Companions: Fifty Years of Doctor Who Assistants by Andy Frankham-Allen Page B
Authors: Andy Frankham-Allen
Ads: Link
upon’, but soon enters the TARDIS to be spirited away to Atlantis ( The Underwater Menace ) .
The first thing to change about Jamie is his accent, which softens almost immediately. One might attribute this to travel, except it happens too quickly. The harder accent returns, however, when his features are temporarily changed in the Land of Fiction ( The Mind Robber) but the soft familiar tones continue once his normal features are returned. It is interesting to note that once he is returned to his own time his original accent resurfaces, confirming his travels with the Doctor ‘no longer happened for him’.
A product of the eighteenth century, Jamie’s knowledge base is somewhat lacking, and he is constantly exposed to new things which he can barely understand. To cope he often equates such things with his own time period; calling a plane a ‘flying beastie’ for instance, or in the case of a hovercraft, a fairytale. He is initially fearful of flying in a helicopter in The Enemy of the World , despite having previously flown in an aeroplane sometime before in The Faceless Ones , but by the time he is next in a helicopter, in Fury from the Deep , he is perfectly comfortable – just one instance in which Jamie displays his amazing adaptability to new situations. This lack of knowledge should never be mistaken as stupidity; he shows an amazing level of intelligence, resourcefulness and common sense throughout his travels, quickly learning to read and how to tell the time. Note, for example, how he finds a way onto the Chameleon Tours plane despite previously never having been in an airport.
It seems that at first Jamie doesn’t quite know how to act around women; horrified by the notion of being pampered by a group of women on the leisure colony of The Macra Terror , and flustered by the attention of Samantha Briggs in The Faceless Ones , but he soon learns to adapt to her bolshie attitude and does his best to charm her. This experience leaves him in good standing, since in the next adventure ( The Evil of the Daleks ) he is quite happy to question the ‘lassies’ in a London cafe, and rather enjoys the experience, getting the required information with ease. When he is later transferred to 1866, he easily charms the Maxtible’s maid, Molly. All these experiences prepare him for the arrival of Victoria.
Jamie’s relationship with his travelling companions tends to be mostly affectionate, especially with the Doctor, Victoria and Zoe. He is competitive with Ben, often responding with bravado and aggression at some perceived insult.
Jamie is disappointed when Ben & Polly leave, since they had taken him under their wing and treated him much like a little brother (possibly it was them, in particular Polly, who encouraged him to learn to read). He promises to look out for the Doctor, a promise he takes very seriously over the course of the next two years. As he and the Doctor become close a strong relationship of trust and respect is built.
This relationship is almost brought to an abrupt end when the Doctor appears to ally himself with the Daleks ( The Evil of the Daleks ) , putting Jamie through a series of dangerous tests as the Daleks attempt to define the ‘human factor’. When Jamie discovers the Doctor’s apparent betrayal, he is angry and calls him callous and uncaring. Uncharacteristically he appears to want to leave the TARDIS, but the Doctor manages to win him over. Jamie is later devastated when he believes the Doctor to be infected by the ‘Dalek factor’. He is not entirely convinced by the Doctor’s insistence that he is still actually himself. This presents a shift in their previous dynamic and Jamie continues to display a willingness to call the Doctor out when he believes the Doctor wrong. Nonetheless, despite that shift they still remain close, with Jamie considering himself responsible for the Doctor’s safety.
Outwardly he treats new companion Victoria as a little sister, adopting the role
The first thing to change about Jamie is his accent, which softens almost immediately. One might attribute this to travel, except it happens too quickly. The harder accent returns, however, when his features are temporarily changed in the Land of Fiction ( The Mind Robber) but the soft familiar tones continue once his normal features are returned. It is interesting to note that once he is returned to his own time his original accent resurfaces, confirming his travels with the Doctor ‘no longer happened for him’.
A product of the eighteenth century, Jamie’s knowledge base is somewhat lacking, and he is constantly exposed to new things which he can barely understand. To cope he often equates such things with his own time period; calling a plane a ‘flying beastie’ for instance, or in the case of a hovercraft, a fairytale. He is initially fearful of flying in a helicopter in The Enemy of the World , despite having previously flown in an aeroplane sometime before in The Faceless Ones , but by the time he is next in a helicopter, in Fury from the Deep , he is perfectly comfortable – just one instance in which Jamie displays his amazing adaptability to new situations. This lack of knowledge should never be mistaken as stupidity; he shows an amazing level of intelligence, resourcefulness and common sense throughout his travels, quickly learning to read and how to tell the time. Note, for example, how he finds a way onto the Chameleon Tours plane despite previously never having been in an airport.
It seems that at first Jamie doesn’t quite know how to act around women; horrified by the notion of being pampered by a group of women on the leisure colony of The Macra Terror , and flustered by the attention of Samantha Briggs in The Faceless Ones , but he soon learns to adapt to her bolshie attitude and does his best to charm her. This experience leaves him in good standing, since in the next adventure ( The Evil of the Daleks ) he is quite happy to question the ‘lassies’ in a London cafe, and rather enjoys the experience, getting the required information with ease. When he is later transferred to 1866, he easily charms the Maxtible’s maid, Molly. All these experiences prepare him for the arrival of Victoria.
Jamie’s relationship with his travelling companions tends to be mostly affectionate, especially with the Doctor, Victoria and Zoe. He is competitive with Ben, often responding with bravado and aggression at some perceived insult.
Jamie is disappointed when Ben & Polly leave, since they had taken him under their wing and treated him much like a little brother (possibly it was them, in particular Polly, who encouraged him to learn to read). He promises to look out for the Doctor, a promise he takes very seriously over the course of the next two years. As he and the Doctor become close a strong relationship of trust and respect is built.
This relationship is almost brought to an abrupt end when the Doctor appears to ally himself with the Daleks ( The Evil of the Daleks ) , putting Jamie through a series of dangerous tests as the Daleks attempt to define the ‘human factor’. When Jamie discovers the Doctor’s apparent betrayal, he is angry and calls him callous and uncaring. Uncharacteristically he appears to want to leave the TARDIS, but the Doctor manages to win him over. Jamie is later devastated when he believes the Doctor to be infected by the ‘Dalek factor’. He is not entirely convinced by the Doctor’s insistence that he is still actually himself. This presents a shift in their previous dynamic and Jamie continues to display a willingness to call the Doctor out when he believes the Doctor wrong. Nonetheless, despite that shift they still remain close, with Jamie considering himself responsible for the Doctor’s safety.
Outwardly he treats new companion Victoria as a little sister, adopting the role
Similar Books
