As yet another prologue to reviewing the new Who episodes, here's another theory of mine that may be total bull, but nevertheless helps justify certain less-than-popular editorial decisions made in Season 2. Am I a Russell T Davies apologist then? Kinda looks like it, but I won't swear to any of this in court.More pointedly, I'm talking about the characterization of Rose Tyler in Series 2. Oh Rose... I loved you so in Series 1, but you were kind of a jerk in Series 2. So what happened?
To recap: Series 1 is very much Rose's story. She learns about the Doctor's world and falls in love with it (and him). She's adaptable, but vulnerable, and her arc ends with her choosing to save the Doctor and the Earth rather than live out her life safely. In series 2, we have a different Rose altogether. She takes nothing seriously, she's just as proactive as the Doctor, and downright arrogant and overconfident at times.
Sometimes it's very annoying. Consider her trying to make Queen Victoria say she is not amused, or the way she treats Eddie's father in The Idiot's Lantern. When it works, it really does: Her taking charge in The Satan Pit, or her detective work in Fear Her, or her own final sacrifice at the end of Doomsday. As far as the production goes, maybe it's just their way of building towards her fall. It's all fun and games until somebody dies, etc. But I have another idea.In the Series 1 finale, Rose opens the heart of the TARDIS, takes in the time vortex's energy and becomes the "Bad Wolf". In goddess mode, she proceeds to destroy the Daleks, resurrect Captain Jack and save the Doctor.
The Doctor takes it all back in, sacrificing his life (and regenerate as David Tennant), but what if that temporal energy has changed her somehow? What if she has retained something of the TARDIS, its connection to the Doctor? If this is true, it helps explain two things that have disturbed part of fandom.1) The strong connection between the Doctor and Rose. Many have asked what makes this 19-year-old shop girl so different from other (better?) companions that he would never want to part with her, would cry for her, would allow himself to fall in love with her?
And 2) Rose's new confident/arrogant attitude. She's always had a callous streak (just ask Mickey), but in Series 2, she's almost an equal to the Doctor. How'd she get so clever and resilient?
If my theory is correct, then part of Rose has been merged with the TARDIS, and that has made her intimately connected to the Doctor. Or if not merged, then having the whole of time and space inside her mind during the Bad Wolf incident has changed her and made her analogous to a Time Lord. Compare her relationship to the 10th Doctor with Romana II's and the 4th's. Even her mother scarcely recognizes her in Army of Ghosts.
Of course, the partnership ends in Doomsday, and while we'll never know how much Rose would have become a mini-Doctor in the end, I think her final fate has shades of that. But correct me if I'm wrong.Doctor Who Week Celebration Extra! As you might've seen at the end of yesterday's Who post, other bloggers coincidentally posted about the good Doctor on the same day I did. I thus declare this now: If you post about Doctor Who during Doctor Who Week, I WILL advertise that post on the same day! Especially if your blog isn't exclusively about Doctor Who (cuz, well, that's kind of a given, isn't it?).
Nothing yet for today (but check back). In the meantime, let me direct you to writer Paul Cornell's blog. He's written some excellent Dr Who novels and Father's Day for the show. He's a really cool guy to boot. Pay him a visit.
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