Spam, recs, love and bad jokes. Bit like an episode, then
Since Rose and Martha have both had their own picspam, I'd like to celebrate the tenth Doctor's third female companion: Donna Noble.
I loved the fourth season of Doctor Who, mostly because of the relationship between the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble, and I will be speaking of the awesomeness of Donna - and attendant awesomeness of other women of S4 - through the medium of wee icon pictures, fic recs, music and interpretive dance. (I might be lying about one of those.)
One disclaimer. I did not like the end of season 4. I did not like it at all. I made this face:
I may have threatened to set Russell T Davies on fire afterwards but you can't prove anything and it wasn't me. Because this is a spam of love, I shall try not to speak of it)
It's fair to say that there was some division about Donna after her first appearance. There was certainly some ugly fandom ageism. Donna lost her temper, shouted a lot and was bridezilla at first sight. The villain of the episode was also a female, albeit a giant spider with a love of shouting and terrible puns. Just as research once showed that if more than a small minority of characters are female, men will automatically assume the film is a chick flick, so if more than one woman is shouting it seems to be perceived as an episode about shouty women.
This view ignores her character development through the episode. Even when she hears people say all the things about herself that she most fears, she doesn't give in.
The Doctor: [scanning Donna] "You're not special, you're not powerful you're not connected, you're not clever, you're not important
Donna: This friend of yours, just before you left, did she punch you in the face? Stop bleeping me
Donna misses her wedding, finds out her friends and family have had the wedding reception without her and finds out her fiance is in league with aliens, thinks she's shallow and stupid, and was only marrying her to keep her close because he was poisoning her. Despite that, when men with guns threaten the skinny Martian who's trying to find out what's going on, she steps in front of him without a thought. When he shows her the universe, she responds with wonder. Later, she has the self-awareness to realise that she's not ready for the non-linear, dangerous world of the Doctor, and she turns him down.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And of course, she comes to realise she's made a mistake and she can take that sort of life, so she spends a year looking for the Doctor. She doesn't fancy him -- and God, did the show need that -- but there's still enough of a frisson to generate internet filth. Which is nice. She treats him like a much-loved bratty brother who tells bad jokes and needs a bit of a slapdown sometimes. Nor is she afraid to tell him he's wrong or call him on it when he refuses to admit he's miserable. She's also kind to the people she meets, from the telepathic Ood to the magnificent Martha Jones, who is still a little tender on the subject of the Doctor.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Really, she's in it for the adventure -- and foolish enough to use the F-word -- forever. She's funny, compassionate and able, attacks a Sontaran with a mallet and makes one of the best silly jokes ever in new Who.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Her Achilles heel is that she doesn't know how good she is. She thinks she's a nobody who got lucky. selenak once defined what it was that made Donna such a great character: she's a fundamentally decent human being and is capable of magnificence. This is true with or without the Doctor -- all it takes is a bit of a push. [See Turn Left].
.
.
.
And that push comes from Rose, who is intriguing and brilliant in Turn Left, if a little orally challenged. Allow me to share with you further awesome: Wilf, Martha, Jackie, Mickey, River Song (who is not smug), Sarah Jane, Gwen Cooper and Rose. And also the fabulous Captain Magambo, Captain Marion Price and anon woman soldier who appears in the UK and then in New York. Unit -- the job choice for world travel. The glorious Mrs Moore, from a flashback in the final episode.
You're welcome.
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And finally, the icon of hope*. (For those of you who are X-Files watchers, I strongly suspect this is another Mulder's zip =/= Scully's cross moment, but I like the tease of it anyway). I don't think Donna will be back for three reasons: (a) personal circumstances of the leads; (b) RTD thought his ending was perfect and tragic; (c) money in this time of credit-kick-to-the-bollocks. Hope I'm wrong. (ETA: *it implies that Donna's memories and consciousness are locked in an inanimate object: the ring)
And now let us pause for a moment while David Tennant pulls a very silly face indeed
Right then. Music. Lots of people don't like the Murray Gold soundtrack music for Doctor Who. I think it's too damned loud in the mix and too intent on giving emotional pointers. Divorced from the show, though, I quite like it
[A Dazzling End | Turn Left | The Greatest Story Never Told | The Rueful Fate of Donna Noble]
I am not very familiar with the vidding world, but this one is amazing, as a piece of art and as a piece of story-telling: Don't Lose Yourself by sweetestdrain
Finally, the fiction*. The nature of the relationship between Donna and the Doctor means there are very few long pr0nsome epics of true love. Thank God. Instead, there's a veritable plethora of filthy innuendo-laden comedy, at least three sex pollen stories that I can think of and lots and lots and lots of Journey's End fix-its. Lots. Enough to make Ianto do this:
1.The long, plotty fix-it
Doctor Who Season Five by ariastar
This is a long, exciting and funny epic, featuring the Doctor and the Master, Romana, a changed Donna rediscovering her own intelligence and the time war
Memory Lapse Carmen Sandiego
A mandatory attendance post-episode epic which takes in the Time War, has a couple of ingenious plot twists, some great lines and manages to have a kick like a donkey at the end. Best read unspoiled.
2. The shorter, brilliant fix-it
Let's Forget We're Running (Out of Time) zoicite
A long, mature and sad fix-it for Journey's End about friendship and love which manages to spot the cliches and subvert or avoid them. Shows that choosing domesticity doesn't necessarily mean compromising who you are.
Footsteps In The Sand entangled_now
Starts as a traditional, well-written fix-it, careers off in a quite unexpected direction, showing a Donna who decides her own fate.
Your History Written In Stars and Time such_heights
The universe wants to thank Donna Noble for something she can't remember.
And I Won't Miss You At All by d.
She doesn't remember, but she's magnificent nonetheless.
Experimental Science entangled_now
Donna discovers she has a facility for dismantling household objects and making them into something different. It's what happens after that that makes me love this story: a study in compassion overcoming fear.
3. Others
A Leap In The Dark nonelvis
A clever story about mixed up timelines at a student party.
An Inordinate Fondness dameruth
An interlude in travels which serves as a character study of Donna the traveller.
Memory Lane, Aydrdoon Valley kattahj
Plotty story about Donna and Jack, Ianto, Lee and the Doctor, exploring an alien culture: Jack's home.
How Donna Didn't Spend Her Summer Vacation banburytales
An ice planet, a pissed off companion and thermovores.
Upon The Upland Road meddow
A story about the Year That Never Was, featuring Sarah Jane and Donna trying to evade the Master's goons. Sad, with some wonderful characterisation but a wandery plot. It's very good on female friendship forged in adversity
Two stories of the kind which I usually run screaming from, because they're about babies (or impending motherhood). But these defy the stereotype by being sweet and funny without being sappy or brainless
One of These Mornings branwyn
April in my Arms shaggydogstail
4. Glorious Donna/Martha and other slash. The portmanteau is MaDonna. Of course it is.
More Than Just A Cheap Trick magicallaw
Oh, this is so clever, witty and comforting. A time travel story in which Donna meets Martha and Martha meets Donna but not necessarily in the expected order.
What We've Become thedeadparrot
Martha meets Donna, post-JE, and a spark of familiarity turns into love. Sad and a bit lovely.
Six Impossible Things netgirl_y2k
Donna and Romana meet. Very funny and unexpectedly sweet. And by the same author
A Change is as Good As A Rest
Donna Noble sacks out on Rose Tyler's couch in an alternate universe.
Edited to add because I was stupid and forgot this one
In An Interstellar Burst such_heights
Fabulous picaresque adventure in which Donna, Martha and Rose go on the lam across the universe. Funny, great lines, and a wonderful chemistry between the three women. Plus! Commentfic in the comments.
5. Crack
Passing The Torch Carmen Sandiego
The Doctor cops it and passes his legacy to Donna Noble
Donna the Beta Reader nostalgia_lj
Skewers two fandoms in one.
6. The crossovers
All In A Day's Work by Miss Baxter Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy
In which Donna Noble thwarts an alien invasion during a day's work at the office
Let's Do The Time Loop Again by spoofmaster Stargate SG-1
A crossover with the episode Window of Opportunity in which the Tardis gets caught in Ancient time travel technology
Never Have I Ever st_aurafina Iron Man, Torchwood
An assistants' conference. Donna, Ianto and Pepper Potts trade notes
Spaced crossover
One from the sizeofthatthing, which means very adult. Tim Bisley/Donna. Extremely funny if you've ever watched Spaced
*Not all of these stories have perfect punctuation, formatting and so on, mostly because I don't care if the story is good. Just wanted to warn people who find this a deal-breaker.
(If you want to nick any of the above pictures and mutate them for your own jollies, put Maroon 5 lyrics on them, or colourwash them in puce, have at it. Glad to have saved you the capping time.)
I loved the fourth season of Doctor Who, mostly because of the relationship between the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble, and I will be speaking of the awesomeness of Donna - and attendant awesomeness of other women of S4 - through the medium of wee icon pictures, fic recs, music and interpretive dance. (I might be lying about one of those.)
One disclaimer. I did not like the end of season 4. I did not like it at all. I made this face:
I may have threatened to set Russell T Davies on fire afterwards but you can't prove anything and it wasn't me. Because this is a spam of love, I shall try not to speak of it)
It's fair to say that there was some division about Donna after her first appearance. There was certainly some ugly fandom ageism. Donna lost her temper, shouted a lot and was bridezilla at first sight. The villain of the episode was also a female, albeit a giant spider with a love of shouting and terrible puns. Just as research once showed that if more than a small minority of characters are female, men will automatically assume the film is a chick flick, so if more than one woman is shouting it seems to be perceived as an episode about shouty women.
This view ignores her character development through the episode. Even when she hears people say all the things about herself that she most fears, she doesn't give in.
The Doctor: [scanning Donna] "You're not special, you're not powerful you're not connected, you're not clever, you're not important
Donna: This friend of yours, just before you left, did she punch you in the face? Stop bleeping me
Donna misses her wedding, finds out her friends and family have had the wedding reception without her and finds out her fiance is in league with aliens, thinks she's shallow and stupid, and was only marrying her to keep her close because he was poisoning her. Despite that, when men with guns threaten the skinny Martian who's trying to find out what's going on, she steps in front of him without a thought. When he shows her the universe, she responds with wonder. Later, she has the self-awareness to realise that she's not ready for the non-linear, dangerous world of the Doctor, and she turns him down.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And of course, she comes to realise she's made a mistake and she can take that sort of life, so she spends a year looking for the Doctor. She doesn't fancy him -- and God, did the show need that -- but there's still enough of a frisson to generate internet filth. Which is nice. She treats him like a much-loved bratty brother who tells bad jokes and needs a bit of a slapdown sometimes. Nor is she afraid to tell him he's wrong or call him on it when he refuses to admit he's miserable. She's also kind to the people she meets, from the telepathic Ood to the magnificent Martha Jones, who is still a little tender on the subject of the Doctor.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Really, she's in it for the adventure -- and foolish enough to use the F-word -- forever. She's funny, compassionate and able, attacks a Sontaran with a mallet and makes one of the best silly jokes ever in new Who.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Her Achilles heel is that she doesn't know how good she is. She thinks she's a nobody who got lucky. selenak once defined what it was that made Donna such a great character: she's a fundamentally decent human being and is capable of magnificence. This is true with or without the Doctor -- all it takes is a bit of a push. [See Turn Left].
.
.
.
And that push comes from Rose, who is intriguing and brilliant in Turn Left, if a little orally challenged. Allow me to share with you further awesome: Wilf, Martha, Jackie, Mickey, River Song (who is not smug), Sarah Jane, Gwen Cooper and Rose. And also the fabulous Captain Magambo, Captain Marion Price and anon woman soldier who appears in the UK and then in New York. Unit -- the job choice for world travel. The glorious Mrs Moore, from a flashback in the final episode.
You're welcome.
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And finally, the icon of hope*. (For those of you who are X-Files watchers, I strongly suspect this is another Mulder's zip =/= Scully's cross moment, but I like the tease of it anyway). I don't think Donna will be back for three reasons: (a) personal circumstances of the leads; (b) RTD thought his ending was perfect and tragic; (c) money in this time of credit-kick-to-the-bollocks. Hope I'm wrong. (ETA: *it implies that Donna's memories and consciousness are locked in an inanimate object: the ring)
And now let us pause for a moment while David Tennant pulls a very silly face indeed
Right then. Music. Lots of people don't like the Murray Gold soundtrack music for Doctor Who. I think it's too damned loud in the mix and too intent on giving emotional pointers. Divorced from the show, though, I quite like it
[A Dazzling End | Turn Left | The Greatest Story Never Told | The Rueful Fate of Donna Noble]
I am not very familiar with the vidding world, but this one is amazing, as a piece of art and as a piece of story-telling: Don't Lose Yourself by sweetestdrain
Finally, the fiction*. The nature of the relationship between Donna and the Doctor means there are very few long pr0nsome epics of true love. Thank God. Instead, there's a veritable plethora of filthy innuendo-laden comedy, at least three sex pollen stories that I can think of and lots and lots and lots of Journey's End fix-its. Lots. Enough to make Ianto do this:
1.The long, plotty fix-it
Doctor Who Season Five by ariastar
This is a long, exciting and funny epic, featuring the Doctor and the Master, Romana, a changed Donna rediscovering her own intelligence and the time war
Memory Lapse Carmen Sandiego
A mandatory attendance post-episode epic which takes in the Time War, has a couple of ingenious plot twists, some great lines and manages to have a kick like a donkey at the end. Best read unspoiled.
2. The shorter, brilliant fix-it
Let's Forget We're Running (Out of Time) zoicite
A long, mature and sad fix-it for Journey's End about friendship and love which manages to spot the cliches and subvert or avoid them. Shows that choosing domesticity doesn't necessarily mean compromising who you are.
Footsteps In The Sand entangled_now
Starts as a traditional, well-written fix-it, careers off in a quite unexpected direction, showing a Donna who decides her own fate.
Your History Written In Stars and Time such_heights
The universe wants to thank Donna Noble for something she can't remember.
And I Won't Miss You At All by d.
She doesn't remember, but she's magnificent nonetheless.
Experimental Science entangled_now
Donna discovers she has a facility for dismantling household objects and making them into something different. It's what happens after that that makes me love this story: a study in compassion overcoming fear.
3. Others
A Leap In The Dark nonelvis
A clever story about mixed up timelines at a student party.
An Inordinate Fondness dameruth
An interlude in travels which serves as a character study of Donna the traveller.
Memory Lane, Aydrdoon Valley kattahj
Plotty story about Donna and Jack, Ianto, Lee and the Doctor, exploring an alien culture: Jack's home.
How Donna Didn't Spend Her Summer Vacation banburytales
An ice planet, a pissed off companion and thermovores.
Upon The Upland Road meddow
A story about the Year That Never Was, featuring Sarah Jane and Donna trying to evade the Master's goons. Sad, with some wonderful characterisation but a wandery plot. It's very good on female friendship forged in adversity
Two stories of the kind which I usually run screaming from, because they're about babies (or impending motherhood). But these defy the stereotype by being sweet and funny without being sappy or brainless
One of These Mornings branwyn
April in my Arms shaggydogstail
4. Glorious Donna/Martha and other slash. The portmanteau is MaDonna. Of course it is.
More Than Just A Cheap Trick magicallaw
Oh, this is so clever, witty and comforting. A time travel story in which Donna meets Martha and Martha meets Donna but not necessarily in the expected order.
What We've Become thedeadparrot
Martha meets Donna, post-JE, and a spark of familiarity turns into love. Sad and a bit lovely.
Six Impossible Things netgirl_y2k
Donna and Romana meet. Very funny and unexpectedly sweet. And by the same author
A Change is as Good As A Rest
Donna Noble sacks out on Rose Tyler's couch in an alternate universe.
Edited to add because I was stupid and forgot this one
In An Interstellar Burst such_heights
Fabulous picaresque adventure in which Donna, Martha and Rose go on the lam across the universe. Funny, great lines, and a wonderful chemistry between the three women. Plus! Commentfic in the comments.
5. Crack
Passing The Torch Carmen Sandiego
The Doctor cops it and passes his legacy to Donna Noble
Donna the Beta Reader nostalgia_lj
Skewers two fandoms in one.
6. The crossovers
All In A Day's Work by Miss Baxter Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy
In which Donna Noble thwarts an alien invasion during a day's work at the office
Let's Do The Time Loop Again by spoofmaster Stargate SG-1
A crossover with the episode Window of Opportunity in which the Tardis gets caught in Ancient time travel technology
Never Have I Ever st_aurafina Iron Man, Torchwood
An assistants' conference. Donna, Ianto and Pepper Potts trade notes
Spaced crossover
One from the sizeofthatthing, which means very adult. Tim Bisley/Donna. Extremely funny if you've ever watched Spaced
*Not all of these stories have perfect punctuation, formatting and so on, mostly because I don't care if the story is good. Just wanted to warn people who find this a deal-breaker.
(If you want to nick any of the above pictures and mutate them for your own jollies, put Maroon 5 lyrics on them, or colourwash them in puce, have at it. Glad to have saved you the capping time.)