Melanie Bush
Melanie Bush, BSc (Hons) — or simply Mel or Melanie — was a computer programmer from the 20th century and a companion of the Sixth and Seventh Doctors. Not unlike River Song, she had a temporally complex relationship with the Doctor, in which she met the Doctor at a different time than he met her. Eventually, however, their timelines did synchronize, and she was able to have a more-or-less linear relationship to the Doctor, starting in the later days of the Sixth Doctor's life. Her temporal relationship to the Seventh Doctor was thus always completely linear.
Personality
Mel was a computer programmer from the 20th century who came from the village of Pease Pottage in West Sussex, England. She had an eidetic memory, and a cheery personality. She greeted most situations with a warm smile and good humour. She was an optimist who generally believed the best of people's natures, although she tempered this optimism with a realism and skepticism borne of her scientific education. Her generally perky personality could cool quite quickly if she detected a threat to either herself, the Doctor, or anyone whom she had befriended.
Mel was a health enthusiast and a vegetarian, often encouraging the slightly portly Sixth Doctor to exercise more. Though she remained staunchly vegetarian throughout her travels with the Doctor, (BFA: The Fires of Vulcan) her attempts to be the de facto nutritionist of the Doctor virtually disappeared after that incarnation regenerated. Though she was happy to go by the informal "Mel", she sometimes insisted on being introduced as "Melanie" to those she didn't quite trust. (BFA: The Fires of Vulcan)
Mel's reaction to fear was dichotomous. In some situations, Mel met danger with a powerful scream (DW: Terror of the Vervoids, Paradise Towers, Time and the Rani). In others, she was possessed of an almost steely resolve. Though she might have cowered in fear upon first meeting the Vervoids and Tetraps, she comported herself quickly after expelling a scream. On other occasions, she displayed little fear at all. She possessed a relatively even temperament when defeating the Valeyard (DW: The Ultimate Foe) and when facing down the Bannermen (DW: Delta and the Bannermen), for instance. On still other occasions she allowed her logic to guide her swift and efficient action, as when she almost single-handedly defeated Davros and then derided the Doctor for not having killed Davros and the Daleks when he had the chance. (BFA: The Juggernauts) Likewise, she displayed extraordinary calm when she had to navigate Pompeii on foot during the actual eruption of Vesuvius, in search of the Doctor's TARDIS — when he believed it lost and his life near its end — or when she fought against the effects of having been slowly drugged for six months with laudenum. (BFA: The Fires of Vulcan, Catch-1782)
Her enthusiasm for healthy living was borne of the hard-nosed logic of basic science, which also manifest itself in other ways. She was, for instance, flatly dismissive of the supernatural — like ghosts — as scientifically ludicrous. (BFA: Catch-1782) Equally, she did not believe in the concept of fate. (BFA: The Juggernauts)
Before the Doctor
Melanie had a keen interest in science from a very young age. Her uncle, Dr. John Hallam — most likely her mother's brother — was deeply influential to this childhood obsession, and she credited him with her later academic success. In 2003, Hallam told his colleague, Professor David Munro, that Mel was "very gifted" with computers. (BFA: Catch-1782) As a consequence of her education, she was adept in the Human computer languages of BASIC, COBOL and FORTRAN. (BFA: The Juggernauts)
Her home address was 36 Downview Crescent in Pease Pottage. She regularly used this address as a backdoor when writing code. For instance, she used it to override programming on the Juggernauts. (BFA: The Juggernauts)
A confused timeline
Mel first met the Doctor in Brighton in 1989. However, as a consequence of the Doctor's trial at the hands of the Valeyard, he already knew her then. To him their first meeting was when she was pulled from her timestream by the Time Lords and was made to testify on the Doctor's behalf. Therefore, for a time of indeterminate length — from the moment she met him in Brighton until the time the younger Sixth Doctor returned her to the side of an older Sixth Doctor on the planet Oxyveguramosa — he had to pretend that he had originally met her in Brighton, as well. (PDA: Business Unusual, MA: Time of Your Life) It was only after she was returned to his future self that their timelines synched, and he was able to progress with her in a more forthright way.
Even so, Mel and the Sixth Doctor's timelines ware not asynchronous merely because of he unusual way in which they met. Even after their respective timelines apparently came into harmony, Mel was often parted from the Sixth Doctor. On at least two occasions, she was was stranded for months away from him, even though very little time passed for him. When transported back in time to 1781 by a freak accident, the Doctor was unable to retrieve her until six months later in 1782. (BFA: Catch-1782 Later, she was accidentally left on Lethe, and the Doctor was delayed by an additional three months. (BFA: The Juggernauts) On both occasions she fully became a resident of the new era in which she found herself while waiting for the Doctor's uncertain return.
Her timeline with respect to that of the Seventh Doctor was, by contrast, considerably better synchronized.
Departure
She decided to stay on Iceworld with the galactic confidence trickster, Sabalom Glitz, leaving the Seventh Doctor to travel on with his new companion, Ace. (DW: Dragonfire)
Encounter with the Seventh Doctor following her departure
Encountering the Seventh Doctor he revealed to her that he manipulated her to depart his company on Iceworld because he knew what was coming (as Time's Champion) and couldn't have her as a companion. (NA: Head Games)
Following this encounter she returned to Pease Pottage. (PDA: Business Unusual)
At some point in the future Mel may have ended up on the planet Heritage and died there in the 61st century. However during this point in the Doctor's adventures many enemies were attempting to eliminate his companions from the timeline, thus she may not have died here. (PDA: Heritage)
Alternate timelines
Mel also encountered the Valeyard in an alternate version of the timeline, here she was much more cynical and hard than she had been originally. (DWU: He Jests at Scars...)
Behind the scenes
- Mel's last name is never uttered during any televised appearance, and the closing credits identify her only by her first name. It is, however, regularly used in Big Finish audios and various stories told in other media.
- According to his book The Companions, John Nathan Turner planned to begin Season 24 with a storyline explaining how the Sixth Doctor met Mel. This story was never produced due to Colin Baker's removal from the role.
- Mel was the first companion whom the Doctor encountered prior to their first chronological meeting, something that would be repeated in the new series with River Song.
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