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]

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

I am the weirdo who actually likes Voyage of the Damned *g*. But I do hope he'll let others have a go at writing some of the specials for next year - last I heard RTD was writing all four.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[bangs head repeatedly on wall]

[andraste]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news :).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It means Daleks and Cybermen and London. I want other planets and new and different threats, dammit. I want Moffatt despite his past sexist comments because at least he can do those.