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rabid1stGO HOME, MATE!
By Rabid1st
Doctor Who
Ten/Rose
Beta: None...timely rather than polished, I think.
Spoilers: The End of Time Part 2, the final moments.
Summary: This is why the TARDIS blew up like that.
Disclaimer: Well, quite obviously, I don't have any right to these character or we would have a much, MUCH better ending. Something a bit more like this...
Alarms sounded. Lights flashed. An ominously ticking counter clattered ever closer to zero. Thirty seconds. Twenty. He stood at the center of the machine. Supported by safety webbing, he opened his stance and spread his arms wide. His gaze swept the room to find her.
“Are you ready?” she called to him.
“Ready,” he said, giving her a thumbs up with one hand.
“Are you sure?” she shouted over the steam vents releasing pressure into the waste ducts to either side of the dimension cannon.
“Quite sure,” he said. “Time to close the loop.”
“What if he's not...ready?”
“Too bad. This is what he needs, hope, rest...a life. And I want my body back.”
“One shot,” she reminded him as her finger stretched toward the firing button. “In three, two...”
He didn't really hear her say the final number, but the suggestion of it echoed in his head as he was snatched away from his flesh. There was a flash of brilliant golden light. Through the glare, he saw her cover her eyes with an upraised arm and then he was falling. No. He was evaporating, a drop of water on a red hot skillet. He seemed to dance through eternity. There was nothing of him for a moment. Panic set in. He wanted to breathe but he had no lungs, no heart, no hands. And then, he was surrounded by regenerative fire and flying debris. Bits of the TARDIS rained down on him as every cell in his body changed. He hugged a leg to his chest, solid, real. He was home, in his TARDIS again, with legs and eyes and...hair like a girl. He almost forgot his sense of disorientation in the wonder of it all, breath in his lungs and the reassuring double heartbeat.
********************************************************************************
“I don't want to go,” a tearful, disembodied voice declared. The plaintive cry echoed off the walls of the transfer chamber.
“...fire,” Rose said, even as she lifted her finger from the button.
The deed was done. She squinted into the room, hoping for a glimpse of him. The blinding light didn't fade. It blipped out of being as if someone had thrown a switch. Someone had. She had, in fact. Rose trembled as she waited for the incoming data to reassure her. What if she'd killed him? What if she'd fractured reality? The world could be ending, but she couldn't muster a trace of guilt at that particular moment. Her attention was divided between all of the technicians reporting on the stability of two dimensions and the seemingly lifeless body in the targeting circle. He'd slumped forward in the support harness.
“We've lost power to the entire coastline," someone shouted.
“Torchwood 2 reports fissures opening along the rift fault.”
“Ms. Tyler, we need to evacuate the civilians. Ms. Tyler?”
She answered the urgent call absently, her gaze fixed on the still figure beyond the plexiglass blast shielding, “Give the order. And route the main drive through the auxillary couplings. We can run on batteries for an hour or two.”
“They'll never take the overload.”
“Just do it,” she snapped. Unable to stay still a second longer, she started for the transfer room door. It was locked. She turned to the nearest technician. “Is he alive?”
The harried man she was addressing blinked at her. “What?”
“Did it work? Is he alive?”
“I—I,” he stuttered, wafting a hand above his smoking panel of levers and readouts. “I can't tell you. Everything--just---f-fr-fried.”
“Right. Buzz me in, then clear out. Time to evacuate the facility.”
“You can't go in there.”
“I am going,” she said. “Buzz me in, Mister. That's an order.”
“Ms. Tyler?” A general in a heavily decorated uniform seized her elbow as she pushed hard against the locked door. “There's a good chance reality will be falling into the void any second now,” he reminded her.
“I can't stop that,” Rose stated. “We need him.” She pointed toward the Doctor. “And if we die, at least, he's not dying alone. Do you understand?”
The general tightened his grip, but Rose held firm under his steely stare until he gave up the contest of wills. He turned with a curt nod at the technician. “Open the door, son. We might as well have our happy ending.”
Releasing a breath she hadn't known she was holding, Rose wrenched the door wide and bulldozed into the transfer room. She scrambled over a fallen beam and around scattered ceiling tiles, skirting a dozen sizzling electrical wires. In the room she'd just abandoned there was a panicked rushing about as people tried to stop a disaster she'd set in motion. She couldn't bring herself to care. If he was dead, if he was lost to her forever, then the world could end. Darkness would come as a blessing. But he couldn't be dead. Because all he was, all she was, couldn't just be snuffed out like that. He never got to live. He wanted to live and they never let him have the peace he so richly deserved.
She reached him, but stopped just short of touching his cheek. She couldn't bear to confirm it, to feel lifeless flesh and know that he was gone.
“Doctor?” she said in a very small voice. He groaned. With a tiny mew, she closed the distance between them, pressing her body to his. Her fingers were in his hair before she could think of any injury he might be suffering. She petted and soothed.
“There. There. I've got you. It's okay. It's all right.”
He tried to lift his head, but it lolled against her shoulder. She kissed his forehead, his temple, his cheek, before moving back a bit to grip his face in both hands. “It is you?” she asked, suddenly. “Not the other one?”
“Rose?” he said on a sigh. His fingers fluttered to his chest to pluck at the straps holding him upright. “Am I dead?” Then, he tore his gaze from her face and glanced across the room. “Oh, no! You didn't?”
“I had to. I'm sorry. So sorry...but...”
“One heart,” he said, suddenly, pressing his palm flat over his breastbone. “I've only got one heart.”
“Yeah, about that...”
There was a rumble of a distant explosion. He focused on her again. “They broke the time lock. The Time Lords. They lowered the walls of reality and you,” he shook his head in wonder, “you...traced my biometric signal. Well...you had a template, didn't you?”
Rose nodded. “It was easy really,” she said, helping him with the buckles and straps until he was free of the webbing, “once we knew where to aim...”
“You could reverse the metacrisis and complete my prempted regeneration,” he finished for her. “Well...no wonder things were blowing up and drifting about on the TARDIS. Rose Tyler,” he said, with a singing admiration, “Always doing the impossible.”
“You aren't angry?”
“I'm furious,” he said, giving her a squeeze that took her breath away. “You've broken every law of time, started a dimensional conflagration.” Lowering his head, he nuzzled along her neck. “Risked your life, tossed aside my gift of an almost perfect me...”
Rose stiffened, pushing him away. “Yes, but he wasn't you.”
“Why are you so obstinate?” he asked.
“Me? You're the one who just doesn't get it. I'm never going to leave you. You are going to die peacefully in our bed, many years from now, surrounded by our great-grandchildren like a normal person."
"Is that how normal people die?"
"It is. So you might as well just...”
“Never mind,” he cut her off, “I concede. I surrender. Whatever you've done to creation, and I believe you've broken it, I intend to forgive you all as soon as I've kissed you thoroughly.”
Rose took a step back, her hands clutching at his jacket to bring them both back to their senses. “I do think the world is ending.”
“Yes, yes, well, if that's going to ruin the mood,” he said. Without taking his eyes off of Rose he shouted toward the door, “Anyone in the vicinity of a particle accelerator? You need a Hansen's feedback loop, six point eight seven micropulses a second. Aim it at the largest temporal fissure.”
The general hubbub around them began to settle down after that, but they didn't really pay much attention to their surroundings as they were too busy paying quite careful attention to one another.
The End
AUTHOR'S NOTE: And so it ends, as many suspected it would, with a completely self-indulgent and uninspired final fifteen minutes. No links to the past, apart from maudlin goodbyes. A lottery ticket for Donna to make her rich and happy. Some lovely epic grandstanding for Ten, oh, David made me cry, pleading for a few years of happiness, that he was ultimately denied.
I could rant and rave about this, but really, what's the point? I was actually enjoying it until the final goodbyes started. I figured all was lost when he got to Jack, but even then...I had hope to the very second Matt Smith appeared. Because I could not accept that my Doctor would die like that...pleading to the last.
So, I've written this fic which contends that he didn't die like that at all. Rose pulled him out of there at the last second, replacing him with Ten 2. That's what happened. And now I am done with Doctor Who...because I just can't see it go on after such a tragically bitter pill was forced down my throat. At least we didn't have to see Rose being faithless...no anti-pony. And he rejected the Time Lords, but he never healed, he was never happy again...he just died...and well...I can't accept that end. So this is my canon.
By Rabid1st
Doctor Who
Ten/Rose
Beta: None...timely rather than polished, I think.
Spoilers: The End of Time Part 2, the final moments.
Summary: This is why the TARDIS blew up like that.
Disclaimer: Well, quite obviously, I don't have any right to these character or we would have a much, MUCH better ending. Something a bit more like this...
Alarms sounded. Lights flashed. An ominously ticking counter clattered ever closer to zero. Thirty seconds. Twenty. He stood at the center of the machine. Supported by safety webbing, he opened his stance and spread his arms wide. His gaze swept the room to find her.
“Are you ready?” she called to him.
“Ready,” he said, giving her a thumbs up with one hand.
“Are you sure?” she shouted over the steam vents releasing pressure into the waste ducts to either side of the dimension cannon.
“Quite sure,” he said. “Time to close the loop.”
“What if he's not...ready?”
“Too bad. This is what he needs, hope, rest...a life. And I want my body back.”
“One shot,” she reminded him as her finger stretched toward the firing button. “In three, two...”
He didn't really hear her say the final number, but the suggestion of it echoed in his head as he was snatched away from his flesh. There was a flash of brilliant golden light. Through the glare, he saw her cover her eyes with an upraised arm and then he was falling. No. He was evaporating, a drop of water on a red hot skillet. He seemed to dance through eternity. There was nothing of him for a moment. Panic set in. He wanted to breathe but he had no lungs, no heart, no hands. And then, he was surrounded by regenerative fire and flying debris. Bits of the TARDIS rained down on him as every cell in his body changed. He hugged a leg to his chest, solid, real. He was home, in his TARDIS again, with legs and eyes and...hair like a girl. He almost forgot his sense of disorientation in the wonder of it all, breath in his lungs and the reassuring double heartbeat.
********************************************************************************
“I don't want to go,” a tearful, disembodied voice declared. The plaintive cry echoed off the walls of the transfer chamber.
“...fire,” Rose said, even as she lifted her finger from the button.
The deed was done. She squinted into the room, hoping for a glimpse of him. The blinding light didn't fade. It blipped out of being as if someone had thrown a switch. Someone had. She had, in fact. Rose trembled as she waited for the incoming data to reassure her. What if she'd killed him? What if she'd fractured reality? The world could be ending, but she couldn't muster a trace of guilt at that particular moment. Her attention was divided between all of the technicians reporting on the stability of two dimensions and the seemingly lifeless body in the targeting circle. He'd slumped forward in the support harness.
“We've lost power to the entire coastline," someone shouted.
“Torchwood 2 reports fissures opening along the rift fault.”
“Ms. Tyler, we need to evacuate the civilians. Ms. Tyler?”
She answered the urgent call absently, her gaze fixed on the still figure beyond the plexiglass blast shielding, “Give the order. And route the main drive through the auxillary couplings. We can run on batteries for an hour or two.”
“They'll never take the overload.”
“Just do it,” she snapped. Unable to stay still a second longer, she started for the transfer room door. It was locked. She turned to the nearest technician. “Is he alive?”
The harried man she was addressing blinked at her. “What?”
“Did it work? Is he alive?”
“I—I,” he stuttered, wafting a hand above his smoking panel of levers and readouts. “I can't tell you. Everything--just---f-fr-fried.”
“Right. Buzz me in, then clear out. Time to evacuate the facility.”
“You can't go in there.”
“I am going,” she said. “Buzz me in, Mister. That's an order.”
“Ms. Tyler?” A general in a heavily decorated uniform seized her elbow as she pushed hard against the locked door. “There's a good chance reality will be falling into the void any second now,” he reminded her.
“I can't stop that,” Rose stated. “We need him.” She pointed toward the Doctor. “And if we die, at least, he's not dying alone. Do you understand?”
The general tightened his grip, but Rose held firm under his steely stare until he gave up the contest of wills. He turned with a curt nod at the technician. “Open the door, son. We might as well have our happy ending.”
Releasing a breath she hadn't known she was holding, Rose wrenched the door wide and bulldozed into the transfer room. She scrambled over a fallen beam and around scattered ceiling tiles, skirting a dozen sizzling electrical wires. In the room she'd just abandoned there was a panicked rushing about as people tried to stop a disaster she'd set in motion. She couldn't bring herself to care. If he was dead, if he was lost to her forever, then the world could end. Darkness would come as a blessing. But he couldn't be dead. Because all he was, all she was, couldn't just be snuffed out like that. He never got to live. He wanted to live and they never let him have the peace he so richly deserved.
She reached him, but stopped just short of touching his cheek. She couldn't bear to confirm it, to feel lifeless flesh and know that he was gone.
“Doctor?” she said in a very small voice. He groaned. With a tiny mew, she closed the distance between them, pressing her body to his. Her fingers were in his hair before she could think of any injury he might be suffering. She petted and soothed.
“There. There. I've got you. It's okay. It's all right.”
He tried to lift his head, but it lolled against her shoulder. She kissed his forehead, his temple, his cheek, before moving back a bit to grip his face in both hands. “It is you?” she asked, suddenly. “Not the other one?”
“Rose?” he said on a sigh. His fingers fluttered to his chest to pluck at the straps holding him upright. “Am I dead?” Then, he tore his gaze from her face and glanced across the room. “Oh, no! You didn't?”
“I had to. I'm sorry. So sorry...but...”
“One heart,” he said, suddenly, pressing his palm flat over his breastbone. “I've only got one heart.”
“Yeah, about that...”
There was a rumble of a distant explosion. He focused on her again. “They broke the time lock. The Time Lords. They lowered the walls of reality and you,” he shook his head in wonder, “you...traced my biometric signal. Well...you had a template, didn't you?”
Rose nodded. “It was easy really,” she said, helping him with the buckles and straps until he was free of the webbing, “once we knew where to aim...”
“You could reverse the metacrisis and complete my prempted regeneration,” he finished for her. “Well...no wonder things were blowing up and drifting about on the TARDIS. Rose Tyler,” he said, with a singing admiration, “Always doing the impossible.”
“You aren't angry?”
“I'm furious,” he said, giving her a squeeze that took her breath away. “You've broken every law of time, started a dimensional conflagration.” Lowering his head, he nuzzled along her neck. “Risked your life, tossed aside my gift of an almost perfect me...”
Rose stiffened, pushing him away. “Yes, but he wasn't you.”
“Why are you so obstinate?” he asked.
“Me? You're the one who just doesn't get it. I'm never going to leave you. You are going to die peacefully in our bed, many years from now, surrounded by our great-grandchildren like a normal person."
"Is that how normal people die?"
"It is. So you might as well just...”
“Never mind,” he cut her off, “I concede. I surrender. Whatever you've done to creation, and I believe you've broken it, I intend to forgive you all as soon as I've kissed you thoroughly.”
Rose took a step back, her hands clutching at his jacket to bring them both back to their senses. “I do think the world is ending.”
“Yes, yes, well, if that's going to ruin the mood,” he said. Without taking his eyes off of Rose he shouted toward the door, “Anyone in the vicinity of a particle accelerator? You need a Hansen's feedback loop, six point eight seven micropulses a second. Aim it at the largest temporal fissure.”
The general hubbub around them began to settle down after that, but they didn't really pay much attention to their surroundings as they were too busy paying quite careful attention to one another.
The End
AUTHOR'S NOTE: And so it ends, as many suspected it would, with a completely self-indulgent and uninspired final fifteen minutes. No links to the past, apart from maudlin goodbyes. A lottery ticket for Donna to make her rich and happy. Some lovely epic grandstanding for Ten, oh, David made me cry, pleading for a few years of happiness, that he was ultimately denied.
I could rant and rave about this, but really, what's the point? I was actually enjoying it until the final goodbyes started. I figured all was lost when he got to Jack, but even then...I had hope to the very second Matt Smith appeared. Because I could not accept that my Doctor would die like that...pleading to the last.
So, I've written this fic which contends that he didn't die like that at all. Rose pulled him out of there at the last second, replacing him with Ten 2. That's what happened. And now I am done with Doctor Who...because I just can't see it go on after such a tragically bitter pill was forced down my throat. At least we didn't have to see Rose being faithless...no anti-pony. And he rejected the Time Lords, but he never healed, he was never happy again...he just died...and well...I can't accept that end. So this is my canon.
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Date: 2010-01-02 06:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-02 06:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-01-02 06:43 am (UTC)I feel like after JE, when he walked away from Rose without a second glance, it was never going to be any better! Sure so she is with Ten2, but that means nothing really. I wish he had muttered under his breath, something, anything to prove that he did not Love Rose for nothing, but what did we get, Oh You'll have a gfood year .. It's quite actually pathetic. Like a scramble just to get it over with in my view.
That's not to take away for David, he has been brilliant, and it was just like our Ten to go fighting until the end!
Your ficlet was gorgeous, I hope there will be a sequel, because I know whos canon I prefer, Well done Rae!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-02 06:59 am (UTC)So sad and hopeless...honestly, what must it be like to be Russell?
Rae
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Date: 2010-01-02 07:21 am (UTC)But thank you for this. Because that ending hurts. Ugh. At least they didn't try to make us feel good with, "oh look, a flash of Rose and Ten 2 old and happy!" or something similar. That would have really been too far.
“I concede. I surrender. Whatever you've done to creation, and I believe you've broken it, I intend to forgive you as soon as I've kissed you thoroughly.”
::happy sigh::
PS: Did you notice the Bad Wolf music?
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Date: 2010-01-02 07:29 am (UTC)I am happy that you enjoyed the ficlet...and we can just stay in our own little bubble where Rose and Ten 2 managed to get Ten out of there before he died...and Ten 2 took his rightful place. I wish there was a coda from RTD. I really can't understand David being so happy about all of this...it was mostly unconnected rubbish. Showy, yes! And he got to emote a lot. But in the final analysis...it was pointless emoting.
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From:(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-02 07:49 am (UTC)GOOD JOB!!
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Date: 2010-01-02 08:06 am (UTC)I can't believe RTD wrote...well...all of that...and then just wandered off into such a lame-ass ending. It wasn't even interesting in its own right. SIGH!
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Date: 2010-01-02 08:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-02 09:09 am (UTC)I was quite pleased with it early on...but that's because I actually thought we were going somewhere. Sadly, we were just killing over two hours.
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Date: 2010-01-02 11:31 am (UTC)Thank you for your wonderful fic, it has eased my spirits a bit. After watching that ending I cried for about 2 hours with my husband trying to console me, a little silly but I couldn't control my emotions..
I just could not believe that the episode went the way it did. Overall I enjoyed it and, like you said, there were hints that made us hope until the very end. Especially when Ten said "I'm going to get my reward"...then he just went around saying goodbye to everyone which made no sense to me. Another RTD projection where he says goodbye to the old characters?
When Ten regenerated it was so heart breaking....I really believe all my tears were for the character that was the Tenth doctor and how hopeless everything was..then at very last they set the reset button and I cried for every thing that was before. I can no longer watch Doctor Who after what happened. Why make the show about a love story to begin with and end everything about his fear of death?
I never thought the Doctor had a problem with dying in the first place (see 9th to 10th, different man but the same as we were forced to believe). The only way that fear makes sense is because he doesn't want to lose the one he loves. When he sees Rose it is such a pointless interaction..I thought he would mutter something in relation to his feelings but there was nothing.
I will believe in your cannon all the way and will read every story you write. I feel like I need a support group for this..or maybe I'm unhealthily attached? I woke up at 5am this morning from a Doctor Who dream where I rewrote the ending...
All of my love to all the fans who are possibly weeping at this very moment...
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Date: 2010-01-02 05:45 pm (UTC)When he said, "I'm going to get my reward" my heart did a little leap and I thought...yes! This is it. Then he did his round of goodbyes...but I still thought...oh, he doesn't know...he thinks THIS is all there is. I was pleading with the screen to the very end. And then...it was over and I felt like a part of me had died...and I'm sure that that is why RTD wrote it...so that I could feel that way. But what he doesn't know is that feeling is not one I will treasure. It's not like this was a heartbreakingly beautiful tragedy. I know that RTD desperately wanted it to be...but it is all undermined by the fact that Matt Smith is the Doctor...he's not dead and we are expected to show up next time and cheer him along on his exploits.
If Ten had gone to Rose...we would have had epic tragedy...as his part of the Doctor would die...but also have what he'd never had. I suppose we are expected to console ourselves that Ten 2 is him...and he's Ten 2. But I can't reconcile myself to Rose's lament...and his lament...and his bleak look after he's asked if he was ever happy again. Donna looked happy. Martha looked happy. Jack looked happy...all of them settled for "making do" and found solace in it. So, we are expected to believe Ten 2 and Rose did the same...even though it was completely out of character for them both to just give up like that. Oh, well...if a man can know he's put his story out of character...and still not fix it...there's not much I can say about the man.
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Date: 2010-01-02 03:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 01:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-01-02 04:00 pm (UTC)I'm grateful though for the openness of it all. At least RTD gave us enough freedom to insert our own cannon at different points. Like you said, a scene where Ten2 and Rose are living happily would have killed most of that.
When I saw the explosive regeneration, I saw it as him letting go finally after fighting till the end. That's his love of Rose feeding into the regeneration, because the Eleventh Doctor is/will be a new man. Same memories, but not the same feelings.
Your version is better though :)
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Date: 2010-01-02 05:06 pm (UTC)It truly was socks all around for everyone. Martha/Doctor fans got Mickey Smith. Donna/Doctor fans found out that she really was just a clueless temp from Chiswick...albeit one that has won the lottery. Fans of the Time Lords got the Time Lords disgraced. Fans of Jack/Ianto...got Jack moving on with Alonzo...in a Star Wars casino bar. Jack's internal power...also meaningless...he's just some guy who will live forever to no purpose. The Wilf is his father people...got Wilf is his death knocking. The Rose/Ten2 people will have to deal with her pulling free of that kiss and running toward the vanishing TARDIS. And WE...will have to deal with knowing that he was never happy again, once he lost her...and the last thing he did in life...was take one more look at her. SIGH!
And so it ends with a whinge and some meaningless pyrotechnics.
My version was definitely better. I also wouldn't have had old Rassilon tossing his diamonds free of the time lock...or the Doctor shooting it. I would have had the Doctor shoot Jack...and let Jack's Bad Wolfness have some meaning. But then...I would have been paying attention to my entire story. At least, I hope I would have.
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Date: 2010-01-02 04:02 pm (UTC)And it just occurred to me while washing the dishes in the kitchen there was another way RTD could have made his ending work slightly better. If Ten had regenerated in the booth while Wilf watched and then Eleven went and made all of Ten's quasi-goodbyes to acknowledge his past life before moving on. The maudlin quality then would have been more fitting and a very appropriate homage to Ten. I dunno. Rusty got so bloody much of it right, and Wilf being the one who knocked surprised the hell out of me, just as it should. He acknowledged that Ten deserved a reward, and attempted to give it to him. He had the trapping of an epic story. 99.995% of it was. It's like the car insurance commercial where the girls are asked if they'd like a pony. The first one gets a plastic toy and she's content. The second girl is asked, the man snickers and a horse walks in and the first girl complains, "You didn't say I could have a REAL pony." and the man says, "You didn't ask." We got a plastic pony for Christmas, Rae.
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Date: 2010-01-02 04:44 pm (UTC)You almost had me going, despite that I do believe Ten II is the Doctor, but dealing with the human condition. Ten was so unhappy, that I could be persuaded he was going to get a happy ending somehow that I believe Ten II got. Maybe they'd share and blend consciousnesses? I don't know.
In retrospect, RTD has been moving away from references to Rose and their love. Moffat was certainly not going to take up that torch. The Time Lord must go on. RTD believes he tied off the Doctor/Rose story. I suppose that regeneration will soften those memories as the 'new man' walks away.
I was shocked when there was no moment looking in on Ten II. How he and Rose were living a fantastic life I believe they were. There were rumors/spoilers that seemed much more likely than similar rumors/spoilers that Mickey and Martha being married, but alas.
I still am very interested to read your DW fic. I liked this fic. I would love to read 'Gum' if you ever continue with it. Evil Ten II is an interesting concept.
I'm sorry DW didn't go your way. I suspected it might not, but I was hoping for some happy at the end for Ten. EoT kinda left me feeling a bit hollow. The goodbyes and dreaded regeneration ended up being his reward.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-02 04:56 pm (UTC)I am almost sorry that you didn't get some kind of reassurance to your canon. But, frankly, it truly wouldn't be fair if the Ten2/Rose people were given closure and everyone else got socks. As it is...we all got socks. I suppose the Master/Doctor people were the most fulfilled by this. The Master, at least, proved that he could rise to the occasion and get a bit of his own back.
I, truly, believed in the hope of the pony...obviously...not because I believed in RTD, but because I find it hard to believe he could get something wrong...have the opportunity to fix it...and then, simply give up and stick with the wrong bits. But, as you say, he probably really did think that he did the best he could by Rose...then realized too late that she would never accept it...and corrected his out of character behavior for her...by giving us that half-hearted kiss on the JE beach and her wrenching free of the embrace.
It was a concession to the fact that he knew Rose wouldn't accept her lot. But, I suppose, there was nothing she could do about it in the end. My only solace is that I can imagine the Doctor coming home to her when the show finally goes off the air...since he's still connected to that body. But, really, Russell has reduced my childhood hero to...whatever that was at the end...an anguished lament.
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Date: 2010-01-02 05:45 pm (UTC)Tv: Too many good things end with crap. I really think there should be a five season max for any tv show (and not all shows should have even that).
I’ve only watched RTD’s Doctor Who but I’m seriously concerned with how he views women. We’re supposed to believe that all female companions eventually have to go home and if they get married (and win the lottery for pity’s sake) they’ll be happy? Donna: Are you kidding me? Better that she would have died with the knowledge of how she grew. Rose: at least living a happy life with Ten2? Please. (And don’t get me started on that. As a twin, I am constantly flummoxed and offended to find that people buy that he’s the same person.) Martha: kicking ass, and happily married? Why even bring that in? Just to say goodbye to Mickey?
What about companionship? They’ve been saying that companions make The Doctor better, but where were they? Wilf wasn’t there long enough to do anything. They traded wisdom a bit, but nothing came of it. Why keep setting up this character as lonely, wanting a normal life, liking humans, and being afraid to die, and then do nothing with it? I think RTD had a great chance to do something special and willfully turned away from it. Isn’t a character supposed to change or grow by the end?
I like Sci-fi because of the possibilities and because the nature of humanity is explored. It would be so interesting for Ten to do something completely new and let him live a normal life. Ten departed with a feeling of fear for the future and the unknown. What a great message to send out at the start of the New Year.
What kind of tears did RTD want from fans? We were going to cry already because DT was leaving. It was going to be sad. But why have it be pointlessly tragic? I suppose Children of Earth was our greatest clue of how RTD thinks things should go.
And what will people think of Eleven? I tried not to judge, but his first moments grated. Especially because of Ten’s last words. That will always make me resent Eleven. At least Nine seemed ready to change.
I discovered Doctor Who in November 2008 and Rae, your fic has always been attached to it. I don’t separate them in my mind. I’ve learned so much about plot and character development through your reflections. It’s a relief to know that there are people out there who look at actions and don’t accept them if they don’t make sense. I love that you were never limited. Thank you.
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Date: 2010-01-02 06:11 pm (UTC)He is brilliant in some ways because he works like that without any sort of coherent idea in his mind, just random images, it seems. Random ideas..."I have always known that the TIme Lords were evil" he tells us in the last confidential. Or he gushes on about Rose and the Doctor loving one another absolutely in the Doomsday confidential. But he had the Master's ring survive just as a vague point for some future writer. And I think that he does the same thing with Ten 2 and Rose not really being happy with their lot.
This way...he figures he hasn't dashed anyone's hopes. I would bet you that's why he didn't show they happy as people thought he would, as well. He didn't want to close that loophole. But, as you note, in trying to walk that line of not bothering anyone too much...he fails to excite us. We don't have anything after this episode. It leaves us hollow and joyless and hopeless for the New Year. And, yes, that was what he was saying in Children of Earth, too.
Anyway...if my health improves, maybe I will be able to write fiction that will entertain and amaze my audience. I promise you I will do my level best to be true to my characters and not do anything stupid like kill someone off just because I can and you might cry. Deal?
Rae
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Date: 2010-01-02 06:05 pm (UTC)Rae, you should've written the end. Would've been more poetic and seemed less like a "fuck you" from an angry writer.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-02 07:52 pm (UTC)It's almost as if diamonds are dropped out of the writers' pockets and scattered on the ground for others to pick up and turn until they sparkle. Nobody has the last word, the definitive version. It can be what we want it to be. Maybe that's why DW has thrived in this Internet-dominated age.
I have absolutely no problem believing that Ten returned to Rose. You can make up whatever you like about where Nine got to between the first and second time he invited Rose to go with him, and this is just the same. And if other people want to meta that Ten's arc was all about things slipping away from him until his life slipped away, let them. They, too, have beautiful stories to tell. I'm angry now, I'm hurting now, I'm dealing with my own shit that would have somehow been sublimated into a final happy scene and an epic kiss, but it's my shit and I guess it's my responsibility.
The most important thing we can do is to keep writing. It's very democratic really. The version we see on TV is the corporate one - no wonder it sucks. Man the barricades, ladies.
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Date: 2010-01-02 08:09 pm (UTC)I think this is exactly it. I think RTD just gave up on credible storytelling and went for the whizbang send off that would allow David to show off his emoting and would sweep us around through a sentimental series of flashbacks. In the end, as I said, I think everyone is disappointed...and yet...entertained.
It still offends me as a storyteller to have such a tempest in a teacup. But maybe we really shouldn't have expected Doctor Who to have much depth...in fact...how did we ever come to that place? And, yes, maybe Matt Smith is just what everyone needs...a shallow, callow youth for a new age of pointless running down corridors with pretty girls in tow. As long as you're properly scared and then can stand up and cheer...what does any of it matter? I think we can take your diamond scattering analogy to heart at this point. RTD seems to have a definite preference for Rose...he sent his Doctor to her, in a way...probably the only way that he felt the corporate mentality would allow. And he then never allowed him to be happy again...but still...it did all go wrong, didn't it? Ten was right when he said that. And we will all just make do, in the end, with whatever substitues we come up with for the canon.
Or for the show...I suppose.
Rae
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Date: 2010-01-02 10:41 pm (UTC)I've been avoiding the Pony posts and I'm not sure I'm going to go back and read them now, but I wanted to swing by and put my two cents in.
I was watching this with friends and we kept saying to each other how much stronger that last 2 (at least) season finales had been. Which is never a good place to start from with something that's been this ridiculously hyped. And if the story was more coherent than some we've seen it was no less self-indulgent.
The thing for me wasn't so much that there was no happy ending - as Sigma said, the story continues - but the utter wrongness of a Time Lord protesting a regeneration. The very person who convinced those around him that he was the same man, same memories, same feelings suddenly acting as if this was a true death.
I think that very focus on 10 dying and not wanting to die and being maudlin about saying his goodbyes before he died is just a huge affront to those who came before and particularly to what RTD himself setup with the transition from 9 to 10. Esp. as we're simultaneously supposed to believe that TenII is the same man.
I might watch Matt Smith or not, but I certainly won't be doing so with nearly the level of interest I had before, and before the end of season 2 if I'm honest.
This only reinforced the need in my mind for a post about self-indulgent creators, the problems with tv, and the ridiculousness of super-sized aggrandized episodes.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-02 11:23 pm (UTC)I think that very focus on 10 dying and not wanting to die and being maudlin about saying his goodbyes before he died is just a huge affront to those who came before and particularly to what RTD himself setup with the transition from 9 to 10. Esp. as we're simultaneously supposed to believe that TenII is the same man.
It is exactly this that made me post the pony posts...and made me believe that no self respecting writer could know that he's screwed up so badly...have the ability to fix his screw up...and just dig himself deeper into the hole.
I do agree that much about this finale was miles better than the last two. But the narrative as a whole...is insulting to those people who stuck with the show the last year...watching Ten unravel...into this whining creature that is then...no healed but simply goes...at long last...only to have us...apparently expected to go on as if none of that ever happened.
New man goes sauntering off...and tragic Doctor dies...tragically...and also needlessly, pointlessly...alone.
(no subject)
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Date: 2010-01-02 11:31 pm (UTC)You are just wrong here.
When Buffy died at the end of season 5, there was no real chance for goodbyes. She was just gone, and the WB had not picked the series up, and it was devastating. I kept thinking, what about the gang? What do they do now? The story had to go on, and it did.
The Doctor was NOT a coward. He had been told he was going to die, he knew he would, but for a moment, it was all a bad dream, everything was alright. Until he saw Wilf in the chamber.
So he lets off some steam. Wouldn't you be pissed? He has been hanging with humans for so long--he is no longer the perfect stoic he once tried to be. He gives his life for Wilf, not the world--just one old man--saying it is his honour. Oh yeah, that's SO cowardly.
And then, with the little time he has left, he says goodbye to his friends the only way he can. WTF? Wouldn't you, if you could?
"I don't want to go" is not a coward's plea. It's simply a statement of fact. It's a "take this cup from me" sort of moment. Did not for a minute imply he was a coward. Just meant he was missing, already, what he knew he would lose. HIMSELF.
That makes him all the more strong to me. I'm sorry you feel different--but your story is just wrong on many points. You think the Doctor would be happy to find out that Rose tore reality apart, that she killed Handy (and god knows what else?) to save him--in a HUMAN body? Only to get to die again, permanently this time? I don't think so.
I'm not RTD's biggest fan. There were some things I wanted to be different. But I will not second guess what has happened. I'm sorry you feel differently. I just had to say my piece.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-02 11:59 pm (UTC)I would not say, btw, that TEN is a coward. Only that I was put off by the length of a lament that in the end leads only one predictable place. I know it's not predictable to everyone, but it was to a lot of people who gather here. And, well, I can see you miss MY point about the switch...because I would view THAT death, a human death, as far more noble than what we had. I would view him facing the life he kept running from, facing the death of those he loved as noble. As you note, we all die alone, but most of us don't then go on having adventures.
What I was purposing here...is that the Tenth personality split away...and be allowed to live the life he was still longing for in his final moments. He didn't want to die. And the only reason he was still around was because he cheated at his regeneration. Handy should be the Doctor.
As it is...we must invest in Handy being close enough to Ten for Rose but not close enough for us. If you read back through my posts...well...you will no doubt find you still disagree sharply with my viewpoint. But you will also find that I have a lot of respect for the Doctor as a historic character. I love Ten and I will miss him terribly, but I will always feel he was short-shifted and I simply feel that RTD made a right muddle of his narrative.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-02 11:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 02:36 am (UTC)There! : dusts off hands:
Ten is safe with Rose. Thank you for leaving me some supportive feedback. I can use all the love I can get today.
Rae
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Date: 2010-01-03 03:18 am (UTC)Darn RTD...he says in the Confidential that as he was contemplating a way to have him say goodbye to Rose, that she's "happy in the other universe with a half-human Doctor". I suppose he can go with that conceit, as he's the writer, but it feels SO. WRONG. Ten's "death" felt like such a let down and it wouldn't have taken much to fix it (as you have so ably shown here).
*sigh*
I'll still watch Doctor Who, but not with the same enthusiasm and joy. :(
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 04:01 am (UTC)I might bring myself to watch S5 in a year or two. I am not one of those people who rides a fandom down as it dies. I stopped watching Doctor Who in the middle of its death throes with Six...right after the Trial...so mostly all of Mel. I came back to it for Seven. He and Ace were quite good, but the storylines and effects were getting so very low budget by then...only a few stick out in my mind as worth much. Then Eight, who was both infuriating and wonderful. And Nine...bless him. And Ten...who was perfectly tormented from the time he lost his one true anchor...until his final plea.
And this...is what happened. This fic. I even know how and why...you see...it's a regenerative loop that was hijacked through a metacrisis. Originally Ten intended to just go with Rose and save his regeneration in the hand until he was ready to die. But then Ten 2 was born and Ten couldn't let him become the Doctor as he was "filled with rage"...of course...it was Ten's rage...but he hoped Rose would make the other him better...as he asked. Ten was making all of that noise...because he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to complete his regenerative loops with Ten 2 in the other dimension. So he gave up his hope of life when he gave Ten 2 to Rose...but...luckily...Rose got this out of Ten 2...and used her dimension cannon to fling him back into his body...and save her Doctor.
There you go.
Canon, baby!
Rae
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From:(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 04:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 05:41 am (UTC)Even if we didn't get anything more than this coda...would it have killed them to have given him some contentment in his labor. "Hard work is its own reward" is all I could think as we ran out the final 10 minutes. Well, that and..."Oh, once again it is going to suck. Please, Russell, don't suck again...fix it."
I just don't have the heart for this anymore, really. I feel cheated most of all of meaning. Lamenting your death like that...and then just going on...having fun? Just seems wrong. If he'd gone to Rose...he would have had a real death...so all of that gnashing of teeth and even his round about avoidance of the regeneration in JE...would have made some sense. As it is...we are going to be asked to assume Eleven is Ten...same man...different face...so what was all that fuss about? And it all feels so empty and dreary.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 04:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 05:14 am (UTC):snicker:
This absolutely happened. One day the canon will bear me out...when they trot out Ten 2 and Rose for the reunion special...and it's REALLY Ten.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 05:55 am (UTC)I'm replacing canon with your fic and pretend that Doctor and Rose had a happy reunion.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 07:13 am (UTC)I did like much of this episode...but it also went out of it's way to reinvent the wheel on somethings...I could have given him so much more economy of narrative, too. The best parts, as always with Tennant, as you say...were when he was with another person that he could care about...Wilf and the Master...one on one...and he was great. Even his rage over Wilf being the one who knocks...that was beautiful...if that had been the statement...even if Ten had died...well...I might have been okay with it.
But then...there was that diamond cast out of the time lock...I mean, tie a note around it next time, Rassilon. And the ridiculous woman in white...who has come over from a dada play apparently...just to be mysterious. I am going with her being Susan. But she could be Ace or Romana for all of that...or his mom...or his lost wife...whatever. Someone will have to write THAT fic, too.
RTD just lacks the courage of his convictions...or the insight to follow through on them...because Rose is the only companion that he interacts with directly. The others he keeps at a distance...but his Rose...he had to talk to her, even though it was the most dangerous of any interaction he had, truly risking his own time line and future. And if RTD really wanted us to believe Ten2 and Rose were happy...he could have had a bit of a mental link somehow...via Donna perhaps. OR...he could have left the kiss alone between Ten2 and Rose instead of editing it down to something so meaningless...and leaving us with that ambiguous end.
No, RTD wants to have everyone on his side. Very politcally correct of him...but he ends up dissing everyone...most of all his signature characters. He's hoping one of us will have the insight or courage that he lacks...and make the Rose/Ten reunion work in some future time. But, meanwhile, we have to avoid Moffat's version of modern Twilight Doctor. Vampires and angels and too much hair, oh, my!
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Date: 2010-01-03 01:10 pm (UTC)With Jack, the life or death situation is not there, but Ten still offers balm for a battered soul. Ianto can't be replaced by Alonso, but The Voyage of the Damned showed Alonso with many of the features that made Ianto appealing (his loyalty and integrity and non-flashy but abiding courage when the chips are down). Janto fans may not like the idea of Jack moving on, but which is worse: an eternity of losing one love after another (but loving deeply) or an eternity of isolation (avoiding the pain of loss by never allowing oneself to love)? And Ten did seem quite impressed by Alonso, so perhaps it was not just Jack, but Alonso that the Doctor was trying to help.
Joan's granddaughter doesn't seem to be anything profound from a changing timelines POV, so arguably my theory falls with this case. On the other hand, Ten did feel grief and guilt over how he (and John Smith) had hurt Joan. (I think that part of the wrath shown in his punishment of the Family reflects his guilt at the pain caused to Joan and his grief over the life John Smith had to give up. Yes, there was also anger over the deaths the Family caused, but the Doctor tends to foil the plans of killers rather than to wreak prolonged vengeance.) The visit to Joan's granddaughter gave him the opportunity to find out what happened to Joan. The information that Joan lived a full and happy life and went on to have a family was likely a salve to his conscience. (And the name Verity for the granddaughter was an interesting one. John Smith's fictional bio had his mother named Verity. It sounds like Joan found closure vis-a-vis John and the Doctor, else the name Verity would not likely have been a name passed down to her granddaughter.) A salve for the Doctor's conscience (and an answer for his curiosity) may not be tweaks of the timeline in the manner of saving the lives of Martha & Luke, safeguarding the happiness of Mickey and Sarah Jane, shielding Donna, and trying to doing something good for Jack and Alonso, but it can lighten the mind.
I would have liked to have seen the visit to Rose handled differently. I can accept RTD's vision of Ten not being able to cross (or even see across) the Void for a Rose scene, but I would have liked to have seen the New Year's Eve scene played differently. I would have liked a faux-drunken Ten giving her a "Happy New Year!" greeting and snog, before doing a faux drunken stagger off (so younger!Rose doesn't freak out in response to amorous-twice-her-age-drunken guy), and a last wish to her that she "have a fantastic year.....and a fantastic life."
The order of the interventions are from most timeline-changing to least timeline-changing. The visit to Rose was undoubtedly a "last-but-not-least" on an *emotional* level, but it (and the visit to Verity) had no effect on timelines. In fact, the visit to Rose seemed carefully gauged to ensure there would be no effect on timelines. But like Rose going back in time to see her father, the Doctor's trip to see Rose also seems to be a bit of a no-no.
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That said, I also felt let down by the end.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 01:20 pm (UTC)--
Like everyone else here, I felt let down by the end.
I would have preferred to see Ten depart with more serenity and dignity (a la Nine) or with some feeling of joy and triumph over what he'd accomplished rather than desperate and distraught, oscillating between the lament that Time Lords live too long and his being not yet ready to die.
I would have liked to have seen Rae's Ten/Ten2 switch so that Ten really could get a fuller reward.
I would have liked to have seen Donna play a more substantial role. The hearts' beats echoing back through time and the lingering effects of the metacrisis could have been integrated into a real plot rather than Donna not transforming, running around in terror, and simply blacking out after an initially spectacular (but ultimately unimportant) power surge that knocked out the neighborhood Masters.
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The Woman in White.... There is the speculation it was the Doctor's mother or Romana or.... Rae, I was also wondering if it might possibly have been Susan. The Doctor left her, but arguably she was also 'lost' to him because changes in timelines re-wrote the world in which he had left her.
This episode certainly had bits of timey-wimey (Rassilon's embedding of the drums in the Master's mind) and a surfeit of granddaughters (Joan/Verity, Wilf/Donna). Could the Woman in White have been the Doctor's granddaughter? There are certainly problems with the theory (Susan not being a trained Time Lord, her not having a TARDIS, her lack of a tie to the Council), but time had passed and there are problems with all of the theories: Doctor's mother, Romana, or longer shots (Leela, Ace, Flavia, etc.)
Food for thought..... It will be interesting to see the speculation....and to see if Moffat follows up on some of these mysteries.
I'll give Moffat and Matt Smith a chance. After all, when Eccleston left, I was initially 'meh' about DT. I doubt MS will grow on me as quickly or as much as DT did, but I'm willing to give the new Doctor and the new showrunner a chance.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-03 11:00 pm (UTC)I think the Woman in White was deliberately left obscure as an invitation to fandom. My feeling is that she represented the Doctor's mother; the point was made explicitly several times that Wilf was his dad figure. Rather than a clunky "Doctor, I am your father" reveal, which would inevitably have suffered by comparison to "Star Wars" we were left with a kind of template to fill in, giving the Doctor a kind of family at the end. (Whatever the slashers say, I see the Master very much as a sibling to the Doctor, not literally, but definitely that kind of relationship.
(no subject)
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Date: 2010-01-03 04:15 pm (UTC)Thank you, thank you, thank you.
{{{{{hugs}}}}}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-04 04:26 am (UTC)I do think THAT is why RTD didn't show us that "happy Rose/Ten 2" scene...no matter what he says. I think he just had enough fans say they were "happy" he gave them that closure that he decided he'd done enough for that group. He didn't do enough for OUR group...and we might be a lot bigger group than he imagines as so many people still love Rose out there in the general population. But...we, at least, have the chance to believe that Ten did go home, at his death, as Rose told him to do.
Rae
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-04 01:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-04 04:30 am (UTC)To me, with Ten so very upset...and with Rose visibly upset, too...there is just no reason why that silly regeneration gone wrong, couldn't be fixed and Eleven goes on after missing three pretty worthless episodes anyway.