Favorite NuWho Companion?

[Mr Light]

^^ That reminds me of one of the reasons that Martha is the number one for me. She single handedly saved the entire world from the Master when the Doctor was completely defeated. She spent an entire year walking the earth and creating the resistance and spreading the good world. And then after that she joins UNIT and works to save the world when the Doctor isn't around. Meanwhile Rose gets to be Dark Phoenix but the power is just handed to her it's a little deus ex machina.

 

[bbally]

Donna, she had great chemistry with the Tenth Doctor.

 

[Mr Light]

Yay, Martha has come from behind to tie with Rose for second best companion!

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Rose was great at the time - it's the obsession with her after the fact that I hate.

Agreed. When she first appeared, I was impressed with how episodes like "End of the World" & "Aliens of London" went a little deeper into the concept of being a Doctor Who companion than anything the original series ever did. She got to address questions like "What posesses someone to run off with a mysterious alien that they've just met?" and "What happens to the people she leaves behind?" And when she got stuck in that parallel universe at the end of "Doomsday," it damn near brought me to tears.

But then they kept harping on her & on the "special" relationship she had to the Doctor. I might have kept a couple of references to her in "The Runaway Bride" and "Smith & Jones" just to show that the Doctor has to get over her rather than just casually forgetting her. But when he kept pining after her in "The Shakespeare Code," "Gridlock," & "Human Nature," that's when I knew we were in trouble. I liked Martha a lot and I'm disappointed that her reign was so tainted by the continued fixation on Rose.

As for her return in "Turn Left," "The Stolen Earth," & "Journey's End," I thought it was nice having a reunion episode where all of the old companions came back. I enjoyed seeing Martha, Jack, Sarah Jane, Mickey, & Jackie back again. Of course Rose would have to be part of that just for symmetry's sake. But the ending with that duplicate Doctor dragged out way too long and totally invalidated the very effective tragic ending of "Doomsday."

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

(^Continued)

As for declaring a favorite companion, I would definately have to go with Donna. Of all the actresses that played the companions, Catherine Tate is the only one with the versatility and screen presence to be able to keep up with, and occasionally outpace, David Tennant. I also liked that Donna was the Doctor's equal. Rose & Martha were so awestruck by the Doctor that he kind of took over their lives & their personalities. They were in love but it was a very worshipful love, since the Doctor was clearly on an intellectual plane far beyond them. But while Donna could never hope to match the Doctor's intellect, she did become his moral superior. She was the one with the guts to stand up to him and point out how cold & callous he could be sometimes, or self-righteous.

They kinda did that with Rose a few times early on, in "End of the World" ("You were too busy thinking up cheap jokes about the Deep South!") and "Dalek" ("He's not the one pointing a gun at me.") but it didn't really take. Maybe she was just too in love with him. Maybe he guilted her into never questioning him again after her screw ups in "Father's Day."

 

[CommodoreKong]

I'm going to defy you Mr Light and vote for Captain Jack even though I can't actually vote for him in the poll.