Doctor Who: Journey's End

[andraste]

I have occasionally been annoyed with RTD's Doctor Who, but it's never made me genuinely angry before. Screw you, show!

In The War Games, the mindwipe worked because it was a horrible outcome of the situation the Doctor was forced to put his companions in. Here, the only reason it's inevitable is that Rusty wants the audience to cry. I didn't shed a tear, though, because I was too busy being FUCKING FURIOUS.

There's no clear reason that the cloned half-human Doctor would be able to survive having a Time Lord mind better than half-human DoctorDonna. There's even less reason why the Doctor should have to remove two years worth of memories of himself to take the Time Lord bits from Donna's brain. So all that character development gets undone in a flash, and Donna gains nothing from meeting the Doctor.

Every other companion - even Jamie and Zoe, who at least remember their first adventures - has been changed by their time in the TARDIS. Not always for the better, maybe, but they had the chance to learn and grow. Donna, who has learned and grown more than most, gets sent straight back to square one. It hurts even more after watching every other new series companion walk away into a brighter future. Normally I like tragic endings, but this felt completely arbitrary and tacked-on, as if they couldn't think of a better way to write out Catherine Tate.

Now, apart from that, I really enjoyed the episode. Yes, even the cheesy Rose/Extra Doctor stuff! It wouldn't normally be my cup of tea, but for reasons I may go into some other time it actually did work for me here. So, you know, I am going to do my best not to let Donna's fate sour me on the whole thing.

(And the Doctor might want to go warn Sarah Jane, Jack, Martha, etc. about Donna's exploding brain! It would be perfectly natural for one of them to remind her if they ever happened to run into her again.)

I am also reminding myself that two years ago, Rose was sealed in an alternate universe where she could never see the Doctor again, and we all saw how that turned out *g*. I choose to believe that some time, somehow Donna's memories will be safely restored.

Comments

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

I didn't shed a tear, though, because I was too busy being FUCKING FURIOUS

Yes. That.

[threewalls]

Me, too. I was fine with Rose getting her happy ending until Donna got... nothing at all. Didn't we just have Turn Left to see what Donna would "become" without her time with the Doctor?

The Doctor couldn't just take his memories back to save her mind, no, he had to take Donna's memories of him, too? WTF?

[wal-lace.livejournal.com]

The mindwipe felt like a great big fuck you to the character of Donna, especially as what she did was, basically, exactly the same as what Rose did at the end of her first series. Except Rose gets money, family and a Doctor-shaped boytoy, and Donna gets a pointless mindrape mindwipe.

There was a lot wrong with this episode, but also a lot of good stuff (Daleks speaking German, for starters), and I'd have liked it on balance if it hadn't been for that ending.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think the 10/Rose ending was that happy, unless you're the kind of headbanging Ten/Rose shipper who cares about literally nothing in Who except for Rose finally getting a David Tennant-shaped cock stuck into her.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Word.

If the Christmas ep's his, I'm not watching because the last one was utter crap.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Looks like I'm the only one not furious at all, probably because I had half expected the amnesia solution. Given that a) Catherine Tate was available for only one season, b) there was no way Donna would have left voluntarily - she enjoyed travelling, she had a happy, angst-free relationship with the Doctor, and c) amnesia can be undone far more easily than death if they can get Catherine Tate back. Doesn't mean it didn't break my heart, but I understood it. And I didn't see the character development in vain, either. We know what Donna can become, she did it twice, she will do a third time.

*off to the airport*

[quixotic-sense.livejournal.com]

OMG DONNA. I was half-crying, half-swearing at the screen. I hurt for her, and the loss of everything she had. @^&!%*!%FUCKERS. I think I shall remain cosily in denial at the last 10 minutes.

That said, I was quite pleased at the thought of Martha and possibly Mickey joining Torchwood. What tipped me over from being sad to being bloody furious, as it turned out, was reading the reactions of some TW fans whinging about how the arrival of Martha and Mickey means less development/time for their beloved babies. Sigh.

[fryadvocate.livejournal.com]

Essentially, the whole, Rose and the Daleks keep coming back thing is the only reason I'm no longer spitting with rage.

What gets me the most is that it wasn't really a choice he was giving her, a, "Wipe your memory or die, you choose." He just did it even though she clearly wanted to keep the memories.

... and yeah, even after a morning of sleep, I don't understand the theory behind it. Is it supposed to be like a chameleon circuit, doesn't wake up until something jogs her memory? Otherwise, it makes no sense, because she still has ALL of it inside her head, just hidden.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I am also reminding myself that two years ago, Rose was sealed in an alternate universe where she could never see the Doctor again, and we all saw how that turned out *g*. I choose to believe that some time, somehow Donna's memories will be safely restored.


Yes, that's what I'm hoping and - given the series' track record - half expecting. Though if it's true that Catherine Tate was available only for the one series, I suppose that rather puts a damper on that idea.