REVIEW OVERVIEW: COMPANION FAREWELLS - PART TWO

 We continue looking at the quality of companion farewells....

Having examined the two extremes of goodbye scenes for companions in Part One (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/11/review-overview-companion-farewells.html), we now tackle the mid-range stuff. These are farewells that are, typically, fairly solid. But they're not anything too extraordinary. There is a moment of sentimentalism, we feel a bit for the companion that is leaving, but a bigger deal could have been made about their parting. 

There are a few notable exceptions that fall into these categories. Really outstanding moments that are of the same quality as a Susan Goodbye but don't quite fit the same description. We'll highlight them when we get to them. 

COMPANION FAREWELL STYLE #3: THE VICKI GOODBYE 

This is, perhaps, the most common form of farewell. It's a very economical scene that will still have some substantial emotional undertones to it. It's not as hasty as, say, Harry Sullivan's goodbye. Nor is it as grandiose as the farewell scene that Susan got. We see something like this for the first time with Vicki, of course. It is a somewhat-rushed scene because Troy is, literally, crumbling around them as they must part ways. But it's still done with enough respect to the time Vicki spent with the Doctor. It usually has a nice coda to it, too. Where we stay with the departing companion for a moment after the TARDIS is gone. 

*SPECIAL NOTE: It should be stressed that some of these scenes can be difficult to judge as they take place in stories that no longer exist. We can only hear them on audio and, perhaps, watch them in an animated or "telesnap" form. Vicki's goodbye is a prime example of this. 

Other Companions in this Category

STEVEN: After a nice little four-part runaround, Steven elects to stay behind to help restore the relationship between the Elders and the Savages. It's a quick-but-sentimental exchange where Dodo cries and hugs him and the Doctor offers some words of encouragement. And then it's done.   

VICTORIA: While she does have a very nice scene with Jamie that goes on for a nice minute or two, the actual parting of the ways between all three characters is done silently and takes less than a minute. It might seem a bit cheap but it actually evokes a lot of feelings. Quite nicely done, in fact. 

JAMIE AND ZOE: There's almost a sort of symbolism to the hasty-but-nostalgic farewells that we see during this era. In an emotional sense, the Second Doctor tended to travel lightly. So it would make sense that he wouldn't drag out his goodbyes. So even someone like Jamie, who was with the Doctor for so long, still only gets a quick moment with him. As does Zoe, of course. The extra scenes that were shot after the Time Lords dropped them off were a nice touch, though. Particularly Jamie charging down the redcoat!

THE SECOND ROMANA: Apparently, Tom and Lalla specifically wanted their last scene to be executed the way it was. To, essentially, make it only vaguely nostalgic, at best. It worked nicely and had a sort of sense to it. Two Time Lords parting ways would probably not get too over-sentimental about the whole thing. 

NYSSA: An interesting choice made by "the middle child" of the Fifth Doctor's early TARDIS crew. Many seemed to hope that, before she left, she would get some sort of revenge on the Master for all that he did to her. But I like that she bows out quietly and just chooses to stay on Terminus. In many ways, I felt that suited the character better. 

TURLOUGH: This one really stands out for me. It's the usual short-but-sweet goodbye but I feel it really works well. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that some really nice arcs get completed in Turlough's character as he bids his adieu. It all just seems a bit more touching than usual for something in this category. 

MEL: Because of the gorgeous monologue and the overall quality of the scene, this one almost makes it to Susan Goodbye status. However, Mel's decision out-of-nowhere to leave makes it a bit odd. And it's even harder to believe that she wants to stay with Glitz! 

BILL AND NARDOLE: It's actually a bit difficult to place where the real farewell occurs. It, sort of, happens during The Doctor Falls. It's quite moving and touching the way both characters bow out during that episode. I particularly like how they handle Nardole as he meekly accepts that he cannot stay to fight the Cybermen. But then the whole thing happens again in Twice Upon a Time. And that one definitely is more of a Vicki Goodbye. And it's quite nice to finally see an economical farewell scene in the New Series. So this is the one I prefer to go with.

COMPANION FAREWELL STYLE #4: THE KATARINA GOODBYE

After exploring several different ways to write out a companion, the production team goes to the ultimate extreme: What if a companion actually died while on an adventure with the Doctor? It is a very brave choice that creates a "no one is truly safe" rule in the show's premise. The only unfortunate side to the whole thing is that they barely gave the very first companion they did this to a chance to establish herelf. Katarina is only in a handful of episodes before she sacrifices herself in an airlock to save the day. Her period on the show was so short that some don't even consider her a proper companion. The whole sequence would have been far more effective if she had been around a bit longer before killing her off. 

Other Companions in this Category:

SARA KINGDOM: As usual, this manner of departure is repeated with the next companion. She is given an equally short period of time aboard the TARDIS. To the extent where her classification as a companion is also called into question. It seems the production team was trying to play it safe. They didn't want the audience to get too attached to these characters before their deaths.  

ADRIC: This is the companion death they got right. While there are some folks that weren't too fond of the lad, he was still with the Doctor long enough that his demise had a serious impact on us. I was, quite frankly, blown away the first time I saw it. The, overall, intensity of the story adds to the whole moment and the broken mathematical badge during the credits should be corny. But, somehow, it works. 

AMY AND RORY: They weren't truly killed, of course (well, Rory was a bunch of times!). This is what I like to call a pseudo death. RTD tried to create this sort of thing with both Rose and Donna by having prophetic characters predict their demise, but it took Moff to get it right. Due to the various paradoxes now going on around them (and not just the mere fact that they live in New York), the Doctor can no longer see his two beloved companions. So they might as well be dead. Their names appearing on the tombstone in the graveyard has a poignant symbolism to it: the very first married couple to travel aboard the TARDIS are well-and-truly dead. 

COMPANION FAREWELL STYLE #5: THE TEGAN GOODBYE

It took ages for the show to finally explore this particular avenue. This one is, perhaps, even more bold than the killing of a companion. In this case, they depart on a sour note. They get in an argument or the Doctor is genuinely neglectful of them. Or he is required to be cruel to them to create a greater good. Or something of that nature. It happens for the first time with Tegan Jovanka. In this case, the production team isn't trying to do this first with a companion who hasn't been around long. Tegan telling the Doctor: "It's stopped being fun" packs an extra wallop because she's been with him for a good three seasons. The farewell has the short running time of a Vicki Goodbye, but has so much more impact because of the way it plays out. As Resurrection of the Daleks concludes, Tegan truly breaks our heart. 

Other Companions in this Category:

PERI: One might almost say she belongs in the previous category since she appears to die at the end of Mindwarp. But we find out in Ultimate Foe that she's still alive (more than likely, Ycranos got Crozier to reverse what he'd done to her). This is happy news, of course. But what makes things terrible is the fact that the Doctor never appears to go back and see her. He just leaves her on Thoros Beta to fend for herself. 

ADAM: Another companion whose tenure was so short that some don't actually consider him one. During his brief time aboard the TARDIS, Adam messes up so bad that the Doctor just leaves him on modern-day Earth with weird crazy technology grafted into his cranium. Thus forcing him to keep his head down for the rest of his life rather continuing to benefit from his natural-born genius. 

CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS: Having been resurrected by a super-powered vortex-infused Rose Tyler, Jack races to join his friends in the TARDIS only to discover they left him behind on a space station full of murdered humans and disintegrated Daleks. Apparently, Jack's friends suck! 

DONNA NOBLE: Donna's departure is, perhaps, the most heart-breaking of them all. After pointing out on many occasions how mediocre she is, she finally receives this incredible gift from the Doctor's meta-crisis process. Only to have it taken away from her because it's burning her brain out. Her entire memory of her time with the Doctor is also erased. Seriously, how miserable is that?! 

We've, now, covered every style of companion departure. In so doing, of course, we've looked at every companion farewell scene that's ever occurred (did I miss any?! I think I got them all!). For Part Three, I'm going to list what I felt were the five best companion goodbye moments. You may be surprised by what ends up there. 

Here's Part One: 

https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/11/review-overview-companion-farewells.html