Moderator's Note: This is Mike's original Polly summary:

You won't see mascara this thick and black until Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders. Polly was okay in "The War Machines," if you take into account her mind (such as it is) is being controlled.



Polly surname was *not* Lopez. It was only a surname used by the Polly Chameleon. She was never given a surname on screen, although unearthed documentation has proven it was Wright. Yes, I know, highly original given Barbara's last name was Wright as well. This surname has been adopted in some of the novels.

She is listed as "Polly Lopez" in Jean-Marc Lofficer's The Universal Databank. I admit I've never heard Polly called anything but Polly before, but I bow to Jean-Marc's experience.

Re: Polly Wright, what unearthed documentation are you referring to?

L'Officier got it wrong - The Universal Databank is littered with mistakes, earning it a scathing review from Doctor Who magazine at the time of its publication. Unearthed documentation by Who historians such as Marcus Hearn, the Howe, Stammers Walker team, Andrew Pixley - they went back through the old documentation and found the initial proposal of what these new characters should be like, complete with their full names.

Polly's Last Name
http://www.eskimo.com/~tegan/dw/polly.html
The original documentation of Polly's name has been revealed to be "Wright", never used because of possible confusion with Barbara's name. In the Lofficier's excellent reference books, her last name is given as "Lopez". (In "The Faceless Ones" (1966) Polly`s double is given the name Michelle Lauppi, and a corruption of this, "Lopez" seems to have been given as Pollys surname, probably by over-eager fans listening to a dodgy version of the soundtrack.) Anneke Wills has stated that Polly's last name should be "Brettingham-Smith", an appropriate name for the character as portrayed, also the last name of some of Anneke's close friends.

So which is it? Well, I've bowed to the possible canonicity of the Missing Adventure series of novels, and to the original name of Polly given in some of the original documentation on her character. In "Invasion of the Cat-People", Polly's last name is given as "Wright". So until further evidence proves me wrong, that's how it will be for this fan club.

I stand totally and utterly corrected.

After watching a documentary on the Who this weekend, I've come to the conclusion that Polly must have been the only drug-free Mod in the history of Great Britain. How did the Doctor always manage to find companions with no social problems (until Benny and her very slight drinking problem)?

Well, until Ace the juvenile delinquent, anyway.

But how do you know Polly's NOT on drugs? Being totally spaced out would explain why, when told to 'make some coffee to keep them all happy while I think of something' she said 'OK' instead of beating Troughton to death with a blunt instrument.

Hmm, an interesting point. As a matter of fact, drugs would explain the actions of a LOT of companions--Harry's denseness, Nyssa's eerie tranquility, Dodo's perkiness, etc.

Well, coming from another universe would explain why Nyssa behaves oddly by our standards. But drugs would certainly solve the problem of why Harry is so unbelievably thick when we know him, yet previously managed to pass his medical exams. Though you'd think UNIT (and NATO, later) would do drug tests. Dodo - yes, come to think about it, that perkines is unnatural. Does anyone know if drugs can cause changes in accent, because if so, Dodo MUST have been on them.

Did any of the Companions have enough time to bring a pile of drugs when the Doctor swept them off? Or does the TARDIS have an inexhaustible supply of drugs as well as everything else (except air, obviously, if Planet of the Daleks is anything to go by)?

Given the Doctor's reaction to vraxoin (or however you spell it) I don't see him tolerating a drug adddict as a companion. On the other hand, he tolerates a murderous traitor (Turlough) a savage (Leela) not to mention Mel. And he's hardly in a position to moralise, anyway: he takes drugs (LSD, I think) in The Left-Handed Hummingbird.

Perhaps Mel was merely a drug-induced hallucination? If only...

Re:Nyssa's on Drugs
If Nyssa's on sedatives/anti depressants, then She's on a very high dosage, indeed.
Either that, or she's going slowly mad (Catatonia/Autism/Schitzoid)as some fanzine writers have implied. The 80's British Fanzine "Metabelis" put forward this theory in their first issue, & the In-vision guide to Kinda, argues that it was a miracle that Nyssa had not had not gone mad, given the events that had recently happened to her ! (It was in a side-bar about the Mara's choice of "Possessee" in the story )
If Mel was a drug induced hallucination, then it was obviously a very "Bad Trip !" ...

Aagghh! Why did I say Nyssa came from another universe? (Galaxy! I meant galaxy!!) And why didn't any of you nitpickers notice? (Though if Terry Nation can blatantly have not the foggiest what constitues a constellation, solar system, etc, I don't see why I shouldn't get away with the occasional slip-up.)

Nyssa going slowly mad would explain a lot, though that would make the Doctor leaving her on Terminus a real dereliction of duty. He should have noticed, and hauled her on-board the TARDIS (by force if necessary) rather than abandon her with a bunch of lepers (which WAS a dead give-away about her mental state, now you mention it). I mean, it's not as if he had any compunction about kidnapping Ian, Barbara, Harry, even Ace (when she inexplicably decided to leave him for some Robin bloke in Nightshade).

Mind You, the Dortor Who scriptwriters, kept interchanging the term "Constellation" with
"Star System" a lot, & Star Trek: The Next Generation also had this problem, in some episodes.
Reason: a "Consellation" can have up to several star systems or even, in extreme cases Galaxies within it !
In addition, a "Constellation" has to have a common reference point,for a external observer to understand where the "Constellation" is in space !
Other examples, of this include "Intergalatic" for "Interstellsr" travel !
(Stargate Sg-1 now seems, also to be falling for this as well... )
Yours,Howard DeVore
P.S Fee, Fie, Fo, Fum ! I Detect Emily trying to sell me a "Dummy"...

My god, I typed in 'Nyssa' instead of 'Emily'! I knew I was going senile, but not THAT senile! It's not as if I identify with Nyssa (or, indeed, any Companion, ever. Though if I absolutely HAD to pick one, K9's the closest thing they've got to a cat (on TV, anyway)).

Mind you, Ace in the middle of Survival, might fit the Feline "Template" far more convincingly !
As For Nyssa's "Insanity" & the end of Terminus, maybe the Doctor realised, that he was causing Nyssa's gradual drift into insanity, & decided to "let her go", before it became worse, & would "Pick her Up" later ?
(It seems that Peter Davison pressed J-NT to keep the character of Nyssa as a companion, & possibly to bring the character "back", possibly in season 21 ? J-NT refused & won the argument !).
(It is mentioned in the latest issue of In-Vision as a "What If ?".)
Granted, the choice of venue for Nyssa's departure was abysmal, but he may have thought "Any Port In a Storm ", was better that the current situation at that time ?
Yours, Tyssan minus the T !

But it would only have taken the Doctor another few minutes to kidnap Nyssa and dump her on a quieter, more pleasant world (admittedly one no doubt facing invasion the minute the TARDIS arrived, but he could have dealt with that, no problem). If he didn't skip timezones, Nyssa could always have researched radiation and hydromel and sent her results to Terminus through the post.

True, Emily, True...!

Re: My November 11, 2003 post
According to the Big Finish Audio "Cobwebs", from the Doctor's Point Of View, Cobwebs takes place 2 days after the end of Terminus...
From Nyssa's Point Of View, however, Cobwebs happens 50 years after the events of Terminus...

Hey, Mark, you've got your Nyssa in the Polly section!

Did Judith's post sound dirty to anyone else???

Re: "Nyssa in Polly section"
Considering the amount of Femslash Whofic that turns up, I'm suprised that this particular female pairing has not turned up already in a story...
As for my earlier posts concerning Nyssa, this resulted from a 1999 post of our dear moderator, concerning "Companions on Drugs".
(I think the conclusion we reached, was that Nyssa was either taking large doses of Halcion with resultant side effects such as depersonalisation, or was going slowly mad due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

Considering the amount of Femslash Whofic that turns up, I'm suprised that this particular female pairing has not turned up already in a story...

Have these perverted people ever had a go at Sarah n'Jo? Because after seeing them snuggling up giggling together in that coffin, I have a feeling the Femslash Whofickers will be having a field day...

(I think the conclusion we reached, was that Nyssa was either taking large doses of Halcion with resultant side effects such as depersonalisation

Depersonalisation? Nyssa? How would anyone NOTICE?

"She's WOTAN's cheeky typist"

Polly is actually Professor Brett's secretary but that's probably just splitting hairs.

Well spotted...I just figured that as Brett is the personal property of WOTAN, that makes Polly ITS secretary too...

'The Doctor tells Ben to go off and become an admiral...then seconds later tells Polly to go and look after Ben. Ouch.' - TARDIS Eruditorum. Is this TRUE? *Whips out Faceless Ones soundtrack* It's obviously WAY past time I had a listen to THIS.

Update: it IS true. Oh god.

And to think I was wasting all those years...well, decades actually...obsessing over that 'make some coffee' comment...

Still, Polly HAS just been behaving exceptionally stupidly. She actually says 'What are you getting at' to Ben when he points out it's the very day they left. And even if it HADN'T been the exact day, why didn't the thought of staying cross her mind earlier, when she realised it was rougly her time period? Even when the thought of staying DOES eventually occur to her addled mind, she begs the Doctor 'Can't we stay in London for a bit?' Did she really think she was a PERMANENT passenger on the TARDIS? I thought THAT sort of attitude didn't come in till New Who.

ME (in Original Series: Season Four: The Macra Terror):

I was quite USED to the idea that Polly was a total wimp whose only function was putting the kettle on. Then I had the misfortune to listen to a couple of stories in which she saved Moonbases and Scotland and stuff. So WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??

ROBERT: Clearly, Polly has suffered major psychological trauma in an adventure too disturbing for the BBC to broadcast.

That would only work if there was a single clear and sudden dividing-line between Polly being bright, brave and proactive and Polly being cowardly, gormless and man-dependent. Whereas her split personality seems a lot more...schizophrenic:

War Machines: Wimp. Obviously she was hypnotised by WOTAN half the time, but the other half she allowed Ben to blame HER for being a victim of sexual harassment!

Smugglers: Hero. Adjusts to time-travel so fast she even escapes from a cell by pretending to be a witch.

Tenth Planet: ?? - I can't actually REMEMBER anything about Polly in Tenth Planet.

Power of the Daleks: Ditto. Though I seem to remember her having the sense to accept the new Doctor a lot faster than Ben.

Highlanders: Hero. Rushes around repeatedly rescuing everyone, giving the locals feminist lectures and blackmailing British officers into helping her to boot.

The Underwater Menace: Both. One minute she's screaming her head off at the thought of becoming a fish-person (understandable but you never get the MALE Companions screaming) and the next she's rescuing Our Heroes by imitating a goddess. One minute she's a Zaroff-capturing hero, the next she's letting him escape owing to her feminine compassion and lack of brain cells.

Moonbase: Hero. All hail the Polly Cocktail!

The Macra Terror: Wimp. Basically spends four episodes wailing 'No don't leave me' to the nearest man, even when he's a complete stranger.

Faceless Ones: Wimp. The Production Team figured you could knock her (and, to be fair, Ben) out for most of the story and no one would tell the difference and they were right.

That would only work if there was a single clear and sudden dividing-line between Polly being bright, brave and proactive and Polly being cowardly, gormless and man-dependent. Whereas her split personality seems a lot more...schizophrenic

At the risk of being called a misogynistic sexist pig, her inconstant personality could be caused by the varying hormonal levels most women have to endure on a monthly basis.

It really, REALLY couldn't.

You misogynistic sexist pig.

Quite apart from the fact that Polly has TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, IN FACT, DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED PERSONALIES - something I've never witnessed in any other woman or, indeed, myself - Polly lives in the black-and-white, one-story-segueing-into-another era. Ignoring the novels and audios (PLEASE!) she can't have spent more than ONE menstrual cycle in the TARDIS...

Well, then. I suppose it could be due to the feminist views, or lack thereof, of whoever wrote the script of a given episode.

You don't have to be a FEMINIST to realise that, whilst women might possibly, in general, have more of a nurturing side to them than men, they wouldn't actually BET THEIR LIFE on cosseting a homicidal maniac when he's blatantly obviously faking illness, the way Polly does in Underwater Menace (and Dodo does in Celestial Toymaker).

And weren't writers issued with CHARACTER NOTES in those days?

So there's this:

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10653423_952819808131391_731114583468852116_n.jpg?oh=8a0fadc653e1f9e8e0c2c697b679f2ab&oe=571307A0

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Short interview with Anneke Wills on the BBC website - tomorrow (November 5th) is the 50th anniversary of The Power of the Daleks, Patrick Troughton's first story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37846580

Would Polly be more widely regarded as one of the most popular 60s Doctor Who regular characters if the tapes still existed?

Serious question, just as you could have asked a few years ago if The Enemy of the World would be regarded as one of the best 60s serials if those tapes existed. Well, now we know that they do and the answer is yes.

Unless more of her stories turn up, I guess we'll never know.

I have a feeling Anneke Wills is good enough to squeeze the maximum amount of charm from her rather thankless screaming-blonde role.

GIMME THE ••••••• EPISODES NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

Was Polly ever given a last name?

in the character outline it's "Wright" (not used on-screen because of Barbara).

Well, Ian and Ben both have three letter names ending with N, and surnames ending with -on.

Reusing a surname makes sort of sense and would be a nice book-end.

Re the Power of the Doctor Companions Anonymous meeting:

'Anneke Wills, who played Polly in the 1960s, tells RadioTimes.com that she was invited to join this happy reunion but was unavailable that day. "I heard it was quite brief so I’m glad I stayed and did my brambles instead." Anneke has a beautiful garden to maintain at her home in irresistible rural surroundings on the edge of Dartmoor.'

Well screw her AND her stupid garden.

From TARDIS Wiki on Polly:
"It's unclear why the surname [Wright] was dropped, but it could have been because a previous companion, Barbara, had the same last name."

It was a different production team which makes me doubt that Barbara was the reason why the Wright name was never used on-screen for Polly as I do not believe it was something that they would have taken into account.

I also don't recall Barbara's surname being stated that often and with viewers having short memories at the time I believe it is unlikely they would have asked whether Barbara and Polly were related.

I also don't recall Barbara's surname being stated that often and with viewers having short memories at the time I believe it is unlikely they would have asked whether Barbara and Polly were related.

You only need one to ask the question. And what would have been the problem if they had been related or not anyway?

I also don't recall Barbara's surname being stated that often

Well it was at first, Susan 'Miss Wright'-ed her A LOT.

And what would have been the problem if they had been related or not anyway?

Would have been a bit of a coincidence, but then coincidences have never seemed to bother Who Production Teams overmuch...

Maybe it just never happened. If it did there could have been a reference to Barbara.

And yeah this was Classic Who where:

1) the same actor appeared as an historical human, a present day human, a future human (with a completely different surname each), and an alien that looks human, with no explanation.

2) Both first and surnames were somewhat reused a lot even within the same era. Both Prof. Waterfield and Travers are named Edward. There is a Companion named Victoria shortly after Vicki, and Dodo's name is Dorothea while Ace's name is Dorothy.