Doctor Who: 5 Things To Learn From Classic Series & 5 Things That Are Better

4. Companion Departures

So Rose leaves. Oh no, wait, it didn't happen like that. It was more like.... The Battle of Canary Wharf - The final resting place of Rose Tyler. Or is it? She is not dead, but a piece of her - her heart - was ripped from her across dimensions. Here, in Canary Wharf, the Doctor faced two of his greatest enemies. Daleks. Cybermen. All of humanity's existence hung in the balance. And Rose, his constant since the Time War's aftermath, was the greatest casualty of all..... Rose annoys me, particularly in Series 2 and her subsequent comeback (I quite like her against Eccleston in Series 1, though). But her departure? That's powerful stuff. It's hard not to shed a tear as the Doctor and Rose lean against the same wall with entire dimensions between them, knowing that they'll never see each other again.... This is something the Classic Series struggled - no wait - often FAILED at. I count (generously) FIVE occasions across the 26 seasons that the Classic Series got a departure right: * The First Doctor pretty much forced his granddaughter Susan out of his life as he felt she deserved a normal one, rather than be on the run with him across time (The speech he gives is legendary, and deservedly so). *Later, he sees off his other original companions Ian and Barbara, hiding his feelings for them amidst angry bluster. * The Second Doctor bids his companions Jamie and Zoe farewell as the Time Lords capture him, and erase their memories of his time with them beyond their first encounter. (Suddenly, the whole Donna thing seems less radical, eh?) * Jo Grant GROWS UP AND PAST the Doctor (Again New Series, take note!!!) and finds a new life and man to be with. The Doctor is gutted, and actually cannot hide it. *Possibly still gutted from that whole Jo episode, when the Doctor is called back to Gallifrey and can't take Sarah Jane, he just tells her she has to go, visibly trying to keep things "friendly" (It's played very much as two people holding back their feelings). These instances are excellent and excellently played. You could drop syrupy Murray Gold music all over them (I'd rather you didn't, though) and they'd fit just as well next to Martha, Rose, and Amy & Rory's exits. Unfortunately, that's getting it right only 1/6th of the time over 26 years and one movie. They are the exception to the rule. Classic Who just didn't invest itself in character departures sometimes, or just had to "make do" - Dodo, a first Doctor companion, wasn't working out, so they just wrote her off and had her leave OFFSCREEN. Try, even for a second, to imagine Matt Smith walking back to River in a graveyard by the TARDIS and River explaining "Amy and Rory are gone. An Angel got them before you got here. I'm sorry". It'd never happen that way (and rightfully so) but it STILL would have more impact due to the investment in those two leading up to their departure over the 5 episodes gradually dedicated to their leaving. Dodo gets to betray the Doctor, get de-hypnotized by him, get taken to the country to recover.....and that's it. Gone. Just like that.

Dodo was written badly throughout though. The aforementioned Leela (a favourite of mine) had excellent characterisation, a great actress who invested quirks in her and gave consistent performances (Louise Jameson), and had stories that developed her for the most part. Her departure story isn't even clearly her departure story until she suddenly announces she's staying on Gallifrey to marry Andred, a guard she's previously seen arguing with and, yes, running up and down corridors with. It happens in the last 3 minutes of the story (Which ran over SIX WEEKS). It's..... a bit crap.

I could go on. But in the new series, even if there's sometimes a bit too much syrup (AHEM, Mr. Gold), the characters we've come to love seeing travel with the Doctor get an exit that at least reflects upon how important they've been, or makes it clear they'll certainly be missed. If the Classic Series had given every companion an exit worthy of their time on the TARDIS, we might've even missed Dodo.