POINT OF DEBATE: SHOULD WE CONSIDER THEM COMPANIONS? - THE BRIGADIER

I hadn't planned to write another essay in this category so soon. But the response from the last one was quite strong. There were lots of interesting discussions in the fangroups that allow me to post links (thanks to all those admins who do that for me! If there's anymore that want to - you're welcome to let me know!). The hits, in general, for the entry were quite high. So I figured I should keep the ball rolling a bit longer. As someone who actually works as a professional entertainer, I understand the value of giving my audience what they want! 

This one is almost a bit of a request. Each time I post in this series, lots of people express quite strongly how they feel about this particular character's status on the show. Sentiments to the nature of: "He's a companion and don't tell me, otherwise!" or "If he's not a companion then I'm an Ogron's Uncle!". And various other words to that effect (though I'm not so sure why everyone wanted to be an Ogron's uncle. They could have just as easily been the relative of a Sycorax!). It seemed logical that I should talk about him soon. 

So, without any further delay, here's his entry:

There is, perhaps, no character more unique in the entire history of the show than Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. He has met almost all of the Doctor's incarnations from the Classic Series (don't try to talk to me about him and Six in Dimensions in Time - I drink to forget that Special!). We have actually watched his lineage from his father to his daughter. He is, quite likely, one of the Doctor's closest friends. The tribute they paid to Nicholas Courtney's passing in Wedding of River Song brings a tear to my eye every time. On top of all that, of course, he was brilliantly-performed and, quite often, masterfully-written (admittedly, it was a bit annoying how painfully stupid he gets in Three Doctors!). 

The Brigadier was awesome. While we never met him in the New Series (don't talk to me about Sarah Jane Adventures, it's a fun little kids' show but it is not canon!), his legacy lives on in all sorts of different ways. Even before we met Kate, he would often get referenced in New Who UNIT stories. 

Quite simply, the Brig was a great man.... 

..... but was he a companion?     

RUNNING HIM THROUGH THE QUALIFIERS

I will be intensely-lazy and just copy and paste my 2 Main Companion Traits into this entry. I'll include the link that discusses them in greater detail, too. You should read it. It really breaks things down nicely. I'm really good at complimenting my own writing, aren't I?!    

Onscreen Longevity: A character has to be on the show for an extended period of time and we have to actually see them in multiple episodes. 

Travelling in the TARDIS from Story-to-Story: A companion leaves with the Doctor at the end of a story and goes on to travel with him for several more.    

If you'd like a more in-depth examination of these two traits, check out this link:   https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2022/03/point-of-debate-should-we-consider-them.html 

There you go. Exposition taken care of. Down to Business! 

WARNING: As strongly as you might feel about the Brigadier's status as a companion, the Qualifiers will indicate that he does maintain a certain level of ambiguity in terms of how he fits into the show. Please do not rage at me. I'm just doing my job! 

THE FIRST TRAIT

Certainly there is no disputing this one. The Brigadier definitely has some serious Onscreen Longevity. 

With only a few notable exceptions (the actual First Doctor and, maybe, Sarah Jane Smith) no one has had a presence that has spanned as much of the show as he has. But the nature of his Longevity can call things into question a bit. 

At first, he seems more like a recurring character. We meet him for the first time in Season Five (grrrr!!  I hate you, Guy Working at the TV station that kept Episode Three of Web of Fear!). He returns again about a year later in Season Six to help combat a Cybermen Invasion. At this stage of the game, he is more like Professor Travers. In fact, he almost seems to be a replacement for Professor Travers! When the Second Doctor comes back to Earth in the 20th Century to fight an evil alien, either Travers or Lethbridge-Stewart shows up to help him. 

But then the Doctor regenerates. And the exile begins. And the Brigadier is there in full force! 

For two Seasons, at least. 

Season Seven and Eight have the Brig in every single story. Even when Jo and the Doctor do get off-world in Colony In Space, the production team makes sure to bookend the plot with cameos from him (it is great fun when he shouts: "Doctor! Come back here, at once!" and the Time Lord actually shows up!). This is, without a doubt, the period of the show where he really does feel like a companion. He is not only in every tale, but, quite often, he has a very solid presence in them. The writers frequently assign him very large plot threads that take care of significant portions of the narration. In the same way that any other companion is used. And he's doing this week after week for a good two years.  

As we get in to the latter part of the Third Doctor Era, however, he does start taking on a bit of a River Song Vibe. It's a very slow progression, but he still becomes more and more of a character who is just dipping in and out of the show. 

While he is still in exile during Season Nine, the Doctor does get sent on the occasional mission for the Time Lords (did a whole entry about this - check it out, here: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2017/05/analytical-missions-for-time-lords.html). He goes on two of them during this season. During both of these adventures, we do not see the Brigadier at all. This, at least, has some logic to it. The Doctor is on alien worlds and the Brig doesn't want to go with him. The Sea Devils, however, is almost unsettling! For once, the Doctor enlists the aid of the Navy to assist him in fighting the latest menace to humanity. UNIT wasn't there at all. Nor was, of course, the Brigadier. It's the first time in two years that he does not show his face in a story taking place on 20th Century Earth.    

Season Ten is equally brutal to the character. Finally earning his freedom at the end of The Three Doctors, our favorite Time Lord races off to various foreign planets and futuristic time periods to experience all sorts of wild adventures. He only returns to Earth at the end of the year to combat the problems at Global Chemicals. So we only get the Brigadier at the beginning and end of the season. 

Season Eleven is a little kinder. Although the Brigadier is only around for the beginning of The Time Warrior, he has a very solid presence in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. He comes back again for Planet of Spiders and is in most of its episodes, too. And then, of course, he gets to watch the Doctor regenerate. 

But the arrival of the Fourth Doctor really marks the end for the character. This new production team wants to move away from the UNIT Family and take things in a new direction. Season Twelve had the original intention of bookending things with the Brigadier, again. After regenerating, the Doctor hangs around for a bit in Robot and assists the Brig with handling Think Tank. At the end of Revenge of the Cybemen, the Doctor receives a message from his old friend on the Time/Space Telegraph that he left him. Terror of the Zygons was meant to finish off the season but had to be postponed to the beginning of the next one. 

Season Twelve marks the first time in five years that we have only seen the character once. 

Season Thirteen does the same thing. We even get two more stories that year that involve UNIT. But, on both occasions, the Brigadier is conveniently away at the time. No doubt, Nicholas Courtney sensed that the character's days were numbered and felt the need to move on. 

For quite some time after this, the Brig appears to just fade away into the woodwork. 

But then the JNT Era welcomes him back with open arms! 

But the arms are actually only so open. Mawdryn Undead was, in fact, originally intended to bring back Ian Chesterton. But, for whatever reason, William Russell wasn't available at the time. But good 'ole Nick Courrtney was up for a return if they needed him. Re-writes were done and the Brig became a Math Teacher. And the story worked great. Courtney does an amazing job of portraying the character at two different points in his life. 

A few months later, the Brig is back to get into mischief with Two during The Five Doctors. Which is great. It would have been a crime if the 20th Anniversary Celebration had not included him/ 

And then, finally, we get to Battlefield. Quite a few years have passed since his last appearance so some pretty radical changes have been made to the Brig's lifestyle. Because of the time between Five Doctors and this tale, we're able to accept that he's done working at a boy's school and has gotten back together with Doris. 

Apparently, there had been intentions to kill the character off in this adventure. More than likely, it would have been during that awesome confrontation with the Destroyer (when the demon asks: "Are you the best champion this world can offer?!" I always want to shout: "Yes! Yes he is!" rather than hear the humble answer that the Brigadier actually gives!).  I am glad that they decided not to go with the decision to let him die. The happy ending that he gets with Doris suits the mood of the programme much better. The Brig trying to get Seven and Ancelyn to help him with his "honey-do list" is a great final image for the character. 

I took the trouble to chronicle all of his appearances so that you could see for yourself what sort of presence he has had in the series. Admittedly, during most of his involvement with the show, he is more like a recurring character than a companion. He pops in for a story and then disappears again for a bit. Then returns a short while later. There are also several tales like The Time Monster, The Time Warrior and Planet of Spiders where he disappears from the plot for multiple episodes. These are all traits that we also attributed to River Song's Onscreen Longevity. And it was difficult to determine what her status on the show was, too. 

But then, there's Season Seven and Eight. Where the Brigadier is faithfully by the Doctor's side for, pretty much, every adventure. And it's a very real presence, too. The sort of presence that makes me feel like he is more akin to Captain Jack than River Song. Like Jack, he was a legitimate companion for a period of time and then moves on to just appearing now and again for several years afterward. 

As much as we'd like to see him that way, however, Trait #2 will cloud the issue even further... 

THE SECOND TRAIT

This, unfortunately, is where the waters will truly get muddied. 

While I do speak fondly of  how much we see the Brig in Seasons Seven and Eight, it should be noted that he does not travel once in the TARDIS during all that time. Yes, it isn't functioning well during either of those seasons but he did, at least, have a bit of an opportunity during Colony in Space and wanted no part of it. During his two "big seasons", he doesn't even bother to step into the Console Room and remark how it's bigger on the inside. This, to me, does detract greatly from him achieving companion status. During the time when he is heavily involved with the show, he doesn't do anything aboard the TARDIS. Yes, in some ways, he can't because the Time Lords have shut it down. But there could have still been ways to work around that (the Doctor repairs the TARDIS enough to have it travel in time but still not be able to leave Earth, perhaps?). It would have been nice if, somehow, an opportunity had presented itself for the Brigadier to take a trip or two aboard the Doctor's ship during this period. Particularly in Season Seven. It would stop us from having to, someday, indulge in a debate of this nature about Liz Shaw, too!   

The Brigadier will, of course, finally enter the TARDIS for the first time a season or so later in The Three Doctors. But, in some ways, it almost doesn't count! He is much more of an incidental character by this point. So a TARDIS trip during this period feels more like just a Support hitching a lift than a companion seeing the Universe. Also, he only travels in the time vessel within the context of one story. He does not leave with the Doctor and Jo on their next adventure to Inter Minor. Instead, he stays behind on Earth. 

We could nitpick even harder and point out that the TARDIS doesn't truly make a trip, here. It is actually transported by Omega to the Singularity Point. So the Brig actually just happens to be aboard the time craft as it is whisked away. Can we truly label this a trip aboard the TARDIS if it isn't actually travelling by its own volition?! 

Like I said, it's pretty nitpicky. But it still needs to be pointed out! 

Several years later, he takes quite a few trips aboard the TARDIS during Mawdryn Undead. He even does it during two different periods in his life! But, again, this is not happening during the proper point in his Onscreen Longevity. He is in "incidental guest-star mode" rather than "companion mode". And, once more, all the travelling takes place within one story. Neither of his selves choose to ride along with them to Terminus. 

Though assisted by Rassilon, I would count the strange journey he takes with Two at the end of The Five Doctors to also be a "proper" TARDIS trip (unless, of course, you're watching the "Deluxe" version. Then they are definitely being time scooped, again). One might even speculate that the Doctor doesn't quite get the Brig home right away. That they might have a few adventures together before returning him to the time period he belongs in. But that's all speculation and has no onscreen proof. So, again, this trip falls to the usual disqualifications: wrong period in the Brig's life and all within the context of one story. 

It's sad to say that even someone like Katarina does better in this category than the the 'ole Brig does! 

THE FLASHBACKS FIGHT BACK

No doubt, those of the "Brigadier is a Companion Don't Tell Me Otherwise"  Camp are not particularly thrilled with me. He didn't do well with the two Qualifiers. But, just as with Katarina and Sara Kingdom, there are other factors at play, here. 

In fact, one of the key points I made in support of the two women being companions was the mentioning of the flashback sequence we see in Resurrection of the Daleks. We get a whole montage of past Doctors and companions displayed on a screen as the Daleks suck away the Doctor's memories. In that whole little image gallery, both Katarina and Sara make an appearance. Which heavily re-enforces the idea, of course, that we should consider them companions. 

Well, guess what? Someone else that appears in that flashback is good 'ole Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, himself! It stands to reason, then, that if this is something that works in Katarina and Sara's favor - it should also help to support the idea that the Brig is a companion, too. 

But it doesn't end there! If we go back a bit further, there's another flashback sequence that will build the argument even better. As the Doctor hangs from the Pharos Project Satellite Dish in Logopolis, he has a vision of all his greatest enemies taunting him one last time. Then he drops to the earth and hallucinates again. This time, all his old companions call out to him. 

And who do see in the companion flashbacks? You guessed it! The Brigadier is there, too. I would even emphasise that these were only meant to be companions of the Fourth Doctor. The Brig only met this particular incarnation twice and he still makes it into the sequence. 

Flashbacks definitely help to build the Brigadier's credibility as a companion!

THE BIGGEST FACTOR OF THEM ALL

So we've looked at Companion Traits and Flashbacks, now let's examine the real reason so many fans will die on a hill for the Brigadier's status as a companion. 

As I said at the beginning of all this nonsense, the character of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart has a very unique relationship with the show. If you follow this idea to its logical conclusion, you realize that he had a very unique relationship with the Doctor, himself. I would go so far to say that he was probably one of the Time Lord's closest friends. 

And this is why so many of us still consider him to be a companion. On paper, he's probably more like River Song. He has a very strong place in the life of one incarnation but his presence spreads a bit further to stories both prior and after that particular Doctor. He does travel a bit in the TARDIS but not in the way a companion should. 

But none of these facts mean a whole lot to us. The Brigadier was an amazing character who cared deeply for his eccentric Scientific Advisor. And we love him for that. So much so, that we feel he should be a companion. Even if he doesn't quite fit the criteria. As far as many of us are concerned, the rules for companion status should be bent a bit in order to fit the Brigadier in.  He had so many gorgeous moments (oftentimes, very understated, too. Which, somehow, gets us to love him all-the-more) that made him stand out and shine brighter than any supporting character ever could. 

I still remember the moment where I decided the Brig was a companion. It was during one of those middle episodes of Ambassadors of Death. The Doctor is getting ready to go up in a rocket to retrieve the missing astronauts, himself. Lots of subplots are afoot so we're expecting him to just climb into the cockpit and head out. 

But who stops by to see him one last time before he goes? It should be Liz. She's meant to be the companion at the time (although, that will get disputed in this series at some later point). Instead, it's the Brigadier that pops in. They have a brief scene where both characters show a degree of genuine warmth to each other. And we see that all the arguing and working together out of necessity was only a small part of what was really going on between them. 

That's the moment that cements if for me. Up until then, the Brigadier seems almost - but not quite - a companion. After that scene, however, he makes that transition seamlessly into being more than just a support. He is a companion. 

Maybe not on a technical level, but he is. 

For the first time in this series, I truly reach a conclusion about whether a character is or isn't a companion. I probably won't at any other time. But this is the Brigadier we're talking about, here. He's  all about being the exception to the rule.... 

Other installments in the series....

River Song

https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2022/03/point-of-debate-should-we-consider-them.html

Katarina and Sara Kingdom

https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2022/06/point-of-debate-should-we-consider-them.html