Doctor Who: 5 Types Of Male Companions (And Where Danny Pink Might Fit)

4. The Student

Although all of the Doctor's companions could be viewed as pupils studying the vast intricacies of time and space under the tutelage of someone who knows it best, there is also a distinct student type, a wide-eyed young person eager to absorb as much as they can about the universe around them. This type is more commonly seen among female companions (Vicki, Zoe, and Ace are among the ones that come to mind), but there have been a few examples of male student-companions as well. Perhaps the best example of this particular type is a certain James Robert Macrimmon, a young Scottish bagpiper who was curious about the impossible world the Doctor and his companions inhabited. Jamie exemplifies the student so well precisely because his education was so obvious in his travels. He was from our world's past; things that we take for granted everyday were completely foreign to him, and sometimes he struggled in his understanding of other cultures. But Jamie's thirst for knowledge could not be assuaged; whatever there was to learn, he absorbed it. He had learned so much with the Doctor that it was really an incredible shame when the Time Lords wiped his memories of all but his first encounter with the Doctor. Adric could also be considered a student, albeit a slightly different style. He already possessed a fair amount of intelligence when he met the Doctor and Romana, but he had little humility to temper the pride he took in his knowledge. But if there was one thing he learned in his time with the Doctor, it was that he didn't know as much as he thought he did, but he was also willing to learn more. Whereas Jamie's growth was more mental, Adric's changes really were in his character €“ he matured while on the TARDIS, enabling him to make the hard decision of sacrificing his life. I could see Danny being something of a student type, albeit more of a subtype. Being a teacher, he'll also have it in him to recognise the gaps in his knowledge and seek to fill them, but I don't see this being his dominant trait.