Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments: Dodo Chaplet (Doctor Who)

I’ll be honest:  Dodo is pretty far down on my companion list.  I mean, she’s no Adric, but she’s pretty far down there.  Still, these posts are about celebrating the best in a companion, and Dodo has her good moments just like the rest.  Here’s what I picked out for her.

Finding the Key (Series 3, Episode 32 – “The Celestial Toymaker:  The Dancing Floor”)

As one of the Toymaker’s series of games Dodo and Steven are forced to play in order to find the TARDIS, they need to find a key to make it to their next challenge.  With the Toymaker’s playthings providing their usual distractions, the companions think they’ve exhausted all the possible hiding places, when Dodo pulls out some outside-the-box thinking for the win, discovering the key inside the pie.

Playing the Last Game (Series 3, Episode 33 – “The Celestial Toymaker:  The Final Test”)

This one’s a tag-team with Steven, but it’s still a good moment.  The last game standing between our heroes and the TARDIS is a human board game, where each roll brings them that many squares closer to the prize (oh, and if they step off the squares, they’ll be electrocuted, so there’s that.)  Here, Cyril tries every dirty trick in the book to win the game for himself, but Dodo and Steven power through his machinations, evading his most dangerous trick of all and finally winning the game.

Maintaining Her Cover (Series 3, Episode 34 – “The Gunfighters:  A Holiday for the Doctor”)

This is a silly inclusion, but I’d say it’s reasonable.  It’s the Doctor who initially invents cover stories for Dodo and Steven in the Wild West, claiming they’re traveling entertainers.  In theory, it’s all well and good to pose as such, but when the saloon patrons are hard-up for diversion, it gets a lot less theoretical.  Points to Dodo for acquitting herself well as Steven’s pianist when they’re forced to perform at gunpoint – talk about stage fright!

Suspecting the Elders (Series 3, Episode 38 – “The Savages:  Episode 1”)

Dodo is the first one to twig that something is off with the Elders in this one.  While she and Steven are getting a tour of the city, she reads between the lines of the questions their guides can’t answer, the places they won’t show her.  First chance she gets, she sneaks off to do a little investigating for herself and finds out for sure that the Elders aren’t on the level…

Fighting Off the Scientists (Series 3, Episode 39 – “The Savages:  Episode 2”)

…Because they immediately capture her and try to suck the life force out of her (real nice, guys.)  But Dodo holds her own, fighting them off and then keeping them in line by threatening to smash the equipment in their lab.  Nice show of toughness, and it’s a smart way to keep them away from her until someone can come and help her.