The thing I like about the new series of Doctor Who, is that it is awesome.
I haven't seen it all yet. For a long while it was one of those shows I knew I'd enjoy, but had never gotten around to watching. Eventually I did and was correct.
I watched Seasons 1, 2 and 3 in a near-constant marathon, but season 4 remains unwatched.
I can't really say why I stopped watching as season four commenced, but I think it has something to do with the Doctor's companions. He ... sometimes comes off as a jerk when interacting with them.
I realise the companion is necessary in a story sense, and they are welcome. They're our point of view and they give the Doctor someone to interact with. All good.
But the strings show sometimes. The Doctor seemed to really love Rose. When she was lost and he was heartbroken, he nonetheless picked up someone else almost immediately.
Rose's replacement - who I shall not name as a form of deep meta-commentary and not because her name escapes me - was likable and capable. She was also repeatedly spurned by the Doctor and grew to feel unappreciated. She moved on, someone else came in.
I don't know if it's the rapid fashion in which I watched the episodes that gave me this opinion, compressing the instances of poor behavior? With the natural breaks between seasons would it have grown less noticeable?
I don't recall the original series, save a vague recollection of an extraterrestrial circus and the heart-stopping terror it elicited from my prepubescent chest cavity, but I wonder how the companions were handled there. Where they simply there, a product of the story's external requirements that went unremarked upon therein? Did emotions come into it? Or did they just disappear periodically?
I'd think that was the case, as the current writers seem intrigued by the companion device. They visit Sarah-Jane to see how she's doing post-Doctor and there is a tinge of sadness that can be traced back to him.
I really love the show. Last night I watched Season 4 episode Planet of the Ood and it was marvelous. It also had Captain Darling in it, so bonus point there.
But regular references to the companions and their transient place in the Doctor's world continue to irk me.
6 comments:
Wee-ooo-eee-ooo!
I agree with you - the Doctor can be a jerk. I actually like this aspect of the mythos - that over time, having outlived all mere mortals, he has had to create a wall between himself and anyone else. He has loved deeply before only to see his friends inevitably grow old and die. Over and over again. I'd get a bit bitter about that as well. His cheerful and bumbling demeanour is a mask, a mask that slips occasionally to reveal a darker, more tortured side. The only thing worse than living forever is being alone. Maybe this is why he's so cavalier with his companions - Rose broke through this facade, and so now he's more determined than ever to keep the wall up. But he can't be alone - it's almost pathological. And on to the next companion we go! What's all of time and space without someone to share it with?
Time Lords are not meant to live forever. They can only have 12 regenerations, and then they die. Or do what the Master did, and steal bodies to perpetuate his evil designs.
The new Doctor Who is crap, when compared to the classics. I will not enter into any argument that proposes otherwise.
What is, is.
B.
Hmmm, interesting! Yes, the Doctor does indeed show a certain level of ignorance for the feelings of his companions. Until they're gone, anyway. Then he's all "Oh how I miss Rose" or "Oh, how wonderful was Sarah-Jane Smith when she was a teenager? Actually, she's kind of a cougar these days..."
It's also possible that his jerkiness is leading somewhere... Keep watching!
When I was a kid, Doctor Who was one of those things that SCARED THE FREAKING @#$*% OUT OF ME!
Now I am older, and I'm sure it wouldn't frighten me in the least, but hearing that music gets me every time. My childhood has conditioned me to race to the television and turn it off before some horrifying sci-fi image can burn itself into my fragile brain. -_-'
I'm the same Tsumi - used to scare the shit out of me. I used to have nightmares about daleks and cybermen. It still can be pretty spooky but in a good way.
The answer is simple - Russell wasn't the best writer in the world. It seems Dr Who needs romance for the show to continue. Ace and Doctor 7 was very much more teacher/student companionship. Almost a father figure for Ace as she ran away. The Doctor wanted her to be a better person - eventually a time lord herself but the show ended before that.
Russell (the head writer) had it in his head that Doctor/Rose were the best and nothing else could come close. Even though Rose treated her boyfriend like shit and went into a jealous rage every time another female spoke to him. Martha? She had already moved out, grown up, had her own life and job. So she realised it was time to move on, that's why I loved Martha, and seeing her in TW makes all the much better.
The Doctor says in one of the episodes "people who I travel with - they always break my heart in the end", a bit harsh but true. The show always features the companion moving on, conviniently falling in love or occasionally dying and moving on from the Doctor's life. It's kinda funny that the way the companions leave in the new show is very different from that old formula. Even Sarah Jane was never meant to go - Humans were forbidden from Gallifrey back before Leela married a Time Lord and changed that.
Even the companion who is to come, I won't spoil it for you but The Doctor fully knowing what is to come.. yeah.
Post a Comment