See, that's exactly what gives your ship a bad rep, this lumping of "Special!Perfect!Rose" vs. "Everyone else", which inevitably leads to a disregard towards "everyone else", and look, there's Martha, conveniently not-Rose. So that, you know, RTD might have been aiming to use her to show us how special Doctor/Rose was, but that is not a good thing. You point it out yourself. It's all good and nice to write the Special One True Love if you're doing it in your own little Sue-fic; it's not when you're doing it for a television show with an audience of millions. Some of them are just bound to dislike your Special One, and getting repeatedly hit over the head with her specialness, at the expense of a character they like better, just singles out how sloppy a writer you are.
Dw does make a distinction between Rose and other companions, and that's a bad thing. Because it doesn't make the distinction shown, it tells us about it. The Doctor doesn't really act any different towards Rose - you watch any episode of Four with Sarah Jane, Three with Jo or Seven with Ace, it's clear as daylight - and yet we're constantly told that Rose is Special. We're placed in a really awkward place where we're pretty much told, this is the True Love, you have to approve of her, you have to love her, and you have to give up any hope of seeing - or of having seen - anyone else in that position.
Now, being a minority of sorts, a student and "higher class", and being uninterested in romantic adventures with David Tennant, Martha served as much better identification for me than Rose. I rather like the idea that you don't have to be uneducated but plucky and true-hearted to be a hero and loved as a hero. But then I'm told, oh no, not you, only the Mythological Blonde. All those other characters whom I cared for more, for whatever reason - Sarah Jane, Romana, Ace - can only hope to get lumped as "everyone else". Future companions? Don't get invested, can't measure up. See what I'm getting at with the sloppy writing angle? It's a very effective job done of alienating any of your audience who happen to not see Rose Tyler as the end-all of Who.
So basically, yes, your argument is correct, but that doesn't reflect badly on the writing of Martha - it reflects badly on the writing of Rose.
no subject
See, that's exactly what gives your ship a bad rep, this lumping of "Special!Perfect!Rose" vs. "Everyone else", which inevitably leads to a disregard towards "everyone else", and look, there's Martha, conveniently not-Rose. So that, you know, RTD might have been aiming to use her to show us how special Doctor/Rose was, but that is not a good thing. You point it out yourself. It's all good and nice to write the Special One True Love if you're doing it in your own little Sue-fic; it's not when you're doing it for a television show with an audience of millions. Some of them are just bound to dislike your Special One, and getting repeatedly hit over the head with her specialness, at the expense of a character they like better, just singles out how sloppy a writer you are.
Dw does make a distinction between Rose and other companions, and that's a bad thing. Because it doesn't make the distinction shown, it tells us about it. The Doctor doesn't really act any different towards Rose - you watch any episode of Four with Sarah Jane, Three with Jo or Seven with Ace, it's clear as daylight - and yet we're constantly told that Rose is Special. We're placed in a really awkward place where we're pretty much told, this is the True Love, you have to approve of her, you have to love her, and you have to give up any hope of seeing - or of having seen - anyone else in that position.
Now, being a minority of sorts, a student and "higher class", and being uninterested in romantic adventures with David Tennant, Martha served as much better identification for me than Rose. I rather like the idea that you don't have to be uneducated but plucky and true-hearted to be a hero and loved as a hero. But then I'm told, oh no, not you, only the Mythological Blonde. All those other characters whom I cared for more, for whatever reason - Sarah Jane, Romana, Ace - can only hope to get lumped as "everyone else". Future companions? Don't get invested, can't measure up. See what I'm getting at with the sloppy writing angle? It's a very effective job done of alienating any of your audience who happen to not see Rose Tyler as the end-all of Who.
So basically, yes, your argument is correct, but that doesn't reflect badly on the writing of Martha - it reflects badly on the writing of Rose.