Martha Jones: The Companion who's a Doctor

[Actionmage]

Martha was one of my favorite companions. She was after the Rose/Ten Shennanigan Hour, but before the great Donna. Not that Martha wasn't badass on her own! She was willing to blow up Earth to save us from Daleks! She dealt with the Weeping Angels first and "human" Doctor while trying to handle The Family of Blood and racism in the 1910s England!  I could go on, but I can't be alone in my Martha love, right?

[Saint TV]

I wanted to love Martha. She was the complete package, beauty, brains and bravery. And then they had to go and ruin her with the whole unrequited love thing. Why? There was no reason for her to be in love with Ten at the end of Smith and Jones. That just wrecked her season for me. She was far better when she came back later and on Torchwood. I do wish she had been included in the 50th.

[joshleejosh]

I liked Martha so much that I was mostly able to ignore her crush on the Doctor. It helps that the best episodes of her season (and some of the best of the whole run, like HN/FoB and Blink) are the ones where it hardly factors into the story.

[simplyperson]

She seems like she's the least damaged (despite what she went through) of his companions. Hadn't they just met in Smith & Jones? I also felt the love thing was far too quick, at that point. 

[EC Amber]

I got so wrapped up in the chemistry of 10/11 (the meta-crisis Doctor) that when Martha came along I wasn't ready for her. She felt shoehorned in and she kind of was. I wonder if she was written to be the Doctor's "rebound Companion." In any case, I tried, really tried to warm up to her but it rarely worked. At best I had a strong fondness for her during Human Nature/The Family of Blood. But on the whole I found her character more tedious than anything else. Ok, I did enjoy the idea of her spending a year faded into the background of all observation, wandering the world whispering stories against The Master. 

As a side note, Gridlock is one of my favorite episodes, but the thing is I think any Companion would have worked as well. 

[Blue Castle]

She is my favorite companion--both for who she is and for what her story arc was.  I'm always amazed at the amount of crap she gets in some corners of the fandom (not here or on TWoP, though) because I just thought she was so awesome.

I've written a lot at TWoP about why I loved her and her story, so I won't get into that here.  But I will say that it was always believable to me that she fell in love with the Doctor because...he's the frickin' Doctor.  And at that point he looked like David Tennant.  I'd have fallen for him like a shot, too.

[ElleryAnne]

I love Martha.  She always seemed to have both brains and empathy and she had way of reacting to the insanity around her - be it her own family or any of the people she met while traveling - as if they sometimes were frustrating the hell out of her but she still cared about them.  I felt that Rose and Donna were more into the adventure of the traveling, but Martha was more grounded.  Even when she loved the adventure, she seemed more aware of people and their interconnectedness.  And I liked her relationships to the people she was closest to best of all the companions.  Rose always seemed more willing to leave them behind, and Donna was easily annoyed by them (though Donna's relationship with Wilfred was nice), but Martha thought about her family.

I'm usually the first to get annoyed when either instant love or unrequited love gets forced into a show like the writers think it's a requirement, but in Martha's case it was always tempered with her self-awareness.  If she hadn't been crushing on the Doctor it would have been even better, but she's still my favorite companion by far.

Also, after a while when anyone would mention Rose, Martha would get this exasperated look on her face.  It was pretty much the way I felt when Rose was mentioned by that point, so I sympathized.

And as Blue Castle notes above, the  Doctor was being played by David Tennant.  How could anyone not fall in love with him?

Edited April 8, 2014 by ElleryAnne

[HauntedBathroom]

And as Blue Castle notes above, the  Doctor was being played by David Tennant.  How could anyone not fall in love with him?

 

Because he was a massive arse?

[ElleryAnne]

Er, okay.  Difference of opinion noted.  Also, ouch.

My favorite Martha episode: Gridlock.

[BizBuzz]

Been enjoying the comments here. I have usually felt neither love nor hate for Martha, just indifference. After reading some of the comments, I am looking at her in a slightly different light. Thank you for that.

[Blue Castle]

 

My favorite Martha episode: Gridlock.

That's a good one.  I love how Martha forces the Doctor to talk to her (really talk in a proper conversation) at the end.  I don't think any other companion has ever done that.  My favorite episode of hers is The Sound of Drums.  That moment at the end when the whole world is being destroyed and she has to leave her family at the mercy of the Master in order to save humanity. 

[Danny Franks]

Poor Martha, she was treated so unfairly, in my view. By fans, writers and by the Doctor himself.

 

I'm rewatching seasons 1 to 3 of Nu Who at the moment, and I'm reminded of just how great Martha was. Smart, creative, intuitive, and strong-willed enough to force the Doctor to talk about things he'd rather brush off. And, what's more, Freema Agyeman is so fucking hot that it hurts.

 

But she's so impressive to me, from her first episode on. Her poise and wit and the way she looked at the world with so much awareness and curiosity. She understands things so quickly, and while she asks a lot of questions, she seems to really get the answers. It was an interesting choice of character, after the relatively uneducated and common Rose (who I also loved). I guess that intellect gave her the confidence to question the Doctor more, rather than just blindly follow his lead, and duck her head in obeisance when he was exasperated with her. I think, because of that, she ended up seeing the Doctor more clearly than Rose ever did, she learned more about him and his history than Rose ever did, because Rose used to get swept up in his energy, like in Fear Her, where she learned he was once a father, but never managed to ask him about it.

 

Sadly, Martha followed Rose, and so could never do right in the eyes of some. I remember the hissy fits from fangirls (presumably, they were fangirls) when she was announced as the new companion, and the vitriol thrown at the character and the actress when she dared to be interested in the Doctor, and had the temerity to believe he might be interested in her. Yes, the crush got old after a while, but I thought it was understandable. And why Martha got so much stick for it, when Rose was just as clearly smitten, has always confused me. Is it because the Doctor seemed to reciprocate Rose's feelings? I don't know, it seems odd to me to complain about her being crazy about a guy that most of the audience is crazy about.

 

Anyway, I think the writers spent too much time trying to simultaneously make her a really worthy companion, and also make her inferior to Rose. Because she was so many things that Rose wasn't, and that was all anyone seemed to focus on. Even the Doctor made her feel inferior, without really meaning to. I sometimes wonder how much of that Freema herself felt, given the fanbase, and perhaps even given the people she was on set with.

 

"Rebound companion" is a good way to describe the way they wrote her, and I think that sucks. She was too good to be the rebound anything. But they decided to dump her after one season, and bring in the disgusting Catherine Tate. Which is when I stopped watching the show.

[VegetasMom]

I'm a new viewer, my daughter kept after me to watch and so now I am. She is NOT a fan of Martha and so I kept waiting for her to annoy me but she never did. I liked Martha. Yes, she crushed on the Doctor, but she wasn't a pain about it. She had to constantly hear about Saint Rose - and I did like Rose but I felt for Martha on that front. She did what was best for her in the end, and was up front about it. And she had guts and came through in a big way - she saved the planet. And now that I'm in the beginning stages of Season 4, I find I would really love to be watching a companion who wasn't constantly bellowing at the Doctor like an enraged wildebeest. Sigh. I miss you, Martha.

[Llywela]

I'm in the middle of a season 3 re-watch - there are aspects of the writing I don't enjoy (the Doctor's prolonged pining for Rose always seemed out of character), but I enjoy Martha a lot.

 

And I've just realised what's been bugging me about this thread title. Martha doesn't have a PhD. She has an MD - she's a medical doctor (in training) not an academic doctor.

[VegetasMom]

Yeah, I noticed that but I'm really new here so I figured I wouldn't mention it.  :D 

[Chip]

mention anything whenever you guys want! we're all friends here.

[elle]

And I've just realised what's been bugging me about this thread title. Martha doesn't have a PhD. She has an MD - she's a medical doctor (in training) not an academic doctor.

is this one of those "across the pond" translation issues?  Here an MD is a doctor.

 

Now if you want to get technical, I believe she was still a resident when the Doctor picked her up (yep, going stand by that comment).  She often used her final exams as a reason not to travel with him.

[ketose]

I remember when I was reading "All Creates Great and Small" in school, the UK doesn't call veterinarians "doctor" like they do in the US. Oh, and Peter Davison was in the television adaption of the books.

[truther]

To me a medical doctor is a "real" doctor.  A Ph.D. is a "professor."  If they don't work in academia, and hence aren't actually a professor, then they're a Ph.D.  Yes that of course entitles them to be called doctor, and I'm merely talking semantics and not passing judgment on anyone, but if I'm told that somebody's a "doctor" then I'm assuming they're an MD unless I'm told otherwise.

[elle]

I remember when I was reading "All Creatures Great and Small" in school, the UK doesn't call veterinarians "doctor" like they do in the US. Oh, and Peter Davison was in the television adaption of the books.

Oh my yes, I knew that!  It was my crush on him as Tristan that led me to watch him as Five.

Edited September 23, 2014 by elle

[Llywela]

is this one of those "across the pond" translation issues?  Here an MD is a doctor.

 

Now if you want to get technical, I believe she was still a resident when the Doctor picked her up (yep, going stand by that comment).  She often used her final exams as a reason not to travel with him.

Yes, an MD is a medical doctor. The thread title previously said PhD which is an academic doctorate. Martha was a medical student, she was studying for her MD not for a PhD - that was why I commented and why the thread title was changed. Nothing to do with across the pond differences, just an error in the title.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Llywela

[truther]

Oh, whoops, I didn't notice that the thread title had previously talking about PhD's. 

 

BTW, Martha is awesome.  Smoking hot and super cool.  What I wouldn't give to have her traveling around with Capaldi right now instead of the Impossible Girl. 

[elle]

Yes, an MD is a medical doctor. The thread title previously said PhD which is an academic doctorate. Martha was a medical student, she was studying for her MD not for a PhD - that was why I commented and why the thread title was changed. Nothing to do with across the pond differences, just an error in the title.

Thank you for explaining this, Llywela!  I had not seen the original title for this thread.

[fantique]

I am glad to see others feel how I felt, I love Martha... Just not as a companion at that time. It just felt soooo forced and the constant comparing her with Rose. They piling it on pretty thick. "Heeelllllooooo!!!! Unrequited crush over here!!!" I still don't understand why they felt it was necessary. I always enjoyed when she came back during the Donna days though. She was the best companion material put in the worst companion situation. 

[eXiled]

I have found my people! I adore Martha so much and have never understood the vitriol she's received from some fanbases. She's brilliant, beautiful and resourceful. I realized she was my favorite because when I do re-watches, I usually wind up re-watching almost all of Martha's season. The last arc with the Master is killer. Right now I can hear Martha's theme music as she walks the earth to spread the word about the Doctor. To me it's one of the most epic parts of the series. She looks so lonely, yet she has a job to do, and she did it so well.

 

I also loved that she left on her own. She didn't travel with the Doctor because she was bored or unemployed or to escape an uncertain future. Martha Jones had a great life and future ahead of her. Other than her crush on the Doctor, she went with him to explore, to learn about the universe. But I always knew she'd return home under her own steam. I will say I'm surprised she married Mickey. I always thought Martha was the woman to tame Captain Jack. :)

 

I'm only a few episodes into Eleven, so I can't say much about Amy yet, except that I think she's gorgeous. I like Rose a lot. I enjoyed watching Donna's evolution very much. But if I had to trust a companion, actually hang out with one and put my life in her hands, it would be Martha, hands down. She's a good person, thoughtful, very human, and has a butt that won't quit.

[tv-talk]

I really need to go back and rewatch some of Martha's episodes. I always like her but overall I was losing interesting in that particular era of the Doctor. Tennant had gotten SO melodramatic about EVERYTHING and it seemed weekly there was pining for Rose and pained expressions at various memories etc etc. Emo Doctor, indeed. Kinda turned me off so I either missed or didnt watch closely a bunch of episodes from that period. This thread inspires me to go back and watch them!

[Llywela]

I really need to go back and rewatch some of Martha's episodes. I always like her but overall I was losing interesting in that particular era of the Doctor. Tennant had gotten SO melodramatic about EVERYTHING and it seemed weekly there was pining for Rose and pained expressions at various memories etc etc. Emo Doctor, indeed. Kinda turned me off so I either missed or didnt watch closely a bunch of episodes from that period. This thread inspires me to go back and watch them!

:D I know what you mean, but the memory really does play tricks. I'm just coming to the end of a season 3 rewatch and have loved it. There is excessive pining for Rose (which set a bad precedent for the newly re-established show, imo), but it isn't as bad as I remembered, Martha is a delight and Tennant's emo melodrama hasn't yet spiralled out of control - a very fun season, overall.

[MadMouse]

:D I know what you mean, but the memory really does play tricks. I'm just coming to the end of a season 3 rewatch and have loved it. There is excessive pining for Rose (which set a bad precedent for the newly re-established show, imo), but it isn't as bad as I remembered, Martha is a delight and Tennant's emo melodrama hasn't yet spiralled out of control - a very fun season, overall.

 

Honest question, in Series 3 how many mentions of Rose are there? Its been ages since I've watched it. Off the top of my head I can remember Runaway Bride, Shakespeare Code, Family of Blood, Sound of Drums and the Next Doctor. Did I miss any?

[BizBuzz]

Poor Martha.  Like I mentioned above months ago, I am indifferent.  I pretty much feel that she was Rebecca replacing Diane (Cheer's reference) and really, no one was going to like anyone after Rose and Ten and especially after Doomsday and that tearful and emotional goodbye between them. 

 

How could anyone compete with that? 

 

About 2 years ago I had a friend and her two girls age 14 and 16 come stay with me and my daughter for 10 days.  They had never seen Doctor Who, so we introduced them and they were having a blast and loving it.  They were convinced after Doomsday that the Doctor would figure out a way to get Rose back.  Was ok with The Runaway Bride because they already figured out Christmas episodes were fillers and then when we watched the first episode with Martha, they looked at us and said "Where's Rose"?  We said, you saw what happened.  And they absolutely REFUSED to watch another episode.  TO THIS DAY they won't watch it.

 

That to me painted a pretty clear picture of how some people might have reacted to the change.  They just refused to accept it.  No matter who was going to be the next companion, it wasn't Rose, so there was no more story.

 

I am convinced to give Martha another chance after reading this thread.  I have watched the four last episodes numerous times of Season 3, but the first part of the season, not so much.  I will start from scratch and do that.  Give her another chance for me to get over the indifference.

[eXiled]

Season 3 really cemented my love for Doctor Who. Yeah, I wish Martha hadn't made cow eyes at the Doctor every five minutes.I believe the show did Martha (and the Doctor) a disservice by having him "love" Rose above all others. Also, having Martha pining for him the whole time WAS annoying, and I say that as Martha's biggest fan. Actually, that characterization played false for me. Of Ten's three main companions, she had the most going for her, in my opinion. Why someone so confident, smart, and *together* would lose her mind over a cute guy -- even a cute space/time traveling guy -- never made sense after an episode or two. I wanted her to get over it faster.

 

Another issue in my opinion, is that some people can never identify with a character who doesn't look like them. They find it impossible*. How dare Martha, a pretty, middle-class, doctor-in-training with a mostly stable family believe she could have a chance with the Doctor! Rose is better than her...for some reason! Well, to me, Rose is just....blonde. Nice kid. Cute backstory and family. Cool adventures. Yet until she became the Bad Wolf, I found her quite disposable. After that, she became a star in my eyes. I didn't care about the Doctor's affection for her. I only cared about how well the companion assists the time lord, and how much she entertains me. I found Donna obnoxious at first. Yet she grew on me so much by the end of her season that I cried like a baby during the mind wipe. The Doctor-Donna are our friends, indeed! We all take away different things from this wonderful show.

 

On a blog I read once, a very astute poster wrote (and I'm paraphrasing here):

 

Rose was the Doctor's great love

Donna was the Doctor's best mate

Martha was the Doctor's apprentice

 

I agreed with that post so much. I would love to have seen Martha in her own adventures: Doctor Jones.

 

*Not everyone who dislikes or ignores Martha is guilty of this. Some people simply find her annoying or uninteresting. I can see their point, at times, especially when she's fawning over Ten :)

[Llywela]

Honest question, in Series 3 how many mentions of Rose are there? Its been ages since I've watched it. Off the top of my head I can remember Runaway Bride, Shakespeare Code, Family of Blood, Sound of Drums and the Next Doctor. Did I miss any?

There are a lot of mentions and allusions and it does get old - I rolled my eyes and grumbled every time, as the good friend who's been re-watching with me will testify. But they are usually fleeting mentions that don't overshadow the episodes as much as I remembered - I found the Rose hagiography overdone but easier to shrug off this time through. Mostly, it's just overcompensation on the part of the writers - the classic show is always accused of not making enough of companion departures, not allowing enough reaction after the event, so when the show was brought back the decision was made to make a meal of them, both to overcompensate for that lack and because, well, milking emotional reactions for all they are worth is the staple of modern television.

 

Martha is fantastic, a really lovely character. It's just a shame she got stuck with 'unrequited love for the Doctor' as her arc.

[MadMouse]

There are a lot of mentions and allusions and it does get old - I rolled my eyes and grumbled every time, as the good friend who's been re-watching with me will testify. But they are usually fleeting mentions that don't overshadow the episodes as much as I remembered - I found the Rose hagiography overdone but easier to shrug off this time through. Mostly, it's just overcompensation on the part of the writers - the classic show is always accused of not making enough of companion departures, not allowing enough reaction after the event, so when the show was brought back the decision was made to make a meal of them, both to overcompensate for that lack and because, well, milking emotional reactions for all they are worth is the staple of modern television.

 

Martha is fantastic, a really lovely character. It's just a shame she got stuck with 'unrequited love for the Doctor' as her arc.

 

I can remember when it first aired there were a lot of complaints but of course being a Rose fanboy it never bothered me. But I think you're right about it being an overcompensation by the writers. Of course part of it was fear too, people forget how popular she was as a companion. Rose/ Ten was DW for years.

 

It is a shame about about Martha, especially the Martha we got in S4. If she had been around for most of S3 she'd be one the most popular companions ever.

[elle]

 

Did I miss any?

Utopia - there is the conversation between Ten and Jack about what happened to Rose, there is also the talk between Martha and Cho about how both have unrequited love (or crush) for each of their "doctors".

 

with a mostly stable family

 

Mostly being the important word there.  Her family seem to call on her a lot to solve or mediate family problems.  I think they learned how to work out things for themselves while she was traveling with the Doctor.  The events of "The Year that Never Was" brought them all closer together.

 

 

Martha is fantastic, a really lovely character. It's just a shame she got stuck with 'unrequited love for the Doctor' as her arc.

It was, and yet, I think is part of what helps her grow over that season.  I think her speech to Ten about why she isn't going to continue to travel with him was both brave and very insightful.  I don't think she could have said that she needed to leave at the beginning or middle of the season.  I think we meet a very different Martha in "The Sontaran Stratagem" than we did in "Smith and Jones".  She seems more assured of herself and while happy to see Ten, she was not smitten by him.

 

 

Rose was the Doctor's great love

Donna was the Doctor's best mate

Martha was the Doctor's apprentice

Nice.

 

For all the talk of how grumpy and irritable Twelve is, I found Ten's demeanor during season 3 to be at times almost insufferable.  

Edited October 23, 2014 by elle

[Llywela]

Rose/ Ten was DW for years.

Years? Rose/Ten were only together for a single season, in fact. ;-)

 

For all the talk of how grumpy and irritable Twelve is, I found Ten's demeanor during season 3 to be at times almost insufferable.  

Haha, he can be at times, yes, and he can be just as abrupt, just as focused on what needs to be done - he gets away with it more by laying on the charm, by paying lip service to sympathy, which is something the 12th Doctor just can't any more, doesn't have the patience or the social skills.

 

But we're moving away from Martha now...

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Poor Martha.  Like I mentioned above months ago, I am indifferent.  I pretty much feel that she was Rebecca replacing Diane (Cheer's reference) and really, no one was going to like anyone after Rose and Ten and especially after Doomsday and that tearful and emotional goodbye between them.

For me, Martha just made a bad first impression when she was slow to grasp why a guy with two hearts would be concerned about a search for aliens, and that carried over into every other time the writers dumbed her down for the sake of the plot or humor. By the end of the second season, the Rose I liked was already long gone, so a totally new companion was no big deal.

[Danny Franks]

For me, Martha just made a bad first impression when she was slow to grasp why a guy with two hearts would be concerned about a search for aliens, and that carried over into every other time the writers dumbed her down for the sake of the plot or humor. By the end of the second season, the Rose I liked was already long gone, so a totally new companion was no big deal.

 

I don't see why she should have immediately leapt to that conclusion. Medical anomaly or mutation would be more likely as a first guess than alien. Especially when he looks and acts human. Not a stretch to me that, in the heat of everything that was happening, it didn't occur to her as a possibility.

 

I never really minded that she had a crush on him because, objectively speaking, he was an impressive guy. Handsome, smart, energetic, mysterious. I'm sure most women would be interested. Rose certainly was, even when he had big ears and a big nose. But they did lean on it a bit too hard, and made Martha a bit too 'romance novel heroine' at times. Still, I think she was pretty bloody awesome all the same.

 

I mean, she was smart enough to be left with sole knowledge of who the Doctor was in Human Nature/Family of Blood, she was left to fend for herself and, ultimately, rescue the Doctor in Last of the Time Lords. As companions go, I think she was definitely the most capable and least reliant on the Doctor to solve everything for her.

 

The only Catherine Tate episodes I watched were those with Martha in, and again in The Doctor's Daughter, Martha is on her own with some weird aliens, and manages to forge a bond with one, come up with a tactical solution to their problems, and implement it. All on her own. She's a smart, and tough, cookie.

 

Don't get me wrong, I liked Rose too. I thought she was pretty great as well, but she wasn't the best, most perfect human ever, like some fans seem to believe. And I do think that Martha was a better suited, more capable companion for the Doctor to travel with. She was closer to being a peer to him than Rose ever could be. I think it was a deliberate choice by the writers to make her that, but they just panicked when the less mature fans spat their dummies out over the Doctor daring to allow another pretty girl in the TARDIS.

 

Plus, with all that, Martha would stand up to the Doctor and demand answers, like Rose never would. Rose was too in awe of him, too easily swept up in his energy, to ever really put him on the spot. Martha wasn't, and I think it went a long way to investing Ten with more depth, even if it was melodramatic at times.

 

Also, as someone commented on the quality of Freema Agyeman's posterior (which is undoubtedly fine), I have to give a shout out to her wonderfully toned arms. I noticed them in The Shakespeare Code, and that was me completely won over (though in truth, I already really liked her from Smith & Jones). Yeah, I'm shallow, but she's fucking gorgeous.

[kassygreene]

I sometimes think it's hard to remember that Martha got to do lots of development off camera.  She was the Doctor's guardian in a way in Human Nature/Family of Blood; she was stuck in 1969 with him in Blink; and of course there was the Year That Never Happened, which only a tiny handful of people can even remember, let alone be changed by.  She got to remember a year roaming a butchered world, and while the story she told was of the Doctor, the person who saved it was Martha Jones.  And apart from the Doctor, Captain Jack, her family, and the small number of survivors on the Valiant(??? the ship). no one ever knew.  The Martha Jones who went to work for UNIT, who consulted with Torchwood, who was always saluted by Jack Harkness, who married Mickey Smith - that's the person I really enjoyed.  Her arc was done at the end of Season 3, but who she was in the guest shots was consistent with that growth.

[Archery]

Martha's crush on the Doctor gets wildly exaggerated. If you listen to anti-Martha DW fans, you'd think she was baking him cookies all the time. While her arc did include her crush, which began when 10 superkissed her while saving everyone in the hospital ON THE MOON, her real arc was about her being invisible. Even though she was academically successful, any time she was with her family, they were all about their own drama. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was pining over Rose. Over the course of her season, Martha made everyone see and respect her, because was awesome and not Rose.

Honestly, I love 10's relationship with Martha and how it evolved. I love how she is the one who chooses to leave the Doctor, on her own terms, but doesn't leave behind everything she learned and saw.

[Daisy]

Martha's crush on the Doctor gets wildly exaggerated. If you listen to anti-Martha DW fans, you'd think she was baking him cookies all the time. While her arc did include her crush, which began when 10 superkissed her while saving everyone in the hospital ON THE MOON, her real arc was about her being invisible. Even though she was academically successful, any time she was with her family, they were all about their own drama. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was pining over Rose. Over the course of her season, Martha made everyone see and respect her, because was awesome and not Rose.

Honestly, I love 10's relationship with Martha and how it evolved. I love how she is the one who chooses to leave the Doctor, on her own terms, but doesn't leave behind everything she learned and saw.

Exactly. 

And out of every companion in NuWho, Martha's had to be on her own a lot. . She had to take care of the Doctor for three months in an era where a person  of her colour wasn't very respected. In most of her adventures, she was separated from the doctor from basically opening credits to the closing credits where they meet up. 

then she spent a year trying to save the world on her own, and then told the Doctor "heck, yeah, Im bloody amazing, and I'm off to be be more amazing"

 

Martha is love. :) 

[Llywela]

Martha's crush on the Doctor gets wildly exaggerated.

The problem with Martha's crush on the Doctor isn't Martha. It's that it exists mainly so that he has an excuse to pine for Rose, which is what most folk object to, not least because that kind of pining is wildly out of character for the Doctor (at least for the Doctor as we'd known him up till then, which was, y'know, 9 previous incarnations, so pretty established characterisation!). So, the Doctor is the problem, not Martha. Martha's great.

[alias1]

I've always felt that the comparisons on the companions are so unfair.  I take them for what they were at the time.  I loved Rose with both 9 and 10.  Her story was full of the richly developed side characters that I came to love (soap opera, as I've read from Llywela, but very well done in my opinion).  Her ending seemed appropriate for Doctor Who.  I cried but moved on.  Martha was fantastic.  A different kind of companion.  I didn't mind her crush on the Doctor and I always thought that his "mooning" over Rose during the Martha years has been exaggerated.  Sure there were mentions of her but it would have been odd if he had never mentioned her as if she had never existed.  I loved the Martha stories as well, even though the side characters were not as well developed.  I loved Gridlock, and, of course, Utopia.  I loved that she had a (sort of) normal life after Doctor Who, at least one of her choosing.  And she was featured in episodes with Donna.  It isn't as if she disappeared after being the companion.  And, of course, I loved the Donna stories, where we also had a great side character in Wilf.  So when people say they hated one or the other of the companions, especially during the Davies era, I'm always perplexed.  They each had their charm, they each had their particular story, and they were all great in my opinion.   

[Blue Castle]

 

Martha's crush on the Doctor gets wildly exaggerated. If you listen to anti-Martha DW fans, you'd think she was baking him cookies all the time. While her arc did include her crush, which began when 10 superkissed her while saving everyone in the hospital ON THE MOON, her real arc was about her being invisible. Even though she was academically successful, any time she was with her family, they were all about their own drama. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was pining over Rose. Over the course of her season, Martha made everyone see and respect her, because was awesome and not Rose.

Honestly, I love 10's relationship with Martha and how it evolved. I love how she is the one who chooses to leave the Doctor, on her own terms, but doesn't leave behind everything she learned and saw.

 

I agree with this.  For me, I've always seen her arc as being about sacrifice & love and determining when/how you should set limits on that sacrifice.  I also think a large part of her story is about proving herself.  And she is forced to prove herself again and again in a way that the other companions didn't have to.  I actually think this is why she gets so much crap from some parts of the fandom.  I think certain viewers like Rose because they prefer to identify with her (shop girl whisked away by the most amazing man in the universe and then he thinks that she's the most amazing woman in the universe, too) and they don't like to identify with Martha (probably the smartest and most selfless companion) because she loved a man who didn't love her back the way she wanted him to.  I mean, I've seen posts on tumblr that label her as "weak" and "pathetic" because she kept loving him when he didn't love her.  But a big part of her story is that it didn't matter if he loved her or not--she loved him.  And her love for him (plus her love for humanity and her family and just her general awesomeness) helps her to save the world.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Blue Castle

[Archery]

I don't think 10's grief (or pining) for Rose was out of character. He lost her into another dimension and left a lot unsaid. Also, she was the first face his face saw and we all know what that does. You maybe could make an argument that Classic Doctors didn't get the feels like nu-Doctors do, but I personally don't think that's a bad thing; characterization and drama in general have changed over the years. 9, 10, and 11 mourned people. (Losing Donna turned 10 into Time Lord Victorious.)

The fan-whining over the years has very much been about Martha's crush on 10, as if that's all she was. Frankly any woman in her right mind would crush on the Doctor under those circumstances. I respect the character because it was something she accepted wasn't ever going to happen, whether because of Rose or general Timelordiness, but still gave 10 everything she had.

[Kalliste]

Totally.. who wouldn't have a crush on the doctor (other than Clara apparently because, eww 12 is old!). He's this amazing man/alien who shows you the universe! It would be easy to fall in love with a man like that.

[Llywela]

You maybe could make an argument that Classic Doctors didn't get the feels like nu-Doctors do, but I personally don't think that's a bad thing; characterization and drama in general have changed over the years. 9, 10, and 11 mourned people. (Losing Donna turned 10 into Time Lord Victorious.)

It doesn't bother me that he missed Rose. I just think it was way overplayed, to the detriment of the series and characters. I also think the extent of it was out of character (although not as much as 11's post-Amy pining, but at least that was mostly off-screen).

[elle]

Swimming in the shallow end this morning...

 

Caught the end of the episode were Martha first meets Mr. Smith.  Watching again the scene where her whole family is fighting outside the bar, she looks up to see "that man".  That smile Ten gives her, no wonder the poor girl fell in love with him.  I fell in love with him in that moment!

 

And, we see that Ten, at least, did not leave the brake on when he travelled in the TARDIS.

[Llywela]

And, we see that Ten, at least, did not leave the brake on when he travelled in the TARDIS.

:P The Doctor never leaves the brake on - that's just the noise TARDIS engines make and always have!

[eXiled]

 

That smile Ten gives her, no wonder the poor girl fell in love with him.  I fell in love with him in that moment!

Thank you! Ten was such a damn tease. Standing there like a skinny James Dean with that impossibly naughty look on his face, and then he's perplexed when our Ms. Jones crushes on him? GTF outta here! :) I never faulted her for loving Ten. I faulted her for loving him beyond her first three episodes. Once she realized what their relationship was -- and what it wasn't -- she should have just enjoyed the adventure.

 

But yeah. Ten was so darn cheeky in that scene. It was an overt pick-up and he darn well knew it. It makes me swoon every time. My Martha never stood a chance.

[elle]

For some reason, I've been able to catch Dr. Who this week and have been watching some of the Martha episodes I never saw.  Today was "The Lazarus Experiment".  A little creepy for me, but I did get to see what I considered the best scene of the episode.  Martha and Ten are at the big event and Martha is very happy to see her mom.  As she is reconnecting with her mom, her mom is asking what happened to her "last night" commenting on how she just disappeared.  The actress playing Francine made me laugh out loud.  She would ask a question to Martha but her eyes were on the strange stranger with the very pleased smile.  The Doctor just does not have good luck with mothers does he?  But then again, why should he?  When Francine is trying to warn Martha about "that man" she had good reason.  Whatever she was told probably had more than a bit of truth in it.

 

But then I thought, well Rose did end up with her mom and dad even if it was in an alternate universe and Donna was back with her mom and grandad and a new fiance although she had no memory of the wonderful things she had done; therefore odds are that Martha should have ended up back with her family after her travels with The Doctor. 

 

As a mom, that would not have made me feel any better about "that man".  ;0)

[Ambrosefolly]

I have nothing against and like Mickey just fine, but to this day I still hate that Doctor Who paired her with Mickey at the very last minute and broke up her engagement with the (hot)pediatrician (just looked it up and it is Tom Ellis). Their few short scenes they had a ton of chem. Why couldn't she work for UNIT/Torchwood in the vocation she studied years for and go home to him? Sure he didn't know about time travel because everything reverted back, but Martha knew that he was good in a crisis. God forbid, one companion's entire life isn't completely dictated by travels with the Doctor.