Companions that never were

[john_amend_all]

lurking_latinist wondered who the AI-generated companions Duncan, Lloyd and Stardust might be.

I created some prompt text for the generator (basically, taking the companions' names and capsule biographies from TV Tropes, for Susan up to Harry). Then I'd add the requested character's name and hit the Big Blue Button.

Duncan: A young bartender who once was a soldier in the Colonial Wars. On board the TARDIS he helped to keep the Doctor occupied. They had a drunken stupor (and instant attraction) and in the morning Duncan appeared to be dead. The Doctor, thinking it was the last thing he'd ever see, arranged for Duncan to be arrested as a potential terrorist. When the authorities declined to do this, the Doctor took it upon himself to fake Duncan's death and somehow get him to UNIT.

Lloyd: A part-time grave digger from the 1920s, who also possessed the ability to teleport and seemed to have an almost telepathic connection to animals.

Stardust: An American girl whose parents were killed by the Xindi, and who is caught in the time storm that happened just prior to the War of the Worlds. The only Time Lord to be captured by the Scourge of the Dominion. Her birthday is 11 September, just before the attacks on the Earth. She's the only companion to receive a name in her first appearance and to have that name survive until her final episode, with the exception of UNIT doctor Jessica Jenkins, who is given her first name in her next appearance.

Because of the way the generator works, it would sometimes go on to add more text after completing the biography I asked it for. This one came after Lloyd:

Zoe: The TARDIS accidentally accelerated into an erogenous zone.

*boggles*

And these after Stardust:

Alice: Chief administrator for UNIT who was thrown out of the Brigadier's office when she expressed distaste for the new doctor. In the presence of the Doctor, she seemed attracted to him but then completely lacked any romantic interest in him afterwards. She's also the only companion to actually have a complete voice-over in the opening titles, instead of being castrated in cartoon form (as was the case for time-travelers Thirteen, Jo Grant, Susan Foreman and The Brigadier).

('Castrated'? I don't think that word means what you think it means, generator).

Mavis Pond: A member of the public caught up in the Xindi attack. Mavis becomes The Doctor's companion, assuming the identity of her niece Mavis (as her parents had been killed).

(The generator is clearly very keen on its Star Trek: Enterprise crossover).

While I'm still on the subject of AI, I recall seeing a Spectator article along 'Journalists are all doomed, we'll be replaced by AI text generators' lines. What caught my eye was the prediction that fanfic would be one of the first areas of writing to succumb to the robot hordes. I can certainly see a place for robot-generated fanfic (particularly for someone whose interest was in a niche pairing *cough* Jamie/Sam *cough*), but since fanfic is a hobby that scratches a writer's itch I find it hard to believe that there wouldn't still be humans doing it the old-fashioned way.

(I did once try to get an AI to generate Lucie/Karen, priming it with the text of Professional Development. It just output more bickering, except that each time Karen insulted Lucie she'd conclude her remark with a kiss).

Comments

[john_amend_all]

Lloyd must live!