Doctor Who: speculative questions about current and old canon, ships, and other companions

[timepiececlock]

I was re-dicussing with mswyrr our Vash=The 9th Doctor comparison theory here, and it got into a discussion about the Doctor's relationships with Rose, Sara Jane, and other companions.

Some vague discussion of the newest episode was there, and this assertion came up regarding the episode:

mswyrr: "I think it's a rewriting of canon to say previous Doctors loved their companions the way Nine/Ten loves Rose. They didn't."

I've not seen much of the older Doctors except Eight's movie and the 6 minute clip of Sarah Jane's scene for leaving the show. But what I got out of that clip was the sense that the Doctor didn't at all care for her the way he cares for Rose or the way his conversation with Sarah Jane at the end of "School Reunion" implied. He did exactly what Sarah Jane accused him of doing: he dumped her with barely a thought. Which is not to say he didn't care for her at all, but just that it appeared (by his abrupt dumping of her) to be more of a friend/teacher's pet kind of affection. I can't at all imagine him leaving Rose so callously, and I don't buy into the idea that it's just because it was an old tv show and that's how things worked back then.

But my speculation is mostly moot, given how little I know of Four/Sarah Jane except that short parting clip. What do you guys think?

A.) Do you think this latest episode ret-conned to imply a deeper past affection on the Fourth Doctor's part for Sarah Jane than the original series implied? Or do you think it was actually just confirmation and not convenient rewriting of canon?

B.) Do you think that he does or doesn't see Rose as different from his other companions?


I can't answer A, but my answer for B is "yes," because of two main reasons:

(1) because he told her she outright that she was different in this episode (or at least different from Sarah Jane of the past, who he did dump)

(2) because she was clearly that significant to the Ninth Doctor, and the Doctor's Tenth incarnation was literally born from the Doctor's act of giving his life away out of love for Rose [I make the distinction here between sacrificing your life as an act of pure nobility and the deliberately romantic aspect Nine's sacrifice was given]. Though Nine and Ten are becoming more visibly different, I think the Doctor's feelings toward Rose are actually where Nine and Ten are the most similar. No surprise, given the circumstances of his regeneration.


EDIT: I guess I should say that when I think about it, my answer #2 is actually not answering the question B, it's answering a different question entirely: which is whether or not Ten loves Rose enough not to just dump her... That's a different question from "is she different from the other companions?", because I don't necessarily mean that loving Rose meant he didn't love any of his other companions.
...ARGH. I'm confusing myself here. It's really hard to try to answer these questions when I've only seen stuff of Eight, Nine, and Ten, and the most I know of the others is a 6 minute clip of Four. This is why I want your various and sundry opinions.


That's enough of my view; what say you folk?

Comments

[chicketieboo.livejournal.com]

From what I read from alto2 and what my boyfriend has explained to me about SJ, my conclusion about the whole ret-conned idea is basically this.

Even if Sarah did finally get the Doctor was leaving her for good, sometimes one goodbye isn't enough. If you care about someone and you have to leave eachother abruptly without much time and in a never see eachother again situation, over time you will feel cheated for not getting the full slow, take-your-time goodbye.

Plus, I don't think that Sarah was inlove with him when they were together, but overtime if your constantly thinking about someone, and they seem to be better in everyway then all men around you, your idolizing of one man will grow. She was enraptured with him from what I've been told. Thirty years is alot of time to go over what you had with someone that no one can match up too.

As for Ten's reaction to Sarah. Over time he's started to break away a bit from his previous asexual andriod behaviours. We see him angst, we see him care, we see him love and hate. These are all very human emotions and instead of him having some human emotions dumbed down because he's an alien, it seems that he's almost evolving emotionally and becoming more passionate then the typcial human in every emotion.

Here's a companion that he hasn't seen in thirty years, not one that died, but left him, and not because either one wanted it to happen. He obviously cared for her deeply, and his 'my sarah jane' talk makes me feel like he's so happy that she's doing well for himself and maybe feeling a touch like an ass. But he told Rose, he doesn't go back to see them, his whole time-lord curse. The Doctor's a layered character and we definately don't know everything about how he thinks or feels, but I don't really believe he was inlove with SJ when he was with her, nor in that episode. I think he was going through alot, just suprised and ecstatic with her being there and healthy and happy, (till he finds out she's not so happy)

I'm a Rose/Doctor shipper at heart, but I don't delude myself into believing they'll be together forever, and I don't think it will be a happy breakup.