User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-45314928-20200525010944/@comment-45314928-20200525100938

boom town has nothing to do with the Tenth Doctor. jack is a “multi-story” companion for his appearances in the two separate stories Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords and Stolen Earth / Journey’s End. then there are his travels with the Tenth Doctor in other media (which have proved to be worthy of upgrading a character - see Kazran’s audio appearances upgrading him from “multi-adventure” to “multi-story”.

and as for River, it matters not what was planned for the character. all that matters is what happened. and to my knowledge she has never had another adventure with the Tenth Doctor other than Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead. and in that story she was never invited aboard the TARDIS or to travel with the Doctor, so she technically had no more companion status than Lux - but I believe that she is “narratively ambiguous” due to her larger focus in the episode / with the Doctor.

I think making the distinction between those who are actually invited aboard and those who travel with the Doctor as part of a certain story, would be a simple thing to do and would make the templates far better than they are now. even if they decline or don’t get the chance, the Doctor has clearly shown an interest in them as potential for a main character due to their single-adventure together.