The bloom on the Rose, and 2 questions

I'm seeing people lamenting that it looks like both Donna and Martha will have only one season as companions. And much as I love them... I'm wondering if the alternative is really a better option.

S1 Rose was fabulous. She rightfully earned her berth on the TARDIS by hitting three of the Doctor's biggest buttons right off: coping with the unusual, coming up with the solution (the identity of the transmitter), and saving the Doctor's hide. With a trifecta like that right out of the gate, it's no surprise that she's one of the few who got a repeated invitation. As the season progressed, she enthused about the things she was getting to see, called the Doctor on his ego ("You think you're so impressive"), didn't shirk from danger, and proactively did her best to find solutions as much as the Doctor.

All the same attributes that Donna is getting across-the-board praise for now, you'll notice.

But then... then came the second season, and suddenly the bloom was off the Rose. The woman who was thrilled to meet Dickens treated Queen Victoria like a character in a video game. The woman who invited Adam and arguably Jack onboard the TARDIS sulked and mouthed "No!" when Mickey - someone she had also previously tried to coax along - asked to join Team TARDIS. The woman who talked the Doctor down out of the bell tower in Dalek stood silently in School Reunion. The woman who argued with the Doctor turned into the one who expected to get her way by pouting and batting her eyelashes (Age of Steel). There were still moments when she was proactive and brave, but I agree with Nos - her competence appeared in inverse proportion to her distance from the Doctor. (And he bears a fair amount of culpability in this, having turned from the man who ordered to her have a fantastic life to the one who piffled about while she sobbed on a beach. But that's a different essay.)

So I have to ask... how sure are people that they want their new favorite companions to have a second season? Because the canon here is not encouraging.


The second question is a little more shallow, but one that's on my mind. As I start drafting the Media*West packing list, I realize that I have a Doctor Who logo shirt and a Bad Wolf shirt. And taking a shirt only for one companion for the whole weekend would say something that I don't want to say, particularly in mind that much of the Beauty and the Beast war was fought in the halls of Media*West. On the other hand, I don't want to leave it at home, because it's a perfectly good shirt about a perfectly good episode. So rather than do something about *it,* I want to put it in context. Can anyone point me at any good other companion shirts on Cafepress? Old school, New School, Audio, it's all good.

With Malice Towards All - Malice Report 0.5

At least, all the people who have memberships in Malice Domestic.

I headed downtown for early registration tonight, so that I may coo and cuddle and play with my toys. Malice always has the most fabulous bags and this year they were particularly generous - a good-sized tote with three outside pockets and a special pen pocket plus a backpack-style purse that is going to have a long future as a knitting bag plus a very nice, oversized badgeholder with a zipper and pen pockets that I'm probably going to get a lot of use out of now that so many cons have a badge too big for the Bodiband. (Which I still prefer because it's not hanging in front of whatever T-shirt design I have on.

Not to mention the dozen books. Two of them are recent publications; I was planning on reviewing one, but was turned off on page 4 when a character's eyes were described as "the special blue of a summer sky." The other one, grittier and harder punching (by page 20 at least) and from a series I've been curious about, may yet be reviewed before the con ends. However, there's one in the queue that I've really got to write up tomorrow, mostly so I can dump the dog on the swap table come Saturday.

I must say, after a few years reviewing, your entire relationship to the signings changes. The first year, it was all "SQUEE! She's there! I'll take all her books and get a few signed every day! And he's... and she's... and... SQUEE!"

Now? I'm looking at the list thinking, "Did I like the last book enough to want an autograph?... I know I didn't like hers enough for one... Think I could get away with slipping her a copy of 'Is Your Character A Mary Sue'?... y'know, we've been friends for a while, I really should read one of her books... Ouch, I hope she doesn't notice that I'm putting her only book on the swap table... we've been friends even longer, I REALLY must buy something she's written... autograph? I wouldn't spit on that woman if she were on fire!"