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Regarding the outrage that this interview has caused
http://freemaagyeman.com/news/2007/12/15/russell-t-davies-series-4-finale/
Davies is a touch defensive when he explains that Martha was always going to be second best to Rose. 'That's how we played it, rather than fight it. It would have been an awful moment if the doctor had said. "Oh, you are like a new Rose to me."
I do not understand why people are freaking out from that interview so much. RTD meant it in terms of the next companion was inevitably to be second best in the Doctor's eyes, and umm yeah, I'm not sure what's controversial over simply stating that very true fact of what has already appeared on the show in series 3. The Doctor met Rose after the Time War, the two of them had bonded to an incredible extent, and were then seperated in Doomsday in a way that meant they would never meet again. It didn't matter how wonderful the next companion was, he was always going to have moments of wishing he were still with Rose
There seems to be such shock that Martha is not considered more worthy of the Doctor's respect, when she is a medical student, and Rose is "an uneducated peroxide blonde chav" who works in a shop. Umm he's a Time Lord and way above us anyway, intelligence is not the primary thing that drew the Doctor to humanity. (And his preferring Rose's company to Martha isn't all that new or scandalous, the Third Doctor enjoyed Jo's company, and mourned her loss more than he ever did the more intelligent Liz, right?)
DW fandom has too many snobs. Who cares if Rose has no GCSEs, that doesn't make her any less worthy of going on adventures with the Doctor, it's not like the majority of these adventures requires knowledge of advanced maths! In season 3 the Doctor described Rose as "so very human", so obviously Rose did have what appealed to him in a human to go on adventures with. People keep bringing up how Martha is smarter than Rose, and Rose is just a shop assistant with nothing exceptional about her at all in comparison, but that's missing the point that the Doctor doesn't choose companions based on brain power. If he did, he'd be picking up people who spend the day sat behind computers in offices with their many degrees. (Adam was a genuis, yet even he got dissed back in season 1, with the Doctor making the point that he only takes the best, and you're not it). We're all "stupid apes" in comparison to Time Lords, so that's obviously not what made humans his favourite species, or even what comes in most useful on the experiences that the Doctor takes you on. His main requirment seems to be for the companion to have a sense of wonder, and be ready to get out there and experience all kinds of life.
With Fear Her for example, the Doctor and Rose just clicked, and had a great time together. We see the Doctor missing that connection in The Shakespeares Code (not that his rudeness is excused there). The companion following Rose might have been more book smart, but the Doctor was connecting from the heart, not the brain. No matter how smart and generally awesome Martha was, she would never be Rose to him, and he was always going to miss that.
However, regardless of the Doctor's issues in series 3, Martha is going to be appearing in a spin-off, as well as continue in DW. All of this surely points to the fact that she is meant to be a kick-ass character in her own right, and that RTD does appreciate her. Martha's character didn't need the Doctor to fall in romantic love with her, especially when the audience all know the reason why that didn't happen, and it had nothing to do with Martha's flaws. I mean heck plenty of people did fall for Martha. The guy who snogged her in 42. Tom giving up his life to try and protect Martha. Even Shakespeare flirted with Martha. I personally find it much closer to sexism than anything from RTD when fandom takes the attitude that it doesn't matter whether or not Martha left the series kicking ass, all that really matters is that the Doctor didn't fall in love with her, and that therefore proves that she was never allowed to measure up to Rose. The Doctor falling in love was not needed in order to validate Martha as a companion. In fact, if it weren't for Martha's unrequited love that ultimately caused her to leave, I see no reason why both she and Jack couldn't have carried on travelling with the Doctor and having fun together. In her farewell speech, Martha admits that the Doctor likes her fine, but it's just too painful to have to keep on waiting and hoping, as she saw happen with a friend of hers. She didn't leave because the Doctor treated her poorly, but because she had fallen in romantic love, and it hurt too badly that he didn't feel the same way.
On another note, I don't get this argument that the Doctor treated Martha so terribly. Apparently he never said she was fantastic, he never said thank you for anything, all he did was compare her to Rose. Yet the only times the Doctor brings up Rose around Martha, were in Smith and Jones, and The Shakespeare Code. And an indirect reference in HN with John Smith's journal. Otherwise the people bringing up Rose were Martha, Jack, and the Master. (Gridlock reference was Martha asking if the Doctor had taken Rose there before). Probably the rudest the Doctor was to Martha was early on when he kept saying it would only be one trip, not a full-time companion. That was unappreciative granted. But even then he did go to the trouble of specially luring Martha into the Tardis after being impressed with her in S&J, and he admitted that she was never really just on there for one trip, he just couldn't bring himself to get attached again. For all the comparisons to how Donna was treated so much better in TRB, umm not really. The Doctor went to the trouble of asking them both on the Tardis, he made a bit of an effort to attract Martha in fact, and went back in time to show off. It was once Martha accepted his offer, that he quickly said that she wouldn't be replacing his previous companion, and I see no reason why he wouldn't have said the exact same thing to Donna if she had agreed to travel with him.
I mean how is any of this worth writing RTD protest letters? How is this worth embarrassing yourself by heading a post "Why must Rusty still be alive". People have made icons of their wish fullfillment of RTD's head exploding!!! I don't care if it is meant partly in fun, I think the hate this fandom have for a writer and human being is vile
It's enough to make SV fandom look quite sensible in fact o_0 And I thought I was being extremely angry when SV sunk my ship and I was all "So not buying the DVDs now". Apparently it's cool these days to wish personal harm on the writers as well, and slur their name by calling them a bigot. But if I was RTD, and saw people online discussing fantasies of my being set on fire, I certaintly wouldn't be very inclined to sympathize with their POV, or take much note of their complaints. It's just inviting any lurking members of the production team to see you as the lunatic fringe
http://freemaagyeman.com/news/2007/12/15/russell-t-davies-series-4-finale/
Davies is a touch defensive when he explains that Martha was always going to be second best to Rose. 'That's how we played it, rather than fight it. It would have been an awful moment if the doctor had said. "Oh, you are like a new Rose to me."
I do not understand why people are freaking out from that interview so much. RTD meant it in terms of the next companion was inevitably to be second best in the Doctor's eyes, and umm yeah, I'm not sure what's controversial over simply stating that very true fact of what has already appeared on the show in series 3. The Doctor met Rose after the Time War, the two of them had bonded to an incredible extent, and were then seperated in Doomsday in a way that meant they would never meet again. It didn't matter how wonderful the next companion was, he was always going to have moments of wishing he were still with Rose
There seems to be such shock that Martha is not considered more worthy of the Doctor's respect, when she is a medical student, and Rose is "an uneducated peroxide blonde chav" who works in a shop. Umm he's a Time Lord and way above us anyway, intelligence is not the primary thing that drew the Doctor to humanity. (And his preferring Rose's company to Martha isn't all that new or scandalous, the Third Doctor enjoyed Jo's company, and mourned her loss more than he ever did the more intelligent Liz, right?)
DW fandom has too many snobs. Who cares if Rose has no GCSEs, that doesn't make her any less worthy of going on adventures with the Doctor, it's not like the majority of these adventures requires knowledge of advanced maths! In season 3 the Doctor described Rose as "so very human", so obviously Rose did have what appealed to him in a human to go on adventures with. People keep bringing up how Martha is smarter than Rose, and Rose is just a shop assistant with nothing exceptional about her at all in comparison, but that's missing the point that the Doctor doesn't choose companions based on brain power. If he did, he'd be picking up people who spend the day sat behind computers in offices with their many degrees. (Adam was a genuis, yet even he got dissed back in season 1, with the Doctor making the point that he only takes the best, and you're not it). We're all "stupid apes" in comparison to Time Lords, so that's obviously not what made humans his favourite species, or even what comes in most useful on the experiences that the Doctor takes you on. His main requirment seems to be for the companion to have a sense of wonder, and be ready to get out there and experience all kinds of life.
With Fear Her for example, the Doctor and Rose just clicked, and had a great time together. We see the Doctor missing that connection in The Shakespeares Code (not that his rudeness is excused there). The companion following Rose might have been more book smart, but the Doctor was connecting from the heart, not the brain. No matter how smart and generally awesome Martha was, she would never be Rose to him, and he was always going to miss that.
However, regardless of the Doctor's issues in series 3, Martha is going to be appearing in a spin-off, as well as continue in DW. All of this surely points to the fact that she is meant to be a kick-ass character in her own right, and that RTD does appreciate her. Martha's character didn't need the Doctor to fall in romantic love with her, especially when the audience all know the reason why that didn't happen, and it had nothing to do with Martha's flaws. I mean heck plenty of people did fall for Martha. The guy who snogged her in 42. Tom giving up his life to try and protect Martha. Even Shakespeare flirted with Martha. I personally find it much closer to sexism than anything from RTD when fandom takes the attitude that it doesn't matter whether or not Martha left the series kicking ass, all that really matters is that the Doctor didn't fall in love with her, and that therefore proves that she was never allowed to measure up to Rose. The Doctor falling in love was not needed in order to validate Martha as a companion. In fact, if it weren't for Martha's unrequited love that ultimately caused her to leave, I see no reason why both she and Jack couldn't have carried on travelling with the Doctor and having fun together. In her farewell speech, Martha admits that the Doctor likes her fine, but it's just too painful to have to keep on waiting and hoping, as she saw happen with a friend of hers. She didn't leave because the Doctor treated her poorly, but because she had fallen in romantic love, and it hurt too badly that he didn't feel the same way.
On another note, I don't get this argument that the Doctor treated Martha so terribly. Apparently he never said she was fantastic, he never said thank you for anything, all he did was compare her to Rose. Yet the only times the Doctor brings up Rose around Martha, were in Smith and Jones, and The Shakespeare Code. And an indirect reference in HN with John Smith's journal. Otherwise the people bringing up Rose were Martha, Jack, and the Master. (Gridlock reference was Martha asking if the Doctor had taken Rose there before). Probably the rudest the Doctor was to Martha was early on when he kept saying it would only be one trip, not a full-time companion. That was unappreciative granted. But even then he did go to the trouble of specially luring Martha into the Tardis after being impressed with her in S&J, and he admitted that she was never really just on there for one trip, he just couldn't bring himself to get attached again. For all the comparisons to how Donna was treated so much better in TRB, umm not really. The Doctor went to the trouble of asking them both on the Tardis, he made a bit of an effort to attract Martha in fact, and went back in time to show off. It was once Martha accepted his offer, that he quickly said that she wouldn't be replacing his previous companion, and I see no reason why he wouldn't have said the exact same thing to Donna if she had agreed to travel with him.
I mean how is any of this worth writing RTD protest letters? How is this worth embarrassing yourself by heading a post "Why must Rusty still be alive". People have made icons of their wish fullfillment of RTD's head exploding!!! I don't care if it is meant partly in fun, I think the hate this fandom have for a writer and human being is vile
It's enough to make SV fandom look quite sensible in fact o_0 And I thought I was being extremely angry when SV sunk my ship and I was all "So not buying the DVDs now". Apparently it's cool these days to wish personal harm on the writers as well, and slur their name by calling them a bigot. But if I was RTD, and saw people online discussing fantasies of my being set on fire, I certaintly wouldn't be very inclined to sympathize with their POV, or take much note of their complaints. It's just inviting any lurking members of the production team to see you as the lunatic fringe
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-17 06:10 pm (UTC)If so it was a bad move to do that with a black companion.
["But if every companion for the rest of the series is going to moon after the Doctor, be compared to the long-vanished Rose and found lacking, well, that's going to be kind of annoying."]
Yep.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-17 06:33 pm (UTC)Sarah Jane is overrated.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-17 06:38 pm (UTC)Have you been catching up on watching the old show?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-17 06:46 pm (UTC)People bringing the whole class thing into it is annoying. And they shouldn't expect the Doctor to share their class prejudices.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-17 10:35 pm (UTC)Rose certainly can't be an issue forever anyway because the production team will be changing over after series 4 I think? Or after series four and three specials?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 02:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 02:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 09:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 09:42 pm (UTC)And sure some writers and showrunners are bigots, but people using all caplocks to shout about how RTD is a bigot that should get fucked up the arse, doesn't exactly make them look great when that's them responding to a fictional character returning to DW. That just reinforces my suspicion that most of the outrage comes more from shipping concerns with Martha, rather than wanting to say anything sensible about the show. (Some people have made good and interesting points of course, but a lot of people seem to just be jumping on the bandwagon because they are furious at the treatment of their favourite character, and want to bash the writers for it unfairly. As if some of those people even gave two hoots when it was Mickey being cast aside. But because they love Martha, and wanted her to take a shippy place at Ten's side, it's attack RTD time).
But then I always thought it was quite transparent when the Kittens started digging up all these examples of how Joss Whedon treats gay characters, when they had been happily watching the show and applauding it getting awards for his positive portrayal of a gay relationship, it was only when their favourite character got killed that bigotry was shouted to all and sundry. And then the TWoP joking ad about get over Tara's death, calling that an insult to all lesbians. That kind of fandom involvement does tend to cloud the outrage for me