Thoughts on The Big Fandom News (no spoilers in post)

In an effort to get to work at some approximation of "on time" while updating Firefox News, I've saved off a huge list of links to read later today and respond to. So there will be more in comments elsewhere, and possibly a top post here.

But right now, my reaction to The Big Doctor Who News is:

"Huh. This'll be interesting."

The fandom is reeling, writhing, and fainting in coils already, but it was going to do that anyway no matter what happened with which characters whenever. (ETA: we already know who thinks what about this issue; we knew that before we knew the contents of the spoiler. Considering the discussions that have been ongoing, I'm not expecting fandom to deliver anything other than More Of The Same From The Usual Suspects - so in other words, situation normal, nothing to worry about.)

While it's not a plot point I would have welcomed on the face of it, I'm also reminded that I was dead-set against the big plot point that ended *this* season - and right up to the "dear sweet Tinkerbell Time Lord!" moment, that was some damnfine drama.

Depending on what happens, this could be wonderful. It could be horrible. I can think of about three variants that would be personally hilarious.

So my reaction is to wait and see. Because in the end, I do have faith in Rusty. And I have faith in the fandom too. It's going to be an interesting ride...

Rusty isn't a one-companion shipper

When I say something repeatedly in comments, it's time to top post. I'm seeing a lot of heartburn on the f-list to the effect that Russell T Davis himself believes that Rose is the Doctor's one true companion and love, to the exclusion of all subsequent companions.

That's not what the canon is saying to me.

I'm not seeing the exclusive love for Rose over any other companion. Not when Rusty commissioned a script on the theme of The Doctor Falls in Love. Not an accident, not something Moffat came up with himself, a commission direct from Rusty during the run of Rose as companion: the Doctor falls in love... with Reinette. And that wasn't just a one-episode fluke, not when the Doctor just about had to change his britches after seeing Sarah Jane again, sweeping her up with the "My Sarah Jane!" joy and leaving her with presents.

I'm not seeing the exclusive wish to remain with Rose over any other partner. Not when Rusty greenlighted a script where the Doctor cringes at Rose's speech about giving up time travel and going domestic - and then wrote a script where the Doctor tearfully pleads to give up time travel and go domestic for the Master.

I'm certainly not seeing Rose being more effective as a companion than any other companion. (Note: Am not saying Rose was not an effective companion; she was a very effective companion. I'm saying she's *not the only one.*) Rusty greenlighted a script in which a previous companion (Sarah Jane) delivers the big "Doctor, don't be a damned idiot" hero-and-world-saving speech while Rose stands silently. Martha saves the world and the Doctor on a fairly regular basis, including a single-handed Bad-Wolf-style season finale.

And when it came time for Rusty to create Rose's replacement characters, he very significantly made neither Donna nor Martha any stupider (Donna was clueless but not dumb), less capable, less inventive, less strong, or anything else "less" in comparison with Rose. Martha in particular gets several opportunities to save the Doctor and the world under arguably stiffer odds than Rose did (example: Rose had the TARDIS' help to become Bad Wolf while Martha had only the TARDIS key during the apocalypse).

Nor, given the opportunity, does Rusty make either new companion any sort of overawed champion of Rose (as opposed to the way the Doctor fanboyed all over his previous self). Donna's primary interest in Rose is demanding to know if the Doctor managed to get her killed or injured. Rusty writes Martha with the self-worth of saying "I'm gone because you don't make me feel valued." If he really felt that Rose was the only companion, wouldn't Donna or Martha do or say something to suggest that they, as characters, revered her too just for the effect she had on him?

Regardless of what he's said in interviews or hinted or been suggested for him, when it comes to Rusty creating the canon of his own show and the relationships therein, he has not always put Rose first, always made Rose right, and he did not follow her up with a pair of companions who (regardless of how the Doctor related to them) were at all demonstrably less when compared to Rose.

This does not detract from Rose's accomplishments. She's a hell of a character, who has saved the Doctor and the world herself. Rose was never stupid, rarely clueless, always brave and determined and effective. It's pointing out that by the evidence of Rusty's own canon, he is giving fairly equal gravitas to *all* of his created characters *as characters* - if the main character doesn't notice it, the viewers do.

I expect him to continue to do that. His canon can make me crazy sometime, but it has not yet created a recurring character who exists only to make another character look good. (And whenever it looks like it is - a la Mickey and Jackie - even they manage to become three-dimensional and get in their druthers.)