Ethical dilemma

[shivver]

Here's a question to think about.

Let's change "The End of Time" in the following way: While the Doctor is talking to Wilf in the cafe, Wilf asks him to come back and fix Donna, to give her back her memories and her life with the Doctor. We know that the Doctor can't do that, but let's change it so that at that moment, he realizes that he knows how to do it - he can use his current biodata to filter from Donna what's actually him and remove it, leaving just her behind as a perfectly normal human, with intact memories of her life up through traveling with the Doctor.

With that knowledge, he and Wilf go off to find Donna to fix her, but the other events of the episode begin to happen, and they proceed as we saw on screen. After the Doctor defeats Rassilon and Gallifrey retreats back into the Time War, Wilf knocks four times. The Doctor then must choose: if he saves Wilf, he not only dies, but the regeneration rewrites his biodata and he can no longer fix Donna; but to save Donna, he must let Wilf die.

So, the question is, what do you think the Doctor would choose? And also, what would you want him to choose, since they are not necessarily the same thing? (Note: Meta is not within reach, so you can't choose "Save Wilf, then go get Meta to fix Donna." ;) )

Comments

[dm12.livejournal.com]

I've got to agree... even in canon, Wilf told the Doctor not to save him, that he's lived long enough. If Wilf took matters into his own hands, the Doctor would feel guilty. If the Doctor did save him, he'd feel guilty and WIlf himself might get angry at him if he knew Ten could have saved Donna. Ten just always feels guilty, and it always seems that the Doctor is constantly put into no-win situations.

I'm wondering what would happen if Wilf explicitly told the Doctor to save Donna or Wilf's death would mean nothing, then Wilf pushed the button. Hmm...

I really, really wouldn't want to be in Ten's shoes!

[shivver13.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm absolutely sure that Wilf would do that, throw the switch while telling the Doctor to go save Donna. Actually, when I first saw "The End of Time", I completely expected Wilf to throw the switch himself, just because RTD loves gut-punching Ten so much. I'm glad he didn't, because Ten's subsequent soul-searching rant and subsequent sacrifice is so beautiful and that's the thing that gets me bawling each time.

[dm12.livejournal.com]

Yup... something along the lines of "My time is complete, save Donna like we planned.. you NEED her!" then push the button.

The canon version, you are right about Ten's rant and sacrifice, but that's without a chance of getting Donna back.