sf65fantastic:burntlikethesun:endless list of favourite characters: martha jones“I spent a lot

sf65fantastic:burntlikethesun:endless list of favourite characters: martha jones“I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best, but you know what? I am good.”Gotta be honest: Martha is my favorite NuWho companion now. As I’ve re-watched NuWho and delved deep into Classic Who, I’ve stripped away the nostalgia and seen the faults in Rose’s character. She’s Doctor Who’s version of the Overprotective Girlfriend. She’s very selfless and compassionate, but at many times can be very selfish in her actions and motives. That doesn’t make her a bad character, just one less appealing and harder for me to identify with or want to emulate. Martha Jones, on the other hand, is basically one of the strongest women in DW history and she completely got the shaft because 10 kept going “Oh, Rose would know what to do…” Martha Jones is, in many ways, even more capable than Rose, and her shining moment didn’t involve her gaining strength from an external force. She walked the earth and spread the word about the Doctor. In a way, the victory over the Master wasn’t the Doctor’s: it was Martha’s. I will still love Rose to death, as I still think she’s a great character and companion who did a lot for the Doctor. But whenever she comes up in a conversation about the best DW companion, just remember that I will have a few words to say about the strong willed, caring and compassionate, and amazing Martha Jones (as well as Ace and Sarah Jane).I considered not responding to this even though I really wanted to do so, because you’re entitled to your opinion (my god, when did that start sounding like such a passive-aggressive thing to say?) but ultimately I just had to respond and defend Rose a little bit. Feel free to ignore this; I just feel the need to write it. (I hope OP doesn’t mind that I’m getting off topic on an innocent gifset of Martha, but I wanted to respond directly to your comment.)I’ve watched all of New Who and the first season of Classic Who and rewatched all of series one and two of New Who and certain episodes from the later seasons. If anything, I like Rose more now than I did when I watched The End of Time. I love Martha, and all the companions I’ve met except River (sorry River :-/ ), but Rose is still my number one. I have to defend her at all opportunities, which doesn’t mean I’m criticizing Martha.Is Overprotective Girlfriend the same as Overly Attached Girlfriend? Because Rose is definitely nothing like that. I agree that she can be selfish (though it’s a particular kind of passionate selfishness that at worst makes her act more carelessly than she means to and at best only goes to show that she has a good heart, unlike, say, the kind of selfishness Adam has). YMMV on whether that makes her a more or less sympathetic character (to me it makes her more sympathetic).she completely got the shaft because 10 kept going “Oh, Rose would know what to do…”One of my biggest pet peeves in the Doctor Who fandom is the misrepresentation of the interactions between Ten and Martha. In the thirteen episodes that comprised series three, the Doctor said “Rose would know what to do” literally once. He said it once in thirteen episodes. He said it in The Shakespeare Code, which was the second episode of the season and his first trip through time with a companion since he lost Rose. And it was in the first half of the episode. After that, it literally never happened again. So he definitely did not “keep going ‘Oh, Rose would know what to do’”. It’s one thing to say that the Doctor did not treat Martha as well as he should have, but the fact remains that he respected her greatly, was constantly praising her and protecting her, and did not talk about Rose nearly as much as some fans pretend he did. I don’t even know how many times I’ve seen people claim things along the lines of “Ten completely neglected Martha and never shut up about Rose.” It’s just not true.As for Martha being more capable than Rose: I don’t know exactly what capabilities you’re referring to here. Of course Martha has her education and doctor skills, but other than that I’d say they’re pretty equal. Here’s the thing about comparing their two shining moments (The Parting of the Ways and The Last of the Time Lords): we’ll never know for sure what each of them would have done in the other’s position. I personally am convinced that Rose could have done what Martha did in The Last of the Time Lords—I think she was brave enough, tough enough, and tenacious enough, maybe not by The Parting of the Ways, but probably by Doomsday, and definitely by series four. (Remember, according to the DW Wiki, Martha became a companion at a later age than Rose, so that’s another inequality that’s neither character’s fault.) And if Martha was in Rose’s position in The Parting of the Ways, she would have had to rely on the TARDIS, too. To get back to the Doctor, Rose had to travel through time. She literally could not do it without the TARDIS. Neither could Martha, in her place. But it was still Rose’s courage, tenacity, cleverness, and heart that allowed her to become the Bad Wolf. The fact that she confronted a different challenge than Martha doesn’t make her less capable.Having said all that, how you judge what characters you like and don’t like is an individual thing. Arguments about which of two characters is better have to rely on objective statements, otherwise they’re entirely pointless, but the experience of consuming fiction is personal and subjective. So I’m not trying to say you’re wrong for preferring Martha; I’m just correcting some details and giving my own opinion. -- source link

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