Sunday 16 March 2008

Martha Jones: Obsolete

Martha, as I have pointed out on the DWF, will be a companion too many in series 4. Will Donna returning as main companion and all the attention being on the return of Rose then who needs Martha?

33 comments:

Youth of Australia said...

So, the return of Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Sarah, Jack, the Master and Harriet Jones, that's entirely understandable. But bring back Martha? OBSOLETE!

You clearly haven't been watching Torchwood which establishes how vital Ms Jones is in the new line. She's effectively the new Brigadier, the face of UNIT who the Doctor trusts implicitely.

Fact is, Spara, YET again, no one is interested in your mindless bigotry. Martha is popular, the actress is popular, and they weren't "fobbing her off" with Torchwood as your mindlessly bitched about elsewhere in this blog.

Face it - you have no control over the TV show, so suffer in silence.

Cameron Mason said...

It's only because RTD wrote himself into a corner with the 'unrequited love' aspect of the Doctor and Martha's relationship that Martha isn't in all of Series Four.

If you read between the lines of the interview with Freema in DWM (and RTD's comments elsewhere in that issue), you'd discover that they're intending for Martha to be around for a long time to come...

Cameron

Anonymous said...

Ok, seriously... is it the colour thing? Or the fact that a woman in the new series is presented as sympathetic, intelligent and in a high-quality/high-culutre job?

Youth of Australia said...

I think you've got it on the head. The recent "Enoch was right" rant shows that being a WOMAN and BLACK was the worst thing Martha could be.

Spara much prefers the Aryan good looks of the unemployed Ben Chatham rather than Martha's Dark Lady doctor...

Jimmy Barnes said...

Personally, I'd like to see the next "full-time" companion to be a bloke. Not because I'm like Sparacus & I hate women, but just because I think it'd make a change.

Then again, Catherine Tate's in Series 4, so perhaps we're not that far off having a male companion after all!... ;-D

Youth of Australia said...

Well, we HAVE had Mickey, Adam, Jack, plus the one off companions in the comics, plus Wilf, so they make up in number what they lack in staying power.

And BC is girlier than most companions anyway... when was the last time you heard Dodo bitch about her 50 pound stylish shoes getting wild west horse shit on them, huh?

Bernie Fishnotes said...

If bringing back Martha is such a problem cos Donna's the companion, why do you continuously insert Ben Chatham into Donna stories, then shove her into the background?

Or do you just hate Freema Agyeman?

Bernie Fishnotes said...

Leonard Hatred:

I'd like the Doctor to have a bloke as a companion, but a proper bloke, not a girly man like Ben Chatham.

Think Fitz, but a bit younger.

Anonymous said...

Why is YOA having conversations between his alter egos?

Jimmy Barnes said...

"I'd like the Doctor to have a bloke as a companion, but a proper bloke, not a girly man like Ben Chatham"

Oh aboslutely, Bernie. The thought of Ben 'Am I or aren't I?' Chatham alongside the Doctor for 14 straight episodes is a right stomach-turner.

sparacus said...

"Ok, seriously... is it the colour thing? Or the fact that a woman in the new series is presented as sympathetic, intelligent and in a high-quality/high-culutre job?"

It is nothing to do with her colour/ethnic origin. It is the fact that she is an uninteresting character who doesn't ring true. She sounds permanently bored because of the way she speaks and her actions such as walking all over the world in 'Last of the Time Lords' are far fetched.

Anonymous said...

The entire show is far-fetched. Didn't you notice the dimensionally transcendental phone boxes or the evil aliens or the giant maggots or anything over the last 45 years?

Anonymous said...

Also, your statement is a opinion, not a face.

Youth of Australia said...

It is nothing to do with her colour/ethnic origin.
I dunno. Your admiration for Enoch Powell, coupled with the strict white-only policy of your fiction suggests otherwise. And you hated her from the start - you created Spartha Jones before she was in a single episode.

It is the fact that she is an uninteresting character who doesn't ring true.
Not to me. Not to a lot of people. The fact is, what's so interesting about Ben Chatham? He doesn't ring true - he has no job, yet lives in luxury; he never enjoys anything beyond staying at home getting drunk and listening to Bowie, yet people want his help; he despises lower classes, teenagers, women, old folk, pagans, those who suffer nervous breakdown, and aliens. Yet he is a companion of the Doctor.

Nothing you ever write about him rings true.

She sounds permanently bored
No, she doesn't.

because of the way she speaks
How else could she sound permanently bored, you idiot? Do her clothes creak in some code?

and her actions such as walking all over the world in 'Last of the Time Lords' are far fetched.
So, the fact the world was invaded by floating beachballs containing the severed heads of the last of the humans who fire laser beams of stet radiation at the behest of a time traveller who conquered the world with a police box and a mobile phone ISN'T far fetched.

At least she did something. Would Ben Chatham have braved harsh conditions and human misery for a whole year on his own, putting everything aside for his mission at the request of the Doctor?

No, he'd have got drunk and cried.

If you BOTHERED to watch the story, you would see she had a teleporter. "Walking the Earth" is a metaphor, you daft bint - like when they say "The Master never walks the Earth" despite the fact Harold Saxon actually spent time there. The Master separates himself from humanity, Martha integrates himself with it.

Now your rancid brain understands they weren't being literal but poetic, shut the hell up!

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

It is the fact that she is an uninteresting character who doesn't ring true.

Untrue! This is simply the view of a silent minority.

She sounds permanently bored because of the way she speaks

Her voice is actually more expressive than Rose's and to me seemed to sound excited and authoritative for most of the time.

and her actions such as walking all over the world in 'Last of the Time Lords' are far fetched.

Actions plural? Give us another one, then.

As Ewen has pointed out, and was made clear in the episode (what with her travelling by boat and car and teleporting and stuff) she didn't literally walk everywhere.

Also, heard of that novel? Around the World in 80 Days? Martha had 365. Does that mean Jules Verne is four times as far-fetched?

Aside from Freema Agyeman's strong performance and charisma, the real reason I, and others, love Martha Jones and shall continue to welcome her back to the series is DAMN! SHE IS SO HOT YOU COULD FRY AN EGG ON HER ARSE!

Going by the checquered and often pitifully transparent history of Ben Chatham -

Meanwhile in a field in the Wiltshire countryside Ben is slowly waking up. His head throbs with pain and he feels tired and very cold. He is naked and slowly pulls himself to his feet, the bright morning sun glistening on his smooth, luscious chest. He raises his head and sniffs the cool morning breeze like a dappled deer.

- I should think this would be a sentiment appreciated by Sparacus.

Anonymous said...

Ben Chatham = cold, tired, useless, wakes up naked and hungover

Martha Jones = hot, brave, excited, saves the world

Ergo

Ben Chatham: Obsolete.

Cameron Mason said...


Why is YOA having conversations between his alter egos?


Actually, I think you'll find I am a manifestation of the darker side of human nature...

Youth of Australia said...

Whereas I am just someone capable of giving a name to my comments bar "anonymous", you creep.

Anonymous said...

I'm one of the good Anonymous' here...

Anonymous said...

We should start Anonymouses Anonymous.

Anonymous said...

I'm not Sparacus, and nor's my wife!

Youth of Australia said...

I didn't know you were married, mate! Congrats!

I wonder if Sparacus would get banned if enough people said he was really ME in disguise...?

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

That's a brilliant idea!

As soon as Crystal comes out we all need to say "Oh, wonderful story, Ewen..." and so on and so forth.

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

Oh, yes, I can post a comment HERE in a matter of seconds. I try and post a comment in my own blog and it takes such a fucking ridiculous amount of time I end up writing an entry entirely about how I can't post comments...

THIS COUNTRY IS STUFFED!

Youth of Australia said...

Exactly - why else would anyone be allowed to post on a thread with a title like this?

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

You know, it actually reads like the promo for a film named "OBSOLETE" starring "Martha Jones". Especially since trying to take it literally is entirely ridiculous...

If only there was a passing fellow in an automobile to commment on this all...

Youth of Australia said...

I love that guy in the car.

...

That's my car!

COME BACK, YOU BASTARD! I HAVEN'T EVEN PAID THAT OFF YET!

sparacus said...

Obviously I am not YOA and everyone knows this.

Colin said...

"Obviously I am not YOA and everyone knows this."

Yes, there's a few vital signifying factors.

For a start, YOA has talent.

Youth of Australia said...

Shucks, Col.

As a mark of my respect to you, I will refrain from twirling.

And I'm not responsible for that anonymous comment. Apart from anything else, if Spara drinks half as much as he seems to, he will DEFINITELY die painfully, whatever merit of his work.

BTW, here are two fans describing Ben Chatham (and I'm not making this up, these are real descriptions of him on an opinion forum at dwad.net):

THE SUPREME DALEK: Does he have a problem or something? What's up with him?

THE CHIMERA VIRUS: Well, he's a cussing, stark-raving, oddly disturbing man who makes a point in the rudest way humanly possible. Mainly he's just looking for an excuse to b*tch.

And you wonder why he came last in your popularity poll.

Youth of Australia said...

Aw. Bloke in car got deleted!

Me sad now.

Yasmin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yasmin said...

I didn't like Martha that much in Series 3, she just didn't seem like a good actress, but when she returned in Torchwood, I thought she had improved a LOT. I'm quite looking forward to seeing her in the Doctor Who Series 4 finale. I think it's because I'm curious about her reaction about Rose, she didn't seem to happy about Rose when they were only MENTIONING her in Series 3...