"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments: Tegan Jovanka (Doctor Who)


Today, I’m staying home for Peter Capaldi.

Tegan’s a strong all-purpose companion. She doesn’t have the combat skills of Leela or River or the genius of Zoe or Romana, but she’s great classic-companion material. She’s smart, resourceful, bold, and determined. She can always be relied on to do what needs to be done, even if she hasn’t always figured out what that is yet. Here are five great moments of Tegan getting things done (spoilers.)


Navigating the Data Bank (Series 19, Episode 1 – “Castrovalva:  Episode 1”)

The start of Tegan and Nyssa’s beautiful friendship. The Doctor has just regenerated, the TARDIS is in flight, and Tegan and Nyssa don’t know how to stop it before they crash into something. Tegan discovers the TARDIS data bank, which they think they can use to help them, but they don’t know if to navigate the system. Tegan’s sudden flash of inspiration is a stretch worthy of a House episode (she’s musing on the word “if” and comes up with the idea to type I-F for “index file,”) but it gets the job done; she and Nyssa are able to access the data bank and figure out what they need to. (Side note: I get that this whole thing is actually trumped up by the Master via Adric, but Tegan’s determination and creativity in a crisis isn’t, so this moment absolutely counts.)


Playing Dumb (Series 19, Episode 14 – “The Visitation:  Episode 2”)

I talked about this for Adric’s Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments, but it bears repeating. When Tegan and Adric are captured by the Terileptils, she leads the way on being wonderfully-uncooperative prisoners. Pressed for intel on the Doctor, she makes silly speculations about his origins, and she brushes off the charge that she’s wearing clothes made of non-contemporary fabrics, referring the Terileptil to her tailor. Later on, when Adric tells him about the TARDIS, she adds in that the two of them are “vital” crew members that need to be kept alive if the Terileptil ever wants to know how it works. Oh, and when he calls her stupid, she witheringly replies, “That’s not a very original observation.” The best companions know how to be cool under pressure in critical moments, and Tegan has that down!


Suspecting Mawdryn (Series 20, Episode 11 – “Mawdryn Undead:  Episode 3”)

When Mawdryn tries to pass himself off as the newly-regenerated Doctor, Nyssa is unsure and the Brigadier feels obligated to give him the benefit of the doubt. Tegan, though, is the most suspicious of the three. Even though she ultimately goes along with the others, she’s the one digging in her heels and poking holes in Mawdryn’s story. She points out that the last time the Doctor regenerated, he still looked human (well, Time Lord) afterwards, and when Mawdryn is eager to leave the TARDIS and return to the downed ship, she demands to know why. Her instincts are right on here.


Distracting the Tractators (Series 21, Episode 9 – “Frontios:  Episode 3”)

Tegan and the Doctor, separately, come across the Tractators who’ve immobilized Norna in some kind of psychic gravity beam (just go with it.) Seeing one another from a distance, the Doctor warns Tegan to keep out of sight, but he’s spotted himself and caught in the same beam. Tegan, not one to leave people in danger, throws her lamp in amongst the Tractators and smashes it on the ground, creating a burst of light that distracts them long enough to disrupt the beam and free the Doctor and Norna.


Recognizing the False Archer (Series 21, Episode 11 – “Resurrection of the Daleks:  Episode 1”)

Col. Archer is taken by Lytton’s men and replaced by a fake. When the false Archer returns, Tegan is the one who recognizes that it isn’t the same man, noticing that the fake is wearing a gun belt when the real Archer gave his to the Doctor. I’m all about companions using their shrewd observation skills to identify dangers.

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