Bread upon the waters

[scarfman]

I haven't any basis to judge Kylie Minogue's casting in the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special. All I've seen her in is the Elton John episode of The Vicar of Dibley in which she played Celebrity-Playing-Herself, and had maybe two lines and a song. In all likelihood not her model performance, and I don't remember it anyway.

Of Catherine Tate's re-casting as Donna from last year's Chrismas special into Season 2008's TARDIS companion, I've written in several journals and communities already, "Good. He needs someone who's not impressed with him."

I've already written in support of the argument that Martha's treatment on her departure is indicative of encultured racism, and even though a retroactive in-text justification would be "the work of three synapses" it's Too Late Now. But significantowl came up with an out-text argument why the Doctor needed not to offer Martha any validation at the end of Last of the Time Lords that I find compelling. It may be summarized: As the scene plays we come away cheering for Martha for owning her power and giving the Doctor a needed dressing-down; but, had the Doctor offered her validation at that point, that would have been the dramatic highlight of the scene, rather than the worth it was meant to be recognizing. So perhaps it's best that it played the the way it did, even with the unfortunate unconscious racist implication. However, Martha left the Doctor her cellphone, and we know Martha shall be appearing twice or thrice in the first half of Torchwood's next season and then be rejoining the TARDIS crew in the last half of Doctor Who's season 2008; so there's good reason to believe that there's a proper resolution coming yet.

Which I think may very well be working toward the resolution to what I've called Tennant's incarnation arc, or the Lonely God arc. Since the Game Station regeneration, the Doctor has got a little big for his britches (even for the britches of the last Time Lord) and not only I have noticed. He's also had successively less starry-eyed girls traveling with him. I said before that Martha's character arc pretty much demands that she be part of the puncturing of his hubris and so, it appears, she shall ... but can anyone who's seen The Runaway Bride nominate a better candidate for a companion to puncture the Doctor's hubris than Donna?

Comments

[drake57.livejournal.com]

I think Donna will be perfect and maybe she'll get him to go an actual alien planet instead of some Earth colony or Earth.

Idle thought

[kiri-l.livejournal.com]

Don't forget he's got a regeneration coming p (13th?) that is "bad" [Valeyard] this may be foreshadowing.

Also (without having read the supplementary link) it is a logcal progression in the sense of Rose - Martha - Donna(Bride) in terms of interaction. Martha filled the middle section very well in many ways.

Re: Idle thought

[antiwesley.livejournal.com]

This would only be Doctor #11 for the regeneration.
(McGann = 8, Eccleston = 9, and Tennant oddly, is 10.)

The Valeyard was the amalgamation of evil from the Doctor and, if I remember rightly, existed 'between' the Doctor's twelfth and final regneration... think of the Valeyard more as the Watcher from "Logopolis" more than an actual incarnation.

[travels-in-time.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad someone else is fairly upbeat about this. I thought I was the only one.

Not only is Donna totally not impressed with the Doctor, but she's pretty funny. I enjoyed the Christmas special with her in it, and if it's written well, having her as a Companion could really work. Tennant is emo enough for two, so we won't lose the Woe of the Last Time Lord, but she'll keep things from getting too bogged down. As long as she's not punching him every ep.

And she's the one who pointed out that he needs someone to stop him, something that neither Rose nor Martha noticed or mentioned...

I'm cautiously optimistic.