Susan Foreman Carole Ann Ford

• A Review by Stuart Gutteridge
• From Another World, Another Time... by Peter Niemeyer

A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 28/7/00

As the youngest member of the original TARDIS crew, the character of Susan was supposed to be one that younger viewers could identify with. This starts off reasonably enough, with her seemingly rebellious nature towards the teachers (she wants to walk home alone-"it`s mysterious") and her inclination to listen to loud music (something that only happens the once). Of course then she enters the TARDIS and any sense of viewer identification is lost because of her background.

Carole Ann Ford has stated that Susan was supposed to be developed into some kind of "Avengers Girl"; using judo etc to subdue the enemies. Instead, thanks largely to the production team and in part the writers of her various stories, she ends up either screaming, getting captured or tripping up. There are occasions however, where she is allowed a little more free reign; notably her refusal to marry in The Aztecs; which probably was influenced by her friendship with Ping-Cho in Marco Polo. More use should have been made of her and it's surprising Carole Ann Ford stayed as long as she did.

GREATEST MOMENT: The Sensorites, with her refusal to obey her grandfather, The Doctor, and her telepathic abilities are put to some use.

From Another World, Another Time... by Peter Niemeyer 12/3/01

Susan was the first companion to leave the Doctor, and thus has gained the honor of the first companion for me to review.

CHARACTER AS FIRST DESIGNED

The original design of Susan's character was interesting. She was meant to be both familiar (close to the viewer's age) and unfamiliar (from a distant world) at the same time. She had a tight relationship to her grandfather, and the advantage of having joined in him some of his travels. And as a child, she would have been able to do impulsive things believeably that the other regulars would not have been able to get away with. I think she was well designed. At one point, there had been a discussion of Susan having a crush on Ian, and I'm not exactly sure when this idea was abandoned (probably well before An Unearthly Child was filmed), and I'm glad this was never pursued.

CHARACTER AS IT DEVELOPED

Well, Susan was typically the weak link in the regular cast. She was rarely given something interesting to do or allowed to be the focus of action. In fact, she really had only six stories of significance, most of which are not very significant:

• The Daleks: She retrieves the anti-radiation drugs from the TARDIS
• Marco Polo: She has a relationship with Ping-Cho
• The Keys of Marinus: She is kidnapped in Millenius
• The Aztecs: She is sent to school and refuses to marry the perfect victim
• The Sensorties: She is the first to contact the Sensorites telepathically
• The Daleks Invasion of Earth: She has a relationship with freedom fighter David Campbell

Furthermore, Susan was often the reason why things didn't go right. She was often lost, captured, or inexplicably hysterical. Okay once or twice, but not terribly interesting to watch over a stretch of 52 episodes.

Given that the design of the character was interesting enough, I blame her dramatic demise on the writers of the first ten serials. Maybe four regulars was just too many, or maybe the Doctor - an old gentleman - was so interesting that it became difficult to make so young a character more heroic.

ACTOR

For the most part, I think Carol Ann Ford did a fine job as Susan, given the scripts she had to work with. Her performance in episode 1 of An Unearthly Child was sufficiently alien to make Ian and Barbara's suspicions of her believeable. Her relationship to David Campbell throughout The Dalek Invasion of Earth was also well realized. All my criticisms about Susan stemmed from what the writers asked her do. After all, how can you make "Susan screams uncontrollably" interesting in serial after serial?

OTHER NOTES

Best Moment: Her decision to leave the Doctor with Ian and Barbara in the first episode of An Unearthly Child. It was really this display of defiance that started the whole show.
Worst Moment: Refusing to escape from Conciergerie Prison because there were rats in the sewer. What a discredit to the gene pool.
One Thing I Wish We Could Have Seen Susan Do: Fix the TARDIS. Not the entire thing, of course, but some small detail, such as the scanner afer it broke in Planet of Giants. Something to display she had something of value to contribute.