Majenta Pryce

Majenta Pryce was a companion of the Doctor. A hotelier by trade, she was notable for being one of the few non-humans with whom the tenth Doctor traveled.

Biography
Pryce was a green humanoid female, possibly from the planet Vessica. Prior to her first encounter with the Doctor, she had run a successful hotel chain known as Hotel Historia. Following the Last Great Time War, however, the chain was economically devastated as people turned their backs on time travel. Retreating to 21st century Earth, Majenta established another Hotel Historia, using time travel tech of dubious provenance to send paying guests into different time zones throughout Earth history. The Tenth Doctor stumbled onto Majenta's operation while confronting the Graxnix in 41st century London, and used the faulty tech to travel back to the hotel.

When the Graxnix followed the Doctor, they started to kill people at the hotel. Majenta quickly decided to leave with her unpaid bills, but the Doctor prevented her escape. He used her time travel tech to imprison the Graxnix outside time, then ensured she was taken away to debtors' jail. (DWM: Hotel Historia)

In a possibly related series of events, her mind was wiped by Fanson to protect her from an unknown force. (DWM: The Age of Ice)

An apparently coincidental visit to the Thinktwice Orbital Penitiary in Earth's distant future brought the Doctor back into Majenta's world. The harsh regime and crude psychological methods utilised by the penitiary left Majenta with little or no memory of the Doctor, or of her life prior to the events of their first meeting. The Doctor restored Majenta's memory of him, but was unable to restore anything else.

Together, they uncovered the truth behind Thinktwice, that it was being used as a feeding ground for the Memeovax, who fed on the prisoners' memories. When one of the Memeovax attempted to invade Majenta's mind, she unleashed a blast of power that destroyed all the Memeovax in Thinktwice Prison. Afterwards, in the TARDIS, Majenta quickly co-opted the Doctor into helping her resolve her memory issues. (DWM: Thinktwice)

After a trip to Stockbridge, during which she met Maxwell Edison, (DWM: The Stockbridge Child), and helped the Doctor defeat the Lokhus of the Zytragupten, she and the Doctor arrived at an apparently abandoned house on the edge of the Proxima System. Here, the Doctor discovered a holographic party, run by a digitized avatar of Wesley Sparks, founder of Sparktech. As events from decades before replayed in holographic form, the Doctor was astonished to discover that Majenta had been a guest at the party, as Wesley's best friend, business partner and fiancee. Meanwhile, the real Majenta explored the house, and came upon the real Wesley Sparks, now a desiccated cyborg who had slowly gone insane as he preserved himself with bionic parts, waiting for Majenta to return after she left on "pressing business". He attempted to force Majenta into marrying him, but she was ultimately saved by the Doctor and Wesley's avatar, still the dignified host and gentleman Wesley had once been. Damaged in battle saving Majenta, the avatar begged Majenta to remember their lives together. Majenta tearfully broke down and embraced the avatar as it passed away. (DWM: Mortal Beloved)

Still trying to take Majenta to Panacea - a healing world, where the Doctor planned to solve Majenta's memory problems - the TARDIS arrived in Sydney Australia. The Doctor and Majenta were quickly taken into custody by UNIT's Australia branch. Following a suspicious UNIT officer deep into the bowels of UNIT's underwater HQ, she eventually caught up with him in the Bestiary - a hangar space full of UNIT mementoes. Majenta was surprised to find the UNIT officer was her old confidante Fanson, disguised by a perception filter. She was doubly surprised to find that Fanson was now in the thrall of the Skith Leader, and was secretly helping him to infiltrate the UNIT operation. Majenta was ultimately captured by the Skith General's rival forces, who were surprised to find that they were unable to access her mind. The Skith ultimately elected her as the perfect pilot for the prototype timeship (or SKARDIS), and converted her into a Skith Queen. While in this form, the Doctor was able to convince her to turn on the Skith, and help UNIT destroy their ship. As the Skithship fell, Fanson revealed that he was responsible for erasing her memory, to spare her some - as yet unknown - agony. Fanson then died from injuries sustained at the hands of the Skith General, and the Doctor and Majenta fled. (DWM: The Age of Ice)

She and the Doctor then visited New Old Detroit a planet in the Proxima System. There they solved the final case of low-life private eye Johnny Seaview, and wrested control of the World Bomb from a corrupt Alpha Centauri. The Doctor triggered the World Bomb, transforming the slums of New Old Detroit into a world mapped on his memories of England. (DWM: The Deep Hereafter)

After that the Doctor took her to see the Mousetrap a play. In the London Underground they found "Ghosts" saved by a being known as Mnemosyne. After they defeated Mnemosyne, the doctor said he was going to take Majenta to Pancea. At that moment a fleet of ships then surrounded Earth and attempted asked her to come out with her hands up. (DW: Ghosts of the Northern Line)

Personality
Majenta was confident, resourceful, and intelligent. She was also intensely determined; whenever something went wrong, she was willing to do whatever it took to put make it right.

A key part of Majenta's personality was her sense of superiority. She had little compunction about ordering others around, or letting them know exactly what she thought of them. Despite this, however, she did have a streak of compassion, watching out for those she came to care about.

In a reversal of the usual relationships the Doctor has with his companions, Majenta is of the opinion that the Doctor is in fact working for her, technically making him her companion, rather than the other way around. After the incident with Fanson, Majenta offered the Doctor the opportunity to leave her employ, if he wished. With a handshake, however, the Doctor and Majenta agreed to retain their "business" partnership. (DWM: The Age of Ice).

Powers
Majenta had a barrier in her mind, blocking mental intrusion. When Thinktwice originally removed her memories, they didn't seem to encounter it; however, when they tried a second time, they found the barrier blocking them. When a Memeovax breached the barrier, Majenta manifested a mysterious 'shadow-force' from her hand, destroying all Memeovax on Thinktwice. Neither she or the Doctor knew what this 'shadow-force' was, or where it came from.

A certain object of immense power known as 'the hand' has followed Majenta as she travels with the Doctor. It is unknown what this hand is, but it is a large black hand with a crimson force emerging from it.

Quotes

 * "Why not spend time studying Earth's lost life in the Jurassic? Or trade quips with the wits of Elizabethan England? All of Earth's history is yours for the taking Tony love. Call Hotel Historia and experience the trip of a thousand lifetimes!"

Majenta Pryce (by hologram) to Tony (DWM: Hotel Historia)


 * "NO! I... I can consolidate my loans into one manageable monthly payment!! I can..."

Majenta to the Doctor (DWM: Hotel Historia)


 * "You're corpulent, rotund, obese, cuddly, chunky, when you sit around the house you actually sit around the house, you put your belt on with a boomerang, your backside has its own postcode... and an airport"

Majenta Pryce to Cee-Cee (DWM: Thinktwice)


 * "I... D-Doctor...? Are you there? I... I can't see you..."

Majenta Pryce to The Doctor (DWM: Thinktwice)


 * "I hope your plan goes a bit further than just throwing cutlery around..."

Majenta Pryce to the Doctor (DWM: Thinktwice)


 * "If we get out of this alive... we are going to have some very serious words..."

Majenta Pryce to the Doctor (DWM: The Stockbridge Child)


 * "Actually... I wanted to congratulate you. This is some of the shoddiest accounting I've ever seen -- and bear in mind I used to run a hotel.."

Majenta Pryce to He and She (DWM: The Stockbridge Child)


 * "What's the matter? Never seen a woman with green skin before?"

Majenta Pryce to Corporal Manning (DWM: The Age of Ice)


 * "I can't deny it's been fun (in a squalid, macho kind of a way)."

Majenta Pryce to the Doctor (DWM: The Deep Hereafter)

Behind the scenes

 * When Doctor Who Magazine began publishing strips based upon the revived Doctor Who series in 2005, it was decided to feature the Doctor either travelling alone, or with one of his TV companions; this was, in fact, one of the reasons (as stated in the Panini Books DWM comic strip omnibus The Flood) why the comic strip companion Destrii was abandoned with the switch from the Eighth Doctor to the Ninth Doctor in the comics. Majenta is the first ongoing comic strip-exclusive companion to be introduced since then.
 * Majenta is also the first original (i.e. non-TV) Tenth Doctor companion to be introduced in any media, predating various post-Donna Noble characters featured in the New Series Adventures novels, companions featured in the Doctor Who Adventures comic strip, and Grayla, a post-Rose Tyler/pre-Martha Jones companion revealed in the IDW Publishing standalone comic book The Whispering Gallery.
 * Majenta's presence as a companion would seem to contradict the Doctor's stated reluctance to travel with anyone, although it could be said that her adventures might have taken place prior to Donna Noble joining the Doctor. The beginning of The End of Time establishes an interval of unknown length occurred between DW: The Waters of Mars and The End of Time, during which Majenta's adventures may have occurred.
 * It has been announced that DWM: The Crimson Hand, which began in DWM #416 (December 2009), will be the final DWM comic strip adventure of the Tenth Doctor, and presumably Majenta.
 * Majenta appears in seven DWM comic strip stories as a companion, tying Rose Tyler for most DWM comic strip appearances. However if one includes her pre-companion appearance in DWM: Hotel Historia, then Majenta becomes the DWM record-holder with eight comic strip appearances.