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On Martha Jones.
Some babble about Martha after watching Blink. Okay, a lot of babble.
I remember when they announced the character of Martha – it was in the week between Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, right when we were all speculating Rose was going to die. Oh, I was pissed. Talk about wretched timing – "Yeah, you're all stressing about a beloved character maybe dying since we heavily implied that in the promo, but who the fuck cares? Here's the new and shiny that you must instantly love."
Right.
But as S3 got closer, I started psyching myself up. Horrible press timing was no reason to dislike a character. And it was NOT the actor or the character's fault that BP decided to take a hike.
I went through SG-1 fandom back when Jonas replaced Daniel for a year. And it was UGLY. Looking back on it, I think I embraced Jonas *just* because there was this giant faction that was bemoaning the loss of Daniel. And I was not in that faction. Oh, Jonas was an okay character, but I like Daniel better – something you could not say back then without getting a label slapped on you. If you liked Daniel and wanted him back, then you were one of those insane Danielites or...Denialites.
So this time around I was determined to give Martha several episodes and keep an open mind as possible. I believe Freema said something to the effect of "I hope people will give me a chance," which is really only fair. So there was some mental bracing to not only *not* dismiss Martha offhand because she wasn't Rose, but to also not go too far in the other direction where I gave her too much credit simply because I didn't want a label slapped on me. Also, I have no drive to give my devotion to a character just because they happen to be what's on now. Just because companions change, does not mean I *must* love the new/current companion – there are a few in classic Who I'm not a fan of. Same with the Doctor – if DT had annoyed me, I'd be long gone from this show.
We'd heard the "unrequited love" premise about Martha beforehand, and I was completely miffed. I really did not want this kind of a story arc in S3. Not sure if it really swayed me in either direction with her before the series though, because much of the time I was thinking it wasn't really fair of them to saddle this character with that. Probably because I wanted Martha to be a shoulder to lean on for the Doctor instead of this. Because to me, the fact that the love was unrequited seemed to say to me it'd only be used to prop up the Doctor's love for Rose. And...I don't need a character to do that. Not on my account, anyway.
So Smith & Jones rolled around. I thought she was cool and was impressed by her, but I did have a comment back then: Martha! She was great! (Although she does need to be given a bit more depth, but I'm sure that will come. It's only her 1st ep.) Well...after ten episodes, she still hasn't been given very much depth. We know the basics about her – family, med school, and so on, but I still couldn't tell you what drives her. Her motivation for travelling with the Doctor seemed to be her crush/love/he's-my-everything and that's basically it. (And the "love" itself seemed a bit sketchy since I couldn't understand why she was this way with someone who ignored her.) Of course, in Blink, she's stuck with the Doctor and is really pissed about it, saying she wants to get back to the stars like he promised. So...I might have been able to take that love thing as her motivation before, but I seriously do *not* know where Martha's coming from at this point. And what about med school? Does she plan on getting back to that? Or is she forever gone from that life? Or...what?
To me Martha still hasn't been defined. There's no one thing that she's done that I could point to and say, "that's *totally* Martha" instead of "that's *totally* a competent companion." Unless you want to point to the unrequited love stuff. And that's just a really bad thing to have a character be notable for, so I'd rather not.
And then there's Freema. Bless her heart, she just does not have the acting depth that CE, BP and DT have. I look at her and I often get "this is my happy face," "this is my sad face" and so on. I'm just not seeing anything behind the basics. I can't look at her expression and read a million things. And maybe I'm just noticing it more since DT is in the middle of acting his ass off this series.
So why am I saying this all now? I think pondering all this happened when I watched Blink. I liked Martha in this episode probably the best out of the entire series, and then realized she only had about three lines.
Her probation period with me is done. I do not hate Martha. I do not love Martha. She has her awesome competent companion moments which I cheer. And she has her moody "love me" moments which I despise. When all is said and done with Martha, I doubt she'll make my Top Ten Companions list. Or my Bottom Ten. And any time she annoys me in this series or the next, all I have to say to myself is, "She's not Peri."
I remember when they announced the character of Martha – it was in the week between Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, right when we were all speculating Rose was going to die. Oh, I was pissed. Talk about wretched timing – "Yeah, you're all stressing about a beloved character maybe dying since we heavily implied that in the promo, but who the fuck cares? Here's the new and shiny that you must instantly love."
Right.
But as S3 got closer, I started psyching myself up. Horrible press timing was no reason to dislike a character. And it was NOT the actor or the character's fault that BP decided to take a hike.
I went through SG-1 fandom back when Jonas replaced Daniel for a year. And it was UGLY. Looking back on it, I think I embraced Jonas *just* because there was this giant faction that was bemoaning the loss of Daniel. And I was not in that faction. Oh, Jonas was an okay character, but I like Daniel better – something you could not say back then without getting a label slapped on you. If you liked Daniel and wanted him back, then you were one of those insane Danielites or...Denialites.
So this time around I was determined to give Martha several episodes and keep an open mind as possible. I believe Freema said something to the effect of "I hope people will give me a chance," which is really only fair. So there was some mental bracing to not only *not* dismiss Martha offhand because she wasn't Rose, but to also not go too far in the other direction where I gave her too much credit simply because I didn't want a label slapped on me. Also, I have no drive to give my devotion to a character just because they happen to be what's on now. Just because companions change, does not mean I *must* love the new/current companion – there are a few in classic Who I'm not a fan of. Same with the Doctor – if DT had annoyed me, I'd be long gone from this show.
We'd heard the "unrequited love" premise about Martha beforehand, and I was completely miffed. I really did not want this kind of a story arc in S3. Not sure if it really swayed me in either direction with her before the series though, because much of the time I was thinking it wasn't really fair of them to saddle this character with that. Probably because I wanted Martha to be a shoulder to lean on for the Doctor instead of this. Because to me, the fact that the love was unrequited seemed to say to me it'd only be used to prop up the Doctor's love for Rose. And...I don't need a character to do that. Not on my account, anyway.
So Smith & Jones rolled around. I thought she was cool and was impressed by her, but I did have a comment back then: Martha! She was great! (Although she does need to be given a bit more depth, but I'm sure that will come. It's only her 1st ep.) Well...after ten episodes, she still hasn't been given very much depth. We know the basics about her – family, med school, and so on, but I still couldn't tell you what drives her. Her motivation for travelling with the Doctor seemed to be her crush/love/he's-my-everything and that's basically it. (And the "love" itself seemed a bit sketchy since I couldn't understand why she was this way with someone who ignored her.) Of course, in Blink, she's stuck with the Doctor and is really pissed about it, saying she wants to get back to the stars like he promised. So...I might have been able to take that love thing as her motivation before, but I seriously do *not* know where Martha's coming from at this point. And what about med school? Does she plan on getting back to that? Or is she forever gone from that life? Or...what?
To me Martha still hasn't been defined. There's no one thing that she's done that I could point to and say, "that's *totally* Martha" instead of "that's *totally* a competent companion." Unless you want to point to the unrequited love stuff. And that's just a really bad thing to have a character be notable for, so I'd rather not.
And then there's Freema. Bless her heart, she just does not have the acting depth that CE, BP and DT have. I look at her and I often get "this is my happy face," "this is my sad face" and so on. I'm just not seeing anything behind the basics. I can't look at her expression and read a million things. And maybe I'm just noticing it more since DT is in the middle of acting his ass off this series.
So why am I saying this all now? I think pondering all this happened when I watched Blink. I liked Martha in this episode probably the best out of the entire series, and then realized she only had about three lines.
Her probation period with me is done. I do not hate Martha. I do not love Martha. She has her awesome competent companion moments which I cheer. And she has her moody "love me" moments which I despise. When all is said and done with Martha, I doubt she'll make my Top Ten Companions list. Or my Bottom Ten. And any time she annoys me in this series or the next, all I have to say to myself is, "She's not Peri."