History Characters / DoctorWhoClassicSeriesCompanions

->''"Look after him, won't you? He gets into the most terrible trouble."''

* ButtMonkey: Much of the comedy comes from his not understanding the Doctor's technobabbling and he really got put through the wringer in Evil of the Daleks.

* ButtMonkey

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: To an extent; he was a quick learner.

%%* SecurityCling: All the time, especially with the Doctor.

* SweaterGirl: Wore an iconic sweater from the TARDIS wardrobe in Season 1.

* TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised: Ace did not receive a departure story, leaving the Doctor some time between the events of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival Survival]]" and [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie Doctor Who: The TV Movie]].

* BatterUp: She famously works a Dalek over with a supercharged baseball bat in "Remembrance of the Daleks". "The Power of the Doctor" reveals she still has that bat, and she pulls off a repeat performance against another Dalek in a volcano.

* BestKnownForTheFanService: the glimpse of her (historically correct) stockings and suspenders in 'The Curse of Fenric' had a profound effect on many fans.

* AerithAndBob: Susan is a rare human name for a Time Lord:

* AlienAmongUs: Is one, who was trying to pass herself off as a regular human student when attending Coal Hill School.

* TheBusCameBack: Makes an appearance at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor "The Power of the Doctor"]], 35 years after "Dragonfire" aired, having apparently returned to Earth in her own time period sometime after her travels with Sabalom Glitz.

->'''Final Regular Story:''' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival Survival]]" (1989)[[note]]Ace was not given a proper departure story, leaving some time between the events of "Survival" and [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie the TV movie]].[[/note]]

* AmbiguouslyBi: "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresSpecialFarewellSarahJane Farewell, Sarah Jane]]" refers to "a nice couple from Australia, Tegan and Nyssa", but it's not clear if they're ''actually'' a couple. According to "[[Recap/DoctorWho022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor The Power of the Doctor]]" she's "seen off two husbands" (possibly Michael Tanaka from the ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' story ''The Gathering'' and William Haybourne from the ''Short Trips'' story "True Companions").

->'''Final Story:'''[[note]]Liz was not given a proper departure, leaving between seasons.[[/note]] "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E4Inferno Inferno]]" (1970)

* ImpliedLoveInterest: For many a decade, one of the most heated debates has been whether the Doctor is capable of romantic (and/or physical) love. It all started here; the chemistry between Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen was so strong that as mentioned above, once Creator/IanMarter left, the relationship between Sarah Jane and the Fourth Doctor took on this dimension. The revived series plays with this interpretation in ''School Reunion'', but confirms they definitely [WillTheyOrWontThey did not]].

*** "T.A.R.D.I.S" is an english-language acronym. It can be interpreted that the TARDIS just uses that acronym she made up when translating the Gallifreyan name. Or it happens to spell out an acronym in english she came up with.

* GirlOfTheWeek: The censored [[invoked]]WordOfGay version. Ace appeared in nine stories, and rapidly established a close friendship with an attractive young female character in at least five of them.

* BareYourMidriff: She regularly tied up her shirts to reveal her midriff.

* ActionGirl: She defeated a Dalek with a ''[[BatterUp baseball bat]]'', shot another in the face with a [[{{BFG}} rocket launcher]], sniped Cybermen with a slingshot, and had an unhealthy love for homemade explosives. When she meets the Doctor again in 2022, she is still very eager to jump in on the action and beats up ''another Dalek''.

* StayInTheKitchen: Polly gets told to "Go make some coffee" a lot when she asks how she can help, to the point where it becomes a RunningGag in the ExpandedUniverse. Worse, when they leave the TARDIS crew Ben gets told to find his ship and become an admiral, while Polly should take care of Ben. Though in the ExpandedUniverse short stories from Creator/BigFinish, it's a few years before she and Ben get together, and she forges out her own career in Public Relations, becoming a little like [[Series/AbsolutelyFabulous Edina Monsoon]], and later in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'', Sarah Jane says that they now run an orphanage in India. Polly was introduced as a scientist's personal secretary, which in 1966 meant that making coffee was more or less her real-life job. It's also arguably justified in a few cases, such as when she's on a late 21st century moon base where all the regular personnel are explicitly described as being highly-qualified scientists. Making coffee and assisting in the sickbay is actually the most helpful thing she can do.

* CasualDangerDialog: After she starts getting used to the lifestyle, she can go almost toe to toe with the Fourth Doctor in terms of making jokes and quips in tense situations and happily reels off nursery rhymes along with him, although she much more obviously uses CasualDangerDialog to release stress than the Doctor.

* ImpliedLoveInterest: For many a decade, one of the most heated debates has been whether the Doctor is capable of romantic (and/or physical) love. It all started here; the chemistry between Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen was so strong that as mentioned above, once Creator/IanMarter left, the relationship between Sarah Jane and the Fourth Doctor took on this dimension.

%%* BraveScot: And very proud of it.

* WalkingTheEarth: It's what she's been doing since she got married. She travels everywhere and stages protests with her huge family. She does so much of this that the TARDIS, which can go anywhere and any when, could not track her down.
** The trait seems to be passed down to her children and grandchildren as well. Her grandson, Santiago, introduced in "Death of the Doctor," was born in Chile (hence his name) because that was where his parents happened to be at the time.

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: The reason why the production team had doubts in her staying power as a companion. It certainly worked a couple of years later with both Jamie and Victoria.
** To be fair though, Jamie was from the year 1745, and Victoria from 1866, while Katarina is from the time of the Trojan War (roughly 1200BC). In Katarina's case, the technological and societal gap was just too great... or would seem so until Leela came along.
** Their reasoning is brought further into question when you conside companions not from the television show. Erimem comes from a time even farther in the past than Katarina.