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In which the second extra scene in the Series 5 box set, in which Amy grills the Doctor about his past companions, rings a touch false to your humble correspondent.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In which the second extra scene in the Series 5 box set, in which Amy grills the Doctor about his past companions, rings a touch false to your humble correspondent.
DISAGREEEEEE. I wouldn't say they were chosen because they turned him on. But maybe they're the eqivolent of the cute puppy versus the un-cute puppies. The Doctor has not had many older companions. Other than Evelyn in the audios, he's not really had anyone older than Donna (who's supposed to be what? Mid-thirties?) since Ian and Barbara. I think it's fair for the characters to address why he's MOSTLY had attractive female companions (lets face it, the ratio of chicks to dudes has leaned heavily in the chick direction), since that's the reality the Doctor lives in. WE know it's a conceit of the show. The ol' "something for the dads" justification, if you will. But the conceit of the show created a world in which the Doctor operates, one in which, for whatever reason, and however we choose to justify it (hey, maybe he just thinks young, attractive females will work better in certain societies, or thinks they'll run faster… cos lets face it, Harry Sullivan spent a lot of time twisting ankles and such for a robust young military physician), exists. And we can see that this incarnation of the Doctor is very asexual–or at least, for whatever reason, Amy is very much NOT his cup of tea. Knowing she was in a "committed" relationship back home certainly didn't stop Nine/Rose flirtation. Plus there are a TON of fans who ship Two/Jamie, cos those two were BFF with Nine/Ten/Rose-style hand-holding and flirtation. I figure… if you wanna think the Doctor is asexual, fine. Maybe his occasional awareness of girls/boys is our misinterpretation of strange alien signals. If you think he's a sexual being, hey, that's cool too 🙂 But I think the cut scene is a valid discussion to have, for the characters, at least. I don't know if it was cut for time, or if the content was a little too meta and obvious of a way of handling the discussion, but there it is, released into the wild for our continued discussion and dissection ad naseum at conventions and on message boards from now until the end of time–or at least until some new extra or line of commentary attracts our attention LOL
If we're actually going to assume that something that is clearly a producer's prerogative is rather an integral character trait of the Doctor's (which I think is inherently dangerous), then I think we should be very methodical in how we talk about "choosing" companions. Not all companions get chosen–some get drafted, and still others get either assigned or kidnapped. It's certainly possible that I'm wrong, but I think the Doctor has only ever chosen 7 of his female companions: Leela (which is debatable), Peri (again debatable), Ace (which is actually the first time we see the Doctor asking a young lady to journey with him), Rose, Martha, Donna, and Amy. Remove the first two because of their dubiousness, and you're down to 5: Ace + the 4 from the new series. So, perhaps a better question is why does the Doctor, starting with Ace, get more control over his traveling companions? Before then, fate/chance/whatever had often determined the TARDIS roster. Beginning with Ace, suddenly the Doctor's in total control. Why? Until we can figure out how the Doctor got the ability to choose, debating his criteria seems premature.
Or we could just repeat to ourselves that it's just a show and have fun with it. 🙂
I also have to disagree. Also, I have always disagreed with Chris from RFS. Chip, you point out that the show made "allowances" because more from a casting perspective versus what the Doctor have done if he actually existed.
Sure, no debate that the actresses looks played a role in their selection for the various roles. However, isn't this true in just 99 percent of the casting of any actress for about any lead role. Yes, I am sure Halle Berry's stunning looks had NOTHING to do with her earning roles.
You also start walking on dangerous grounds when you start using that to make your point within the story. If you are going to make that assumption, it is also safe to assume that the lack of revealed relationships between the Doctor and his classic era companions had more to do with the fact it was a children/family show. How do we know what happened between the 4th Doctor with Sarah Jane when we as kids couldn't peer into the TARDIS? Or Romana II? There was a lot of hand holding between those two? By your logic, there is also nothing wrong to assume that the Doctor may have kissed earlier companions, it just was never caught on tape for our viewing.
Chip, I think there is another thing you lost here. This whole thing was shot from Amy's point of view. She was the one accusing him of being a "bloke" and she does have good reasons for such an opinion.
Which I have to agree. I think if I made it to 907 years of age, I would still appreciate the beauty of the female form. I don't believe the Doctor is any different. We have seen some beautiful Time Lord (Lady?) women in the past. Humans look like Timelords, so yes, I think he would appreciate the female form, thus he is a "bloke."
First off I'd like to say, thanks Chip, for the commenatry. It's fun for a fan to listen to another fans quick opinion. I agree the cut scene is more from Amy's point of view. She just started traveling with the Doctor and doesn't know his history as we the veiwer do. And knowing that as we do. I've always seen the Doctor (at least with the restart of the show in 2005) choosing his companions as someone that sees the extra terrestrial life the Doctor lives and seems to handle it better than the "average" human would. The Doctor meets the companion during a thrilling adventure, gets thru the adventure with the companion and after seeing what thier made of asks them to fly away in the TARDIS with him. For ratings purposes they are usually female. But this discussion reminds me of what the Master said at the beginning of the second part of "End of Time". Where the Master answers Wilf's phone and it's Donna on the other end. The Master responds to a bound and gagged Doctor saying, "Oh he just loves playing with Earth girls". It makes me laugh, because it's so true.