I liked Rose. And it's perfectly understandable that the Doctor fell for her in a way he's rarely or never fallen for a companion before, and that he'd be devastated by her loss, and probably wouldn't fall for his next companion - or maybe any other companion ever - in the same way.
But the whole 'second best' thing could have been avoided simply by not having Martha be in love with the Doctor. (Or by going for a much older, much younger, happily married, or otherwise sexually unavailable companion and taking the romance issue off the table entirely.) The vast majority of companions have not been in love with the Doctor, nor he with them. The only reason I can see for making Martha be in love with the Doctor is to assure the audience that no companion will ever replace Rose in the Doctor's hearts, even if he lets them into the TARDIS. In that sense, Martha was created expressly to be second best to Rose. (That said, I don't think the Doctor treated her horribly - he treated her with the same oblivious arrogance he treats most of his companions, and was always honest with her.)
I'm not a shipper where DW is concerned, and I don't give a hoot who the Doctor wuvs best. 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.
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rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-17 06:25 am (UTC)But the whole 'second best' thing could have been avoided simply by not having Martha be in love with the Doctor. (Or by going for a much older, much younger, happily married, or otherwise sexually unavailable companion and taking the romance issue off the table entirely.) The vast majority of companions have not been in love with the Doctor, nor he with them. The only reason I can see for making Martha be in love with the Doctor is to assure the audience that no companion will ever replace Rose in the Doctor's hearts, even if he lets them into the TARDIS. In that sense, Martha was created expressly to be second best to Rose. (That said, I don't think the Doctor treated her horribly - he treated her with the same oblivious arrogance he treats most of his companions, and was always honest with her.)
I'm not a shipper where DW is concerned, and I don't give a hoot who the Doctor wuvs best. 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.