"Rose Tyler: Defender of the Universe or just a part of a 'ship?"

[scarfman]

I commented this in malaleen's journal in a discussion of Rose as, you know, a whole person.

I saw this discussion linked at who_daily.

I wholly agree with the spirit of your argument. ... I think it's perfectly out of character for Sarah Jane to have spent thirty years pining away for the Doctor the way Russell makes her claim to have done, and I don't think it's in character for Rose either. What's in character for Rose is to be nineteen, at least while she's nineteen.

I say that all the Doctor's companions are special; Rose was just the first one after the Time War, since which he's been unwilling or unable to keep the distance he used to keep. I think I realized something else after I saw the latest Season 3 Season 2007 trailer, and the glimpse it offers of an adversarial friendship between the Doctor and Martha (the same sort he had with, e.g., Zoe). Everyone here has probably read that the reason the Doctor doesn't speak with Tennant's Scots accent is, according to Russell, because he imprinted on Rose in the moments following the regeneration. I suggest that the reason he acted like a nineteen-year-old on that beach in Norway (when he's something like forty-five times that age) is because he imprinted on more than her London accent, to wit her nineteen-year-old naturally emo behavior pattern as well. He didn't have a lot of time with Donna, but the trailer suggests he's also going to fall into Martha's behavior patterns in relating to Martha. But we'll find out then.

Comments

[athelind.livejournal.com]

My interpretation of Sarah Jane in that episode was that she wasn't exactly pining away for the DOCTOR so much as pining away for the LIFE, for travelling in the TARDIS and having all of Time and Space as her playground. Infinity for a few short years, and then, poof, back to the mundane. That would affect ANYONE.

"Pining away" really isn't the word for it, either -- it's readily apparent that SJ has Gotten On With Her Life. I saw her angst as the result of the emotional impact of the Doctor blithely waltzing into her life again after so long and unburying a lot of unresolved emotional issues.

On the other claw, I'm only a dilettante when it comes to Who fandom (even if I did start watching with Pertwee, and still tend to think of Tom Baker as "The New Guy").

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

Me, too. I agree that it wasn't so much about pining for the Doctor. As a single person I am deeply aware that, when you start thinking about things such as the relative sanity of the person and his ability to be at the least your equal and not an adult-child you just have to take care of...

Well, it's hard to find a man you want to be with when you aren't pushed by your biological clock or by some psychological terror of being alone.

[scarfman]

pining away for the LIFE

Point. Perhaps Rose is the same way but doesn't distinguish between jonesing* for the Doctor and jonesing for the life.

* No pun intended

[breenwood.livejournal.com]

I tend to believe that the Doctor is a social chameleon - he tends to take on the characteristics of those around him, or at least the ones they believe he has. Look at the difference between his relationship with Peri and with Mel - one, he was an often unstable egomaniac, the other, a much more stable and confident egomaniac. Rose wanted someone to love and be loved by, but was also unable to believe, in some ways, that she deserved it.

Or something. You may not believe this, but I'm pulling this completely out of my arse. Shocking, I know.

[betawho.livejournal.com]

Another reason he may have responded to Rose the way he did is simply because of the way Rose responded to him. She flirts with him.

When was the last time someone had the temerity (or sheer bloodyminded ignorance) to flirt with him?

Virtually all his companions before always saw him as this awesome unattainable figure. But Rose is Mama Jackie's girl. Who cares if he's an awesome planet saving super alien, he's cute.

That's the only thing that ever made sense to me about their relationship. She just treated him like a guy, a cute guy, and in response, he acted like a guy who wanted her to think he was cute.

It must have been a real refreshing eye opener for him, to find this unasssuming young girl who could just accept him that way, want him that way, and not change her mind when she found out he was centuries older than her.

All other companions understood that their time with the Doctor was limited. It was unspoken, but understood. So that's the way they interacted, people who would be together for a while, exploring the universe having fun, and later go their own seperate ways.

But Rose honestly believed she could stay with the Doctor forever. She was young enough, and just willfully blind enough, to honestly belive it. And at that point in his life I think the Doctor wanted to believe it too.

[scarfman]

But Rose honestly believed she could stay with the Doctor forever. She was young enough, and just willfully blind enough, to honestly belive it. And at that point in his life I think the Doctor wanted to believe it too.

This idea, phrased my way of course, appears in my stories. Or at least this one.