Martha meta

There were two bits of meta argument from the con that I keep meaning to pass on, and bugger if I can remember one of them now. However, the other was the first non-racially-based and non-romantically-based argument about why Martha was the first companion to ever get the "just one trip" series of warnings that I found persuasive.

- The first companion after the Time War is Rose, who is sucked into an alternate dimension and almost into hell while the Doctor helplessly watches.

- The second companion, Rose's companion, is Adam, who breaks all the laws of time for personal profit.

- The third companion after the Time War is Jack, who is killed by the enemies from the Time War and brought back "wrong" - from the Doctor's POV, as a bit of a zombie.

- The fourth companion after the Time War is Mickey, who lectures the Doctor for paying all his concern to Rose and giving none to Mickey, and who leaves the Doctor in part because he says he can do better elsewhere.

- Of the two people he asked to be companions who did not come along, Lynda was killed and Donna told him he was too scary.

Which means that by the time he invited Martha, he'd been burned by six traumatizing experiences in a row and was getting gunshy.

This isn't a free pass from the rest of the dodgy racial issues surrounding Martha's (Mickey's, Clyde's) run. But it does show a logical progression from "Rose! I'll ask you twice!" through to "Donna, traveling with me can be problematic. ARE YOU SURE?"

(no subject)

The other bit of meta from Media*West - that the same Bad Wolf power that keeps Jack alive is keeping him sane. Which makes sense to me, because on his own, he should be a complete basket case by now.