Favorite Characters: Tegan Jovanka (Doctor Who)

It’s true that classic Who features much more variety than new Who in terms of just how the companions come aboard the TARDIS, and it’s also true that Tegan isn’t the first who’s not there by choice (going all the way back to the pilot, the Doctor straight-up abducts Ian and Barbara.)  But one thing that is different about Tegan is the fact that she spends most of her first season arguing with the Doctor about getting home.

We meet Tegan making a rather scattershot departure for her first day at her new job as a flight attendant, but an ill-timed flat tire sends her running to what she thinks is a police box.  Of course, it instead turns out to be a time-traveling spaceship, and the rest is history.  In those days, the Doctor had even less control over the TARDIS than she does now, and bring Tegan back home proves to be a tall order.  Serial after serial opens with the Doctor sheepishly admitting that they’re still not at Heathrow Airport and Tegan getting increasingly frustrated with him.

It’s tempting to paint these arguments as Tegan being demanding, trying to browbeat the Doctor into a clear flightplan that we know he can’t deliver.  Really, though, discovering you’ve accidentally been whisked away in time and space is no small matter, and realizing that the pilot can’t steer the ship complicates things even more.  Tegan didn’t ask for any of this, and it’s well within reason that she’d fixate on how she’s going to get home.  It makes for an interesting dynamic, with Tegan frequently impatient and irritated and yet starting to grow fond of the Doctor, Adric, and Nyssa in spite of herself.

Not to mention getting caught up in the adventures.  Tegan may spend most of her first season wanting to leave, but as soon as things go haywire in “Logopolis,” she’s pitching in to help, and when the Doctor experiences a serious regeneration crisis in the next serial, she not only quickly rolls with the idea of regeneration but also proves quite capable in a tough situation.  With the Doctor out of commission and largely unable to help, she works together with Nyssa to access the TARDIS databank in hopes of piloting the ship, helps transport the Doctor across the terrain of an alien planet, and takes part in unraveling an evil plot, all on her second trip out!

On the whole, Tegan is very capable.  When she doesn’t know what she’s doing, she never lets that stop her and instead searches for resources to help her figure out what to do.  Her whole time on the TARDIS, she’s the only human there, and the others frequently remind her how limited her experience is, but she doesn’t let herself be sold short.  And even though she’s often frightened by the dangers they face, she’s stubborn enough that she doesn’t let fear hold her back.  She always presses forward, and when she keeps at it long enough, she usually finds a solution.