Somehow, despite there being no reason to think this, some people have gotten it into their heads that Susan wasn't actually the Doctor's granddaughter. That she was just some other person who traveled along with him for reasons. Now this isn't impossible, and there have been various attempts to work this into the canon (I'm looking right at you, Lungbarrow). But like with the mystery Time Lady being the Doctor's mother, it isn't an explanation that is really needed. There is nothing Susan said or did that should give us any reason to assume she's anything other than someone from Gallifrey and probably a Time Lady (to be fair, there does seem to be a difference there. All Time Lords are Gallifreyan, but not all Gallifreyans are Time Lords). This is the simplest and easiest explanation. But some people insist that, for whatever reason, she isn't actually his granddaughter. Perhaps the vague undercurrent here is that no one wants to picture the Doctor (especially the Hartnell version), having had sex, and thus fathering a child, who goes on to have a grandchild. While that impulse is understandable, since any kind of sexuality humanizes the Doctor, and we don't always want that, it may really be unnecessary here. It's just silly. And if she isn't the Doctor's granddaughter, then you have to explain why he's wandering around through space and time with some unrelated fifteen-year-old girl in tow.
Chris Swanson is a freelance writer and blogger based in Phoenix, Arizona, where winter happens to other people. His blog is at wilybadger.wordpress.com
