Lalla Ward

[Prydonian]

I don't know, I heard somewhere that the DVD commentary makers are worried something might happen if they got both together for one, but do not know what Tom or Lalla actually think of working together for the sake of a future release.

[Graceful Leonard]

I listened to the Meglos commentary the other day. To me, she came across as an obviously intelligent and extremely articulate woman, but not a particularly nice one. Perhaps it was her idea of humour, but she seemed to make mildly negative remarks about Tom whenever his name came up (which was surprisingly not often given that he played not only the doctor, but also Meglos!). It seemed rather childish of her.

[Prydonian]

Wihtout starting an "I hate Lalla" discussion, might I enquire what kind of things is she saying in these commentaries? I know she has on occassion referred to Tom as her favorite monster on the series, but thought she did so tongue-in-cheek. I don't think I have ever heard Tom say a bad thing about Lalla. Good for him.

[Graceful Leonard]

Wihtout starting an "I hate Lalla" discussion, might I enquire what kind of things is she saying in these commentaries? I know she has on occassion referred to Tom as her favorite monster on the series, but thought she did so tongue-in-cheek. I don't think I have ever heard Tom say a bad thing about Lalla. Good for him.

As mentioned, I only found the comments mildly negative. I can't remember them exactly because it was more to do with her reaction to certain parts of the general conversation when Tom was mentioned. Perhaps it was just meant tongue-in-cheek, who knows -- probably only Lalla herself.

It would be interesting to hear other people's take on it, if anyone else has listened to that commentary.

[Prydonian]

With just one further story from her time on the series to go before her episodes are all out on dvd (excluding the incomplete Shada) I am worried we may never get a commentary with both Tom and Lalla on it. But if that happens, oh well....worse things have happened in the Whoniverse.

[metalheadjay]

Just to be blunt. I've always got the feeling that Lalla had a real bitchy streak to her. Maybe that's why the marriage(to Tom) didn't last. Some women like to control and enforce their will upon others and if you disagree ... they write you off and have nothing to do with you. I get the sneaky suspicion that that wasn't going to work with Tom.

[Graceful Leonard]

Just to be blunt. I've always got the feeling that Lalla had a real bitchy streak to her. Maybe that's why the marriage(to Tom) didn't last. Some women like to control and enforce their will upon others and if you disagree ... they write you off and have nothing to do with you. I get the sneaky suspicion that that wasn't going to work with Tom.

Hard to say, isn't it...I guess we'll never know for sure how things panned out, and maybe that's as it should be. She certainly seems a strong character in real life...maybe someone who was never going to last long in the show as 'just' a companion.

[bcm77]

I preferred Mary Tamm as she seemed to lose some of her superiority complex as she got out into the galaxy and realised she didn't know everything whereas Lalla's version of Romana always seemed a bit aloof which according to at least one source ( Matthew Waterhouse ) wasn't all that far removed from Lalla's actual personality though whether that's accurate I cannot say.

I've listened to the commentaries she's done and whilst there was the odd dig I didn't really detect any outright nastiness from her and in one instance she was actually quite defensive of Tom as she said he got frustrated with the production team during that time because he cared so much about the show and wasn't in agreement that some of the changes being made were for the better.........something which was proven to be true by the steady decline in the years following his departure.

My favorite Romana II story is "City of Death" as Tom & Lalla clearly had fun with the Douglas Adams script which I think has some of the funniest scenes in the shows history.

[Prydonian]

Does anyone deny that in her day on Dr Who as Romana II, Lalla Ward was strikingly beautiful? She was the first Who girl I developed a crush on back when I was 13 or 14. The story was The Creature From the Pit which was airing one weekend afternoon in 1990,and I was taken quite easily. She wore this white gown that accentuated her features and I was just so taken by her. Anybody else have a stiory like this to share?

[Wonkakid]

Does anyone deny that in her day on Dr Who as Romana II, Lalla Ward was strikingly beautiful?

Yes, she's attractive. I don't think there's ever been a companion that wasn't. But I've always been more of a Sarah Jane kinda guy myself ... followed by Nyssa and then Tegan.

Rob
Chicago, USA