Now there’s Martha bashing in my Martha love/heavy sarcasm post. :(
ONE CANNOT ESCAPE, it is sad. Have a gif of Martha’s reaction:
martha jones
Dayum.
You’d think Martha Jones was THE most important character in Doctor Who with the way people have been reacting to my dislike of her.
This is my reaction to mean re-bloggers:
First I’m all
Then I realize this is the internet and then I’m all
To many people, she is the most important character in Doctor Who.
Because she’s the only female Black companion- and likely to remain the only female Black companion for a good few years. Because she did everything right, saved the Doctor and the world several times-
-and yet her Tumblr tag, on any given day, contains far more hate than anyone else’s. (I checked. Nothing negative at all for the first seven pages of Rose’s tag. Same with Donna, Rory, and Jack. Amy goes for about five. Mickey has hate on his second page*.)
If people react so badly to a black woman on television, what does that say about racism in the ‘real world’? Read this article– it does a better job of explaining it than I can.
Martha is important- hugely important. And the way people reacted to her and continue to react to her is important too.
*Now, what do Martha and Mickey have in common?
I made LiveJournal icons. Unfortunately, no-one uses them anymore. Or uses LiveJournal anymore, I suspect. This makes me sad.
The thing that makes Martha Jones shine so much compared to other NewWho companions, to me at least, is how she was the only one to deal with her end-of-season menace without superpowers.
Rose took the power of the TARDIS, became a literal deus ex machina and solved everything in five minutes flat.
Donna accidentally took on the brainpower of the Doctor and solved everything in five minutes flat.
Amy had the power to reboot the universe and solved the problem of the Doctor not existing in five minutes flat.
Jack was a highly-trained Time Agent, even before he became immortal.
Rory also dies a lot, was an Auton and retains the memories of 2,000+ years experience.
River Song is a highly-trained child-soldier Time Baby.
Unlike most other companions, Martha had no extra-special powers beyond her own awesomeness. Her achievement was IMHO greater than the ones above because she did it solely on her own merit. It may have still only been five minutes flat onscreen, but unlike Rose, Donna and Amy all basically snapping their fingers and saying “because I say so, that’s why!” her part in the Master’s downfall was an entire year in the making. While her task was made easier (and by ‘easier’, I mean ‘slightly less impossible’) by the perception filter and Jack’s vortex manipulator, she still spent a year telling stories in a hellish, decimated dystopia of a world. She had to give her entire species hope and faith and never lose her own, while never knowing if her family and the Doctor were even ALIVE, let alone how they were. FOR A YEAR. And this was after two months of racist, classist, misogynist humiliations at Farringham AND supporting the Doctor’s arse in 1969 as well. And she does it all in style, then leaves the Doctor wanting more (finally). This is why Martha Jones is Made Of Win And Awesome.
(Also, it’s notable that the only other New-Who companion who gets no super-upgrades and must be content with being a Badass Normal is Mickey Smith, the other black companion.)
Very seconded.
(Although, does Wilf count as a Badass Normal? If so, that makes me feel better about that bit of subtext.)
Whovengers
Fury = The Doctor: Both look after their bands of misfits, and defend the Earth.
Tony = Jack: International/intergalactic playboys willing to die for the greater good. Many times over in Jack’s case.
Steve = Martha: Underdogs who became heroes, fighting tyrants for freedom and justice.
Bruce = Donna: Both forced to embrace a personality they didn’t want. The only difference is, Donna no longer remembers what it was like to be fully her.
Natasha = Amy: Both badass redheads with pasts they tend to run from.
Clint = Rory: Soldier types who always come as a package deal with their badass redhead.
Phil = Mickey: Both The Man In Havana, both eventually drawn to Big Fucking Guns.
Maria = River: The capable second-in-command.
Thor = Rose: Both channel godlike powers (that they had to prove themselves worthy of.) Also, both blonde.
Loki = The Master: These two would get on like a house on fire…no survivors.
Why We Hate Martha Jones /s
Well, where to begin…?
She was so jealous of Rose:
Hated her in fact
She was completely useless:
Once more: useless
A third time: useless
No interesting personality traits- imagine how awesome it would have been had they made her, for example, a total geek like us:
And she was so CLINGY
And such a BITCH
She was ALWAYS OBSESSED with the Doctor loving her. I MEAN WHY THE HELL COULDN’T SHE JUST WALK AWAY
She was so WHINY and she NEVER had a GOOD REASON to complain!
I mean, if any of the other companions had been stuck in 1910,
they’d have loved it! Why couldn’t SHE?
Oh, and she was SO. UGLY.
So yes. We HATE HER. And you should too.
