Companion: I am so rubbish.
RTD-written Doctor: No, you’re not! You’re brilliant! Remember that wonderful thing you did! Remember that special skill you have that nobody else has? Don’t put yourself down! Where would I be without you, eh?
vs
Moffat-written Doctor: You are bossy, also a control freak, a narcissist, a game player, needy, and also your skirt is just a little too tight.
Companion: Excuse me???
The notes on this are hilarious. People are bringing up moments Nine and Ten are rude to their companions. Never mind that these mostly are isolated instances that occur because the Doctor is upset and therefore not behaving reasonably. Never mind that Davies’s companions get to stand up for themselves and prove themselves when the Doctor or anyone else puts them down.
The tags on this post recommended I ‘keep trying’, so I thought perhaps I would:
RTD-written Doctor to Mickey, in a situation where the Doctor is not upset: How stupid are you?
Nine to Mickey, multiple times, not an isolated incident: [gets his name wrong on purpose]
Ten to Martha, in a situation where the Doctor is not upset: Rose would know…You’re a novice, never mind.
Ten to Mickey, in a situation where the Doctor is not upset: [forgets about him, leaves him holding down a button for half an hour, giggles about it]
Ten to Jackie, in a situation where the Doctor is not upset: [won’t let her fly the TARDIS with the others]
Ten to Mickey, in a situation where he’s not upset, after Mickey has just been covered in dead rats: And you decided to scream like a little girl?…Nine, maybe ten years old. I’m seeing pigtails, frilly skirt. (I probably don’t need to point out here that insulting a male by comparing him to a little girl is somewhat sexist)
Ten about Jackie, while she’s standing there, in a situation where he’s not upset: She’s not the best I’ve ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins.
Also, why should the companions – Rose, Mickey, Martha, whoever – have to prove themselves? Why is everyone’s worth in the RTD era seemingly dependent on whether or not the Doctor likes you? Why did Mickey have to prove himself multiple times over (destroying a Siltheen, hacking into a missile launcher, helping capture Margaret) before the Doctor stopped calling him an idiot? Why are people cross that I expect better from the Doctor, and the people writing him, than him behaving like a schoolyard bully?
I don’t admit this often, but if not for Mickey and Jackie I wouldn’t have stuck with Doctor Who. I came in in 2005, with Rose, and the show was witty and intelligent and beautiful, but – I wasn’t Rose; I was Mickey, right from the start. Being kidnapped by plastic aliens, I’d have done what he did, absolutely pissed my pants. As the show went on it was intensely frustrating to realise that the characters I related most to were the ones the Doctor didn’t have time for, who were the butt of all the jokes.
Obviously I’m glad I stuck with Doctor Who because I got many great characters and stories out of it. But RTD-era Doctor Who was absolutely my first lesson in ‘screw you, writers, I’m going to take these characters and treat them better’.
Anyway, the point: Nine and Ten were rude to their companions. You really….can’t deny that. Eleven and Twelve (who’s had one episode so far) were not ideal either (though I can’t remember Eleven being quite so obnoxious. Twelve’s overall attitude remains to be seen: if he treats Danny the same way Nine treated Mickey, I’m going to be REALLY pissed off.) But Nine and Ten frequently, frequently get a free pass for all their crappy behaviour, and I don’t want to accept that.
