As for Martha...oh dear where to start. I understand what RTD was trying to do, give us a companion who seemed slight and insipid so that when she saves the day in the end it has all the more impact.
I've never understood this argument at all; Martha never seemed slight or insipid to me.
It's especially amusing to me to hear that claim, though, because I distinctly remember that the general consensus during Martha's first few episodes was that she seemed smarter and more competent than Rose. (Of course, I think there was some thinly-veiled classism in those comments, too -- the unspoken implication I got from a lot of folks was that Martha was better because she was middle class and had gone to university where Rose was working class who'd apparently dropped out of secondary school.) To me, that consensus only seemed to disappear after a lot of posters decided they didn't like the unrequited love subplot.
