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

[andraste]

I was fine with Rose getting her happy ending until Donna got... nothing at all.

Precisely. Rose rides off into the sunset with a Doctor of her very own, and Donna ... gets mindwiped. Fuck that.

Didn't we just have Turn Left to see what Donna would "become" without her time with the Doctor?

I would have thought so, yes.

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?

There is NO EXPLANATION given for this! I checked! It doesn't make any sense!

[threewalls]

RTD thinks happiness is a zero sum game, and since Rose gets everything she might wish for...?

For the first time, I feel like going and looking for 10/Donna fic (sex optional) and having successive thoughts of 'canon doing it wrong'. Maybe Rose was fantastic for 9, but Donna was fantastic for 10.

I wish I could think we'll only have to wait two years for Donna to get... something.

[andraste]

RTD thinks happiness is a zero sum game, and since Rose gets everything she might wish for...?

Maybe, but the rest of the assembled companion squad went away pretty cheerfully too - even Mickey was probably heading off to a cool new job with Torchwood. It's only Donna that gets royally screwed over.

For the first time, I feel like going and looking for 10/Donna fic (sex optional) and having successive thoughts of 'canon doing it wrong'. Maybe Rose was fantastic for 9, but Donna was fantastic for 10.

She was! They're my favourite new series Doctor & Companion team. (Much and all as I love Jack and Martha, too.)

I wish I could think we'll only have to wait two years for Donna to get... something

Another part of the problem is that Rusty is now handing over to Steven Moffat. I love Moffat to bits, but I'm not sure he'll be interested in picking up on RTD's dropped plot threads.