Noble Thoughts or "I have a Theory" (and it aint Bunnies)
Gonna put this under a whacking big cut as it avoids some seriously spoilery cracky thoughts/ruminations I've had about the character of Donna from the new season of Doctor Who.
Firstly, can't say how much I've enjoyed having Catherine Tate back. Her mad acting skillz seemed to have surprised many but honestly, even without knowing about her Royal Shakespeare Company background, anyone who had seen her comedy shows who had any fair mindedness at all had to recognise what a chameleonic and broad range of abilities she has.
She is, as one comedy expert pointed out, a one woman version of SNL. Britain has a long history of great female comedians and comedic actresses, far bigger than the U.S, and they need to treasure them a bit more. I'm hopeful that CT's run on Dr Who will continue to change the naysayers minds as it appears to be doing. Her ability, both comedically and dramatically, and the way the writers have risen to her talents to create a really strong character to travel with the Doctor has certainly revitalised the show for me.
I've always been a fan of Who and despite my occasional grumbles have enjoyed more of the New Who then I have found annoying. But the chemistry between Tennant and Tate is wonderful. Two grown up characters bouncing off and feeding off each other's energy. delicateone has always said that she feels David Tennant's Ten works best with maturer actresses, Sarah Jane, Ida etc, and I'd have to agree. Donna's reference in "Fires Of Pompeii" as to what sort of Kids he was running around with before her was right on the money. Rose was horribly weakened during Season 2 and Martha suffered the fall out of the end (sorta) of that relationship, so neither of them were what you'd call fully formed characters, with only glimmers of their potential peaking out from behind their standardised "girls with a crush following around this FABULOUS man."
This year has been a melding of equals...so to speak. Not skillz wise obviously, he is The Doctor after all. But emotionally. He gives her insight and wisdom of one kind and she drags him back down to Earth and provides him with wisdom of another kind, while they banter and bicker and run like hell. No mooning except for the astral body kind. It's just a shame that by all accounts Donna will be leaving us at the end of this season *and* with her memory gone.
Obviously this means that something HUGE happens to her that either causes or requires her amnesiac state. By all accounts Donna receives the power of a Time Lord this year and that would, reasonably, in a kind of Bad Wolfy sort of way possibly lead to her ending up sans memories. As I was dwelling on this, and how that kind of fits in with the "equals" thing, a few small bits and pieces we've been given over the past couple of episodes started to orbit this creaky ol' brain of mine and I've started to formulate a Theory. Bit of a Cracktastic Theory to be fair, but no odder than you'd find on some Who forums like Outpost Gallifrey.
I was drawn by the dual mentions of Venus these past two episodes. Now of course it makes sense that Donna, being in Rome would reference a Roman Goddess, especially after Wilf pointed it out to her. But it was the manner of his pointing it out to her that I found intriguing, especially after the 'prophecies' given this week. Wilf tells her that Venus is the only planet (in our solar system) named after a woman, making a note of her prominent position amongst the stellar bodies. And Donna references herself as Venus in a light hearted way this week. Don't know why but the idea of Venus Rising just popped in to my head, Goddess rising as it wear. This idea then madly coupled...well threesomed...in an entirely unseemly way with a) the "something is on your back" prophecy to Donna and the b) "She is Returning" prophecy to Ten.
Now, maybe that second prophecy IS exactly what it seems to be and is referencing Rose who we've already seen and know is back. But. Rusty is an avowed fan of the Whedon style of writing, and despite my grouses about him, is clever and likes to seed things in a sometimes right in front of your nose but you don't notice kind of way. Sooo..what if the prophecy to Ten about HER return ISN'T about Rose.
Bear with me. Going somewhere honest.
I got to thinking about Donna and her oh so ordinary background, and her name. Donna Noble. Donna meaning Lady of course. So her name means Noble Lady. Female Aristocrat.
And after I did a quick check. So does Rani.
There has been rumours about Davros not being alone this year, that The Master may pop up. But, then on the likes of OG The Master if forever popping up. But, what if it's not The Master? What if, like the Master, in order to escape the Rani too hid herself in a manner so extreme no one would be able to find her, and in fact she would lose herself, becoming normal, human.
It would make sense (well to me at least, and admittedly I'm sad 'n strange). The vague allusion to something on her back...the weight of her past perhaps? Donna's suddenly getting the power of a Time Lord...Yana redux? And Donna's being returned to her family without her memories...the Doctor's solution to the problem of dealing with a woman who is essentially Dr Mengele without harming the person he has come to love as a friend...and the Doctors quiet final words to Wilf along the lines of "She can never find out." And if she does, perhaps she may return?
Of course for this to pan out this would require of course a couple of things. 1) The revelation that Donna's family background isn't quite average. i.e her birth was unusual (and remember the Rani's speciality) or she was adopted. 2) The events of Runaway Bride where she was chosen and ended up on the TARDIS weren't quite as random as they first appeared. Admittedly the second factor isn't exactly entirely necessary as it was pure random happenstance (Jack jumping on the TARDIS) that sent the Doctor to meet Yana at the end of the Universe. Coincidences do happen even in the Who-verse.
There was mention in the papers last year of the possibility of the Rani returning with all sorts of theories of who would be cast, but which came to nothing, it seemed. But then why build up to a return like the Master again...why not just hide someone in plain sight? Someone you'd never remotely think of as being likely to turn out that way. Someone who perhaps doesn't even want to be that way anymore.
They did something like this on Stargate SG1 (one of the few episodes I've seen) a few years ago where a similar Rani like character they had run into before, got caught in one of her own plans on a distant planet and was, they eventually discovered turned from an evil murderous old woman into a young one with no memory of herself who had become a good and benevloent leader on a planet of equally young amnesiac and after she did start to remember ultimately (and at her own request) wanted her memory wiped for good, despite her burgeoning relationship with one of the main characters, Daniel I think.
It's cracktastic as I say...probably a million miles wide of the mark, and I'll be snorting at this post come the end of the season. But it's been bouncing about in my head since last night, and thought I'd get it out there. You may now commence to throw things!!
Firstly, can't say how much I've enjoyed having Catherine Tate back. Her mad acting skillz seemed to have surprised many but honestly, even without knowing about her Royal Shakespeare Company background, anyone who had seen her comedy shows who had any fair mindedness at all had to recognise what a chameleonic and broad range of abilities she has.
She is, as one comedy expert pointed out, a one woman version of SNL. Britain has a long history of great female comedians and comedic actresses, far bigger than the U.S, and they need to treasure them a bit more. I'm hopeful that CT's run on Dr Who will continue to change the naysayers minds as it appears to be doing. Her ability, both comedically and dramatically, and the way the writers have risen to her talents to create a really strong character to travel with the Doctor has certainly revitalised the show for me.
I've always been a fan of Who and despite my occasional grumbles have enjoyed more of the New Who then I have found annoying. But the chemistry between Tennant and Tate is wonderful. Two grown up characters bouncing off and feeding off each other's energy. delicateone has always said that she feels David Tennant's Ten works best with maturer actresses, Sarah Jane, Ida etc, and I'd have to agree. Donna's reference in "Fires Of Pompeii" as to what sort of Kids he was running around with before her was right on the money. Rose was horribly weakened during Season 2 and Martha suffered the fall out of the end (sorta) of that relationship, so neither of them were what you'd call fully formed characters, with only glimmers of their potential peaking out from behind their standardised "girls with a crush following around this FABULOUS man."
This year has been a melding of equals...so to speak. Not skillz wise obviously, he is The Doctor after all. But emotionally. He gives her insight and wisdom of one kind and she drags him back down to Earth and provides him with wisdom of another kind, while they banter and bicker and run like hell. No mooning except for the astral body kind. It's just a shame that by all accounts Donna will be leaving us at the end of this season *and* with her memory gone.
Obviously this means that something HUGE happens to her that either causes or requires her amnesiac state. By all accounts Donna receives the power of a Time Lord this year and that would, reasonably, in a kind of Bad Wolfy sort of way possibly lead to her ending up sans memories. As I was dwelling on this, and how that kind of fits in with the "equals" thing, a few small bits and pieces we've been given over the past couple of episodes started to orbit this creaky ol' brain of mine and I've started to formulate a Theory. Bit of a Cracktastic Theory to be fair, but no odder than you'd find on some Who forums like Outpost Gallifrey.
I was drawn by the dual mentions of Venus these past two episodes. Now of course it makes sense that Donna, being in Rome would reference a Roman Goddess, especially after Wilf pointed it out to her. But it was the manner of his pointing it out to her that I found intriguing, especially after the 'prophecies' given this week. Wilf tells her that Venus is the only planet (in our solar system) named after a woman, making a note of her prominent position amongst the stellar bodies. And Donna references herself as Venus in a light hearted way this week. Don't know why but the idea of Venus Rising just popped in to my head, Goddess rising as it wear. This idea then madly coupled...well threesomed...in an entirely unseemly way with a) the "something is on your back" prophecy to Donna and the b) "She is Returning" prophecy to Ten.
Now, maybe that second prophecy IS exactly what it seems to be and is referencing Rose who we've already seen and know is back. But. Rusty is an avowed fan of the Whedon style of writing, and despite my grouses about him, is clever and likes to seed things in a sometimes right in front of your nose but you don't notice kind of way. Sooo..what if the prophecy to Ten about HER return ISN'T about Rose.
Bear with me. Going somewhere honest.
I got to thinking about Donna and her oh so ordinary background, and her name. Donna Noble. Donna meaning Lady of course. So her name means Noble Lady. Female Aristocrat.
And after I did a quick check. So does Rani.
There has been rumours about Davros not being alone this year, that The Master may pop up. But, then on the likes of OG The Master if forever popping up. But, what if it's not The Master? What if, like the Master, in order to escape the Rani too hid herself in a manner so extreme no one would be able to find her, and in fact she would lose herself, becoming normal, human.
It would make sense (well to me at least, and admittedly I'm sad 'n strange). The vague allusion to something on her back...the weight of her past perhaps? Donna's suddenly getting the power of a Time Lord...Yana redux? And Donna's being returned to her family without her memories...the Doctor's solution to the problem of dealing with a woman who is essentially Dr Mengele without harming the person he has come to love as a friend...and the Doctors quiet final words to Wilf along the lines of "She can never find out." And if she does, perhaps she may return?
Of course for this to pan out this would require of course a couple of things. 1) The revelation that Donna's family background isn't quite average. i.e her birth was unusual (and remember the Rani's speciality) or she was adopted. 2) The events of Runaway Bride where she was chosen and ended up on the TARDIS weren't quite as random as they first appeared. Admittedly the second factor isn't exactly entirely necessary as it was pure random happenstance (Jack jumping on the TARDIS) that sent the Doctor to meet Yana at the end of the Universe. Coincidences do happen even in the Who-verse.
There was mention in the papers last year of the possibility of the Rani returning with all sorts of theories of who would be cast, but which came to nothing, it seemed. But then why build up to a return like the Master again...why not just hide someone in plain sight? Someone you'd never remotely think of as being likely to turn out that way. Someone who perhaps doesn't even want to be that way anymore.
They did something like this on Stargate SG1 (one of the few episodes I've seen) a few years ago where a similar Rani like character they had run into before, got caught in one of her own plans on a distant planet and was, they eventually discovered turned from an evil murderous old woman into a young one with no memory of herself who had become a good and benevloent leader on a planet of equally young amnesiac and after she did start to remember ultimately (and at her own request) wanted her memory wiped for good, despite her burgeoning relationship with one of the main characters, Daniel I think.
It's cracktastic as I say...probably a million miles wide of the mark, and I'll be snorting at this post come the end of the season. But it's been bouncing about in my head since last night, and thought I'd get it out there. You may now commence to throw things!!