#but the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon are the same dynamic

[oldtvandcomics]

I love that very specific character dynamic where they are just... glued together. Is it platonic?? Is it romantic?? Queerplatonic?? A secret fourth thing?? Who even knows, it doesn't even matter, but you literally cannot have one without the other.

[companion-showdown]

Who is your favourite companion?

TOURNAMENT MASTERPOST

Propaganda

Joe Grant

beloved girl has an absolutely wonderful dynamic with the doctor but not only that she can absolutely kick butt on her own and she holds her own against the master soooo well

Jamie McCrimmon

He's the longest running companion (113 episodes!), the original companion with romantic tension with the Doctor, loyal as can be, on the same footing with the doctor despite being an 18th century highlander, he wears a kilt in space, and he was so devoted to the Doctor that he had to be forced away and have his memory erased, and the Doctor had to be grounded, for his run to end. Also really just watch a video of them they're so gay

What can I even say. It's Jamie Mccrimmon. He never would have chosen to leave the doctor, he's the doctor's most loyal companion. He's so Scottish and I love it! Always wears his kilt, gets excited when he hears bagpipe music and sees the Scottish Highlands on the Tardis screen, speaks Gàidhlig, what's not to love. (@gothicacetheatrekid )

Jamie is the longest running companion in all of Doctor Who. He is arguably the doctor’s first best friend and has been haunting the narrative ever since his departure in 1969 (even in 2024 “Boom” he is referenced!! The 10th doctor uses his name in s2e2, and the doctor-turned-master in s13 plays the skyeboat song, which only became a huge part of Doctor who because of Jamie, who was a Jacobite! Several classic doctors meet/reference Jamie in tv and extended universe media, and if you’re an I, TARDIS fan you’ll find Jamie’s entry is the only one where it’s explicitly referenced that Doctor - and the TARDIS! - loved him). He is a very complex character, who might be dismissed but is much more intelligent than he is given credit for. He’s brave and kind. He has a huge fan theory that gained enough traction to become canon through tv stories and audios - “s6b” - in which he works with the Doctor under time lord supervision. He came into the show at its most crucial watershed, the first regeneration, and impacted so much of what we consider core to doctor who today through his friendship with the second doctor. He’s a companion from the past who is quick to learn and adapt, and was the first companion who wanted to join the tardis AND never wanted to leave, until he was forcibly removed. Jamie was with the doctor for pretty much his whole second body, and Doctor who would not be what it is today without Jamie.

[galacticlamps]

Jamie complaining about the Doctor being a hack because he hasn't tried to bleed the Laird, the Doctor doing his little astrology shtick just for his benefit, Jamie instantly becoming serious again and telling Ben to hush and pay attention, the fact that the Doctor says "Of course I do" when Ben asks if he believes it, and in doing so aligning himself with Jamie rather than dismissing his concerns, even though Ben's right about it being a dangerous practice - I love all of it so much!

The fact that Jamie's opinion matters to the Doctor - not even because he's special at this point, because he isn't, really - is such an important detail for me, because if you're going to sell the character of the Doctor as truly alien and advanced far beyond 1960's Earth, then he really shouldn't treat the characters in historicals as primitive and uninformed - at least, not unless he treats the contemporary companions that way too. But of course there have been times over the last 60 years where that characterization has fallen short (Four's treatment of Leela, anyone?) so I still count it as a victory whenever the Doctor goes out of his way to meet characters the audience might dismiss as superstitious and uneducated on their own level with seriousness and respect, even if that kind of thing should really be a given for a time traveler like him.

And of course, Jamie's kept on his toes again, revising his opinion of the Doctor in every other line and proving himself an invested and adaptable party - he definitely gets future companion points for being both willing to call the Doctor out when he feels he hasn't done enough and capable of respecting his conclusions once he has been heard too, but I can also see why poor level-headed Ben might've been wondering why his friend's so interested in impressing this random Highlander.

Also! I never noticed the Doctor was manacled in the telesnap where he's using the telescope until now, and the rest of the telesnaps don't give many clear shots of people's hands, but I guess we should assume everyone in the cell was in chains this whole scene? Which certainly adds something to the Doctor's insistence upon tackling it all as a comedy, and again makes me wish we had the episode intact