Fanfiction has a pretty interesting relationship with Doctor Who — after all, ever since the 80s, most of the people writing for the show grew up as fans, and that’s even more true today — indeed, both Russell T. Davies and Stephen Moffat started out writing fanfiction. And with features like canon-slash and built-in AU (Alternate Universe) timelines, the contemporary Whoniverse shows seems like a playground built especially for fanfiction.
While you might have to seach for a while to find the real gems, a little well-written fic here and there can really help when the show itself doesn’t manage to give us everything that we’d like to see. And with a season finale like “Journey’s End”, it can be a balm for the soul. (Oh, Donna!)
So, without further ado, below the fold are some of my favourites, for the purposes of taking the sting away — I’d recommend these even to those who don’t normally read fanfiction (spoilers for Doctor Who S4 and Torchwood S2, if anyone is still hasn’t seen them):
- An Interstellar Burst by Such Heights (Rose/Martha, Teen) is an alternate — and very feminist — ending to “Journey’s End” — as far as I’m concerned, this is how it should have happened!
- A Few Days in the Life by Unfolded73 (slight Doctor/River, All Ages) follows the Doctor in his travels in the days after “Journey’s End”, and most importantly, shows that Donna is completely awesome regardless of whether or not the Doctor is in her life.
- In Another Life by Sam Storyteller (Rose/human!Doctor, Teen) — for everyone who found the final Bad Wolf Bay scene a bit lacking. This is a multi-chapter fic, so I recommend sitting down to read it when you have a bit of time spare, but it’s well worth it. Sam is also the author of the famous Torchwood LOLcat fic.
- And lastly, because I can’t help injecting a little Torchwood into everything, Lessons From Yesterday by Demotu (Jack/Ianto, Teen) is a lovely tag to “Exit Wounds”, looking at the way that Jack deals with the loss of Tosh and Owen. (What can I say — I’m a sap at heart. ;))
And because I know that reading fic isn’t everyone’s thing, here are some pretty pictures of Whoniverse women kicking arse:
Donna with her magnifying glass:
From time-and-space.co.uk
Leela with her knife:
From Doctor Who World
Toshiko and her 133t haxxor skillz:
From Weevilsworld
Sarah Jane defending the world (again):
From Metawrap
Gratuitous out-of-place Starbuck:
From Daemon’s TV
Oh, Beppie, you’re my hero.
Not to diss on Donna (who is a hoyden!), but for anyone who’s interested, I just started reading DW Season 4. Martha ftw?
Oh, Bene, that does look amazing — although I’ll have to put off reading it until I’ve done my quota of thesis-work for today. Martha is definitely ftw, however.
And since I neglected (bad me!) to include her in my picspam, here is Martha in all her world-saving glory.
Bene, that looks great. :) I shall have to have a look at it when I’ve finished my thesis-quota for the day.
Win: that of which this post is made. I’ll bookmark this post and have a read of those fics sometime. Paul Cornell got his start through DW fic, actually. I haven’t read a lot of fic for about 18 months, but from memory Camilla Sandman and Gillian Taylor are both pretty good.
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I haven’t had a chance to read all of these yet, but the ones I have are *awesome*.
Mmm. Gratuitous Starbuck. Num. Also, ta for fic, shall check when have spare minute… :-)
Ha, thanks very much for the link! What excellent company I’m keeping, both with the other stories and a fine sampling of the amazing women of the Whoniverse.
I just read the entirety of In Another Life, and oh, oh, oh my goodness.
(Ack, sorry about double posting up above — my technical incompetence strikes again, no doubt!)
XtinaS — that tends to be my reaction to most of Sam’s work too. :)
Such Heights — so good to see you here!
Halfway through In Another Life. Love it. Thanks for the link. (Probably should be doing more time working but, eh, if the system’s slow you need entertainment, right?)
There can never be enough Donna love in the world, but it’s cool to see Leela get some recognition. She was one of my favorite companions back in the day (aka when I was a kid watching Doctor Who reruns on public TV).