More Like, Iris Best

As much I as love Martha's S3 ending, how it means so much to me on a personal level, the whole "Martha Jones is so strong she doesn't need the doctor" has never sat right with me. Her strength should be praised, but the only reason Martha was strong is because she had no other choice. It was be strong or let Ten keep putting her down across time and space. It was be strong or let Joan Redfern be racist to her. It was be strong or let the Family of Blood murder everyone. It was be strong or let her family get tortured. It was be strong or let the Master kill you for fun.

Martha doesn't need the doctor because she had to outgrow him for her own wellbeing, not because she inherently cares less about them compared to everyone else.

Had she been treated with kindness and grace like every other companion, she could have "wanted" him like the others. It's wild to me how in a show about the magic of space and time the first Black companion's main thing has to be... that she doesn't have to have any of it apparently. This othering dressed up as a compliment of how unique she is. You don't set someone on fire then congratulate them for putting out the flames.

I've been thinking about the mistreatment of Martha Jones a lot today - specifically how such a powerful character can frequently tank in companion polls - and for some reason, I've come to the conclusion that she was just not written to be loved. When it comes to the most popular companions, we tend to see them through the eyes of the Doctor: Donna is the most important woman in the universe, Rose perfect and beautiful, Amy the feeling of home. I dislike Ten and Martha's dynamic as viewer, but as a fan, I dislike the way RTD wrote it. We see a season of an amazing yet pining woman almost dragged along for the ride by a man who barely looks twice at her. Narratively, this just about makes sense with Ten losing Rose, but if thinking about this through the lenses of Martha's mistreatment, there is no real admiration generated for Martha as a character because there's barely any generated for her on-screen. It takes a step back and a moment of thought to recognise her qualities, and how the narrative and her relationship with Ten barely lets these qualities shine through.

Somehow, the gorgeous, ambitious, intelligent and assertive companion always gets relegated to the 'rebound with a crush', simply because that's the uncomfortable baseline of her writing, and the surface level of Ten's perception of her. Obviously, there's so much more to the mistreatment issue than this, but this little facet has been niggling away at me all afternoon. Anyway. Respect my queen x

I'm trying to be normal about how RTD era Doctor Who treats is black central characters but I can't stop frothing at the mouth every time I think about the Family of Blood two parter

I'm just thinking about how this episode could have been set in any place and time but chose one where Martha would face racial violence. And you have to ask what seeing Martha experiencing racism, being functionally forced into servitude, and belittled by everyone around her adds to the episode.

What does it say about the way this show frames desirability that we see the Doctor as John Smith fall for a white woman over the course of this episode. And that white woman spend most of her runtime insuring Martha "knows her place" in regards to her relationship with the Doctor.

What does it say that the emotional fallout of this episode centralizes said racist white lady's "loss" of a life with John Smith. What does it say that the Doctor is never confronted with the fact that his ultimately arbitrary decision to run away from The Family of Blood instead of face them is the reason Martha was subject to all this violence. Sure, he thanks her for taking care of him but the show never truly problematizes Martha's experiences and the Doctor's culpability in them. John Smith is racist to Martha in this episode and the Doctor never has to apologize for that???

And you can argue that all of these beats tie into Martha's arc. That seeing her treated so shittly by the Doctor is set up for what happens in the finale. But my question is why did this show decide to frame Martha in this way. Why is the story of Doctor Who's first black companion a story about being seen as less than.

PETITION TO HAVE FOURTEEN FUCKING APOLOGIZE TO MARTHA JONES

Nine would have thought Martha Jones was the coolest person in the world. Doesn’t even matter where in the timeline this was or what happened to Rose, he would have loved her leather jacket and her hairstyle. He would have loved that she was a DOCTOR! Her studying to be a doctor was so overlooked and he would have loved it. He would have thought she was the coolest person alive. Nine and Donna would have killed each other on sight

Nine would have thought Martha Jones was the coolest person in the world. Doesn’t even matter where in the timeline this was or what happened to Rose, he would have loved her leather jacket and her hairstyle. He would have loved that she was a DOCTOR! Her studying to be a doctor was so overlooked and he would have loved it. He would have thought she was the coolest person alive. Nine and Donna would have killed each other on sight

Moiraine & Siuan || The Wheel of Time

fishwives🐡🐟

A lot's been said about romance in Doctor Who but what gets me is even if we were to entertain the idea of romance being the height of love and human experience, the demographics of who actually gets to explore this are very interesting. Minus Thasmin and Jack lipsing Nine, most Doctor's are men with women as love interests. Rose, Clara, River Song, Madame de Pompadour, Queen Elizabeth I, Lady Christina, Joan Redfern... if love is so enriching and powerful and lovely and human... why couldn't the Doctor's male incarnations be enriched by men or people that aren't women? Where were the Doomsday episodes of him crying for the man he loves but could never see again? We get throwaway lines and jokes about the Doctor liking men in male incarnations but actual TenRose or DoctorRiver moments, swelling music as he kisses the man of his dreams? They're lacking. Which is peak for "the gay blue box show". Same can be said for the women of Who. We sat through Tennant lipsing women across the galaxy but one hypothetical Thasmin kiss has articles and essays and video essays... All this hotion and commotion about the *idea* of sapphic love. Obviously the show would wanna avoid sexualisation (as it should) but the immediate hush hush around representing romance (and sex too tbh) from a woman's POV and pearl clutching of a kiss between two women shows the scales aren't even.

And it extends to race too. How many Black couples and couples of colour actually got their universe defying love on screen? How many times is Black love, Black people in love and love of POC actually celebrated? Martha's parents split so Clive could date a young blonde. TenMartha couldn't thrive platonically or romantically because she "wasn't Rose" enough for Ten. Umbreen and Prem were doomed from the start. Graham lost Grace. Ryan lost Bella. Ryasmin never went anywhere and never can because Thasmin got picked instead. We got Bill and Heather at the expense of Bill losing her human body forever and the dark skin girl she dated never being mentioned ever again (Remember Penny? The show doesn't!). We all know what happened to RoseMickey and ClaraDanny so they're automatically ruled out. So who've we got left? Bell and Vinder (not too shabby)? That West Indian couple from Planet of the Dead? Its not looking good bruv.

Look I get why people see the magic and wonder of romance but it doesn't feel so magical if we only see it reserved for certain demographics. The false equating of romance making us human is one thing (as if single/unpartnered people are "less human") but when we only see that "humanity" through white non-aspec cishet couples... what is the show saying about people who's romance is different? For people who don't have romance at all? What are YOU saying about those people?

Romance in Doctor Who isn't the problem but amatonormativity definitely is.

DOCTOR WHO | Bill Potts

"...that's why I put up with the rest of them." - The Twelfth Doctor

Doctor Who Rewatch ➤ 10.08 The Lie of the Land

"By the way, Bill... I need you to leave the talking to me."

"Why?"

"Because you have a temper ... What we're here for is one thing: information. You get that with diplomacy and tact—charm, if necessary."

—Doctor Who S10E3, "Thin Ice"

my babies, my babies. you’re my babies, say it to me. babies my babies ☺️