Doctor Who: A Tribute To The Ninth Doctor

The Companion

The companion is one of the most important parts of Doctor Who, and Rose is the perfect match for Nine. While he has to suffer through companions like Mickey Smith and Adam Mitchell, his fantastic relationship with Rose as his companion is the pivotal point upon which the whole season turns. Rose and the Doctor's story becomes a love story, an unusual tack for the show to take as apparently the only Classic Who Doctor to have a romantic relationship with his companion is Eight. Watching the Doctor and Rose's relationship unfold as they travel through time and space becomes the true heart of the show, and gives it the grounding it needs in a series otherwise filled with aliens and spaceships and futuristic Dalek regimes. The first time we see the Doctor really take Rose in is in "The Unquiet Dead," when she emerges from the wardrobe in full Victorian period costume: Doctor: "Blimey!" Rose: "Now don't laugh." Doctor: "You look beautiful!" His eyes widen, and his usual snark is gone; his words are completely sincere as he gawks at her, marveling. Of course, then he proceeds to cover it up with "Considering you're human," but for a moment she gets him to let down his guard. Another key moment occurs in "World War Three," when the Doctor tells Rose he has a way to defeat the Slitheen, but it wouldn't be safe for her. She replies, "Do it." The moment she says those words, you can see how in awe he is of her trust in him. I believe it's that moment where the Doctor falls truly, completely in love with Rose. "You don't even know what it is, you'd just let me?" he says, in a tone that speaks volumes. This, of course, makes for some tension in the TARDIS when other male characters are around. It's fascinating to see the Doctor be jealous when Rose is with Mickey or Adam, or even Captain Jack €” quite a different dynamic from Ten and Rose, since Ten has a reputation for being a bit of a ladies' man. But nothing can come between Nine and Rose, as Mickey and Adam and even Jack eventually realize. Even a Dalek, who has allegedly had all its emotion removed, recognizes the affection the Doctor has towards Rose when it threatens Rose's life: "What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" Nine and Rose's potential romantic relationship really comes to the forefront in "The Doctor Dances," when Nine has made "dancing" into a double entendre. He uses it to refer to Jack's flirting with the guard €” "Relax. He's a 51st century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to...dancing" - but things get suggestive later when Rose asks the Doctor for a dance. Jack cuts in before they can really start, but later, when the Doctor dances with Rose in the TARDIS, Jack just stands back and grins as the two of them spin around the console, almost completely oblivious to anything or anyone else. The Doctor has had to destroy everything he's ever known or loved €” Rose gives him a new start, takes his anger from him and remakes him into a more merciful man, less bitter, less cynical. That she is torn away from him so suddenly in "Bad Wolf" is truly heartbreaking and the emptiness in his face as he kneels to touch her 'ashes' says it all. Everything he loves has been taken from him again. The joy and relief on his face when he finds out that she's alive is, in a word, beautiful, and his subsequent anger at her capture by the Daleks is both frightening and wondrous to behold. He faces down the Daleks with a breathtaking speech that shoots terror through even their emotionless little bodies: "No! 'Cause this is what I'm gonna do; I'm gonna rescue her! I'm gonna save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet! And then I'm gonna save the Earth! And then, just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!" Of course he saves her, but the danger becomes too great. In a heartbreaking act of self-sacrifice, the Doctor sends Rose back home in the TARDIS, leaving him to face death alone. The Emergency Protocol hologram appears, and through it, the Doctor explains that he is about to die, so he has sent her home where she will be safe. Of course, Rose finds a way back to him, absorbing the energy from the time vortex so she can kill off the Daleks and save her Doctor. And, even as she saves him, he saves her, absorbing the fatal energy into him with a kiss that we had been waiting for the entire season. Yes, the kiss is the act that finally shows his love for her, but I think it's even more completely shown in the words he chooses to say to Rose in the emergency protocol message: "If you want to remember me, then you can do one thing, that's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life." Nine was the first New Who Doctor, but that isn't all he should be remembered for. He was a wonderful Doctor - serious, dark, brooding, yes, but also sweet, funny, and even kind-hearted at times, too. Ten and Eleven have their fanbases, but let's not forget the Doctor who was €” one more time €” utterly fantastic.