Thanks again for the comments, because I think this sort of discussion is very interesting, and I think it helps someone to become a better writer, making them think about these sort of themes.
That was, I guess where I was coming from; Romana's far from home, far from her own universe even, and she's in the middle of fighting this dirty war, much harsher than anything she was exposed to travelling with Four, while at the same time she's effectively just split up with her teacher, mentor, love of her life etc. So, you can see why she might be a bit emotionally unstable, but it's a testament to her strength that she carries on with what she believes to be right, even if she's probably worried that it's making her hard and ruthless.
And yeah, I agree totally that of all the companions, Romana is probably the one who understood the Doctor best (even if she also struggled to understand him at times, rejecting as he did most of the social values she had been taught to respect at the Academy), for obvious reasons. And while she loved him, respected him etc, she was all too aware of his shortcomings and called him on them, repeatedly. I think the blind hero-worship thing is very much something that has come in with NuWho; I think the best of the oldschool companions at the very least knew the Doctor wasn't perfect, and said so when they thought he'd made a mistake. It's all part of RTD's fetishisation of the Doctor as this almost Christlike figure, and hopefully the Moff will abandon that. Although he just as easily might not...
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-12-30 12:15 am (UTC)That was, I guess where I was coming from; Romana's far from home, far from her own universe even, and she's in the middle of fighting this dirty war, much harsher than anything she was exposed to travelling with Four, while at the same time she's effectively just split up with her teacher, mentor, love of her life etc. So, you can see why she might be a bit emotionally unstable, but it's a testament to her strength that she carries on with what she believes to be right, even if she's probably worried that it's making her hard and ruthless.
And yeah, I agree totally that of all the companions, Romana is probably the one who understood the Doctor best (even if she also struggled to understand him at times, rejecting as he did most of the social values she had been taught to respect at the Academy), for obvious reasons. And while she loved him, respected him etc, she was all too aware of his shortcomings and called him on them, repeatedly. I think the blind hero-worship thing is very much something that has come in with NuWho; I think the best of the oldschool companions at the very least knew the Doctor wasn't perfect, and said so when they thought he'd made a mistake. It's all part of RTD's fetishisation of the Doctor as this almost Christlike figure, and hopefully the Moff will abandon that. Although he just as easily might not...