Let's talk about Companions - Mickey Smith

08. July 2013

Maybe the headline gives you a clue what this post will be about… surprise… the Doctor’s Companions! Today I want to talk about Mickey Smith. He’s not one of the Main Companions, but it’s really interesting to take a closer look at him.

I think Mickey is a great character. He went trough such a great development. Just remember him in “Rose”. He’s so afraid of everything! Afraid of the Aliens, afraid of all the danger and even afraid of the Doctor!

While Rose tries to safe the Doctor, and the world, Mickey is just scared, clinging to the Tardis, wanting to get out of there. So in this episode the Doctor only invites Rose to travel with him, not Mickey.

In “World War Three” he helps the Doctor, not really in action, but at the computer. In the end, when the Doctor askes him to come with them, he sais that this life would be too much for him, even if he saved them this time! And the Doctor has to pretend that he doesn’t want him to come, so Rose doesn’t see that he’s afraid.

Oh, and his relationship to Rose... she’s his girlfriend and he has to watch her run away with the Doctor. And then she just disappears for a whole year! This must be very hard for him, knowing she is with the Doctor, travelling the universe, fighting Aliens… etc, always in danger.

In “Boom Town”, Mickey tells Rose that he’s going out with another girl. That hurts Rose, and Mickey tells her how he feels. She left him to travel with the Doctor, made him feel like he was nothing. I mean, how would you feel if your girl- or boyfriend runs away with a stranger, disappears for months, and you never know where she or he is? And when he askes for a promise that she will come back to him, she runs away again to help the Doctor. He has to realise that the Doctor will always be in the first place, not him. And then he leaves without saying goodbye. 

 They meet again in “The Parting of the Ways”. I think he seems to accept that Rose wants to be with the Doctor, but still wants to be there for her. He helps her to get back to him and so she can save the universe.

He called them when he notices strange activities in “School Reunion” and supports them. In this episode they meet Sarah Jane and K-9, and Mickey starts to see himself as the “tin dog”. And then, finally, he asks the Doctor if he can come with them. Until that point he already made a big development, but there’s more to come!

Mickey’s whole life changes in “Rise of the Cyberman” and “The Age of Steel”. By accident, they travel to a parallel universe. Mickey is mistaken for Ricky, his parallel world doppelganger, who’s the leader of a human resistance group. Ricky is tougher and braver than Mickey. He’s London’s most wanted… for parking tickets… but he was just fighting the system by parking anywhere! When Ricky dies Mickey takes his part. The days he’s only the “tin dog” are over, he gathers all his courage and fights. That’s the moment he really changes, the moment when he decides to be more than just a coward.

Since Mickey’s grandma, who raised him, is dead in his universe, he decides to stay in the parallel world to take care of her doppelganger. He’s such a loyal heart! And he stays there to destroy the Cybermen.

So, he leaves his old life behind. His old life and Rose. He finally accepted that Rose doesn’t need him.

When they meet again in “Journey’s End”, (when the walls of the universe are breaking down, and he and Rose can come back,) there’s nothing left of the scared boy from the beginning. He’s brave and strong now.

In the end of the episode he decides to stay in this universe and not to go back to the parallel world again. His grandma died, so there’s nothing that keeps him there.

Oh, and of course he meets Martha for the first time. In “The end of Time” we see him for the last time. He’s working with Martha as freelance alien hunters, and that they’re married! I find that really cute! And, come on, Martha Jones wouldn’t marry a coward! That’s the prove! He changed so much from the beginning. 

So, that’s all for now.