50 awesome female characters in the Whoniverse, part 1

[dbskyler]

curuchamion recently posted for a meme where you're supposed to list 100 awesome female characters from your various fandoms. I wondered if I could come up with 50 awesome female characters just from Doctor Who, Sarah Jane Adventures, and Torchwood. And guess what -- I could! The list includes companions, one-off guest characters, friends, and villains. They all have one thing in common: they're female, and for one reason or another, they're awesome.

(FYI, I didn't include the TARDIS, and I also didn't include characters who are based on real-world awesome women because I thought that might be cheating -- sorry, Reinette!)

So here, presented in a completely random order (because I randomized the list -- yes, I am geeky that way), is part 1 of the list: 25 awesome female characters in the Whoniverse. I will post the second list of 25 soon.

ETA: The list includes female characters from throughout DW, SJA and TW, along with reasons for their awesomeness, so there are some spoilers. No Doctor Who S6 spoilers, though.



Rosita (The Next Doctor): She's strong, capable, and would've made an awesome companion. In fact, she sort of is one.

Brigadier Winifred Bambera (Battlefield): Because she's magnificent! A truly worthy successor to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and that's saying a lot.

Rodan (Invasion of Time): A crisis comes to her safe little predictable world, and it's difficult for her, but she rises to the challenge and helps to save Gallifrey.

Grace Holloway (Eighth Doctor): She was a great companion, but she also had her own life and her own career. Not only did she turn down the Doctor's invitation to travel with him, but she asked why couldn't he stay with her?

Sarah Jane Smith (Third, Fourth, Tenth, Eleventh Doctors): You want to know why I think Sarah is awesome? How much time do you have? Oh, just go read the rest of my journal and half my fic, okay? *g*

Anita (Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead): She knows she's doomed, but she faces her death with bravery, never giving up until the end (which we don't even get to see).

The Hostess (Midnight): She stops the Doctor's murder and saves everyone at the cost of her own life.

Miss Foster (Partners in Crime): A strong female villain. She's ruthless, but devoted to her Adipose charges.

River Song (Tenth, Eleventh Doctors): She practically defines the word "awesome." Plus, she shot the fez off the Doctor's head.

Chrissie Jackson (Sarah Jane Adventures): A force to be reckoned with. Not even Sarah could successfully retcon her.

Maria Jackson (Sarah Jane Adventures): She sees an alien and forces herself into Sarah's life.

Nancy (The Empty Child/ the Doctor Dances): Her son has been turned into a frightening monster, but she deals with it, all while taking care of a bunch of other hungry, abandoned children. Oh, and she's practically a child herself.

Chancellor Flavia (The Five Doctors): Not only is she a member of the High Council of the Time Lords, but she's also clearly the best one. Even the Doctor thinks so, as he leaves her in charge.

Donna Noble (Tenth Doctor): She's awesome for many, many reasons, but most of all for saying this: "I'm a human being. Maybe not the stuff of legend, but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you."

Astrid Peth (Voyage of the Damned): She wanted to see the universe, so she took a job on a space cruiseship. When disaster struck, she sacrificed her life to save the Doctor.

Amy Pond (Eleventh Doctor): Smart, headstrong, and brave, even as a child. "Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of the box, man eats fish custard. And look at you! Just sitting there."

Sally Sparrow (Blink). She didn't get to be a companion, but she might as well have been one. If it wasn't for her intelligence and perseverance -- not to mention her initial curiosity about an abandoned house -- the Doctor would still be stuck in 1969, and the Angels would've burnt out the sun.

Harriet Jones (Ninth, Tenth Doctors): Harriet was awesome even before "Journey's End," but after she faced down the Daleks, she became the awesome that other awesome has to live up to. "You know nothing of any human. And that will be your downfall."

Miss Winters (Robot). Another villainess who refused to be subordinate to the men around her. And this was in the '70s!

Gita Chandra (Sarah Jane Adventures): A caring mother, an enthusiastic entrepreneur, and above all, someone who is always unabashedly herself. If Chrissie Jackson is a force to be reckoned with, then Gita Chandra is a hurricane force.

Barbara Wright (First Doctor). Yes, the very first female human companion was also a smart, confident, and very capable woman. Go watch "The Aztecs" for proof.

Miss Wormwood (Sarah Jane Adventures): Strong, calculating, and manipulative. If Sarah Jane has an arch-enemy, it's Miss Wormwood.

Martha Jones (Tenth Doctor): She walked an enslaved world for a year, and saved it. 'Nuff said.

Vira (Ark in Space): Determined, smart, and dedicated. If all the preserved future of humanity is like her, then the future is in good shape.

Ida Scott (Impossible Planet / Satan Pit): If the whole crew are amazing for daring to go into a black hole, then how extra amazing is Ida for daring to go into a pit on the edge of a black hole? Then when it looks like her curiosity will mean her death, she faces the end with courage and no regrets.


And that's it for part 1! Stay tuned for the second half, coming soon.

Comments

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I think Tennant can be subtle, but he chose not to play the Doctor that way -- or maybe, as you say, it was the writing. I certainly hated the histrionics of "End of Time," and those were asked for in the script.

I love Matt Smith's performance too, especially its physicality. More than any other Doctor, I think he just acts alien, even in his smallest movements.

[cavgirl.livejournal.com]

Didn't Lis Sladen say he WAS alien? *g* I love that other-worldliness aspect of him too. It makes it all so much more believable, in a sense.