounded character she is. Emotions are complicated and not everyone can deal with them and place them in neat little boxes. Amy’s the same, and it’s encouraging to see that she struggles with the same feelings that many people do regarding relationships.

The character has been condemned for making Rory feel inferior, but she isn’t doing it maliciously or on purpose. She’s a truly conflicted individual, and if you’d been living waiting for an ‘imaginary friend’ (who travels in time and space) to reappear and undergone therapy due to people’s lack of belief in you, you’d probably have a difficult time when it came to forming relationships too. If any more proof were needed of her true feelings, the climax of Cold Blood makes it abundantly clear that she deeply loves Rory, and it’s heartbreaking that despite her best efforts in the TARDIS to remember him, she ultimately can’t. In Vincent and the Doctor, she cries not knowing why, yet we know that her subconscious is recalling her loss – she loves Rory, not the Doctor. The Doctor’s definitely defined her life up to that point, but it’s her future husband who she can’t do without.

Amy’s whole life changes completely after the finale of series 5, rewritten so that everything is back as it should have been, complete with parents. She marries Rory, the Doctor returns and then the pair of them venture off with him – the first married couple on board the TARDIS! Another little bit of innovation which, just when you think it can’t be developed any further, receives another boost at the start of series 6. Already she’s at the centre of a new mystery and as a character seems calmer and more focussed. The Doctor has forced himself back into her life after she’s settled with Rory and is seemingly quite content. She’s still as well rounded as ever, and now Moffat has thrown in a possible pregnancy too.

Amelia Pond is all grown up. Her character is well-defined with no sign of lapsing into the ‘stock companion’ role, and I for one can wait to see how she develops next.