Steven. Moffat.

[wildcard_47]

You are a freaking genius.

AND I HATE YOU!! You and your damn cliffhangers!

Also, (for those of you who have just watched) answer me this. Why is the little girl a conduit to all the inner workings of the Library? Is she the universe's biggest hard-drive, camoflaged and hidden by someone who knows better (like her psychiatrist, Dr. Moon?) Is she the living Library -- the backup system for the millions of years of knowledge stored in those books?

Additionally, why does everyone's friendliest ER doc (aka, Professor River-Song) show up as an anthropologist, who has a TARDIS-shaped journal full of "spoilers" and a sonic SCREWDRIVER??? If she were simply a future companion, that link I could get. She knows the Future Doctor and she obviously knows the history of Donna (as her successor, maybe?) But, this woman has a SONIC DEVICE. And, as the Doctor himself says, he doesn't just give those out to anyone. Her sonic also looked, well, homemade. As if it had been constructed piecemeal rather than straight-from-the-factory. Why would the Doctor help her build -- or help her understand how to build -- a piece of Time Lordian technology if she's just a regular old human?

Plus (this sealed the deal for me) she is very familiar -- too familiar -- with the Doctor to be "just" another companion. She told Donna that having him look through her, without recognition, "killed her". Not hurt, not annoyed, but "killed". Not a word that's thrown around lightly. She also stroked his face. Stared into his eyes and said he "looked younger than she'd ever seen him". That observation seems fairly insignificant on the surface, yet to notice the imperceptible change of a person's eyes -- a change which runs deeper than the color, or the structure, but hinges on recognizing and understanding the emotions and age of the person behind the eyes -- means that she's been able to peer very closely at them -- at him -- before. Which could be very intimate, in any sense of the word.

Edit: I just realized that the Professor's sonic blaster might be the same make as Jack's was in TDD, Season 1. Both blasters are 51st century, presumably from the Villengard factory-turned-banana-grove. So, does this mean that Nine has not yet blown up that factory? Or, does it mean that the Professor has access to those types of weapons (through an organization like the Time Agency, or through her future association with the Doctor?)

Grr. I still hate Steven Moffat right now. Though he makes for brilliant two-part episodes, the man should not be allowed to write about mundane things. He makes them terrifying. Case in point, I am now more than a little suspicious of gas masks, statues of angels, and shadows.

P.S. In case you can't tell, when I start overanalyzing television into tiny bits (as in the above), that means I am officially an obsessed fan. Whee. :)

Comments

[elvenlaughter.livejournal.com]

Again, watch the trailer. Donna is around for a couple more episodes, full bodied and alive.

[tkurogrym.livejournal.com]

Like I say, I don't think Donna's dead yet. I'll even go as far as to say I'll bet she finishes the season. My concern isn't that Moffat will get rid of her, but that the writing's on the wall for her to be gone by the end of S4 ... or midway through the hiatus year, at the latest. If so, I'll be unhappy about it! :)

Heck, if you watch the trailer, alt!Donna is coming from Pete's Universe. Which will be very, very interesting...

[elvenlaughter.livejournal.com]

I still haven't caught the alt!Donna bit. Whereabouts in the trailer is that?

[tkurogrym.livejournal.com]

In all fairness, I didn't see her at first, either. Someone posted a set of screencaps and I thought, "What trailer were you watching? I didn't see that."

She's in there twice. The first clip is quick flash about 2/3 of the way through. Ten leaps the barricade, we see a Dalek close-up, then there's a mechanical contraption with what looks like a rough-n-tumble version of Donna standing in front. Lights on either side flare. She's wearing a battered brown coat, purple turtleneck, jeans. Definitely the red hair is a bit of a giveaway. But I didn't believe it was her until the close-up -- which happens in the quick flashes of different images shortly thereafter. The flames in the TARDIS, Ten looking panicked, then Donna again - same red hair, differently styled, same clothing as the first clip. Then Ten reaching out for something/someone and the cut to Rose's "It's only just beginning."

[elvenlaughter.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'll have to check that out. Are you sure it's not just... Donna in a different episode?

[tkurogrym.livejournal.com]

Nope. Absolutely not sure. Tell me what you think when you see her clothing. It doesn't look like our usual Donna fare -- nor does the (apparently) short hair. It looks like something from ... somewhere else. The end of the universe comes to mind, actually, with that coat. So, is she alt!Donna or Donna from a different episode under very different circumstances? No idea. Alt!Donna is the guess since Rose is coming back, but it could be anything.

I just heard a radio interview with Tennant in which he was asked "Has Catherine Tate signed for another season?" He dodged the question neatly by saying that "Donna has quite a story arc during the remaining episodes of this season." (paraphrased)

*needs more Donna icons*

[elvenlaughter.livejournal.com]

I'm not convinced, actually. She just has a ponytail. You can see the tail of it in the close-up. I froze the screen there, and it just looks like there's something strange and light-filled going on... maybe connected to where she disappeared to at the end of Silence in the Library? Hmm. Anyway, I didn't think she looked significantly different, at least not enough to merit calling her alt!Donna. I guess we'll see, though.

[tkurogrym.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. And I did notice the pony tail when I finally froze it on that one image. Hope you're right. Alt!Donna seems to be a popular notion, but the fandom isn't often right. ;) They also think that River Song is a variety of ludicrous things, including the Master regenerated, Jenny regenerated, etc. (Most interesting one so far? The Doctor's biographer from the future, who's spent a lot of time with him and developed quite a relationship. Connects nicely to the fact that they landed initially in biographies and that Ten "loves biographies!" Heh.) Alwyas fun to speculate on the possibilities, whether they turn out right or wrong. ;)

*returns this regularly scheduled blog back over to wildcard_47 after a brief takeover!*

[elvenlaughter.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting idea, the biographer. Hmm...

[wildcard-47.livejournal.com]

*snatch* I'm reclaiming my blog!

I'm interested in the whole alt! vs. regular!Donna conversation you've got going here. But, if River Song is actually not going to be a companion, I'd love for her to be the Doctor's biographer. That would be kind of fun.

the Master regnerated, Jenny regenerated, etc.
Hahahahaha.....oh, fandom. *giggles some more*