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From: mom@sfmag.UUCP (M.Modig)
Newsgroups: net.tv.drwho
Subject: Re: how many Romana's are there?
Message-ID: <880@sfmag.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 16-Mar-86 12:55:02 EST
Article-I.D.: sfmag.880
Posted: Sun Mar 16 12:55:02 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 18-Mar-86 01:18:13 EST
References: <774@well.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Summit, NJ
Lines: 54

> Hello,
> 
> 	(I know there's only one Romana but ...) I just started watching Dr.
> Who here in San Jose Calif. (7:30 PM PST channel 54 KTEH for the person who
> wanted to know some stations around the country) Any way I 'm getting off the 
> track here. What I wanted to know is last night when I was watching the first
> episode of 'Destiny of the Daleks' (tom baker) I noticed that they pulled a 
> fast one on me by replacing Mary Tamm as Romana with Lella Ward as Romana who
> just happened to be Princess Astra in the previous series 'The Armagedon
> Factor'. I was just getting used to Mary Tamm as Romana (and she is much better
> looking) after the Dr. had left his previous sidekick on some planet a few
> stories back (she ran around in some kind of lepeord looking short skirt and 
> K9 #1 also stayed with her). Anyway, how often does this happen? how many 
> Romana's are there? Whats the meaning of life? oops , sorry that's another
> show.

The changing of companions varies in frequency; sometimes they'll go
thru several seasons without a change, other times there are several
changes within a season.  Things will get more active in this regard
over the next few seasons' worth of stories.

Mary Tamm basically left to pursue other things; she felt her role
was too limited and wanted more range, and, realising the Doctor is the
star of the show, she knew she would have to look elsewhere.  She
didn't make this decision until it was too late to work in a
departure scene for her, so they got Lalla Ward to play the role
and opened the first story of the following season by having Romana
regenerate.  It is a point of some contention as to whether each of
the bodies Romana showed the Doctor before settling on the one that
looked remarkably like Lalla Ward counted as a regeneration, so it
is hard to reach a consensus on exactly how many different
regenerations of Romana we have seen.

> 
> 	Also, refering back to a few previous shows ... why in the h... did 
> the Dr. spend all that time chasing down all the pieces to the key to time only
> to scatter them all over the universe again? (at the end of Armagedon Factor).

The White Guardian only needed to have Time stopped for a short time
to adjust the balance of the Universe.  When the Doctor assembled
the Key for a short time, that gave the White Guardian the opening
he needed to do his task.  After that, the Doctor got rid of the Key,
partially because it was no longer needed, partially because he
didn't want it around to tempt him with its power, partially
because he and Romana felt it was cruel to, for example, keep
Princess Astra as a lump of crystal for all time, and partially so
someone (such as the Black Guardian) couldn't simply beat on the Doctor
and get the fully
assembled Key for themselves-- can you imagine how long even the
Doctor would last once word got round that he had the fully
assembled Key to Time in his possession?

Mark Modig
ihnp4!sfmag!mom