Tom Baker is My Doctor, and Leela is my favorite companion. For all that Leela spends a lot of time asking questions, she *did*, in this serial, get what remains to this day the closest thing to a coherent answer to the perennial question "How is the TARDIS bigger on the inside?"
I rewatched this ome myself, recently, and was struck by how much worldbuilding was present in the costumes, makeup, and general set design, but which was totally invisible to the characters themselves; fish who can't see water.
Talons of Weng-Chiang has several regrettable parts, but *great* character work all around.
(Goes back to check episode list...) Wow. Season 14 is far and away my favorite period, several of my favorites, and no clunkers (though of course YMMV).
Leela's introduction in The Face of Evil is (IMO) excellent. It's the first time I encountered a trope that would later be significant (if subtler) in Rosemary Kirstein's sublime Steerswoman series. And it introduces a really subversive piece of lore about The Doctor's lack of stability.
Her final outing, The Invasion of Time, has many interesting points, but was super-disappointing as a character farewell (especially compared to the excellent seeing-off the previous companion, Sarah Jane Smith, had gotten the previous season). At the end of the last episode, Leela decides to stay behind and *marry* one of the other characters, despite having had no particular chemistry with him!
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I rewatched this ome myself, recently, and was struck by how much worldbuilding was present in the costumes, makeup, and general set design, but which was totally invisible to the characters themselves; fish who can't see water.
Talons of Weng-Chiang has several regrettable parts, but *great* character work all around.
(Goes back to check episode list...) Wow. Season 14 is far and away my favorite period, several of my favorites, and no clunkers (though of course YMMV).
Leela's introduction in The Face of Evil is (IMO) excellent. It's the first time I encountered a trope that would later be significant (if subtler) in Rosemary Kirstein's sublime Steerswoman series. And it introduces a really subversive piece of lore about The Doctor's lack of stability.
Her final outing, The Invasion of Time, has many interesting points, but was super-disappointing as a character farewell (especially compared to the excellent seeing-off the previous companion, Sarah Jane Smith, had gotten the previous season). At the end of the last episode, Leela decides to stay behind and *marry* one of the other characters, despite having had no particular chemistry with him!