Considering Rose Tyler

Yesterday, I finished watching the Rose Tyler episodes of Dr. Who on BBC America. Thinking, as I'm crying my eyes out, Torchwood is fun, but Baby, It's No Dr. Who.

I find myself, however, in a situation of much wondering. The history of Dr. Who, the sheer amount of previous material, is overwhelming. I gather that there is always a companion; I assume that it's always a woman.

It would seem that his companions always fall in love with him, but I wonder if he always becomes so attached? As a new viewer, having only seen Dr. Who with Rose Tyler, their love for each other seems transcendent and more... But perhaps it is not? Perhaps this is the way of it?

I've gathered that love between Dr. Who and the companions is never physical and never spelled out, so I've wondered at Rose and The Doctor holding hands - perhaps significant within the oeuvre? Also, his almost saying "I love you" would seem significant - Does he almost always say it, or does he never (or rarely) feel quite the way he felt about Rose Tyler?

I'll never know, for example, how I would have felt about Angel if I'd watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer from the beginning. I didn't; I watched season six in repeats and then season seven in first-run. And I am whole-heartedly a Spike girl. Watched Angel the exact same way (second-to-last season in reruns, last season in first-run), and to this day I prefer David Boreanaz in Bones.

In short, is Rose Tyler special, or is she just my first?

Comments

[Crystal]

I'm not deep in the Doctor Who mythos, but I have a lot of friends who are and the impression that I get is that, yes, Rose is different. The Doctor has had a history of being asexual for the most part. Companions (who can be both male and female... both Jack Harkness and Mickey are considered to have been companions in those seasons)have gotten attached, as shown by "School Reunion," but in the past, and even outwardly with Rose, The Doctor remains detached. So, yes, him almost saying "I love you" to Rose was big and different.

And related... I was a Buffy viewer from the beginning and I *still* prefer David Boreanez on Bones. While Angel had some good moments, there was just always too much angst there.

[Melinda Seckington]

I never got into Doctor Who until after Rose was gone; I couldn't stand Billie Piper as an actress; she used to be one of those teenage pop stars first and I couldn't get that out my mind. So I only started watching when Martha Jones was the companion. The weird thing is though I am rooting for their relationship, but from what I've heard it is different than what the Doctor and Rose had. I think it does matter which is your first.

Over Angel? Sigh. I watched Buffy from the beginning and was rooting for her Angel. But at a certain point, you just realized it wasn't meant to be. The character both evolved in such ways, that they didn't seem right for each other any more.

And then Spike came along :D

I'm not sure how far they are with Torchwood in the US, but have you seen the Spike episode yet?

[Marie D.]

Ah, Buffy... Saw it all from the start but still I didn't like Angel when it started. I happened to see the last season and like it a lot (oh, and there is Spike in it) but the first 4, not great on my opinion.

Have not seen Dr Who, yet.

[Liz]

Ah, yes, the "Spike" episode of Torchwood - Delicious!

[grant]

Way back around the time the show started in the mid-1960s, there was an associated movie - Hammer Film, maybe - starring Peter Cushing as The Doctor with two kids, a boy and girl, as companions, who refer to him throughout as their uncle.

The movie isn't exactly canon, certainly not in the same way the Spielberg Eric Roberts-as-The-Master one has sort of been made to fit. (Gave us the current TARDIS interior and I think the first Doctor/companion smooch, which was *wrong*).

Tom Baker, the longest-running Doctor, traveled with a boy named Adric for a while (a mathematician) and with K-9 the robot dog for a long time, sometimes with other companions, sometimes without.

There were a couple other boy companions - usually they were with a sister or something. One, during the Peter Davidson years, was a redhead with some kind of secret agenda, but the intrigue never really worked for me. A lost prince? Scheming to regain an empire? I can't remember and can't be bothered to look him up - I do (think I) remember him pretending to be a human and being picked up from a boarding school.

So, yes, Rose is different. Past companions don't always fall in love with him, and some don't even like him particularly much.

---

We've only recently watched Buffy from start to end on DVD. It's led to Angel and Smallville getting put on the Netflix queue - all in search of a little more Marsters. By OTHERS in the house.

[minnie]

ah i loved adric and k-9 and ramana.

[Don]

Ahhh, Doctor Who. I have been watching it since 1979. Rose was your first, Leela was mine.
They have made subtle changes on the on screen realationship the Doctor has with his comapnion. In the episode School Reunion we saw a side to his relaationship with Sarah Jane that we didnt see in her original episodes.

But everyone has their favorite companion.

[Erin]

Funny you should mention it-- a friend of mine posted this Doctor farewells video yesterday. I've heard from a couple old Whovians that any romances for Doctors 1-8 was either deep subtext or fan-generated.

But this topic should definitely be revisited later in Series 3. I can't wait.

[Terry]

Comments/answers to previous post:

>>Way back around the time the show started in the mid-1960s, there was an associated movie - Hammer Film, maybe - starring Peter Cushing as The Doctor with two kids, a boy and girl, as companions, who refer to him throughout as their uncle.
>>>It was made by AARU, not Hammer, and the Doctor character had a granddaughter, Susan, as did the first Dr Who on TV. Nobody referred to him as uncle.

The movie isn't exactly canon, certainly not in the same way the Spielberg Eric Roberts-as-The-Master one has sort of been made to fit. (Gave us the current TARDIS interior and I think the first Doctor/companion smooch, which was *wrong*).
>>>The 1996 movie IS canon, which is why Sylvester McCoy's Doctor was included, to change into Paul McGann, who preceded Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor.

There were a couple other boy companions - usually they were with a sister or something. One, during the Peter Davidson years, was a redhead with some kind of secret agenda, but the intrigue never really worked for me. A lost prince? Scheming to regain an empire? I can't remember and can't be bothered to look him up - I do (think I) remember him pretending to be a human and being picked up from a boarding school.
>>>This was Turlough, who was later evealed to be a political prisoner.

So, yes, Rose is different. Past companions don't always fall in love with him, and some don't even like him particularly much.

[grant]

Terry *wins*.

[~Michelle]

I have not seen the new Doctor Who but I have seen a lot of the old ones, and for the last year I have been watching the old series' from the very first one in 1961 in order.

So I'll tell you that NO his companion is most definitely not always female. He has plenty of male companions. His first "companion" was his niece Susan, and the series began when two of her high school teachers on Earth -- a man and a woman -- stumbled on the TARDIS and were accidentally taken away.

Anyhow.... I've never seen a companion fall in love with the Doctor. EVER. So not only is it not the usual, it makes my mind boggle to think of it!

Generally the Doctor's female companions are more like a daughter or niece to him. They frequently fall in love with someone on one of the planets and stay behind, or they may fall in love with the male companion. The emotion most female companions feel for the Doctor isn't love, it's exasperation overlaying admiration for his intelligence. And I have never ever seen the Doctor express any love at all, for anyone, except his niece Susan.

[Becca]

Rose and the Doctor holding hands is DEFINATELY significant, because although he holds other companions hands, he always drops them quickly afterwards, which he never does with Rose. Rose Tyler and the Doctor ARE love.

[Bekka]

I couldn't agree more, Becca. They are love. It's so beautiful, the way love should be. They make each other better people and have such unbelievable trust in one another. Can't wait to see the end of season 4 (just started watching the new series recently and am in season 3). I will cry like a baby, again.

[Kiah]

Oh God... I don't understand WHY I don't like Rose more. D: Everyone seems so beguiled by her, and I honestly don't see the attraction. I mean, if the Doctor was going to fall in love with only one person, why her? What was so special? I mean she was nice, yeah, but I just... I don't really know. I really liked Martha, it was a shame to see her go. ;( And a shame that the Doctor just couldn't reciprocate her feelings. And Donna just tickles me, but I'd be totally fine with them just being friends. :)