L.J. Scott: Ah, Susan, Susan, Susan. Including her was studio robb's idea, but remembering her from the majority of her shows I wasn't very interested. But studio robb was persistent and when he said one of his goals was to rehabilitate her and have her as she was intended to be... Well then that might be something!
While it's easy to think little of a companion based on how they ended up on the show, an historical view would mark this as unfair. Think of Jo Grant, a budding U.N.I.T. newcomer trained as a secret agent, ends up as the girlish companion who is often kidnapped and held hostage during the Pertwee years. Sarah Jane Smith, sleuthy, investigative reporter with a moral conscious and proponent of women's rights, ends up as the easily hypnotized girlie-girl of Tom Baker. Even Leela becomes one of many female companions who suddenly wants to marry some guy as her exit to the show. They couldn't even leave Peri with her heart-rending death, but instead retroactively resurrecting her off-screen and marrying her off to Yrcanos.
So, Susan: Yes, I could suddenly see Susan as a fun character to take on a different path. Further, it would give me a chance to flesh out, but not change, Time Lord societal history as I had found the many hints and off-the-cuff comments about their society very intriguing when put together.
The approach I took to writing Susan was by rewatching 'An Unearthly Child' only, then mixing in some Adric and Turlough; Two other companions who had had troubled pasts before joining the Doctor, and as a result: We have someone who is happy one moment, brooding the next.
Hopefully you'll come to like the way we portrayed her through our little ditty!
Page 1:
The manager firing Susan in the background is another example or studio robb filling out my script as he drew it. Originally I just noted how Susan wasn't in the first couple of frames with the Doctor and Ace because she was asking for the rest of the day off or something. But of course studio robb knew you could have two sets of dialog going in the same frame without the characters hearing each other.
The line "Ha! If that's the case, then I'm better off alone." seems out of character as it implies that Susan has some knowledge of Ace, which in fact she doesn't. I think it would have been better to just have Susan reply "I'm better off alone," as it would be a statement entirely consistent with her character's recent experiences to that point and showing no judgement of Ace.
Page 2:
studio robb wonderfully took two frames of dialog between the Doctor and Susan and turned them into a sequence of frames that hit the emotional nail on the head. At this point, I think we've successfully established where Susan's current character is coming from.
Ace's thoughts about Mel's departure from the show were based on what I had read in the Doctor Who Monthly magazine. At this point I still hadn't seen a 7th Doctor/Ace show, as those familiar with that era are probably well aware of by this point in "Retirement?". But just to be safe on my characterization of Mel's exit, I have Ace being careful about her characterization, thus reducing the odds that I'd be way off base. I think it worked.
Page 3:
One of those 'reaching the ends of the plot while keeping the characters as they are'. Of course the Doctor would not normally want to steal something, especially something he knows people value. So how do I explain he knowingly leaves Farnus with the Sundial? Well, I could have chosen to have Ace sneak it aboard the TARDIS, then reveal it to the Doctor after they left, but that would have been a bit impractical given the size of the sundial. So instead we set up a situation where we have the 'mob of justice' rushing the group ready to lynch, and the Doctor standing next to his TARDIS with the door unlocked. The path of least resistance for any character is to quickly step inside and lock the door behind you, then think of how to handle the situation...
Page 4: ...and once the damage has been done, it's easy to see someone saying they'll 'fix it later'!
And here we are bringing in some of that Time Lord societal history to finish the episode and, I hope, surprise and intrigue the reader. I know it got studio robb's attention!
And also getting his attention was that the original format of two pages getting an item, and two page set-up of the next item to get, is gone. As part of bringing in Susan we suddenly have a need for character development, and that needs pages all their own... Besides, adding a couple of pages here and there would only end up extending the story by... A year and a half!
studio robb: the conclusion of the "get the sundial
story". I had basically submitted an outline/pseudo-script to L. J., and she
turned around and made it something really cool! And Susan is a little better
drawn this time around.
Page 3:
In Susan’s abysmal "Farewell Story", she leaves her key to the TARDIS
behind...It was supposed to be some sad sign of finality, I guess. Screw that. We
had her go back and get it. In yer face, hacks!
Page 4: Some very nice dialogue (I think) that
puts Susan back into The Doctor’s court until....... "He also means he’s not really
my grandfather." The broken heart with
the "CAF" in it was for Carol Ann Ford.
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