In a few hours, Amy and Rory will leave Doctor Who, apparently forever. Many blogs have taken to listing "Top 10 companion departures", that sort of thing. Mine is a bit different - ten moments which SEEM to see a companion leave...only for the opportunity to be missed as the companion survives to fight another day. It's up to you to decide, in each case, whether that was a good thing!
10. DOOMSDAY (Rose Tyler)
One of the finest departures ever and I was crying with everyone else as Rose was trapped in a parallel universe forever, never to be reunited with her beloved Doctor. Well, until she popped up again 16 episodes later, making fully-fledged appearances in three more episodes and earning herself another big farewell scene. And then a cameo in The End of Time to boot.
See also: Journey's End, which sees off Donna Noble in a similarly effective way only to bring her back four episodes later (although not as blatantly as Rose).
9. THE MIND ROBBER (Jamie)
Did anyone seriously think that when Jamie's face was removed in this story and he transformed into another actor that Fraser Hines was never going to return? Probably not - but what a daring way to get rid of a companion that would be! After so long in the series, Jamie wasn't the best character to treat this was - but imagine if they'd done this to Liz, or Nyssa, or Dodo!
8. LAST OF THE TIME LORDS (Martha Jones)
Another effective farewell, another series over. This time, it only takes 6 episodes before Martha actually rings the Doctor up and blags herself another 3 episodes. Plus two more at the end of the season. And a couple of Torchwoods too. To be honest, the most mystifying thing about this is The Doctor's Daughter. Why was she in this?
7. THE AGE OF STEEL (Mickey Smith)
Well, I was convinced. I thought they'd written him out in about the most permanent possible way save killing him off. When he then returned in Army of Ghosts, I was actually quite pleased to see him: but there's a limit to how many times you can do this before no farewells have credence any more.
6. PARTING OF THE WAYS (Captain Jack Harkness)
And this time, they actually killed him off. We'd known him for 5 episodes, so it was perfectly believable that he'd die. After all, Lynda with a Y did. So did, well, everyone else we'd met. But right at the end, Super-Rose brings him back to life. In retrospect, this gave us more than it took from us - Torchwood, Utopia, The Stolen Earth - but at the time, it seemed unnecessary and pointless.
5. THE INVASION OF TIME (K9)
Leela chooses to stay on Gallifrey - inexplicably. K9 chooses to stay with her - rather more explicably. Oh well, the robot dog was just a season 15 thing - fair enough. But inside the TARDIS, the Doctor has a new version in a box. An identical version. Why? Why did a K9 have to stay with Leela? What was the thought process here?
4. TERROR OF THE ZYGONS (Harry Sullivan)
After one extended trip in the TARDIS, Harry reveals he hasn't got the right stuff after all and elects to stay behind with UNIT. No problem here, except then he pops up again for a minor role in The Android Invasion and seems destined to be a semi-regular character like Benton from then on. Except that neither of them ever turn up again, denying both a proper final scene.
3. TIME-FLIGHT (Tegan)
Tegan gets back to Heathrow at last...but changes her mind! She comes back - and the TARDIS has left. "I thought you were going with the Doctor." "So did I." Best moment in Time-Flight, right? Oh, but two episodes later she spontaneously visits Amsterdam and guess what? Omega's there! Cue another 11 stories as a companion. Her final scene in Resurrection of the Daleks is equally good, but Time-Flight suited the character better.
2. THE MASSACRE (Steven)
This one really is a car crash. Firstly, Anne Chaplette, who we've all expected to become the next companion, is left behind in france. Then Steven, after six stories, has had enough of the Doctor (he's essentially Rory's antecedent) and storms out. The Doctor gives a soliloquy then prepares to leave.
BAM! Steven runs back into the TARDIS on a rubbish pretext bringing with him the new companion, Dodo. They all leave together. the scene is forgotten about. Steven leaves four stories later to rule a planet. Huh?
But the winner is...
1. THE GOD COMPLEX (Amy and Rory)
They already left! I'm totally serious about this. When the "Ponds" unexpectedly left the TARDIS at the end of this otherwise ordinary episode 11, I thought it was a great move - back to the days when you never knew if the TARDIS crew in episode 1 of a season would make it to the end. They only cameoed in the next episode and although they returned in the finale, this was, as we've seen, par for the course. People always return in the finale.
So, when the big announcement came that Amy and Rory would be leaving in tonight's episode (and this news came before The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe was screened), I was genuinely perplexed. They'd left already! They'd had 27 episodes, the same as Rose (before her return). (When they finally bow out tonight, Amy will have appeared in 33, more than any other companion in the 21st century.) I was expecting a new companion and, to be honest, I haven't felt that these last few episodes have added much to my appreciation of the Ponds.
Of course, later tonight, I may decide it was all worth it. It kinda depends what he's done with/to them. Maybe it's genius. Or maybe - maybe - they'll be back again a year from now, to take on the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Ood and the Silence alongside River Song, Captain Jack, Donna, Wilf, Steven, K9, Katarina and John & Gillian.
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