Last of the Time Lords
Jun. 30th, 2007 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eponymous_roseWell, first off - yay! Excellent way to close the season. Freakin' love that they didn't forget about Lucy, or the ring, or virtually anything else the internet was abuzz over. And the awesome parallels between the Master and the Doctor (the Master kept the Doctor in a little doghouse - did you notice? This is what the Doctor promised the Master, in the end, and it's no wonder he refused).
"I didn't see her," the Doctor said about Lucy with the gun. And then she's totally forgotten after she shoots - the woman in the red dress. Perception filter, much?
As far as I can tell, the Doctor's companions generally leave for about four different reasons:
1) They die. Well, yeah. Not so much fun. There's never really any closure, here.
2) They find a better cause - they stay and fight. This happened a heckuva lot in the earlier series (Romana II? Leela? Sam, for those three years?), what with all the travelling-to-alien-planets. The Doctor's the way they grow up - they travel, they see the universe, and they find their place in it. All these people who didn't quite fit in on Earth find themselves more at home a billion light-years away. The goodbyes are sad, but not heartbreaking - they're adults, moving on. This is closely related to:
3) They find a better life on Earth - a normal life. This is what Nine wanted for Rose during "The Parting of the Ways". It only ever really works, though, for the Companions who never quite lose their sense of self. All throughout the third season, Martha knows who she wants to be - a doctor, just a plain old lowercase-d doctor, who can help people. Her family means everything. She is still tied to twenty-first century Earth in ways that not even her love for the Doctor can touch. She sees the universe, and is amazed by it, but when she's in an escape pod hurtling toward the sun, she still calls up her Mum. The TARDIS was never quite home, but she was never just a passenger, either. Stuck in between her world and infinity, trapped like the Doctor in his weird little bird cage. She escaped, brilliantly. The Doctor will never quite understand it, though - he's always been running.
4) They don't. Leave, that is. This is the murky category where Rose and Sarah Jane fit in, just a little (though Sarah did eventually settle into category 3, and you can just imagine Rose saving alt!Earth from time to time). These are the Companions who don't have such powerful ties to home, who don't have a sense of self. (Remember Jackie, back in "Army of Ghosts", whinging about Rose changing, becoming a different Rose Tyler the more she travelled with the Doctor. There never was a Rose Tyler - just a shopgirl with a boyfriend. She was a blank slate, waiting for the Doctor to come and rewrite her.) These are the Companions most like the Doctor - running from a dead-end life, unwilling to settle down and be like everyone else. It's terrible and wonderful all at once - they could run forever. Something has to come in, has to change the way things work, or they'd find eternity. For Sarah, it was the call to Gallifrey. For Rose, it was the Void. And there's misery in this category, because they've learned the magic of the universe and have to fit into a life that's three sizes too small.
Anyway. Um. That's that, really.
Seriously, though, was I the only one sorta hoping for a wacky sitcom-type show where the Doctor and the Master have to coexist - zanily - on the TARDIS? THEY'RE THE ORIGINAL ODD COUPLE!
Okay, I'm done now.
ETA: Face of Boe? *dies*
Also ETA: I'm so glad they went with the Edit>Undo fix. I think I might actually be able to make this fic canon-compatible. Hee.
"I didn't see her," the Doctor said about Lucy with the gun. And then she's totally forgotten after she shoots - the woman in the red dress. Perception filter, much?
As far as I can tell, the Doctor's companions generally leave for about four different reasons:
1) They die. Well, yeah. Not so much fun. There's never really any closure, here.
2) They find a better cause - they stay and fight. This happened a heckuva lot in the earlier series (Romana II? Leela? Sam, for those three years?), what with all the travelling-to-alien-planets. The Doctor's the way they grow up - they travel, they see the universe, and they find their place in it. All these people who didn't quite fit in on Earth find themselves more at home a billion light-years away. The goodbyes are sad, but not heartbreaking - they're adults, moving on. This is closely related to:
3) They find a better life on Earth - a normal life. This is what Nine wanted for Rose during "The Parting of the Ways". It only ever really works, though, for the Companions who never quite lose their sense of self. All throughout the third season, Martha knows who she wants to be - a doctor, just a plain old lowercase-d doctor, who can help people. Her family means everything. She is still tied to twenty-first century Earth in ways that not even her love for the Doctor can touch. She sees the universe, and is amazed by it, but when she's in an escape pod hurtling toward the sun, she still calls up her Mum. The TARDIS was never quite home, but she was never just a passenger, either. Stuck in between her world and infinity, trapped like the Doctor in his weird little bird cage. She escaped, brilliantly. The Doctor will never quite understand it, though - he's always been running.
4) They don't. Leave, that is. This is the murky category where Rose and Sarah Jane fit in, just a little (though Sarah did eventually settle into category 3, and you can just imagine Rose saving alt!Earth from time to time). These are the Companions who don't have such powerful ties to home, who don't have a sense of self. (Remember Jackie, back in "Army of Ghosts", whinging about Rose changing, becoming a different Rose Tyler the more she travelled with the Doctor. There never was a Rose Tyler - just a shopgirl with a boyfriend. She was a blank slate, waiting for the Doctor to come and rewrite her.) These are the Companions most like the Doctor - running from a dead-end life, unwilling to settle down and be like everyone else. It's terrible and wonderful all at once - they could run forever. Something has to come in, has to change the way things work, or they'd find eternity. For Sarah, it was the call to Gallifrey. For Rose, it was the Void. And there's misery in this category, because they've learned the magic of the universe and have to fit into a life that's three sizes too small.
Anyway. Um. That's that, really.
Seriously, though, was I the only one sorta hoping for a wacky sitcom-type show where the Doctor and the Master have to coexist - zanily - on the TARDIS? THEY'RE THE ORIGINAL ODD COUPLE!
Okay, I'm done now.
ETA: Face of Boe? *dies*
Also ETA: I'm so glad they went with the Edit>Undo fix. I think I might actually be able to make this fic canon-compatible. Hee.
