half the world away

“Garry Marshall’s granddaughters watched the tapes of actresses auditioning for the role of Mia. They confided in their grandfather he should hire Anne Hathaway, because she had good Princess hair.”

Martha:

I have...complicated feelings about Martha. I'm going to be honest, for her first few episodes, I did not like her all that much. Of course, the thing is, you're almost not supposed to like her at first. One of my favorite things about series 3 and 4 is that Rose very much haunts the narrative--you can feel her presence in Ten's thoughts, how her absence informs his decisions, almost as if she never left. Martha's role, at least in those first few episodes, is to make us miss Rose. She's a plot device. I don't think this is the case for the rest of the season, she has a lot of compelling things going for her character--her complicated relationship with her family and her desire to travel with Ten partially being due to her wanting to escape their chaos were really interesting. Also, her studying to be a doctor while traveling with the Doctor could have been a fascinating plot point if it had been utilized more often--but unfortunately, I think everything her character had going for it was too often muddied up by the "one-sided pining for Ten" plotline. I'm by no means opposed to the plotline in and of itself, I actually quite like it, but halfway through the season it started to get annoying to me. Like, I get it, him kissing her in episode 1 and then asking her to travel with him is really confusing, that's totally understandable, but after that long of traveling with the guy and him making it extremely clear that he doesn't like her like that...like, girl. Give it a rest.

(Not that Ten is entirely blameless in this situation--this man has never heard of a healthy coping mechanism. He just wanted Martha to travel with him because he was lonely, nothing else, but didn't make that clear at all. His refusal to even acknowledge her feelings, which he was perfectly aware of, and have a healthy conversation about it wasn't helping matters.)

I loved how they handled her exit in Series 3, however--I loved how Martha acknowledged that their relationship wasn't healthy for either of them, and that she needed to get out. (Ten staring as his shoes in that scene...gosh...)

And, with the one-sided pining plotline out of the way, I loved her appearances in Series 4! I loved how she actually got to be a doctor and do cool stuff! Also, I know her ending up with Mickey in the end is a very blatant Pair the Spares move, but have you considered: I do not care. I love them. They are so cute. (Didn't Martha have a fiancé in Series 4 though? What happened to him? Did he die or something and I missed it?)

Also, Martha is the most obvious example of what the Dalek's argue in the Series 4 finale--that the Doctor cannot help but make his companions into soldiers.

Donna:

Donna!!! I'll admit, I was pretty neutral about her in her first appearance--but I was so excited to have her back in Series 4. It was a breath of fresh air to have a companion who was very clearly a friend rather than another love interest, and her dynamic with Ten was so different than with any other companion. Their banter was so entertaining, and her lack of tact, though it got her into trouble sometimes, enabled her to say important things to Ten that Rose avoided saying for fear of jeopardizing their relationship, and Martha would have regulated to passive-aggressive muttering under her breath. (Thinking of "you talk all the time, but you never say anything" -esque conversations.) She cuts through Ten's bluster with relative ease, and it's fascinating to watch.

I also love that her traveling with the Doctor helps her grow as a person, flying in the face of Ten's belief that he destroys everything he touches--until the memory wipe, of course. Still, the Doctor Donna is still in there. (Also, was I supposed to think that the woman in white in The End of Time was Donna? That's what I assumed, but I'm not sure if I'm right.)

Rose:

Believe it or not, when I was thirteen years old and tried to watch Doctor Who for the first time, I did not like Rose Tyler. I thought that Rose was annoying, and that Nine was too angry and scary. (Thirteen year old me only got as far as The Doctor Dances, forgive her.)

I liked her much better the second go-round--I think the moment I was really sold on her character was her whole Bad Wolf moment, which makes sense. Her character growth throughout the series is by far my favorite, though I'm not sure I could tell you why. I'm going to try, though!

I think one thing that's pretty easy to forget about Rose is that she begins as quite a similar character to Donna, in that she doesn't have all that much going for her in her day-to-day life--she didn't do all that well in school, didn't go to university, is working at a department store (a job which she loses in the first episode), is living with her caring but rather foolish mother, and is dating a well-intentioned but pretty immature guy. It's a little startling at first glance how quickly she's totally on-board with traveling with the Doctor and being in so much danger all the time (even before she's in love with him), but it makes sense when you consider how little there is left for her at home. There's her mother, there's Mickey. That's it. And once she's seen the beauty of the universe, despite how dangerous it is, she just can't go back.

Just how sold-out she is for Ten (and vice-versa) is one of my favorite things, but also, one of her greatest strengths is her empathy. She's not brilliant like Martha, or a soldier like Jack, or a Time Lord-to be like Donna. What she has is a compassion that allows her to connect with all kinds of people--with a dying Dalek, with a terror-inducing little boy who is really just looking for his mother, with a housewife who is terrified of her abusive husband, even with a time-traveling man responsible for a war-ending genocide of millions.

I'm not going to go too much into Tenrose here (because I talk about it enough on this blog), but I find it so interesting that Rose represents healing to both Nine and Ten. Ten makes it very clear in the Series 4 finale that Rose saved him from himself--and not even intentionally, just by being who she is. Her influence on him is just that strong. (Please excuse me while I weep.)

As I mentioned earlier, I love how in Series 3 and 4, Rose is not physically present, but you can feel her haunting the narrative. You can almost tell when Ten is thinking of her, when her absence or influence on him causes him to make certain decisions, even though he talks about her pretty rarely. And how rarely he talks about her makes her into a sort of mythic figure for both Martha and Donna, making her return all the more incredible.

I also love that it is Donna who keeps seeing Rose everywhere and is so involved with her return. I sort of see Donna as someone Rose could have very easily become if she had never met the Doctor. They both also understand him in a similar way, though their relationships with him are fundamentally different. If the universe had allowed it, they would have been best friends.

Also, while it's sad for Ten, I loved the Tentoorose ending. I honestly couldn't see ending it any other way and keeping the integrity of Doctor Who's themes.

Finally, it has to be said—Ten and Rose are just so much fun to watch. They’re so happy together. They grin at each other like idiots. Ten does not smile like that with that amount of frequency for anyone else in the series, and I’m so unhinged about it.

A few random thoughts on some other assorted companions:

Mickey: Mickey my beloved!!! One of the things I love about the writing of these four seasons is that they are very aware of their own writing--they know that they're making Mickey into the third wheel, but they're also very aware of that fact. Seeing an arc like this handled with such self-awareness was so cool to see. I liked how Rose didn't immediately leave Mickey for the Doctor, she tried to make their relationship work, but they both eventually came to see that their relationship was immature. I also loved how he had his own arcs independent of Rose, and his character growth in those arcs were just incredible. I also think he has some of the most underrated performances in the show--the scene in Pete's World where he finds his grandmother makes me want to weep. And, of course, I love him and Martha together.

Astrid: Liked her quite a lot, I just don't get why we need to be throwing love interests at Ten all the time. Give him a break.

Jackson and Rosita: I mean, I get it, but also...huh??

Christina: Why. Why. Why.