The Rescue

One of the more fortuitous things that tends to happen to the Doctor on his travels relates to his ever-changing line-up of companions. In particular, the way that new ones seem to turn up just when there is a room free in the TARDIS to accommodate them.

At the start of "The Rescue", clearly not much time has passed since "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", as Susan's departure is alluded to in the opening TARDIS scene. Yet, as if by magic, the very next stop the ship makes is the home of a recently orphaned Vicki, who conveniently has little choice but to replace Susan as the flapping girl aboard the ship at the end of the story. A similar thing happens soon after, when on exactly the same day that Ian and Barbara finally find the means to return home, unshaven space astronaut Steven Taylor stumbles into the TARDIS while escaping from a burning city on Mechanus.

The Doctor himself even curses this strange phenomenon in "The Smugglers". He's just got shot of Dodo in less than subtle fashion, packing her off somewhere while she's still recovering from a dose of WOTAN hypnotism and slyly taking off before she gets back. He almost makes it too, but for swinging Ben and Polly, who wander into the police box just seconds before it disappears.

"I really thought I was going to be alone this time," ruminates the helpless Doctor, before embracing the new arrivals and pointing out that the scanner is just a scanner up there.

But how different things could have been, but for the quirk of fate. Had the Doctor been a bit more careful with his companions during his adventures on Kembel (or had he simply left the Daleks to time destruct themselves to death without his help) he could have been tramping round the Universe with Steven, Sara, Katarina AND Dodo by the time the TARDIS leaves Wimbledon Common at the end of "The Massacre". However, if this has happened it's extremely likely that Steven would have taken his chances with the Huguenots rather than exist in a dimension where he could never get into the bathroom.

So just how did things work out so perfectly? Perhaps the answer reveals itself upon closer examination, which shows that not only was each early companions departure suspiciously timed to dovetail into the arrival of the next, but each also occurs in almightily unlikely circumstances. Vicki, a young orphan child from the far future, displays a hitherto unseen desire to find a husband in ancient Greece. Steven Taylor, a space astronaut, decides to stay on a barren planet at the end of time and rule some savages. One can only deduce that some clever hypnotism was being exercised on the part of the Doctor to force his unwanted companions to stay in whatever time he happened to land them up in when he got bored of them.

Later on, we stumble on a different, but no less considerable coincidence. The Doctor has just had an exciting adventure at Gatwick Airport, where he has turned up just in time to stop the alien Chameleons kidnapping holidaying youngsters. Not only do the Daleks happen to pop up and nick the TARDIS immediately the adventure has finished, but Ben and Polly then discover that it's the exact same day they originally left Earth in "The War Machines"! What are the chances of that? Can we presume that the Doctor somehow summoned the Chameleons to Earth just after Ben and Polly barged into the TARDIS in "The War Machines", knowing full well that he'd end up back there to sort it all out and could offload them at the same time? Perhaps he tipped the Daleks off about his imminent return at the same time, just in case the faceless kidnappers didn't take the bait.

One thing's for sure, when he gets back to 1966 he doesn't think to check up on poor Dodo or, perhaps, invite her back. The TARDIS may be infinitely capacious, but there's always only so much room for companions on board...