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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Does The Doctor Need Companions?

We all see the Doctor dashing about the universe saving worlds and defeating monsters, but we don't see who he is at his core very much at all.  When we see him it's while he is "performing" for his companions and showing off a bit. You can see the school kid who just wants attention and to be liked in him at times.

But what happens when there is no audience?  How does the Doctor behave when there is nobody to impress?  We've seen the Doctor alone quite a bit at the end of David Tennant's run as the Doctor.  He gave an incredible amount of emotional depth to the character and part of that depth was the character's darkness.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely and we saw in The Waters of Mars what happens when the Doctor gives in to his arrogance.

The Doctor needs someone to humanize him and to ground him.  In The Runaway Bride Donna stops him from going too far and losing himself.  His friends and companions are his emotional compass and keep him grounded and from giving in to the possibility of things he could do but shouldn't.

The Doctor has ended his self imposed isolation and again travels with friends, yet still somewhere underneath there is a darkness that shows through occasionally.

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