Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments: Martha Jones (Doctor Who)

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.