In the beginning, there was Penny. More from RTD.

[catsfiction]

In the beginning (the beginning of S4, that is), there was Penny.

Penny was going to be the Doctor’s new companion, and she was about the first thing concerning S4 to come into focus in RTD’s mind. He writes about her with real affection and excitement, and some of the things he says are quite interesting.

“Thoughts I’ve had about Penny…..a bit

Comments

[tazza_di_jo]

Wow. Now I'm grieving for Penny too.

The first time that the Doctor sees Penny, it should be like - wham! Both hearts

Maybe this makes me a bad Doctor/Rose fan, but I really really wish we (and the Doctor) could have met her. Sounds like I would have loved her and the story, because ultimately, who I love is the Doctor, and this sounds like it could have been great for him, and a great tale to be told.

Certainly better than River Song, which is what we'll be getting more of now that Moffat is taking over. *sigh*

[thunderemerald]

I was about to reply to your previous comment to me, then I came over here and saw it more fully fleshed out, and YOW. I'm kinda really really glad we got Donna instead of Penny -- not just because Donna was my favorite character of the first four series besides the Doctor himself -- but because the love at first sight thing would have gotten really annoying, really fast. If he imagined a sharp Donna-esque woman, what are the odds that she would have balked at his advances? Was he just going for the Martha story in reverse? What would have happened when Rose showed up again? And oh my god, what in the world would have happened in the Library two-parter? (EEP!)

Also, how exactly do you define "sexually predatory Doctor"? Because I don't really see that kinda ever. Except possibly in GitF. :)

[catsfiction]

Sexually predatory? Well, I don't think he is by nature, but he has picked up the signals that get him what he wants. Boy, can he flirt. I'm thinking of the way he was in Smith and Jones. He knew exactly how to get Martha eating out of his hand and he played every trick to do it. Whether he realised what he was starting off is an interesting point. But it did show a side of him I wasn't quite comfortable with. Maybe "manipulative" would be a better word?

[sensiblecat]

If he imagined a sharp Donna-esque woman, what are the odds that she would have balked at his advances?

It was established very early on in his imagination that Penny had just been jilted. She'd stormed out of the flat she was sharing with her boyfriend after coming home unexpectedly and finding him shagging somebody else. And that's when she met the Doctor, while she's gutted, walking away alone in the rain, and wondering whether she'll ever meet the right man. All that was going to be filmed. I'm rather glad it wasn't.

[thunderemerald]

I'm glad it wasn't, too. Enough already.

[salienne]

Absolutely random and unsubstantiated thought, but I can't help but wonder if Moffat had Penny in mind when he wrote SitL. Donna's instant hostility towards River Song would make much more sense.

[sensiblecat]

Haven't read all that bit in the book yet, but what appears to be the case is that SM is allowed to do whatever he likes. RTD seemed to be genuinely surprised (and a bit baffled) by the River Song storyline, which was news to him when he received the scripts.

You have to remember that RTD's job was slowly killing him and he was DESPERATE to hand over to a worthy successor. He also has his hands full with his own scipts and rewriting other ones (he virtually rewrote FoP completely) - so I think in practical terms he regards SM as a safe pair of hands, and he doesn't take him on regarding overall story arc and character issues. He simply has too much else to think about.

[salienne]

Well I know Moffat can't be rewritten by RTD due to contractural reasons, but doesn't RTD still give Moffat notes and tell him how to rewrite things? Or was he just letting him do whatever he liked by this point?

(I can't get the book for a while over here in the States, so sorry for all the questioning.)

[sensiblecat]

Word on the Epic comment. Imagine LOTR if Elrond had said to Aragon, "You can't have my daughter, she's comimg with me, but here's a human girl who looks exactly like her." It simply doesn't fit. We don't read epics for that kind of thing.

I really admire RTD being honest enough to bare all this in public. Very few people in the media have that kind of courage. It might be that he wants it out there somewhere that this is the story he really wanted to tell, even if we never get to see it.

It's really made me rethink the concept of "canon". In some ways, the story we see is the most compromised of all. History is told by the winners.

Re: Well...I know that you've read the book

[catsfiction]

I'm going to do a separate post on Donna. In an incredibly candid book, the one thing he refuses to discuss openly with Ben Cook is Donna's death. Eventually, when BC asks him whether it's too sad, we're treated to a rather unpleasant rant along the lines of "I hope people are crying for years about what I did to Donna