The Greatest Fanfic That Was Actually Canon

[filkertom]

saganth reminded me that we hadn't discussed the Doctor Who finale.

On one level, it did a fantastic job of hitting buttons. When Harriet showed up, I was very much Whoo-Hooing all over the place. I loved how the whole thing got everybody together, introduced people who hadn't seen the spin-off shows to those shows very well, and tied off all the loose ends.

My very favorite moments included: Capt. Jack, filled with horror and knowledge, kissing the heads of his Torchwood comrades, and saying (paraphrase), "I'm so sorry. There's nothing I can do. We're all dead"; Rose's horribly plaintive, "I came back for you"; Harriet facing down the Daleks; and, even at the end, The Doctor giving Davros a chance. (Dunno why he bothers. I've given him a chance for years, and he still interrupts my concerts. -- Wrong Davros. ;) Hugs, big guy.)

On the other hand, it really annoyed me how they got everybody together, shoved the spin-offs at us, and tied off all the loose ends just a tad too neatly.

My least favorite moments included: The military man declaring Double Secret Super Duper Extra Double Dog Tootsy Frootsy Red Alert; the entire main Dalek plot (Oh noes!!!1!!11!!!! Dis time dey gonna destroy EVERTHIN!!!!1!1!! No rilly!!! [and seriously, where the fuck does Davros get off naming The Doctor "Destroyer Of Worlds"!? If his plot had succeeded, there would've been no one left to name Davros anything]); most of Davros' dialogue; the whole prophecy foofrah, because prophecies are nearly always a cheap way to justify why something has to happen (I refer you to the Prequel Trilogy); and the half-time-lord bit, which was a superb way of letting Donna save the day but a really lousy/cheesy way of foisting off a Xerox of The Doctor on poor, dedicated SHE FUCKING JUMPED DIMENSIONS FOR YOU YOU UNGRATEFUL ASS Rose.

If someone had shown me this thing as a fanfic, I would've been delighted beyond belief. But "fanfic" is exactly how it feels to me -- especially Rose getting/not exactly getting The Doctor at the end. And I suppose this means everything next season is a clean start -- I can't think of anything that's left hanging, apart from The Master's ring muh-wuh-ha-ha-hah -- and I truly hope they've signed Alex Kingston to come back and play River. Damn. Alex You Really Have No Idea How Sexy You Are Do You Kingston. Yeah, I just bet he tells her his name. I believe the next part of that line is, "Because you'll be screaming it later."

Thoughts?

Comments

[briansiano.livejournal.com]

I poste dmy comments at my own LJ, http://rpk.livejournal.com/496484.html

They really missed a great opportunity with the ending. It would have been _most_ satisfying if Donna had really _died_. Imagine this. the Doctor knows he can't save her. And because of the human-Time Lord mixing, _she knows it too_... and she _demands to die with those memories_.

And that'd be the point: Donna would have decided her fate for herself. And the Doctor would not have decided it for her, as he did in this episode. They missed what would have been a _magnificent_, life-affirming, tragic and moving scene. Catherine Tate would've _crushed_.

Drat. Enjoyed the episode, otherwise. Especially K9's return.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

We knew Catherine Tate was only signed up for one year. This was lame. I suppose she wanted a way back into DW if her own show didn't do well next year.

Show Biz, you have made a cynic of me.

Otherwise, I did enjoy the family reunion.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Reminds me of when JMS didn't kill off Ivanova, which would've truly been a bold storytelling move. The "she must never remember" thing is always a little lame, and sometimes a lot lame.

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

Personally, I was infuriated by Donna's mind wipe.

[barbara-the-w.livejournal.com]

a really lousy/cheesy way of foisting off a Xerox of The Doctor on poor, dedicated SHE FUCKING JUMPED DIMENSIONS FOR YOU YOU UNGRATEFUL ASS Rose
And, yet, I was so freakin' happy to see the *ss-end of Rose.
I'm tired of the O Twue Wub thing people keep throwing at the stuff I like to read and see.
It sucked in H/Hr. It sucked in Xena. And it sucked here.

JNT's other idiosyncracies aside, at least he understood the Whovian Prime Directive: There is no hanky-panky in the TARDIS.

[druidsfire.livejournal.com]

Well, rpk, I'm gonna respectfully disagree with your notion on Donna's fate. That's /why/ it's such a tragedy: it's /not/ a warm-fuzzy 'Hey, I sacrificed myself for the greater good'. It's a Brazil with Terry Gilliam's original negative ending sort of fate, not the studio-demanded 'good' ending. I think it was designed to make us uncomfortable, to make us realize that people don't always get what we'd consider a 'happy' ending

It also leaves us a somewhat easier/less cheesy method to get Catherine Tate back on the show. Easier to find a way to technobabble around the 'she can't remember /ever/' thing than 'she's dead, Jim'.

As for blue-Doctor/brown-Doctor + Rose... well, it was unsatisfying, of course. But it's blatantly obvious that it was meant to appease the two main opinions regarding the Doctor and Rose relationship: (AIEEE! NO, HE CAN'T HAVE SEX!) and (BOM CHICKA WOW WOW!). It also finally gets Rose the hell out of the series. And I like Rose, don't get me wrong. But the emo 'I came back for you!' never felt like epic romance to me. It was selfish and greedy and too childishly needy, in my opinion. Stalker much? :)

The whole tying up of loose ends thing is just that: setting the series into a nicely-wrapped box for the hand-off to Stephen Moffat's reign as showrunner. That way, he doesn't have any huge baggage to deal with other than his own creations (Hi, River!). Don't get me wrong, RTD did a great job in getting the show back on the air with excellent quality in many cases, loads of respect from the mainstream (for a change), but the /best/ episodes, the ones that were mostly original and most thought-provoking... were Stephen Moffat's.

I can't wait for 2010 to arrive. It's gonna be one hell of a ride. XD

[briansiano.livejournal.com]

So much bugs me about the mind wipes. First of all, why do Time Lords get that particular psychic power-- isn't it a tad, well, Spockish? Second, if the show has no trouble working up quick fixes and last-minute Brilliant Solutions in other situations, then making this _particular_ problem unsolvable seems a bit arbitrary.

Still, I look forward to an episode in the future, where we pick up with David Tennant saying goodbye to good ol' Bernard Cribbins... and as the TARDIS fades away, and as Cribbins closes the door, Donna's standing there, and she whips out a sonic screwdriver and says "Guess I'll have to _catch up_ to him, then."

[madamruppy.livejournal.com]

I don't like Rose, never have. I was unhappy with her "getting" the Dr. I was pissed at the treatment of Donna. It was some seriously heavy deus ex machina.

My favorite line was after it was revealed that they had 3 Dr.s and Jack said "I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now" That was seriously funny.

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was a serious amount of fanwank, and very entertaining overall. I'll accept it for what it is.

[briansiano.livejournal.com]

Over on my own blog page, I mentioned the clearing-the-decks-for-Moffat business. I might;ve said something about the incongruity of a Rose-Doctor romance (I mean, why not Martha?).

I don't entirely disagree with you about the Donna ending. I mean, I see your point, but if they were going for the "uncomfortable" ending, they didn't do it very well. I think the problem lies in that the Doctor made the decision _for_ Donna, which seemed to negate that she'd grown under the Doctor's tutelage.

[devospice.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it but the whole thing reminded me of the series finale of Buffy. Even for a 2 part episode it felt WAY TOO rushed. They crammed way too much into those two hours.

It also struck me as a tad gimmicky. OK, the Daleks are dead except one, but let's bring them all back for the finale anyway. And while we're at it let's bring back Davros, and Rose, and Sarah Jane, and Mickey, and Jackie, and K-9, and on and on and on.

Come on guys. Just tell a good story. We'll deal if the Daleks aren't in the season finales.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

I do have to wonder just how many times he's going to kill off the Daleks.

So far Donna has been my favorite of the companions. She was the most interesting of the lot, that's for sure. Sad to see her go.

That said, as pat as it was I enjoyed the hell out of it.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

I agree. Rose got a Doctor and Donna got the shaft.


Personally, I'm hoping they bring back the Doctor's daughter...

[mouser.livejournal.com]

The only way for the Daleks and the Master to finally die is for the Doctor to finally die.

I only have one question in all of this...

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Where was Jenny?

They brought together _EVERYBODY_ else but she was conspicuously absent.

Even if there was a question as to how much of a Time Lord she was (two hearts - HELLO?!) I'm certain she would have brought something to the party.

Though I think I've suddenly answered my own question - she would have brought another Time Lord to the party albeit an "infant" one. That would have made it tough for the whole half-Doctor/half-Donna thing to work well.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

I _still_ would like to see time go all wonky and The Doctor become The Master for some reason. It's absurd I know but I think it would make a great way to cycle in the series at the end of all things.

[allisona.livejournal.com]

I'd somehow missed the memo that Catherine Tate was only going to be around for one year, so I was shocked and sad to see Donna written out of the series at the end of the episode. I'm going to miss Donna a lot.

Re: I only have one question in all of this...

[jeffr23.livejournal.com]

Doesn't seem all that conspicuous, considering that she's thousands of years in the future with no hint of access to a TARDIS or other form of time-machine, only a most-likely-amazingly-slow shuttle only made plausible as a means of transport for her due to her near-infinite lifespan...

Now, conspicuously absent are the people known to be hanging out early 21st century Earth...Tegan Jovanka and Harry Sullivan spring immediately to mind (one can, I suppose, presume that the Brig's still stuck in Peru), and also Sally Sparrow...

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess this makes David Tennant both the 10th and 11th Doctors, since we saw him regenerate, even if he did not change appearances. I fully expect it to be revealed that he either has a full set of regenerations as a result of the Time War (so Chris E was his new first body and this was only his 2nd regeneration of the new set of 12), or that the 12 regeneration limit was artificially imposed by the Time Lords somehow and there is no actual physical limit on how many times he can regenerate (my preferenced explaination).

I hope the Daleks are gone for good, they are getting tiring now. They dipped into that well too many times. The lone Dalek was excellent, and Daleks vs Cybermen was darned good, but that should have been it for the Daleks so far. Now it's "when will they show up this season?" The Cybermen could get overused as well, I hope that doesn't happen.

I hope this time they mean it about Rose's dimension being sealed off forever. It didn't stick the last two times, maybe third time's a charm? :-)

What happened to Donna is tragic, I expect her to show up one more time, remembering things and sacrificing herself because she needs to. And I hope her grandfather gets a ride in the TARDIS. Not as a full companion position, but a single trip would be nice for him.

Re: I only have one question in all of this...

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Oh come on now! You're telling me that a child of a Time Lord who has presumably at least the physical characteristics to contain the time vortex couldn't stumble into a rift somewhere? She _is_ The Doctor's daughter after all.

Now there would have been a kicker - Jenny shows up but is ill with a common Time Lord disease that he can't cure and dies thwarting the Daleks/Davros without firing a shot. Don't know where I came up with that one.

As for Tegan and Harry I too would have like to see them but there were already enough companions coming out of the woodwork. At least Jenny is something other than that.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

I'm in complete agreement about both Daleks and Cybermen. Best relegated to the insurance commercials where they belong:

[richardjgrayson.livejournal.com]

Just passing through ;)

The Dalek moniker for the Doctor, Ka Faraq Gatri aka The Destroyer of Worlds/Bringer of Darkness thing started in the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks years ago. The Daleks were a mite pissed off about the Doctor destroying Skaro in the episode itself. So, uh, yeah, their term for him really isn't entirely unjustified, though it is slightly skewed in terms of how -many- worlds have been destroyed.

But I agree entirely with the 'bad fanfic' assessment.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Maybe so, but every time he meets them he destroys the last of them. Seeems a bit silly.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

The Master's only been deadified once (the movie).

The Daleks... Lets see - the Time War, and the "Bad Wolf".


Really, it's not SO bad.

Re: I only have one question in all of this...

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

Who would play Harry? The original actor who portrayed him died in 1986.