Yes! This is one of those things I really loved about Martha - she was really deeply involved and invested in her life without the Doctor, so that it as well as providing a backdrop to her character - it was something she wanted actively to keep doing.
It's a little bit like that children's novel trap of making your main character an orphan - sure, it stops you having to deal with the logistics of protective guardian + adventurous child, but it starts to feel like a cheat after a while, and one day I really want to pick up a book where the first thing the teenaged protagonist does when she encounters the supernatural is ring her mum like, "You'll never guess what, Mum - vampires are real!"
Giving your Doctor's companion no pressing commitments at home makes it *easier*, yes, but it also misses out on some really interesting character stuff that I think Martha played out really well - eventually realising that her life with the Doctor wasn't worth as much to her as the life she was leaving behind to travel with him...
And yes - I've never formally studied scriptwriting, but I think all the writing-about-writing stuff I have read has made me far more able to explain *why* I didn't like a thing, as well. So you go from, "That book was boring" to "That book was boring because..." (Speaking of, I often find Moffat's episodes really badly paced? Like, they will be so slow that I'm bored for the first half an hour, and then it's almost as though they realise suddenly that they've only got ten minutes left to wrap it up, so the endings feel really rushed... I don't know, is that one just me?)
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Date: 2015-01-06 01:01 pm (UTC)It's a little bit like that children's novel trap of making your main character an orphan - sure, it stops you having to deal with the logistics of protective guardian + adventurous child, but it starts to feel like a cheat after a while, and one day I really want to pick up a book where the first thing the teenaged protagonist does when she encounters the supernatural is ring her mum like, "You'll never guess what, Mum - vampires are real!"
Giving your Doctor's companion no pressing commitments at home makes it *easier*, yes, but it also misses out on some really interesting character stuff that I think Martha played out really well - eventually realising that her life with the Doctor wasn't worth as much to her as the life she was leaving behind to travel with him...
And yes - I've never formally studied scriptwriting, but I think all the writing-about-writing stuff I have read has made me far more able to explain *why* I didn't like a thing, as well. So you go from, "That book was boring" to "That book was boring because..." (Speaking of, I often find Moffat's episodes really badly paced? Like, they will be so slow that I'm bored for the first half an hour, and then it's almost as though they realise suddenly that they've only got ten minutes left to wrap it up, so the endings feel really rushed... I don't know, is that one just me?)