Doctor Who: Rose Tyler’s Story – A Novel Idea

This is where Rose Tyler’s story begins.

I’ve seen the Series 2 finale dozens of times, and those final ten minutes never get any easier to watch.  It was the first truly heartbreaking moment from Doctor Who for me, and that one in particular that always stuck out from the rest.  The whole episode was an emotional roller coaster and no more so than those final ten minutes.  An epic showdown between Daleks and Cybermen, followed by the Doctor and Rose saving the world, followed by their immediate and heartbreaking separation, followed by their brief reunification, followed by the worst time management ever on TV.  You already said you only had “about two minutes”, Doctor.  Quit stammering and just tell her that you lo–

Gets me every time (Credit: BBC)

Sorry about that, I must have lost my wireless keyboard connection mid-sentence. I guess that sort of thing happens. 

And that was the end.  No more Rose.  At least, not until after she came back in Series 4.  What had always piqued my interest me was that whole back story in the alternate universe in between Rose’s two lives with the Doctor.  We know from her final scene in Bad Wolf Bay that she’s working with Torchwood while in Pete’s World, and obviously from her return in ‘Journey’s End’ in Series 4 we know that she gets to reunite with the Doctor and even take home her own carbon copy of #10.  What we don’t know is what exactly happened while trapped in Pete’s World. We only have little blips and blurbs regarding what she’s doing, but there is no tangible emotional connection to her character.  I think a Rose-centric novel that really dives into the internal thoughts, desires, and determination to see the Doctor again is a story myself and other would love to hear about.  Let’s hear about the struggle from her words.  A companion is our human connection to the world of Doctor Who.  A novel told from Rose’s perspective would be our true connection to the companion. Everyone else is getting their own novel or comic — why not Rose?

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Page one could very well be the “take me back!” scene with fists pounding on the wall, sobbing hysterically at her heart’s breaking point.  Start the reader off with a 1st person perspective into the pain Rose is experiencing, followed by a few weeks of struggling to just crack a smile.  Beginning a novel with so much pain and loss would be difficult, especially for the reader, but it will really drive home the priority of Rose right now is just to be with the Doctor again. That is all she wants.  Period.

Fast-forward to her dream where she hears the Doctor calling her.  Finally, we get some improvement to the overall mood of the main character.  Cautioned excitement is abound while Rose and her family pack up for the long road trip from London to Bad Wolf Bay in search of his voice.  When she finally arrives, her emotions crescendo into a fountain of exuberance when she finally sees the image of the Doctor.  He’s back and everything is falling into place…

Until it doesn’t.  “About two minutes” is all the time given, and once that timer runs out — they are once again separated by an eternity.  This is the point in the novel where everything changes for Rose.  No longer willing to sit back idly while the man she loves is gone forever, Rose decides it is time for her to take it upon herself to get back to where she belongs.  Rose turns to her father, Pete, and demands everything that can be done to develop Torchwood, will be done.  Since they were the ones who put her in the predicament she found herself in, they’re damn well going to help get her out of it.

So this is where the bulk of the novel will reside, and I’ll purposely leave it mostly blank for speculative purposes. In all likelihood, Rose takes it upon herself to infiltrate Torchwood from within for the sole purpose of finding the Doctor.  Through these trials and tribulations she preservers through many close encounters, yet ultimately falls short right up until the moment she starts to find traces of Donna in alternate realities.  By piecing together the puzzles of the recurrence of Donna and the development of the 2nd generation dimensional cannon, Rose was able to get herself back to her own universe by fixating on Donna’s timeline, ironically the same one saved by Rose in ‘Turn Left.’

Billie Piper as Rose Tyler (Credit: BBC)

With the dimensional cannon and an actual cannon in tow, Rose lands in Cheswick, as does the Doctor a few blocks away.  Eye contact is made and off they run, yet unfortunately, their joy is short-lived as the Doctor is shot by a passing by Dalek with the worst (or best, depending on your perspective) timing ever.  Luckily there is a spare Time Lord hand nearby on the TARDIS, so no harm, no foul.  And hey! Twin Doctors!

Rose, did you wish really, really hard?

The rest is history.  The return to Bad Wolf Bay is a cathartic one for me as a viewer and also one who would read it from Rose’s perspective.  She gets what she was after all along.  Her very own real-life Doctor.  Good for her. I guess the only question remaining is if that is the end of her story.  Are there more adventures in store Rose and Meta-crisis Doctor? Domestication for the Doctor could be interesting.

What do you think? If Rose’s “Doctor-less” journey were to be told from her point of view, it that something people would be interested in?

Next: Sylvester McCoy Strongly Opposes the Idea of a Female Doctor