It's Doctor Who Week over at Siskoid's Blog of Geekery, so I thought I'd take a stab at a few Doctor Who bits today. I've been rummaging through my notes on the new season (yes, that's right, I take notes when I watch Doctor Who), and I guess I've been enjoying it thus far.



I guess that's sort of a stupid comment, since it's Doctor Goddamn Who and I generally eat up every second of it regardless of how well it's executed or not. But regardless...





I was originally a bit iffy on the Martha Jones character. She seemed too out of place in the Doctor's universe for me. Compared to other companions, she's very much a product of her times, and I suppose when your dealing with a time-travel oriented drama, that can be seen as "relevance". I mean, honestly, the only thing that really separated Rose Tyler from Sara Jones was the fact that Rose had a cell phone. Characteristics-wise, that is.



The problem with "relevance" is that it dates the work. It's a great assumption on the writers part to think that any kind of social progress we've managed to make in our history as a species will not reverse itself ever in the future. I mean the "dark ages" is a perfect example of the human race sort of hitting the reset button on culture and rebuilding.



Still, when a character as "relevant" and of-her-time as Martha Jones stands next to someone as "timeless" as the Doctor, it makes the differences that much more distinguished and therefore (when handled correctly) poignant. The problem with many of the Doctor's companions is that they very rarely seem to be products of their times, and so when matched with the Doctor come off as merely infantile or petty in their outlook. All of Rose Tyler's complaints only really add up to the tantrum of a two-year-old child.



Anyway, Martha really came into her own in "Gridlock" (S03E03). Where "The Shakespeare Code" really just sort of played up the fact that she was from the "future", "Gridlock" really pitted her character against some interesting ideas. Which, in my opinion, is the whole point of the Doctor having a companion in the first place. We, the earthly viewers, need a character to relate to. Someone we can cheer on whenever they say, "Hold up. What the fuck is that guy with the second neck doing to the lady with the tentacles?" To which the Doctor would reply with some sort of witty and aloof comment.



Rose Tyler worked well because by the end of her tenure as the Doctor's companion, she was the earthly equivalent of the Doctor's. She was his equal partner. Not equal in her knowledge or skills or even physiological abilities. But certainly equal in courage and curiosity. Too bad she had to be made into a love-interest.



Not that that's a bad thing for hardcore fans.



But, Martha is a totally different creature. Sure everyone seems to be commenting on how hott David Tennant is as the Doctor (with the extra 't' for emphasis), including Martha herself, but their relationship is not likely to reach that point any time soon. If it did, it would be at the hands of a much more inferior team of creators, because Martha is a doctor (lower-case 'd'), and therefore a person of science and intellect. She may not act like it all the time, like when being attacked by pig-men in the sewer beneath the Empire State Building, but when things happen, the Doctor knows he can rely on her intellect.



The thing with Rose was that she carried around so much emotional baggage. This was evident in the second episode of the first season, where she pines to contact her mother, and eventually gets her cell phone all jacked by the Doctor. Of course this allowed for two great recurring characters, Mickey and Jackie, but ultimately it held the Doctor back in a lot of ways. It also held the show back in a lot of ways too.



If the character of Rose, who is inserted into the adventure for the viewer to relate to, is constantly being attached to her relationships with others and her emotional state, than the more fantastic elements of the show will be defined in the context of emotions and not conceptual grounds.

Something like The Face of Boe is alright to view through an emotional/dramatic lens, but the very concept of Daleks turning humans into pigs (livestock of the universe, etc., etc.) is an idea that must be explored differently.


The show seems to be taking a slightly more conceptually focused route than the previous two seasons, which I'm looking forward to. I like the idea of being pitted up against concepts and ideas, rather than being faced with emotion and drama, but that's just me.


Of course the show will still need to provide it's fair share of emotion and drama, which Rose just oozed. Otherwise, why would we watch the show when we could just read a book? Granted, it's a tricky balance, but I have faith that Martha will be able to inject just enough emotional drama, while still helping us stay intellectually grounded.



I'll write more on the last two episodes, which have both been fairly NYCentric later.

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