This series, I thought the return of Martha (so far, not including the epic finale we're about to experience) was pretty bland. She wasn't really involved in anything that was so important to the point where I could actually remember what she did. She was great in Torchwood, though, because her character didn't have her crush oh the Doctor and Rose's shadow looming over her. Her actual abilities are basically shut out in Doctor Who and she's just "that one after Rose that loved the Doctor and left a great opportunity because it wasn't mutual."
It's such a waste though, seeing as the character could be so much more.
Bah, I didn't mean for this comment to turn into a novel where I repeated your points over again, but yes, I agree with everything you've said. :D
The character could only be so much more with writers positively invested in her as a character in her own right rather than a response to the characters they'd like to have significance. Ultimately, she's engendered to create a disparity, a comparison - or to fill a gap
( ... )
I have to posit, given the writers determined influence, that she never had any such 'potential' just the illusion of it to stay the main detractors of how she was treated in S3.
I said earlier in the season, that I wished that Team Cardiff could have got Catherine Tate to play Donna for S3, and then we could have had Ten and Martha continuing the "best mates" scenario that we have with Ten and Donna, because Martha got short-shrift during S3 as a result of that unrequited cr4p...
I honestly do not think there would have been a Martha if Tate had been able to become the next companion after Rose. It's more likely that the following companion would have been another guest star though - as Kylie was at Christmas.
The very fact that they cast an actress we've just seen killed off so disturbingly (as the Doctor ultimately switches her off) is the main point. It speaks to the subtextual redundancy of the character and situation she will be placed in - no matter what she does she's stuck in a box because that's where they want her to remain. (Not because she *has* to remain there but because - it seems - the writers don't want her to gain too much popularity or development - or interest from the audience - given that it might shift their interest from where they ultimately want it to end up/be.)
And yet there's huge audience interest in Martha - I know plenty of non-fandom viewers of all ages and genders who love Martha to bits. So they really screwed up big time in trying to box Martha up.
The thing is the opportunity they had with Martha was totally missed: she really would have gone a long way to redeeming the Doctor (and their writing) if they'd allowed her to fix the glaring problem intrinsic in his latest incarnation - the fact that he's crap at dealing with people personally unless he has a very specific personal interest in them.
It did look for a time that Martha might fulfill this expectation - the restarting the hearts did metaphorically point to it - but the minute the finale had her walk around for a year executing *his* plan and telling everyone how great *he* was so they could collectively ponder it - restore reality - and then have him go back to how he had *always* treated her pretty much killed that hope.
They did have the possibility of actually correcting a lot of their more awful subtext (see Mickey) and moments - but they just crushed it - proving they didn't see it as all that awful, which makes it all so much worse (well, for them).
By the end of her third episode in S4 I knew this was what I felt but I'd felt it much earlier, and I'd definitely felt it during her time on TORCHWOOD (where again, her *introduction* was about her but once this obligation was fulfilled it swiftly became Owen, who curiously is dispensed with by the end of the series - I suspect temporarily - but if not this means they have invested significant development not in Martha but in a character that they *knew* they were going ultimately terminate) but what wasn't so clear was exactly why it felt rather redundant at this point
( ... )
You're so right about everything. It's silly, I guess, but it still makes me incredibly angry that they did this. It also makes me wonder how I came to love Martha so much when it is obvious that the writers were doing everything in their power to inspire apathy in their viewing audience.
But it's an understandable anger because there's a direct lie that the audience are presented with - if not just by the introduced plot, as promoted, but by the protestations (repeated) of the writing staff who continue to stress Martha's importance while not seeing fit to back up these statements with actual text
( ... )
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This series, I thought the return of Martha (so far, not including the epic finale we're about to experience) was pretty bland. She wasn't really involved in anything that was so important to the point where I could actually remember what she did. She was great in Torchwood, though, because her character didn't have her crush oh the Doctor and Rose's shadow looming over her. Her actual abilities are basically shut out in Doctor Who and she's just "that one after Rose that loved the Doctor and left a great opportunity because it wasn't mutual."
It's such a waste though, seeing as the character could be so much more.
Bah, I didn't mean for this comment to turn into a novel where I repeated your points over again, but yes, I agree with everything you've said. :D
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This expresses that in greater detail...
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The very fact that they cast an actress we've just seen killed off so disturbingly (as the Doctor ultimately switches her off) is the main point. It speaks to the subtextual redundancy of the character and situation she will be placed in - no matter what she does she's stuck in a box because that's where they want her to remain. (Not because she *has* to remain there but because - it seems - the writers don't want her to gain too much popularity or development - or interest from the audience - given that it might shift their interest from where they ultimately want it to end up/be.)
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It did look for a time that Martha might fulfill this expectation - the restarting the hearts did metaphorically point to it - but the minute the finale had her walk around for a year executing *his* plan and telling everyone how great *he* was so they could collectively ponder it - restore reality - and then have him go back to how he had *always* treated her pretty much killed that hope.
They did have the possibility of actually correcting a lot of their more awful subtext (see Mickey) and moments - but they just crushed it - proving they didn't see it as all that awful, which makes it all so much worse (well, for them).
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Right on the money, no wonder us Martha fans are so bitter about the whole thing - we've been blatantly used.
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