REVIEW OVERVIEW: COMPANION FAREWELLS - PART ONE

 I am starting to have quite a bit of fun with these REVIEW OVERVIEW essays. Yes, it's one of those dreaded opinion pieces that we can find all over the internet when someone discusses Doctor Who. But there's just enough of a scientific process to it that I don't just look like yet another opinionated fan droning on endlessly. I'm backing myself up a bit as I force you to listen to how I feel!  

WHEN A COMPANION SAYS GOODBYE.... 

Next to an actual regeneration, a companion leaving the series is one of the most emotional times in the show. In fact, I might even dispute that it can actually be more emotional. Look at something like The War Games, where the Doctor saying goodbye to Jamie and Zoe is far more sentimental than the regeneration sequence that occurs just a few minutes later. The regeneration sequence is actually played up a bit for laughs. Whereas the farewell to his companions is quite sad. 

Whichever way you look at it, companions leaving is a big deal in the show. Since there have been so many companions, there have been many departures too. Which means we can legitimately rate the quality of their farewells. 

I have created such a scale. In my scheme of things, there are about 5 different levels of companion farewell sequences. Some are what I would definitely call poorly crafted. Others are more mid-range, in quality. Others, still, of course, are excellent. They are, essentially, the departure that a good companion deserves.  

WHAT QUALIFIES AS A GOOD FAREWELL? 

Before actually exploring that scale, we should probably try to come up with, at least, a few salient points that all good farewell scenes must contain. The most obvious, of course, would be that they evoke something legitimately emotional for the audience. More times than others, it's a sense of sadness. We are going to miss this ongoing character that is leaving the show and the way they say goodbye should bring that point home. 

A good companion farewell should also show us the strength of the relationship between the Doctor and this person he has decided to bring along on his journey for a while. A special bond must have formed between them and we should somehow see it on display one last time before they part ways. There are, of course, more obvious ways to show this. Again, that sense of sadness that takes place in most of these scenes is the easier way to go about it. But there are other directions to go in. Tegan and the Doctor, for instance, do not split up on the best of terms. But we see the power of what they had between them still resonate. Tegan is disappointed in how things have been with the Doctor, of late. Which, in turn, causes the Doctor to become disappointed in himself. This, to me, shows the closeness they've developed without having to just employ the usual technique of them simply saying goodbye and that they'll miss each other.  

The final vital ingredient in a good companion farewell scene would be memorability. The moment really should stand out for us. We remember it for years to come and measure it against the other goodbyes that we've seen and will see. I might even say this is the most potent determining factor for me. A departure might be as touching as Hell. It might really show just how much the Doctor loves that companion. But, sometimes, it just doesn't stick with me much and I move on without thinking much about it. 

THE RANKING SYSTEM

As usual, we've taken some time to create solid definitions. Let's just explain the ranking system a little bit better and then get on with things. 

Categories should always have titles. I have named the different types of farewell scenes based on the very first time we've seen this type of goodbye in the history of the show. Which means, of course, that most of them will come from companions we've seen in the 60s. Since most of the different styles of goodbye scenes were first explored during this era. 

In this first part of the essay, I will designate "bad" farewell scenes and "excellent" farewell scenes first. Basically, the best and worst categories. In Part Two, I will go into the mid-range stuff. What is most important to note, however, is that some of our mid-rangers do have really strong farewell scenes in them. But they still fall into that specific category. Which means that, as we reach Part Three, which will be me ranking the Top Five Best Companion Farewell Scenes of All Time, some of the mid-rangers might make it into that particular count. 

*SPECIAL NOTE: While some companions like Sarah Jane Smith or Rose Tyler do make return appearances, we are going to look at the instance where they said goodbye to the Doctor for the first time. 

**SPECIAL SPECIAL NOTE: There are some characters that seem like companions but, in my book, are really just recurring characters. The men of UNIT, for instance, would be an example of this from the Classic Series. Sergeant Benton, Captain Mike Yates and Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart may seem like they were companions to the Doctor during his exile, but I don't feel as though they are. 

If Grace had climbed aboard the TARDIS and had a whole series of adventures with the Doctor at the end of The 96 Telemovie, then I would consider her a companion. As it stands, she is just someone he met for a bit after he regenerated and had a few nice snogs with. 

Certain family members of New Series companions sometimes seem like companions in their own right. Jackie Tyler and Brian Williams went on proper adventures with the Doctor in the TARDIS. That should qualify them as a companion. But, again, I feel they're not. 

In a similar vein, River Song does feel like she could be an actual companion. We are even told she will travel with the Doctor for a bit after he loses Amy and Rory in The Angels Take Manhattan. But I still view her more as a recurring character.   

Having said all that, Captain Jack Harkness should be considered a recurring character. He has made so many return appearances that the brief time he travelled in the TARDIS should almost be ignored. But we're still going to count him as one and discuss how he first departed during Parting of the Ways.  

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COMPANION FAREWELL STYLE #1: THE DODO GOODBYE

This is the absolute worst style of goodbye sequences. Not only does this happen first with Dodo. But she is still probably the strongest example of it. After getting written out halfway through The War Machines, a message is delivered to the Doctor through Ben and Polly that she no longer wishes to travel with him. You really couldn't ask for a less sentimental way for a companion to go. It does score slightly on the memorability scale, at least. We remember it well because we can't believe a companion was written out so poorly! 

Other Companions in this Category:

BEN AND POLLY:  Ironically, the ones that assist in the delivering of Dodo's poor goodbye, suffer the same fate a short while later. They do actually get a bit of a sentimental moment in their final few minutes of The Faceless Ones. It also has quite the clever hook to it by bringing them back the exact same day they left in The War Machines. But the fact that, like Dodo, they were written out of most of the story cheapens the whole moment horribly. 

LIZ SHAW: There is, perhaps, no worse way to see a companion off than to not give her a farewell scene at all. Sometime after Season 7 ends, Liz appears to leave the Doctor. At the beginning of Season 8, she is mentioned as a sort of footnote. 

HARRY SULLIVAN: A quick hasty decision made at the end of Terror of the Zygons where he barely says goodbye. He just suddenly announces that he's not going aboard the TARDIS. A cheap way to send off a quite loveable character.  

LEELA: This one really just comes out of nowhere. Somehow, Leela appears to have fallen in love with Andred during the course of The Invasion of Time. We see none of this romance building. It is just simply announced at the end of the adventure. The whole sequence barely makes sense, really. An excellent and inventive companion gets a legitimately stupid departure. 

THE FIRST ROMANA: Similar to the Liz Shaw farewell (or lack thereof), we're just suddenly not seeing her at the beginning of the new season. She's already in mid-regeneration as the Doctor encounters her in the console room. It would seem that, after repeating this mistake twice, producers now took actresses seriously when they said they didn't want to stay on for the next season! 

ACE: The ultimate in poor farewells, really. Particularly for one of, if not, the best companions. Sometime during those dreaded Wilderness Years, the Doctor and Ace part ways, somehow. We never know how, actually. It just happens offscreen. By the time Doctor Who - The Movie starts up, she appears to be long-gone. 

COMPANION FAREWELL STYLE #2: THE SUSAN GOODBYE

Essentially, this is how every companion departure should work. We have a complete adventure where the central conflict of the plot is resolved. In Susan's case, the Dalek invasion of Earth is properly thwarted. The last handful of minutes of the final episode are then devoted to the companion bidding adieu to the Doctor. No other action is going on in the story but the farewell sequence. If it all possible, we should also have a build-up leading to this moment. Like the way David and Susan are seen to slowly fall in love. We know that, ultimately, she must choose between her lover and her grandfather. It's all magnificently crafted and really makes us respect the companion's choice to leave. Most of the time that we get a farewell scene like this, it works beautifully. But there are one or two times when it fails. Susan is not one of those instances. It's a gorgeous goodbye. But we will discuss the ones that didn't work when we get to them. 

Other Companions in this Category

IAN AND BARBARA: The other two "original companions" get their own extensive farewell scene. It's skewed a bit differently than Susan's, though. Ian and Barbara are quite happy to finally find a way home. There's even a bit of comedy to the moment during the photographic montage and as they board a train. A bit of sadness is also included in the sequence as the Doctor and Vicki watch them on the time scanner. So a wide range of emotions do get explored during this farewell. Which makes it just as poignant as Susan's. But it's great that they go for a very different tone, this time. 

JO GRANT: After quite some time of doing companion farewells very differently, the production team gets it right. With all the problems of The Green Death solved, Jo and Cliff announce their engagement. A merry celebration ensues for quite a few minutes. Sneakily, the Doctor leaves the party and drives off into the sunset. Wiping a tear from his eye just before he goes. Beautiful stuff!

SARAH JANE SMITH: In a brilliant scene written by Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen, we see Sarah's journey cut short by the Summons to Gallifrey (even though, amusingly enough, Sarah was threatening to leave, anyway!). Again, it's a nice extended moment at the end of the story devoted exclusively to this long-standing duo giving each other a proper farewell. The sudden freezing of the shot as Sarah Jane strolls off is the perfect final touch. As if the memory of her departure has been frozen in time, itself. 

MICKY SMITH: The first of the "extended companion departures" that I feel went badly. While he's given a solid set of minutes to say goodbye to Rose during Age of Steel, much of Micky's dialogue comes across as very corny. The music is going for it a bit too hard, too. The sentimentalism of the moment just feels too forced. 

ROSE TYLER: This one will probably get me in trouble with some of you. But this is the second extended farewell sequence that I feel goes poorly. It is just too sappy. Rose is not quite the companion she's been made out to be, I think. Well-crafted in Series One but she gets a bit lost in herself during her second season. She doesn't really merit the attention she gets in her departure. The whole thing drags on a bit. The bond she has with the Doctor feels overdone in this long, over-contrived goodbye scene. It just doesn't really work for me. 

MARTHA JONES: The first of the extended farewells in the New Series that I actually feel goes really well. Martha has this unhealthy crush on the Doctor that she finally works out. It's a nice arc. And she shows she's truly over him by leaving him with a phone so that she can see him again, sometime. But only as a friend. It's actually really well-written and excellently performed. Not over-the-top in the slightest. 

CLARA OSWALD: Technically, she gets an entire episode devoted to her farewell. Or, more specifically, it's the Doctor fighting the goodbye he must finally say to her. It's a bit of a controversial episode that many fans view as a let-down. But the actual goodbye scene is quite beautiful. Even if the Doctor ends up forgetting her for a time. We could almost put this under a different category because of the memory loss issue. But it fits a bit better, here.    

And so ends the first installment of our three-part epic! We'll look at three more styles in the next entry.