This one is spoilerific, so don’t click unless you don’t care about that:
Rose coming back at the end of Series 4. BLEAH.
Don’t get me wrong. I liked Rose (and now, having seen Secret Diaries of a Call Girl, I *love* Billie Piper…*ahem*), but my problems with this are as follows:
1) The whole finality of the separation was the only thing preventing the Doctor & Rose from “happily ever after-ing” — they had been presented as the ultimate love, denied by tragedy. RetCon that tragedy (whoops! turns out that the alternate universe *isn’t* closed off!), and you’re left with a dilution of that story….AND the conundrum of the Doctor choosing to do ANYTHING ELSE other than stay with her now. Bad, bad, bad.
2) Rose is RTD’s Mary Sue character — she was the POV character during series 1 and 2, and the hole left by her absence provided much of the character-related-drama during The Runaway Bride and Series 3. Now she’s back in Series 4. Davies is addicted to his creation. The show isn’t (and shouldn’t be) “The Rose Show.”
Comments are a spoiler-zone as well, so feel free to openly post.
I could live without Rose (though I did like her – and thought the show was more fun when it was “The Rose Show”) and at least your first reason for not bringing her back is vaild, but I’m really glad they’re ditching Martha for SOMEONE with a personality. If that someone is Billie Piper, that’s fine by me.
I agree it’s a mistake for the same reasons: there are some endings you shouldn’t mess with. Unless “Rose returns” turns out to be something other than it seems, it might be when the new WHO jumps the shark…
Rumor is that the episode that Rose returns on is called “Brain Damage”, which makes me wonder if she actually returns at all or if The Doctor is seeing her as an ongoing hallucination. Also, this may not be the Rose he travelled with if the story takes place prior to her experiences with him.
I’m not surprised RTD is pulling out this card on his last turn on the Dr. Who merry go round, and I’ll be really surprised if anyone but RTD writes her appearances. Do you think they’d do a three-parter?
This link has several discussion points.
That one I can squash right out of the gate. ‘Brain Damage’ was the posting name of the Outpost Gallifrey poster who took the first pictures of Billie on set.
Clearly, someone’s looked at the ‘Brain Damage’ folder and assumed it’s the name of the episode.
I’ve always felt…
that Rose is SOMEBODY’s alter-ego, not just the Mary-Sue, but the 3D projection of somebody, possibly even RTD, high up on the production staff. THAT is why they had the Dr. fall in love w/ her; THAT is why he can’t get over her & she is mentioned in every bloody other episode; & THAT is why they cast the oh-so-pretty-but-rather-light Mr. Tennant as the Doctor- to fuel that projected romance.
I’m DESPERATELY sick of Rose & breathed the greatest sigh of relief when I thought she was gone for good. The constant introduction of her name & her lingering presence in the Doctor’s heart is SO teen-angst it’s exhausting.
Re: I’ve always felt…
not just the Mary-Sue, but the 3D projection of somebody, possibly even RTD, high up on the production staff. THAT is why they had the Dr. fall in love w/ her; THAT is why he can’t get over her & she is mentioned in every bloody other episode; & THAT is why they cast the oh-so-pretty-but-rather-light Mr. Tennant as the Doctor- to fuel that projected romance.
…that’s pretty much the entire definition of a Mary Sue, right there.
Ah, thanks for the clarification.
At least its at the END of season 4 and not the beginning… Imagine Rose riding the bow of the Titanic into the tardis… Bleeech
Hmmm… so it sounds like they aren’t actually replacing Martha?
Well, crap. And here I went and got my hopes up.