VOY - The Darkling

[Yukaphile]

So, it's interesting to me they were going to have the Doctor be a borderline sexual predator. I tend to agree with Michael Piller, there would be no coming back from that, so as much as it hurt the story, it was good they nixed it.

[turbo_sailor67]

As far as I can tell, the closest DW got with a Doctor + companion romance was the belligerent sexual tension subtext between Four and Romana 1, and inherent romance bleeding onto the screen between Four and Romana II.

I'm glad you didn't say Rose - who is the personification of ''show don't tell''. What was it that 10 saw in her above EVERY OTHER WOMAN that ever travelled with him to fall in love so quickly and spend so long getting over? Was it her constant jealousy over any other woman he spoke to? Was it how appallingly she treated Mickey? Was it how she had no problem with continuing to use the dimension hopping tech despite warnings it would destroy the universe?
Martha was actually a much better fit for 10 from what we saw, but there was that out of place Rose rebound...

I agree with you that Martha was a great companion for 10. As for what 10 (and 9) saw in Rose above every other woman? I can only guess, and I'm stress guess here, that from what we know about what happened post 8 into 9 (not counting anything showing 8 post movie) that transitioning into 9 was like a new life post some really traumatic stuff.

So if you look at 9 as someone who is freshly recovered from some bad history, and you meet someone who takes some iniative, is excited to spend time with you, and doesn't know about any of that bad stuff in your history, that you could grow to have some feelings for.

I'm not justifying it, I liked Rose alright. Perhaps it was the gap that presumeably 8 had, the time between companions and 9's new life having spent so much time flying solo that he grew attached to the first new person to take the dive into something new and he found that charming and refreshing.

The real reason that I suspect? Cuz the BBC has NEVER really liked, cared for, or believed in Doctor Who as science fiction; and therefore they felt that "New" Who couldn't be a success without daytime soap romance.

Would I believe that the Doctors' girls would develop a thing for him? Yeah, likely. Martha I think had the wits to realize that they were two completely different beings in completely different places in life and that she could never really be his equal, and that she'd be giving up her own goals in life to even try.

Then for some reason they pair her with Mickey, somehow. That came out of nowhere. To me, Donna was great because she and the Doctor complemented each other and spurred each other to be better individuals.

I don't even remember some of those instances you mention of Rose, aside from being bitchy with Mickey. Maybe that's why he left "Who" for "Trek" and committed suicide just to end it all.

I'll have to go back and watch Rose's episodes now that you mention it.