Doctor Who: The Ribos Operation

[kerravonsen]

I just re-watched "The Ribos Operation" (the first "Key to Time" episode, the one where we meet Romanadvoratrelundar). Long time since I last saw it. One thing that struck me was that, gee, Romana was naive. Even more naive than Jo Grant. Yes, very very stuffed full of book-learning, but not seeming to know anything about people. Now I want to find out how long that took to wear off.

Oh, and she says that she's 140 -- where did I get the idea that she was 125?

Comments

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Romana says she's 125 in "City of Death" -- it's probably a bad sign when you can't even rely on the script editor to keep track of stuff like that.

As for her street smarts, her development there was a bit ... back and forth. There were times when the writers seemed to forget she was even meant to be an alien (she seems quite at home in a human house in "Stones of Blood"), other times she seems frankly a bit dim (thinking that a horse is a machine in "Androids of Tara"). Even when after her regeneration she's going back and forth.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Most Gsllifreyans strike me as being naive, not just Romana. The place seemed to have a very fossilised and insular culture, in spite of the Timelords' great powers. Gallifrey reminds me more of Ruritania than anywhere else. Romand had obviously been fed a lot of bullshit about the Doctor, but was bright enough that it didn't take her too long to see through that.