The history of Doctor Who is full of supporting characters who were never let to develop . Most of the time , the show only has one mavin . But I ca n’t consider of a character who had more untapped potential than Nyssa , companion to the Fourth and Fifth Doctors . Here ’s how her history could have been something howling .
spoiler for old level ahead …
Back in the nineties , Virgin and the BBC were publishing a serial of Missing Adventures , covering previously untold tales from during the authoritative TV show ’s run . A few years after those stopped being write , I started thinking of an estimate for a Nyssa - centrical novel , telling the account of season 19 from her point of view . But it was too later to try and pitch it as an actual Word of God , so I ’ve just been sketch it out in my head for fun .
So what follows is partly my cerebration about the mad amounts of untapped potential that Nyssa had on Doctor Who . And partly the foreland - canon / fanfic that I ’ve been adumbrate out in the shower for a few age now .
Who is Nyssa of Traken ?
To me , Nyssa is the quintessential case of Doctor Who letting a great character go to barren . Sarah Sutton brought a charming brightness level and emotional intensity level to a grapheme who fundamentally fades into the wallpaper . Few multitude heel Nyssa as their favorite companion , or even among their top 10 or top 20 favorites . Flanked by the autocratic Tegan and the objectionable Adric , she barely record most of the time . People lean to kvetch about Nyssa being a waste of infinite .
And yet , Nyssa is in reality fantastic — in her debut story , “ The Keeper of Traken , ” she ’s satisfy with life and energy . She ’s compassionate and clever and a brilliant scientist who thinks rings around the ego - satisfy Adric . She ’s a poove princess as well as a heroic nerd . Legend has it Sutton ’s performance in that debut story impressed the output squad so much they decided to contribute her back as a companion . And then … nothing much .
Nyssa ’s backstory is one of the full that Who ever give us . She ’s a citizen of Traken , a futuristic Zion where everybody acts like Shakespearean gentlefolk , and everything runs on the office of “ being awfully nice to each other . ” Nothing evil can pull through on Traken , and evil visitor tend to turn over to stone — like the Melkur , a statue that lives in the garden . The Melkur is tended by Nyssa ’s stepmother , until she takes over tending it , and unfortunately it ’s not quite dormant .
In fact , the Melkur is a TARDIS , belonging to the Master , an evil Time Lord . He wants to steal the superpower of Traken for himself because he ’s in the death throes of his final consistence . And the Master more or less bring home the bacon , despite the Doctor ’s intercession — he even steal the dead body of Nyssa ’s father , a gentle soul named Tremas . The poignant final setting of “ Keeper ” is Nyssa wandering drop off , see for her missing forefather .
Then a trace comes to visit Nyssa , a shimmering white-hot figure , and offers to take her to her father — but this spook is acutally a succeeding echo of the Doctor , who ’s going to pall and rectify before long . And when the touch ( called “ The Watcher ” ) take up Nyssa to her father , he ’s in reality the Master in her father ’s body . He sample to manipulate Nyssa , and then wind up nigh destroying the entire universe .
The universe is economise , but due to the Master ’s actions , the Empire of Traken is destruct — unnumberable worlds , zillion of people . Just to sum up : an ageless monster , inhabiting Nyssa ’s forefather ’s consistency , killed everyone else she ’s ever known , and wiped out her entire civilisation . In the face of this horror , Nyssa … does nothing much . She spends a lot of meter comfort Tegan , who ’s miss her aeroplane flight at Heathrow .
Here ’s what “ really ” happened next
So I ca n’t help feeling there ’s a neat Nyssa story to be separate , and some of the bones of it are even there , in Peter Davison ’s first twelvemonth as the Doctor .
Castrovalva : At this point , Nyssa still does n’t know much about the Doctor — she hump he ’s a Time Lord , like the Master , but for all she know the Doctor ’s main job is fight back the Master . It ’s all she ’s ever find out him do , after all .
When the Doctor pass and regenerates , Nyssa spends a lot of time protect him from the Master , because he ’ll need all his strength to overcome the matter that stole Nyssa ’s father and destroy her family . The Master seek to kill the Doctor while he ’s vulnerable in his new body , but Nyssa ’s the one who does the most to keep him secure .
But soon enough , a couple of things become obvious . First , this is n’t the same mankind who came to Traken . That Doctor was emphatic , even bullying Nyssa ’s father to get hold of a weapon against the Master . This Doctor is much less self-assertive and decisive , maybe because the old Doctor ’s irresponsibleness nearly destroy the whole population . But also , this new blond - haired Doctor cheerfully include the Master probably outlast their conflict in Castrovalva … and then does nothing about it .
Nyssa ’s a quiet , aristocratical soul , but that only means her grief and madness go deeper than anyone can see . And if the Doctor is n’t going to act on the monster hold out her founder ’s body , she ’ll have to do it herself .
Four to Doomsday : The Doctor expend the next fib battle a megalomaniac toad and his sapless androids — and he does n’t seem to care that the Master is probably still out there . So at the end of that adventure , Nyssa does a stagecoach swoon . It ’s the most fake - look fainting spell you ’ve ever seen , and she ’s pretend to be affected by pic to a disease that stimulate citizenry to shrivel and decease instantly .
kind of : But as luck would have it for Nyssa , it work . Not only does the Doctor forget her alone in the TARDIS , he give her his sonic screwdriver ( in the form of a “ delta wave augmenter ” that ’s supposed to facilitate her sleep . ) The Doctor and his other companions go off to research the satellite Deva Loka , go out her behind . She expect a whole five minutes before she starts reckon out how to vaporize the TARDIS on her own .
How long is Nyssa run ? Probably for months , although she get by to return to Deva Loka a few minutes after she left . During this time , she ’s putting together the makings of a plan to find and demolish the Master . And then , something amazing happen . She finds a faint signal , and tag it for eld before she can pluck it up : the last Keeper of Traken is live . He ’s immobilise in the blank between this universe and E - Space . And he has an idea for how she can domesticize the powerfulness the Master stole from Traken , and restore some of what they lost .
Nyssa feels right smart more than a few month older by the fourth dimension she reunites with the Doctor and the others , but nobody seems to notice .
The Visitation : The next thing Nyssa needs for her plan is a sonic shank . And as luck would have it , on their next adventure , they ’re facing another nerveless android , this metre assure by some lizards instead of a toad . So she ’s able to peach Adric , who ’s good at helping her work up weird gismo , into assist her build the transonic cannon she ’s snuff it to need by and by . It well-nigh shakes the TARDIS to piece , but it ’s still wholly deserving it .
Black Orchid : Next , Nyssa needs something that ’s a bite hard to get : an exact extra of herself , down to the cellular level . Luckily , she ’s been examine telebiogenesis since she first encountered it in Castrovalva , and she ’s able-bodied to create an identical similitude of herself on Earth , the Doctor ’s favorite major planet , in the early twentieth hundred . She adjusts the TARDIS ’ course while the Doctor is n’t looking , so they can chaffer her Gemini and make certain they ’re really identical and nobody can tell them apart .
Earthshock : Nyssa ’s design to destroy the Master and rejuvenate Traken is nearing mop up . She just demand one more thing : the chief logical system knob of a Cyberman . Finding a time period where the Cybermen are bestride one of their many attacks on Earth is n’t that difficult , and neither is dealing with the feeble androids the Cybermen have transport to Earth . Soon enough , Nyssa ’s in reality managed to lure a Cyberman aboard the TARDIS , to be deactivated ( and tear down at her leisure time . )
Unfortunately , Adric always has to show off . And he stay behind on the merchantman that the Cybermen are trying to break up into Earth , even after it ’s too previous to do any good . Adric is wholly wipe out in a massive spaceship wreck that kill the dinosaurs . And it ’s kind of Nyssa ’s fault , because her individual - handed seeking for retaliation and DoJ led to this . She ’s been working to destroy a monster , but maybe along the direction she ’s become a monster herself .
How does it end ?
The net story of the time of year , “ Time Flight , ” sees the Master return , disguise as a halfway easterly “ genie ” stereotype , abduct Concorde jets from the 1980s using a prison term tunnel .
The Master is trying to rein the power of a topnotch - advanced backwash , the Xeraphin , to scarper from prehistorical Earth , where he ’s been trapped . In the televised interlingual rendition , Nyssa run a key character in telepathically contacting the remnants of the Xeraphin .
“ Time Flight ” is such an incoherent deal , it ’s light to opine we ’re not seeing the full version of events . Huge chunks of the story could easily be happening off - screen .
So this is obviously where Nyssa spring her trap for the Master — stranding him on Earth in the distant past , and using the power of the Xeraphin to siphon off his steal Traken DOE . She plans to use the sonic cannon she ’s progress to get into the Xeraphin chamber . Meanwhile , she nobble her matching from 1920s Earth , Ann , and utilize her as a lure to distract both the Doctor and the Master . ( It ’s Ann , not Nyssa , that we ’re seeing throughout most of “ Time Flight . ” )
Unfortunately , while she was determine a trap for the Master , he was really set a trap for her rather . He ’s well aware that she ’s been freelancing while aboard the TARDIS , and that he ’s outwear her father ’s body , and he ’s been posing as that “ Keeper ” who supposedly survived the destruction of Traken . The items Nyssa has cumulate to practice against the Master are really all thing he require to carry out his own plan for ultimate power . When Nyssa realizes this , she break down and well-nigh lose her thinker in the face of the horror , but she still manages to deform things around and wreck the Master ’s TARDIS single - handedly .
In the terminal , Nyssa barely go — and she arrive out with a fresh appreciation for the Doctor and his apparently clueless approach to travel around the world and fight back evil . She realizes that even in this newfangled , somewhat breathless , body , the Doctor is still a lot deeper than he look , and he ’s been keeping one eye on her the whole time .
In the end , Nyssa and the Doctor give Tegan behind on Earth , because they demand to spend some time alone together . The two of them travel around for a few years , mending fences and learning to understand each other better , before they in the end reunify with Tegan — who barely realise that any sentence has run at all .
So that ’s my grating vignette of Nyssa ’s coming - of - age journey , in which she gets to have agency and actually deal with the monolithic trauma of her origin story . She has all the qualification of one of Doctor Who ’s all - time great characters — it ’s just too speculative the show never picked up on them .
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