Romanadvoratrelundar (), usually shortened to Romana, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A Time Lady from the planet Gallifrey, she is a companion to the Fourth Doctor. As a Time Lord, Romana is able to regenerate, having had two on-screen incarnations with somewhat different personalities (dubbed Romana I and Romana II by fans). Romana I was played by Mary Tamm from 1978 to 1979. When Tamm chose not to sign on for a second season, the part was recast. Romana II was played by Lalla Ward from 1979 to 1981. A third incarnation of Romana has been depicted in some of the spin-off novels, and a fourth (performed by Juliet Landau) has been featured in several audio dramas released by Big Finish Productions in 2013 and 2014, and appeared again in early 2015. Romana is one of only two companions from the Doctor's home planet, Gallifrey, to travel with him in the original television series. The first was his granddaughter Susan Foreman.
Romana I The White Guardian originally assigns Romana to assist the Doctor during the quest for the Key to Time, a series of linked serials which constitute the whole of Season 16 (1978–79). Romana first appears in The Ribos Operation, and was intended as a contrast to her predecessor, the savage Leela. Romana is initially haughty and somewhat arrogant, looking down on the Doctor (whom she considers to be her academic inferior) and responding to his initial resentment at her presence with icy put-downs. However, she soon gains an appreciation for the Doctor's experience and sense of adventure, and begins to respect him as a teacher. Over the course of Season 16, Romana begins to take on some of the characteristics of the screaming "damsel in distress", which reinforced Tamm's decision not to remain in the role as she felt the character had been taken as far as she could go. As a result, Romana regenerates at the start of Season 17, emerging with a different physical appearance and a lighter personality. Although Tamm had left the show on relatively good terms and was willing to film a regeneration sequence for the start of Season 17, she was not invited to do so. There was a rumour, purportedly started by former producer John Nathan-Turner, that the real reason Tamm left was that she was pregnant. Tamm has denied this repeatedly over the years.
Romana II
The introduction of Romana's second incarnation at the start of Destiny of the Daleks — a script credited to Terry Nation, but with several additions and alterations by script editor Douglas Adams — treats the concept of regeneration humorously; Romana changes bodily forms several times, rather like someone casually trying on different outfits, before deciding to take the form of Princess Astra, who had been played by Lalla Ward in the final serial of Season 16, The Armageddon Factor. This regeneration scene is controversial with some fans, as it does not conform to the seriousness with which regeneration is presented in most other cases. It is generally presented as traumatic, even emotionally or physically agonizing. Attempts at rationalising Romana's regeneration have been made in licensed spin-off media, including the Short Trips short story "The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe" which speculates that the TARDIS was responsible for her regeneration. At the end of the serial Meglos, Romana receives word from the Time Lords recalling her to Gallifrey. The opening of the next serial Full Circle makes it clear that, having travelled with the Doctor, she no longer desires to return home. Before the issue can be resolved, the TARDIS falls through a "charged vacuum emboîtement" and disappears into another universe known as E-Space. Her final television appearance was in the 1981 story Warriors' Gate where, along with the robot dog K9, she leaves to forge her own path in E-space when faced with a choice of remaining there or returning to Gallifrey. She also appears briefly in the 20th Anniversary special "The Five Doctors" (1983) through the reuse of footage from the uncompleted 1979 story Shada, as Tom Baker declined to appear in the special. After the departure of both Romana I and II, both versions of the character also appeared very briefly in flashback sequences during the Fourth Doctor's regeneration in Logopolis as well as the Fifth Doctor's mind-copy in Resurrection of the Daleks. Romana would also be mentioned in Castrovalva during the Fifth Doctor's post-regenerative confusion, as well as in Arc of Infinity, in which the Fifth Doctor, in response to a reprimand from the High Council of Time Lords for "leaving [her] behind", retorts that she "chose to remain in E-Space". Ward subsequently returned for a brief cameo as Romana in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time.
Appearances in other media Outside of the television programme, the Fourth Doctor and Romana II also appear in Australian-filmed television advertisements for PR1ME Computer, Inc. in 1980, which played in a tongue-in-cheek way with the idea that the two characters shared a romantic relationship, climaxing with the Doctor proposing marriage (which occurred in real life between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward after her departure from the series that same year). An article by Russell T Davies in the Doctor Who Annual 2006 states that Romana was President of the Time Lords during the Last Great Time War against the Daleks (see below), which ended with Gallifrey being destroyed. As with all spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series is debatable.
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