|
Melanie BushBonnie Langford |
A Review by Alden Bates 28/6/97
Melanie Bush is perhaps the most disliked companion, barring Adric. She is, however, utterly lovely. So there.
Although she wasn't as well developed in characterisation as Ace, Mel was still a great companion. She was the last companion to really enjoy travelling in the TARDIS. After her, we the companions tended to be largely hostile towards the Doctor.
Although her dress sense was iffy (which can be blamed on the TARDIS wardrobe) and she screamed a lot in Time and the Rani (but not much, actually, in her other stories) Mel was an intelligent companion, a computer programmer. She was able to debate intelligently with the Doctor, and this was shown well in Terror of the Vervoids.
Basically, Mel is one of the great underrated companions, and my favourite.
Carrot Juice by Jacob Cash 7/8/98
Mel would not rate as one of my favourite companions. In fact I would go as far as to say that she is my least favourite. We never got to know how the Doctor and Mel were aquatinted, as she first appeared in the Trial of a Timelord series, in the Doctor's future. All we learnt about Mel is that she was a computer expert from earth, and some sort of fitness freak ("carrot juice!").
When I first saw Mel I was impressed that she could keep abreast of the Doctor, was enthusiastic, and intelligent. After Peri's (and Tegan's) constant whining, someone who was willing to jump in and get her hands dirty came as a relief. Eventually I became more and more frustrated though, as the writers seemed to want to turn her into a "screamer" and seem to forget about something called "character development".
Her constant "now you're getting it Doctor" and such pantomime statements drove me to the brink of a disorder! Such statements are totally unnecessary, as the audience can see that for themselves. I found her performances where also particularly over-the-top, making her a very one-dimensional character without much positive input. I think the potential was there, and if the performances were toned down a little, the screaming taken out, and some decent dialogue given she would have been an excellent character.
I know people will disagree with me, but I feel that much more could have been done with this character. To me, Ace represented what Mel could have been.
A Review by Ronald Mallett 31/3/03
Melanie Bush was a computer programmer from Pease Pottage. She had a photographic memory and was a fitness fanatic! Probably not as well appreciated as Nicola Bryant's Peri, Bonnie Langford brought different qualities to the program. Her more girlish frame allowed Colin Baker to become more openly affectionate and act more like a father figure than a bickering sibling! Mel was a very likable character and definitely an indication that companions were becoming more self-reliant.
Bonnie did her best to bring the admittedly two dimensional character of Mel to life. Her performance has been criticised as being far too 'pantomime' in execution, but I feel that it was meant to clash a little with Nicola's in that she was meant to be playing her more upbeat, optimistic and energetic. Once again the limitation of the companion being seen as little more than a narrative device limited her potential for growth but by the end of her six stories there was a sense of the character becoming more rounded. Her goodbye scene to The 7th Doctor was heartfelt and was also included at the insistence of Sylvester McCoy as the uninspired production team no doubt would have otherwise had her simply say "Bye" and walk out! It is a shame that she was not able to work for a longer period with Colin Baker as I detect that they were just beginning to gell as a team before the rug was pulled out beneath them and no doubt she had to start from scratch on the Doctor/Companion front.
"I'll scweam and scweam!!!" by Joe Ford 23/4/03
I'm not going to be very popular for admitting this (but hey a lot of my Doctor Who opinions are considered heresy and fan reaction to a pro happy nutcase like me can be so wonderfully entertaining!!!) but I'm growing remarkably fond of this bizarre character. I have been fortunate enough to go back and watch a lot of her time on Doctor Who the series and have formed the opinion that her general hatred is down to two primary reasons, scripting and timing.
Poor old Bonnie, she came along at precisely the wrong moment. The Doctor Who of 1985 was a tenuous place indeed where self parody (Trial of a Time Lord, indeed!) and light entertainment were served up as a matter of course. Fans were outraged, where are the atmospheric location stories? Where are the decent new monsters? Why can't I fall head over heels for this new unpredictable Doctor like that comfortable, safe old chap who left us a year ago. The show needed a real confidence boost, to slap the fans in the face and say "Oi, I'm still that fabulous show that you feel in love with!". It needed Autons, Daleks and Morbius (ie, memorable baddies). Unfortunately we got Bonnie Langford and a whole bunch of campness (season 24).
That's not fair putting it like that but at the time the news of Bonnie's arrival was the most appalling, travesty of justice. We were all wishing we hadn't smashed our tellys in defiance of Michael Grade (or at least Ian Levine was, the sad chap). Matters were compiled by an introductory scene that saw the bubbly one performing aerobics in the TARDIS trying to get chubby Colin back into shape. What has our beloved show become?
Well tosh to all that. Go back and watch all those Bonnie stories again and see if you notice the one defining feature that sets them apart from the entire Davison era and much of Colin's. She DOES NOT SPEND EVERY SECOND MOANING! Indeed as if the concept is hard to find she actually seems to be enjoying the Doctor's company (even that evil, sadistic blond curly haired one!!!). She's not walking around abusing everybody (quality Tegan dialogue like "Oh you were scared out of your wits!", ""You're unreliable!" and best of all "Call yourself a Time Lord? A broken clock keeps better time than you do!") or generally being a pain in the arse (Peri gets opening scenes like "Some substitute for Kew Gardens!", "You still seem a little unstable" and "That's the last time I eat any more of your nut roast rolls!"). What a pair of ungrateful bitches.
As if to spite them Mel instead celebrates her adventures. People have pointed out her chirpiness as a reason to want to shave all her hair of and drown her in olive oil but in fact its the one thing that separates her from her eighties compatriots. In Paradise Towers she exclaims "I can't wait!", in Delta and the Bannermen she's excited at winning their toll prize ("Oh let's go, please agree!"). And what's more she's determined to get involved with her adventures not just stay on the side lines and, you know, moan. She's determined to find the Doctor in Time and the Rani, her quest to the pool in Paradise Towers exposes her bravery, she's happily investigating like a right old Miss Marple in Terror of the Vervoids and she's all ready to go any see the dragon in Dragonfire. She's a determined woman, formidable if you try and stop her getting involved with things.
I still find it hysterical that on TV Mel was jeered at and derided and Ace was heralded as some kind of angel and yet now, so many years later their fates have entirely reversed and Ace is just tired old hat, over used and out of stream and Mel is the untapped potential that is making its way in the most surprising ways. Her TV time was just prejudiced, I think, at the time of her arrival anything JNT decided was immediately criminal and she was never given a chance.
Yes Bonnie could overplay her dialogue (lines like "I'm about as truthful, honest and about as boring as they come!" will live in infamy) but then so could Susan, Ben, Zoe, Jo, Sarah, and especially Adric, Tegan and Peri. When she was at her best Bonnie delivered her dialogue in a very thoughtful way indeed. Just watch as she discovers how much Pex has been lying to her ("Sent by powers you're not allowed to name, I should have guessed..."), it's quite touching. Or even better is her quiet anger as the bus crew are slaughtered in Delta and the Bannermen as she tries to convince Gavrok that Delta was on board ("Yes, yes she's dead.."). Her devastated reaction to the Vervoids compost heap is equally good, utter horror and then after killing them all off she sobs gently in the Doctor's arms. Much of this stuff has been ignored for years. Not forgetting of course her leaving scene which is quietly saddening, her attempts to say goodbye to the Doctor as he broods about how many companions he's lost reveals more about McCoy's Doctor than most of season 24.
Mel screamed her lungs out, I cannot deny or excuse that. She was a natural born wimp at times but as was once stated by one of DWM's contributors if nobody's screaming how do we, the audience, know when to be scared. And if any season needed boosting with a few scares it was season 24. Trial of a Time Lord fares better with two of her screams heralding classic moments (I'm talking of course of that fabulous cliff-hanger with Edwards touching the electric fence and her scream melting seamlessly into the title music and the hysterically good "Don't go through that...!!" SCRREEEAAAAMMMM! "door"... hee hee. Even the cliff-hanger with Ruth Baxter opening her eyes all veiny and Vervoidy is punctuated dramatically by a good scream giving it a good kick!). And anyway Victoria, Jo and Sarah never had cool screaming moments like this so stop yer moaning!
Not convinced? Then take at look at the books. They have taken a basic one note character and given her a real personality. The Mel on telly was a one note character with no defining facts about her life except she comes from Pease Pottage and had a large garden. Oh she works with computers. In Head Games she single handedly manages to remind us just how far the books have come and is utterly appalled with this new, manipulative Doctor and his gun toting companions (and hey, she's got a point). He reactions to most of this book is terrific drama because we know she's right. What ever happened to straight forward adventuring? Even better is Millenial Rites and Business Unusual that set about trying to fill the gaps about her past confirming our fears that she was always a stuck up middle class bore! Instruments of Darkness seems universally hated at the moment but sticking my thumb out as usual comparing the Doctor/Mel relationship to the Doctor/Evelyn one you get to see just how close he is to both women. Getting inside Mel's head in these books actually proves quite rewarding.
Even better is Bonnie's return in the audios. She's older, a more experienced actress and ready to prove it was the terrible scripts back in 1985. And she's right because The Fires of Vulcan, The One Doctor and Bang-Bang-a-Boom! just wouldn't be as wonderful without her contribution. The Mel of Fires is a revelation, quiet, concerned, intelligent and Bonnie performs admirably really bringing out Mel's fears of being trapped in Pompeii as the volcano explodes. The One Doctor exposes her talent for comedy providing some terrific laughs as she teams up with the obtuse Banto Zame (Chris Biggins and Bonnie Langford... does this have the right to be this GOOD?). Her Bush family Christmas story is brilliant but much her dialogue sparkles ("Are you insane?" she says after Banto gives her the come on). And let's not forget Mel's absurd theories in Bang-Bang-a-Boom! as she walks around Dark Space Eight accusing everybody of being the murderer! Her line "after nine hundred years of celibacy it's a pretty odd place to start up again!" is delivered exquisitely.
Well I hope I've managed to give pool old Mel a good hearing, the jury has returned, the votes are in and the verdict is....
"AIEEEEEEEEEEEE!".... oh shit there's a Cybermen on the panel, somebody knock the bitch out.
Love ya Bonnie!
"AAAAAIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!!" by Terrence Keenan 31/12/03
Mel tends to come in towards the bottom when it comes to comparing companions. She showed up in The Trial, known for being a fitness freak, a computer programmer and for screams that cause seizures in small woodland creatures.
When she left, not much had changed.
Mel was around for twenty episodes. And its hard to believe that so much venom has been thrown her way.... well it's not that hard, but that comes from the choice of actress to play Miss Melanie Bush of Pease Pottage.
Bonnie (insert favorite expletive here) Langford. Known for playing Peter Pan. Now I have nothing against dear Bonnie, and it does seem to me that she is giving it her all....
But, the woman is in desperate need of an interesting personality. And Mel is a personality role. So, instead of cheering on the tiny redhead with the filling-rattling screams, the viewers want to see her dead, probably by dismemberment or any other painful method.
So where do I stand on Mel?
She gets points for bootyliciousness, but that's because I love redheads. And I do like the inherent earnestness that Bonnie does give Mel. But, she was unfortunate enough to be part of some of the most horrendous Who stories ever.
Mel, to sum up, was the wrong companion in a bad batch of stories. I do not wish her an unpleasant death, but someone should sever her vocal chords.
A Review by Nathan Mullins 2/10/08
Melanie Bush came across as slightly irritating to all who watched her. Her introductory episode was another side effect to Colin Bakers tenure as the Doctor in an episode reffered by many as one of the longest ever episodes of Doctor Who, The Trial of a Time Lord. This episode saw Mel sent to aid the Doctor and to plead his innocence against the Doctors darker side, the Valyard. I must say that Mel wasn't one of my faves and that's probably down to the fact that she used to scream a hell of a lot. Now, I'm not saying that's a bad thing because during her travels with the Doctor, she came up against the Tetraps, the Dragon, the Kandyman and of course they might terrify you enough to scream the house down. However, sometimes there was no call for it and it would just be put in the script to produce a cliffhanger.
Also, she was supposed to be a computer programmer or something like that and we didn't see very much of that in some of the episodes she was in. I felt she and the Doctor had quite a good relationship, that being both the 6th and the 7th as played by Colin baker and Sylvester McCoy. In many respects, she reminds me a lot of Peri, mainly because she witnessed the regeneration between the 6th and the 7th, so she had to get to know the 7th which Peri had had to do when the 5th regenerated into the 6th.
I feel that she had a mixed bag of episodes that I felt were quite good. For example, Paradise Towers which I think was one of the best of season twenty four and Dragonfire that was to be her last but saw the character of Ace join the TARDIS as a regular. Of Colin Baker's run, I rather enjoyed Terror of the Veroids because the of script and the cast, but mainly because I felt it was one of the best of its era and had been done justice by all the regular cast.
I feel that, although Mel wasn't one of the best companions in my book, she served the Doctor well as a good companion to him. However, if she hadn't screamed as much as she did and the scripts had made allowances for her character, then she might have developed further and therefore her episodes might have retained some credibility.