6. The Return Of Danny Pink
When Samuel Anderson was announced as the new recurring character of Danny Pink, fans broadly assumed that they were going to have two companions on board the TARDIS by the end of the year (or that he was the Master - fandom was a bit divided on that point at the time!). Indeed, it seemed clear that the season was heading in that direction. The Doctor and Danny had the now-traditional 'hostile first meeting with the companion's boyfriend', followed by the gradually growing acceptance of one another's place in Clara's life. It appeared to be a foregone conclusion that Danny, like Mickey Smith and Rory Williams before him, was about to join the crew and travel with his Missus' other gentleman friend. Then the opening scenes of Dark Water happened and he was killed off in one of the most brutally realistic portrayals of losing a loved one due to an accident that has ever been shown on television. One second he was on the other end of the phone, the next he was not. Obviously, again with the benefit of hindsight, Danny existed for the express purpose of taking the fairly remote concept of dead bodies being turned into Cybermen and making it deeply personal. Fans already got one bonus goodbye from him in Last Christmas. Bringing him back again would actively damage the impact of his sacrifice and would be a terrible idea.
Mikey Heinrich
Contributor
Mikey is, in no particular order, a freelance writer, improvisational comedian, volunteer firefighter, playwright, Bon Vivant, and Jane Espenson enthusiast.
Born in the small mining town of Eden Prairie, MN, he has some 40 years later successfully moved about 20 miles north of there to the City of Brooklyn Center, MN where he lives with an unreasonable number of dogs.
If you'd like to hear him discuss something other than Doctor Who while pretending to be a dog, check out www.the42ndvizsla.blogspot.com or follow him on twitter at @the42ndVizlsa
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