Heather Smith From: Stephen Black [microskirt@hotmail.com] Sent: 14 November 1999 12:24 To: heather.smith@btinternet.com Subject: Companion Attractiveness Companion Attractiveness, 11-19 February 1998 Russ Massey: I recently downloaded a roleplaying game variant of GURPS for Dr Who, which contained the game stats for all the companions as designed by the author. There are some questionable (IMHO of course) choices made about STrength and IQ, but what really surprsied me was the author's opinion regarding the attractiveness of each of the companions. In GURPS, physical appearance can vary between: Hideous Ugly Unattractive (vaguely unappealing) Average (can blend into a crowd) Attractive (doesn't enter beauty contests, but definitely good looking) Handsome/Beautiful (*could* enter beauty contests) Very Handsome/Beautiful (Could enter beauty contests and *win*) I think the 'beauty contest' idea has to be taken with a pinch of salt. There are plenty of women walking around who are more attractive then many contestants. The function of attractiveness in GURPS is to modify the initial impression when first meeting someone. It's quite possible to find yourself really liking someone based on personality, but that would be a function of 'charisma', which operates independantly of looks. These are the ratings given by the author: Barbara - Beautiful Ian - Attractive Susan - Attractive Vicki - Average Steven - Average Katarina - Average Dodo - Beautiful! Polly - Beautiful Ben - Average Jamie - Average Victoria - Average! The Brigadier - Attractive Zoe - Beautiful Benton - Average Liz - Beautiful Jo - Beautiful! Mike Yates - Attractive Sarah Jane - Attractive Harry - Attractive Leela - Beautiful Romana I - Very Beautiful Romana II - Beautiful Adric - Average Nyssa - Very Beautiful! Tegan - Beautiful! Turlough - Average Peri - Attractive! Mel - Average! Ace - Average Chang Lee - Average Grace - Average! Obviously we have a Mary Tamm/Sarah Sutton fan here :) I realise all this is highly subjective, but I've marked with an exclamation marks the ratings that I find impossible to understand. Perhaps the most surprising (to me) is that someone would rate Dodo as 'beautiful'. I would have raised an eyebrow at 'attractive' even, but 'beautiful'! And surely no one could seriously think of Grace, Mel or Victoria as anything less than attractive! Actually, I'm sure there are people who find Mel unattractive, but I'm not one of them. so thwpppt! A male's ratings of other men are likely to be even less reliable, of course, but from female comments on verious lists I think you'd have to rate Turlough and Jamie at least as attractive, and Ian probably as handsome. The Brig seems, surprisingly to me, to have very few female admirers. Perhaps it's the attitude (Odious Personal Habit - military mind set, in game terms :). Laefl: >Barbara - Beautiful (the follwing is entirley IMFAUDO, natch) Barbara was for me always int he very beautiful category because she had that singularly bewitching qulaity oif knowing when to let her sort of radiance emegere. The dowdy creature in cardy and pedal pushers suddenly emerging as that ravashing creature in the The Aztecs. her beauty is along gone late 50's early 60's catwalk conception. >Jo - Beautiful! Is "cute" not a categoty? The thing with Jo is you never quite lose the fact that however angular she may have been, there was always the sure knowledge that the quite irresistable Katy Manning lay behind her! >Leela - Beautiful Leela I dont think ever did Lousie Jameson any favours anyway. One could quite plainly see there was a damn fetching girl struggling to get out >Romana I - Very Beautiful "Very very" master..... >Tegan - Beautiful! Is this suprise at a low or high rating? :-) Kelly Adey: >>The Brig >>seems, surprisingly to me, to have very few female admirers. Perhaps it's the >>attitude (Odious Personal Habit - military mind set, in game terms :). Aye, but the (a) straight as a die ethics and (b) immensely endearing awkwardness around females goes a long way to mitigate that, IMHO. Or maybe that's just me I wouldn't argue with most of the decisions, although it's a question of degree really. I would plead the following: Males: upgrades for Benton (so cuddly!), the Brigadier, Chang Lee, Jamie and (blush) Adric -- a definite downgrade for Yates. Sorry, but... nnnno. Females: upgrades for Vicki, Victoria, Grace, Ace, and yes, even Mel; but for me he's got it spot on with Liz and Jo particularly. It's so subjective though, isn't it? I mean, I know what it is about say Susan that *I* like, but a pound to a penny it 'll never be quite the same as anyone else, even if we do come up with the same "rating". And I do tend to believe that everyone has *something* about them which can appeal if you let it. >>A male's ratings of other men are likely to be even less reliable, of course, Not necessarily, but I do think that a lot of the time they're informed by misconceptions or fears about their own attractiveness, and also depending on the perceived "audience". The same thing seems to happen with women's ratings of women *when talking to men*; they differ will differ from those given *when talking to women* (or a mixed group) for the same reasons. Probably an almost wholly subconscious process, though. Russ Massey: >>Barbara - Beautiful > >(the follwing is entirley IMFAUDO, natch) Barbara was for me always int he >very beautiful category because she had that singularly bewitching qulaity >oif knowing when to let her sort of radiance emegere. The dowdy creature in >cardy and pedal pushers suddenly emerging as that ravashing creature in the >The Aztecs. her beauty is along gone late 50's early 60's catwalk >conception. > I do know what you mean - you do have to take what is contemporary into account. I do find Barbara quite attractive in general, and I have no doubt that she could be made up and costumed to be beautiful. There are certain scenes in Dalek Invasion of Earth where she's just so damn 'Ripley' it seems incredible it could have been made in the early/mid sixties. >>Jo - Beautiful! > >Is "cute" not a categoty? The thing with Jo is you never quite lose the >fact that however angular she may have been, there was always the sure >knowledge that the quite irresistable Katy Manning lay behind her! > Cute would fall into the 'attractive' category, which is where I would have personally placed Jo. On the other hand, I would have no qualms in allowing her the skill of 'sex appeal', since I think that she is a shameless natural flirt. > >>Leela - Beautiful > >Leela I dont think ever did Lousie Jameson any favours anyway. One could >quite plainly see there was a damn fetching girl struggling to get out > One could see it very plainly indeed :) >>Romana I - Very Beautiful > >"Very very" master..... > No arguments from me. >>Tegan - Beautiful! > >Is this suprise at a low or high rating? :-) > I thought that was a bit high. I guess the 'average' rating should be used for women you could pass on the street without giving them a second glance, and that 'attractive' is the category for those that *do* get a second glance. I'd put Tegan in that category. 'Beautiful' is when you change your route in order to follow them to where ever they're going... Laefl: Ooooh, I always found Tegan *intimidating*. Would tear a little boy like me in half, like. David Tiffany: >Barbara - Beautiful (attractive) >Susan - Attractive (ditto) >Vicki - Average (beautiful) >Katarina - Average (attractive) >Dodo - Beautiful! (unatractive) >Polly - Beautiful (ditto) >Victoria - Average! (Very beautiful) >Zoe - Beautiful (ditto) >Liz - Beautiful (ditto) >Jo - Beautiful! (ditto) >Sarah Jane - Attractive (beautiful) >Leela - Beautiful (attractive) >Romana I - Very Beautiful (ditto) >Romana II - Beautiful (ditto) >Nyssa - Very Beautiful! (beautiful) >Tegan - Beautiful! (unattractive) >Peri - Attractive! (beautiful) >Mel - Average! (attractive) >Ace - Average (unattractive) >Grace - Average! (attractive) (personality *not* considered (or Tegan would be lower! 8-{)# )) >surprising (to me) is that someone would rate Dodo as 'beautiful'. I would >have raised an eyebrow at 'attractive' even, but 'beautiful'! different strokes... VERY different in this case! R. Dan Henry: >Barbara - Beautiful Agreed. Although a lot of this is because the actress is so graceful. In still photos she's only attractive. >Ian - Attractive >Susan - Attractive I suppose. Although Carole Ann Ford could score higher. Susan didn't get much chance to flaunt her charms. >Vicki - Average I think she's rather cute. But I suppose she falls into the average range. However, if this is average, I know way too many unattractive people. >Steven - Average A bit goofy-looking, I thought, but then that's average for a man. >Katarina - Average What about Sara Kingdom? Average >Dodo - Beautiful! Attractive >Polly - Beautiful Attractive. >Ben - Average >Jamie - Average I reckon Jamie'd be attractive, at least. >Victoria - Average! Beautiful for sure. No, make that very beautiful. >The Brigadier - Attractive At which point? And what about the alt-Brig from Inferno? Okay, I'll agree with Attractive, I just think that given we've seen him at various points in his life, we ought to consider how he's changed over time. >Zoe - Beautiful With bonus "cuteness" points. She "only" beautiful, but she attracts like "very beautiful". >Benton - Average >Liz - Beautiful Okay. Although with bonus points for a nice military uniform, I'd have thought Benton would have a shot at attractive. >Jo - Beautiful! Average. >Mike Yates - Attractive Higher than Benton? I don't think so. >Sarah Jane - Attractive Yes, but charming, too. >Harry - Attractive >Leela - Beautiful I'll agree to those, BUT WHAT ABOUT K-9?!? K-9 - Attractive Obviously better looking than your typical robot. >Romana I - Very Beautiful Yes! >Romana II - Beautiful Attractive >Adric - Average Yeah, but get him some decent clothes. >Nyssa - Very Beautiful! Beautiful >Tegan - Beautiful! Very Beautiful >Turlough - Average Handsome Another one missing: Kamelion - er, varies >Peri - Attractive! Beautiful, but annoying. >Mel - Average! Attractive. >Ace - Average Normally average, moves up a notch in 40's gear. >Chang Lee - Average >Grace - Average! I don't have any pictures of Grace to reference and I haven't viewed the film in awhile. But clear as I can recall, she'd rank above average. Max Fisher: Here's my ratings - only bothered to give them for those companions I can picture. >Jo - Beautiful! beautiful >Sarah Jane - Attractive average >Leela - Beautiful attractive >Romana I - Very Beautiful very beaut >Romana II - Beautiful beaut >Adric - Average average >Nyssa - Very Beautiful! very >Tegan - Beautiful! unattractive >Turlough - Average average >Peri - Attractive! attractive >Mel - Average! unattract >Ace - Average average >Chang Lee - Average average >Grace - Average! beautiful ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com