Donna Noble Appreciation Week, day 4
Part of 
womenlovefest.
I've been meaning to write something on this subject for a long time and since I'm doing this Donna appreciation week and I've been getting such a wonderful feedback, it's a great occasion to finally make this happen.
Warning: mistakes. English is not my first language, so I believe there might be lots of them.
Warning 2: in some places it resembles a teenager's not-necessarily-wise deliberations on a really unimportant subject.
I've always had a problem with expressing my feelings concerning their relationship. Hell, I've always had a problem with understanding my own feelings, because apparently they change each time I rewatch any of their episodes (and you've no idea what a huge impact doing this appreciation week had on them).
Do I treat them as a pairing, or even an OTP, or are they an example of a really extreme friendship?
Briefly speaking: DoctorDonna or Doctor/Donna?
When I first watched the NuWho seasons 1 and 2, I - like so many other fans - had one OTP: Doctor/Rose. It was sweet but angsty and really pretty obvious (and it was canon, which doesn't happen to me very often). Oh, and Rose, obviously, was my favourite. I couldn't imagine Doctor having anyone else after her.
Then I watched season 3 and I loved Martha so much, that I started to feel for her (because for me, her crush was so real I could only sympathize with her) and see Rose through her eyes. Now, don't get me wrong - I never forgot how brilliant Rose was (because she was, she grew up so much, she was brave and she almost died saving the world!). What I have with the companions is that I take them very personally and it was so much easier for me to feel for Martha - always second best for the Doctor, somewhere in the margin of their adventures, despite all the things she's done, than with Rose, an almost perfect, pretty girl that everyone falls in love with (a psychologist might say it's because I can see myself in Martha and YES, HE WOULD BE DAMN RIGHT). Plus, I really think that Martha was a way more complex character than Rose (it was like that: when there was only Rose, I thought she's perfect, but then Martha showed up and I saw it could be even better. Everyone can guess what happened when Donna arrived.).
Admittedly I did not start shipping Doctor/Martha, neverteheless my love for Doctor/Rose clearly weakened.
But then Donna finally arrived and everything got so complicated.
At first (vide: when I was watching the 4th season for the first time) I'm pretty sure I treated them as friends only, nothing more, nothing less (though I did squee when Donna kissed the Doctor, but come on, THAT SCENE). But even then after Journey's End in my own version of AU (I treat my AUs as seriously as canon, fyi) the only right way to continue Doctor's story would be if he kept travelling with Donna for as long as possible (I don't care if the wiping of Donna's memory never happened or if they came up with an idea how to fix that). Just like the almighty Oods predicted, DoctorDonna was just meant to be.
But then of course came the fandom and everyone knows how fandom can mix the things up for you.
The first thing that I noticed when I finished those 4 seasons of DW and began exploring fandom was that the majority of it was a huge fan of Doctor/Rose. All theose fics and vids dedicated to them made me rebel inside (because my brain works in mysterious ways) and I believe it might have pushed me slightly towards Doctor/Donna relationship.
But the thing that tipped the scale when it came to fandom were definitely the great fanvids I've watched (angsty music, emo mood, we all know them) that opened my eyes for the first time. Still, it was only fandom.
When the first rewatch came I started seeing and appreciating more than I did the first time. All that fluffy holding hands, all those 'we're so not married' situations and, most of all, the understanding between them that the Doctor hadn't had with anyone before (talking about NuWho only). Donna was perfect for him, because she not only got him like they knew each other their whole lives, but she was also never scared to just shout at him when he was wrong or ask about things only very close people could know.
Finally, after some more time spent in fandom, after writing my own fics and after some more rewatching I came to the conclusion that the friendship they had with some slightly romantic moments is the best thing there could be. There's one condition, though: no other romantic relationships for any of them, because I just like it when there's always this distant possibility of something more in the future (but without really happening). Oh God, does this make any sense outside my head?
BUT let's not forget about some incident that happened in Journey's End, which was...
YES, Handy or human!Doctor or however you prefer to call him.
'Cause, you see, there's a whole different story when it comes to Handy. I believe that when he inherited some of Donna's character traits he just became, making this as simple as possible, a perfect guy for her. I mean, come on, the conversations they had in the TARDIS? I'd kill to have a whole season or even a spin-off with them two, acting like an old couple. Plus, I don't really believe in Handy/Rose relationship. Handy might have got all the Ten's traits, but I don't think he could have also had his feelings. How was he supposed to get Donna out of his head and just magically fall in love with Rose, even with all Ten's memories?
So, as a result, I have these two perfect versions in my head.
1. If Donna keeps (/restores) her memories, she keeps travelling with the Doctor forever, and all is well, everyone's happy, there's no EoT emo and rainbows start growing like the grass.
2. If Donna can't keep her memories/Doctor goes away like he does in JE, Handy somehow finds a way to get out of Pete's world, finds Donna and helps her bring back her memories or just tries to get to know her all over again and then brings back the Doctor so he doesn't have emo in EoT (unless Donna can't remember him, but I DON'T REALLY BUY THESE WHOLE POST-META CRISIS PROBLEMS) and when Ten regenerates, he stays with Donna and they save the world in a blue car and everyone is happy and butterflies fill the skies.
As you (and I) can see, there's no really deciding whether this relationship should go in a DoctorDonna or Doctor/Donna way. When it comes to fandom, I don't really have a problem with any of the options, but when it's about my vision, I believe the answer is that the perfect solution is the amazing DoctorDonna friendship, but if anyone were to be Donna's something more, it could only be Handy.
I'm so sorry for making this so long, I never intended to make it this way, but apparently I needed to make this clear for myself. If anyone got to the end, CONGRATULATIONS. You have my full admiration.
womenlovefest.I've been meaning to write something on this subject for a long time and since I'm doing this Donna appreciation week and I've been getting such a wonderful feedback, it's a great occasion to finally make this happen.
Warning: mistakes. English is not my first language, so I believe there might be lots of them.
Warning 2: in some places it resembles a teenager's not-necessarily-wise deliberations on a really unimportant subject.
I've always had a problem with expressing my feelings concerning their relationship. Hell, I've always had a problem with understanding my own feelings, because apparently they change each time I rewatch any of their episodes (and you've no idea what a huge impact doing this appreciation week had on them).
Do I treat them as a pairing, or even an OTP, or are they an example of a really extreme friendship?
Briefly speaking: DoctorDonna or Doctor/Donna?
When I first watched the NuWho seasons 1 and 2, I - like so many other fans - had one OTP: Doctor/Rose. It was sweet but angsty and really pretty obvious (and it was canon, which doesn't happen to me very often). Oh, and Rose, obviously, was my favourite. I couldn't imagine Doctor having anyone else after her.
Then I watched season 3 and I loved Martha so much, that I started to feel for her (because for me, her crush was so real I could only sympathize with her) and see Rose through her eyes. Now, don't get me wrong - I never forgot how brilliant Rose was (because she was, she grew up so much, she was brave and she almost died saving the world!). What I have with the companions is that I take them very personally and it was so much easier for me to feel for Martha - always second best for the Doctor, somewhere in the margin of their adventures, despite all the things she's done, than with Rose, an almost perfect, pretty girl that everyone falls in love with (a psychologist might say it's because I can see myself in Martha and YES, HE WOULD BE DAMN RIGHT). Plus, I really think that Martha was a way more complex character than Rose (it was like that: when there was only Rose, I thought she's perfect, but then Martha showed up and I saw it could be even better. Everyone can guess what happened when Donna arrived.).
Admittedly I did not start shipping Doctor/Martha, neverteheless my love for Doctor/Rose clearly weakened.
But then Donna finally arrived and everything got so complicated.
At first (vide: when I was watching the 4th season for the first time) I'm pretty sure I treated them as friends only, nothing more, nothing less (though I did squee when Donna kissed the Doctor, but come on, THAT SCENE). But even then after Journey's End in my own version of AU (I treat my AUs as seriously as canon, fyi) the only right way to continue Doctor's story would be if he kept travelling with Donna for as long as possible (I don't care if the wiping of Donna's memory never happened or if they came up with an idea how to fix that). Just like the almighty Oods predicted, DoctorDonna was just meant to be.
But then of course came the fandom and everyone knows how fandom can mix the things up for you.
The first thing that I noticed when I finished those 4 seasons of DW and began exploring fandom was that the majority of it was a huge fan of Doctor/Rose. All theose fics and vids dedicated to them made me rebel inside (because my brain works in mysterious ways) and I believe it might have pushed me slightly towards Doctor/Donna relationship.
But the thing that tipped the scale when it came to fandom were definitely the great fanvids I've watched (angsty music, emo mood, we all know them) that opened my eyes for the first time. Still, it was only fandom.
When the first rewatch came I started seeing and appreciating more than I did the first time. All that fluffy holding hands, all those 'we're so not married' situations and, most of all, the understanding between them that the Doctor hadn't had with anyone before (talking about NuWho only). Donna was perfect for him, because she not only got him like they knew each other their whole lives, but she was also never scared to just shout at him when he was wrong or ask about things only very close people could know.
Finally, after some more time spent in fandom, after writing my own fics and after some more rewatching I came to the conclusion that the friendship they had with some slightly romantic moments is the best thing there could be. There's one condition, though: no other romantic relationships for any of them, because I just like it when there's always this distant possibility of something more in the future (but without really happening). Oh God, does this make any sense outside my head?
BUT let's not forget about some incident that happened in Journey's End, which was...
YES, Handy or human!Doctor or however you prefer to call him.
'Cause, you see, there's a whole different story when it comes to Handy. I believe that when he inherited some of Donna's character traits he just became, making this as simple as possible, a perfect guy for her. I mean, come on, the conversations they had in the TARDIS? I'd kill to have a whole season or even a spin-off with them two, acting like an old couple. Plus, I don't really believe in Handy/Rose relationship. Handy might have got all the Ten's traits, but I don't think he could have also had his feelings. How was he supposed to get Donna out of his head and just magically fall in love with Rose, even with all Ten's memories?
So, as a result, I have these two perfect versions in my head.
1. If Donna keeps (/restores) her memories, she keeps travelling with the Doctor forever, and all is well, everyone's happy, there's no EoT emo and rainbows start growing like the grass.
2. If Donna can't keep her memories/Doctor goes away like he does in JE, Handy somehow finds a way to get out of Pete's world, finds Donna and helps her bring back her memories or just tries to get to know her all over again and then brings back the Doctor so he doesn't have emo in EoT (unless Donna can't remember him, but I DON'T REALLY BUY THESE WHOLE POST-META CRISIS PROBLEMS) and when Ten regenerates, he stays with Donna and they save the world in a blue car and everyone is happy and butterflies fill the skies.
As you (and I) can see, there's no really deciding whether this relationship should go in a DoctorDonna or Doctor/Donna way. When it comes to fandom, I don't really have a problem with any of the options, but when it's about my vision, I believe the answer is that the perfect solution is the amazing DoctorDonna friendship, but if anyone were to be Donna's something more, it could only be Handy.
I'm so sorry for making this so long, I never intended to make it this way, but apparently I needed to make this clear for myself. If anyone got to the end, CONGRATULATIONS. You have my full admiration.
