I love Amy. I really do.
But she isn't as great as the other companions. I really think that the biggest thing that keeps the Doctor with her is immense guilt.
She has the attitude of Rose, in loving the adventure and danger, and looking after the Doctor. She loves Rory, big time. But you get the feeling that her helping others, other than Rory and the Doctor is because she thinks she should. It's not like Rose in series 2, episode 1, where the Doctor insists that Rose would care. If Amy didn't react, I don't really think it'd be the same kind of indicator. Rose, Martha, and Donna all really cared what happened to others. Amy gives the impression that she only cares because she cares what the Doctor thinks.
Which is why she needs Rory and Rory needs her. Alone, neither of them are as compelling as a companion, but he has the caring for everyone thing. He's brave for things that are the right thing to do, rather than headlong rushing into any danger he sees. He's perceptive with people who he doesn't necessarily have a strong connection with. Amy is more perceptive I think, for people who she really loves. Which isn't very many people. And she's right clever. And she will help others, but she appears to go out of her way to do it when the Doctor needs her to. Particularly in The Beast Below, in taking a chance to save the starwhale. When she didn't know the consequences with regards to her relationship with the Doctor, she chooses to forget and try to steer the Doctor away. But in The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People, she doesn't want to help Jennifer if it puts the rest of them in danger, and doesn't want Rory to go after her. I think Rose, Martha, and Donna would have, or at least put up a fuss about leaving her alone.
The best sum-up of her is the Doctor calling her "mad, impossible Amy Pond."
Showing posts with label Doctor Who. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doctor Who. Show all posts
2 September 2012
24 July 2012
Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe
Starting at the most recent!
For me the most powerful exchange of the episode is the following:
Doctor: I imagine you'd prefer to be alone?
Madge: I don't believe anyone would prefer that.
Closely followed by:
Madge: I don't know why I keep shouting at them.
Doctor: Because every time you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be. And it breaks your heart. Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later? The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later.
The Doctor often acts goofy and carefree, but he so understands the heart of sadness and loneliness. Doctor Who, especially in the rebooted series, is the story of an alone and lonely man who keeps trying to find ways to fill the void and try to believe the front he puts up for everyone. So he tries to live through others, saving them in ways that he cannot be saved. Afraid to actually reflect, because pain and guilt will drown him. So moving on, always moving on.
The new series touches on that theme relatively often. How he flies away in his blue box as soon as he's done with the action, that he doesn't face consequences or clean things up, that he doesn't dare look back. And in "Let's Kill Hitler," he's confronted too directly with guilt, having to confess how much he's screwed up, because he can't run away from the voice interface at the time.
So, back to this one. The Doctor comes to return a favour when somebody who helped him when he needed it loses somebody so important to her. He tries to brush away her pain and that of her children under wonderful things. The method he uses to distract himself from his own pain.
But the thing is, is protecting himself from such pain, he doesn't connect with others the same way that many others do. Like Madge. She's immersed in her pain, and isn't having any of this. She doesn't want to be alone, but at the same time, she doesn't want any of this fake or temporary joy. Conflicted, but unwilling to deal with that through emotional separation. She wants to help the world and take home all the strays, but not because there's something missing. She may lash out under extreme sorrow, but she is such a good person, without any real darkness. The type of person the Doctor is inevitably attracted to.
It's interesting that those who he has the strongest connections with (in the new series, for sure) are those who have lost a core person in their life. In distracting them and keeping them awe-struck and happy and impressed, he distracts himself. Martha was helluva impressed with him and adored him, but the closest she came to loss was divorced parents. She didn't need him the same way the others did.
The Doctor needs to be needed. But in a way, don't we all?
I was relieved for the Doctor that River had told Amy and Rory about him being alive. That they just accepted him, and welcomed him in. He has enough guilt without going through that explanation.
For me the most powerful exchange of the episode is the following:
Doctor: I imagine you'd prefer to be alone?
Madge: I don't believe anyone would prefer that.
Closely followed by:
Madge: I don't know why I keep shouting at them.
Doctor: Because every time you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be. And it breaks your heart. Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later? The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later.
The Doctor often acts goofy and carefree, but he so understands the heart of sadness and loneliness. Doctor Who, especially in the rebooted series, is the story of an alone and lonely man who keeps trying to find ways to fill the void and try to believe the front he puts up for everyone. So he tries to live through others, saving them in ways that he cannot be saved. Afraid to actually reflect, because pain and guilt will drown him. So moving on, always moving on.
The new series touches on that theme relatively often. How he flies away in his blue box as soon as he's done with the action, that he doesn't face consequences or clean things up, that he doesn't dare look back. And in "Let's Kill Hitler," he's confronted too directly with guilt, having to confess how much he's screwed up, because he can't run away from the voice interface at the time.
So, back to this one. The Doctor comes to return a favour when somebody who helped him when he needed it loses somebody so important to her. He tries to brush away her pain and that of her children under wonderful things. The method he uses to distract himself from his own pain.
But the thing is, is protecting himself from such pain, he doesn't connect with others the same way that many others do. Like Madge. She's immersed in her pain, and isn't having any of this. She doesn't want to be alone, but at the same time, she doesn't want any of this fake or temporary joy. Conflicted, but unwilling to deal with that through emotional separation. She wants to help the world and take home all the strays, but not because there's something missing. She may lash out under extreme sorrow, but she is such a good person, without any real darkness. The type of person the Doctor is inevitably attracted to.
It's interesting that those who he has the strongest connections with (in the new series, for sure) are those who have lost a core person in their life. In distracting them and keeping them awe-struck and happy and impressed, he distracts himself. Martha was helluva impressed with him and adored him, but the closest she came to loss was divorced parents. She didn't need him the same way the others did.
The Doctor needs to be needed. But in a way, don't we all?
I was relieved for the Doctor that River had told Amy and Rory about him being alive. That they just accepted him, and welcomed him in. He has enough guilt without going through that explanation.
18 July 2012
Warning of upcoming content
I've been watching a
lot of Doctor Who lately; both new series and old (mostly new
though). And however ridiculous it sounds, I have thoughts on it
that I've trying to organise and work through, so for a while, this
blog may be heavily slanted towards that. May include some episode
reviews towards that end, too.
6 January 2012
Doctor Who workplace
So, it seems that I now work in a TARDIS. You don't really notice the front of the building unless specifically looking for it, and it seems way bigger on the inside than on the outside. I wonder if wearing my key-pass around my neck will make me unnoticeable like the TARDIS key did at the end of the new series, year 3. (Note to self: test this out.)
Other than that cool fact, it's scary to go back to work after being off! Everyone was super nice to me though. And even though there isn't any physical exertion, it's tiring.
Other than that cool fact, it's scary to go back to work after being off! Everyone was super nice to me though. And even though there isn't any physical exertion, it's tiring.
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