A River in Egypt

I’m still trying to come to terms with the season finale of Doctor Who. I’ve tried ignoring it, but that worked about as well as telling myself not to think about pink elephants. I needed something I could picture in its place. So I finally did the same thing I’d done for season two — I sat down and made a list of all the things I’d need to change to make “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End” work for me.

1. I’d cut Rose’s eavesdropping. I’d keep the scene where she saved Wilf from the Daleks, but then I’d have her mobile ring, and I’d have her tell the person on the other end that she’d be right there. I might have her say something to Wilf just before she disappeared, like, “If you talk to the Doctor, tell him… tell him… oh, he knows.”

2. I’d cut the Doctor’s death. I might keep the Dalek that killed him, because I thought the running was a little over-the-top, and I was glad someone interrupted it. Plus, if I rolled credits as soon as it appeared, the episode would still end on a cliffhanger. But I’d have Jack destroy it before it could shoot the Doctor.

3. I’d replace the Doctor’s regeneration with a proper reunion between Rose and Jack. I’d have her explain why she made him immortal — he’s “a fixed point in time and space,” so she might’ve used him as a navigational beacon, to help find her way back from Pete’s World. But I might keep her horror when he died — she’d be coming face-to-face with the reality of what she’d done for the first time.

4. I’d have Donna fly the Tardis out of the Crucible’s core. The duplicate Doctor couldn’t have done it — the original Doctor wouldn’t have regenerated, or “siphoned off the [energy] into a handy bio-matching receptacle,” so the duplicate wouldn’t exist. But Donna was learning to fly the Tardis in “The Sontaran Stratagem” — I’d have her use that knowledge to help save the world.

5. I’d have Rose stand up for the Doctor when Davros told him, “You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons.” I’d have her tell Davros what she told Jackie and Mickey in “The Parting of the Ways” (“The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life”), and what she told Donna in “Turn Left” (that he does the same “to everyone he touches”). And I’d have the Doctor listen to her.

6. I’d have Rose appear on the Tardis monitor after Donna escaped from the Crucible’s core. I’d have it be a projection from Pete’s World, from before the walls weakened enough for Rose to come in person. And I’d have Rose and Donna work together to stop the Daleks.

7. I’d have the next-to-last scene be the Doctor, Rose, and Donna bringing Jackie home. I’d have the Tardis land on Jackie’s doorstep, and I’d have Pete and Tony come out to say goodbye, too. And then I’d have Rose turn to the Doctor and say something like, “So, where’re we gonna go first?”

8. I’d have the last scene be the Doctor bringing Donna home, but I’d make it clear that time had passed since the next-to-last scene. I’d have Wilf ask where Rose was, and I’d have the Doctor tell him that she was dealing with the people who’d hurt Donna. I might have Jack, Sarah Jane, et al. drop by to see if he and Donna were all right. And I’d close with all of them sharing stories about Donna.

I doubt I’m going to be watching the 2009 specials, much less season five. And I can’t see myself rewatching seasons two, three, or four, with the possible exceptions of “The Runaway Bride” and “Turn Left.” So I don’t see any reason why I can’t make this list — and the one from June — my personal canon. (I won’t be able to read 99 percent of the post-“Journey’s End” fanfic that’s being written, but that’s already true, since I’m never going to ship Rose and the duplicate Doctor.)