Doctor Who: Companion-related thoughts on 'Sontaran Stratagem'

[butterfly]

So, RTD apparently says something along the lines of "Martha is the Doctor" in the confidential for 4x04 (I have not watched said confidential yet, but if I watch it and he ends up actually saying something like "Martha is a doctor now," my conclusions remain the same, because while this post was inspired by said comment, it is not dependent on it).

I would agree with him and would, in fact, expand it outward.

If Martha has grown to emulate/mirror the Doctor over their time apart, she's far from the only one. In fact, it's quite the popular thing among former companions. Sarah Jane is merrily performing a very Doctor-eske role over on SJA, Jack remade TW3 over in the Doctor's honor, Rose and Mickey are 'Defenders of the Earth', and Donna was directly (and hilariously) mirrored with the Doctor in the opening of PIC.

The Doctor exposes people to a new way of living your life (as Rose said). He shows people new skills to deal with the problems they face. He inspires people. Companions are all people capable of rising to the challenge of the Doctor's life and, while living that life, they learn things. They take that knowledge back into their lives without him.

Not only do they all learn from their time with him, they all learn slightly different things -- all of these former companions are 'defending the Earth' but they're doing it in different ways. Jack first worked with and then reworked Torchwood. Martha seeks to change UNIT from within the organization. Sarah Jane avoids both of those organizations as too prone to rash action and prefers to work without any official affiliation. All different responses to what they learned from traveling with the Doctor.

"Someone has to be the Doctor," Rose says in The Christmas Invasion. When the Doctor is missing or out of commission or otherwise occupied, other people have to fill in that hole. Former companions tend to be the most qualified for the job.

Comments

[kammgirl.livejournal.com]

And I think he picks people who have that spark. As Rose said, he only takes the best and though some get there more slowly then others, they all do their part to defend and protect. I think Jack took that aspect with him after his time on the TARDIS, because as we saw in the back stories of the TW team, each member had something special that Jack could see and that's why he chose them.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Definitely.

I think that they all picked up different things from working with the Doctor, things that reflected their time with him -- with Jack, as you say, it's that talent of finding special people (probably in part because Jack joined up after the Doctor had already met Rose, so he could see what the Doctor saw in her that made her special and also what changed in himself).

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

Yeah. What I love best (predictably) is that each character does it a different way suited to who they are and what they want in life.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yep! It's definitely one of the very best things about the show -- it never feels like there's a cookie-cutter reaction to his life (or anything else). Everyone responds in their own way.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Is it weird that I made this icon immediately after "Smith & Jones" aired for the first time? (:

I really like this aspect of NewWho. Even old school, the Doctor often inspired his companions to great courage and strength, but it wasn't always implied that they remained mighty after he'd gone.

What I'm curious about is whether they're going to be expanding upon the negative ways one can be like/become the Doctor. I seemed to see hints of that in Martha here.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

What I'm curious about is whether they're going to be expanding upon the negative ways one can be like/become the Doctor. I seemed to see hints of that in Martha here.

Same here!

And butterfly, I agree that New Who has established -- or maybe just made *visible* -- a pattern of Being The Doctor When He's Gone.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

There have definitely been allusions previously and definitely companions who have learned a great deal from him (I'm thinking of Ace and Jo off the top of my head, but there are definitely others), but Now Who has made it more explicit, I think.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Is it weird that I made this icon immediately after "Smith & Jones" aired for the first time? (:

I really like this aspect of NewWho. Even old school, the Doctor often inspired his companions to great courage and strength, but it wasn't always implied that they remained mighty after he'd gone.

It really nice that New Who is going back. Someone on my flist said that... where there used to be revolving companions, now there are evolving companions. And they stay connected to him, all of them. It's nice, especially since he doesn't have his home anymore (and he always liked his companions better, anyway).

What I'm curious about is whether they're going to be expanding upon the negative ways one can be like/become the Doctor. I seemed to see hints of that in Martha here.

I think that bits of that can be seen over on TW and SJA, especially in the beginning -- Sarah Jane was capable and fantastic, like the Doctor, but also a bit distant from the world. And Jack collected people, the way the Doctor does, but he was (and still is) quite controlling and manipulative (luckily, Ianto and Gwen are fairly resistant to his manipulations at this point). And I also think that was explored a bit with Rose in S2 as well -- her buzz at action was sometimes a touch callous, the way the Doctor can be.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Good points, especially about Jack. I saw speculation that Martha's path might be similar to Jack's, in discovering a noble organization gone wrong (Torchwood, UNIT) and trying to fix it from the inside. But that requires a level of self-awareness about their own ability to be...I want to say corrupted, but that's not quite the right word...affected negatively by the Doctor's influence. A bit of being above it all, you know?

Can't wait to see what happens this weekend!

[shaela]

“Someone has to be the Doctor,” Rose says in “The Christmas Invasion.” When the Doctor is missing or out of commission or otherwise occupied, other people have to fill in that hole. Former companions tend to be the most qualified for the job.

I love these characters so much. The writers could’ve cut them out with a cookie cutter, but they didn’t. They’re all different. Different from each other. Different from the Doctor. But they’re all clever and brave and just… fantastic. And if this season goes the way I think it will, I think the Doctor will be glad that he has such good taste in traveling companions friends.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yes! And I agree that I think he'll be given reason to be very glad. Because they all give him something different and together... that many people caring about him is probably already more than the people who actually cared about him back on Gallifrey.

[pluckyyounggirl.livejournal.com]

I watched the Confidential last night, and I'm pretty sure he did, in fact, say the Doctor.

And of course I agree. D'oh.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thanks for the confirmation. I'll get around to watching the Confidential at some point, probably.

[eviltigerlily.livejournal.com]

Companions essentially becoming the Doctor is a device RTD uses for creating spin offs. Out of all the companions you mentioned Sarah is the only one, IMO who has come to mirror the Doctor in essence (who and what he is) rather then circumstance (what he does).

As was always shown in the Classic series, traveling with the Doctor (or indeed, just meeting him) makes you grow as a person. It is not necessary to emulate the Doctor for that.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I also found Jack, Rose, and Donna to take an approach very similar to the Doctor (in Fear Her, Rose and the Doctor are using many of the same mannerisms and they've had the same general approach to travel and danger since very early on). For me, I've found it to be a bit of a Venn diagram, with the companions overlapping the Doctor in different areas. Martha is actually the weak point for me, at least as far as the Doctor's attitude now, though he was a bit less "eeek!" about guns back when he was stuck on Earth and working with UNIT and such.