Pajiba

She looks quite fetching. She'll do.
(and they don't pick companions just because they look fetching anymore, so I'm confident she'll also be smart, sassy, feisty, and action gal)

Based on the picture, the Doctor has a woman's head growing out of his shoulder. Is that right? Would be pretty mysterious.

Zaphod Beebledoctor.

Here is a suggestion we skip having a female companion for a while and take some time out for a little bromance. Two or three episodes tops.

The Doctor can jump back to one of the nights when his past self was out with Amy and go pick up Rory who has been left at home again and take him out for a night of drinks in ancient times with Capt. Jack. They'll take turns challenging each other about who is the oldest or has died the most times. Then they will figure out something is amiss about the creepy bartender (cast Peter Dinklage) and hijinks will ensue. Everything will be awesome for a while until poor Rory has to go back to Amy and the Doctor has to go solve his new companion like a Rubik's Cube with dimples. A break from the companions trying to get with the Doctor and the only kissing that will happen is when Capt. Jack takes home a serving wench who looks like Ianto because he is a very distant past relative.

This is brilliant and now I'm pissed as hell that I can't watch this episode right friggin' now.

On a purely superficial note, she's the second prettiest companion, with the prettiest being Martha Jones. There is no disputing these concrete facts.

+1 and she's dating the King of the North....

Jones > Coleman > Gillan

F$#% YES! That is all.

Still not really sure how to feel about this new Who series under Moffat and am still not really crazy about her. People who complained that River was a Mary Sue from the beginning clearly had no idea what the companions from the new series would be like. I have kind of an inherent problem with people outright forcing me to care about a character without proper pretense (at least the initial mystery behind River was provided with a pretty solid initial introduction and (rather emotional) ending). I feel like my issue with her will likely be the same I had with Amy - This constant reminder that they're "SPECiAL" for some arbitrary reason that is poorly played out. It drove me absolutely nuts how much we were reminded that Amy waited and her lack of character development didn't really help me build anymore fondness for her.

I will be honest to say that the trailer for this season does look interesting. I'm just... sick of it being entirely about the companion. I miss the days when the companions were like different lenses to experience adventures with The Doctor. Now they've seem to become rather two dimensional plot devices.

Totally agree on the point about Amy. Most people on the net seem to love her, but from her second episode onward she rubbed me the wrong way. She never had enough wonder, and now that you mention character development, yes that was a big issue too. I had no issues with Rory, he was great. So far I think Clara has been done better, so I do have high hopes, I've really loved her in both episodes so far. Donna is probably my favourite companion in hindsight, I really disliked her for a long time. There are few episodes that stand out for me during the Moffat years (Vincent and Doctor comes to mind).. which is sad considering the stand outs in the Davis years are the Moffat episodes!

I think the difference between Moffat running right now versus Davis is that over all, Davis was decent. It wasn't terrible, and I can't really think of one single episode where I outright felt like yelling at the t.v. or rolling my eyes or sighing in complete and total frustration. There were definite moments where I was like "WHOA, Slow down on the Cheese Train" but no major complaints. Moffat on the other hand, it's either... really absolutely bloody amazing writing or absolutely shit terrible. The only unfortunate part is that the majority of the episodes so far are absolutely shit terrible. It's... soo... so... disappointing.

Yes, this. What I loved so completely about the earlier companions was the very thing that Moffat seems to hate-- their ordinariness. It's the idea that a simple shopgirl or a selfish loudmouth temp who just wants to get married can end up discovering their inner greatness with the help of the Doctor and save the world. Without that we lose a great deal of our ability to relate to them and they become less interesting because they just happen to be special because a crack in the universe just happened to be in their bedroom or what have you.

I have no qualms about the companion being involved in the overarching plots, as long as they prove to be interesting characters that grow and change and the plot isn't too convoluted. Obviously Moffat failed on both counts with the insufferable Amy Pond. I also wouldn't mind them being "special" sometimes if Moffat didn't do it with every single female character.

Amy never changed and was constantly a passive character that they either had to save or just screamed helplessly in the background. But she's special because he TELLS us she is. River could've been an incredibly fascinating character but Moffat had to screw her up by making the whole thing overly complicated, having her be fawn over the Doctor at every turn, and then having her marry him despite the fact that it never once seemed as though the Doctor loved her back.

There's a reason Rose Tyler was such a beloved companion and that's not just because she was likable, but because she kicked ass and we could see her kicking ass. She wasn't a mystery to solve and that was a great thing because we could see who she was from the start and then grow with her. I'm extremely excited for Jenna Louise Coleman's turn as the companion, but if Moffat makes this another instance of a crazy ass stupidly complicated mystery I'll book a trip to London just to punch him in the face.

(Edited to add: Sorry for such a long rant. This show makes me feel TOO MANY THINGS.)

Ugh! Yes! Thank you for doing a much better job of explaining this. This is something that I've been having major issues with fully getting into words and fleshing out but yes, this. so very much this. Amy Pond was the biggest Mary Sue ever and it drove me absolute nuts. She was special because we were TOLD she was special but she never did anything to actively prove it and that is something that I love about the old companions, even the older older ones - They were all quite ordinary but they PROVED to us what made them special and important in the end.

And ugh, I can't even with what they did to River Song. I was so expected about her ever since Season 4 and they gave us... a weird almost borderline incestuous reveal of who she is. It's just... ugh.

I didn't care about JLC, to be honest, in the first episode we saw her in (the one where she wasn't the actual companion yet, the dalek assylum one) asylum because she reminded me so much of Amy - The Super Pretty smart mouthed quick witted hot tempered sassy companion. The twist was nice but over all, not excited about her. I still haven't seen the Christmas Special so I'm not sure if her character treatment is any different. I just... maybe this is from a very sentimental standpoint but I miss the opportunity of seeing people who are ordinary become something extraordinary. I miss seeing character developments like the last three, especially Martha and Donna (though I'd say Martha even moreso because I went from HATING her to absolutely LOVING her). Sigh, we'll have to see. Hopefully this new season will be better. I also almost hope they never bring back River Song ever again because their handling of her character was absolutely atrocious.

Very much agree. I had MAJOR problems with Amy Pond. Rory, I was cool with since he had actual character growth, but Amy...ugh. Most episodes she just drove me nuts. I never understood why she was special, and the deus ex machina at Amy and Rory's wedding just pissed me off. She "believed" so the Doctor existed? Yeah, no. I have hopes for Jenna Louise-Coleman, I genuinely liked her in both episodes I've seen thus far. But, I'm still holding out full judgement until I see more.

AGREED! In the old days, the companion was just that. A tag along, so the audience had a normal person to relate to. The audience would view the Doctor through the companion's eyes and be drawn along for the ride. The companion discovered the Doctor in bits and pieces.

Now the companion is the star the Doctor falls in love with. The companion is the one the Doctor has to discover and find out about, or fall in love with. Blurg!

This is why Donna was my favorite companion of the new Doctors, at first. She wasn't special, at least not until she became the Doctor Donna, and then I didn't like her anymore.

The 'fall in love' thing was part of why Rose bugged me so much, though I know she was well-loved. Love interest? Her? Now? I think not. I honestly don't know what Rory saw in Amy as she treated him like past-it guano.

I actually loved Donna's entire progression and character growth and wasn't bothered at all in the least bit when she became The Doctor Donna because it was just the way her path was meant to go, and that's the kind of attention to character that I don't mind at all. But yes, my major gripe is that I don't feel like I know 11 at all. I feel like I know him in relationship to other people but not who he actually is as The Doctor. I get where Moffat's trying to go with this and is probably trying to make the companion's more interesting but it's kind of hard to connect with people who don't even really feel like they should outright be travelling with The Doctor to begin with.

There's a really strong lack of wonder that exists in this new world where the stories just do not connect on any real level with me. I'm not looking forward to discovering a new alien race, the kinds of conflicts that might come along with the interactions, etc. etc. because the interactions with the new aliens only seem as important as how much attention the Companion is getting. I guess my main point is - I wish they'd stop paying so much attention to them when the characters don't even GROW. Amy remained the same person at the end as she was at the start. She didn't grow into a new person. She didn't seem to get any extra insight to her adventures with the Doctor. All she figured out was maybe she should stop treating Rory a little less shitty but even that she failed in time and time again. And I guess that's the other thing that I miss about the series, you saw how all the negative adventures and interactions changed the companion and allowed her to eventually become her own person. With Amy... she just remained the same annoying petulant child she was from the get go. Ugh.

I agree with both of you. Donna's my favourite companion because she didn't have a crush on the Doctor, she was flawed and loud and ignorant and the perfect amount of wonderful.
And as far as I'm concerned, the Doctor-Donna is excused from all criticisms for making the Gallifrey-destroying Daleks spin like tops. Aaannnnd the other way. I like to believe that deep inside every human being is a little spark of greatness, and if we had the brain power of a Time Lord.... we'd still be a smart arse.