Fire Walk With Me

trying to figure out why I still love Doctor Who when so many others don’t like it anymore…

someone crystalized it for me the other day when they said they watch for the companions and that’s why they don’t like Moffat’s Who. 

See, I tolerate the companions for the most part. I loved Martha and enjoyed Amy, but most of them I just kind of put up with. Especially in Classic Who. Companions are kind of the price of entry to a solid sci-fi doctor who episode. 

I watch for the Doctor. Always have, always will. 

So maybe that’s why I like Seasons 5-7 so much better than 1-4. RTD liked to make everything about the companions to some degree, especially Ordinary Girl Special Snowflake Rose. Whereas with Moffat it always revolves around the Doctor, and I am super-okay with that. 

Just a guess.

faejilly replied to your post: faejilly replied to your post: I am so annoyed…

Classic Who frequently had multiple companions at a time, so you had more options for interpersonal dynamics, rather than just wide-eyed-following-the-Doctor. I think that worked much better. I wish they’d do that more in the New Who. *sighs*

Oh, I love multiple companions and I wish they’d do it more. I think the Fifth Doctor had a whole bunch of companions throughout his run IIRC and that was great.

Having a married couple on the Tardis was fun. I also really liked how Nine picked up that one guy to go with him and Rose for like an episode and ended up dumping him right away because he stepped out of bounds. I’d like more temporary companions actually. More companions who mess up and get rejected, companions who try it out and go NOPE too dangerous do not want, all of that would be excellent. 

Why limit the Doctor to just one companion? (And why are they all human women? That’s the one that really bugs.)

faejilly replied to your post: I am so annoyed that Rose is coming back AGAIN.

so much this. I loved “Father’s Day”, and I cried, and then she didn’t learn from it, and made the same mistakes again later, and then they undid it anyways. And then her story ended but they brought her back anyways. And they’re doing it again. :P

I think I’d be more charitable towards her brattier behavior if they didn’t KEEP BRINGING HER BACK DAMMIT. Father’s Day was a wonderful episode and she had some okay moments in Season 1 but they keep undermining that development every time she shows up again.

But I think that any of the companions who stick around very long tend to wear out their welcome. The whole purpose of having a companion is to have a wide-eyed newbie around for the Doctor to blow their minds. Once they get to being an expert time traveler themselves it’s no fun anymore. You either have to add another newbie to the team or get rid of them and start over. 

I liked her okay in most of her two seasons but every time she returns I hate her a little bit more. Now she’s gonna suck up time in the 50th anniversary that could be devoted to Classic Who stuff or to any of the dozens of other NewWho characters I’d rather see. 

Even sending her back to her parallel dimension with her very own Doctor didn’t get rid of her. *sob*