First before the post and update: Been a crazy past few weeks. Finishing up another semester at Berkeley put me away from posting here but I'm back! Well I guess crazy is a bit of an understatement, long story short I'm spending another year at Berkeley due to an unexpected lack of credits. Having to take more classes at Cal...big loss huh? =D
Anyways on to the subject of today's post: Doctor Who and his companion
I should start off and say that my experience with Doctor Who has been limited by the first two seasons of the 2005 reboot and thus I haven't seen how the Doctor interacts with other companions. This post is based off of the assumption then that his relationships (both with the Companions and others) are similar in the ways I will be discussing.
Now to really begin...I swear.
Of course I had watched a scattering of Dr. Who episodes before this semester, but recently I had actually begun to watch them in earnest. The one thing that fascinated me from the very start is the nature and interaction between the Doctor and his companion (in this case Rose) and how that interaction is different and sometimes similar to other characters encountered on his travels.
The first thing that struck me by the Doctor's relationship with Rose was how the intense feelings between the two was always just barely restrained from bubbling forth. I've seen different versions of true love and love of the person rather than looks, but the kind of relationship portrayed in Dr. Who seemed incredibly different than every other story I could remember off the top of my head. On the surface one could say that it was their mutual experiences through the TARDIS that was the basis for the deep feelings, or that it was simply love at first sight, but I think that their relationship was deeper than that, or rather to say, different. Their relationship seemed to be based on who they were and a sort of understanding of intent; like something neither person could escape. Which brings up another point of interest, the Doctor can resist and escape a great many things, but the one person he could never pull away from unless under great, unimaginable pressure is Rose (again I'm assuming this is similar to other companions). Rose obviously does not have the knowledge the Doctor have, and the Doctor himself is odd and not human. And yet, their relationship seems to go beyond those limitations and appeals to something beyond even the Doctor's understanding. The Doctor does not just offer anyone a spot on the TARDIS, either they are there for simple ride, are a companion, or they are there at the Companion's behest.
Yet if their relationship was just as simple as a mutual connection (even one they cannot readily understand) it seems as though such a connection would break if they ever brought it to fruition. This I think also gives a hint as to the basis for their relationship. They do seem to understand (Both the Doctor and Rose) that the dangers and wonders they face have to be confronted as companion and Doctor not as what they wish to be. Why is this? Well one answer could be destiny, that they were meant to face these dangers and wonders for a masterful purpose. But, while that might be a good plot point for the story of the Doctor I would like to think that there is some aspect of agency. This would then point to that understanding of their position. That understanding of their role in space and time is what cements them I think. They are drawn by something they cannot readily understand, but they do understand that if they were to follow through on their deep feelings that something negative would happen. Ultimately this is terribly hurtful to both, giving the story of the Doctor and Rose a bitter sweet tone. It causes for their suffering through many tense events and culminates in particular in the episodes School Reunion (Sarah Jane) and Doomsday.
I'm not sure that this is actually pinning down why I find this aspect of Doctor Who so fascinating, but but I feel that it is a step in the right direction. I could just be overthinking this whole topic but I really do feel that the way the Doctor's relationship with Rose is very telling of who Rose and the Doctor are as people.
I'd much appreciate any thoughts people have on this, as it is something I'd like to expand on and better understand.
Without spoiling you for Martha, Donna, and Amy (companions to come), I would have to say that obviously the Doctor's relationships are different with them -- I think Rose and the Doctor have a very particular "doomed love through time and space" thing about them that isn't ever quite replicated -- but I also think you're getting at something important about the way the whole Doctor/companion thing works.
ReplyDeleteAs for Rose specifically -- I think part of why the Doctor likes her is that no one else seems to think she'll amount to much. The Doctor, if you haven't noticed, likes people who other people don't think much of. One of my favorite lines from the recent Christmas Special: "In nine hundred years of time and space, I've never met anybody who wasn't important before." It's implied though never actually stated that when the Ninth Doctor meets Rose, he's pretty freshly out of the horror of the Time War (hence moody and brooding on occasion) and understands himself well enough to know that being alone is probably not the best idea. (This will be articulated again within the show at the end of the Tenth Doctor's time.) So, Rose. But you're right to say he wouldn't just pick anyone.
As for the sense that there is always a kind of unspoken love (even if only one-sided) between companions and the Doctor -- I think seasons 5 and 6 do a particularly good job of addressing this idea, mostly by calling us out on the fact that humans thrown together in life-threatening situations with people they admire will form intensely strong bonds of attachment with them. Couple that with the fact that most of the Doctor's companions in the recent series have been people who have been overlooked or people who just don't fit in, and a kind of devotional love is inevitable. Again, whether and how it's reciprocated is another thing entirely -- and it's going to be slightly different for everyone -- but that unspoken knowledge (coupled with the Doctor's unspoken knowledge that he will always have to leave them!) accounts for the strength of the attachment and paradoxical unwillingness to really talk it out or think it through.
Hah! I guess I still have a lot to watch and analyze! I like what you had to say about the Doctor in your second paragraph; From my own limited experience of the Doctor I do see what you mean. Actually I find it interesting that he seems to literally "walk right past" important people and talk to those supposedly on the sidelines. Although, then again sometimes he is exclusively dealing with prominent figures, but in those cases he seems to be interacting with these figures' private selves.As for Rose, I can also see what you mean - in a sense Rose is a healing for him, ministering to wounds that even a Time Lord can't heal.
ReplyDeleteAs for your last thought I suppose what you initially state is one reason why I find Rose's story interesting. It seems then that there is more to her feelings than just being in perilous situations with the Doctor. The Doctor is a sad man...I don't know how he could cope (does he cope? or just store his feelings away?) with the amount of self-suffering he puts himself through! Doomed to be ever moving while the people around you fall by the wayside.