„We had the best of times“ – the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble

[selenak]

They became my favourite New Who Doctor/Companion combination, and in terms of all DW, Old School and New combined, still rank among the top 3. Here are some reasons why.



1) The Runaway Bride. I’ve written an essay about it, after season 3 and before season 4, which I’m not about to repeat, so, in brevity: it’s still my favourite of the Christmas specials. Donna back then, when we didn’t know she’d ever return, struck me as a breath of fresh air after the Doctor/Rose melodrama of Doomsday. I was amused by the first few frantic scenes (which upon rewatching illustrate something that was crucial for s4 later, the fact that Catherine Tate and David Tennant have superb comic timing when with each other), but the moment I knew I liked Donna, both for herself and and for what she brought out in the Doctor was the rooftop scene, fifteen minutes into the special. They’re both exhausted, and yet able to see the humour in the situation. They’re also cautiously exchanging confidences, Donna about her life as a temp and meeting with Lance, and the Doctor about last Christmas and the loss of both Rose and her family. (Sidenote: in terms of overall Doctor characterisation, the “..with my friend and her family, my friend, she had this family…” is signficant, because much as Nine acted like a jealous child vis a vis Mickey and Jackie and Ten while being warmer towards them at times ignored both, it underlines he really liked them, and missed them as well as Rose.) At the same time, the rooftop scene isn’t all mellowness; when Mr. Motormouth blathers on about how he still can’t figure out how Donna managed to transport herself onto the TARDIS, as she’s neither superintelligent nor superpowered nor otherwise special, she retorts with a “your friend, before she left, did she punch you in the face?” This underlines an important function Donna has both in the Christmas special and later in s4; bringing the Doctor down to earth if he’s oblivious/callous/too much in the big picture to see individuals. In RB, she slaps him (several times), once with “are you enjoying this?”, but she does it verbally, too, most famously in the big showdown scene with the Raccnoss. And for those viewers who think compassion is a trait Donna never displayed before season 4: after the Santas invaded her wedding reception, she urges the Doctor to take care of the wounded, and when he says he’s not that kind of doctor, she says “all the same, people are hurt”. And while he scares her in the big showdown, enough for her to turn down his initial invitation, she still feels sorry for the emotional mess he is and invites him home for dinner. And it’s a mutual thing; the Doctor might have latched on the mystery that is Donna’s sudden appearance in the TARDIS as a way to distract himself, as he always does, but he quickly develops sympathy for her as a person, showing this both in gestures (putting his coat around her on the rooftop because she’s cold in her wedding dress, which results in the first of many gibes about his skinnyness), words (when he figures out what Lance did to her before Lance says so) and deeds (showing her the beginning of earth not just because they need to figure out what the Empress of the Raccnoss wants but because Donna needs distraction from the Lance revelation, and the Doctor being the Doctor, a wonder of the universe will do).

Another thing that’s mutual: during the special, they discover a shared sense of - playfulness? Mischief? Fun? Difficult to give it a term, but it comes out when Donna, in order to cut everyone’s questions about her disappearance at the wedding reception short, bursts into tears and then winks at the Doctor; earlier, when she picks up his “with this ring I thee biodamp” joke and responds “for better or for worse”; later, when they’re racing the tunnel with the absurd container vehicles and share a laugh.
I could understand both why he asks her to join him at the end and why she at this point turns him down, though that made me sad; not knowing anything about the next companion, I wished we’d have seen more of Donna.

2) Partners in Crime. Which we did, in season 4. Now that most people have discovered their Donna love, it’s hard to remember how much protest and whining scepticism from both media and fandom was voiced when it was announced Catherine Tate would be back for a full season. I remember a pre-season 4 article in SFX calling her “the most controversial companion since Bonnie Langford” (New Who only watchers, this was not a compliment), and RTD basically being asked to justify his choice of her in every single interview. Say what you want about Rusty, but his response was the very thing that would be echoed by fandom in the season to come – that her performance would blow everyone away, and that the Donna-Doctor dynamic was a refreshing change for the writers to write for. (He also said that anyone claiming she “screeched her way through The Runaway Bride” clearly hadn’t seen the episode, as she didn’t, and that this was not a matter of opinion but fact.) Now there is of course still a difference about a one-shot character or a character who has an entire season to interact as co-lead. So the season 4 opening episode reintroduced Donna to the audience, and it was significant what was kept, what was added, and what was changed. The most important addition was Donna’s family. We had seen her mother before in The Runaway Bride and her grandfather in Voyage of the Damned, but here the dynamics between them were introduced, with Wilf’s longing for the stars and quiet support counterbalancing Sylvia’s nagging and pragmatism, both of which did their part to form Donna. The most significant change was that now Donna was not only noticing weird occurances in the world around her but actively seeking them out, preparing for her joining the Doctor at the end of the episode. The most important continuing trait(s)? Donna’s force-of-natureness, and the way she gets the Doctor to open up to her, in this case about Martha, and about wanting “a mate”, a friend, not a girlfriend. We also get a continued display of superb shared timing between the actors in the silent mimicing of the reunion scene and the “on to the TARDIS” scene, where we go from comedy (Donna saddling the Doctor with her luggage) to character drama (mutual display of vulnerability again; Donna’s when she thinks the Doctor doesn’t want her on board, the Doctor’s when he talks about having messed up things with Martha) and back to comedy again (“you’re not mating with me, sunshine!”). This was a promising start, but the episode that truly defined Donna and the Doctor in s4 was the second one.

3) The Fires of Pompeii. If Partners in Crime put the emphasis on the comedy, The Fires of Pompeii put it on the serious side of life with the Doctor (while maintaining the comic timing displays, as in “I am Spartacus”). It made the most of the differences between human and Time Lord perspective, showcased Donna as someone able to challenge the Doctor and as someone sharing and understanding while how horrible saving the world can be. Hugs (at the start), arguments (“Donna, human, no!”), comedy (“and the ropes?”) and intense emotional connection, showing these two people whose default mode is talking silent as Donna puts her hand on the lever and pushes with him, and later both just saying “yeah” and this containing so much in terms of both acknowledgement and regret (the Doctor says it in response to Donna thanking him for saving the Caecilii, Donna says it when the Doctor tells her she was right, and that he does need her) - Fires of Pompeii runs the whole spectrum of a Doctor/Companion relationship, and if I had to pick just one episode from the season to prove to people how good these two are together, this would be it. Which doesn’t mean they’re not wonderful in others as well.

4) Planet of the Ood. In terms of the DoctorDonna (a term coined here) relationship, this starts by highlighting Donna’s practical nature (changing into something appropriate for a winter planet right at the start) and the joy the Doctor takes in being able to show her the universe, plus we get more quickfire screwball comedy exchanges, but the most important scene, both for this episode and in terms of foreshadowing, comes when Donna asks the Doctor to let her hear the song of the Ood. It’s multi-layered; it’s important that she asks, but it’s as important that when she realises she can’t bear it, she asks him to take it away again. She doesn’t have to become a martyr, dying to prove something (either to him or fate in general). And then you have her realising that the Doctor can’t take it away from himself. He hears that song all the time. You have both their partnership and the fact they are different in some ways in this scene. (You also have the difference to earlier New Who Doctor/Companion relationships. Both Rose and Martha would have played this differently, and more damaging to themselves; they were younger, more in need to prove themselves and less aware of their mortality.) That there are things that the Doctor can cope with that Donna can’t, not because of a lacking equality but because of a different nature. (Later on, we’ll see things the Doctor can’t cope with that Donna can.) Oh, and while we’re talking of foreshadowing? Someone is changing species here, and Donna comments she can’t decide what is right or wrong in this situation. The Doctor’s reply often gets only half quoted, which is a shame because the entire context is important. He says that’s better, because if you’re too sure about what’s right all the time, you end up as the episode’s villain, who was entirely convinced of his own righteousness.

5) The Sontaran Strategem/ The Poisoned Sky: this two-parter highlighted one of the most attractive aspects of the Doctor-Donna relationship: its inclusiveness, as opposed to exclusiveness. Donna was both curious about Martha and delighted to meet her, and enjoyed spending time with her; her asking Martha to stay was in a line with her pushing the Doctor to take Jenny with them later, and her being glad for the Doctor when he saw Rose again. It also continued to give us both comedy and serious character drama in the way the Doctor and Donna related to each other. She’s shown enjoying teasing him both when ganging up with Martha and when putting on her pokerface when the Doctor launched in his big premature “don’t leave me but if you must, you are so great” speech, but at the same time it’s clear she loves not just the travelling but also his company; smacking his arm for his near-martyr act with the Sontarans is as much a declaration as his “you saved my life in so many ways” was earlier. As for the Doctor, said speech and his sheepish embarrassment once he realises what she really meant as well as his concern, yet confidence in her when he talks Donna through her actions on the Sontaran ship all showcase that he’s come to adore Donna and depend on her company. (When Wilf asks him whether he’s going to take care of Donna, the Doctor replies “she’s been taking care of me!”) As opposed to his actions back when he was Nine, though, that doesn’t mean he’s not also prepared to let her go if he must.

6) The Doctor’s Daughter: in The Sontaran Strategem, Donna called the Doctor “amazing” when talking to her grandfather in confidence (and added that she has no intention of letting him ever find out she said that). Just in case we think that lead to her hero-worshipping him, we get her enjoying the hell out of Jenny making him speechless in the next episode. Which is a great showcase for the balance between teasing and emotional support; much as the Doctor being flustered and outargued by Jenny is fun for her, Donna doesn’t lose sight of the seriousness of both Jenny’s and the Doctor’s situation vis a vis each other, hence the “two hearts” demonstration, and as soon as the Doctor tells her about his previous family, the “dad shock” teasing immediately stops. But not in order to allow him to shut down and end the talk, no, followed by serious conversation. The Doctor admits to Donna far more than the simple fact of previous fatherhood, he talks about how looking at Jenny makes him feel, and all of this comes out without a life-and-death situation and/or an emotional breakdown beforehand, which are usually necessary to evoke this type of emotional openness with him.

7) The Unicorn and the Wasp: I already talked about how Agatha Christie in this episode is in many ways a Donna avatar, mirroring her past, present and future in a separate post. In terms of the DoctorDonnaness of it all, it emphasizes the relaxed comraderie between them. Point in case: Donna changing into her 1920s flapper gear, and the Doctor lighting up at the sight, telling her “you look lovely” while taking her arm and strolling towards the party with her. It’s a moment that is uniquely them in New Who terms. With both Rose and Martha, the remark would have been either not made at all or ridden with awkwardness and subtext. Rose would have responded flirtatiously, Martha hopeful and then disappointed by the lack of a follow-up. Donna just takes it for what it is, and the Doctor has no problem making it in the first place. Similarly, the teasing (“you’re ever so plucky”) doesn’t have to be investigated as to whether it was meant friendly or patronizingly; it’s a part of their friendship, just as Donna rolling her eyes at his assuming the role of inspector.

8) Silence in the Library/ The Forest of the Dead: Donna takes something of a backseat in the first part, and it feels a bit out of tune with the rest of the season in terms of both the Doctor trying to send her to safety and her reaction to River Song (this happens when you don’t edit the scripts of your star writer; see also the discontinuity between Rose and Mickey at the end of School Reunion and the start of Girl in the Fireplace), but two scenes nonetheless stand out in terms of her relationship with the Doctor; his discovery of her counterfeit at the end of Silence in the Library and the way he touches her face in disbelieving horror, and their exchange at the end of Forest of the Dead, when they’re both fine in “the Time Lord sense of the word”, acknowledging and admitting how drained they are and taking each other’s hand. It’s important that Donna doesn’t just get the Doctor to admit he feels bad but tells him how she feels as well; mutuality rules.

9) Midnight: for an episode that has minimal Donna on screen, this one says quite a lot about their friendship. Its opening scene shows them holidaying together, something we do very rarely see on screen but which fans assume to be the case. (There are some precedents; the start of The Five Doctors, for example, when Five brings Tegan and Turlough to the Eye of Orion to relax a bit between adventures. This noble intent is of course shot to hell when the plot kicks in.) Donna has no problem doing her own thing for a while, she doesn’t need to be with the Doctor every minute; you get the sense of them picking this planet because it has the superspa for her and some great sights to geek out about for him. Meanwhile, he just can’t enjoy things properly if there aren’t people to enjoy them with (hence immediate chatting up of other passengers), but he’s as relaxed as they come at the start, not put out when Donna decides to stay but already suggesting the next thing to share (dinner in a zero gravity restaurant once he’s back); these are two people deeply comfortable with each other, quirks and all. The end of the episode, of course, is the complete opposite, mood-wise. The Doctor has just been through hell, not least because Donna was not with him, and all his usual assets failed or were turned against him. And Donna, who doesn’t just know when he needs a slap or a teasing but when he needs a hug, just embraces him. Of all the Doctor-Donna hugs, this is my favourite, as the audience needs it as direly as the Doctor at this point. And then we finish with him confiding in her. He doesn’t even go through the “I’m fine” euphemism routine anymore.

10) Turn Left/The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End: the finale three parter starts on a similar note as Midnight did, with Donna and the Doctor enjoying another world together (and daring each other to drink alien milkshakes); we then get a demonstration of how life would have turned out if the two had never met. This would have resulted in an increasingly dire dystopia for Earth in general and an increasingly depressing personal situation for Donna in particular – but her natural heroism would still have asserted itself. The Doctor without Donna, on the other hand? Would have been dead. With the strong suggestion of passive suicide. (And no, I don’t think it would have been as simple as “Rose is gone, might as well die” but the amalgation of circumstances; he did commit genocide for the first time since the Time War in Runaway Bride, and the last time he was in that situation, back when he was Nine, he couldn’t go through with it and would have died along with millions of Dalek-conquered humans if not for the dea ex machina intervention of Rose-plus-TARDIS. He was pretty suicidal then, too. Ten being more ruthless than Nine, he could go through with it, but that doesn’t mean he’s less self-loathing about being able to be so. See also Fires of Pompeii, where again the presence of Donna makes sure this doesn’t get suicidal.) In retrospect, it’s not surprising that after all this emphasis on how good they are with each other and for each other, we would get a separation in the most heart-breaking way possible, and this would not be via Donna’s death.

Back when they first met, when killer Santas, giant spiders and huon particles were all out to drive Donna into an early grave, the Doctor promised her that whatever it took, he would make sure she would not die. He sometimes makes that promise so save someone’s life, and though he always tries, he can’t always keep it. (Ask Astrid.) But, as River Song says in the voice-over for Forest of the Dead, he’ll never, ever accept this. There was no question he would accept death for Donna Noble, who “saved his life in so many ways”, who became his friend, who saved the universe (twice) and who was dying because something of him was in her. Because of him. There was no way he would let her die. Now you can hate the narrative/RTD for creating this situation in the first place and/or for not solving the problem of having Catherine Tate for only one season in another way, but I really can’t understand why one would hate the Doctor for choosing to save Donna’s life over letting her die a gruesome death with her memories of their adventures together intact. If he had let her die, he wouldn’t be the Doctor, and definitely wouldn’t have been her friend. Those last scenes in Journey’s End, an episode which among other things contains one last love declaration/big showcase to and for the actors and their dynamic in the scene where Donna and Blue!Doctor start to adopt each other’s mannerisms, are killing me, but I watch them with a deep love for both characters, and what they had together. The best of times. They really did.

Comments

[lakrids404.livejournal.com]

Interesting comments, as always with you.

The end of seasons four and the faith Donna Nobel, made me want to commit fanfic. In where Donna Nobel, with her Time Lords genes, can intuitive sense how the end of universe will end. It’s not an ending she agrees with, so will wants to change the universe, and (more and less) unknowingly breaks a lot a Time lords rules. Now am I just waiting for the English writing skill pack to arrive from Amazon, so I can get started.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Go for it, I say. The skills come with the writing.

[kathyh]

The best of times. They really did.

Sniffle. Yes, they really did. Excellent essay as always and I boringly agree with every word :)

I had to pick just one episode from the season to prove to people how good these two are together, this would be it.

Yes, I think it's no coincidence that this is the episode I've rewatched most often because it's the first time we truly see the Doctor and Donna start to become partners and how good they really can be for each other. If I was of a fanfic writing persuasion, which fortunately for everybody else I'm not, I'd love to do something with Donna coming across the Caecilii household gods in a museum :)

If he had let her die, he wouldn’t be the Doctor, and definitely wouldn’t have been her friend.

Exactly!!!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I dimly remember there was a fanfic where Donna came across the Caecillii household gods, but I read that hours before my departure to Bali, so I can't recall what it had been!

Boring agreement is okay.*g* And somewhat reassuring. I mean, I know each viewer watches a different show/episode based on individual perception, but it still weirds me out that people could watch those final ten or so minutes and present it as the Doctor callously abandonning Donna. This is like summing up the relevant scenes from "The Fall of Centauri Prime" as "Londo has become snobbish and powermad and this is why he callously sends Vir away and says goodbye to G'Kar as well, the bastard" or the finale from "Becoming" as "Buffy stabs Angel and sends him to hell because she had PMS and nothing else to do that afternoon".

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Will comment in more detail later, but Donna's dressed as a 1920s flapper. Calling a woman a slapper in British English means something extremely unpleasant.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*edited*

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Now you can hate the narrative/RTD for creating this situation in the first place and/or for not solving the problem of having Catherine Tate for only one season in another way, but I really can’t understand why one would hate the Doctor for choosing to save Donna’s life over letting her die a gruesome death with her memories of their adventures together intact.

I think part of it is that he has all this time to write Rose/Doctor fanfic set Rose up with Blue!Doctor in an AU and say goodbye to Martha and Mickey and Jack, but then when the time comes to mind-wipe Donna it's "NO TIME FOR DISCUSSION! MIND-WIPE NOW!"

What, he couldn't have spared five minutes to let her come to terms with the situation, say goodbye to him, etc.?

Besides which, the idea that he's also pretty much going to leave her in life-threatening peril for the rest of her life (what happens if she sees the Doctor carrying the Olympic Torch or hears a Doctor fanboy talking about the TARDIS?) instead of trying to find a way to save her is... ugh. Maybe Return of the Cybermen will start off with the Doctor seeking out a cure in Victorian England, but the effect right now is that the Doctor heard Davros tell him "You keep running away from the disasters you create, you never take responsibility for your actions," and pretty much said "Yup, that's me alright, now for some more crazy hijinx!"

[selenak.livejournal.com]

what happens if she sees the Doctor carrying the Olympic Torch or hears a Doctor fanboy talking about the TARDIS?

The same thing that happened when she saw the Doctor standing right in front of her in her living room and then in the kitchen. Nothing. Presumably the memories he locked would need a hell more than a visual reference or talk to be triggered. As he said to Wilf, conversation about him or the alien invasions will only be a story to her.

but the effect right now is that the Doctor heard Davros tell him "You keep running away from the disasters you create, you never take responsibility for your actions," and pretty much said "Yup, that's me alright, now for some more crazy hijinx!"

Huh? I don't care about the beach scene one way or the other (not being a shipper), but that, among other things, was the Doctor manipulating both Rose and his alter ego into taking care of each other. Which I didn't see as romantic but as pure Seven-style manipulation, as mentioned, but among other things it made sure Rose wouldn't try to cross universes again and Alt!Ten was busy elsewhere as well. And then, when he saw that Donna was in imminent danger of a breakdown (I think because there was no precedent he hoped against hope she WOULD be able to cope, as long as she didn't show any signs of being negatively influenced, but as soon as she started to get into Flowers-for-Algernon mode he had to act), he faced the consequences of that in the most drastic manner possible. What was that, if not taking responsibility for what was happening to her? And he saw it worked; she was alive and alert, could face him without getting into word-repeating breakdown mode. He had no excuse for hanging around chez Noble afterwards.

[wondygal.livejournal.com]

Sigh. I love them so much. And I love you for highlighting the somewhat parallel situations in Planet of the Ood and Journey's End, that's an observation that hadn't occurred to me. Just. Yes. Lots of love for this team. May the Big Finish gods make audios with Tate and Tennant in the future. It could happen! You never know! Sigh.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, you do know! No way Big Finish is going to miss out that one once they get the green light for using New Who characters, and with Tate and Tennant having enjoyed working with each other so much, they'll agree to do it. (DT is in lots of the audios already because he's such a fanboy, and for CT it wouldn't as time consuming as shooting a season would be.)

Back on Bali in the sun on the beach, I listened to the Chain Reaction interview again on my ipod, and they are just priceless together, even without a script. If I were a producer, I'd hire a scriptwriter to write them a feature film NOW. (Aaron Sorkin, but that's optional. )

[honorh.livejournal.com]

Beautiful summation of the series. I'll have more to say in email once I'm mildly less stressed about upcoming moves to freakin' Japan.

I can't decide if I love Ten/Donna or Nine/Rose/Jack more (not necessarily 'shipping sense, though Ten/Donna has produced some *fine* crackfic). I'll call it a draw.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

If I were moving to Japan, I'd be in a state of a nervous breakdown because of the moving stress by now, so trust me, I empathize. *hands over cool virtual drink*

With me, it's Ten/Donna versus Seven/Ace versus Three/Jo/Brigadier for the top position, and together they make my top three, with Six/Evelyn coming close behind.

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was lovely. I think I'll just point to this post whenever I want to gush about them.

I still hate how Donna's story ended – I felt it undermined everything they were trying to say, never mind taking the Donna we know away – but it's nice to focus on the good. And there was quite a lot of it to go around.

After my visceral reaction, no, I don't hate the Doctor for what he did, just RTD for making him do it. ;p Because he knew Donna would always be amazing even if she didn't, and he knew that she was a survivor. How could he not? Only two reasons why he loves her so much.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who loved Runaway Bride when it first came round. I was ecstatic when we heard that Donna was going to be the new companion.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Because he knew Donna would always be amazing even if she didn't, and he knew that she was a survivor. How could he not? Only two reasons why he loves her so much.

Absolutely. He knew she was magnicent the first time they parted, and everything that came after just proved how much she'd rise to any occasion.

And you know, that's all I wanted - focusing on the good, not in order to deny the negative (which in this series definitely is there, as in all other seasons) but to show the good that was there a plenty, and which is why I mostly look forward to getting my season DVDS so much.

I was ecstatic when we heard that Donna was going to be the new companion.

Me too. I mean, I would have been open minded to a new companion, too, but the Donna news made me squee out loud. But yes, we were in a minority. It was quite satisfying to see people come around, I can tell you.

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

If he had let her die, he wouldn’t be the Doctor, and definitely wouldn’t have been her friend.

Yes. And although it's true that Donna begged him not to do it, I think her state was comparable to someone who, say, was in a car crash and had their leg trapped in the burning wreckage. In that situation, someone might well be terrified and beg not to have their leg amputated, but any responsible doctor would ignore that and do it anyway to save their life.

I think your observation about the parallel between that moment and the thing earlier with the Ood song is great, too. We see from very early in the season that DoctorDonna isn't entirely true; Donna is not a Time Lord and there are some things that physically or emotionally she just can't bear. (Mind you, I'm still bothered by the fact that blue!Doctor, who seems to be just as human physiologically as Donna, didn't have the same problem. In fact, I've decided that he did, even though we didn't see it onscreen.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I think her state was comparable to someone who, say, was in a car crash and had their leg trapped in the burning wreckage. In that situation, someone might well be terrified and beg not to have their leg amputated, but any responsible doctor would ignore that and do it anyway to save their life.

That's how I saw it, too. Also, Donna doesn't say she'd rather die, she says "but I was going to travel with you forever" - which was impossible either way. It was her death versus her minus those memories but otherwise healthy and sane, not travelling versus not travelling.

Donna is not a Time Lord and there are some things that physically or emotionally she just can't bear.

And with the Ood, when she's in complete control and not in the process of breaking down, she asks him to take it away. Because she's not suicidal.

Mind you, I'm still bothered by the fact that blue!Doctor, who seems to be just as human physiologically as Donna, didn't have the same problem. In fact, I've decided that he did, even though we didn't see it onscreen

That was sloppy writing, I agree, and I'm wavering between two fanwanks, either that Blue!Doctor doesn't breakdown because he's a new creation, a mixture between the Doctor and Donna from the start, whereas Donna was an already existing human who got the Time Lord bits forced into an already complete brain, or that Blue!Doctor does indeed suffer after effects in the PeteVerse later on when we don't see it.

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

Now you've made me all teary-eyed for Donna again.

And a big WORD to everything you said here. (Except maybe for your thoughts on the ending of S4; while I would have hated to see Donna die, I wish the decision to mindwipe her had been clearly presented as a mutual one. Her lack of agency in this makes me feel uncomfortable.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, if I had to make rewrite decisions, I'd remove the Rose subplot, which would result in more free screentime (and would need to find a replacement for Rose in Turn Left - maybe Sarah Jane, who in Whatever happened to Sarah Jane had her own experience with the Trickster and his timeline-altering ways), and would have Donna realise the danger of her condition earlier, and try to figure out possible solutions as long as she still can, resulting in yes, a mutual decision to save her life this way in the last ten minutes.

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

I really want to make a sensible, well-thought out reply to this, but all I can say is "WORD!!!"

Oh, and I feel the need to point out that I have never, ever hated the Doctor for what he did. I have almost as much pain and sympathy for him as I do for Donna. The things I want to do to Uncle Rusty, OTOH, can't be spoken of in even rude company and are probably illegal everywere in the civilized world.

..it really, really doesn't help that I've always had a phobia of memory-theft and mind-rape, and Rusty managed to inflict my own personal version of hell on a character I loved beyind all reason since her first appearence - and then grew to love more, somehow, through her just being continually awesome.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_medley_/]

Thank you! This helps me get my S4 squee back. Loved this season right up to the last, what, 15 minutes? And then giant train wreck. But you're very right, there's no way he was going to let her die, and in that sense, it wasn't a bad ending. (I never blamed the Doctor for doing what he did, just got annoyed at the writing.)

I find the tendency for some fans to say that Donna would have been better off dead than mindwiped to be disturbing. I mean, a.) she was awesome the day she met him, really, and b.) better off dead than "ordinary" is kind of...ick. (Articulate, what?)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I find the tendency for some fans to say that Donna would have been better off dead than mindwiped to be disturbing. I mean, a.) she was awesome the day she met him, really, and b.) better off dead than "ordinary" is kind of...ick. (Articulate, what?)

That's what both freaked me out and made my blood boil in a lot of post finale reactions, too: because to me this suggests that Donna-when-we-meet-her is declared as someone worthless and deserving of death, and to quote Ten, WHAT? (Mind you, since then some people clarified they meant that narratively speaking, a heroic death would have been a more satisfying conclusion for Donna's storyarc. Which I don't agree with, but which is a viable argument that doesn't disturb and anger me.)

[jaydk.livejournal.com]

Great essay! I really love the Doctor and Donna also -- they're such a good pairing. I loved reading about the development of their relationship episode by episode -- makes me want to rewatch series 4 from the beginning.

"an increasingly depressing personal situation for Donna in particular – but her natural heroism would still have asserted itself. The Doctor without Donna, on the other hand? Would have been dead. With the strong suggestion of passive suicide."

To be fair, Donna always has the potential to be heroic within her, but in Turn Left she doesn't actually assert that potential until Rose appears and gives her the opportunity. Rose plays a very Doctor-ish role in Turn Left.

"If he had let her die, he wouldn’t be the Doctor, and definitely wouldn’t have been her friend."

That says it all for me -- the Doctor couldn't and wouldn't do anything other than what he did. Plus, I don't see Donna as someone who would actively choose death over life in that situation, and I certainly wouldn't expect the Doctor to assume that's what she wants unless she clearly states that. Donna is devastated at losing the life she has with the Doctor and the person she's become, but that's pretty far away from "please let me die."

As for Blue!Ten, I think he's fine -- he's a Time Lord/human mix, whereas Donna was a human with the mind of a Time Lord superimposed on her own. They're not in the same categories physically, IMO; Donna is closer to Rose + Time Vortex from PotW -- a human who's taken on something that cannot be physically sustained long-term.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

To be fair, Donna always has the potential to be heroic within her, but in Turn Left she doesn't actually assert that potential until Rose appears and gives her the opportunity. Rose plays a very Doctor-ish role in Turn Left.

Rose does, but it also illustrates it didn't actually need the Doctor specifically to allow Donna to become a heroine; what it did need was someone who had that kind of confidence.

Donna is devastated at losing the life she has with the Doctor and the person she's become, but that's pretty far away from "please let me die."

*nods*

Quite. She's anything but suicidal, and the only time we see her definitely choose death it's to save the world, in Turn Left, because there is no other way she can make her younger self take the other way. All the times, she's very firm about her will to live.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

You've written there pretty much everything I love about them, and thanks for doing that. It's a wonderful tribute to them. They are my favourite Doctor and Companion team and at the moment my favourite relationship in any of my fandoms. It's not very common to find that kind of dynamic in which everything, the characters, the actors and the writing, just work perfectly. It's so bittersweet, since one series of Ten and Donna just doesn't seem like enough, but, bar the agency issues with the ending, it was in terms of them a perfect series (which makes me reluctant to join the calls for the return of Donna)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It's not very common to find that kind of dynamic in which everything, the characters, the actors and the writing, just work perfectly.

So true. And I think they realised this when talking about having "a Donna-like companion" after s3, and concluded they didn't need Donna-like, they needed to persuade CT herself to come back and play Donna in order for all to fit.

It's so bittersweet, since one series of Ten and Donna just doesn't seem like enough, but, bar the agency issues with the ending, it was in terms of them a perfect series (which makes me reluctant to join the calls for the return of Donna.

What I'd want is, if she comes back, whenever that happens, is for her to have something like School Reunion which was a great reintroduction of Sarah Jane into the Whoeverse - with the important difference that we should see her new life is a good one, giving her a reason to return to it after the inevitable adventure with the Doctor. (Which would probably Martha's s4 episodes a better point of comparison.) And I absolutely want audios set during s4 once Big Finish is allowed to use Donna!

[bats_eye.livejournal.com]

Aww, this post is lovely. I think Season 4 is my favorite of the New Who seasons. It may not ever get quite as good as the best episodes of Season 1 and 3 but it is consistently entertaining and the Donna/Doctor partnership is a big part of that. They both have an ease in each others company that works really well.

I'm also glad you've posted about how much you've enjoyed their friendship because it does seem that the ending of Journey's End has overshadowed everyone's feelings about the rest of the season and while that's understandable it's also a shame. There were some really nice moments between the pair of them that are worth remembering.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I think Season 4 is my favorite of the New Who seasons. It may not ever get quite as good as the best episodes of Season 1 and 3 but it is consistently entertaining and the Donna/Doctor partnership is a big part of that.

I'd agree with that. There is no s4 episode that has the breathtaking technical brilliance of Blink, for example, but on the other hand every single episode made me happy during watching (and sad when intending to). All the other seasons, including the first one, have episodes I never cared to rewatch along with the brilliant ones, but I've watched every single s4 episode several times, and that probably says best how I feel about it.

Thank you.

[infinitemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I loved this post. While I detested the season finale, I've come to realise that it was more about the execution of the idea than the idea itself. I don't like it when they throw over logic and character development just because it adds more emo to the Doctor.

I could also point to Fires of Pompeii as the moment when most of fandom (and me) threw up their hands and surrendered to the wonder that is the relationship between the Doctor and Donna, because she wouldn't *let* him be alone in the responsibility for destroying Pompeii.

I think the reason people remained sceptical after The Runaway Bride was the combination of Donna being loud and bolshy and the empress also being loud and bolshy. I remember reading research saying that if there was a cast in a movie that was even approaching 50% women, men perceived it as dominated by women. Perhaps in the same way, some viewers labelled the episode "shouty women" in their heads because of the first scenes where Donna is yelling and then Sarah Parish's performance as the empress. They then conveniently ignored the quiet, sweet or funny moments in the rest of the episode.

What I love about TRB is the way that Donna might be obsessed about getting to her wedding (as well you might if it's the culmination of a dream and it's all going hideously wrong) but she always notices when something is wrong with the Doctor. She asks him direct questions in a way that no one else really has. He is equally adept at fending her off -- when she asks a question that gets too close to the source of his sorrow, he changes the subject and winds her up by "bleeping" her or going off into science babble.

Yet when the Doctor is threatened by the Empress, she doesn't even think before she stands in front of him to protect him. It's one of those relationships where the two of them like each other instantly almost *despite* themselves.

If the universe loved me, specifically, Catherine Tate would be back in 2010. Alas, it doesn't, and I don't think she will, but I hope we haven't seen the last of Donna Noble, particularly after reading this gorgeous season review

Re: Thank you.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I think the reason people remained sceptical after The Runaway Bride was the combination of Donna being loud and bolshy and the empress also being loud and bolshy. I remember reading research saying that if there was a cast in a movie that was even approaching 50% women, men perceived it as dominated by women. Perhaps in the same way, some viewers labelled the episode "shouty women" in their heads because of the first scenes where Donna is yelling and then Sarah Parish's performance as the empress. They then conveniently ignored the quiet, sweet or funny moments in the rest of the episode.

Ah, that sounds depressingly likely.

Yet when the Doctor is threatened by the Empress, she doesn't even think before she stands in front of him to protect him.

Yes, and that's directly after she found out about Lance, at the lowest point of her life so far. Which says so much about Donna.

It's one of those relationships where the two of them like each other instantly almost *despite* themselves.

Absolutely. I've seen both RTD and several of the other writers compare them with 30s and 40s style screwball comedy heroes, and they have exactly that kind of dynamic.

And I'm sure we'll see Donna again. Whether as a guest star a la Sarah Jane in School Reunion a few years down the road, or in the Sarah Jane Adventures, or in the audios - there will be more Donna. Being magnificent.

[buffyaddict13.livejournal.com]

omg, this was wonderful. i am saving this to memories. just...wow. your brain is lovely.

[buffyaddict13.livejournal.com]

ps. do you mind if i pimp this on my lj? it's so beautiful i want everyone to read it. but feel free to tell me no!

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

This is a lovely tribute to the Doctor and Donna relationship. I may disagree with you about Rose, but I totally agree about the awesome of Donna. :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Your icon cracks me up - who is the cat?

And the relationship was so great, which, as bats_eye above mentions got overshadowed by the storms about the finale in fannish perception, so I wanted to pay tribute to it and am glad you enjoyed reading it.

[hence-the-name.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear.

As devastatingly sad as the end of the series was, I also think that from a storytelling perspective, it was absolutely right. I'm going to have to rewatch now with your points in mind. :)