This is my problem with the Martha/Mickey wrapup. I loved them both individually and I have no problem with them ending up with each other because they finally found in each other the right people who understood them and respected them inside and out the way they were never respected by The Doctor and Rose. But I don't think that was the intent of putting them together. It was shoddy, especially given Martha's buildup with Tom, which went as far as an engagement. So this means, in a matter of months after becoming engaged to Tom (since when she was on her honeymoon on TW, it was meant to be with Mickey), that she broke up with Tom and jumped into marriage with Mickey. It reflects badly on Martha's character, IMO, which really upsets me, and completely ruins things with Tom (and I wasn't even necessarily a Martha/Tom shipper, although they seemed nice enough in the S3 finale).

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But I digress. From the little bit we saw of and heard about Tom, he was pretty awesome  , and it's too bad they didn't have a proper conclusion between him (and Martha). An off screen breakup was a disservice to him, especially when they had made it all the way to an engagement, not just the dating phase of a relationship.

How's Eleven's thread on the second page? Matt Smith is positively amazing! Ten is "My Doctor," but Eleven rates so close to Ten and I adored him instantly. I hope he stays on DW for years to come, he's so talented. I especially love his ability to "act old in a young body." He's the first Doctor who never lets me forget that he's 900+ years old, which I think is a testament to Matt Smith's acting, since he is the youngest actor to play The Doctor in real life.

I really hope Moffat brings him back, I think there'd be a very interesting dynamic with Eleven.

But if Amy and Jack met, I don't know if the world could handle it.

And id Jack and River met, I don't know if the universe could handle it.

Alex Kingston did make a remark about River being at Torchwood though, when asked in an interview what she thinks River might be doing when she's not having adventures with The Doctor. I doubt it will ever happen, but just imagine the sexual tension and innuendo! lol

Speaking of interviews, Moffat did say in a recent interview: "I mean, Jack, who I wrote in the show, I’d love to have him back. I was thinking he should really be here recently but he’s busy." So...Who knows. 

Ditto, I could never understand the negativity over Jenny. On my list of favorite characters, she's second, listed right after River Song. As I'm typing this, though, I'm thinking of all the things I've read people say negatively about her (like being able to jump between the lasers) and I'm realizing there's a definite parallel here between her and River Song: both characters constantly get bashed because they parallel The Doctor's greatness. People will call them Mary-Sues, yet nobody ever calls The Doctor (or any of his parallels like Captain Jack or The Master) Gary-Stus. In fact, they're popular and praised constantly for all their quirks and "specialness." The only difference is that when women get to have and display abilities that are special and mind defying, suddenly they're dubed Mary-Sues. Nobody questioned when The Doctor threw a rock or something in "Human Nature" and created an impossibly complicated string of events to occur to keep...what was it, the piano from falling on the baby carriage? (I haven't seen the episode in a while.) But he stopped it from happening by throwing one thing at the exact right spot, at the exact right time. But does that make him a Gary-Stu? No. But Jenny, The Doctor's daughter who has been bred with the skills of a trained warrior, is a Mary-Sue because she can backflip through criss crossing lasers.  It's definitely not fair.

And anyway, I loved her to bits. I know Georgia Moffett just had a baby and all, but I still hold out hope that maybe in the future (before Matt leaves!) that we'll get to see Jenny (as played by Georgia) at least one more time. In fact, one of my dreams is for her to be a full time companion of The Doctor for a season or two. How brilliant would that be? And it would be refreshing to have familial dynamics in the TARDIS (again - even though I never watched the One and Susan years), which would also negate the sexual attraction in the TARDIS. (I also dream of Jenny meeting River one day, because I do believe River and The Doctor are married, and I think step-daughter and step-mom would get along brilliantly...much to The Doctor's dismay.  )

As you can probably tell from my screenname, I love River Song! She's my favorite companion and I hope that she'll eventually be a full time companion and get her name in the credits, Alex Kingston deserves it. 

From a feminist perspective, River brings so much to the show! She's a truly independent woman and although I think it's obvious she's in love with The Doctor and he means a lot to her and she's even willing to die for him, he is not the summation of her universe. She still has adventures and a life independent of him, she can take care of herself, she can save him and the universe, instead of him being the one that needs to save her (and the universe) all the time. It's so refreshing to see this kind of woman on Doctor Who, let alone on television. I'm constantly astounded by the stereotypes and gender roles that River inverts, displaces, and outright defies. (i.e. "Hello, Sweetie," her costume choices, and her titles - Doctor Song and Professor Song - are all examples of this.) She's an older woman who has not lost her sexuality, yet she isn't oversexualized like a majority of women on television are. She also strong (emotionally and physically), independent, and yes, badass  yet she's still flawed like every person out there, certainly not a Mary-Sue.

I'm invested in River Song until the end and I cannot thank Steven Moffat enough for gifting us such a brilliant, innovative portrayal of womanhood. River Song makes me proud!

I'm not a fan of Russell T Davies either, so you're not alone! 

My biggest issue is his overall portrayal of female characters. First you've got Rose Tyler, who I think he's written to be his ideal woman: white, blonde, pink loving, and girly - the ultimate feminine stereotype. The only way she gets any joy out of life is by getting a man.

There's a similar parallel to The Doctor and Rose's "relationship" in Torchwood with Jack and Gwen's relationship. It's not quite as obvious, since Gwen doesn't visually adhere to the Barbie stereotype, but she becomes a pass around sex toy. Rhys is her Mickey and the only difference is that she made him forget that he learned about her betrayal and then went onto have a baby with him. (I won't be surprised if Rhys is the next to get killed on in TW though, just so Gwen and Jack and finally  be together.)

I feel that there are also extremely disturbing racial undertones, particularly with the way he contrasts his OTP of The Doctor and Rose with Mickey and Martha. The latter two both got treated worse than dirt, but at least he allowed Martha to get away and become engaged to Tom Milligan, a man that actually respected her. But for what? Just so she could break the engagement within a few months (within the Who timeline) and turn around and marry Mickey? Now, personally, I think Mickey and Martha did deserve each other because they were both highly underrated characters who constantly got the short end of the stick. I was glad they ended up with people who would treat them right, the way they deserved to be treated. But I don't think that's why RTD put them together. I do think he thought they deserved each other, but for very different reasons then mine: I believe he viewed them as Rose and The Doctor's "leftovers," which is why I think he had no problem putting them together. This would have infuriated me no matter what color their skin was, but the fact that both Mickey and Martha were the first male and female black companions in DW takes the issue to a new level, because there was a concious choice to make those characters - who were always intended to be "leftovers" whether or not he always envisioned them ending up together as well - black, and yet his portrayal has always said to me: "This - Rose and The Doctor - is what you should strive for, while this - Martha and Mickey - is not good enough."

Then there's also "Love & Monsters" in which RTD writes that the hero of the show advocates bringing a woman back to a partial life as a stone block, so she can "live" out the rest of eternity giving blow jobs. I couldn't even believe my ears when I heard that at the end of the episode. I was revolted.

Obviously I don't know the man personally and I can't say I don't like him as a person, but the recurring gender and racial messages in his writing really stand out to me and that's why, on the whole, I do not have a favorable opinion of him.

I loathe Rose Tyler!!

I have vehement hatred for her.

She is singlehandedly the WORST character on NuWho. It's like RTD took a stroll through the Barbie aisle and was suddenly inspired to create Rose Tyler: white, blonde, girly, and pink obsessed. She's walking, talking plastic. (It's rather fitting that's what her introductory episode was all about.) Rose is extremely cliche and is written to conform to outdated gender roles. She's RTD's ideal "feminine woman" in contrast to The Doctor's ideal "masculinity." It's appalling. Worse still is the selfish way she acts. She got progressively worse since she was introduced. Her highest point was the moment in "Dalek" when she stopped The Doctor for murdering the Dalek, but she quickly went downhill at terminal velocity. She really started to realize she could use and manipulate The Doctor in "Father's Day" and since she was the first thing that he'd locked onto since the Time War, she was like a security blanket. He didn't really love her, but like drugs or nostalgia, he couldn't let her go. She realized this and instead of making him better and more grounded as companions usually do, she began to become nastier and more greedy. The way they treated Mickey was abhorrent.

I'm a firm believe that Rose never loved The Doctor. It's quite clear she was only addicted to the life he could give her, addicted like drugs to the adventures and the freedoms that were not her humdrum shop girl existence who was still living with her mother. She also loved her power to manipulate and get her way, because of The Doctor's mutual security blanket addiction to her. It was a sickly co-dependent relationship. I was so happy when she got sucked off in "Doomsday." But the way The Doctor acted afterwards by treating Martha like feces was disgusting. Another testament to how bad Rose was for him was the way he was perfectly fine with killing the Racnoss and her innocent children in "The Runaway Bride," which was why Donna refused to travel with him. Rose went from stopping him from doing horrible things in "Dalek" to giddily bragging about killing the Dalek Emperor in "Doomsday." They rubbed off on one another, making each other selfish and heartless. You can see the good Martha did in "Partners in Crime," when Donna comments on how he's changed and wouldn't even think of killing the baby Adipose, despite how cruelly he treated Martha because of Rose. I was horrified by her cameos in season four and dreaded her appearance in "Journey's End" and rightfully so.

I'm so glad Steven Moffat has steered the show away from bloody Rose Tyler! It was refreshing to see that she wasn't mentioned at all in season five. Thank goodness! I will be thrilled if I never see her on DW again!

As a woman, the portrayal of her character is extremely offensive. There are people who look up to fictional characters and use them as role models and I cringe at the idea of Rose being used as any kind of role model. She tells people that girls and women need a man to make their lives good and that they have to act like and look like the stereotypical "Barbie woman" to get the best man, then in order to keep him you have to be nasty, manipulative, and cruel.

I refuse to drink that Kool-Aid.