Relationship Spotlight: The Fourth Doctor & Leela (Doctor Who)

To me, Four and Leela are the Second Doctor of Doctor-companion relationships – and yes, I know that sounds like an incredibly weird thing to say. What I mean is that Leela, much like the Second Doctor, was introduced in a very high-pressure situation, and there was a lot riding on getting her right. Two was the very first time we experienced the Doctor regenerating, and as I’ve said before, if the audience hadn’t taken to him, Who couldn’t have become the British institution it is today. Leela’s situation was less unprecedented, but it was still critical. Four and Sarah Jane were, and are still to this day, one of the most beloved Doctor-companion duos ever. Sarah Jane had been with Four since his beginning, plus a season with Three before that. When she left, her absence was felt, and I’m sure plenty of people weren’t prepared to fall quickly in line with her replacement. But, just as Two did, Leela stepped forward and carved out her own place in the show, bringing a very different vibe than her predecessor. Four and Sarah Jane remain iconic, undoubtedly, but Four and Leela are magic together as well.

Any time the Doctor has a companion who’s highly-capable in a fight, it creates some instant friction, since the Doctor is frequently all about the nonviolence, and Leela poses more of a challenge in that department than most. A warrior of the Sevateem, Leela is most at home wielding a knife or a Janis thorn, and on her travels with the Doctor, she busks her way through a variety of weapons used throughout time and space. She’s a licensed badass, much to the Doctor’s consternation, and it’s understandable that they don’t immediately become besties.

But Leela doesn’t allow herself to be ignored, and it’s through the force of her will that the Doctor sees her as more than simply someone to lecture about fighting. Like a number of other classic Who companions, she isn’t invited on the TARDIS – she asks to come, and when the Doctor tries to beg off, she steps inside anyway. Although he likes her well enough and tries to teach her a little during his time on her planet, Leela isn’t part of his plan. To use a new Who analogy, one might call her the Martha to Sarah Jane’s Rose, the quasi-rebound after a particularly-beloved companion. But Leela, like Martha is awesome, and fortunately for her, Four picks up on that a lot more quickly than Ten does.

It’s probably her curiosity that starts to win the Doctor over. Leela is uneducated and has little experience outside of life in her tribe, but her mind is agile and she relishes in experiencing new things. It’s a pleasure to watch her mind work through trying to understand what a robot is, her delight at the prospect of going to a Victorian theatrical performance. She’s full of questions that often only increase after the Doctor gives her an explanation, challenging the notions that she doesn’t understand. Though a warrior by upbringing and culture, Leela can learn too, take in new ideas and contextualize them. It’s not a simple matter of the Doctor “taming the savage,” but it’s clear that all of Leela’s potential is already there – through the Doctor, she gets the opportunity to realize it.

Additionally, it’s lovely to see how protective Leela is of the Doctor. Even though the Doctor typically avoids violence, they still frequently consider their companions to be under their charge, responsible for anything that happens to them. In pretty much any incarnation, the Doctor is the one to stand between their companions and danger. But as Four moves to shield Leela, she’s already there defending him. This occurs with her combat skills, of course, no matter how much the Doctor might scold her to the contrary, but it also occurs with her loyalty. I feel like, every time I talk about Leela, I bring up “The Invasion of Time,” but that’s because she’s so awesome in it. When the Doctor is putting on a shady act and has by all appearances aligned himself with the bad guys, Leela doesn’t doubt him for a second and won’t listen to anyone who suggests otherwise. She was perhaps raised to value strength and brute force over anything else, but she looks at her odd, intelligent, gentle Doctor and recognizes that he’s someone worth fighting for.

Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments: Leela (Doctor Who)

Obviously, as easily the most badass classic Who companion, Leela has no shortage of Big Damn Hero moments.  The Sevateem warrior is handy with a dagger (and a Janis thorn, despite the Doctor’s objections,) knows her way around hand-to-hand combat, and is a quick study on guns.  As with most of the Doctor’s more badass companions, though, I’ve tried to put together a list that’s a little more varied than “five times Leela kicked someone’s ass” (spoilers.)

Fighting Mister Sin (Series 14, Episode 23 – “The Talons of Weng-Chiang:  Episode 3”)

Leela is prepared when Mister Sin arrives at Professor Litefoot’s house.  Having already knocked out the professor, Mister Sin creeps toward her, knife outstretched, and Leela returns like for like, grabbing a steak knife off the table and expertly throwing it straight into his neck.  Of course (because Who isn’t about to have Leela actually kill someone by knifing them in the jugular,) it turns out Mister Sin don’t go down that way.  When he’s unphased by the knife attack, Leela does the smart thing:  fall back and regroup.  She also does the cool thing, vaulting over a chair, running across the table, and diving out the window – Leela gets all the action moves!

Tailing Li H’sen (Series 14, Episode 23 – “The Talons of Weng-Chiang:  Episode 3”)

Brave and smart!  Leela follows Li H’sen back to the theatre, taking cover while he puts his hypnotic mojo on an unsuspecting woman.  Then, when Li H’sen is out of the room, Leela swaps clothes with the woman and hides her away, getting Li H’sen to instead take her back to Greel’s lair with him.  Since Leela is only pretending to be hypnotized, this gives her valuable intel on where to find the baddies and a primo opportunity for a first skirmish with Greel; nicely done.

Killing the Rutan (Series 15, Episode 4 – “Horror of Fang Rock:  Episode 4”)

While the particulars of this moment aren’t anything extraordinary – Leela fires a mortar at the Rutan – it’s here for the swagger points.  Leela seeks it out afterwards and finds the Rutan dying in the stairwell, where she scoffs at its promise of revenge.  “Enjoy your death as I enjoyed killing you.”  I know the Doctor doesn’t approve, but seriously, how badass is that?

Fighting the Infected (Series 15, Episode 7 – “The Invisible Enemy:  Episode 3”)

While the cloned Doctor and Leela are miniaturized and injected into the Doctor’s bloodstream to locate the nucleus of the Virus (it’s Who, just go with it,) the Infected are keen to stop that happening.  With the Doctor himself unconscious, it’s up to Leela (and K9) to hold them back.  This is a fun example of how Leela adapts over the course of her time on the show; while she fights as strategically as ever, she also learns her way around weapons she would’ve never used as one of the Sevateem, like blasters.  Cool action scene that shows off Leela’s boldness, as well as her smarts.

Keeping the Faith (Series 15, Episode 23 – “The Invasion of Time:  Episode 3”)

At this point in the story, everything seems to suggest that the Doctor is in league with the bad guys.  He’s been shifty and secretive, he lowered Gallifrey’s defenses to let the enemy in, and he appears to have turned on Leela personally, banishing her from the Citadel.  But Leela remains loyal, sure that it’s all part of the Doctor’s plan, calm in the knowledge that she doesn’t have to understand it to help him carry it out.  Rodan argues with her, insisting that “reason dictates” that the Doctor is a traitor.  Leela, fiercely, replies, “Then reason is a liar!”  This is maybe an odd Big Damn Hero moment to include, especially for a companion who regularly kicks so much ass, but this display of trust and devotion is brave too, and I love that Leela is unflinching in her belief in the Doctor’s character.

Favorite Characters: Leela (Doctor Who)

I love Leela.  My favorite Fourth Doctor companion, and in my top five for classic Who companions in general.  While she possesses plenty of “typical companion” traits – curiosity, kindness, bravery – she’s also a very different sort of companion, which is frequently a good thing in my book (a couple Leela-related spoilers.)

Leela is part of the subset of classic Who companions that are human offworlders from the future (such as Vicki, Steven, or Zoe.)  While not aliens, these companions typically come to the TARDIS with prior knowledge of space travel and other sci-fi stuff.  This, however, is not the case with Leela.  A member of the Sevateem tribe, she is a descendent of a survey team that crashed on her planet ages ago.  That space-age knowledge has been lost to her people, other than the elements and artifacts they’ve incorporated into their religion.  The Sevateem are a stab-first ask-questions-later warrior society that subsist on hunting and gathering.  During the Sevateem’s introduction and throughout Leela’s time on the show, the word “savage” gets a lot of use.

As such, Leela doesn’t know much about space travel.  Or guns.  Or telephones.  Or silverware.  Despite being from the future, she functions in her travels with the Doctor much more like human companions from the past (such as Katarina, Jamie, or Victoria.)  This means a steep learning curve with nearly everything she encounters.  Whether it’s trying to understand how a robot works or mistakenly thinking a yo-yo is instrumental to TARDIS flight, she’s constantly having her horizons expanded.  “I too believed in magic once,” she tells a turn-of-the-century lady who consults a spiritualist.  “The Doctor has taught me about science.  It is better to believe in science.”

And the “warrior society” part of the Sevateem means Leela is likelier than most companions to want to resort to violence.  Even though Who has seen its share of fighting over the years and there are several companions who’ve been more prone to it (such as the UNIT guys, Ace, or River,) it’s still not the Doctor’s go-to tactic, and so Leela’s tendency to threaten the baddies with bodily harm doesn’t always go over as well as she might hope.  The Doctor tries to get her to see there’s another way, while she argues that her methods come in handy.  And honestly, TARDIS life is dangerous enough that, in most stories, some level of violence is required, anyway.  But it still bothers the Doctor that that’s her first reaction to many situations, and just as he introduces her to new things, he also tries to introduce her to new ideas.

I like Leela’s badassery and love her sense of discovery, but my favorite thing about her is her loyalty.  A big part of her fighting instincts comes from her fierce desire to defend the Doctor (and later K9) from enemies.  She considers herself the Doctor’s protector, and in her own way, dispatching a bad guy for the Doctor is meant to be a caring gesture.  And that loyalty extends beyond the physical protection she provides.  I just adores Leela’s behavior in “The Invasion of Time.”  Everyone believes – and all the evidence suggests – that the Doctor is doing something shady, but Leela never so much as dignifies those suspicions with her consideration.  When someone points out to her that “reason dictates” the Doctor has betrayed them, Leela’s reply is simply, “Then reason is a liar!”  Her faith in him is absolute.  She doesn’t need to know any of the details of his true motives; she trusts that they’re there, and that’s enough for her.  I love that.