Martha may have just been there to prove that Rose is The One, as contrast. Or she may have been there to "ramp down from having so much focus on that sort of relationship." But it doesn't make any sense for her to be there to do both at the same time.
Well, my entire point in my post is that those goals are compatible and were part of her purpose. Though I don't think she was 'just' there for any one particular purpose. That would have made her a much shallower character than I believe came across.
How are those goals compatible? Because the point is to distance the Doctor from romance. We have this sexualized/romanticized Doctor that evolved over the course of the last three Doctors and you can't just... throw away the characterization, especially not when you have pretty David Tennant as your leading man. So, you have your point of view character (Martha) identify the Doctor as attractive/sexualized from the start and make the entire point of their relationship her realizing that he isn't going there (anymore). So that the audience becomes used to a Doctor who doesn't get romantic with his companions while not trying to pretend that you haven't... given him that sexual identity in the past.
Had we actually SEEN the Doctor really bond with Martha and enjoy her, then maybe it wouldn't mean other companions are diminished. But S3 utterly failed to show us that.
He seemed fairly thrilled with her in Last of the Time Lords. There are the various times he thanked her, hugged her. Right from the start, he told her that she was brilliant. He's casual and off-hand, yes, but... that's the Doctor. I've been catching up on my old Who and that's just who the character is. He's not treating Martha any worse than he's treated several other companions in the past.
The difference is that we now have how he treated Rose to compare that to (but Rose isn't the only time when the Doctor has privileged one companion over the others -- he very clearly does so with Susan in the first few serials that I've watched.).
Most of the Doctor's companions are courageous and/or intelligent and/or beautiful. And yet... he behaves that way with most of them, as well.
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Well, my entire point in my post is that those goals are compatible and were part of her purpose. Though I don't think she was 'just' there for any one particular purpose. That would have made her a much shallower character than I believe came across.
How are those goals compatible? Because the point is to distance the Doctor from romance. We have this sexualized/romanticized Doctor that evolved over the course of the last three Doctors and you can't just... throw away the characterization, especially not when you have pretty David Tennant as your leading man. So, you have your point of view character (Martha) identify the Doctor as attractive/sexualized from the start and make the entire point of their relationship her realizing that he isn't going there (anymore). So that the audience becomes used to a Doctor who doesn't get romantic with his companions while not trying to pretend that you haven't... given him that sexual identity in the past.
Had we actually SEEN the Doctor really bond with Martha and enjoy her, then maybe it wouldn't mean other companions are diminished. But S3 utterly failed to show us that.
He seemed fairly thrilled with her in Last of the Time Lords. There are the various times he thanked her, hugged her. Right from the start, he told her that she was brilliant. He's casual and off-hand, yes, but... that's the Doctor. I've been catching up on my old Who and that's just who the character is. He's not treating Martha any worse than he's treated several other companions in the past.
The difference is that we now have how he treated Rose to compare that to (but Rose isn't the only time when the Doctor has privileged one companion over the others -- he very clearly does so with Susan in the first few serials that I've watched.).
Most of the Doctor's companions are courageous and/or intelligent and/or beautiful. And yet... he behaves that way with most of them, as well.