Doctor Who and the role of companions
Jan. 29th, 2010 12:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayEarlier this week I did the migraine thing, which sucked but I lived
through, and then I did the post-migraine hangover for two days which went a
bit beyond sucking. No sooner was that over, then a massive problem came to
light in Zombie project that required a lot of time, swearing and stress to
fix and resulted in me missing my release. It's going to feel good when I
flee my office this afternoon.
Any-hoo...
What I actually wanted to talk about was Doctor Who. I know, total shocker
there. At the weekend I held a conversion/indoctrination session for some
friends. It basically involved food, Rose and The End of the
World and explanations of things when necessary. We had a total blast,
which is what always happens when I get together with my knitters no matter
what we're doing. I appear to have hooked at least one of them - she's been
hunting down at watching all the episodes she can get her hands on (think
she just finished Aliens of London) and loves the Ninth Doctor. Yay!
As I was watching, there were a few comments about Rose's slightly glazed
look and her moments of, er, less than brilliance. She's a great character
because of the progression we see from the Rose in the first episode (bored,
not precisely stupid but not given the chance to use her brain) to the Rose
we see at the end of her time. In some ways, it's a similar journey to
Donna's although Donna started from a slightly different place in large part
because Donna was a number of years older than Rose.
Martha had a different journey. While Rose and Donna both had to learn that
they could be brilliant and find the kick-ass woman within, Martha started
out as a med student so she knew that she was competent and smart. Thus her
journey was about the consequences of life with the Doctor and in some ways
about the fact that it is painful for people. I'm quite excited to see the
new companion: we know that she's a police officer which implies that she's
already got a knowledge of her own competence and skills. I wonder what
she'll learn?
That thought led me onto one of the reasons that I think Doctor Who hooks
people so well. The Doctor is the untouchable alien who does amazing things,
but we can't be him. The companions are us. They come from the same
backgrounds and origins as us, they ask all the questions that we would and
we can imagine what we would do if the Doctor gave us the chance to travel
with him. The companions give the audience someone to identify with, even if
they aren't from exactly the same backgrounds as us, because they're
ordinary people given the chance to do something extraordinary. If the show
was just the Doctor, it would be fun but I'm not sure there would be the
same degree of attachment because there would be nobody there for us to
'watch' it all through.
Perhaps that is why the recent specials, while excellent, haven't been quite
as engrossing as a regular episode or even a regular Christmas special?
Planet of the Dead had Lady Christina, who was Companion-ish and
provided some of the best moments, but the other specials didn't quite have
the same feel. Wilf in the recent Christmas episodes was the closest we came
and I adore him to pieces, but I don't think he has quite the same
audience-identification role.
I think that I'm going to have fun watching my hooked friends' reactions as
they work their way through the stories. They don't have the same background
cultural awareness of Doctor Who that people in the UK do, so hearing what
they think is going to be fascinating.
through, and then I did the post-migraine hangover for two days which went a
bit beyond sucking. No sooner was that over, then a massive problem came to
light in Zombie project that required a lot of time, swearing and stress to
fix and resulted in me missing my release. It's going to feel good when I
flee my office this afternoon.
Any-hoo...
What I actually wanted to talk about was Doctor Who. I know, total shocker
there. At the weekend I held a conversion/indoctrination session for some
friends. It basically involved food, Rose and The End of the
World and explanations of things when necessary. We had a total blast,
which is what always happens when I get together with my knitters no matter
what we're doing. I appear to have hooked at least one of them - she's been
hunting down at watching all the episodes she can get her hands on (think
she just finished Aliens of London) and loves the Ninth Doctor. Yay!
As I was watching, there were a few comments about Rose's slightly glazed
look and her moments of, er, less than brilliance. She's a great character
because of the progression we see from the Rose in the first episode (bored,
not precisely stupid but not given the chance to use her brain) to the Rose
we see at the end of her time. In some ways, it's a similar journey to
Donna's although Donna started from a slightly different place in large part
because Donna was a number of years older than Rose.
Martha had a different journey. While Rose and Donna both had to learn that
they could be brilliant and find the kick-ass woman within, Martha started
out as a med student so she knew that she was competent and smart. Thus her
journey was about the consequences of life with the Doctor and in some ways
about the fact that it is painful for people. I'm quite excited to see the
new companion: we know that she's a police officer which implies that she's
already got a knowledge of her own competence and skills. I wonder what
she'll learn?
That thought led me onto one of the reasons that I think Doctor Who hooks
people so well. The Doctor is the untouchable alien who does amazing things,
but we can't be him. The companions are us. They come from the same
backgrounds and origins as us, they ask all the questions that we would and
we can imagine what we would do if the Doctor gave us the chance to travel
with him. The companions give the audience someone to identify with, even if
they aren't from exactly the same backgrounds as us, because they're
ordinary people given the chance to do something extraordinary. If the show
was just the Doctor, it would be fun but I'm not sure there would be the
same degree of attachment because there would be nobody there for us to
'watch' it all through.
Perhaps that is why the recent specials, while excellent, haven't been quite
as engrossing as a regular episode or even a regular Christmas special?
Planet of the Dead had Lady Christina, who was Companion-ish and
provided some of the best moments, but the other specials didn't quite have
the same feel. Wilf in the recent Christmas episodes was the closest we came
and I adore him to pieces, but I don't think he has quite the same
audience-identification role.
I think that I'm going to have fun watching my hooked friends' reactions as
they work their way through the stories. They don't have the same background
cultural awareness of Doctor Who that people in the UK do, so hearing what
they think is going to be fascinating.
