Say
what you will about Martha’s time on the TARDIS, the woman is a force to be
reckoned with. Many think her crush on
the Doctor diminishes her, but throughout series 3, she doesn’t let it interfere
with getting the job done. Here are my five
favorite moments for this rather unsung companion.
Operating the X-Ray Machine (“Smith and
Jones” – Series 3, Episode 1)
Martha
is a boss for the majority of this episode.
The hospital in which she’s training has just been transported to the
moon and the oxygen supply is limited, but she keeps her cool, faces off
against some formidable Judoon, and remembers an important fact about Time Lord
biology that helps her save the Doctor’s life.
The best moment, though, is when she and the Doctor are being attacked
and his plan to stop the beastie involves the X-ray machine, which Martha
doesn’t actually know how to use. With
an alien minion bearing down on them, Martha seizes the operating manual and
figures out how to do what the Doctor needs just in the nick of time. Book smart and street smart!
Distracting Lazarus (“The Lazarus Experiment
– Series 3, Episode 6)
This
isn’t series 3’s best outing, but Martha is excellent in it. In a pinch, to buy the Doctor the time he
needs, Martha gets a massive, deadly monster to chase her (she also maneuvers
it into the position the Doctor needs in the process.) Very cool under pressure.
Looking After John Smith (“Human Nature” –
Series 3, Episode 8)
Though
we only get a glimpse of Martha’s time in 1913, it’s enough to see what she
goes through for the Doctor’s sake.
Working undercover as a maid at a posh boys’ school, she deals with
overt racism from the boys and casual assumptions from everyone (including the
Doctor in human form!) that she’s a simple, ignorant primitive. And she takes this for months! It’s probably a bit of a relief when the
aliens show up and everything kicks off.
Standoff Against the Family (“The Family of
Blood” – Series 3, Episode 9)
Another
great bit from this two-parter. As John
Smith, the Doctor is utterly useless in an alien crisis, so it falls to Martha
to protect him, Nurse Redfern, and the villagers from the Family. She holds her ground against the cold, creepy
alien menaces in stolen human bodies, offering herself up as a hostage and then
stealing one of their guns to bargain for the others’ safety. Martha for the win!
Walking the Earth (“The Last of the Time
Lords” – Series 3, Episode 13)
Like
with her work in “Human Nature,” we don’t see
much of what goes on here, but once again, Martha goes way above and beyond
the call of duty. For a year, she evades
the Master and the Toclafane, traveling all over the ravaged world to lay the
seeds for the Doctor’s plan. All on her
own, she keeps herself alive and spreads hope through the human race.
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